by Eden Ember
The door slowly opened before I began my search. When someone came into the corridor, I ducked into an empty room. I found myself in the barracks at one point. The cots lined the walls of the narrow room and there was no doubt that the crew slept here. Someone approached the door, and I crawled under a cot at the end, sharing the space with personal items stored in smaller crates. My breath held steady as they walked through but didn’t come to the cot where I hid. Peeking out from under the covers that hung to the floor, I could see the Thorinkha perched on his cot, reading through a leaflet. Rolling to my back, I counted the springs on the cot and counted the crates. I closed my eyes and fell asleep, napping lightly. Mare’s beautiful face sprang to my mind. She smiled, telling me to find her. When he walked by to go to the washroom, my eyes popped open. Once I heard the water running, I quickly crawled out from under the cot and made my way out of the sleeping barracks.
Something stirred ahead. A smaller figure dove into a stockroom, what appeared to be the overflow parts storage. Smart thinking for someone hoping to hide. Forging ahead, I crept toward the stockroom door, ready to meet with a fight if need be. The room held very little lighting with the crates crammed nearly to the door. I turned on the light just to see and there was nothing. Turning it back off, I opened the door and acted as if I shuffled out through the door, but didn’t. Instead, I ducked down, so that I could listen to the sounds inside the room. Sure enough, a slight shuffling came from the back wall. My face stretched into a brilliant smile as I stood.
“Mare, is that you?” I asked, hoping I wasn’t speaking to a space rat.
The crates shoved apart, and the small-framed figure advanced, crawling over the larger ones, her eyes big and searching.
“Xyru? Is that you?” Mare asked.
“Yes,” I said as I stepped over a crate to help her climb down. She threw herself into my arms. Her heart pounded so hard against me.
“I wasn’t sure. I thought I saw you earlier, but I wasn’t certain. I can’t believe you’re actually here, that you came for me. You chased Skleen through the galaxy just to rescue me?” She reared back, her eyes glistening with fresh tears.
“Why wouldn’t I? Of course I did. I’d give my life to protect and save you. It’s my fault that you are here. Oh, Mare, please accept my apology for taking you the way that I did. I truly didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” I told her.
Her hands cupped my face as she searched my eyes in the dim lighting of the room. “It’s okay. I forgive you. It’s strange, as it seems that I’ve developed a crush on you despite your barbarian behavior,” she giggled.
My brow furrowed. “What’s a crush?”
The giggle emitting from her sweet mouth gave me pause as it somehow felt better. “It means that I fancy you. I like you, silly,” she answered.
“Oh,” I said. My arms pulled her closer to me. Somehow the craziness of our new understanding seemed to work.
“Quick, someone is coming,” Mare said as she bounded over the crates to the back wall.
I tuned my ears to the corridor and heard steps drawing nearer. I couldn’t bound over like she had without making a mess. Instead, I quickly shoved the larger boxes around until I reached the small area she’d made for herself. A palate lay out on the floor made of flax packing material. Admiring Mare’s beauty and resourcefulness, I smiled as I squatted with her and she clung to me while the door opened and the light turned on.
The front crates shuffled, and one opened. Many of the crates contained the same items, parts used in the sizable engine room. I peeked through the cracks and saw the same giant Thorinkha engineer I had seen earlier. He’s the last one who needed to discover us here. We’d be better off in the cargo hold, closer to the escape hatch. On the Torq Runner, our time in the cargo hold area was much less than elsewhere. That’s why Allegra and her crew could stowaway so easily by hiding in there. The engineer would visit the stockroom often while in flight, especially as the engines used up the spark coils and the summons wires. I noted earlier when stocking the ship that the engines on the Night Rigor were older than the Torq Runner. This ship lacked the ability to fly with nothing but AI in command. It required those inside to run it continually to keep it going. It would help when they cruised through the Hypordemial Belt. With that in mind, I held still until the engineer left the room.
