by Sarah Noffke
Julianna shook her head, meeting Knox’s gaze. “Don’t worry. Eddie will protect him,” she assured him, trying to inject conviction into her voice.
The truth was that, although she believed in Eddie, she had her doubts if anyone was safe in this maze of junk, with rabid rat-men on the loose. They had struggled to hold the Petigrens back earlier and were almost overrun. If they were attacked like that again, she didn’t have enough ammo to take them all down.
Knox pressed the rag to his wound and glanced over his shoulder one last time.
“Lead the way,” Julianna urged him forward gently—for her. “The sooner we get what we came here for, the sooner we can get out of here.”
He nodded slowly, joining her on the path.
Cheng hadn’t taken a moment to think. Only reacted. And now the Petigrens were on his heels, closing in on him. His chest ached as he pushed to run faster. Something ripped at his shirt, trying to get a hold of him. A Petigren leapt, catching him around the ankle, and pulled him to the ground.
Cheng fell, biting on dirt. Dust filled his lungs. A Petigren jumped onto his back when he pushed up to all fours, and its weight dragged him back to the ground. He tried to roll over, but he was too weak to fight the monster.
Suddenly the Petigren was gone. Cheng rolled over, blinking at the person before him. Julianna was holding the Petigren in the air. She slammed her knee into its chest before throwing it to the ground, and the nearby pack of Petigrens paused, making a greedy cackling sound as they hunched low. Julianna aimed her weapon at the rats, her eyes narrowed.
“Get out of here!” Julianna yelled.
To Cheng’s surprise, the Petigrens whipped around, racing on all fours down a side path.
Dusting off her arm, Julianna looked at Cheng. “Are you alright?”
Cheng glanced in the direction he’d come from. How did she get to me? He hadn’t seen her pursuing them.
“Come on, we’ve got to get out of here.” Julianna extended a hand to Cheng.
He didn’t take it, pushing up from the ground on his own. “How did you get over here?”
Julianna smiled wide, something he’d never seen her do. “I took a shortcut when those animals raced after you. I think we’re safe for now, but we need to get to our ship.”
“Why do we need to do that?” Cheng asked, his adrenaline beating in his head like a drum.
“We’re being overwhelmed,” Julianna stated, turning around and scanning the area behind them. “The ship is cloaked, and I’m all turned around. Do you remember where we left it?”
Pip would know exactly where the Q-Ship is parked, therefore Julianna would, too. Cheng took a step back. He was unarmed and had to play this right.
“Where are Knox and Eddie?” Cheng asked.
“They went to retrieve the Tangle Thief,” Julianna answered. “We’re going to get the ship and pick them up.”
This Saverus was going to take the Q-Ship and leave the others stranded. Cheng couldn’t allow that to happen. He knew little about the Saverus, even after being imprisoned by them for almost ten years; however, he did know that it was best to play along and leave them with the illusion that they were still in control.
“The ship is this way.” Cheng pointed in the direction where he’d come from.
Julianna squinted. “How is that possible?”
“We have to cut around this section and then double back, don’t you remember?”
The imposter nodded. “Yeah, of course I do. You take the lead.”
Cheng swallowed hard and started off, holding onto hope that he was leading the Saverus back toward the others.
Eddie zigzagged through the intersecting paths. Petigrens jumped out from behind old refrigerators and other appliances, and he picked off each one as efficiently as he could.
Everything had happened so fast. Cheng, overcome by fear, had moved so quickly that Eddie had lost him.
A pack of Petigrens crowded a path that Eddie was about to bypass. He doubled back; where there were rats, there was bait. Eddie fired until he was empty, and thankfully that’s all it took to take down the pack.
Eddie leapt over their fallen bodies and paused, having heard a voice.
“I’m pretty sure we’re getting close,” Cheng said, seeming to be yelling.
Who is he talking to? Did he join up with someone from Fletcher’s team? Eddie wondered.
Sliding up to a wall of junk, Eddie reloaded. He only had another couple of rounds left. They’d gone through them so fast, not having expected it possible to meet so many Petigrens. The sound of gunfire could be heard all around in the junkyard. Eddie hoped that the others weren’t close to running out of ammo, too.
The footsteps were getting closer. Eddie braced himself.
“I think it’s down here!” Cheng exclaimed, which was strange.
Unless…
Cheng came around the corner, Julianna at his back. The scientist’s eyes widened when he saw Eddie. He dove to the side in a blur. “It’s not Julianna. Shoot it!”
Julianna stepped around the corner, holding a rifle at the ready. Eddie didn’t have to pull up the Saverus goggles to know that the person before him wasn’t Julianna. She whipped her rifle around and pointed it straight at him, menace in her gaze like he’d never seen before.
Eddie shot the imposter once in the chest, knocking her to the ground.
He sucked in a breath, sudden doubt overwhelming him. What if I was wrong? What if Cheng was wrong?
The scientist was at his side now. “She asked me to take her to the Q-Ship.”
Eddie stepped forward, his eyes wide at the sight of Julianna sprawled on the ground and bleeding. “What?” Eddie asked. “That’s why you thought it wasn’t Julianna?”
