“Thank you for having mercy on me family.”
Ren swatted his hand away and looked him in the eye.
“You should never have to thank anyone for mercy.”
The rest of the family nodded to her, and she shut the door. Then she entered a command, and the pod ejected.
She slipped out of the hallway as an alarm sounded.
“Your Majesty, an escape pod has dismounted from the ship,” the ship’s skipper said. “We are attempting to recover it now.”
Ren looked around the bridge. It was empty, except for three soldiers. Grubeck and Dyne were sleeping. Outside, the golden escape pod glowed in the darkness.
“Find out who authorized it,” she said, pretending anger. “I want them brought to the bridge immediately.”
“Shall we continue our recovery of the pod?” the skipper asked.
“I want the person who released them on this bridge, NOW!” she screamed.
The skipper turned pale when he ran the code diagnostics.
“Um, Your Majesty…it appears to have been Lissa Grubeck.”
“Grubeck?” Ren asked. “I don’t believe you.”
“It’s her code,” the skipper said.
“Then get her up here,” Ren said. “Set coordinates for the center of the Rah Galaxy. We don’t have the time to recover the pod. They weren’t important, anyway.”
“Yes, m’am,” the skipper said.
The ship blasted into hyperspace, leaving the escape pod behind.
Ren sighed heavily, hoping maybe that this would help the family.
Despite all the cards stacked against her, maybe it would.
Maybe she could help.
Regardless, she was going to change her life.
She was going to make a difference.
Three soldiers carried Lissa Grubeck into the room. She struggled against them as they carried her to the center of the bridge, where Ren waited for her.
“What is the meaning of this?” Lissa asked.
“First, you try to make decisions for me,” Ren said, “then you give me shock therapy. And now this. Who do you think I am?”
Lissa laughed. “What are you referring to?”
“You let the family go,” Ren said.
“What!”
“The procedure logs show your code being used,” Ren said.
“I was asleep,” Lissa growled.
“Prove it,” she said.
“I…I…”
Lissa frowned. “You’re lying!”
“I won’t be wrapped up in your politics anymore,” Ren said. “Throw her out of the airlock.”
“No!” Lissa cried.
Dyne burst into the room.
“What the hell is going on here?”
Ren started walking to the airlock as the soldiers carried Lissa.
“Stay out of this,” Ren said.
“I’m not staying out of this,” Dyne said.
Ren balled her fists so hard her fingernails dug into her skin.
They reached the airlock.
“Throw her in the containment cell,” Ren said.
The soldiers obeyed and threw Lissa into the containment cell. A wall rose up in front of her, and the scientist beat against the glass.
“You can’t do this. You’re nothing without me, you little witch!”
“Listen,” Dyne said, grabbing Ren’s wrist tightly. “This wasn’t in the plan. It’s against empire protocol to—”
“To commit treason?” Ren asked. “Yeah, it is.”
“You’ll pay dearly for this, girl!” Lissa threatened.
“You will,” Dyne said. “She’s not lying.”
Ren looked away. She was shaking. Violently. She couldn’t control herself.
Why was she doing this?
Why was she going to stoop to their level?
Why?
Why?
No.
She calmed.
She smiled.
Walking over to the airlock controls, she entered a command into the control panel.
The containment wall dropped, and Lissa fell to her knees, sighing with relief.
“You made a good choice,” Dyne whispered. “A really good choice.”
“No!” Ren screamed.
With a rage and strength she didn’t know she had, she pushed him hard, and he stumbled back, crashing into Lissa.
She pushed a code into the control panel, and the containment cell wall rose.
Dyne screamed. “What the f—”
Ren typed in another code.
The outer airlock doors opened, and in slow motion, Lissa and Dyne were sucked into the dark vacuum of space, reaching for something, anything.
Ren turned away, waited until the airlock doors closed.
“Your Majesty, if you decide to change your mind,” the skipper said, “you’ve got a good minute before they’re beyond saving.”
Ren hushed him.
Then she put up her hand, and counted out loud.
“Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven…”
Silence spread across the soldiers, who tried to look calm despite their frazzled faces.
She continued counting down.
“Forty-five…forty-four…forty-three…”
She tried to think of her childhood, the days that were stolen away from her. The long, boring days in class that she spent listening to the hive teacher…
“Thirty-two, thirty one, thirty…”
She thought of Harlow. His soft skin. His lips against hers. The feeling of wild strength that rushed through her when they held hands, that fearless “I can take on the world” feeling.”
“Twenty four, twenty three…”
It was all gone now. All of it. She couldn’t go home. She couldn’t go back to the way things were. It made her angry. It made her sad.
“Sixteen, fifteen, fourteen…”
She was the Empress now. Goddamn it, she was the fucking empress now, with electric volts in her brain and more power than anyone should have ever had!
“Eleven, ten, nine…”
They had been trying to control her. They had been trying to mold her into what they thought an empress should be, in the lineage of all that had come before her.
