“I’m glad you’re coming with us,” he admitted, then felt compelled to question her, “but are you sure you’re ready to go?”
Chapter Nine
“ENGINEERING?” Zical asked from his station on the bridge as Dora watched him prepare to take the starship Verazen into Osarian space. Finally, the ship was ready for the mission. Dora hoped she was ready, too.
The Osarian planet occupied a unique position in the galaxy, its orbit located equidistant between two black stars, creating a slingshot effect into hyperspace that could save on fuel and increase their speed, enough to take centuries off their journey. The Verazen was a brand-new ship, and therefore untested over the distance and speeds they intended to fly.
Using the ship’s drive alone, the journey would take half their suit-extended lifetimes. So they would navigate the deep Osarian gravity well, plunging closer than anyone had ever done to the black holes before swinging into hyperspace. One miscalculation and the immense gravity could haul in the ship and squash the hull like a mud flea, or fling them in the wrong direction and add additional light-years to their journey. Piloting and navigation had to be exact, the engines tuned to perfection.
Despite the tension on the bridge, Dora was determined to remain as professional as the rest of the crew. She’d been in hyperspace more times than she could count, but never with a body. Since hyperspace was known to increase sensation of all five senses, she braced for the additional stimuli. Some races sickened and had to be drugged into a sleep state, but humans adapted, even if they suffered a bit of nausea at first. Tessa had advised Dora to lower her suit temperature and keep her eyes peeled on the viewscreen, but she focused on Zical, enjoying the opportunity to observe him.
The Rystani captain leaned eagerly forward, his posture erect, his head high, his eyes bright with anticipation. On land Zical was a formidable man, but the helm of a starship was his natural element and where he came alive. Dora had accompanied him on every mission and enjoyed the sparkle of anticipation in his eyes that went so well with how he led his officers in a calm manner. She also enjoyed his gaze sweeping over her, as if to make certain she was okay, as if he wasn’t able to treat her like just another crew member. On the rare occasions when their glances met, she appreciated the approval he reflected back at her for a job she did well.
“Engineering is a go.” Cyn, the chief engineer, a skilled woman from Scartar, patted her console and spoke under her breath to her engines as if they required soothing encouragement. An exotic warrior-woman with arms as muscular as a Rystani hunter, she came from a matriarchal society where women ruled. During her computer days, Dora had been a vital part of this crew during missions to evacuate refugees from Rystan, and she knew that Cyn had no difficulties taking orders from a man. With her fierce looks, muscular body, and easygoing personality, the green-skinned Cyn had a reputation for real genius when it came to making repairs, and her underlings adored her.
“Navigation?” Zical’s face appeared calm, but Dora noted the growing glitter of excitement in his gaze. The man loved adventure but didn’t like to admit enjoying the risk-taking side of his personality. Instead, he usually projected an air of responsible leadership, but in a moment like this one, his true character showed. He was impatient to see what was out there, to go somewhere no Rystani had ever gone, and his excitement stirred a matching one inside her.
She was risking her life for a shot at love, and exhilaration mixed with the dangerous tension in her belly. Dora held her breath, the moments passing by too fast, and yet contradictorily much too slowly. Hyperspace was unstable. No one from the Federation had gone out as far as they planned and returned to tell about their journey—at least not in the last few hundred thousand years. However, her physical safety was of a lesser concern to her than the emotional risk she’d taken by insisting on accompanying Zical.
Instinctively, she’d known they’d needed time together. She hoped the friendship they shared would grow as the journey progressed. While she was eager to experience passion with Zical, she also wanted her feelings to deepen. She wanted to earn his respect and his admiration as well as his lust, and she wouldn’t stand a chance of accomplishing her goal if she’d remained behind on Mystique.
“We’re keyed in the groove.” Ranth’s voice, steady and crisp, helped Dora steady her jumpy nerves.
Zical went down his checklist, his commanding demeanor reassuring. “Weapons?”
