In addition, the wonder of her impending motherhood had her thrilled and scared. She didn’t know if she was equipped to mother telepathic children. They would be so vulnerable. Everyone had negative thoughts, and her children would hear them. Would they be able to cope? To comprehend the inherent goodness in most people? To deal with the aberrant evil?
The twins would grow up so fast. They would learn everyone’s secrets . . . Coping would be a challenge.
She watched Derrek take off and pull up the space anchors. His invention, giant hooks on cables, an innovative modification of old fashioned ships’ anchors that latched onto the asteroid instead of the sea bottom, had done the job. She’d learned Derrek could be quite ingenious about a variety of things—from lovemaking to spaceship design, and he was a man well equipped to handle whatever came his way. Especially a First like her.
Too bad they hadn’t had time to design a bomb that could burrow into the asteroid. For that, she’d have to drill. If only they’d had the technology to simply blast the asteroid apart by dumping the tactonics on Katadama, they’d already be done. Unfortunately, their calculations had shown that the asteroid was too dense to risk a surface detonation. Azsla must plant the bomb deep into the crust to ensure the tactonics disintegrated the entire asteroid.
So the spaceship had needed merely to hover over a flat surface while she dropped from Beta Five to the asteroid via her suit’s jets. The lack of gravity allowed her to hold the tactonic explosives under her arm, jet out of the cargo bay, and land on the asteroid under her suit’s power.
With no atmosphere, Derrek rocketed off in silence.
The asteroid was barren. No people. No sign of life. No one for hundreds of thousands of miles. It was just her, her babies, and the rock that was Katadama. Yet, overhead, the awesome starscape of twinkling stars, sparkling space dust, and the Zoran sun in the distance, reminded her that although the universe was very large, she’d made a place for herself. With Derrek. And her babes.
Now all she had left to do was save the planet.
After losing sight of Beta Five and Derrek, she shoved away the feelings of loneliness. Told herself it was simply her whacked-out hormones. She had work. And an entire life waiting for her.
The asteroid looked old, worn down, and the crusty surface reminded her of a Raman desert. She really didn’t understand why it came up so dense on their sensor scans and wondered about the core material and if she was going to have difficulty drilling.
“You okay?” Although Derrek was so far away that she could no longer see his ship, his voice came in warm and clear over the com link. The man could be remarkably perceptive, almost as if he knew how the isolation was getting to her. But his caring bolstered her spirit. “We’re all fine.”
“Don’t let those babes boss you around,” he teased. She found it endearing that he knew her well enough to realize that the reminder of her babes comforted her, pushed away her funk. “Remember you’re the one in charge.”
“You think I’m a pushover?” she shot back at him, suddenly in a much better mood.
“I refuse to answer that.”
“On the grounds that I’ll get even the next time I see you?” she teased.
“Exactly.” His voice was once again upbeat, and so was hers. They were good for one another that way. Although his protective instincts toward her and the children had clearly torn at him earlier, she’d known he would do the right thing. Derrek was a good man. The best. But as much as she enjoyed his company, she needed to focus. “I’m a little busy right now. Talk to you later.”
“Later. But just in case . . . I love you.”
After he said the words, he cut the link, almost as if he feared her response. But . . . she would have told him that she loved him, too. And that wasn’t just the hormones talking.
She wasn’t certain when she’d fallen for him. But she wanted a future with him. Wanted to raise their children together. Grow old together.
That wouldn’t happen if she didn’t get down to business.
Azsla shifted the bomb lower and surveyed the area. Derrek had set her down on a level expanse. Several hundred yards away, hills rolled into bigger hills. If she could find a cave, a crack in the rock, some kind of fissure, she could set the bomb even deeper to ensure the explosion reduced the asteroid to dust particles too small to hurt Zor even if they did hit the atmosphere.
There’s a cave over the next hill.
“And how would you know that?” she asked her child, uncertain which of them had communicated. So far, she couldn’t tell them apart. However, this time, the mental touch was light, airy, almost pure, and had seemed so very much more hesitant and childish yet fuller than the voices the twins had used earlier.
We live here. Help us.
Not one of her children.
No wonder the mental touch was different. A chill went down her spine and iced her blood. This voice sounded as if it belonged to many beings, beings who all issued the same thought.
Save us.
Azsla looked around but saw no one. “Who are you? Where are you?”
She barely considered the idea that she might be going crazy. Derrek had heard Pepko’s telepathy and the babes’, too. So she had no reason to doubt that other beings might be out here—no matter how unlikely that seemed. Besides, Pepko didn’t have a body, hence he didn’t require air. So these beings might not either.
“Answer me,” she demanded. “This asteroid is going to crash into a planet and kill hundreds of thousands of intelligent beings. I must blow it up to stop that from happening.”
You will kill us and yourself, too.
She didn’t bother mentioning her babes and kept walking toward the hills. A dark place in the landscape beckoned, possibly the cave. “You can escape this asteroid with me. We will make room on our vessel for you and take you wherever you wish to go.”
