Alara didn’t pretend to understand the equations. Theoretical math had never interested her. It still didn’t. Except now she was about to risk her life on the basis of Kirek’s calculations.
Extending her psi, she touched Kirek’s psi in front of her, and the rock solid feel steadied her. Vax on one side comforted her, but Xander’s psi on the other was like finding another part of herself. Cyn was exactly opposite, and Alara couldn’t touch her directly.
Kirek at the focal point was directing them all. Alara, extend forward. Cyn, a little to the left. Vax and Xander, hold position.
Kirek tried to lock them into place around the glow stones. His theory was that the mental grid would keep them in place, allowing them to maintain their positions when the wormhole opened—but no one knew for sure. Their task was to maintain the pattern, give the glow stones time to explode, waiting until the chain reaction was well under way so it would destroy the opening between galaxies. Kirek believed the explosion would collapse the wormhole on Earth and travel back through the wormhole, causing cataclysmic destruction on the Zin’s end, ultimately destroying them—or at the very least discouraging them from ever again attempting another attack through a wormhole.
Of course, the five of them had to escape at the very last moment.
With Xander on one side and Vax on the other, she suspected her portion might be the weakest. Kirek may have sensed that and bolstered her effort by extending support.
Is this enough linkage? Xander asked.
I don’t know.
You don’t know?
It’s an educated guess. Just like my calculations.
Tell me you’re joking, Cyn said.
I won’t lie. If we want to save Earth—this is my best guess how to do it. Brace yourselves. Kirek’s thoughts flashed at them. According to my calculations, the wormhole is about to open.
Space rippled. There was an initial whoosh, like a stone breaking a pond’s surface. A rushing sensation followed by swirling light. She couldn’t tell up from down. She lost sight of the desert and the sky. Sand swirled around her, creating chaos.
Alara felt as if the very bonds holding her astral self together were cracking. Splintering.
Hold tight, Kirek ordered.
She focused on the astral bond to anchor herself in the maelstrom.
The ripples swelled, increasing in frequency, building in power, threatening to tear them apart. Buffeted by a vortex, she struggled. If she hadn’t locked onto the others, the jagged rush would have blown her apart like scrub brush in a tornado.
She sensed the opening widening, thickening, solidifying, until she became one with it, their astral meld, straddling the wormhole.
Brace for explosions.
The first glow stones exploded, the flare bright enough to blind. But her astral eyes had no difficulty adjusting to the brilliant flashes that would have mushroomed like atomic weapons if they had not been contained by the wormhole. But inside the wormhole, the flashes elongated and flattened. The explosions shot lightning bolts of spiraling light back through the wormhole—triggering the next glow stone and then the next.
Each explosion ripped the fabric of space, tearing irregular gaps in their psi grid. To maintain the link with one another, they each reached out, thinning themselves, stretching over the holes to maintain control.
Don’t let it collapse, Xander warned.
The force sucked at her. Battered and lashed. Drained her. She poured more psi into the gap. But it was like a dam that had sprung a leak. As soon as they plugged one hole, another sprang up. And another.
Explosions ripped through the wormhole, the chain reaction awesome in power. No way could they match the forces of the wormhole. The grid wobbled.
I’m losing the link. Alara sent out a plea for help.
Kirek extended his position, anchoring her with psi intensity and capacity that boggled her mind.
Cyn was also having trouble on her end. Help.
Hold on. As one they shifted and repositioned, Kirek taking the brunt of the stress, although Vax and Xander also did their share.
Once again she was spread too thin.
Hold on. Hold on.
If she let go, she would die. They would all die. Earth would die.
Hold on.
She couldn’t let them down.
Finally, Kirek signaled. GO. His mental shout roared in her mind.
The final pile of glow stones ignited. The sandstorm slashed with orange and streaked with hot yellow bursts across the vortex. At the same time another blast from the inferno clawed the grid apart. She flung herself away.
But she was too exhausted. Too slow. Too late.
The explosion caught her, pummeled her. Then there was no more pain.
XANDER AWAKENED slowly. His head pounded, and every muscle ached as if he’d fought a physical battle, not a mental one. Just cracking open his eyes proved to be a challenge. But once he did and he glimpsed Cyn’s worried face looming over him with concern, his heart staggered.
They were alone in his quarters on the Verazen. Cyn held his head up and offered him a few sips of water. “Take it easy. You’ve been out about one Federation hour.”
He swallowed with effort. “Report.”
“The wormhole is gone. Earth is safe. The Federation is safe. We’re in orbit above the planet.”
Thank the stars. Too weak to get out more than a word at a time, he whispered. “Crew?”
“Vax is coming around in the same condition as you. When we released the grid, I was on the good side. The blast shredded from Kirek and the center toward Alara.”
“Alara?” His heart staggered, slipped, and tightened in a churning knot.
“Alara and Kirek are both in comas. Kirek took the worst of the blast, and his coma appears deeper.”
