“If I take you, you will die,” the ship replied. “That is not helping you. Rather, I am helping you in my refusal.”
Julia rubbed the bridge of her nose. “Did it occur to you that you were designed by the Pirr, and they don’t go to the center because their ancestral enemies are there? The dragons kept them out. The Pirr made up these stories to cover up yet another symptom of losing their empire.”
The ship’s lights dimmed, then brightened. “I’m sorry, Julia, but there is no clear evidence to support this claim.”
Julia thought she detected a hint of doubt in Star’s voice however.
“We have permission from an ancient dragon here,” Nada chimed in from the doorway. “We’re practically invited guests. It’ll be fine. We need dragons to work with us, Star. If we don’t go—”
“I do not deal well with hypotheticals.” The cabin’s lights flickered red. “However, you are correct; I gave my word to my sister ship. If we survive, I will apologize. If we are destroyed, a likelier possibility, I wish you to remember this moment.”
“Oh, we will,” Coraolis muttered.
“Thank you, Star.” Julia nudged Coroalis to keep him quiet. “When we get back to Earth, I’ll make sure to get you those historical archives you were interested in.”
“The mythology as well?” The lights brightened along with Star’s tone. “Can we go there first?”
“Unfortunately, we can’t spare the time. Maybe we can download some of it while we’re in known space, but no promises we’ll access much, if any,” Julia said.
Star sighed. “Very well. Set your course, Mystics. But know that if you change your minds, I will not judge you.”
Coraolis chuckled. “I think we already know that, Star. Don’t worry. If we decide to turn back, I have a feeling you’ll be the first to know.”
Eight
Bava often stayed up long after Jack and Dante crashed out, talking to Night Thorn about what it meant to be alive. And Thorn delighted at entertaining a passenger who needed less sleep than the humans. They exchanged media files, appreciating their similar musical taste. Bava had even played one of Jack’s and Dante’s “Dungeons & Dragons” games.
Dante cracked a yawn. Jack still slept, while Bava, ever awake, hunched over a datapad and spoke in his native tongue. Thorn answered in kind, though her imitations of growling resonated digitally.
“Morning.” Dante went for coffee, then sat in his usual spot. “What’s the hour, Thorn?”
“Your relative Earth EST is one in the afternoon. You did not move for fifteen minutes after waking. I thought you might return to sleep.” Night Thorn sounded disappointed.
“I had trouble convincing myself to move. You know the feeling, right?” he asked Bava.
The Yeti pressed the black cylinder to his throat. “Bava does not. Yeti philosophy holds that every moment alive is to be experienced fully. Bava admits your beds are unusually soft. No wonder you devote many hours to frequent hibernation.”
Dante still hadn’t reconciled the pleasant voice that came out with the vocalizations behind it. “I admire your philosophy.” He sipped his coffee, knowing he’d admire it more after he had some caffeine. “What about our ETA?”
“We have entered Nexus Station’s landing pattern. I predict one hour…if they accept our documentation and bribery.”
Bava told them about the bribes. It was the preferred method for leaving no record of their presence.
“Their sensors will detect a Pirr ship,” Bava said. “Since we transmit independent signals, they will know we hide something, but they will not suspect two humans and a Yeti. More important, they will not want to know.”
Dante saluted the Yeti with his drink. “Let’s hope so.”
“Bava is amazed by this wonderful and clever ship, and your partnership with such advanced Pirr property with most enjoyable musical preferences. In addition, Bava also sees humans have more to offer than music and films, for Bava reads through a collection of historical records entitled Wikipedia.”
Dante chuckled. “Thanks. I think. And those archives were compiled by thousands of humans during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Some are more accurate than others.”
“It all interests Bava. Oh, and Bava also have the good news. A Pirr Cruiser is docked. According to Night Thorn, they are resupplying and taking part in shore leave. This is correct, yes?”
“Indeed, Bava,” the ship said, then her lights flashed. “We are now number eight in the docking queue.”
