She opened the door. Grayson was smiling at her. He was still in his flight suit.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hope you slept okay,” Grayson said. “We’re going to re-enter soon. You mind coming with me?”
Keltie followed him to the hallway.
“Didn’t have nightmares, did you?” he asked.
“No. I didn’t even dream. That’s how tired I was.”
“That’s good,” Grayson said. “You’re taking this lone survivor thing pretty well. Sure you’re okay?”
“One day at a time,” Keltie said.
They stopped in the hallway, staring at each other.
“Just know that you’re not really alone,” he said. “There’s always help.”
She appreciated the words; they seemed sincere, but she didn’t know what he meant.
“I hope you don’t think I’m suicidal or something,” she said.
“If you were, we’d be having a different conversation, Keltie. They train us in spotting it.”
“Then what are you trying to say?” Keltie asked, folding her arms.
“I’m just saying that when this is all over, I would consider talking to someone.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’ve been through an extremely traumatic event. Few people will ever see what you saw. We’re just worried about you, that’s all.”
After a moment of silence, he said, “I heard you crying last night.”
Her barriers went up and the tough real estate agent in her returned.
“What I do behind closed doors is my own business. I appreciate what you’re—”
“You can talk to me, too,” Grayson said, opening the door to the airlock. “Or not. But talk to someone, Keltie. I’ve seen too many survivors out here in space who don’t. I like you. If you get help, you’ll come out of this just fine.”
Who was he to tell her that she needed mental help? She’d gone her whole life without needing therapy. If she had “problems,” she would have been in therapy long before now. She broke eye contact with him and rushed past him into the airlock.
“What did you want?” she asked.
“Gotta strap you in,” Grayson said.
Several seats with shoulder straps were built into the gray, austere walls. He strapped Keltie into a chair and then joined her.
“What about Will and Romeo?”
“They’re up on the bridge, making sure we enter safely.” Grayson grinned at her. “You’re my responsibility.”
“I really am independent, you know,” she said. “Just because you saved me in space doesn’t mean I’m helpless.”
“Point taken,” Grayson said, slightly offended. “Please don’t take any of what I said personal.”
“Well, I did. Too late for that.”
Grayson, who had always been smiling until now, stopped. His face turned neutral and expressionless and he let out a quick whistle as if he’d made a mistake.
“After your meetings with my commander are done,” he said, “you can go back to being independent and forget all about us then, Miss Keltie.”
She was being mean and she knew it. But her feelings—they were no one’s business! She didn’t even know how she felt about everything yet.
“I’m sorry. It’s just—I’m a bit of a mess right now.”
“It’s cool,” Grayson said. A slow smile crept across his face as the ship shifted and the re-entry bell sounded.
“You called me Miss,” Keltie said. “How do you know I’m not married?”
“Empty hand,” Grayson said, tapping her ring finger. His touch was warm and his hand was softer than she expected. “Unless you want to change your story and say that the aliens robbed you of your precious jewelry.”
“Okay, you got me,” Keltie said, smiling.
Grayson pointed at her, shaking his finger.
“Ah, there’s a smile,” he said. “Thought I wouldn’t see one again.”
Keltie didn’t know what to say, so she laughed.
Beauregard’s voice sounded on the intercom. “Grayson, Keltie, prepare for re-entry.”
The ship steered downward, and the shoulder straps tightened around Keltie.
“What’s it like being in real estate?” Grayson asked. He raised his voice to cut past the engines revving up. “You like it?”
“Love it. I can do just about whatever I want without worrying about what people think. I never thought getting stranded in space would be an occupational hazard.”
“Always wondered what it would be like,” Grayson said. “You’ve probably seen some crazy stuff.”
The ship began to rattle.
“I’ve been to water planets and gas giants,” Keltie said. “I’ve encountered just about every kind of alien race in three galaxies. I sold a planet in a nebula once. Most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen. Have you ever been to a nebula?”
“They don’t pay me enough to travel on my own,” Grayson said, shaking his head.
It was universally acknowledged that despite the fact that the Galactic Guard risked their lives, protected the galaxy, and saved people from inevitable death, they didn’t make much money. Keltie wished he could have seen some of the wonders she had.
“Have you ever thought about moving up ranks?” Keltie asked.
“I’m just a reservist. My galaxy called on me to serve, and I answered.”
The Rah Galaxy was at war with an alien race called the Arguses. The military was short on soldiers, so reserves had been called in every branch of the armed forces to help keep everyday civilian operations going.
“That’s really honorable,” Keltie said. “I could never do it.”
“I’m a swimming instructor in real life,” Grayson said. “But for the last six years, I’ve been a Petty Officer. Three on reserve, three on active duty.”
“You’re a hero.”
Grayson ran a hand through his short hair. “Between you and me, Keltie, this is my last mission.”
“Had enough?” she asked. She didn’t want to probe too much, but he intrigued her.
“In a way.”
The ship rocked violently. Keltie and Grayson held onto their straps. Outside, yellow plasma covered the windows.
The re-entry was loud and jarring. They couldn’t hear each other the rest of the way down.
She looked over at him.
