by R. A. Nargi
And then the weight was flung away from my body. I registered the sensation of pushing. Not with my hands. Not with my body.
With my mind.
Through half-closed eyes I saw the scorpion creature fly backwards through the air.
But it didn’t make sense. Nothing could cause a twenty-meter-long behemoth to be tossed like that.
The creature screamed in anguish, its cry echoing over the ridge.
All of a sudden my lungs worked again. Maybe it was the adrenalin coursing through my system, but I shrugged off the cracked ribs and torn muscles.
I struggled to my feet at the same time the creature scrambled to right itself. On the blasted stone hill in front of me, the monster glowered, each of its six eyes burning with primal hatred.
You shall—
Before it could finish, I pushed it again—using my mind.
Even knowing this was impossible, I watched as the scorpion creature flew backwards even further, smashing against the rocks.
My head began to spin and I struggled to keep my balance. Then I vomited and blacked out.
When I awoke I was no longer in the volcanic nightmare. I wasn’t dead either. At least I didn’t think I was.
I was in my suit, lying on a hard cobblestone surface, somewhere under an open sky.
Tentatively moving every limb, I didn’t seem to be injured.
Slowly I sat up and looked around.
I was back in the Coliseum; I could see the stone block buildings in the distance all around me. But between them and me stretched vast tracts of swampy mud. I was on the island in the middle of the man-made lake.
I stood up. The island was small and mostly taken up by the stone pavilion I was standing in. Crumbling stone pillars loomed tall in a ring around me and a small, open-walled temple-like structure stood in its center.
“Jannigan, come in!” Narcissa’s voice crackled in my earpiece.
“I’m here!”
“We see you,” Chiraine said. “Look south.”
I turned to see two figures waving at me from the edge of the muddy lake, two hundred meters away.
“How the hell did you get out there?” Narcissa asked.
“I have no idea.” I strode quickly around the pavilion and temple, searching for any trapdoors or underground passages. All the stone surfaces were plain and bare.
“Thank Dynark we found you,” Chiraine said. “Ana-Zhi is not answering any pings.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve been sending pulse alerts for the last twenty minutes. No answer.”
That wasn’t good.
My head was still spinning from trying to figure out how I got on this island. The last I remembered I was underground somewhere. Wandering around. Lost.
I shut my eyes, trying to focus.
I remembered entering the Antrum, the collapsed roof, and digging my way through the stairway. I had a vague recollection of wandering through tunnels, but then…nothing. Nothing but that dream.
There was a blank spot in my memory.
I had no recollection of exiting the Antrum.
“Jannigan?” Chiraine called over the comm. “Did you hear me? I said that we haven’t been able to get an answer from Ana-Zhi. I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Me too.” I surveyed the muddy expanse surrounding the island. I really did not want to risk trudging through that.
“You guys need to go get the sled and pick me up here. As quick as you can.”
“That’s some lateral thinking,” Narcissa said. “On our way.”
“Don’t go anywhere!” Chiraine said.
I wasn’t about to.
When I checked my Aura to set a timer, I noticed that a marker had been set in the geo app. I didn’t remember doing that, so I felt a little freaked out by it.
The marker was located 432 meters northwest of my current location, and it had been set eighteen minutes ago.
More pieces of the puzzle.
I killed some time by walking around the pavilion, methodically checking the cobblestone pavement for hidden shafts or hatches.
The best explanation I could come up with was that I encountered something down there that affected my short-term memory. Maybe some sort of toxic gas?
No, that didn’t make sense. My suit’s bio systems would have protected me from that.
Maybe something else?
My thoughts were interrupted by Narcissa’s voice in my ear.
“We’re here.”
The sled skimmed over the mud-choked lake and I climbed aboard.
“We were really worried about you,” Chiraine said.
“I was worried about me too.”
“I thought you had found the underground nest of that pterodactyl thing we saw.”
I had almost forgotten about the big flying creature we had seen while looking for the Antrum. Reflexively I looked to the sky, but thankfully it was clear.
I quickly brought them up to speed about what I remembered—or actually, what I didn’t remember.
“That’s odd,” Narcissa said. “You were down there for a full twenty minutes.”
“That fits with what my Aura says. But it felt like I was down there for hours.”
“That’s a pretty sizable memory gap,” Narcissa said.
“You need to get checked out by the MedBed when we get back,” Chiraine said.
I nodded.
“You want to try Ana-Zhi?” Chiraine passed me the comm unit.
I didn’t even bother calibrating its location sensors. I just sent the pulse alert.
“What time is it?” I asked. We were supposed to alert each other on the hour.
“Ten twenty-eight,” Narcissa said.
“I know this sounds dumb, but maybe Ana-Zhi just stepped away,” I said. “She could just not be hanging around the comm unit.”
Chiraine made a skeptical face, but didn’t say anything.
Narcissa shrugged. “We’ve been trying her since ten.”
Once we left the top of Umbanor, the trip back down to the ship would be relatively quick. But all three of us were keyed up with worry. I really hoped Ana-Zhi was okay.