“Locked down tight.” The Rystani warrior Vax had been Zical’s second-in-command for the past three years during the transfer of Rystani colonists to Mystique. Serious, loyal, Vax followed orders without question. Short for a Rystani, he nevertheless possessed a broad chest, wide shoulders, and was a fierce competitor at Famat, a complex gambling game that taxed mind and spirit, and he could down large quantities of alcohol without it seeming to effect his judgment.
“Communications?”
Shannon Walker, a quiet Terran woman, handled her station with an ease that belied her age. She’d become a widow due to an accident in space. She admitted to the spry age of sixty, but Dora knew her to be closer to eighty—a mere youngster considering the suits increased Terran lifespans to close to a thousand years—unless they died in an accident.
Nothing was more dangerous than hyperspace.
Dora tensed, knowing this part of the journey and the exit in the uncharted territory were probably the most dangerous times of the mission, since that’s when they were most vulnerable. Hyperspace inside the Federation was usually stable, unless a local star went supernova, unless a black hole destabilized the region, unless a worm hole blasted hyperspace to shreds and their ship along with it.
Telling herself that she would be dead before she knew what happened and that she’d suffer no pain didn’t help. Dora had too many things she wanted to do before she died. Sheesh. She hadn’t even made love—an item on the top of her to-do list. But human sexuality was complicated, especially when mixed with stubborn Rystani males.
“Computer?” Zical interrupted Dora’s thoughts. As he asked for her report, he didn’t look at her, carefully treating her exactly the same as his other crew.
“All systems are operational.” Pleased that she sounded calm, Dora suspected her effort was destroyed by an eye tick. Sometimes rubbing the muscles around the eye helped, but she didn’t like to be obvious about her disability and turned her head away from the others … and caught sight of … something that didn’t belong on the bridge.
“Five seconds to hyperspace.” Cyn counted down the jump sequence.
The bridge, shaped like a pancake, was positioned on top of the living quarters with the engines in the lower decks. The inside was compact with large viewscreens around the circumference, each station consisting of equipment monitors, consoles, and vidscreens to show other sections of the ship as well as the exterior view. Right now the stars appeared stationary, but once in hyperspace they’d streak past the windows. For the shift from normal space, the crew didn’t depend on their suits alone to keep them safe but webbed in with safety straps, although once in hyperspace they could move about freely.
“Three seconds.”
“Two.”
However, behind the webbing that extended from the ceiling to the floor, was something, someone too small to be a crew member. With the creature’s suit matched in color to the webbing to camouflage its presence, Dora would never have spied the intruder if she hadn’t angled her head down to rub her eye. Perhaps she was seeing things. Surely Ranth’s upgraded sensors would have noted an alien presence, so Dora hesitated to say anything, unwilling to trust her human eyes.
Could the fear in her gut be causing hallucinations?
“One second.”
The creature moved.
Dora braced for the hyper jump, but still warned the others. “Intruder on board.”
“Security alert.” Vax issued the warning through the ship’s com.
“Where?” Zical asked, turning his head to her with a frown.
The ship jumped out of normal space, and their hyperdrive kicked in along with the slingshot effect from the gravity well’s release. To Dora the impact of hyperspace was like a kick in the gut. Her hearing picked up every hull vibration. Colors sharpened. The air in her lungs seemed crisper. The hair on her arms stood on end. Due to the intensity of her untried senses, the silhouette of the intruder appeared to blur, causing her to wonder if she’d seen anything at all.
Perhaps, her seeing movement was simply a side effect of hyperspace. They were traveling faster, farther than anyone in the Federation had ever before. The speed was more than her human brain could comprehend, and although it seemed impossible, they’d already passed four percent of the way through the galaxy.
Ranth disagreed with Dora’s alert. “My sensors haven’t picked up an intruder.”
