Beyond the Stars (36 page)

“What are you talking about? You don’t think it really happened, do you?” I trembled. His alarm frightened me. I questioned his rationale. But knowing I never would have put my clothes on wrong, his conclusion seemed almost logical.

“I don’t know. Let’s try to remain calm.” He sighed. “Your dream may not be your imagination. The Dreons are known for giving people amnesia. It’s how they justify their actions. They believe they cause no harm if they can keep people from remembering what happens to them. But maybe you’re able to remember something. I have no idea how you managed to keep your wits about you during the mind sweep. It might be hard for them to suppress you. Your mind is amazingly strong, as though you were born with a natural immunity to resist their methods.”

“How could it be them? I was just dreaming,” I offered. My mind filled with flashbacks. I tried to sort out the confusing dream.

“I’m not so sure. I
know
your shirt wasn’t on like that. I would have noticed. The only logical explanation isn’t a good one. We have to find out if it was them. Pascal’s on duty.” Gaelan reached for his ship’s communicator and called the command deck.

“
Please
, Gaelan, I don’t want to bother anyone. This is silly. It’s three in the morning,” I pleaded.

“
Shh
, just let me check on something. We have to be sure.” Gaelan motioned for me to be quiet.

“Hey, Pascal, it’s Gaelan. I took off my watch earlier today, and I think I left it at my station. Could you check to see if it’s there?”

Pascal’s image bounced around on the screen while he searched. “Hmmm … mmm-hmm,” he hummed. “Nope, no, nothing. It’s clean.”

“Thanks, I guess I’ll just keep looking. It’s got to be around here someplace.”

“Good luck finding it, because apparently you really need it. You shift doesn’t start for another four hours. You should be asleep right now.”

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t sleep. How’s your night going?”

“Good, except for the Dreon ship that has been tailing us for the past three hours.”

“What do they want?” Gaelan asked causally.

“Who knows? I tried to lose them, but the suckers keep chasing us. They’re maintaining an uncomfortably close distance off our stern. I’m not sure where they are going. Perhaps they are trying to follow us home.”

“Well, try to get rid of them for me, would you? I want to have a good day tomorrow,” he said with a chuckle.

“I’ll do my best.”

“Thanks. See you in a couple hours.” Gaelan tapped off the communicator.

“So, is that bad? The Dreon ship nearby?” I asked.

“Hmm, I don’t know yet. Those vile creatures are capable of anything.” Gaelan moaned as he tapped on the communicator to call Zaric. “Zaric.”

“Ahh, come on, Gaelan, can’t this wait until morning? What’s wrong?” he said drowsily.

“Hey, how long did you have to wait for us to come out of the cave on Decca the other day?”

“I don’t know. It was something like thirty-five or forty minutes. Why?”

“Sami just had a nightmare that she was on the Dreon ship, and Pascal just verified that they are in our airspace. I think she’s been tagged,” he hissed.

“
Oh no
, is Sami all right?” he asked, panicky. “Yeah, she’s okay. She’s right here.”

“You don’t think they
took
her,
do you?
” The inflection of his voice rose with trepidation.

“Yes, I’m starting to believe so. You said we were in there for over thirty minutes. I thought it was ten, at the most. They would have had
more
than enough time to do it.” I could see every muscle in Gaelan’s body become tense.

“We need to get her to Urit,” Zaric said urgently. “We’re on our way.” Gaelan rushed to get off the communicator.

“What’s going on?” I demanded an answer.

“Come on, hurry—you need to get dressed.” Gaelan scooped up my clothes from the chair and threw them at me before he pulled on his own with record speed. I started changing, hurrying to keep up.

“Can’t it wait until morning? Urit is sleeping right now,” I protested.

“No, it
cannot
wait,” he demanded.

“I don’t understand. Hyril never touched me. Aside from glaring his big black eyes at me, the images he showed me weren’t real,” I said, feeling confused. Was I missing something? I sat to put on my shoes.

“No, it might only appear that way to us. They had
more
than enough time.”