I steered the sled down into the mist, keeping clear of the rocky cliff.
Narcissa gripped her Benham tight, her head constantly moving, as if she expected a K’Lortai Dragon to fly out in front of her. But, thankfully, we didn’t encounter any wildlife before we arrived at the Vostok.
“Ana-Zhi, come in.” I tried the close-range audio channel. “Open up, mom. The kids are home.”
No response.
“By any chance, do you keep a spare key under the mat?” Narcissa joked.
Just then the bay doors opened.
Narcissa and I looked at each other. “Maybe the comm unit went down.” I said.
“Or she’s being extra cautious about transmissions. Who knows?”
I eased the sled inside the airlock and the doors closed behind us with a whoosh. The air exchanger indicator lights illuminated and we all climbed out of the sled and started peeling off our suits to put into the disinfecting units.
“I feel that we don’t have much to show from that expedition,” I said. “Other than me getting lost.”
“What do you mean?” Chiraine asked.
“If the plan is to hide our treasure, I’m not sure we found the right place yet.”
“While you were underground, Chiraine and I surveyed some of the other buildings in the vicinity of the Antrum,” Narcissa said.
“And?”
“We found a few that were structurally sound, and would work size-wise, but no place to really hide anything.”
“That’s what I thought,” I said.
“I know there are other subterranean rooms,” Chiraine said. “I just need a little more time to map them out.”
The door to the hold opened and we trudged in.
“I need to get out of these clothes,” Narcissa said. “I’m soaked with sweat.”
“Me too.” I looked around the hold for Ana-Zhi, but didn’t see her. “But I’m going to find Ana-Zhi first.”
“Good idea,” Narcissa said.
“I have to pee really bad,” Chiraine said.
“Thanks for sharing,” Narcissa said.
We headed up to the galley first, but it was empty. Then we went up one level to the command deck.
“Holy shit!” Narcissa raced down the hall.
Ana-Zhi lay sprawled on the ground, a few meters from the lift.
“She’s alive,” Narcissa said. “But her pulse is very weak.”
“Let’s get her down to the MedBed.”
Ana-Zhi was a sturdy woman, but I managed to get her over my shoulder. Both Narcissa and Chiraine helped me get her down to the hold. There we were able to use a cart as a makeshift gurney.
“What the hell happened to her?” Narcissa asked.
“Not sure. Maybe a relapse from her injuries.” But even as I said those words, doubt filled my mind.
Once we made it to the infirmary, we got Ana-Zhi situated in the MedBed and hooked up to the sensors and applicator cuff. The AI would need a few minutes to diagnose her.
“Check the video feeds,” I told Narcissa. “See if there’s anything for the level 3 hallway.”
“You think she had a seizure?” Chiraine asked.
“I don’t know what to think.”
Seven minutes later the MedBed concluded that Ana-Zhi had been exposed to a high-voltage electric shock. It had run an ECG test and was in the process of analyzing her blood sample.
“How did she get a shock in the hallway?” I didn’t remember seeing any open panels or anything.
“Maybe she was shocked somewhere else and was trying to get down to the infirmary when she passed out,” Chiraine said.
“I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work that way,” Narcissa said. “A shock that powerful is going to knock you out right where it hit you.”
“Ana-Zhi is stable now,” I said. “We should go back up on three and see if there’s a hazard in that hallway.”
“There’s something else we need to figure out,” Chiraine said. She had a very worried look on her face.
“What?”
“If Ana-Zhi was unconscious on the command deck, who the hell opened the doors for us?”
We returned to three and checked the corridor near the lift. There were no open panels, no loose wires, no sign of an electrical discharge, nothing that would knock a 75-kilogram adult unconscious.
I said, “We need to go through this ship from top to bottom.”
“You think we have an intruder?” Chiraine asked.
“Something’s going on.”
“I agree,” Narcissa said. “Let’s gear up. Sidearms at least. And we should stay together.”
We started on the lower level and combed through the crew cabins. Dread gnawed in the pit of my stomach as I opened the door to the cabin where my father slept. I half expected to find him ripped from his exosuit and dead on the ground, but thank Dynark he was okay.
After combing through the infirmary and lower hold, we moved to level 2 and inspected every inch of the cargo bay, main hold, and engineering. There in engineering we found the Rhya, unmoving on a console.
“Shit!” I exclaimed. “Don’t tell me the Inspector’s been attacked too!”
But as I approached the Rhya, it stirred and floated up, almost to greet me.
“Looks fine to me,” Narcissa said.
“Yeah. I just wish it would cooperate with using our comm module. What if it saw something?”
Chiraine took a step closer to the Inspector. “Our friend was attacked. Did you see anything, noble Rhya?”
No response. Which wasn’t a big surprise.
“Let’s keep going,” I said.
Up on level 3, I positioned Chiraine and Narcissa on either end while I searched life support, the common room, the galley, and the storeroom.
But I didn’t see anyone and neither did they.
“If someone’s hiding on this ship, they’ll have to be on four,” Narcissa said.
But they weren’t.
