Second chance, p.14
Second Chance, page 14
part #2 of River Saga Series
“Same old Miya,” her brother said. “Stirring up trouble the second she shows up.” He kissed the top of her head. “I wouldn’t change you for the world.”
They laughed, and I stopped at the doors, observing Franklin and his wife. They glanced in my direction, and I gave a subtle wave.
Krissa pulled me toward her. “Give them privacy.”
The corridor had ten-foot ceilings, rounded at the tops of the walls. The design was unfamiliar, with lengthy soft white panels of light covering the path with gentle ambiance. Beeps and notifications chimed from a few embedded computers along the path, and Miya kept watching them, like she might be able to hack the network and spy on whoever owned this space station.
“Don’t even think about it,” I whispered, and she shot me a quick glare.
“I wouldn’t dare.” But her eyes told a different story.
We walked on, Desmond motivated despite his and his daughter’s first interaction. Franklin and Leah finally emerged a short distance behind us, and Gordon marched ahead.
Getting to Obos Station in the Alruna system felt like a pivotal objective for my second life.
____________
Dicore Colony
Adley
They’d only been gone for two weeks, but it seemed like forever since she’d seen her friends. Adley had spent most of her life working tirelessly, learning in school, then finding a job under the Angor. Now she was doing a similar role, diligently crunching numbers and giving orders as they erected the River Checkpoint pieces.
“Are you certain those add up?” Abbyl was the only constant in her time at the colony since the others had departed. They’d left Dicore for an exciting mission of grave importance, and here Adley was, stressing over steams of data.
For a moment, Adley had been upset she wasn’t included in the expedition, but they were right to leave her on Dicore. Ambrose was dead, and it was up to her to solve the mystery, not to mention her particular skillset was useful at the colony site. And she had friends here too. Willow. Bull. Carly and Lemon. She didn’t mind it so much. For the past five years, she’d been in space on an Angor vessel, with little interaction with the Angor people, so this was a pleasant change.
“Yes. I’ve done the calculations twelve times. Your team keeps missing the resistance of the outer orbit. Unless you prefer to move the Checkpoint farther from Dicore, and in that case, we’ll have the gravitational pull of that moon.” She indicated the giant crescent in the sky. “And that’ll create an additional can of proverbial worms.”
“Humans have the strangest sayings,” Abbyl told her. Hands on hips, she stalked across the office, stopping at the exit. “Go ahead. Make the adjustments. We’ll have phase one completed soon. Thanks for your efforts.”
Adley just nodded, waiting for her to leave. “No problem at all,” she muttered. “Wouldn’t want to upset the alien overlords.” Despite everything, she actually did like Abbyl. She was a kind woman, with a scientific mind and a level of diplomacy Adley hadn’t seen in most Angor. Or humans, for that matter.
Adley stayed another three hours, correcting the program schematics before leaving for the day. It was tough acclimating to the lengthy spans of darkness, followed by the bright nights. It did a number on everyone’s circadian rhythms, but they’d adapt to it. Eventually.
Ambrose had been a pain in the butt, but in their spell on Dicore, they’d become close. He might have been nice to her for his own personal desires, but she’d enjoyed having him around. Even though he was abrasive with most people, and had an air of importance bred from his father’s position among the Angor, she’d found him endearing.
And now he was dead.
Adley walked through the colony, smiling at the other colonists as she headed to her next stop. They were friendly enough, but with Miya and Colton gone, she felt a tinge of homesickness.
She headed to the underground control room, passing Bull on the way. “Hey. How’s it going?”
Bull shrugged. He wore a black tank top, his muscles bunching as he hefted a heavy bag over his shoulder. “Pretty good. Got the secondary water tank up and running, so things are improving. Have you checked out the greenhouse lately?”
She shook her head. “I’ve been so focused on the River.”
“I see.” Bull set his load down. “Do you ever wish we could stop that nonsense and live here? Without the Angor?”