If they wanted someone different, they should have picked someone different. Why should they have picked her? Evolution? Screw the damn lottery system. Screw it, screw it, screw it all to hell—
“Five, four, three…”
Maybe she’d be able to get something done as empress. Maybe she’d be able to do something for the thousands living in the shadows of all the double standards. Maybe she’d be the best empress in the history of the empire. Maybe she’d be the worst.
But she was going to make a difference.
If her life was worth nothing, she was okay with that. But not everyone’s life was worthless. Not everyone deserved a ragged fate like this. No other girl should ever have to go through this!
The skipper put a hand on her shoulder.
“Your Majesty, it’s too late.”
Ren looked out the window. Lissa and Dyne’s bodies floated lifelessly in space.
She sighed.
The weight of their souls hung heavy on her own. Yet, it didn’t feel so bad.
“I’ve changed my mind,” she said.
The skipper’s eyes widened. “But I just said—”
“Not about them,” Ren said. “About all of this.”
“All of what, Your Majesty?”
“This war. Turn back. Tell all of our ships to return home.”
“But we made a deal with the Arguses,” the skipper said. “We agreed to be their backup defense. If we abandon them, they will be exposed—”
“We no longer have the Puente family,” Ren said. “And therefore no alliance.”
“But Your Majesty—”
“Let them fend for themselves,” Ren said.
She gave the skipper a death stare.
“Are you going to be a
problem?” she asked.
“Uh, no, m’am.”
“Then let’s go,” she said.
As she walked toward the bridge, her robes flowing, the soldiers fell in line behind her, filling the hallway with the rhythm of their boots.
38
“We’re just outside the danger zone of Regina VII,” Eddie said, cutting off the warship engine.
Regina VII twinkled in the distance.
“Well, what do we do now?” Keltie asked.
“The signal from Florian’s ship is gone,” Miller said, consulting his tablet. “Our scanners last saw it right around this area.”
“He could be anywhere, then,” Devika said.
“I don't like the idea of waiting around,” Grayson said.
Michiko tapped Grayson on the shoulder and gasped.
Blinking eyes appeared in the darkness of space.
“Not good,” Keltie said.
“They're coming for us!” Michiko cried.
“That means we must be on the right track,” Devika said.
Eddie took the joystick and prepared to fly away, but the Planet Eaters seized the ship, and the red eyes stuck to the windshield, blinking.
“Activate the weapons,” Devika ordered.
Grayson, in the gunner’s chair, fired the ship's guns.
But the bullets entered the Planet Eaters and disappeared.
“Not good,” Grayson said. “Any other plans?”
“Get ready!” Michiko cried.
The Planet Eaters opened their mouths, and they swallowed the ship.
39
Michiko braced herself as the warship entered the netherscape.
She remembered the negative light. She would never forget it.
The ship moved, then stopped. Moved, then stopped. The very rhythm made her remember her first visit here.
The light was too bright; she couldn't see anything. But she knew what was coming.
“It's okay for now, everyone,” she said. “They're just ingesting us.”
“Fantastic,” Keltie said.
The light faded. Outside, the negative netherscape grew clearer.
A rocky, barren landscape.
She gulped.
The last time she had been here, her three friends had died. Ashley, Rudy, and Hassan. They were the reason she was here, the reason she was back. Yet she didn't feel any more powerful.
The sucking mouths roared.
MAWHRGH!
MAWHRGH!
MAWHRGH!
“Those things sound vicious,” Grayson said.
“They are,” Michiko said. “But they're just mouths. They've already done their damage to us.”
“You're making me feel wonderful,” Keltie said.
The ship touched down, sliding on its belly. It came tossed stop, leaning forward.
Outside, the dust settled and all was quiet.
“There's oxygen outside,” Eddie said, reading the ship’s oxygen levels.
“Hold on,” Grayson said. “Are we even sure we want to go out there? Looks like a death sentence to me.”
“We have no choice,” Devika said. “I don't know why, but I know we will find Florian.”
“Hope you're right,” Grayson said.
They walked into the airlock. Eddie opened the doors, and the negative light blinded them for a moment.
Then they stepped outside.
Refugio was above, a crumbling moon in the sky.
Eddie whimpered when he saw it.
“Keep your cool,” Grayson said, pasting Eddie on the back. “Gonna be okay, man.”
Eddie stared up at the broken moon. Then he nodded.
“You're right,” he said.
“Over there,” Devika said, pointing to a settlement in the distance.
Upon seeing it, Keltie turned pale.
“What is it?” Grayson asked.
“It's…it’s…”
Keltie hyperventilated.
“Guys, we got trouble!” Miller shouted, pointing behind the ship.
A cluster of gray figures fell through the sky toward them.
“This is the part where we run,” Smoke said.
They ran toward the settlement as the gray figures chased them.
40
Keltie took Grayson’s hand as they ran toward the settlement. She wished she could have told him that she'd seen it before, that her life changed irrevocably and forever there.