Nothing Ranth could have said could have upset her more. Since her transformation, Dora had had trouble adjusting to her human eyes, which only looked forward and somewhat to the sides. Ranth could see everywhere. He could note an alien presence in dozens of ways. He could hear breathing, sense their body heat. Pick up any number of clues on his scanners and internal sensors.
“Dora,” Zical eyed her, his expression worried. “Where’s the intruder? Talk to us.”
Obviously, Zical and the rest of the crew didn’t see it hiding. But she could still see a blurred silhouette in the webbing. So either her eyes were faulty, or she was going insane. Or the hyperspace speed was playing tricks with her sight. But then something moved again. She was about to raise her hand and point, when the creature emerged from hiding.
Not a creature.
A boy.
Kirek.
Oh, no. The rascal had sneaked aboard. His parents were going to be furious. Zical would no doubt give the boy a good tongue-lashing for his antics.
Relieved she wasn’t crazy or that her eyes had not somehow malfunctioned, Dora rubbed her forehead, which was beginning to pound from the intense hyperspace vibrations. At least the ship hadn’t disintegrated from the enormous forces. Her attention focused on Kirek, who looked both sheepish and not-so-innocent, but ready to own up to his actions.
How had a four-year-old boy avoided the most sophisticated ship’s sensors known to the Federation?
Security double-timed onto the bridge, weapons drawn. When they spied Kirek, they lowered their weapons before Zical gave the order to stand down.
“We are on the mark, Captain,” Vax reported from his station.
“Hull temperature rose four degrees. Nothing we can’t handle.” Cyn retracted the webbing, leaving Zical to deal with his stowaway.
“Inform Miri and Etru that their son is with us,” Zical ordered his communications officer.
Shannon nodded. “Aye, sir, but their response will take some time due to our considerable progress.”
Zical approached the boy and kneeled to look him in the eyes. “What are you doing here?”
“And how did he avoid Ranth’s sensors?” Dora asked.
“You need me.” Kirek answered Zical with the tone of a toddler, but the demeanor of an adult.
“Your parents need you,” Zical told him.
“Ranth, are your sensors picking up Kirek now?” Dora asked.
“Yes. But it’s as if he’s decided to allow me to scan him. I have no explanation.”
Zical arched a brow and waited for the child to say more. Dora wasn’t so sure he could explain, but she admired Zical’s patience.
However, Kirek was not just unusual for a child, he was unique. As the only human being known to have been born in hyperspace, he’d exhibited signs of maturation and genius early. His psi was extraordinarily strong for an adult, never mind a child, and his intelligence was off all measurable charts.
“I can cloak myself from machines,” Kirek said.
So he did have an explanation.
“How?” Zical asked.
“I’ll show you.” Kirek stood there in front of them. Nothing changed.
“He isn’t gone, is he?” Ranth asked.
“He’s right here.” Zical tousled the boy’s hair.
“He’s disappeared from my sensors. I can’t get a reading,” Ranth sounded more intrigued than disturbed.
“Kirek?” Zical’s tone was curious, but not the least bit anxious.
“He’s back on my sensors now,” Ranth reported.
“We’ll have to turn around to take him home.” Zical plucked the boy into his arms.
Dora understood that Zical was disappointed by the huge delay in their journey, but his arms around Kirek remained gentle, his tone kind, his demeanor compassionate. After they’d made good use of the Osarian black holes, their speed was incredible. Although they’d just left, to brake their ship, then turn around and retrace their flight path without the slingshot effect would take years.
Kirek squirmed. “My presence is necessary to this mission. Without me, you will fail.”
Such a serious, grown-up prediction, like that of a prophet, coming from the mouth of a little boy seemed incongruous, but Zical hesitated. “How do you know we need you?”
“I just do.” Kirek wriggled down and looked up at him beseechingly, his big blue eyes both wise and sad.
Dora wanted to tell the boy everything would be fine. This wasn’t his quest. He should have time to be a kid before he placed himself in jeopardy on a dangerous mission. Yet, clearly Kirek had never been a normal kid. Even before his birth, the family had all been aware of his strong psi presence. Since then, he seemed to have an inner quality that radiated from him—like a wise, old soul.
