The Unreachable Stars: Book #11 of The Human Chronicles Saga (25 page)

Chapter 25

Adam was taken to a room and locked inside. With no crime in Sol-Kor society, they had no need for a brig aboard their ships. This was an office of some kind, with only a bare, four-legged desk and a few cabinets along the wall. There was no bed and not even any chairs.

 A small window was imbedded in the door and he could see four heavily-armed Sol-Kor in the corridor outside. He examined the legs of the desk—metal, about four feet long. They would make good clubs, to be used to acquire an even more lethal weapon. He flipped the desk on its face and then set about bending one of the legs until it broke off in his arms.

Just as he completed his task, the door opened and guards flooded in. Without a word, they took away his club and what was left of the desk and then left, with one now stationed outside the window outside, looking in. These were near-mindless drones. They would man their posts without distraction, and now the guard stared unblinking at Adam from the window. If he was going to escape, it would have to come when they moved him—if they moved him—before making the transit to another universe.

So with his back against a metal bulkhead, he slipped down to the floor and sat there, returning the gaze of the alien at the window. When he grew tired of that, he crossed his arms, hung his head, and tried to get some sleep. Whatever was going to happen would happen, and when it did, he needed to be well-rested and alert. Still, he couldn’t help but wonder how the battle outside was going.

********

 “May Allah curse you…was that you again, Jym?” Riyad covered his mouth and nose with the small breathing mask again. Like all the times before, it did little to lessen the potency. This had to be the tenth time the tiny bear-like creature had farted. The atmosphere in the packing crate was thoroughly contaminated.

“It is my nature,” Jym said in his defense. “Do Humans not release pent up gas?”

“Yeah, we do, but damn, yours could peel paint.”

“I do not believe so. That would take—”

“It’s just an expression, but remember, we’re trying to stay hidden from the Sol-Kor. If they smell you, they may think there’s some kind of dangerous gas leak aboard the
Pegasus
and cast the ship out the airlock. So please, control yourself.”

Jym looked to Kaylor. “It was not that bad, was it?”

Kaylor, who had lived aboard starships with Jym for over thirty standard years, just shrugged. “Riyad is right in one regard: we do not want to give away our presence.”

“Then let us get on with it,” Jym said out of frustration. “We have been crammed into this cargo box for far too long. It is quiet outside. Let us go do something.”

The two aliens looked to Riyad.

“Yes, you’re right. It is time to do something. Crack the lid, Kaylor. Let’s take a look outside.”

Only dim security lights lit the cargo hold of the
Pegasus
II
, as the three stowaways peered out the narrow slit made by the raised lid. Then Riyad pushed it all the way up and the three climbed out. Riyad was relieved to stretch his legs again, and now that he could smell the fresh air of the cargo bay, he was able to put in perspective just how potent were Jym’s disgusting farts. He was even more convinced that if anyone had been in the cargo hold, it would have been impossible for them to miss the odor.

Riyad looked at his watch. It had been over six hours that the trio had been hiding in the box, and from peeing in plastic containers, Jym’s farts, and their rapidly disappearing rations, it was miracle they’d lasted that long. Now he had to figure out where they were.

The engines on the
Pegasus II
had long since shut down, and the gravity he felt was not that of the Human starship, but something much lighter. Also, he hadn’t heard or felt any signs of a planetary landing, so it was a good bet the
Pegasus II
was on another starship.

A Sol-Kor starship.

Riyad smiled.
Damn, Reggie, looks like Plan B is working
, he thought. That also meant that Plan A had failed. The Human fleet was
not
in the process of attacking a portal array,
not
ready to follow them to the other seven portals. That was Plan A. Now Reggie’s Plan B was underway. If they were aboard a Sol-Kor ship, then Adam had surrendered Panur as a means of tipping the aliens’ hand about the immunity offer. How that information would manifest itself was a mystery, along with how long it would take before the fleet—and the galaxy—knew it was all a fake.

In the meantime, Panur was back in the hands of the Sol-Kor, with the ball in the Queen’s court.

As Riyad surveyed the deserted cargo bay of the
Pegasus II
, he thought a silent curse. If ever there was a time when he needed an artificial telepathy device, it was now. He had to find Adam and Panur before they were moved to another location, and before they were sent through a portal, and it would have been a piece of cake with an ATD.

Riyad led the small parade out of the cargo hold, along the spine of the small starship and to the pilothouse. All was quiet aboard, and as they entered the compartment with its large forward viewport, they crouched down and moved among the equipment banks and crew stations before looking over the lip of the window at the scene outside the ship.

They were in a large hangar bay, one with a dozen or so Sol-Kor workers flitting about. Their movements showed no sign of concern or undue urgency, so Riyad concluded for himself that the ship was not part of a battle taking place.

With his breathing mask firmly in place, Riyad moved to the open exit hatch and looked out. His first priority was to locate Adam, and for that Riyad needed a Sol-Kor crewmember willing to be interviewed. One such candidate stood about twenty feet from the hatchway, his back conveniently turned away from the ship as he worked on the electric motor of a small, boxy transport.