Grayson held his straps as he was jolted all over his seat. He looked as if he had done this many, many times. Nothing seemed to scare him. She felt safe around him.
She held her straps tighter and tried not to think about the ship exploding in re-entry—that would be ironic, and sad since she had made it this far.
But then the ship stabilized, the plasma around the windows dissipated, and Beauregard spoke on the intercom again.
“Welcome to Provenance, folks.”
Outside, the ship descended toward a rocky continent covered in clouds. As they neared, they passed over pod-like bubbles that stretched for miles. They looked like ball bearings—rows and rows of them.
“Ever been to Provenance?” Grayson asked.
“I’ve only seen it in ads.”
“This is the place where the human population of the Rah Galaxy started,” Grayson said. “Not your typical city. Because of the high winds here, they had to build across, not up. Don’t let the pod-like buildings distract you. It’s a regular civilization like any other place you’ve been.”
The ship sailed past the long rows of pods, and into a long field with a few large non-combustible buildings with pods around them. It looked like a military base. As the ship dropped in altitude, she noticed other rescue ships lined up in the sun, and many small dots moving around them.
“Brace yourself for landing,” Grayson said. “It’s going to be pretty rough.”
Then she realized how fast the ship was going.
“Why are we—”
The ship shook, and the impact knocked her into the wall.
Then the exit
bells sounded, the pistons in the airlock let out their whooshing, and the bay door opened.
Keltie squinted in the sunlight. Her eyes had been used to near darkness.
Sunlight! How she’d missed it!
Someone unbuckled her straps and took her hand.
Grayson.
“Welcome back to humanity.”
He turned. The look on his face changed from happy-go-lucky to dour.
She straightened her hair with her fingers, still trying to get used to the sun.
Then she heard it.
Boots.
Marching up the bay door, loud and in step. A group of men in military dress—different color uniforms with different color insignia on their chests and shoulders. In the bright sunlight, their faces were shadowed.
They formed a semi-circle around her.
Grayson stiffened and saluted.
“Good job, Grayson,” a man in a blue uniform said. He looked like a commander. “Go to headquarters and wait for us there.”
“This is goodbye,” he whispered. “It was nice to know you, Keltie.”
She opened her mouth to thank him, but before she could, he was halfway out of the airlock, the sunlight on his back.
She reached for him and realized how silly she looked.
“Miss Sheffield,” the commander said. “I’m Commander Mike Ponty with the Galactic Guard. We’re glad you survived, and we’ll ensure you get home safely. But before we do that, we need to talk.”
Commander Ponty gestured out of the airlock, and Keltie followed the severe-looking men onto solid ground and out into the sunlight.
Chapter 18
Commander Ponty led Keltie into a small office. A holographic star map of the Rah Galaxy covered one wall, the sprawling spiral galaxy dazzling and spinning, so full of stars and light.
Ponty’s desk was clean. A single screen and framed picture of a young girl sat in the center. Much like his personality, which was short and business-like, so was his office. The carpet smelled freshly vacuumed, and an orange-scented pod air freshener blanketed the room with a clean, citrusy aroma.
“Have a seat, Miss Sheffield,” Ponty said. He rolled his desk chair over to her, gripping it with both hands until she was safely seated.
He sat on the edge of his desk. The other military men surrounded him.
“We’re sorry for the interrogation style,” Ponty said. “It’s not ideal, but you have critical information. I’m with the Galactic Guard, but these men here with me are from the other branches of the armed forces.”
The men nodded to her.
“Lieutenant Colonel Hancock, Galactic Marine Corps.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Caldera, Galactic Army Corps.”
“Commander Tyzik, Galactic Navy.”
“Lieutenant Colonel Motta, Galactic Air Force.”
“Ma’am,” all the men said at the same time.
“Not gonna lie,” Keltie said. “It’d be nice to see a woman among you guys.”
“There are plenty, believe me,” Ponty said. “Petty Officers Beauregard and McCoy told me your story, and I don’t want to make you relive it again. But we have some additional questions.”
Keltie gulped. “Okay…”
“The planet Kepler is on the fringe of the Rah Galaxy, therefore in Rah dominion,” Ponty said. “Who authorized the Macalestern Corporation to sell it?”
“I have no idea. All I know is that it was in the directory, and it fit my clients’ interests. So I sold it.”
“You’re not in any trouble,” Commander Ponty said. “But we believe Macalestern may have unknowingly violated the Rah Trade Agreement.”
“Seriously, this is all gibberish,” Keltie said.
“I’ll make it easy for you,” Ponty said. “The company had no right to sell the planet. Who is your boss?”
“Sheila McNulty. She had nothing to do with it. All planetary marketing has to be approved by the licensing department.”
“Who do they report to?”
“Like I said, I have no idea. I’m a field agent.”
“Those are my questions. Colonel.” Ponty nodded to Colonel Hancock, dark-skinned man with sunglasses tucked in his uniform pocket.
“You described the aliens as black clouds,” Hancock said. “Can you elaborate?”
Keltie tried to draw the aliens with her hands, but the officers couldn’t follow her. Ponty handed her a screen and activated a sketchpad app.