Was it the same place?
Had she been there?
“Incoming!” Grayson cried.
He and Keltie dove to the ground as one of the figures swooped at them. It missed them by inches and wheeled back up into the sky.
A figure grabbed Michiko, but Smoke pulled her away from it.
“Faster!” Devika shouted.
Keltie’s lungs were pulsing. She hadn't run this fast in ages. Not since she was here last.
They reached the settlement. The gray figures swirled upward and vanished in the sky.
“What was that all about?” Grayson asked, panting. They leaned on each other, trying to catch their breaths.
“Don’t know, but I’m happy to see them go,” Michiko said. “Last time I visited, those things cut my journey short.”
Eddie pointed to the settlement, and Keltie got a good close look. Her blood turned into ice water in her veins; she wanted to turn around and run away. Maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad if the gray figures captured her!
Suddenly she couldn’t speak. She could only stammer.
The settlement was staged to look like what a human settlement might if the planet were colonized. Exactly the kind of stagings she did as an interplanetary real estate agent.
And it was still the same. In fact, nothing had changed. The false buildings made to look like pod-style homes, the circular rock fountain in the center of town that didn’t work, the greenhouse at the back of the lot with trees and flowers growing inside.
And the dirt. It crunched the same. Had the same glittering particles of rock in it. The only thing that was different was that she wasn’t in a spacesuit. She didn’t need one. Somehow, there was oxygen here.
Smoke took a few steps into the settlement, folded his arms, and looked around. He tapped a wooden sign on the fountain. In golden letters, it read ‘Welcome, Charsworth & Clan.’
“Must’ve been somebody’s last welcome,” Smoke said.
“It’s the same,” Keltie said finally.
“What’s the same?” Grayson asked.
“This place,” she said, walking to the fountain. She ran her finger along its smooth, rocky base. “Everything is the same.”
“You mean Kepler?” Grayson asked.
She nodded.
“This is the settlement where…the Planet Eaters attacked,” Keltie said.
“Yikes,” Eddie said. “No wonder you turned as pale as a napkin when you saw this place.”
“If that’s true,” Miller said, “then we’re walking in a crime scene, folks.”
“You and your police protocol,” Smoke said. “Laws don’t work here.”
“The hell they don’t,” Miller said.
The wind blew harshly, silencing them.
“Well, what does all of this mean?” Grayson asked after a few moments of silence.
“It means that the Planet Eaters aren’t really Planet Eaters,” Keltie said, thinking. “They’re more like Planet Swallowers.”
“Hmm, doesn’t have the same ring to it,” Michiko said.
“The question is, why are they swallowing planets?” Devika asked. “And the second, more important question is, what does Florian have to do with all of this?”
Michiko took a stone and tossed it along the barren soil. The rock skipped, jumped and struck a wall. The plunky sound reverberated throughout the netherscape, traveling far.
“I vote we keep exploring,” Devika said. “There’s bound to be something here. We need to keep our eyes open for an escape route.”
“There isn’t mu
ch to see,” Keltie said. “All of the buildings here are false.”
“Well, let’s have a look around, anyway,” Devika said. “It won’t hurt.”
“No need to look,” Smoke said, pointing.
A shadow stood in the path to the greenhouse. It had been watching them.
Keltie jumped at the sight of it.
The shape…
The hair…blonde hair…falling down to the shoulders…
High heels…
Slender figure….
“Keltie, I never thought I would see you again,” the figure said.
Keltie gasped.
It was her best friend, Claire Westington. And she was smiling.
41
Keltie couldn’t believe that she was staring her best friend in the face.
Claire was just as beautiful as ever—silk blue button-up blouse with a black blazer over it, and the same chevron necklace that Keltie had given her two years ago. She looked like she was at a real estate showing.
“I thought you had died,” Claire said.
Keltie ran forward with her arms open wide.
But Claire did not move.
Keltie stopped. Grayson pulled her back.
Shadows emerged from the buildings around the settlement.
Keltie recognized the faces.
A young man in a blue sport coat, smooth black hair.
“Alistair!” Keltie cried.
Her loan officer. The colleague she’d spent more time with than her own family. He was still handsome, with the same freckles on his face, and the same cocky gait and the same white smile.
She recognized her other colleagues.
“Kamala! Emina! My god, I can’t believe it!”
“Good to see you, Keltie,” Alistair said. “Looks like we all came out of this okay.”
“Kel, don’t take this the wrong way,” Grayson whispered, “but something ain’t right.”
Keltie pushed him away and walked toward the group.
“I thought you all died,” she said. “I was sure the Planet Eaters had killed you. I was so scared out of my mind. You have no idea how many nights I have woken up in a cold sweat, thinking about you. All of you. And now that you’re alive, I—”
Her voice broke and she apologized, looking away.
“It’s okay,” Claire said. “We were worried about you, too.”
Horizon Down (Galaxy Mavericks Book 9) Page 15