Pain slammed him. Xander wished he could slip back into unconsciousness. He didn’t want to face life without Alara. He didn’t want to have to tell Miri and Etru that their wonderful son hadn’t survived.
Xander forced himself to ask the question. “Prognosis?”
“Unknown. Ranth says their life signs are steady, but he doesn’t know if they made it back to their bodies. They are lost. Ranth says the Verazen shouldn’t enter hyperspace. He’s suggesting we leave their bodies in a shuttle orbiting Earth—just in case they make it back.”
Xander flung an arm over his eyes to hide his distress. At the thought of losing Alara, Xander felt as bleak as a Rystani winter. Although she was Endekian, although he’d tried to walk away from what they had together . . . he loved her. He’d been an idiot not to realize it. She might have biology that was all wrong for him and his career, but he loved her anyway.
It wasn’t logical. But there it was.
He loved her.
He’d been stupid not to tell her. Now, he might never have that chance.
As regrets lashed at him, he forced himself onto an elbow. Instinctively, he knew better than to use his tender psi. He had to go to her and Kirek.
The Federation couldn’t afford to lose Kirek. He had a mind and abilities like no one Xander had ever met. The kid and his psi had almost single-handedly held that grid. Even if the rest of their forces had been combined, they couldn’t have come close to matching Kirek’s power. Besides all that strength, the kid was well loved. Miri and Etru would have Xander’s head—no, they wouldn’t. Kirek’s parents wouldn’t blame Xander. They were good people. But they would grieve for the rest of their lives over the loss of their precious son.
Cyn protested his attempt to get up and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You’re too weak to—”
“Help me up.” Xander stood, leaning heavily on Cyn for support. “Take me to them.”
“They’re in Alara’s lab.”
Xander conc
entrated on placing one foot in front of the other. He ignored the pounding in his head, the tightness in his throat, his fear that he’d never talk to either of them again.
As a captain, he’d lost members of his crew. But never had the bodies lived on—with the spirits elsewhere. Was Alara alone and lost in the Zin galaxy? Was Kirek with her?
Or had the imploding wormhole destroyed them along with itself? Xander didn’t know.
As they slowly made their way to the lab, Ranth brought Xander up-to-date. “You have messages awaiting you from Kahn and Tessa, from the Federation Council, from Drik, and from Kirek’s parents. None are urgent.”
“I have kept Miri and Etru up-to-date on Kirek’s status, although there has been no change since you woke up,” Cyn told him.
Xander grunted an acknowledgment. As they walked, his muscles seemed to remember how to hold him up. By the time they’d reached the lab, he could remain upright on his own, although his heart was so heavy he thought it might crack. “I’ll go in alone.”
“All right.” Cyn seemed reluctant to leave him, but she also recognized his need to grieve. “Call if—”
“Thanks.” He stepped into the lab and immediately saw Alara across the chamber, lying too still. Kirek, just as still, was closer to Xander.
The kid—no, he might not be fully grown, but there was no denying he was now a man—was on a pallet, his eyes closed, his breathing shallow and steady. Xander kneeled beside him and grasped his hand.
“You did well.” He cleared his throat. “I’m proud of you. Your parents are proud of you. The Federation needs you, but it’s good for you to rest. You’ve earned a respite. When you’re ready, we will all be here for you.” Leaning forward, Xander placed his hand on Kirek’s forehead in an ancient gesture that preceded the Rystani healing circle. “Take your time, my friend. I’ll see to it your body is still here whenever you return.”
Saddened, Xander stood, blinked away tears, and headed across the lab to the woman who had come to mean so much to him he didn’t how he could go on without her.
Alara didn’t look quite as pale as Kirek. Or maybe that was hope making him see things that weren’t there. She also lay on a pallet, her eyes closed, her hands by her sides. He’d never seen her so still, silent. Even when asleep, she had more life in her than she did right now.
A lump rose in his throat as he sat beside this woman whom he’d come to know so well. From the first moment they’d seen each other, sparks had flown. The tension between them had been a connection he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge. But when had his admiration and respect turned to love? Had it been when she’d accepted him for a lover? Or when she’d agreed to join their mission? Or when she and Shannon had been taken prisoners on Lapau?
Or had it been when they’d merged their psi or their bodies? He certainly couldn’t pinpoint a time when his feelings had turned to love. He hadn’t even recognized that losing her would be akin to losing part of himself—perhaps the best part.
Another woman might have pressured him for answers. Instead, she’d told him her feelings, laid them bare. She had a sense of honor that allowed her to give him space to decide their future. He’d been an idiot not to realize how much she meant to him.
He couldn’t stand to see her lying so still and hated the helplessness that prevented him from doing something, anything, to help. If her mind was lost out there, he wanted to send out a beacon to help her find her way back.
But how?
Without much effort, Xander drew upon the pain of loss, the pain of sorrow, and astrally extended. Within moments, he left the Verazen far behind. He dipped down to the desert, but sensed no sign of her or Kirek. Where were they? Had they been caught in the blast, been sucked into the wormhole? Were they now lost in the Zin galaxy, far from home, far from their bodies, far from him?