“They changed their shape, almost like a liquid,” Keltie said, selecting the color black and drawing a big cloud. “And they had these ugly eyes all over, like blisters. At least, I think they were eyes.” With her finger she traced a pathetic rendering of the red eyes.
“You said that they ate living and inanimate objects?” Hancock asked.
Keltie nodded.
“Was there something in particular they were hunting for?” Hancock asked. “Can you think back to what they were most attracted to?”
Keltie stroked her chin and shook her head.
“Um… it’s tough. They covered everything. Wait—I think they may have been attracted to greenhouse gases.”
Visions of Claire and the greenhouse flashed across her mind, and she winced. She felt the screams, the cold air of Kepler, the floral smell of the greenhouse.
“Let’s go through the greenhouse,” Claire had said.
CRASH! The greenhouse shattered and polycarbonate sheets rained around them. She saw Claire’s face looking upward.
“The gases,” Claire said. “They’re reacting to the greenhouse gases.”
Then coil shots. Screams. The roaring aliens—oh God, that terrible roar!
A hand.
On her shoulder.
Ponty.
“Miss Sheffield, are you all right?”
She was sweating all of a sudden. Her palms were clammy and her forehead was drenched.
Ponty handed her a tissue. “I know it’s hard for you.”
What had happened?
She didn’t know.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t know what got into me.”
“I know it’s painful,” Ponty said in a quiet voice, “but your answers are going to help us formulate a battle plan.”
“Battle plan?”
Commander Tyzik handed her another tissue and smiled. He was a stout, Caucasian man with an East-coast accent. “We sent a warship to Kepler, Miss Sheffield. My men could find no traces of the planet.”
Keltie gasped.
“While we wish we had more encouraging news,” Tyzik said, “there is nothing left of Kepler. We found bits of metal here and there, and other debris that confirmed the existence of the luxury cruiser you told us about. But aside from that, if the planet weren’t in our galaxy directory, we would have never known it was there.”
Keltie wiped the sweat off her brow and balled up the tissues.
Ponty took them. “This is a first contact unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” he said. “Through their actions, this race has declared war against us, and we must be prepared to fight back. But we’re struggling, Miss Sheffield. We don’t know where to start. The story of the attack has already gone to the media. Fear is going to spread across the galaxy faster than light itself. We’re trying to find something to reassure the public. But with your company’s corporate indiscretions, we’re finding this to be more complex than we initially imagined.”
“I’m not envious of you, gentlemen,” Keltie said.
“Is there anything else you can tell us?” Ponty asked. “Anything that might help us in our investigation? Even something trivial might give us a breakthrough.”
“I don’t think so.” Keltie sighed, staring at the star map on the wall. “The only other thing that jumped out at me was that people said that the aliens came from the sky. They weren’t inhabitants of Kepler.”
“Hmm,” the officers said all at once. They leaned into each other and whispered.
“When you say they came from the sky,” Cal
dera asked. The trim, Latin man was surprisingly soft-spoken. “Where could they have come from? Wouldn’t the luxury cruiser have detected them?”
“I remember now,” Keltie said. “We did have a power outage on the ship before I took the clients to the planet. I don’t know what it was, but some of the electrical components were acting strange.”
“Your power in the corsair was shut off, too, was it not?” Caldera asked
“Yes, now that you mention it. I never thought about that.”
“That’s a good tip,” Caldera said. “Thank you, Miss Sheffield.”
Ponty handed her a business card. “Can we count on you if we have any more questions?” he asked.
“Absolutely.” Keltie pocketed the card. “I hate to do this, but if the story has gone to the media, my family is probably worried about me.”
Ponty smiled. “Not a problem, Miss Sheffield. We’ve got a ship waiting to transfer you to the Regina VII Star Base. From there we’ve radioed to your home galaxy. You can take a carrier ship back home. Don’t be surprised if you come home to a big fanfare. Whether you believe it or not, you’re quite the heroine.”
“Great,” she said, rolling her eyes.
She thought about Grayson. She wanted to see him.
“Can I thank Officer Grayson?” she asked.
Ponty’s face went long. “Unfortunately, Miss Sheffield, he won’t be available.”
“I just want to tell him goodbye.”
“I’m sorry, but he’s dealing with some other things right now.”
Ponty opened the door. The officers thanked her again as Ponty escorted her outside onto the airstrip.
All she wanted to do was see Grayson’s face again.
Ponty ushered her toward another rescue ship. In the distance, Will and Beauregard waved to her and she waved back.
Ponty shook her hand and she walked up the bay door into the new rescue ship where three men greeted her—they weren’t as friendly, and she didn’t care to remember their names.
As the ship took off and left the atmosphere, Keltie stared back at Provenance, wondering if she’d ever see Grayson again.
She could look him up.
But she remembered… she didn’t remember his last name. McMaster? McWilliams?
She swallowed, looking out the window. She thought she saw a single shadow staring up at her from the corner of the airfield. She imagined it was Grayson, and it gave her comfort.
Phantom Planet (Galaxy Mavericks Book 2) Page 8