by Sarah Noffke
Julianna nodded, opening the hatch door. She checked the patrol briefly before giving Penrae the signal.
The Saverus sped out of the ship and toward the main entrance of the warehouse, holding the only thing that would get them into the building.
Penrae’s breath rattled in her throat and echoed in her head.
This wasn’t her home, but these were her people, and she was returning to them. All she’d ever known were the Saverus. It was time for her to walk amongst them once more. It was time she do her part and help end this battle between the Saverus and everyone else.
Penrae had considered her position carefully, and chose her side as only a shapeshifter could: through deception and lies.
Because Penrae knew how the Saverus operated, she knew how this warehouse worked. From the outside, it looked like a regular research facility run by humans, but the security to get in would include something that only a Saverus could bypass.
The queue to get into the warehouse wasn’t long, consisting of only two scientists and a few personnel. The person in front of Penrae moved up to the security clearance, offering his arm to the guard. The guard pressed a wand to the man’s arm, where a human’s pulse would be located. After a moment, the wand glowed green, meaning that the man was a Saverus, shapeshifted into a human.
He was let through, and Penrae stepped forward, her chin held high.
“Beautiful day, isn’t it?” Penrae said to the guard.
He smiled, a bit of a flirtatious glint in his eyes. “Yes, but I hope it warms up. The forecast said it could get into the hundreds.”
“Let’s hope it’s right,” she said, extending her arm.
“Well, the forecast is about to change, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” Penrae said with a fake smile.
The guard looked out over the grounds, holding his hand over his eyes like a visor. “Won’t be long now. I think you’re one of the last to enter the building. Maybe one or two more, and then security personnel.”
“And then we’ll be off,” Penrae said, her voice vibrating with anxiety.
They were using the Tangle Thief today. Soon everyone who was to survive the transport would be crammed inside the building, and it would all be over. Or it will be just beginning.
The wand swiped over her wrist, but there was no response. The device should only be testing her chemical makeup to ensure her DNA met that of the Saverus, but she suddenly worried there was new technology in place.
“Hmmm. Doesn’t seem to be working. Let’s try again,” the guard said, taking her arm in his hand and again waving the device over her. He kept his fingers pressed against her skin as they waited for the results.
The light glowed green, and Penrae let out a slow breath of relief.
“There it is. Must have been asleep,” the guard said.
“Yeah, it must have,” Penrae said, hurrying away, all the while aware that the Saverus’s eyes were lingering on her back.
She didn’t grant herself a moment to observe the strange space within the warehouse. It reminded her of Area 126, but she’d have time to explore later. There were more pressing matters, presently.
“Headed for the western entrance,” she whispered into her comm.
“We’re headed that way. We’ll be in position and ready,” Julianna replied.
Penrae politely smiled at everyone she passed, keeping her chin lifted as she hurried through the corridors. She finally halted at a locked roll-up door by the loading docks. The smaller door next to it bore a sign that said, ‘Alarm will sound when opened’. Before joining Ghost Squadron, Penrae would never have considered breaking such a rule.
How things have changed.
She pulled a round, disk-like object from her pocket and stuck it to the security device at the top of the door frame that, if triggered, would sound the alarm. There was no way of telling if the dampener would work. All she had was Hatch’s word, and her confidence in the mechanic’s devices.
She pressed against the release bar, and the door hesitated briefly before opening wide, allowing bright sunlight to spill into the artificially lit area. Silence greeted Penrae’s ears, and she let out a huge breath.
Penrae was a Saverus. Her loyalty should be to her race.
At her core, though, she knew the right thing to do, and had been preparing herself for it. She was here to betray her own, with little remorse.
“The western entrance is open,” she whispered over the comm.
Julianna fired up the device Hatch had given them to track the client and, by extension, the receiver. Eddie would be responsible for carrying the bulky, chrome vault, and Julianna was thankful that they were going to be cloaked, so he wouldn’t be conspicuous.
The minutes that preceded a mission were always intense. It was the wait before the storm. The quiet before the nonstop noise. Julianna enjoyed those sacred minutes, using them to calm her mind as the tension rose.
“I’d like to take this time to have a little family meeting,” Eddie said, cutting into her thoughts.
She looked up from the device she was studying and offered him an insolent expression. “Now?”
He shrugged. “We’re alone and in the Q-Ship, which is the only way I’m going to get a response.”
“A response about what?” she asked. “What do you want to know?”
He shook his head. “Not from you. From our favorite AI.”
“Ricky Bobby isn’t here right now,” Pip said overhead.
Julianna understood. “I think Eddie was referring to you.”
“Oh, well, flattery will get you nowhere. What do you want?” Pip asked grumpily.
Eddie didn’t appear deterred. “Why are you avoiding me?”
“It’s not you. It’s me,” Pip stated. “You’re a great guy. One that any AI would be lucky to have. I just don’t think I’m ready to give you what you want. Call it immaturity on my part.”
Eddie shook his head, chuckling softly. “You’re the one who begged to be paired with me. I even gave you access to my body.”
“Look, we’re both adults here,” Pip continued. “And that was consensual.”
