The Black Stars (26 page)

“Reporting for duty,” Jeremy said with just a hint of sarcasm. “I hear the Fangborn decided to mess with one of our crew. The lore books will mark that down as a bad idea on their part.”

Stellan, who was normally the first one to voice a doubt or make everyone take a second to think, was grim, his brow furrowed in anger. He would offer no objections. They were going to get Tom back, end of story.

Mason put his hands on their shoulders, pulling them into a huddle. “I can't even begin to express how good it is to see you two.”

Jeremy grinned. “They can't keep us apart forever.” Something caught his attention behind Mason, and his eyes narrowed. “What's this?”

Mason turned: his new team was on the ramp of the shuttle, gloves glowing softly, rhadjen robes fluttering in the draft from the bay's climate control. The image struck him as so out of place—this was an ESC school, after all. Mason knew soon the time would come to choose between his old school and the new.

For now, his blood still belonged to the ESC.

“You brought Rhadgast
here
?” Jeremy said. He almost took a step back but seemed to catch himself. Jeremy never showed apprehension, even if he was feeling it.

“I must agree,” Stellan said, “this is highly irregular.”

“They're my teammates, same as you. I can vouch for them.”

Jeremy's look softened, but only by half. “You've been gone a long time.”

Maybe too long.
How much time had passed? Not even a month.

“Look,” Mason said. “They're cadets, they're soldiers. Just like us.”

Jeremy raised an eyebrow. “Just like us?”

“Well, maybe not as disciplined as us. Or as disciplined as Stellan, I should say.”

Stellan grinned. “I can be a rebel, too, you know.”

“I know,” Mason said. “Will you both keep an open mind?”

Jeremy nodded. “For you.”

“I won't turn away help,” Stellan said. “And I've been wanting to talk to a Tremist for a
very
long time.”

Mason led them to the others. Po shook their hands eagerly and said, “More humans! I was hoping to meet more. I … that sounds strange, doesn't it.” It only sounded strange because Po was now speaking English.

“Probably,” Risperdel said, also in English. Their accents were slightly clipped and proper.

Lore didn't shake hands with anyone. Her mouth was a thin hard line. As the team acquainted themselves with Jeremy and Stellan, Mason walked over to her.

“What?” she said.

Mason didn't know where to begin. “You … it seemed like … you were, you know, not going to hate my guts forever.”

“I don't hate you,” she said, in a way that said she totally hated him.

Mason waited until she said more.

She sighed after a moment, and her shoulders relaxed. “My family has been Rhadgast going back past the days of the Divider. And I've lost uncles and aunts in our war with the humans, cousins, too. I know you saved us, but still more Rhadgast are dead.” She shook her head.

“I never meant…” But the words felt hollow as he thought them. Meaningless.

“I
know
that. I know. And I know not everything is your responsibility, even if
you
don't. But it doesn't make it hurt less. You understand that, right? You did everything you could, and I honor you for that. Just give me more time.… I know we owe you our lives, Mason. I am grateful for that. And for you.”

Mason drew breath to say something—he didn't know what—but Merrin appeared from around the corner. “Is everything okay?” She looked between Mason and Lore. Lore had her eyes on the floor, but then she lifted them to Merrin, and they were only slightly warmer than before.

“Everything's fine,” Mason replied.

“Good. Because Tom is waiting for us.” Mason felt a pang in his stomach—as if he had to be reminded? “Everyone is loaded up. Let's fly.”

In the shuttle's passenger section, Mason faced his team. Kylie and the other Reynold were piloting them out of the Martian atmosphere. Jeremy and Stellan were mixed in with Po, Merrin, Risperdel, and Lore, a gesture Mason appreciated. They were all crammed in the seats, harnesses locked down tight.

Jeremy smiled at Risperdel. “Hi, what's your name? I'm Jeremy. Jeremy Cane. You may have heard of me. I was part of the team that assaulted the Fangborn ship above Nori-Blue. You know, when the Will and the Olympus were almost monster food? Yeah, that was me.”

Risperdel was looking at Jeremy as if he were some kind of alien parasite trying to burrow into her skin.

Mason cleared his throat, and Jeremy faced forward, his smile fading into serious mode, with just the hint of a smirk left.

Mason didn't have some grand speech planned. He simply said, “Thank you for coming with me. Thank you for the honor of fighting at your side.” Then he buckled himself in and tried to turn inward, to meditate, and to calm himself for what came next.

Merrin was sitting next to him. He placed his hand on hers, and she curled her fingers around his. He savored the feeling, tried to stamp it into his mind. Because the ride to Nori-Blue was short, and Mason didn't know how much time he would have left as a human.

 

Chapter Forty

 

Mason felt the strange static on his skin when they passed through the cross gate. He unbuckled his restraints and walked into the shuttle's cockpit. And there was Nori-Blue, massive and green, frosted with wispy clouds from pole to pole. In the southern hemisphere was the dark gray smudge of a storm.

“Where do you want us to put her down?” Kylie asked.

Mason popped his communicator into a slot on the console. All ESC coalition ships were required to have basic ESC functions, and this was one of them. A three-dimensional hologram appeared above the console: a photo-realistic picture of Nori-Blue, with a pulsing orange dot south of the equator.

“There,” Mason said.

Kylie nodded, then fed power to the engines, bringing the shuttle in at a shallow angle for a smooth approach. The planet grew until all Mason could see was green.

The ship banked hard to the left, heading south. Mason was thrown sideways; he caught himself on the wall with both hands and barely avoided cracking his head open. Through the windshield was the storm Mason saw from orbit: a wall of charcoal clouds they were heading straight toward.

