He couldn’t even approach the door without feeling an irresistible pull to the ship’s floor. How could they make it all the way to engineering?

  “Do you have a portable gravity generator?” Gwen said, rising to her feet once more, with Bandit still clutched to her chest. “Something you could program to counteract the effects?”

  “I do.” Peri ran to another section of his workshop and pulled a thin silver tarp off a pile of devices. He lifted his arms, and the items closest to the top of the pile floated up and then off to the side under his direction.

  “Well, it looks like you can control gravity yourself,” Gwen said.

  “My exosuit enables me to create localized areas of differentiated gravity,” Peri said. “But it requires concentration to cover an area broader than myself. I will not be able to repair the gravity matrix if I am also concentrating on keeping us all from being crushed. That is why we need— Ah, here it is!”

  He maneuvered the device into the center of the room, then slowly lowered it to the floor. Xan stared at Peri, incredulous.

  “It’s huge,” Xan said.

  Peri crossed his arms. “I did not say it was small.”

  “How are we going to get that to engineering?” Xan asked.

  “May I be of assistance?” Margaret rolled closer to the device. “You have already fitted me with an alternative source of power. If you remove my solar arrays, there should be ample room on my back for me to carry this device.”

  “That’s a great idea.” Gwen reached out and rested her hand on the robot. “Thank you so much for offering to help us.”

  A green light flickered near Margaret’s camera. “I am happy to help my new friends.”

  Peri immediately started removing solar arrays. Xan stepped forward so he could carefully move them out of the way as Peri handed them to him.

  Once the robot was cleared, there was plenty of space for the portable gravity generator. Peri once again used his exosuit to lift the device and place it on Margaret. As he adjusted the settings, Xan’s stomach flipped and lurched, like he was going through turbulence while entering a choppy atmosphere.

  “Whoa, I don’t think I’m going on any more roller coasters,” Gwen said.

  Xan reached out for her, holding her in his arms as Peri finished up. Warmth spread through him as he looked down at her and Bandit. The kitten reached out and gently pawed Xan’s face.

  “It’s gonna be okay, right?” Bandit asked.

  Xan forced a smile and scratched the kitten’s head. “You bet.”

  Bandit closed his eyes and started to purr. One way or another, Xan would make sure he kept that promise.

  “I believe it is ready,” Peri said.

  He headed toward the hall, Margaret rolling behind him, and Gwen, Xan, and Bandit sticking close. As they neared the door, the casing Bandit had swatted outside popped back into its cylindrical shape.

  “Well, that’s reassuring,” Gwen said.

  “Stay close to Margaret and you should be fine,” Peri said.

  Xan looked down at Gwen. Her lips were pulled in a frown, but she seemed determined. Again, he marveled at how strong she remained in the face of extraordinary circumstances.

  “You ready?” Xan asked.

  She nodded. “Let’s go.”

  Xan took her hand in his and walked behind the robot as Peri led the way down the hall. Bending down, Xan quickly picked up the casing—still in its regular cylindrical shape—and then placed it on Margaret’s back.

  The hall linked up with several others, the corridors becoming larger as they neared main engineering. Xan was glad Peri’s workshop and the hangars were all on the same level as engineering.

  “I have found someone,” Peri called from ahead.

  Margaret paused as Gwen and Xan scrambled to join the Vegan. He was kneeling next to Len, the ship’s chief science officer. Being this close to the hangar bay, Len had probably been returning from a visit to his bondmate, an Earthling who lived in Harbor. The Sadirian was laid out flat on the floor.

  “He is unconscious, but his life signs are stable for the moment,” Peri said. “If we try to take him with us, it will slow our progress.”

  “We can’t just leave him here,” Gwen said.

  “We have to.” Xan squeezed her hand. “We’re all soldiers. We know the risks. And if we stop to try to help him, we risk losing the chance to help everyone.”

  Gwen’s frown deepened, but she nodded. She kept glancing back at Len as they headed on to engineering.

