Star Road (18 page)

He saved us.

She thought of what happened when his body hit the Road ... and the Road Bugs swept over him.

She hoped he was dead before they got there.

“He did what he had to do,” Jordan said, echoing her thoughts.

Annie nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the fast-approaching portal. She worried about what might be going on with her passengers. The fear. The panic.

But right now, she had more important things to attend to.

She turned on the link to the cabin.

“We’re approaching the Nakai System Portal. Please ... everyone into your seats ... fasten harnesses.”

She looked straight ahead.

We have the speed we need, but will it hold steady for the Nakai Portal?

The palms of her hands were sweaty.

That didn’t usually happen. But now? Who knew?

McGowan died to get us out of here... so don’t muck it up now.

They came closer and closer to the portal. Its display of light and seething energy on the screen were as fascinating as ever.

But Annie could only wonder if in spite of McGowan’s sacrifice, they might not make it after all.

There wasn’t much room for error.
If they hit the portal at the wrong speed—or the wrong vector—then ...

She blocked such thoughts from her mind.

“Steady as she goes,” Jordan said, his voice calm and steady, cutting like a knife through her unsettled thoughts.

Good old Jordan.

So much more than just a gunner.

Focus... this is where you earn your pay.

The nose of the SRV hit the portal with a slamming jolt that tested the vehicle’s framework.

The relative shortening of physical reality hit harder this time. A wave of roadsickness swept over Annie. Something that
never
happened to her.

As her hands flicked over the controls—boosting, adjusting—that old, familiar detachment settled over her.

“It’s gonna be all right,” she said, not caring if she spoke her thoughts out loud. She didn’t glance at Jordan; he wouldn’t have reacted anyway.

And then they were through the portal.

~ * ~

Traveling at blinding speed, SRV-66 burst through the portal and angled down toward a long, narrow stretch of landing ramp. Bright sunlight with an odd blue glow filled the cabin with a weird, shadowless light.

Annie let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

The landing gear dropped into place, and the SRV touched down on the ramp with a heavy thud that shook every bolt in the vehicle.

We made it.

She finally took a moment to look over at Jordan.

Surprised to see the faint trace of a smile.

“Closer than I’d like,” she said as she pressed the button on the commlink. “Not much of a ramp.” Then—all business, “Nakai Control Tower, this is SRV-66, requesting an emergency landing plan at the terminal.”

“Nakai,” Jordan said. He squinted and leaned forward, looking out the front window at the alien world.

Annie nodded.

“New to me. Never been here before,” Jordan added.

The scene outside wasn’t inviting.

The way station was all but lost in a distant blue haze that wrapped the world like dense smog. Only this smog wasn’t from any industry. The immediate landscape was a stark desert with little evidence of vegetation, other than some small, scraggly growths that looked more like carved rock than trees.

No other signs of life at all.

“Not much reason to come here.” Annie glanced at him. “We’re off the usual grid.”

“But alive.”

“Yeah.”

~ * ~

Ruth fought to maintain her composure in front of the other passengers. She had been afraid that she was— that all of them were going to die.

Die on the Road.

Wouldn’t a true Seeker want that?

Maybe... but not with so many secrets still to learn.

Gage walked back from the gun turret to get ready for the landing

He fell into his seat without saying a word. The Chippie, still curled up, had at least stopped crying.

If she had still been connected to McGowan ... what did she see?
Ruth wondered.

She was mortified that a part of her wished she had been chipped when he fell.

What might she have seen and learned, experiencing someone else’s death?

Then she turned to Gage. “Where are we?” A tremor in her voice.

But it was Nahara who turned and said, “Secondary Way Station is my guess.”

She looked back and forth between him and Gage.

“What system?”

“Have to ask the captain that.”

She preferred to talk with Gage. Somehow he exuded strength she found ... comforting.

Nahara made her feel all the more scared.

“Don’t you think we should turn back?” she asked Gage.

A faint smile played across his lips.

“Not very likely.”

“The way I see it,” Rodriguez piped in, “McGowan sacrificed himself so we could go on.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Ruth masked her anger as best she could. “Just like that? You write off the life of a man?”

“One life to save the rest of us?” Rodriguez’s expression was flat. Emotionless. “Seems fair to me.”

“He knew the risks,” Gage said. “It was ... a sacrifice. Best to remember him that way.”

“What’s the matter, Seeker?” Nahara’s voice was low ... and ice cold. “Losing some of your zeal to find the Builders?”

“It’s not that, but I—without the troop ship—we may be in more danger than we can handle.”

She saw Gage smile at that.

Yes, she definitely felt better around him. Still...

“Does anyone
else
think we should turn back? Get some help from the World Council before we go any farther?”

She turned to the Chippie. An unlikely ally.

Sinjira stared at her for a heartbeat or two. Eyes unblinking. Then she looked away.

Faintly, Sinjira said: “After what I’ve seen ... I don’t care either way.”

“You’re all right with going on? Just so you can make more chips?”

Sinjira shook her head slowly from side to side as if she had heard this all before.

“You recorded a man dying, and you—you’re going to
sell
that?”

Her eyes refocused on Ruth. “It may be pain they like, but it also may be their pleasure. Don’t forget that.”