“You slapped me in the face with my own hand.”
Pip laughed. “We did have some good times.”
“I totally understand,” Eddie said. “You’re a one-person kind of AI. No feelings hurt, but I’d at least like it all out in the open.”
“I have a secret,” Pip said coyly.
Julianna’s eyes widened as she stared at Eddie, not sure what to say.
“We can be honest here,” Eddie encouraged.
“Fine. I’m in love with Julianna,” Pip blurted out.
“No. You’re. Not,” Julianna said, emphasizing each word.
Pip sighed. “Wow, I feel a lot better. Alright, so now we can just go back to normal.”
“Not even close,” Julianna said, shaking her head.
Eddie laughed. “If you do in fact have feelings for Jules, it was probably pretty uncomfortable for you to be in my head, huh?”
Julianna pressed her eyes shut, wondering how her life had gotten so completely strange. Is it too late to sign up for a normal life? One that doesn’t include an obsessive AI and impossible missions to save the galaxy…
“I’m not going to lie,” Pip replied. “Being in the captain’s head wasn’t the pancake feast I figured it would be. But at least we tried it.”
“No hard feelings,” Eddie said with a laugh. “We’ll have Hatch disconnect you when we return.”
“I do lament losing access to a body, but I feel this is for the best,” Pip related.
“Well, I’m glad you two feel better, because I’m completely mortified,” Julianna stated, opening her eyes—although looking at Eddie made her flush with embarrassment.
“One day, you’ll be able to confess your true feelings, and when that time comes, I’ll be here,” Pip said, his tone cheerful.
“Headed for western entrance,” Penrae whispered ove
r the comm.
Perfect timing. Julianna exhaled, activating her cloaking belt. “We’re headed that way. We’ll be in position and ready.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Saverus Ark, Planet Savern, Tangki System
Eddie’s body flickered a few times as he entered the warehouse, and then became completely solid.
“Uh-oh,” he said, peering down.
“Fuck, the cloak must not work in here because of the gold plating,” Julianna figured, her image solid as well.
“We’re not exactly in disguise,” Eddie said, putting the cube-vault awkwardly under one arm.
“No, we’re not, which means we’re going to attract a shitload of attention.” Julianna looked around, like she was searching for a costume.
Eddie pushed the box into Penrae’s hands, catching her by surprise. “You’re in charge of this.” He pulled his gun out of its holster, feeling marginally better. “I’ll be in charge of this.”
Julianna nodded somewhat reluctantly.
“Penrae, you do whatever it takes to keep your cover,” Eddie ordered. “Keep some distance from us, in case we get caught. You might be able to swoop in and save us, or at least provide a distraction.”
“Okay.” She looked like she’d just swallowed a large rock.
Julianna held up the tracking device, trying to get a signal, and pointed it toward a dark corridor. “Good news. The client appears to be in here.”
“Any chances it’s close by?” Eddie asked hopefully.
“If by ‘close’, you mean ‘clear on the other side of this supposed ark’, then yes,” Julianna replied.
“Rats, why can’t they make it easy for us?” Eddie complained.
“You wouldn’t like easy,” Julianna pointed out.
“True,” he agreed.
“We’re headed this way,” Julianna said to Penrae, pointing at the long corridor. “It looks like that hallway loops back around.” She pointed at the one behind them.
“I’ll go that way and meet up with you,” Penrae said. “I’m on the comm, if anything goes wrong.”
Julianna and Eddie nodded before striding off in the opposite direction.
Penrae felt like there was a huge sign on her head that said, ‘Traitor’. Each time she passed someone it became increasingly difficult to look them in the eyes. It was only a matter of time before someone questioned her on what she was doing and asked why she wasn’t in her designated place.
When a group of Saverus dressed in lab coats rounded the corner, Penrae ducked into the nearest room.
She squinted from the bright, overhead lights, feeling like she’d just walked into one of the sun rooms that her kind had on all their ships. They mimicked the sunlight on Savern, which Saverus needed regular exposure to for their overall well-being. She hadn’t worked up the nerve to tell the captain and commander that it was something she’d require on Ricky Bobby. Maybe when she proved her usefulness with this mission.
As her eyes adjusted, Penrae realized that there were tropical plants filling the large room. They’d been planted in rock beds, and filled the air with a freshness that she relished. She touched the blossom of a hibiscus flower, enjoying its softness. It had been a while since she had been in the wild, and something about these plants seemed to call to a part of her that was deeply buried.
Maybe her ancestors weren’t wrong to want to preserve Savern as it used to be, but their way of going about it was truly horrendous. She reminded herself that the Elders had been run off Savern because they were cruel to their own. Her race suffered by their own hand.
Penrae smiled as a butterfly landed on a succulent plant. The room was peaceful, with its quiet plants and bright, artificial light.
Something whizzed by Penrae’s head, and her hair whipped back. She spun around, looking for the source of the speed. Hovering in the air, flapping its wings in a blur, was something Penrae had read about but hoped never to meet.
The eyes of the vampiric hummingbird flashed red, a hungry vengeance in its stare.