Adley considered his suggestion. “No. We need them. They require us to help with the construction. It’s a mutual benefit.”
Bull squinted and hefted the bag up again. “You’re right. Go check out the greenhouse. We have potatoes. Green leafy lettuce. In a matter of weeks, we won’t need to access the stores from Earth.”
“Goodbye, Bull,” she said, and he mumbled something as he climbed the steps.
There was no one else in the room, and she was thankful for it. The control panels were on, but the actual lights and central network were off. Only a person with Xeno could—
Adley blinked rapidly, her heart speeding up. That wasn’t entirely true. Ulison had been in there. So had Leruf, and they both had Xeno. But the room hadn’t powered up. Just Indie and Colton had set it off.
“Seriously?” Adley took a seat, accessing the logs. She examined the early day’s files and found she was correct. Why had no one else seen this? They’d been so busy, reeling from the fight with the Stingers and trying to survive on this shale-covered planet.
The Angor hardly noticed the Rusa, and when asked about the name, they seemed indifferent. Colton was adamant they were important, and that told Adley all she needed to know. Colton Beck was a man Adley looked up to. If she was ever going to have a big brother, she’d choose someone like him.
Adley wondered for a second if the room was set to trigger by humans with Xeno, but that didn’t make sense. The Rusa wouldn’t have met a human before. They’d been on Dicore thousands of years ago, by all estimations.
She searched the files and tried to see the imprints in the hard drive from the moments either Colton or Indie had stepped foot in the control room. Each instance was recorded on file in a digital readout. Adley copied the number sequence and stared at it. Her gaze blurred as she absorbed the information. And it corrected itself as she stood up, almost hitting her head on the overhanging metallic desk shelf. “Son of a…”
Adley hopped into a chair, spinning around to type on her tablet. She retrieved a map of the colony and connected the Rusa server to her own device.
“If I can overlap…” Adley watched as lines appeared on her map. This was interesting. The computers had catalogued Colton’s and Indie’s positions since they first went inside the control room, likely triggering a dormant power source.
The white stripes were spread over the colony, almost making the entire site a maze of streaks. She isolated Colton’s paths, and Indie’s disappeared. One of the lines breached the camp’s walls, leading to the lake where they’d discovered the Rusa woman. Adley knew the truth about Krissa, and was glad not everyone did. Some of the colonists might betray them to seek the alien’s approval.
Adley assumed the woman held numerous other secrets. She traced the dash with her finger, stopping at the image of the lake. She’d been intending to take a trip out there, to see what she could learn from the Rusa vessel. But she was always under watchful eyes, and working so closely with Abbyl and the Angor team made it seem impossible to escape for a full day without revealing her objectives.
She turned off Colton’s trajectories as well, and the view of the camp was once again clear. For fun, she brought up Indie’s. There were fewer lines, since she’d spent the following week on Palora with Director Ulison.
Adley noted a time stamp on each record, and she used a quick calculation to determine what night the storm had hit them. She switched to Colton’s readouts, confirming that this series of digits corresponded with the same date.
There were occasions in her life when it felt like an outside force was guiding her movements, and this was one of those moments. She clicked the date, and Indie’s signature recordings, and it came clear. Indie’s path for that entire day. Adley shrank the time frame, opting for the few hours during the storm. The same hour when Ambrose went missing.
She pictured his goofy grin, and the way he brushed his curly hair from his face.
“You have to be kidding me,” she muttered.
Indie was in their residences. She zoomed on the map and saw that Indie had been in Colton’s room. Later in the hallway. Then, outside. Near the maintenance hatch where Ambrose was discovered.
“No. No way. What did you do?” Adley rose, clutching her tablet so tightly, it cracked the screen.
The door closed behind her, and the room grew darker. A figure blocked the exit, arms crossed.
“Willow,” Adley said. “You’re never going to believe—”
Willow frowned, approaching with a handgun raised.
“Willow…” Adley swallowed a lump and dropped the tablet. “Don’t shoot me.”
