“I wouldn’t try.”
Unhelpfully, Joely said, “I hope they aren’t able to get any leverage to force them.” Everyone looked at her, and she stammered, “I - I mean, yeah. Never mind.”
The pilot looked back to Theyn. “Is that all, Your Highness?”
“Almost. Our belongings were left on the Cyclops. We would like them back.”
She nodded. “My wingmate brought them when they returned to Itzela. I can have them sent to you.”
“It would be much appreciated.”
Elina bowed her head to them and left the suite, locking the door behind her as she left.
Asa spoke for them all. “This is some bullshit, man.”
A sealed box was delivered to the suite within the hour, and when they opened it, they found Beno’s bag with the stolen money, his glove, and all of the equipment he had taken from the Taluan probe. Their extra clothing was also included, along with the toiletries and groceries the men had purchased back when they were staying in the motel.
“Ramen?” Joely said. “Seriously? They gave you Ramen?”
“I bought it. It was cheap,” Theyn defended.
Beno pulled his glove over his right hand and flexed his fist. A sparkle of light coursed over his palm as he activated the mechanism. “Perfect.”
“What does that do?” Asa asked.
“It plays hell with electrical fields,” the dark Ylian answered.
“Okay. And that’s useful how?”
Theyn gathered up the bags and the Taluan artifacts while Beno walked to the door. He pushed his palm against the pressure pad. The lock clicked and the door sprang open. “That’s how. Come on.”
The five of them hurried out into the corridor, moving as stealthily as they could. They turned one corner, then another, and had nearly reached the long hallway leading to the courtyard when they heard voices approaching. Theyn and Beno crowded the three humans into their arms and camouflaged, and a trio of uniformed hybrid females passed by them, oblivious. When the three women were well out of earshot, they dropped their invisibility.
They hurried along the white marble hallway, trying hard to stay quiet. Beno was in the lead, listening with his ears as well as with his telepathy. It was clear that none of them really knew where they were going, and they would be lucky to find the way out before they ran into a guard or worse.
Beno stopped short and held up a hand. The rest of the party stopped, Joely colliding with Asa’s backside as she did.
“Sorry,” she whispered. Sera shot her friend a caustic look, and she instantly closed her mouth.
Footsteps came around the corner, and Heron, the queen’s hybrid husband, came trotting into view. He stopped short when he saw them standing there, liberated from their prison. His mouth dropped open, and then he closed it again.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“We need to get out of here,” Theyn told him. “We have to find a way to stop the Taluans from coming, and we can’t do that from a prison cell.”
“You’re going to contact the human governments, like you suggested.”
“Yes. It’s the only chance we have.”
He considered for a moment, then said, “There is an exit to the city through the Men’s Quarters. Follow me.”
He turned and led them away at speed, and they hurried to keep up. As they walked, Sera asked, “Why are you helping us?”
“I’m half human,” he said simply. “I want to help you save this world. If that means letting you leave to make contact with someone who can help build the second cloaking machine, then so be it.”
“Apfira won’t be pleased with your involvement,” Sera warned.
“That’s my concern, not yours.” He led them to a towering set of double doors, ivory inlaid with silver. He gripped the doorknobs, an affectation that seemed archaic in the view of all of the Ylian technology throughout the place. He glanced at them. “What you see will not please you, but do not hesitate.”
He opened the doors and led them inside.
There was only one room, long and narrow like a ward room or barracks. There were narrow beds along both walls, and on each was a full-blooded male Ylian. They were in various stages of undress, clearly drugged out of their minds, and connected to their bedframes with chains made of softly glowing yellow energy that wrapped around their ankles.
“What the hell?” Asa began. “We can’t – “
“We can and we must,” Theyn said. “When we come back, if we come back, we will free them. We cannot do it now.”
“What is going on here?” Sera demanded of Heron.
The hybrid led them rapidly down the length of the chamber. “When the first Ylians arrived on Bruthes, the males - and only the males – contracted a retrovirus that bonded with the Y chromosome. Every Y chromosome thereafter has been tainted by this virus. As a result, the males have lost the ability to merge and to partner. It’s left them sterile.”
“That’s why the females mate with humans and Bruthesans,” Theyn guessed.
Heron nodded as he reached another set of double doors. “Your DNA hasn’t been affected by the virus. That’s why the queen wants you to breed so badly.”
“But if we go to Bruthes, won’t we become infected?” Beno asked.
“Not if they send you in a sealed biosuit, or keep you in a quarantine zone. The virus has largely been eradicated on Bruthes, but it’s too late for anyone with Ylian DNA…except the two of you.” He opened the second set of doors. “I believe that the Burning One decreed that Ylians should die out, and that is why the Phoenix allowed this to happen. Humans, though, are still thriving, and deserve a chance to continue to exist.”
Sera looked back at the men. “Why are they still here, and drugged this way?”
“Lady Tayne is experimenting on ways to force artificial merging. She’s also experimenting on ways of reversing the damage done by the virus,” he explained. “I am a trained biochemist, and I’ve been helping her, but the ethics are…shaky. Some of her treatments are damaging and painful, physically and psychically. Forced merging is not a pretty thing.”