  The main engineering bay was littered with prone soldiers when they arrived. All of them were near their stations, as if they might have had a hint that there was trouble before succumbing to the increased gravity.

  Peri headed straight for the side chamber that housed the gravity matrix. He reached up and waved his palm over the controls, then stepped toward the door, balking when it didn’t open.

  “What in the stars?” Peri said, backing up and waving his hand over the controls again. As the door didn’t respond, he waved more frantically. “This cannot be.”

  “Let me try,” Bandit said, squirming in Gwen’s grasp. “Queenie has been doing this annoying little dance move for weeks. I bet it’s the code to open the door.”

  Gwen looked over at Xan, and he nodded to her. She held up the kitten, and Bandit reached out and batted the controls. The door opened.

  “How the heck could Queenie—a kitten—lock a Vegan out of the ship’s systems if they’re the ones with all the super-advanced technology?” Gwen asked.

  Peri and Xan exchanged a look. Xan figured the Vegan was wondering the same thing.

  They hurried into the room, keeping close to Margaret.

  Cyan was inside. She stood with her back to them near an open access panel. Wires spewed out of it. She was holding up two handfuls of wiring and shaking them at Queenie, who Patches held pinned to the ground. The excess gravity didn’t seem to be bothering them.

  “You must agree to undo what you have done,” Cyan yelled. “I cannot protect you from the increased gravity and repair this on my own. I am a xenobiologist. I do not even know how to repair this!”

  Queenie let out a loud meow.

  “What do you mean, ‘That is my problem’?” Cyan said. “It is all of our problem. You have sabotaged the ship with potentially catastrophic consequences!”

  Queenie let out a hissing laugh.

  “That is not funny!” Cyan yelled.

  “Cyan?” Xan stepped forward. “What’s going on here?”

  Cyan’s eyes widened as she noticed them for the first time. Her scales paled to a light lime green.

  “I… You…” She stopped swaying on her feet when she saw Peri. “Periwinkle. Thank the stars you have arrived.”

  Peri hurried forward and started examining the wires in Cyan’s hands. He picked at several small metal bands, then shook his head.

  He turned to Queenie, and said, “These are the parts you have been stealing from my workshop. How did you know you could use them in this manner to bypass the safety controls?”

  Queenie yowled at him, then smacked Patches, hard. The other kitten staggered to the side, giving Queenie the chance to squirm out from under her. Queenie ran across the room, but suddenly stopped, dropping to the floor in a tiny heap.

  “The gravity!” Gwen lowered Bandit to the floor quickly, then ran forward and reached out to Queenie. She managed to grab the kitten, but fell forward with her arms stuck to the floor. “Ow ow ow!”

  “Gwen!” Xan dragged her back into the field their portable generator was creating.

  His heart was beating so fast, he thought it might burst. He helped her to her feet and pulled her close as she regained her equilibrium.

  “I do not want to feel that again.” She lifted Queenie and looked her over. “Are you okay, though?”

  Queenie let out a plaintive mew.

  “Bandit, can we borrow your collar?” Gwen asked.

  Bandit ran up to her. “Sure.”

  Cyan’s eyes widened. She turned to Peri, and said, “You have created a translation collar?”

  “It was the Earthling’s idea,” Peri said. “We will all have much to discuss once we have resolved the current crisis.”

  Xan didn’t doubt it. He thought back to what Peri had said about his experiments having unexpected results and wondered just how these “space cats” had obtained their exceptional abilities.

  That was a mystery for later. Right now, he just wanted to get the gravity fixed on the ship so he could keep Gwen and Bandit and everyone else safe.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gwen’s heart went out to Cyan. Her shoulders drooped and her head was bowed.

  Gwen was about to say something, when Peri walked over to Cyan. He hesitantly reached out to touch her elbow.

  “It would seem we have even more in common than I originally thought,” Peri said, his voice gentle.