Penrae backed up, but that only set the bird off. It dove at her, beak first. Penrae covered her head with her free hand, stumbling backwards on a cactus and dropping the cube. The quills pierced her skin, and she shrieked in pain.
The hummingbird hovered over her body. Its head whipped to the side, its eyes landing on her bleeding leg.
“No,” Penrae cried, scrambling backwards.
The bird dove again, this time piercing her skin with its beak. She slapped at the bird, connecting with its beating wings, but it defended itself against her attacks. Penrae kicked her leg into the air, trying to throw off the creature who was buzzing around it with gross excitement.
Grabbing the bloodthirsty hummingbird with both hands, Penrae yanked it off her leg and threw it across the room, where it landed with a thump. Not caring that she might have just killed one of the last remaining vampiric hummingbirds in existence, she grabbed the vault and sprinted for the door, desperate to get as far from that room as she could.
“Should we check on Penrae?” Julianna asked, peeking around a corner to look for witnesses.
“I’m sure she’s fine,” Eddie said, his eyes on the hallway they’d just come from. “She’s probably buzzing around this place without a problem, since she blends in so well.”
Julianna nodded, looking at the device. “The good news is that the client appears to be in a room on the other side of the next corridor.”
“What’s the bad news?” Eddie asked, preparing himself.
“The room is fucking gigantic.”
“Like the size of an ark?” Eddie joked.
Jules rolled her eyes. “If we can stay out of sight until we get to the client, we’re in good shape. I’m okay with shooting our way out of here, but I’d feel better doing that with a piece of the Tangle Thief in tow.”
“Agreed.” Eddie slipped around Julianna, taking the lead. She gave him a cold stare that communicated her disapproval. “You can go first after we get the client,” he told her defensively.
She held her finger to her mouth, straightening, indicating she’d heard something.
Eddie heard it too. It was coming from behind them. He opened the door closest to them and encouraged Julianna to follow. It slipped shut behind them just as two figures strolled around the corner. Eddie was able to observe them through a small window of mirrored glass in the side panel. The figures halted in the middle of the hallway, seeming to review a stack of files together.
“They’ll move on,” Eddie told Julianna, reading her look of worry.
He turned around, taking in the dim room they’d entered. Shelves with various-shaped cubbyholes lined the wall. From their distance, Eddie could only make out pairs of reflective eyes staring back at him from a few of the cubbies.
“What do you suppose those are?” he asked, taking a step closer.
“Eddie…” Julianna said, a warning in her voice.
“What are you worried about? Whatever is in those holes isn’t big enough to do us any harm.”
“I think we should leave whatever it is alone,” she argued. “Those scientists will be gone soon.”
“Yes, but in the meantime, I’m just going to have a quick look-see.”
Eddie ducked down, peering into one of the holes. Large, round eyes stared back at him. As he got closer, he could make out a pointed face, covered in short, soft fur. A small creature was perched close to the edge of the shelf, its pink nose wiggling.
“Well, hello there, little buddy,” Eddie said to the creature.
It looked like a cross between a koala bear and a kitten. The animal blinked up at him in curiosity.
“Eddie, I don’t like this.”
“You’re the animal lover,” he teased, extending a hand to the creature. “Need I remind you that you once risked your life, and our mission, to save a bunch of rabbits on Kai?”
“You shouldn’t remind me, if you want to live much longer,” Julianna said, her tone impatie
nt. “Come on, those scientists are continuing down the hallway. Let’s get ready to go.”
“She’s really a nice lady and would probably take you home with her,” Eddie told the animal in a baby voice. It tilted its head to the side, its nose sniffing wildly, taking in Eddie’s scent. “I think it likes me,” Eddie said, smiling over his shoulder at Julianna.
A sharp pain stabbed through his fingers. He whipped around to find the animal clamped onto his hand, where blood was squirting out. Eddie held back a scream and waved his hand through the air, trying to throw off the strange, murderous creature.
“I told you,” Julianna said in a hush, running over and stopping at his side.
“It won’t let go,” he said, holding his hand still. The furry creature had its mouth around three of his fingers and part of his palm, its eyes roving back and forth like looking for its next point of attack.
Julianna pulled out her gun.
“Are you crazy?” Eddie nearly yelled. “You can’t shoot this thing.”
“Why not?” she asked, completely serious.
“Because it’s…well, it’s a furry critter.”
Julianna’s eyes darted to the side. She slid her arm in front of Eddie’s chest, encouraging him back. He turned to find a dozen pairs of eyes blinking back at them from the cubbies.
“I’m guessing that all of those guys are as hungry as this one,” Julianna stated.
Eddie lifted his hand, where the creature still dangled. The animal didn’t look to be growing weary, but blood was dripping from Eddie’s hand onto its fur.
“Any ideas?” he wanted to know.
“Besides blowing its brains out?” Julianna asked.
“Yeah, besides that.”
Julianna looked at the window and then to the dark cubbies where the animal had been perched. “What do you want to bet that these little fuckers normally live underground?”
Eddie looked up at the ceiling, which was lined with dim lights. “Yeah, that makes sense to me.”