“If the Dreons wanted me so badly, then why didn’t they just take me earlier?”

“They may have. For all we know, all three of us may have been taken on board. None of us would remember any of it. But it would explain the loss of time.” Gaelan stood by the door, ready to go.

“Why would they take me again?”

“The bastards probably didn’t get everything they wanted from you and needed more. If they put a tracer in you, they would wait until you were sleeping to take you. It’s when they like to strike. They don’t like to have any witnesses. It’s their style.”

“How would they know that?”

“We discovered that their tracers monitor and transmit your brainwaves back to their ship. They wait for theta waves to appear on their analyzers, notifying them you are asleep.” I had heard of the term
theta wave
when I underwent mandatory Space training. Our Space helmets for our trip featured monitors to record our vital signs as well as provide an electroencephalogram (EEG) to analyze our brain activity. Theta waves would appear if a person was asleep, under anesthesia, or hyperventilating.

“Where is it?” I patted frantically around my body to search for the device. A wave of terror tore threw me. Could this really be happening? All sorts of questions shot through my mind as I recalled every clouded memory I could fester up regarding the Dreons. My recognition of events seemed to blur together. Now, I wasn’t sure if anything had happened or if it was all a dream.

“You won’t find it. They hide them
inside
your body.”

I looked at him with disgust. “Ugh! You’re kidding me.”

“Let’s go.” He grabbed me by the hand and rushed me down the corridor behind him. I had never seen him so panicked.

“Stop it! I’m coming. I can walk by myself.” I fought back, trying to yank my hand free. It was no use. His grip was too strong.

“We have to get it out … now!” he shouted while he momentarily stopped to turn around to look me in the face.

“Ouch,” I whined and pulled away, taking back my hand to rub my bloodless fingers.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Why? Will it hurt me?” My voice cracked with panic when he took off racing through the corridors once more. I sprinted behind him to keep up.

“It’s the only way I can protect you. They can teleport you right off the ship with that thing
anytime
they want to. Our hull won’t even keep you safe,” he said with apprehension.

We knocked at Urit’s door. To my surprise, Urit was wide awake, tending to some experiment in his room. He seemed completely unbothered by the time.

“Sam, Gaelan, and
Zaric
,” Urit greeted us as he stood at his door holding a breaker filled with green liquid while Zaric rushed in directly behind us. He furrowed his brow. “Well, this can’t be good. You slackers are usually asleep right now. So, something must really be wrong.”

“Urit, I think Sami’s been tagged. You have to check her for a tracer,” Gaelan ranted hysterically.

“A tracer, are you sure? I mean, we haven’t had a problem with one of those for
years,
” Urit said. He shook his head in disbelief while he put down the glass beaker on a nearby table.

“Please! Just to be certain.” Gaelan gave Urit a look of desperation. Urit motioned for us to join him in the examination area.

“Sam, do you remember anything out of the ordinary?” Urit asked calmly in his professional voice while we all walked across the room.

“I just had a bad dream. I dreamt I was on the Dreon ship. I was captured, kidnapped, and held down on a hard table with people dressed in white robes walking all around me. The room was very bright, or maybe it was dark. I can’t remember.” I felt too humiliated to mention my turned around nightgown.

“Oh, I can see the reason for your concern.” Urit got a rattled look on his face. He sighed and gave Gaelan and Zaric a silent glare of despair.

“Get it out of her. If they touch her again, I’ll make them regret it. I swear I’ll
blow up
their damn ship,” Gaelan threatened through his teeth.

Zaric’s eyes widened. “
Uh-oh
, time to lock up the hull-piercing lasers,” he jested.

“Gaelan, no,
you can’t
,” I warned. Now I really would be responsible for starting a war.

“Why not? They are clearly out of line,” Gaelan snapped back.

“Please, Gaelan, be reasonable. If it’s there, I will find it,” Urit said confidently, retrieving a long wand from his cabinet.