“Shannon. How’s that hyperlink call to Etru coming?” Zical frowned at Kirek. “I’m not taking you anywhere without your father’s permission.”
Kirek didn’t argue. Instead, he stood too still for a child, his expression serene, his chubby cheeks set, his demeanor calm.
When his father’s face finally appeared on the vidscreen, Kirek’s expression filled with love. “Hi, Dad. Told you they wouldn’t find me.”
“You knew this child intended to stow away aboard my ship?” Zical’s tone rose in astonishment.
It was two days before they heard Etru’s reply, and in those two days they’d traveled a third of the way to their final destination. Ranth reconstructed the conversation with questions and answers in real time so it seemed like a normal conversation. But in reality, one side spoke asking question after question in an initial message. Much later, Etru answered those questions in one long reply.
“I knew Kirek intended to try and sneak aboard,” Etru admitted. “I thought the sensors would catch him and he’d learn a good lesson.” Proud and sad, Etru spoke with Zical, but his gaze focused hungrily on his son. Etru and Miri had conceived the child late in life, and Kirek would likely be their only offspring.
Zical shrugged. “As you can see, he’s learned how to fool Ranth’s sensors. We haven’t yet discerned how.”
“Dad, I must stay. They need me.” Kirek repeated his words, and they sounded no less a prophecy this time than the last.
Zical spoke to Etru. “We’re exploring unknown territory and may not return for centuries.” He paused, and everyone on the bridge heard the words the captain didn’t speak. That they might not ever come back. “Your son will miss his schooling—”
“I’ve already passed the required courses,” Kirek told him.
Dora knew that Kirek was being modest. The kid was way beyond the university level in physics and math. But it wasn’t his vast store of knowledge that impressed her, but the connections he could draw with a limited amount of facts. As Tessa would say, the kid could think outside the box—a trait both precious and unique.
Ranth piped in. “I will instruct him with his studies during his time aboard the Verazen.”
“We don’t have other children here.” Zical protested with a deep frown. “Without playmates, his social skills will not be adequate.”
Kirek shook his head. “Kids my age
still play in the sandlot. We don’t have much in common except physical size.”
“I’ll watch out for him,” Dora offered, knowing of all the crew, she had the most time to spare. Although Kirek didn’t need parents, he needed someone to love him, and she thought maybe she could do that.
Shannon spoke with the voice of experience, “Boys his age aren’t any trouble if you keep them busy.”
Zical’s scowl said that Kirek was already trouble, but to his credit he didn’t disagree. His gaze swept across to Dora as if asking her opinion on whether or not it was a good decision to let him stay. They exchanged a long glance, and she nodded yes, pleased she could figure out his silent question, pleased the rapport she’d often shared with Zical when she’d been a computer hadn’t completely vanished with her humanity. When Kirek had proclaimed they needed him, an answering chord inside her agreed. Something she couldn’t verbalize with logic. Was this a hunch? She didn’t know, but her gut agreed with her head, even if she couldn’t give a logical reason.
Vax offered. “I’ll teach him to fight.”
Zical was wavering. “Etru, he’s your child. It’s your decision.”
Already their speed was so great that even if they slowed, stopped, and turned around using their regular hyperdrive, Kirek would likely be an adult long before they could return.
A tear escaped Etru’s eye. “I love you, son. Your mother and I will miss you.”
“Thanks. You’re going to be proud of me.”
“I already am.” Etru’s wrinkled face was now shiny with tears that he didn’t attempt to hide. “Be careful and come back safe.” Etru ended the communication and the screen went blank.
“Hold on.” Zical scowled at the little boy. “If you’re joining this crew, you must agree to take orders from me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I want your promise that you won’t hide from Ranth unless you’re working with him to figure out how you cloak from his sensors.”
Rystani Warrior 02 - The Dare Page 13