Haven 6 (34 page)

I’m alive.
Elbows throbbing, Eri scrambled up and crouched against the wall. Her hand shook as she pulled out the toothbrush and spied on the adjacent corridor.

The other guard was face down on the floor.

Could he be playing dead?

There was only one way to find out. She crept around the corner and aimed her laser at his back. He didn’t move. Another stun might kill him if he was already out, so she had to be careful. She inched toward him holding the laser. He curled his fingers around the trigger of the void ray.

Eri nudged his shoulder with the toe of her boot. No response. She slowly bent down, still holding her laser, and yanked on the end of the void ray. His grip remained firm. Heart beating out of control, she reached over his body and pried his fingers loose one at a time. His hands were still warm, and his fingers felt fat and soft under her skin. Striver’s hands were hard and calloused.
Guess that’s what living in the jungle will do.

The weapon was heavy as all hell. Her wrist strained to keep it up, but a rush of relief came over her as she held both guns.

After one more nudge with her boot, Eri stepped over him and gently kicked the other guard near the door. Both were unconscious. Stuns usually lasted twelve to twenty-four hours. She had time.

Eri pressed the door panel and the screen beeped.

IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED.

Panic shot down Eri’s legs. She looked around, but neither guard had an ID tag. Precious seconds ticked away as she scrambled for an answer.
On second thought, I shouldn’t have knocked them both out.
She tried to remember when she’d visited the commander. The guard had stood at this very door and…placed his finger on the screen!

A finger. She needed a finger. Eri leaned both guns against the wall and hauled the closest guard to the door. Dragging a six foot man at five foot two wasn’t easy, but she wasn’t about to cut his finger off. She raised his arm and plopped his finger on the screen. The panel beeped.

INCORRECT IDENTIFICATION.

Cyber freaking hell
. She didn’t have time for this. Eri lay the first guard down and dragged the other one. He was heavier, and sweat ran down her cheeks as she tried his finger, hoping luck was on her side. The panel beeped again.

ACCESS GRANTED.

Thank the
Heritage
the other guard who’d stayed behind had access. As the particles disintegrated, she grabbed both weapons.

The control deck lay eerily silent and still in stark contrast with the main sight panel, where the battle unfolded below them. Eri rushed over and scanned the ground. No sign of Striver or Jolt. Litus and his team were working their way toward the middle, along with the others from Striver’s village. Only two Lawless with lasers remained.

The sight of their victory brought a degree of triumph, but the joy faded just as quickly as it had come. This would give the commander unlimited power. Eri had to tear her gaze away from the battle to avoid distraction. “Commander Grier, I need to talk to you.”

The pink tank of embryonic liquid sat on a pedestal at the room’s center, wires sticking into a fleshy brain. She stared at it, wondering how aware the brain really was. Could it sense her presence when she entered the room?

The door solidified behind her. Panels rose from the walls and a low buzzing hummed through the room. Eri tensed.
Did I just walk into a trap?

The lasers shook in her hands. She tightened her grip as a magnetic force from the panels pulled her guns from her fingers. She held onto the weapons as her hair clips yanked from her hair. The force increased, ripping both guns from her hands. They clunked as they hit the panels. Eri ran over and tried to pry them off, but the force was too strong. Holding the guns, the panels lowered back into crevices in the floor. Eri scrambled on her knees, fingers digging into the metal, but the crevices closed, and the chrome looked smooth as a newly polished floor.

“No, no, no.”

The screen lowered in the center of the deck, and Eri whirled around. The commander’s sharp features flashed on, her eyes narrowing. “Eridani Smith. You have failed to report back to me. I have relieved you of duty. You are no longer necessary to this colony’s exploratory efforts.”

Is that all she’s got?
Did she not notice how I just took out her main guards?
Suddenly the commander didn’t seem so all-powerful, and Eri’s courage boosted. She put her hands on her hips and stared her down. “I couldn’t care less about my duties. Let’s talk about Delta Slip.”

“Consider yourself off the project. It is no longer your concern.”