Frustrated—and outnumbered—Ruth looked away to stare out the side window, watching as the landscape flew by in a blue blur.

There’s no going back now...

No help coming.

She had wanted to be on the Road.

And now, here she was.

~ * ~

The station remained silent.

“The ion storm might’ve knocked out the commlink.”

Biting her lower lip, Annie nodded.

“Not sure. Looks ... okay ... no?”

All systems checked out. But there still could be all kinds of shorts and glitches, giving a false reading. She toggled the switch a few times. The monitor showed she was broadcasting.

“Control tower. Do you read me?”

Nothing.

She looked at Jordan. His face pale in the wash of the blue light. Ghostly. Then she checked the radar for the immediate area.

Nothing.

“This ain’t right,” she said. “There’s no traffic anywhere.”

Jordan shook his head.

“Not good.”

“We’ll have to raw dog it,” Annie said.

Jordan smiled. “Do you even know what that means?”

“Sure I do,” she said. Now smiling as well. Then, she shook her head. “No,” and Jordan laughed.

She laughed, too. After such tension, it felt good to laugh.

She was still smiling as she steered the SRV along the winding roads and ramps leading up to the way station terminal.

“I don’t like it,” she said as they approached the small service area. “No one out. Not even a ground crew.”

“Pretty damn quiet.”

She looked out at the deserted station.

Dust devils swirled along the tarmac, like a ghost town from one of the many ancient Western movies she used to watch as a kid.

Powering down the engines, she rolled SRV-66 into the terminal.

“So, we’ll have to de-ionize and recalibrate on our own.”

“Done it before,” Jordan said. “No biggie.”

“No big deal when you’re in a service bay, anyway.”

Annie shuddered at the memory of McGowan, but she was sure Jordan could handle it.

But not before they checked out the station.

~ * ~

This is bad... really bad.

The thought kept circling in Nahara’s mind.

When the cockpit door opened, and first Captain Scott and then the gunner, Jordan, came down, the only thought in his paranoid mind was:
Maybe they’re on to me.

Captain Scott looked at the passengers—
but especially me,
Nahara thought—taking them all in at a glance.

Evaluating them.

“Where are we?” Rodriguez asked.

“Well, Doc, after what we just went through, we’re lucky to be on solid ground.”

Drop the snark,
she told herself.

“We’re making an unscheduled stop. We’re in the Nakai System.”

“Can we get off the vehicle?” Rodriguez asked. “Stretch our legs?”

Edgy. Tense. Something’s bugging him, too,
Nahara thought. That actually eased his paranoia.

“You folks sit tight. We’re going to have a look around. See what’s going on.”

“Why?” Nahara asked, his voice shaking. “Is something wrong?”

“Looks like nothing out there but ghosts,” the Chippie said.

Nahara turned and looked at Sinjira as she stared out the window. Her face was pressed against the Plexi.

“I have to get out,” Rodriguez said, unbuckling and standing up.

Tense,
Nahara thought,
but trying to hide it.
He’d make sure to keep an eye on this one.
He’s up to something.

Maybe he knows something. Shit, maybe he’s the one who’s been on to me the whole time.

“Sorry. No one’s going anywhere until we check out the terminal.”

“I have an important message waiting for me on the Pod System. If I don’t get it—”

“I’m not risking civilian lives,” Captain Scott said sharply. “Not saying there’s any risk. Still—”

“I’m not a civilian. I’m traveling under World Council orders.” Rodriguez eased into the aisle, stretching to his full height. “I have to get that message.”

Yeah,
Nahara thought.
What’s up with him? World Council orders to do ... what?

“This is an unscheduled stop,” Scott said. “How do you know your message pod will even be here?”

“Because they took all contingencies into account and arranged to send pods that could be accessed at every way station along the route.”

Nahara had to admire the man’s tenacity.

Captain Scott struck him as someone who didn’t take any shit from anyone.

Definitely keep an eye on him.

“I have to go, too,” Nahara blurted out, surprising himself.

Now Scott turned to him, rolling her eyes.

Nahara stood up. “I know the standard layout of the way stations. I can get us in and out of here fast, if that’s what’s needed. Get any equipment you need for repairs.”

Scott and the gunner exchanged glances. Obviously, they didn’t like how this was going.

But what choice do they have?

Finally: “All right. You two can come. But stay close.”

~ * ~

18

THE STATION

“Where’s the main station office?”
Jordan asked, taking point several steps ahead of the group.

He had armed Nahara and Rodriguez, though he wasn’t convinced either of them could handle a weapon.

He held his own pistol out, scanning the area, but his handheld thermal scanner showed no evidence of life in the immediate area.

“The station control office?” Nahara said. His voice was tight—high-pitched. “Standard layout. It’s at the rear of the main building. We can access the main computers there, too.”

“So where’s the pod bay?” Rodriguez’s voice was a bit shaky.

“Close to station control.”

Jordan had taken an immediate dislike to this planet.

The gravity was Point 2 above Earth Standard, so he felt sluggish. Heavy. Slow reflexes.

The blue star that was its sun cast thin shadows; the entire world looked washed out.