“Might want to wake Jack then.” Dante grinned. Usually Thorn left them alone while they slept. As a result, she enjoyed the few times they let her employ her alarm clock.
Jack and Dante, geared up in gray jumpsuits and scavenged armor, looked a far cry from clean-cut Mystics who’d left Earth a few weeks ago. They had a few tricks up their sleeves to make up for their lack of weapons and wore micro-communicators in their ears. Their Mystic abilities were a last resort; no point in disguising themselves if their actions betrayed them to anyone who knew about the Evolved, especially with Pirr on the station.
“You are proper ruffians,” Night Thorn said. “Not so dangerous to invite trouble from authority yet believable enough to avert attention as posers.”
“Yes. Bava would hire you for the ‘dirty work,’ as you say. It is a compliment to your disguises, not your characters,” he assured them. The Yeti needed no disguise but had slicked down the fur on his face, using Jack’s hair creme—unbeknownst to Jack. Bava also hid a small pouch of goodies in a thick patch of fur.
They departed Thorn and joined the dock-level crowd. The deck spanned fifty meters and encircled the spherical station at its widest point.
Trade ships from all parts of the galaxy moved goods right out of their airlocks, with displays on deck to show off what they had. Some had video screens or holographic displays to catch the eye, others had colorful prefabricated walls set up. Technological devices were displayed next to polished stone carvings and alien jewelry. Food vendors wafted all types of aromas, attracting the willing and unwitting. Some dishes were recognizable as food, others looked inedible; the worst were containers with contents still in motion. Jack glanced into a few of those and wished he hadn’t.
He couldn’t gawk—he had a part to play and a job to do. Humans were in the minority here, though no one appeared to pay them heed. He was glad for that. It must be due to their convincing disguises…or the glowering Yeti with them; Jack wasn’t sure which and decided it was the whole package. Even when he had draconic features from the bond, he never thought of himself as an intimidating-looking guy, regardless of his big shoulders and heavy jaw. Though Dante was slighter than he, the Mystic could pull off a hell of a swagger and his intense stare often turned others away.
The Pirr vessel loomed to their right, docked away from the trade ships, with soldiers on guard, their backs to the airlock. Jack saw their eyes flicking from one potential threat to the next. They didn’t move as Jack, Dante, and Bava strolled within several yards of them, maintaining a slow, confident pace.
Dante touched his ear to make sure his communicator was in place.
“What do you think?” Jack asked.
“We cannot sneak,” Bava grunted. His voice, translated by Thorn’s smart-ware, came through melodically human-like rather than as Yeti growls. “They are too close to the doors. Jack cannot use the magic to slip inside.”
“We need a distraction; ideally, one that won’t alert security.” Dante glanced over his shoulder; too many people milled about between them and the Pirr ship.
Jack peered around. “I haven’t seen a single security officer though.”
“Bava will distract. Be ready with magic, friend Jack.”
“Wait, what are you going to do?”
Their furry friend departed into the flow of the crowd. Dante tried to follow, but the hole Bava made had closed behind him. “Is there any chance we can talk about this first?” Dante asked. His only answer was B
ava’s gruff laugh. “I’m glad someone’s having fun.”
“If you are not having good times, you are wasting your life,” Bava’s voice translated through the communicator. “Tell him, Jack.”
“I don’t know if this is the right moment for ‘good times,’” Jack replied, picking up his pace toward the vessel, Dante sidling alongside him. They navigated a throng of beings until arriving within sight of the Pirr’s airlock…and Bava.
Jack put his hand on Dante’s shoulder, and a cool wave passed through them. A Tiel shifted her path to go around them, yet she didn’t seem to notice them at all. Dante watched her go by, then his view was blocked by a pair of Yeti absorbed in gruff conversation. They, too, swerved around the Mystics without appearing to see them.
“I like this trick,” Dante breathed.
Jack smiled. “I do my best.”