Eri voice hardened. “It’s my main concern, Grier. Those people down there are helping us win the battle. They have so much they can teach us, besides contributing to our dwindling DNA pool. You know it’s in our best interests to keep them alive.”

“Your opinions are unwarranted, Ms. Smith. Return to your family cell and wait for further orders.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you call off Delta Slip.”

The commander’s eyebrows scrunched up. “If you continue to disobey orders, I’ll have to charge you as a sympathizer.”

Gears turned behind Eri, and she glanced over her shoulder. A robotic arm emerged from the wall along with a needle on the tip. She ducked and rolled across the floor as it swung at her. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”

A second robotic arm dislodged from the opposite wall. Eri jumped sideways as a rotating blade sliced a lock of her hair. The arm with the needle jabbed behind her, and she fell forward before it could pierce her arm.

“It’s the assassination attempt, isn’t it? Lawless gangs killed your family, and now you want revenge.”

The commander blinked like Eri’d hit her in the nose. Her virtual face blanched. It was the first time Eri had seen her vulnerability and a glimpse of her humanity.

“People must have order to their society. Without rules, evil can manifest in physical forms.”

The robotic arms swung around the room and Eri scrambled to her feet, watching them as she spoke. “Evil is here whether we have rules or not. Besides, this village has a social structure of their own. They’re not like the Lawless.”

“They are descendants of the gangs who stole Outpost Omega, space pirates. I can’t have their rebellious blood mingling with ours.”

“These people didn’t kill your family. Their ancestors, many, many years ago, did. You can’t hold them accountable.”
Man, talk about a grudge.

Litus’s voice came on the intercom, stealing the commander’s attention. “Mission accomplished, Commander Grier. The battle is won.” Eri’s head snapped up. She side-kicked the arm with the blade as it dove for her leg. The needle hung over her head, and she jumped and grabbed onto the arc before the tip could prick her. Dangling from the robotic arm, Eri hoped Litus had done the right thing.

The commander’s lips stretched into a pleased smile. “Excellent. I’ll send a team to hunt down the stragglers. Commence with Delta Slip.”

…

The villagers cheered around Striver, throwing up their bows, drumming on the ground, and leaping to the sky. Carven and Riley lifted him on their shoulders and the others chanted his name. The last of the Lawless scattered into the jungle, and they’d disabled every laser gun loaded with that golden substance. He’d killed Jolt. The Lawless had no leader and their numbers dwindled. They’d done it.

Disbelief and shock hit him in duel slaps.
We’ve triumphed, but at what cost?
Weaver was gone. Right now he was in survivor mode, but when the truth sank in, grief would swallow him whole. He still thought he’d see Weaver emerge from the forest like nothing had happened. It would take time to realize he’d never see his brother again.

A sense of disquiet quivered in his gut, and he scanned the battlefield expecting one more man to run at them with a laser, or for Jolt to get back up as a blackened corpse and hunt them down. Everything looked in order; the colonists lined up in rows, the people from his village tended to the wounded, and the Guardians circled in the sky above. Maybe it was all of the death around him sending anxiety through his veins. Death that included Weaver’s.

No, this is something different, something not yet resolved.

Had his mother’s psychic tendencies gotten to him, making him believe he had another sense as well?

He tapped Carven’s shoulders, and his friends lowered him down.

“What’s the matter?” Riley shook his head. “We won.”

“Did we?”

“Give the man some room.” Carven pulled Riley back. “Go tend to your sister.” He motioned to Riptide bandaging a cut on her upper arm.

“All right. But I think she proved today she can fend for herself.” Riley left with a prideful grin on his face saying,
Look what you’re missing out on
.

Striver didn’t care. His heart was too full of pain to cultivate any more anger or annoyance.

Once Riley left, Carven squeezed Striver’s shoulder. He looked worn, blood and dirt smeared across his forehead, and a few more wrinkles now creased around his eyes. “I’m sorry about your brother.”

Striver’s throat tightened. He could hardly speak. “It’s not your fault. He made his own choices.”

“I’m sorry all the same.”