The implications were sobering, and Sera shook her head in disgust. “This is so wrong.”
Beno held up his hand, displaying the glove. “We need more of these.”
Heron nodded and said, “Wait here.”
They watched as he hurried away. When he had left the room, Theyn went to one of the prisoners and knelt beside him, his hand pressed to the man’s solar plexus. Instead of the golden glow that normally arose when he or Beno tried to use their healing ability, the energy reverberated from the sleeping man in shades of green and black, twisting like smoke around his hand. He pulled away as if he’d been burned.
“Maybe don’t do that again.” Sera shook her head. “This is horrible.”
“It proves to me that I’m right to do what I’ve been planning,” Theyn said. “This is not the Ylian way. This is an abomination.”
Heron returned with a handful of gloves like the one Beno wore. He gave one to each of them. As they put them on, Beno said, “I can teach you to use these, but right now just wear them.”
Nobody complained. Heron watched for a moment, then said, “Through this door is another corridor, and another door. You’ll need to disrupt the magnetic field on the lock to get through. It will lead outside and into a service approach for the palace. Follow it east. In three miles, it will take you to the docking bay.”
“Thank you,” Sera said. “You’ve been a huge help. I hope you don’t get in trouble because of this.”
He straightened. “It’s time I took a stand. If I get in trouble, then maybe that will keep them distracted while you go for help.”
Beno said, “We will return for you when we’re able.”
“Don’t make promises that you can’t keep,” he warned. “When you get to the docking bay, the light cruisers will be on your left. They’re all pass coded with the last true Empress’s name. Good luck.”
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He returned to the interior of the palace and left them at the door to the city. Beno pushed against the lock plate with his glove, and a low whine betrayed the powering down of the mechanism. He pushed the door open and looked around outside, then waved them out when he was sure the way was clear.
The service street was narrow but clean, nothing like the alleys and service drives that Sera had seen in the past. Beno’s eyes widened as he spied something toward the west, and he jogged off in that direction.
“Hey!” Joely hissed after him. “Where are you going? He said east!”
There was a hovercar parked in the alley, and Sera watched as her mate used his glove to break in. He got behind the controls and piloted the vehicle over to where they stood.
“Get it, and be quick. We’ll obviously have a better chance of outrunning them in this thing than on foot.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Asa said, climbing aboard.
Theyn waited and helped Joely and Sera into the vehicle before he climbed in himself. Joely plopped down beside Asa and griped, “Whatever happened to being a Texas gentleman and ladies first?”
Asa had the good grace to look embarrassed. “We were in a hurry and I was in front of you. I didn’t want to block the door.”
Sera rolled her eyes and slid aside to give Theyn room. He sat beside her, his backside barely hitting the seat before Beno hit the throttle and sent the car hurtling down the road.
“You’re going to attract attention,” Sera warned.
“We already have attention.” He pointed to the screen display showing the streetscape behind them. Three hovercars were veering to tail them. He gunned it again and zipped ahead of their pursuers, plunging into the busy traffic of the city, driving against the flow.
Hovercars swerved wildly to get out of the way. Beno gripped the controls and pulled up, soaring into the air above the street, avoiding collisions by a hair’s breadth. One of their pursuers was not as fortunate and ended its chase by plowing head-on into another vehicle.
Watch below us, Beno told Sera. Theyn, behind. Link up.
She looked down at the street level, watching as the ground sped away beneath them at dizzying speed. She could feel Theyn’s mind touching hers, and then Beno connecting with both of them. With a lurch, she could suddenly see through all three sets of eyes, and the information overload made her stomach flop. It was too much, too fast, and it was all she could do to keep watching the ground.
“I’m gonna hurl,” she groaned. Theyn put his hand on her shoulder and steadied her energies, easing her nausea.
The remaining two pursuers followed them into the sky. Beno banked hard around the spire of a tall building, increasing speed. Joely yelped and grabbed the seat with a death grip. The hovercars on their tail kept pace, swooping around obstacles and staying close.
Through Theyn’s eyes, Sera saw a long cylinder slide out of the nose of one of the pursuing hovercars, a green light blinking on its tip. She felt a flash of alarm from her mates, and then Beno plunged back toward the city, getting out of the way just as a grappling hook shot out from the cylinder. The hovercar’s engine whined in protest as he braked precipitously, falling back so that the pursuers flew past overhead.
He turned hard to the left, skimming just above the flow of traffic on a tree-lined avenue. Sera thought she could have reached out and touched some of the cars below them, they were so close. Beno swerved to avoid an overhanging tree branch, then banked again, this time to the right. The docking bay was in view now.
So were their pursuers, who had doubled back and caught up with them again. The hovercar with the grappling hook went high, the hook dangling down like a fishing line, trying to snag them from above while the second pursuer readied a hook of its own. Beno increased speed again, and their vehicle started to rattle and shake, pushed to its limits.
“Oh God,” Joely whined.
The second hovercar lined them up in its sights. Beno pushed their vehicle skyward, taking them on a nearly vertical course. He streaked past the first hovercar at the same moment that the second fired its grappling hook. The hook missed them by a fraction but connected with the first pursuer. A heavy metal cable embedded into the side of the first hovercar, rocking it, and its dangling hook caught in the trees. Soon the two hovercars were tangled and spiraling down toward the ground.