“We can’t stay in here. Come on,” I said as I stood and pushed a crate out of the way.
“Yes, we can! I’ve been in here for a few hours and no one has found me yet,” Mare replied.
“We’d be safer in the back cargo hold. I guarantee that no one goes in there often. Besides, by now Skleen has come to believe you are missing, though I’m sure you were his prized possession,” I replied.
Mare grabbed my arm and squeezed. “If he catches us, he’ll kill you and stick me in an even smaller cage. I just can’t risk it.” Her eyes widened.
“I won’t let that happen. He’s not suspecting that you are on here. I know where to go so that they won’t catch us. Now come on. This is the engine stockroom. They will come in here often. The Night Rigor is an older ship that requires the parts they have in here,” I told her as I splayed my hands toward the crates.
“Why would Skleen have given up on me so easily?” Mare asked.
I grimaced. “Are you upset about that?”
She shook her head.
“You said that he took blood and tissue samples from you, right?”
“Yes, three to four times a day,” she answered.
“That’s it. He has what he needs from you.” I needed to destroy whatever samples he had of Mare. I suspected that he’d try to clone her or manufacture cyborgs in her likeness. “Come on.” I insisted that we leave the engine stockroom and head for a safer, less occupied room of the ship.
Our ears pressed against the door, listening. The absence of any sound or stirring outside led me to press the panel and open the door. Mare’s hesitation caused me to use more force with her to get her moving. We crept into the corridor and with her tiny hand inside mine, I led her toward the cargo bay. Since I had disguised as a space station worker, I knew about the overflow cargo room. After making our way through the myriad of crates in the cargo bay, we pushed through the overflow stockroom, where the dim lighting took on the ambience of a distant star, barely giving us enough light to see. They stacked large empty crates along the back wall. It didn’t take long for me to pull one out and clear a place for Mare to sit. Taking her lead, I grabbed some packing material from the fresher crates and created a spot for both of us. We sank onto the pallets and she nuzzled into my side.
“We need to plan our escape before reaching the Hypordemial Belt,” I told her.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go. I’m glad you found me when you did. I had planned on escaping soon anyway,” Mare declared as she moved away from me.
I pulled her back. “No dear, you can’t just hop onto an escape pod and leave this ship so easily,” I answered. The thought of what would have happened to her had she tried made me shake.
“Why not?”
“The ship cannot be in hyperdrive while the escape pod detaches from the ship.” I shook my head as I sighed deeply. “Be patient, Mare. Trust me.”
Chapter 11
MARE
What if I had tried to escape before discovering Xyru? What a dumb thing that would have been. I smiled as I peered up, believing God was out there, looking out for me by sending me this giant blue alien to my rescue. He slept peacefully, his chest rising and falling while leaned against the crate. He was right too, for not a single soul had crept into the overflow cargo hold since we made it our private little escape. My hand moved over his muscular body. The Aarans held the title of being far sexier than any human men I knew. In fact, no human had ever made me feel this way. It was strange. I was giddy and open to the possibilities of so much more. No other man would have followed me through the galaxy, risking his own life to save mine. Whatever animosity I
had toward him when he first captured me was long gone. In its stead were blossoming feelings that titillated me and scared me at the same time.
He stirred, his eyes fluttering at first opened to look at me. The corner of his mouth turned upward. “Little human, what are you doing awake already?”
“You think that I can sleep knowing what’s ahead?” I asked as I smiled.
“We need to rest. I’ll sneak into their primary cargo hold and steal some food,” he said as he crawled out of the crate. He left our little room and soon returned with something for us to eat.
“The ship hasn’t slowed yet from hyper-speed since we left,” Xyru explained. He slurped the fruit, which tasted to me like a giant grape.
“Okay, so how do we do this then?”
“We’ll need a diversion, something to cause them to come out of hyper-speed long enough for us to get into the escape pod and leave.”
The fruit juice dripped from my lips as I used the back of my hand as a napkin. “But what sort of diversion?”