Or had the blast shot them someplace closer? Xander crisscrossed the desert. He stretched across Earth’s southern continents. And found nothing.
He called to her, mentally projecting his thoughts. I did a lot of thinking, like you asked. I’d concluded we weren’t right for each other. You are Endekian, ruled by an alien biology. If we’d bonded, if your cells had adapted to mine once more, my death would have brought about your own.
Who would have thought he would be safe—and she the one dying? He circled the globe’s northern continents, grief and fury spurring him onward.
I didn’t like the responsibility that went with being with you. I don’t like your biology. I want my wife to come to me because she wants me, not because her hormones are at the high point of a biological cycle.
He paused over the northern snows, sensing nothing but emptiness. So I made the intellectual decision that we shouldn’t be together. And yet . . . despite my careful logic—I was wrong. Do you hear me, Alara? I was wrong. Because despite everything—I can’t imagine a future without you.
Are you sure?
Stars. She was alive. Hope gave him strength to keep searching. Although her mental communication sounded weak, she’d responded.
Where are you?
Here! Her aura rose straight from the Earth’s core. She’d never looked so beautiful, all golden and alive and shimmering with spirit as she joined him.
Are you all right?
The blast was about to catch me, but Kirek shielded me or I’d never have survived.
He’s with you? Xander didn’t see him. But perhaps Kirek had been thrown into the Earth’s core like Alara.
Her sorrow wound through their mental link. The blast shot Kirek in the opposite direction. Because he saved me, he might not return.
Let’s get you back to the ship and your body. Ranth says you’re in a coma.
I’m fine. I’ll be fine. She tried to reassure him through the link, but Xander wouldn’t believe her until he could hold her in his arms.
Together they soared into orbit, through the ship’s walls, back into their bodies. Her eyes flickered open to gaze into his.
He swallowed hard as love squeezed his chest so tight he could barely speak. “Stars. I thought . . . I . . .”
“Is everyone else safe?” she asked.
He told her about Earth, about the wormhole. Once he recovered his strength, he intended to astrally search for Kirek. Meanwhile, he enjoyed holding Alara’s hand, staring into her eyes, happy she was recuperating so quickly.
Ranth interrupted. “Captain, Kirek seems to be coming out of his coma. His prognosis is improving.”
“Great.” Xander prayed the boy would make a full recovery. He’d grown quite attached to Kirek and sensed the Federation still needed him. “Please inform Kirek’s parents of his progress.”
Alara turned to him. “Did you mean what you said when you were searching for me?”
“You heard?”
“How could I not?” She grinned. “Your mind link bellowed loud enough to reach me through the planet’s core.”
He drew her head into his lap, helped her to sip some water. “I meant every damn word. You see, I’ve figured out something. You aren’t the woman I would have picked. You aren’t the woman logic says I should want. But you are the woman I must have to be happy.”
She eyed him warily, and he supposed he couldn’t blame her. “What will your family think?”
“If my Rystani people could accept Tessa, a warrior from Earth, if my people could accept Dora, a computer who transported her personality into a female body, we will accept an Endekian.”
“What about your career?” Her eyes searched his as if afraid he hadn’t considered all the ramifications. “During every other year, we can’t be separated for long.”
“I don’t want to live apart—ever.” He smoothed back her hair. “After what you’ve done, my world will either allow you to continue your research aboard my ship, or I will seek an assignmen
t in Mystique’s space defense. Either way, we’ll be together all the time.”
“What about all your logical arguments that say we shouldn’t be together?” she asked, her eyes dancing with laughter.
“Logic isn’t as important as my love for you. I shouldn’t love you, but I do. I don’t seem to have a choice.” He said the words with conviction and gathered his woman close to his heart. “I love you, Alara. Even when I didn’t want to love you, I couldn’t help myself. I’ve loved you for a long time. I always will.”
Epilogue
CLARIE CAREFULLY lowered Delo to the floor of their ship. I told you they would succeed.
No need to gloat. Delo plugged into the ship and fed. They have merely won an insignificant battle in the coming conflict.
Insignificant? Not only did the Zin lose the wormhole, not only can the Zin no longer send their deadly viruses into the galaxy, the Verazen crew blasted them to atoms.
They’ll recover faster than your crucial player, who is damaged.
Kirek will heal and he will go on to meet his fate.
Why? Because you wish it?
Because it’s his destiny.
Pfft. It’s your will. Delo glowed as he absorbed power, his brown skin turning a burnished, glowing orange. We already know that will alone is not enough to defeat the Zin. The future—
Enough. The future of the galaxy always hinges on a few critical beings. There’s a stubborn Terran female salvage operator who requires a nudge to spacejack Kirek. Let me work.
Haven’t you meddled enough yet?
Clarie hummed contentedly. I’ve merely begun.
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