Unacceptable. We hibernate here. To leave the womb too soon is to die.
“If you are on this asteroid, and it crashes into Zor, you will die—even if I do nothing.” She didn’t want to be cold. But she didn’t see any choice but to go on with her plan.
She’d brought drilling equipment, but if she found a deep cave, she wouldn’t have to use it for as long, and her task would be so much easier. Luckily, in the ultra-low gravity, she could easily carry the drill, the bomb, and the extra supply of air. So she walked toward the best possibility of uneven terrain, hoping the distance wasn’t deceptive, because she had nothing to judge the scale of things—no trees, no familiar landmarks—just barren sand, packed down tight after a millennium of coasting through space.
She stuck to her mission, but the idea of other beings, children, living on this asteroid still hit her hard. She didn’t want to kill. Telling herself they would die anyway if this rock collided with Zor didn’t make her feel any better, and she trudged on with a heavy heart Who would believe that of all the rocks in the solar system, the Firsts would have chosen one with live beings on it to hurl at Zor? It was an everlasting shame on their spirits.
Don’t blow them up, Mom.
Ah, talk about hard choices. Her babes didn’t understand, but she appreciated their soft hearts, their wish to do good.
“I have no choice.”
There’s another way. The beings’ voices combined with her own children’s as one. And the echo in her head stopped her forward progress.
“And what would that be?” she asked.
One moment Azsla was standing on the asteroid, the next she was inside a cave and surrounded by pulsing red light crystals.
What the frip was going on now? She’d really had enough surprises for one day, maybe for a lifetime, but this vision was too spectacular not to enjoy.
Above her head, millions of crystal formations rippled with reds, everything from deep burgundy to scarlet, t
o cherry, roses, and pinks. Just like her last waking vision, she knew this one was real . . . these details didn’t come from her mind. She couldn’t have thought up anything so fantastical.
Along with the pulsing red hues, sound echoed through the cavern, although it was unlike anything she’d ever heard. Part musical, part vocal, part animalistic, the thrum vibrated up from her feet, resonated through her bones, and sang through her blood. It was marvelous, relaxing, and energizing all at the same time.
“Where am I?” she asked.
In the womb.
“I don’t understand.”
Pepko’s impatient thoughts entered her mind. This is where my kind nurtures our young.
“Where is this place?”
Your consciousness is now residing inside the core of the asteroid you call Katadama.
Oh . . . my Stars. Her thoughts raced as she put together the facts as she knew them. Pepko had come into Derrek’s life at the same time she’d begun her mission. And from the start, Pepko had wanted Derrek and her to be together. Pepko had wanted Derrek to bring her here. So she would refuse to disintegrate the asteroid. So she would save the young of his race. Pepko had been playing them . . .
If I had waited for you to arrive to plead my case, you would have been too upset by the telepathy to listen to reason, Pepko admitted.
So Pepko had prepared her for this moment by gradually teaching her to accept telepathy, visions, and aliens. Like brainwashing.
It’s not brainwashing if it’s true.
Even as she marveled at the stunning crystals, she wondered if everything she’d experienced had been leading to this moment. The accident in space. Her meeting Derrek. The alien’s insistence they belonged together. Her pregnancy. All so Derrek would bring her here to save them.
But how? Refusing to do her job would simply kill everyone when the asteroid crashed into Zor. Yet . . . frustration tumbled in her gut and rose up her throat. Why did she have to be the one to blow up these fascinating beings?
I brought you here to save us. Not do more harm. Surely your dinky mind can understand that there might be another solution than to blow up Katadama?
Dinky mind? “For someone pleading his case, you might want to try compliments instead of insults,” she muttered.
I merely speak the truth. Your minds are terribly limited.
Your minds? Was he referring to her race? Or her babes? She didn’t ask but retorted with attitude. “You want me and my limited mind to save your young?”
Yes.
“If you’re so superior, why don’t you save them yourself?” she asked, totally annoyed with Pepko and his machinations.
Adults don’t take corporeal form.
“You altered my children. That was physical.”
Some of us can still manage to nudge matter as small as a chromosome. But we cannot do more.
“But your young take physical form?”
We place our young in the womb, and they must incubate for ten thousand years before birth. To protect them we carefully choose asteroids with safe orbital patterns. But Ramans altered the womb’s orbit. You must save them.
Aware that time was running out and that Katadama was orbiting ever closer to Zor’s gravitational pull, Azsla only needed to know one thing. “Exactly what do you want me to do?”
DERREK DIDN’T understand why Azsla wasn’t answering his com link. Maybe it was a link failure due to a blocked signal at her current location. Maybe it was a simple mechanical malfunction. Although he tried to focus on Tomar’s ship closing on him in the vidscreen, part of him remained on the asteroid with her. She should be drilling by now. Communication wasn’t strictly necessary. She’d be fine.
Tomar’s ship hailed Derrek. “Surrender.”
Derrek didn’t answer. “Adain, raise shields. Cavin, prepare to fire.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I’m going to blow up your ship,” Tomar sneered, “then watch that traitor on the asteroid run out of air.”