“Something perhaps in the engine stockroom to cause the ship to slow,” Xyru said.
“And avoid being caught all at the same time.” I trembled at the thought. He groaned as he pulled me to him.
“Trust me. We won’t be caught. But before we do anything, I want to sneak into cold storage and grab your samples,” he replied.
“Every time they took blood, they placed it into a locked case.”
“Interesting. Okay, you’ll come with me and tell me which one,” Xyru said.
We waited until the ship’s lights had dimmed, telling the crew when to sleep. When we tip-toed past the sleeping quarters, voices came from within. I couldn’t understand the Thorinkha language.
“It’s okay. They are just chatting about nothing important. Come.”
We stopped suddenly at a door and Xyru’s eyes widened. “Shhh, that’s Skleen’s room,” he told me. The odd scrawl of alien letters meant nothing to me. Thankfully, Xyru could read them.
My heart pounded as we stepped by Skleen’s door. What if it had opened? I couldn’t think of the repercussions. Dread filled me even more as we strayed farther away from the cargo hold from where we came. We soon paused at a set of double doors, which had a security panel. Xyru grinned as he produced a card.
“I picked it up from one of Skleen’s cronies while I loaded the ship,” he told me.
“Smart,” I whispered.
The door slid open quickly. We stepped inside as it automatically shut behind us. I scanned the area looking for a place to hide, just in case someone were to come inside.
“Here we go,” Xyru said as he opened the cold storage. The number of cases was daunting. I blinked back fear at the sheer magnitude of them. They all looked alike.
“Um, mine looked like these, but there are so many,” I remarked.
“It’s okay. I’ll find yours,” Xyru replied. He scanned the ends of the cases with the same alien scrawl as the doors in the corridor. “Yes, Terran, female.” He smiled as he produced it.
“Are you sure that’s mine?”
“How many other Terran females have you seen while on this little adventure?”
I blanched. “It’s not an adventure. It’s terrifying,” I answered. “And no, I have seen no one else like me.”
“Nor have I. Terrans aren’t common in these parts. I guarantee you that Skleen held you as his prized possession. I’m assuming he got from you all he wanted, otherwise I think he would have torn the space station apart looking for you.”
“Then why didn’t he just leave me on Av’Na?”
“Because, he’s a scientist. He wanted to take you to his lab on his home planet, no doubt to slice you open one layer at a time. He has what he wanted, your DNA. But we’ll not let him have it,” Xyru told me. He tucked the case under his arm and we headed for the door.
Every time we came to a door, my heart raced until we saw that the coast was clear. It didn’t take near as long to reach our little hideout as it had when we came looking for the lab. Xyru set the case deep inside the crate. “We’ll take it with us.”
“But it needs cold storage,” I replied.
“Mare, dear, no. We’ll destroy it once we leave this ship. I don’t want Skleen having your DNA.” Xyru smiled, his wisdom comforting me.
“Now, how do we bring the ship out of hyper-speed?” I asked.
“It’s very simple. I will clip a wire to the thrusters control unit. It’s enough of a circuit interruption that the ship will lurch into a safer speed until they fix the issue,” he said as he grinned.
“What are we waiting for?” I asked as I stood to my feet.
“Let’s take the case to the escape hatch,” Xyru replied.
“I’m sure they have cameras in there. Won’t the ship’s AI alert them?”
“Probably. First we need a diversion. We need to bring the ship’s AI offline long enough to do this.”
“How?” I asked as he moved ahead.
“One of us will need to climb into the control room and do a txat,” he said.
“A what?”
“Okay, a txat looks like this,” Xyru said and traced his fingers over the wall. “Look for those symbols on the control panel. Press them at the same time. Then yank the overdrive cord, which will pause the security cameras. They cover the overdrive cord in an X pattern with fibers. You’ll see it. This ship is all controlled manually, which is fortunate for us.”
“Okay, so how will we do this? Surely someone is in there manning the station if, as you say, it’s all manual,” I replied.