We turned the entire place upside down—from security, the brig, weapons locker, to the ready room, science station, and the bridge. We even checked some hidden cargo compartments Narcissa found between the third and fourth levels.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “Nothing could have made its way past us.”
I didn’t have any answers either. “We’re just going to have to wait until Ana-Zhi is conscious. She’ll have to tell us who attacked her.”
“What if she can’t remember?” Narcissa asked. “An electrical shock powerful enough to knock you out might also be powerful enough to scramble your gray matter.”
“Hopefully not,” I said.
“Hey, what about the ship’s monitoring system?” Chiraine asked.
Narcissa turned to her. “What do you mean?”
“I totally blanked on that,” I said.
“I’m still not following,” Narcissa said.
“I don’t know what you guys did on the Valerius way back when, but nowadays most clients hiring a salvage company require some sort of on-board video and audio monitoring in case of a dispute.” I didn’t mention it to Narcissa, but that was the whole reason I had to join this mission and impersonate my father—even though the crew knew who I really was. The Shima wanted proof that the great Sean Beck was calling the shots.
If the MCP didn’t fully trust Qualt & Company, there was a good chance that the Vostok was running some monitoring system as well.
We made our way to the security station and, with Chiraine and Narcissa looking over my shoulder, I started scrolling through the datapad, looking for a monitoring module.
“Hold up!” Narcissa said. “Go back.”
“What?”
“That previous screen.”
I flicked back through the interface.
“No,” she said. “Can I drive?”
“Yeah, sure. What did you see?”
We changed seats and Narcissa took over the datapad. Her fingers danced over the screen.
“Here we go,” she said. “Check this out.”
“What is it?” Chiraine asked, leaning in.
“The comm log,” Narcissa said. “We’re broadcasting a distress signal.”
“No.” It couldn’t be.
“Yeah, looks like it’s been active for nearly four hours.”
All the color drained from Chiraine’s face. “That’s impossible,” she said.
“It’s not impossible,” Narcissa said matter-of-factly. “Someone activated this distress beacon while we were in the Coliseum. It was either Ana-Zhi or someone else who’s aboard this ship.”
My stomach clenched with anger. I turned and strode off towards the lift.
“Jannigan, where are you going?” Chiraine called.
“I’m going to wake Ana-Zhi up.”
“Wait up,” Chiraine said. “I’m coming with you.”
“Whatever. Narcissa, shut that beacon down, and start scanning for Mayir.”
The MedBed’s AI didn’t agree with my command to wake Ana-Zhi. Although she was in stable condition, the MedBed had administered a powerful sedative and was monitoring her cardiac function.
“You sure you want to do this?” Chiraine asked.
“No choice.” I initiated an override and the MedBed did its thing, dosing Ana-Zhi with a gradual stimulant cocktail and high-oxygen air through her nasal cannula.
Within three minutes she was starting to come around.
“Ana-Zhi, it’s me, Jannigan.” I took her hand. “Do you know where you are?”
She groaned and her eyes fluttered. “Jannigan?”
“Yes, listen, you’re going to be all right.”
“I don’t fucking feel all right,” she said weakly.
“You’re in the infirmary. Being treated for an electric shock.”
“Jannigan?” She looked at me, but her eye
s were unfocused.
“I’m right here, Ana-Zhi. Tell me, who did this to you?”
“To me?”
“Yes, someone messed you up, but good. Who was it?”
She groaned again and coughed.
“Ana-Zhi, tell me—”
She murmured something, but I couldn’t make it out. Neither could Chiraine.
“Say again.” I stooped down so my ear was nearly against her mouth.
“The Rhya,” she said. “The Rhya did this.”
Chiraine and I looked at each other in disbelief. How could this be possible?
Just then the comm squealed to life.
“Bad news, folks,” Narcissa said. “We’ve got company!”
“What?”
“Three fighters and a dropship.” It sounded like she was breathing hard.
“How far away?”
“Just about knocking on our door.”
Holy shit.
“Get us out of here! Now!”
“Almost at the bridge—”
Just then the ship rocked and all hell broke loose. Something just hit us. Hard.
It was too late.
12
We didn’t really have any sort of chance.
The Mayir legionnaires rushed through the airlock before Chiraine and I could even get up to the hold.
They didn’t even need to use any breachers; the fucking Rhya just let them in.
“Drop your weapons!” a Mayir corporal yelled, as five more soldiers fanned out on either side of him.
We did so. I didn’t want to die right now, and I definitely didn’t want to risk Chiraine’s life.
“Where’re the other ones?”
“Bridge—top level,” I said. Then I told Narcissa, over the comm, to surrender.
“Holy shit,” a voice called. “It’s my old buddy, Jannigan Beck!” Unfortunately, it was a voice that I recognized.
“So, Qualt, I guess I messed up big time by leaving you alive,” I said.
“I know that wasn’t your call, kid. It must have been Ana-Zhi who was my angel of mercy. Am I right?”
I didn’t say anything.
“No matter,” Qualt said, as he sauntered closer. “How’s she doing? I understand there was some…unpleasantness.”
“She’s in the MedBed thanks to that scum of a Rhya.”