“It isn’t Julianna,” Cheng insisted, but panic was written on his face as he looked between the body and Eddie.
“Then why hasn’t it shifted back?” Eddied darted forward.
“What?” Cheng asked.
“Saverus shift back to their natural form when unconscious!” Eddie yelled. I shot Julianna! Will her nanocytes save her from a bullet wound to the chest?
Crouched by her side, he reached out and checked her pulse. It was weak, but there.
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Jules, is that you?” Eddie asked, desperation in his voice.
“Yes, and you murdered me,” she said through ragged breaths.
“No!” Eddie screamed, lifting Julianna into his arms, cradling her bleeding body against his.
She choked on a cough, blood sputtering from her mouth. Then she fell completely still.
I’m cursed. Utterly cursed. This time he hadn’t failed to save someone he loved—he’d killed her himself.
“Captain,” Cheng dared to say, placing a hand on Eddie’s shoulder.
Eddie shook his head, eyes pressed tightly closed.
“Captain, I think you should see this,” Cheng said, now shaking his shoulder.
“What?!” Eddie yelled, his eyes bolting open. He stumbled back, dropping the snake he’d been holding. “I-I-It wasn’t her,” he stuttered, pointing at the iridescent blue snake that was the size of a large man.
“I told you it was a Saverus,” Cheng said.
“But when I asked, it said…I’d murdered her,” Eddie stammered, his mind and chest cramping.
With bitterness in his eyes, Cheng said, “They deceive. That’s what they do. Even with their last breath.”
The battlecruiser looked to have been sawed in half, leaving the mid-section wide open to the junkyard. Each deck was exposed, and wires and debris hung from the severed floors. It was strange. It reminded her of Harley, how he’d looked with his stomach split open and his guts hanging out.
“What happened to this ship?” Julianna asked, mostly to herself.
“I don’t know,” Knox said. “In its day, though, it would have been incredible.”
“Let’s hope that Ricky Bobby never experiences a similar fate.”
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Knox nodded. “The Tangle Thief is on the fifth level.”
“You really did go to quite the extremes to hide it, didn’t you?”
“It may sound crazy, but I knew that one day someone would be searching for it.”
“That doesn’t sound as crazy as you think.”
Julianna stared up at the ship, realizing that getting into it would be a feat, and dangerous as hell.
“Then hopefully you won’t think it’s strange that I knew it would be Ghost Squadron looking for the device,” Knox said quietly.
“How could you possibly know that?” Julianna asked.
Knox gulped, his gaze stretching across the junkyard before he turned back to the battlecruiser. “When I was in Area 126 as a child, the hologram, Kyra, said that one day someone would come looking for the Tangle Thief—someone who knew me. She called them my ‘team’.”
“She was referring to us?” Julianna asked, perplexed.
Knox nodded. “I think so.”
“Your memory is back? You’re able to recall everything from that time?”
“Yes, and it’s getting clearer now that we are here. I think using the Tangle Thief blocked it all out, but whatever Dr. Harrison did has helped to unlock it,” Knox said.
Julianna massaged her temples, trying to make sense of this all. “How could Kyra know that we would come looking for the Tangle Thief in the future?”
“Time isn’t linear for her,” Knox shrugged.
He’s exactly right, Pip said.
That doesn’t make sense.
It does if you understand that the space-time continuum works differently for various beings. For Kyra, there is no past or future; there’s only a series of ‘now’ moments.
That doesn’t make sense.
You’re repeating yourself.
Julianna huffed her frustration.
Knox pointed to the side of the battlecruiser. “The easiest way up is climbing along the side.”
“There are no stairs?” Julianna asked.
“Not that I found, and I searched pretty extensively,” Knox said.
“Did you live here?”
With a haunted expression in his eyes, Knox nodded. “I think so. For a little while, at least. Until Mateo found me.”
A small shiver ran down Julianna’s spine. She couldn’t imagine being a child living in a junkyard on an unclassified planet. The fact that Knox became anything was impressive. Or maybe it was because of the hardships he endured.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Outskirts Junkyard, Planet L2SCQ-6 in Frontier space
The fire tower was crawling with Petigrens. As fast as Nona was at shooting them down, she couldn’t get to every side quick enough.
Fletcher had some luck with clearing the north-facing side, but he was too far away to be much more help. He spotted a Petigren as it climbed over the banister, having made it to the top of the tower. Nona’s back was to it as she was focused on another one that was only a few feet from her.
“Fuller, you have a trespasser,” Fletcher said into the comm.
No answer.
He tapped the comm in his ear, trying to reset it, and a high-pitched noise sounded in his head. He pulled the comm out, wincing from the assault to this eardrum.
Dammit, the comms are out again. This happened the last time the Saverus invaded… It must be a tactic. Fletcher had to hope that Pip found a fix, otherwise rounding up his team was going to be difficult.
The Petigren Fletcher had seen caught Nona off-guard and grabbed her around the neck from behind. Another made it to the top, and was spilling over the side. Fletcher ran for the fire tower. There’s no way I’m letting the best member of my team be taken down by fucking rat-men.
Knox grunted, pulling himself up to the third deck. Julianna peered down from the fifth level, her hands on her hips.