“Not necessarily. It’s during dim hours. Most of the crew will be asleep at this time. Anyone manning the ship during these hours would be on the bridge, looking out into space, not the spaces on the ship.”
I nodded. “Of course.”
Adrenalin pumped through my body as we crept around to the engine room. The door slid open and we ducked around the corner, looking before we went farther. A Thorinkha walked out while another stayed behind. A mass of wires met with a giant core in the center, the periphery filled with panels and dots of lights. Nothing made sense to me.
“Oy. This place is busy,” Xyru remarked.
“Is that normal?” My eyes looked back and forth in both directions in the corridor. Thankfully, we were hiding in the corridor that led to the escape hatch and the cargo hold.
“Well, yes. Like I said, this is a manually operated ship. Okay, if we can get to the control room and turn off the AI long enough for me to sneak into the engine room, we can escape soon,” he said.
“If. A big if,” I pointed out.
“Trust me, Mare. We’ll escape,” Xyru promised. He grabbed my hand, and we headed back toward the control room. We watched the door open and then close. Xyru kept his keen eyes on it and turned to me.
“Here’s what we need to do. Listen carefully. I will open the door and let the Thorinkha see me. I’ll pivot, as if I forgot something. He’ll think I just, well, forgot something. When I’m doing this, you will crawl to the left. There’s a small computer where the ship’s security cameras connect. Press the symbols like I told you, and then unplug the cord. Crawl to the door when you have finished. I’ll open it. There’s a delay when power surges and cuts occur, so you’ll have a minute or so. The alarms will blare at that time. That’s when we’ll rush to the engine room. Same thing there, only the power will dim, and I’ll sneak into the room and do what I need to do so that we can escape,” he explained.
“You make it sound so easy,” I replied. In theory it sounded plausible, but in reality I feared that Skeen would capture us.
“Maybe we shouldn’t do this.” I grasped Xyru’s arm tightly.
“And then what? Sneak off when we land on his home planet? If they catch us there, I’ll be dead for sure and you might as well be. We have no choice. This is the only way. Trust me, Mare. If they catch us here, I will fight to the death to protect you.”
The shaking in my hands wouldn’
t stop as I crawled into the control room. Thankfully, the large Thorinkha had something over his ears and didn’t even notice when Xyru opened the door. My fingers moved over the strange control panel and once I issued the commands, I grabbed the cord and yanked. It came out of the socket with a thud, loud enough to startle the alien on the other side of the room. I ducked and crawled as the door soon opened. Xyru helped me to stand to my feet, and we ran to the engine room. Just as the lights dimmed and an alarm sounded, I froze.
“No time, let’s do this,” Xyru said. He pushed ahead into the engine room. When the door opened, no one was in there. I stood by the door holding my breath while he pulled a dagger from his belt and sliced into a thick wire. It sparked and tore out of his hand. The ship lurched, vibrating as it came crashing out of hyper-speed.
“Quick,” Xyru said as we bolted from the room. Footfalls came from the sleeping quarters. We dove around the corner and ran full ahead to the escape pod. The crew scrambled to the radio and engine rooms to correct what we had done. The door closed behind us.
My heart pounded so hard that I swayed dizzily. Xyru grabbed the case with my DNA samples and entered the escape pod. After buckling into the seats, he powered the thrusters and the room sealed. The door behind us opened, releasing the pod. I breathed a tremendous sigh of relief as we exited the Night Rigor and backed away from the giant ship. Once cleared of the gravitational pull, Xyru pressed the throttle and turned the ship, flying in the opposite direction.
“What luck. Even the pod has hyper-speed,” he said. He pressed the button, and we zoomed away so fast that the Night Rigor soon became a memory.
Chapter 12
XYRU
“We can burst here,” I said as I pointed to the screen. A nearby wormhole would put us close to the XU-D17 System again. Mare held onto her chair, her petite body too small as she slid around. Poor dear, her bare feet dangled a little.