They moved across the deck toward the loading side of the Pirr ship. They spied Bava, who had stepped onto the boarding platform and faced the two Pirr guards. Jack and Dante edged along the platform’s railing. Dante knew many Pirr had a sensitivity when it came to Mystics. They might sense something amiss if he and Jack weren’t careful.
“Unknown being, we ask again that you move away,” one of the guards, a silver rifle loose in his hands, instructed Bava.
The Yeti held his translation rod to this throat. “Your ship. How much?”
“You need to move along,” the other guard warned.
“Let us trade for ship. Have you considered owning a bar? Food, drink, much music…it is very rewarding!”
“This is your last warning…” Their hands tightened on their weapons, muzzles still aimed at the floor. “Go belch your hairballs elsewhere, beast.”
“Beast? No, am business owner. A loyal son. A noble warrior. You say beast?” Bava raised his head and yowled.
Every Yeti within hearing distance paused, furry islands in a river of people. They turned to look in Bava’s direction, some sniffing the air. The nearest made their way toward the boarding platform.
One Pirr guard started to lift his rifle’s muzzle; the other reached out and pushed it down. “We should hail the deck before opening fire,” he said.
“Over a furball riot?” the other replied, sneering at Bava.
“Furball!” Bava shouted, a half-dozen Yeti arriving at his side. They grunted and growled and warbled at one another, all of them glowering. One of the Pirr lifted his wrist communicator, and all seven Yeti snarled as one.
Both Pirr froze.
Jack tugged Dante’s sleeve, and they slipped unheeded behind the Pirr guards. Thanks to the wall of Yeti on the platform—more had gathered now—no one would see the airlock doors open and two humans step inside.
“…cannot trade you this ship! It belongs to Hoi,” a Pirr said, noticing they were encircled by a dozen or more Yeti.
Bava’s voice could be heard. “Yeti are spacefaring, intelligent beings. Yeti are not beasts.”
The Pirr weren’t able to see Jack fiddling with the door controls. Dante held back the urge to tell him to hurry, keeping an eye on the situation behind them.
“My partner’s remarks do not reflect our opinions!” A guard piped up. “Or the opinions of our captain. Let’s all of us settle down…I’m sure we—”
A Yeti roared. Dante flinched. The Pirr’s voice faded.
“This is good distraction?” Bava grumbled. He had joined them at the doors. “Your magic makes it hard for Bava to see you.”
Dante peered around Bava at the riotous scene. They had an audience on the deck behind the platform now too, as others stopped to watch, some watching silently, others hooting or shouting insults, mostly against the Pirr.
The airlock door slid open. Jack and Dante hustled inside and Bava followed a beat later. The Yetis’ growls and the crowds’ shouts were cut off when the door closed, leaving them in a silent but crowded airlock.
Jack opened the next door, and they entered an empty corridor with angular, ivory-colored walls. The floor absorbed the sound of their footfalls.
Dante put a hand to the wall; it was warm to the touch. He thought he felt it pulsating. “Thorn, are you sure this ship’s not smart?”
“Absolutely. Cruiser type vessels are not outfitted with AI. It is against military protocol and several other directives,” Night Thorn said. “The lift is five meters ahead, on your left. Enter it and push the third button down. The symbol is a triangle with one curved side.”
They jogged down the corridor as Thorn continued, “Compliments to you, Bava, on the thorough nature of your distraction.”
“Bava had only to call on his kin. Yeti are many clans…but one tribe.”
They stepped into the lift and pushed the button. A convex door slid into place, closing them off from the corridor. It opened again.
“Did we move?” Jack wondered.
“You are three decks below. Exit the lift and go right. You will find an auxiliary terminal in the room at the end of the corridor.”
They stepped out into a dim area, the walls illuminated by soft violet lighting in the floor. As they moved down the hall, the walls lit up from within. The colors rose up from dim red to warm amber, as if their footsteps had summoned a sunrise in the lowest decks of the ship.
“This place is too…clean.” Bava brushed a paw over the wall. It brightened under his touch. He growled at it.