“Try using your legs for leverage. It will help,” Julianna offered.
“Being enhanced would also help,” Knox said, his face pinched red.
Julianna had made scaling the battlecruiser look easy. She’d offered to go behind Knox and give him a boost up at each floor, but he’d refused.
A hallway, severed in half, stretched out in front of Julianna. Wires trailed overhead and spilled out of the frayed edge where she stood. She guessed this was a rooming corridor, based on the layout. A buzzing noise echoed from deep inside the ship.
The ship is still alive, Pip observed, sounding impressed.
That doesn’t make any sense.
Are you intentionally trying to get on my nerves?
Maybe.
Well, it actually does make sense and it’s entirely possible.
Where is the ship getting its power from?
Magic.
Come on now, Julianna urged, watching Knox’s slow progress.
You know damn well how the Etheric works.
Is there anyone left on this ship? An entity of any sort?
I don’t think so. I was able to access the mainframe and learned that this ship was decommissioned.
Because it was cut into pieces?
Actually it was decommissioned and then cut into pieces, which were then scattered in different disposal areas.
And now, the question you’re waiting for: why?
I think it suffered from a virus of sorts. But I’m still trying to crack the encryption on the protected files.
Well, my curiosity is definitely piqued. The ship doesn’t look old enough to be decommissioned.
It isn’t. It’s in really good condition… but I sense there’s a fatal flaw.
Not exactly what I wanted to hear before a journey into the belly of it.
You’ll be okay. Or you won’t.
Thanks for the sympathy.
In other news, comms will be back online in thirty-seven seconds.
Could you be a bit more specific with the ETA?
Ha. Ha.
Knox’s red face peeked over the side of the floor as he heaved himself up, and Julianna reached down and pulled him all the way over. He rolled onto his back, breathing hard.
“You made that trip every time you came here?” Julianna asked, an eyebrow raised in surprise.
Knox shook his head. “I only came up here once. I lived on the lowest deck.”
“Good call. When you’ve caught your breath, let’s set off. Comms will be back online soon.”
Knox nodded, drawing a large breath.
Julianna looked out over the junkyard. From her high vantage point, she could see the sheer number of Petigrens they were facing. The creatures congested many areas in the junkyard; in the center of the expansive lot, Petigrens were even crawling up the side of an old fire tower.
If Ghost Squadron stayed any longer, they would definitely be overrun.
“Black Beard, do you read me?” Julianna said over the comm.
Eddie had never been so happy to hear her voice. For the rest of his life, he would be haunted by the vision of shooting her in the chest.
“Strong Arm,” Eddie said. “Comms are back?”
“Pip took his sweet damn time,” she replied.
Eddie smiled. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, Knox and I are on the fifth level of the battlecruiser,” Julianna answered.
Eddie shot a hopeful look at Cheng, who looked extremely concerned. “Great. We’re headed that way.”
“Cheng is alright, then?” Julianna asked.
“Yes, tell Knox that he’s fine and he even took out a Saverus,” Eddie said, giving the credit to Cheng because he did in fact deserve it. The scientist had spotted the Saverus for what it was, without the goggles.
“Good news. Okay, we’re headed into the ship.”
Julianna sounded antsy.
“We’ll meet you there. Out.”
Knox’s face lit up with relief when hearing that Cheng was all right.
“Lead the way,” Julianna said after a moment, getting his attention back to the task at hand. She extended her ar
m to the broken hallway.
Knox started forward, walking close to the wall since the remaining hallway was only about two feet wide. They were halfway to the next intersecting corridor when his foot broke through the floor, and he fell through up to his knee. Julianna leapt forward, grabbed him by the arm, and yanked him upwards.
“Be careful,” she warned. “This ship is fraying.”
Knox nodded, staying closer to the wall as he cleared the last section. It was like walking on the edge of a building.
At the next hallway, Julianna was accosted by the smell of roasted chicken, wafting through the air. Suddenly she had the urge to pull off her boots and splash in water. Julianna was shocked when she giggled at the thought of sneaking into the kitchen and stealing a cookie.
She covered her mouth and looked at Knox, but he was laughing, too.
“Isn’t it a great place?” Knox asked.
“What?” Julianna asked. “What are you experiencing?”
“Good emotions. Memories. Things that make me feel better,” Knox told her.
Not better, Pip cut in.
Have you figured out what the ship’s virus does?
Julianna was having great difficulty working out the strange emotions flowing through her. Knox was right. Something was making her feel happier.
Yes. The ship isn’t trying to make you feel better; it’s trying to make you stay. Like a drug that keeps calling you back to it.
What?
The virus pulls memories from your cortex and supplies the details to you, putting you in a state of euphoria.
They decommissioned a ship for that? That’s bizarre. Some people would pay extra for that experience. Julianna giggled, unable to control herself.
Not if they knew the intention behind it. The euphoria a host feels is only a distraction.
From what? What is it really doing?
It’s absorbing the inhabitants of the ship, literally robbing them of their life force. But they don’t notice it because of the good feelings. By the time they realize something is wrong, it’s too late.
Julianna’s mouth dropped open. That’s where the power is coming from?