“Here, give it to me.” Gaelan huffed impatiently as he reached to take hold of the wand and fought to take it out of Urit’s hand.

“No.” Urit held his grip.

“Yes,” Gaelan demanded. I watched them impatiently struggle against one another.

“Hey, take it easy. I can do it. Will you stop?” Urit swiftly snatched his hand away to defend his tool. Gaelan abruptly released his grip at the same time, causing Urit to fall backwards unsteadily. I thought I saw a glimpse of a smile cross Gaelan’s face at Urit’s fumble. He seemed to get pleasure in taunting Urit at times.

“Is it going to hurt?” I asked wearily.

“No, but I need you to hold extremely still. The tracer gives off an almost undetectable signal. It vibrates at a higher frequency than your natural biofield. That’s why people can walk around with them for years and never suspect a thing,” Urit instructed. I had no idea what he was saying. I listened to his request and stood completely motionless as he slowly swooped up and down my body like I was going through a security checkpoint. “There … that’s the mark. I think you’re right. There is a subtle vibration coming from right there,” Urit concluded, pointing between my eyes.

“Oh, no,” I cried. “Can you take it out? Did they put something in my brain? Get it out, now, please,” I pleaded. Urit bit his lip and didn’t answer me. His prolonged silence horrified me.

“Sam, I just need to take a look to see what we’re dealing with.” Urit pointed to his examination table. “Could you hop up and lie down please?” I got onto the table and laid back for him to put a long, thin scope up my nose. I took in shallow breaths through my mouth, too afraid to move. “Yep, I found it. There it is. The bugger’s right in there. Just as you feared.” He frowned as he pulled out the scope.

“Unbelievable! Will they stop at
nothing
,” Gaelan scoffed in disgust. I’ve never seen him so enraged.

“I can’t believe they’re up to their old tricks again,” Zaric retorted.

“Don’t worry, Sam. I can take it out,” Urit comforted me.

“Urit, you’re going to need help,” Zaric demanded.

“No, it’s not that deep,” Urit explained. “Besides, it’s better if we are the only ones who know about it. I’m not so sure that the crew will be as understanding when it comes to this.” I could only imagine what it took for him to convince the crew that CPR wasn’t a crime. He seemed eager to avoid any more controversy.

“Urit, get help.” Gaelan urged. “Call Bryson, he’s a good guy, or Hayden. I’m sure we can trust them. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I don’t care what repercussions we’ll face.”

“Hayden, call Hayden,” I interjected. Hayden was my friend. She would help me.

“I won’t need to. You two can be my assistants.” Urit pointed to Gaelan and Zaric as he took out a tray of surgical instruments. Our requests were ignored.

“Oh no, is this going to hurt?” I worried.

“I’m going to give you some anesthesia to numb your face,” Urit explained before he sprayed a cool mist up my nose. “It will help a little.” I felt my forehead and the roof of my mouth become numb as if I’d just gotten a big shot of Novocain from the dentist. “Gaelan, Zaric, would you two scan each other for tracers while Sam’s medication takes effect?” he said, handing the wand over his left shoulder to Gaelan, motioning for him to take it while he maintained his eye contact with me.

“We should check Tyden, too,” Gaelan said, coming up behind him to grab the tool.

Urit glanced at him briefly. “I’ll do it tomorrow when he stops in,” he replied.

“Thanks,” Gaelan said with gratitude in a calmer voice. He appeared to have regained his composure in dealing with the situation.

He and Zaric walked into an open area of the room to check each other.

“Sam, you are going to be okay. I’ve done procedures like this many times before.” He took my left hand in his, only to discover Gaelan’s bracelet adorning my wrist. I saw his loving expression quickly fade into a frown.

“Thank you,” I said nervously when I noticed his reaction. Urit turned and glanced across the room at Gaelan as he stood motionless while Zaric was passing the wand over him. Then he quickly looked back at me. Gaelan took notice. He looked at us and squinted as though he was trying to decipher what we were saying. I knew he was out of earshot by the curious expression on his face.