“You might want to buckle up, kid,” Kylie said, her hands struggling with the twin control sticks.

“What's happening?” the other Reynold said. “I've lost control!”

Mason had an idea, but he dared not hope.

Allow me …
a voice said in his head.

“Did you hear that?” Kylie said.

“Allow me?” the other Reynold said. “Allow who what?”

“Child!” Mason shouted. It was so good to hear the AI's voice once again.

You are off course. I'm afraid they moved Cadet Tom Renner and left his communicator behind in the cell. Luckily, I've been tracking them. I will fly you to that location now.

The other Reynold put a calming hand on Kylie's forearm. “Let him take over. I read the report—there's an ancient AI on the surface who helped the cadets gain the knowledge of the People. He's friendly, I swear.” Mason still couldn't tell if the other Reynold was a man or a woman, as the mask modulated his or her voice into a grainy rasp.

Kylie took her hands off the controls, even though it was clearly the last thing she wanted to do. “Cool, I guess”

Very cool. And yes, please buckle up, Mason Stark.

Mason did what Child told him to do; it had worked out well so far. He went to the passenger section and sat back down next to Merrin.

“What was that all about?” she said. Child must've spoken only to Mason and the Reynolds.

He couldn't help but grin. “Our old pal Child is alive and well.”

Merrin smiled, too. “I was hoping we'd see him again.”

Kylie's voice broke on the com: “Get ready for a hot exit. This AI seems to think we aren't capable of walking.”

Just trying to save time,
Child replied.

Mason and the others readied themselves, lining up at the rear door. The shuttle was drifting down now on its landing thrusters, swaying gently from side to side, making the team bow their legs as if they were at sea. The rhadjen shifted from foot to foot, eager and a little nervous all at the same time. Stellan and Jeremy, however, were solid as rocks.

“Must be their first time storming an alien stronghold,” Jeremy said.

“Hey, it's yours, too,” Stellan replied. “
I,
however, have been here before.”

“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Po said with a lazy smile. He was the only rhadjen who didn't seem nervous. “Earth Space Command is big and bad. Maybe when this is over, we can have us a little duel. What say you, human?”

Jeremy grinned wide inside the beard he was trying to grow again (it was still patchy and thin). “Name the time and place, I'll be there. You can even use those cute gloves of yours.”

The well-intentioned ribbing stopped, because the shuttle door unlocked with a bang. Two seconds later, the ramp slammed down, and the smells of Nori-Blue rushed into the passenger bay. The team fast-marched down the ramp and into the storm. It was only windy at this point, but the air felt thick with rain ready to drop. Mason's robes tugged at him–what a poor garment to wear in a storm. He unbuttoned the front and shrugged out of it, letting the wind rip it skyward. Lightning flashed in the clouds, illuminating their target: a mountain, tall and wide and black. At the base of the mountain was an enormous arch and beyond that, darkness. The arch was as tall as a skyscraper, a quarter of the mountain itself.

“How was this hidden from our planet-wide scans?”

“I don't know,” Kylie replied. “They
do
have a hundred-mile-long ship. I'd assume they have cloaking technology.”

They did have a hundred-mile-long ship,
Mason thought,
but not anymore.
Here on Nori-Blue, the surviving monsters would no doubt love to get ahold of the human responsible.

Stellan shouted “Your gloves!” when he saw how far Mason's had spread, how the tendrils crawled along his torso, gripping his chest and abdomen.

Mason shook his head:
Not now.
“Let's move!” he roared. “Stay close to me. We keep in formation no matter what happens! Once we find Tom, we're out of here! I'll try to repel them with my shield, but attack anything that gets too close.”

They ran across the clearing. The trees around them swayed back and forth as if they were waving goodbye. Leaves filled the air, tiny razors zipping and tumbling sideways. Lore gasped as a line of blood appeared on her forehead. They were running for the arch at a full sprint now. This had to be the entrance to their city. Mason had no idea what he would find within, but he was ready to face it.

He was ready.

The team slowed as they approached the arch, but they did not stop. They entered the darkness willingly.

 

Chapter Forty-one

 

The sound of the storm became a howl behind them; the wind was cutting across the opening of the arch, like blowing over the mouth of a bottle. The darkness in front of them was absolute.

“Rhadjen!” Po shouted over the noise. “Light the way!” The Tremist spread out and let their gloves come to life. Purple and red light filled the area around them, glowing brightly from their hands. They lit the way ahead, which was a tunnel too huge to be called a tunnel. It also revealed the enemy hidden in the gloom.

Fangborn were all around them.

The monsters were crouched low, ready to spring, their catlike eyes glowing yellow and green in the light, their fangs glistening with venom. A few of them leapt toward the group, but they never came close. Mason punched his fist toward the sky, releasing his will, and a column of crackling black light shot up and then curled down over the team, forming a dome out of electric bars. The Fangborn crashed into the dome and shrieked, falling to the ground in convulsions, some of them not moving at all. Mason kept walking forward, keeping his group under the shield.

The Fangborn retreated as his shield grew nearer, slowly at first, begrudgingly, then faster. The gloves were pleased Mason was using them again. He felt them pull tighter across his chest, felt the material branching down toward his legs. Soon he would be covered … if he allowed it.

At the end of the tunnel the darkness surrendered to light. The team kept moving, running now, the Fangborn hovering at the edges, not daring to approach Mason's shield. Some of the monsters sprinted away, probably to sound the alarm and get reinforcements.
My shield will hold,
Mason thought. Or hoped.
It has to, or we're all dead.