Willow’s frown vanished, and she pulled Adley into a hug. “Damn it, girl. I wasn’t going to hurt you. I saw someone skulking around and thought you were in danger. What have you gotten yourself into?”
Adley sniffled back a tear. “It’s Ambrose. I know who killed him.”
Willow’s eyes went wide, and she shoved the gun into a holster on her hip. “Out with it.”
“It’s Indie.”
ELEVEN
Obos Station
We’d had seven hours to ourselves before dinner, and I’d actually slept through most of it, while the others were too excited to rest. Krissa was near my door when I’d emerged, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed and her eyes closed.
“Krissa.” I gently spoke, and she smiled at the sound of my voice.
“I was… trying to remember.” She got to her feet lightly, and wrapped her arm around mine.
“Any luck?”
“Not really.”
“It’ll come.”
“And what if it doesn’t?” she asked.
“Then we’ll make new memories.”
“I’d like that.”
We continued to walk and eventually found our way. Stepping into the dining hall was like strolling into something from a dream. I wore a black uniform, and it matched the others with Xeno. Krissa sported the classic white and gray, as did Miya, Gordon, Franklin, and Desmond, marking them as outsiders.
Krissa’s hair was deeply parted, obviously with the assistance of Miya, who wore hers identically. Franklin was with his wife, Leah, and I’d never seen him happier. Desmond stood with Dewi as we entered the open room, and even though they weren’t talking, I could tell she was pleased to have her father present.
Rather than having the air of a ball or formal event, it was more like a conference meal. Informal, but businesslike and professional. The second we went in, I saw the different races of aliens we’d yet to encounter. Desmond slowed in front of me. “Guess we can’t change our minds now,” he murmured at me.
Director Ulison was with Jinpae, Indie and Alex, and Ohru, standing next to the largest person I’d ever seen.
“Who is that?” Franklin asked Leah.
“That’s Khibistog, the Defender of the Pazil,” she informed us. Leah was almost forty, with light brown hair and a warm smile.
“The Pazil,” I said. “What about the Obos? Are they present?”
Dewi indicated a group of people with their backs turned to us, farther into the room. They were short, maybe four feet tall, and completely bald. “They’re all right. Kind of weird, but you know… who isn’t?”
“Colton.” Cyris approached, bowing ever so slightly. “The Director wishes you to meet someone.”
I glanced at my friends and shrugged. “Duty calls.”
“Suck up,” Miya whispered.
Director Ulison stopped what he was saying when I joined their group, and Indie stepped aside, staring at her shoes. “Colton Beck, thank you for coming.” I hadn’t figured out why he was constantly changing his mood around me. It was strangely unnerving.
“No problem.” I smiled at the huge Pazil man, Khibistog. His nose was thick and short, his eyes widespread and the size of oranges. His fist was bigger than my head, and I guessed he was ten feet tall. “Nice to meet you.”
Khibistog spoke in his native tongue, and Chief Ohru bellowed out a laugh. Jinpae snuffled along with them, and I felt like I’d missed the joke.
“Hey, Colton.” It was Alexander. He was a lot smaller out of his armored suit. “You can adjust the earpiece, if you want it to translate the Pazil’s Irias language.”
“Irias?” I asked, and pulled the device out. He showed me the setting, and once I tapped it, the words escaping the giant’s lips translated into English.
“… and that’s when the Letrin jumped in and saved the day. Jinpae, you are a great ally, even in this new body,” Khibistog said.
“And you, my enormous friend, are worthy of such dedication and preservation. The Pazil have been wonderful partners in the Unity, not only for the Letrin, but for all.” Jinpae gestured with his hand, and the others mimicked it. I joined them, saying the words.
“Peace by the Stars,” I said.
“And you,” Khibistog stepped closer to me. “What is your tale?”
He smelled fresher than I expected. “My story is simple. I grew up on Earth. Contracted Xeno, and now I’m on a massive space station, about to search for an elusive Cepra ship.”