Incredible flying, Theyn praised his partner.
The three-way mental connection ended, and Sera sagged with relief. Her head was pounding.
They made it to the docking bay and Beno put the hovercar on the ground near one of the shuttles. Theyn ran to its lock pad and punched in the name of the last Empress, Kina. The hatch opened.
“Everybody in,” Beno directed.
Asa helped a very unsteady Joely out of the hovercar while Beno assisted Sera. They boarded the shuttle and Theyn closed the door behind them. His partner sat at the controls and started the pre-launch sequence.
“Please tell me you’re going to be a little less crazy this time,” Joely begged.
Beno smirked. “I’ll try.”
The flight control officer contacted them through the ship’s communications link. “Shuttle S-14, you are not on the flight list. Power down.”
The engine hummed to life, and the shuttle lifted gently from its docking pad. A ground crew officer rushed toward them, waving her hands at them in a vain attempt to get them to stop. They flew over her head and headed toward the fog layer that concealed the island.
Commander Elina’s voice came over the comm line. “Tower, be advised that shuttle S-14 is replacing shuttle P-12 on the flight list. My oversight.”
The flight officer responded, her voice waspish. “Understood. Next time register all changes, Commander.”
“Noted. Shuttle S-14, may the Fire protect you.”
Beno spoke into the comm link. “Many thanks, Commander. The same to you.”
Asa frowned. “What was that all about? What’s with the change of heart?”
“I have no idea,” Theyn replied. “When we get back, we can ask her.”
The shuttle nosed into the concealment cloud. The fog swallowed them, thicker than when they’d come through it before. It seemed to cling to the shuttle with greedy fingers, reluctant to let them through. The engine rumbled as Beno pushed it harder, combatting the way the fog slowed them down.
They were lost in the grey cloud for a long, nervous moment, but then burst through the other side, emerging into dazzling sunlight that danced and sparkled on the water below. Theyn leaned forward and activated a navigation command screen. Sera watched in fascination as he typed in a search prompt. Almost immediately, a visual image of the Cyclops appeared on the front screen, projected there as a hologram.
“Laying in the course,” Theyn said. “We should be at the ship in less than an hour.”
Sera sat back and closed her eyes, her hand resting on her abdomen. Her stomach was still pitching, and she concentrated on not being sick. She wondered if she was feeling the effects of their wild ride, or if she was having some variety of morning sickness. It didn’t really matter, she supposed, as long as she could keep from throwing up.
Chapter Twenty-One
The Cyclops was deserted.
A gaping hole in her side was still smoking, and deep inside the ship, a fire was burning. Bullet holes pockmarked her hull, and she was listing slightly to starboard. Beno circled the ship cautiously. The sea around her was filled with debris from the warplanes that had been downed during the battle by Elina’s EMP.
Theyn consulted the controls. “There are lifeforms on the ship, and some in the planes. All of the planes are transmitting distress beacons.”
Beno nodded. “Good. Then the Americans won’t be long in getting here.”
He managed to land on the tilting deck of the ship, activating the magnetic clamps in the landing gear to keep the shuttle securely attached. Sera groaned as the Cyclops pitched, and she clamped her jaws shut, struggling against the
urge to be ill. Joely looked at her in concern.
“Are you okay?”
Theyn reached over and put his hand on Sera’s knee. He soothed her energies again and offered her a rueful but encouraging smile.
Sera looked at her friend’s concerned expression and confessed, “I’m okay. I’m just… pregnant.”
Joely’s jaw dropped, then she pounced on Sera with a bear hug. “Oh my God! That’s great! That’s amazing!” She stepped back. “I guess there’s another hybrid on the way, huh?”
She smiled. “Looks that way.”
Beno opened a compartment in the shuttle and pulled out a weapon, which he handed to Asa. “This button fires an energy blast that disrupts biochemical signals. Toggle it this way to stun, and the other way to kill.”
The Texan accepted the small, palm-sized unit. “This don’t look like any gun I ever knew. Does it kick?”
“Not at all. There’s no percussion or explosive charge.” Beno tossed a weapon to Theyn, who caught it and looked at it with grim distaste. He took one for himself, then brought weapons to Sera and Joely.
“This button,” he said, pointing it out and giving them the benefit of the doubt by not repeating himself, well aware that they’d heard him talking to Asa.
“Thanks,” Sera said. “Who do you think we’re going to have to shoot?”
“Hopefully nobody.” He moved into point position. “Let’s go.”
They followed him into the smoky interior of the ship, Asa bringing up the rear, Theyn and the two women in the middle of the group. Ahead of them, they could see a man dart across an open doorway, his shadow the only indication that he was there. Beno brought his weapon up.
A pistol fired. The bullet whistled past Sera’s ear, and she heard Asa grunt. She turned to see him crumpling, wounded in the neck. Theyn instantly went to help him, his hands shining like beacons in the smoke. Beno returned fire, and the thud of a body hitting the ground told them that his aim was true.
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