“Paycon, power up the weapons. Adain, make one more attempt to contact Azsla.”
His crewman frowned. “I’ve got nothing but static.”
26
THIS ASTEROID IS made up of fendiziom, Pepko told Azsla.
“Never heard of the stuff,” Azsla muttered and continued to watch the crystals. The reddish light rippling across the giant cavern mesmerized her. To think life came in such a package startled and amazed and saddened her, because they were all going to die.
Fendiziom is made from material similar to a black star’s.
That would explain the massive density they’d noted and couldn’t account for on their instruments. “So what’s your point?” Azsla prodded.
A holopic of the asteroid in three dimensions materialized before her eyes. She could see the cavern where she seemed to be. But also the place where her body still stood, as well as the fendiziom that encapsulated the womb. However, the material had a much greater thickness on one side of the asteroid. And beyond it, she saw a blinking green X.
Plant the bomb where you see the green X. It will redirect the asteroid away from Zor. The fendiziom will protect our young from the explosion.
Was his suggestion feasible? Excitement caused her thoughts to spin like a wash cycle. Would it work? Would the dense substance protect them? Would the force of the bomb be enough to turn the asteroid’s direction away from Zor? “I’ll need to contact Taylo to calculate the forces.”
That’s been done. And there’s no more time. If you don’t immediately alter the asteroid’s course, Zor’s gravity will pull it down.
She’d have to rely on Pepko’s equations. Without a computer, she couldn’t do the math. But since Pepko was just as eager to save his young as she was to save the Zorans, she saw no reason to distrust his motives. Still . . . she hesitated. The blinking green X was in tough terrain. Craggy. She didn’t know if she could reach the area in time.
“End this vision. Put me back in my body,” she demanded.
In the space of a heartbeat, her mind transported from the cave and returned to the asteroid’s surface. She checked the time. Walking wouldn’t cut it. Running wouldn’t either. If she wanted to do as Pepko suggested, make it to the denser fendiziom, she’d have to use her space suit’s jets.
She hit the com link. “Derrek.”
“Where have you been?” His tone was gruff and curt as if he had his hands full.
“There are millions of baby Pepkos in the asteroid’s core. Instead of dead center, Pepko wants me to set the bomb off to one side to redirect the blast and steer Katadama away from Zor.”
“Will that work?”
“He says it will. But, to get to the right location in time I have to use my suit’s jets.” Through the link, she heard Beta Five’s weapons fire, and her heart tightened into a knot. Derrek was under attack, and she shouldn’t be disturbing him. She should have made the decision herself but had wanted his take. She’d also wanted to hear his voice one more time—in case she jetted off the asteroid.
Despite the danger, his voice remained calm, albeit curt. “It’s your call.”
“You may not be able to hover over the terrain I’m heading into.”
“If necessary, I’ll jet down in my suit to pick you up. Just be careful with the jets. You have no backup. If you sail off the asteroid into space—”
“I know. And I love you, too.”
Knowing she must stop stalling and act, she cut the link, took a strong hold of the bomb, turned on the suit’s jets, and flew toward the asteroid’s far horizon. Beneath her, the terrain changed from flat and compact to hilly and jagged. Flying was the only way to go, but landing would be tricky.
Sweat beaded on her face, and she couldn’t wipe it away or even turn up the suit’s AC for fear of missing the landing
spot. A quick check of her gauges showed her jet fuel was about out.
She peered ahead for a good spot to set down, searching for smooth and flat areas, but steep and craggy seemed her only options. If she waited too long, she risked coasting off into space.
“There.” She spied a spot. Azsla changed her direction. She headed straight for the surface.
And then, as the fuel ran out, she swore.
She wouldn’t float off the asteroid, but she was coming in too hard, too fast, and with the mass from the bomb, the landing might break her legs.
Her knees bent, her arm clutching the bomb tight so she wouldn’t drop it, she braced for impact.
Without gravity, a hard landing could also bounce the bomb back into space, and she’d have no way to retrieve it.
But the same thing could happen to her. She hit the ground, absorbing the landing force with her legs, and then scrambled for a handhold, crusty dirt, a rock, anything to keep her connected to the asteroid. Seizing the lip of a crater formation almost tore her arm from her shoulder—at least, that’s what it felt like, as pain shot from her fingertips to her neck.
With a groan of pain, she held firm on spot X and steadied the bomb and drilling equipment.
With no time to look around, she slung the bomb and its pack onto her back, removed the drill from its container. Azsla found a fissure, crawled down the incline, and found herself in a cave that descended even deeper into the asteroid. She might only be changing Katadama’s orbital vector instead of blowing it up, but she still needed the blast to give the rock a good kick. That meant embedding the bomb firmly.
She scanned the inside of the cave for the hardest rock source she could find. According to her instruments, the dark spots seemed the densest. Gritting her teeth, she set the bit into the black stuff, wedged her feet into cracked rocks for leverage, and began to drill.
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