Khibistog stared at me, huge round eyes narrowing before he burst out laughing. His giant hand slapped my back, and Alex caught me. “You are a funny one. I think I like you. And Ulison told us the humans were so bland.”
Ulison pursed his lips, and they ventured off, leaving me with Indie and Alex.
“You ever get used to this?” I asked Alex.
“Which part?” He grinned, and I noticed how uncomfortable Indie seemed to be.
“Aliens. Space stations in dangerous solar systems. The Unity War.”
“I’ve been actively preparing for eight years.” He looked at Indie, and she finally met his gaze, smiling at her husband. “So it kind of feels normal now. We trained on Earth, at Angor City, but they brought some of the other partners to help every now and then.”
“You’re telling us that people like Khibistog were on our planet visiting the Xeno soldiers?” I found the entire idea incredulous. No wonder the Loyalists were so paranoid. My father’s head would have exploded if he’d known what was transpiring right under our noses.
“Well, Khibistog himself never came, but…”
“Alex is in charge of a strike team,” Indie told me. Her voice was laced with pride.
“Like that’s a big deal. You’re the Assistant Director.” He saluted her, and she slapped his hand away playfully.
“And it’s not just any strike team, it’s the strike team.” Indie lifted two drinks from a passing robot’s tray. The metal serving droid rolled on without stopping.
“That’s great. Are you leading the charge?” I asked him.
Alexander gave a curt nod of his chin. “The Letrin will demand to storm in first, but this has to be clandestine. Rushing the Dread and instantly sending all our munitions against it won’t work.”
“Is that so?” Ulison had managed to drift into the conversation. “Young Alex, tell me what you would do.”
“Sneak on board. Disable their power. Divert their attention and cut their throats while they sleep.” Alex spoke with confidence, and I realized he was serious. It felt like there was a protective layer around him, even without the armored suit.
Indie stepped away from him, probably without noticing. But I did.
“And how can we kill their power?” Ulison asked. “Are you familiar with Dread technology?”
I sipped my drink, coughing at the extreme carbonation. “If only we had the Plev’er,” I told them offhandedly.
“Yes. The Plev’er would be a great asset. To incapacitate a ship the size of a Dread, you’d need a hundred of them,” Ulison suggested.
I pictured the strange balls of energy-sucking lifeforms we’d encountered on our journey.
Volins turned from his conversation with Reed. “That’s not necessarily true.”
“Speak your mind, Volins,” Ulison urged.
The administrator and captain of Palora seemed in good spirits for once. “We’ve never captured a Dread, but we do have the schematics. Their primary power generator isn’t in their engineering bay like most of ours.”
“Then where is it?” Alex asked.
Desmond and Dewi came over, along with Miya and Adam. Krissa was at my side, sipping the bubbly blue beverage.
Volins drained his glass, turning it askew. He pointed to the top of its stem. “The generator is here. It took us a while to understand why.”
“And why is that?” Ulison asked. It was interesting to see that he didn’t know, while Volins did. How much other information did Volins have on the Cepra?
“Because the Dread can split in two,” Alex muttered.
Volins snapped the stem off and separated the two pieces. “Exactly.”
“Okay, so even if we could cut the power near the generator, we don’t have a horde of Plev’er to…” Indie paused when she saw the growing smile on Ulison’s face.
“My dear Assistant Director, we do in fact have five of the Plev’er on board as we speak,” he informed her.
“What? How is that possible?” she barked.
“I asked Reed to collect some specimens. You see, Indie, there’s a multitude of mysteries in the universe, and any chance we have to further our understanding, we must grab hold and do so. The Plev’er will not retaliate. They are mindless creatures, acting purely out of instinct, not emotion.” Cyris sidled up to Ulison and whispered in his ear. “I have something to attend to. Please, enjoy the evening. Reed, see what you can come up with in regard to this new plan.”