Striver looked past Carven to where Litus stood in front of the ranks of colonists. The unease in his gut grew so strong, he swallowed down bile. “Something’s wrong.”

“What’s the matter?” Carven tensed beside him.

He trusted Litus. So what was the problem? “I’m not sure.” Striver pushed by Carven. “Stay here and don’t say anything. Let’s not cause panic.” Men all over the place with weapons and death in their eyes were dangerous enough without assumptions.

As he approached Litus he overheard that familiar term
Delta Slip
. Eri had never had a chance to tell him the truth. He should have asked her outright, but he realized he loved her too much to push her away.

Litus didn’t look up at Striver. He spoke into his locator, eyeing the men around him. “I cannot continue with Delta Slip.”

The commander’s harsh voice spit back at him. “Why?”

“These men aided us in the battle. We owe them a life debt, and I’m not about to go against morality.”

“Lieutenant, my rules
are
your morality. If you do not order them, I will myself.”

“Commander, these villagers are armed. We can’t have any more loss of life.”

“It’s a small price to pay for a stable society. Carry out the orders.”

“No.” Litus clicked a switch and the screen on his locator went blank. He put his arm down. “Everyone here, listen to me.”

Before he could go on, all of their locators flashed on, beeping simultaneously. The colonists scanned the message, and then, one by one, they raised their guns at Litus. Anxiety gripped Striver’s chest. Mars would never let this happen, but he’d seen medics bring her back to the ship with a leg wound. There wasn’t enough time to go and get her. Besides, this was bigger than both of them.

Litus backed up. “What are you doing?”

One of the men’s hands shook as he held his laser. “Sorry, sir. J-just following orders,” he stammered.

Litus shook his head in disbelief. “What does it say?”

One of the men spit on the ground. “That you’re a betrayer. You side with them.”

“Don’t you see? There is no
them
. We’re all in this together now.”

The man kept his gun raised. This time his voice was stronger. “It’s the commander’s orders.”

“What are you going to do, shoot me?”

Their silence was answer enough.

He glanced back at Striver with desperation in his eyes.

Damn the Lawless and all their doings.
Even though they’d helped the colonists fight, they looked no different than the enemy. Striver drew out his bow, an arrow cocked and ready to fire within seconds. “The first person who shoots is a dead man,” Striver growled. Behind him, Carven ordered the village to raise their bows.

It was a standoff to the death. Even the Guardians couldn’t save them this time.

Striver had frozen the colonists for a moment in indecision, but it wouldn’t take them long to realize they outnumbered the people in his village by three to one. Even if he picked off the first shooter, the rest of the team would kill him in seconds. Swallowing, Striver resigned to his fate.

I wish I could see Eri one last time.

Eri dangled from the robotic arm, swinging away from the rotating blade. Her sweaty fingers slipped on the metal, and she struggled to keep her grip. If she fell, the needle could stick her while she was trying to fend off the blade. Litus, Striver, and everyone from the village who’d survived the battle were about to die if she didn’t gain control. Frustration squeezed tears from her eyes and she gritted her teeth, trying not to cry out in anguish. She had to pull herself together. This couldn’t be the end.

As the blade came back toward her, she kicked at the arm instead of swinging away. The toe of her boot caught the serrated edge, and the metal sliced through her sole. She scrunched up her toes and yanked her foot away as the blade cut millimeters from her skin. She kicked again, this time hitting the arm, and the blade broke off, sailing through the air. It hit the screen, and the commander’s face splintered into shards, glass raining on the floor.

The needle arm bent toward her, the tip glistening a centimeter from her face. Eri needed both hands to hold onto the arm, and her feet couldn’t reach the needle to kick it away. Gears squealed as the arm bent in farther. A drip from the needlepoint fell to the floor.

If she let go, the arm would chase her around the room. She had to get it now while the needle was right in front of her. Wishing she’d done more pull-ups on the workout deck, Eri released one of her hands and grabbed at the needle. Her arm shook as the muscles strained, trying to support her weight.

She wrapped her fingers around the needle and broke it off, throwing it across the room.