“Stay here,” he whispered to his alien companions, and then armed with an MK plasma weapon he’d taken from the pilothouse, Riyad slipped out through the hatch, moving along the fuselage until he was about eight feet from the taller Sol-Kor crewmember.

Riyad had fought Sol-Kor before in hand-to-hand combat, so he wasn’t too worried; however, the major concern he always had was how much force to apply if he only wanted to knock them out or take them captive. Too many times in the past—and not just with Sol-Kor—he would use too much of his strength and kill the damn thing. Then he’d have to go hunting for another. That took time and exposed him to more risk. Now, as he slipped up behind his target, he fought the adrenalin surging through his veins, hoping he wouldn’t kill the guy. He needed information, not another useless corpse.

He had to jump slightly in order to reach neck level of the much taller alien so he could form an effective chokehold. The creature bent backwards with ease, and Riyad moved quickly to place a hand over his mouth. He squeezed a little tighter and saw his eyes rolling back into his head. As the crewmember became more compliant, Riyad quickly pulled him back to the
Pegasus II
and through the open hatch. They got back without being seen.

Riyad stationed Jym and Kaylor at guard duty before tossing the alien onto a couch in the common room and slapping him a couple of times to revive him.

“Wake up. You’re not dead. C’mon.”

The eyes of the alien fluttered open. When he saw the Human above him, a look of defiance came across his gray, scaly features. “You are not the one from before,” he stated without fear.

“No, I’m not. Where is he?”

“I will not tell you.”

“No, seriously, I want to know where he is.”

“I will not tell—”

Riyad planted a solid fist to the side of the Sol-Kor’s head. The alien’s yellow-tinged eyes grew cloudy and his mouth slack. Then Riyad slapped him again, this time lighter and for effect. “Wake up. I didn’t hit you that hard.”

Finally the eyes focused once more on Riyad. This time there was a little more fear in his expression.

“You cannot make me succumb.”

Riyad smiled. “Now we both know that’s not true.” He backed away and scanned the body of the alien. “I’m sure there are areas on your body that are more sensitive than others. Shall I begin the tour?” He ripped open the shirt of the Sol-Kor, revealing pale gray skin covered in what appeared to be tiny scales. He grabbed one of the scales and pulled it away. The alien grimaced.

“Ah, that looks like it got a reaction,” said Riyad with delight. “Now where is the other Human? Answer me, or I’ll rip off every last one of them.”

“I am not afraid.”

Riyad began peeling the skin of the alien, one strong hand pressed against the creature’s mouth to keep him quiet and immobile. After about a dozen scales had been removed, and with blood now oozing from the sites and spilling onto Adam’s light-colored sofa, Riyad pulled his hand away.

“You are just going to kill me anyway,” the creature squealed, his face a mask of intense pain.

“I have no desire to kill you. I just want to find my friend and get away. Cooperate and I’ll lock you in a cabinet somewhere, all safe and sound.”

He reached for more scales.

“Stop! I will cooperate. I do not know what good it will do you. There are but two of you aboard the mainship of the fleet.”

Riyad raised his eyebrows. “Go on.”

“The one we know to have participated in the attack on the Queen has been moved to the maintenance section and locked away.”

“Where is that from here?”

“Once through the main security door to the hangar, there is a corridor leading to the left of the control room. Traverse this passageway past three connecting corridors and then the fourth leads to the right and to the place where your like strain is being held. The room will be guarded, so you will not be able to free him.”

“Let me worry about that,” Riyad said.

“Now you will place me in cabinet.

“Oh, about that…I lied.” Riyad punctuated his statement with a punch directly to the alien’s throat, crushing it. The alien made a startled gurgling sound before his eyes fluttered shut and a long sigh of air—his last—left his lungs.

Riyad returned to the hatchway and looked out. He could see the exit; there were five Sol-Kor between him and the doorway. He went back to where Kaylor and Jym were waiting.

“I want the two of you to check out the
Pegasus
. Make sure all the systems are working and undo anything the ali—I mean the Sol-Kor—have done to keep it from flying. I’m going to get Adam. Have the ship ready to lift the moment I get back.”

“That we can do. Be safe.”

As it was with most large hangar bays, this one was littered with crates and miscellaneous equipment, making it relatively simple for Riyad to scoot along toward the exit without being seen. He was hoping the Sol-Kor didn’t have need for security cameras, since their race consisted mostly of drones and with no crime committed among its members. Still, he had to wait a good five minutes for the exit to clear enough for him to rush through. On the other side, he immediately had to slide along the smooth decking, like a runner going into second base, in order to trip an unsuspecting Sol-Kor blocking his passage. He was on the creature in an instant, grabbing him by the head with both hands and the slamming it hard onto the metal deck plate. Its skull shattered, and before too much blood could escape, Riyad took the body around a corner and left it in an alcove where a panel of controls was located.