“This section of the deck is used mainly for storage,” Thorn said. “You are statistically less likely to run into crew on this level than any other section of the ship.”
The door slid open when they came within a meter, admitting them to a small, round chamber with a pair of workstations. Dante went to the nearest one, and a trio of holographic screens manifested half a meter from his face. Familiar glyphs filled the screens, and a sphere the size of his fist appeared right in front of him.
“The console is active. There’s this ball—”
“Don’t touch that,” Night Thorn cut him off.
“I haven’t touched a thing so far.” Dante glanced at the others. Jack had his hands behind his back. He caught Dante’s eye and smiled sheepishly while Bava watched the corridor.
“Good. Any activity on this level will be noted. Using the system will alert the commander immediately. Now…do you still have the infractor?”
Dante took the device from his pocket. It was about the length of his thumb and thin as a sheet of paper. Thousands of nano-filaments woven together comprised the solid, unyielding rectangle. “I have it.” He crouched, looking for the right port.
Night Thorn had showed them what to look for, but this console was different from the pilot’s station she’d displayed. He pressed his palm into the chassis. A small panel slid open, revealing lit-up sigils and a series of access ports marked with foreign symbols.
“Great,” he said with a sigh. “Which one do I use?”
“Any will do. I can access the mainframe on a system-wide scale to initiate the data transfer, however it will alert the crew. You must move quickly.”
“Understood.”
Dante looked at Jack and Bava. They both nodded. He nodded at them, then slid the little piece of tech into place. Before he could so much as stand, the holo screens turned red, then blinked out. The door slid shut as all lights on the consoles went dark.
“I guess they know,” Jack said. “Let’s go.”
Bava went to the door and bent over the controls. “Door does not open. It is locked.”
“Can you force it?”
Bava growled and retrieved a stem-shaped tool with patchwork wiring from somewhere within his fur. He used two claws to pry off the keypad. He yanked out some wires, sliced them in two with the tool, then reattached them elsewhere, the tool emitting a small glow as it melted the wiring.
Outside, an alarm sounded. Bava grunted.
The door opened, revealing a startled Pirr with a gun. Bava grabbed her with one massive hand and knocked her head against the wall. She went limp.
<
br /> Jack caught her and lowered her to the floor.
“Hurry,” Bava said.
The Mystics fled into the corridor as Bava yanked the remaining wires out of the door controls and leapt out of the way before the door slid shut. Dante ran ahead and pressed the button to call the lift. Nothing happened. He pushed the button again.
“Thorn, the elevator isn’t responding.”
“The lift is detained on the command deck.” Night Thorn hummed for a moment. “The data transfer is taking more time than anticipated.”
“Keep working on it. We’ll find another way.”
“I will pull up a secondary egress for you soon.”
“Just do your part. We’ll do ours.” Dante beckoned to the others, and they jogged down the hall. He tried to open the first door they came to, but it was locked. It was the same with the next door, and the next. They came to a dead end and one last door. It was locked, so Bava crouched to force the mechanism.
The echo of bootheels and voices reached them. The Pirr were seconds away.
Bava finagled the door open, and they hurried inside. The mangled control panel would give away where they’d gone, but there was nothing that could be done about that. Bava yanked out the wires again, and the door slid shut, sealing them in darkness.
Space was tight. Dante’s shoulders brushed both the wall and the shelves he’d glimpsed on the way in. He grabbed his datapad from inside his coat. Jack did the same and walked into the gap between the shelves. Bava followed, squeezing through sideways, and Dante went after them.
The path took them five meters back, then stopped at a wall. Jack put his hand against the wall and chewed on his lower lip. “I think I can get us past the soldiers on this level.” He glanced back at them. “I don’t know about after that. We’re three floors down…”
“We fight our way out,” Bava growled.
“No.” Dante put his datapad away. He’d been in a corner like this before and knew a way—he just didn’t like it. “I didn’t tell anyone about this because, honestly, I didn’t want to go through it again.”
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