  Gwen didn’t think it was her imagination when a bit more color returned to Cyan’s scales—especially around her cheeks. The two Vegans’ tails briefly entwined before Peri turned back to the panel, and Gwen thought it was about the cutest thing she’d ever seen.

  Though grateful for the moment of light in this crappy situation, Gwen quickly turned her attention back to the problem at hand. Kneeling, she set Queenie on the floor, then reached for Bandit’s collar.

  After she’d placed the silver collar on the fluffy calico, Gwen sat on the floor, wanting to be closer to their level. Bandit crawled onto her lap and curled into a ball. He was scared enough that she could feel him trembling, so she petted him, hoping to reassure him.

  “Okay, Queenie,” Gwen said. “Why don’t you tell us what you were trying to do here?”

  The kitten started with a snort. “Hmph. As if you’d understand.”

  Bandit made a scolding meow that Gwen didn’t need to have translated.

  “Try us,” Gwen said. “We might understand better than you think.”

  Queenie’s eyes widened and she rose, taking a few steps toward Gwen. The kitten even put her paws on Gwen’s knee.

  “You can understand me, can’t you?” Queenie said.

  Gwen nodded. “We’re listening. So tell us what happened.”

  Queenie blinked a few times, then seemed to notice where her paws were. She quickly drew back, curling her tail around her feet and looking away.

  It was still progress.

  “You’re all more interested in your things and your jobs than in me,” she said. “Patches has Nika. Bandit has Xan—and now you, I guess.”

  A thread of warmth wound through Gwen’s chest. Bandit looked up at her and began to purr, so Gwen scratched under his chin.

  “But whenever I try to get someone’s attention, it’s ‘Queenie, come back with that.’ ‘Queenie, you’re not supposed to be on the bridge.’ ‘Queenie, I’m trying to send a report to the head of the Coalition and you’re blocking the screen.’”

  Queenie stood and started pacing back and forth, her tail jerking angrily behind her. “Worst of all, whenever I make a point of expressing my displeasure—” She leapt up onto Margaret, then very pointedly knocked the little rubber cylinder onto the floor, watching as it fell.

  Queenie looked back to Gwen, and said, “You just pick up whatever I put on the floor and go on about your business as if nothing happened. Well, I have had enough of that.”

  The kitten jumped down and whacked the cylinder again with her paw, sending it flying. Gwen made a note of where it stopped and flattened so she could be careful not to cross that boundary again.

  “I increased the gravity on the ship,” Queenie said. “Now, when I put something on the floor, it will stay on the floor, and everyone will have to pay attention to me!”

  Gwen pinched her lips together to keep from laughing. She knew the situation was serious, but holy cow. That was some kitten logic right there.

  “Sweetie,” Gwen said, as gently as she could.

  The kitten narrowed her eyes, a low growl joining her speech. “Queenie.”

  That almost set Gwen off. She pretended to cough to cover her almost-laugh.

  “Queenie,” she said, keeping her tone serious. “You did a great job getting the things you knock onto the floor to stay there.”

  Queenie’s eyes widened again in surprise. Her mouth opened and a tiny clicking meow came out that the collar couldn’t translate.

  “But I don’t think you realized that the people were going to get stuck on the floor, too,” Gwen said. “How can they pay attention to you if they’re squished?”

  Patches let out a series of angry meows that, again, Gwen didn’t need translated. She waved her hand at the other kitten as Queenie hissed at her.

  “Not helping, Patches,” Gwen said.

  Patches put her ears back and sat so that she wasn’t facing Gwen. That was okay. She could handle the silent treatment. It was Queenie that Gwen needed to win over.

  “Can you tell us more about what you did so that we can fix it?” Gwen said. “Now that you have a translation collar, you can just ask for attention whenever you want it.”

  “I suppose…” Queenie flicked her tail again as she rose and headed back to the open panel.

  Peri and Cyan had been working on the wiring the entire time, but neither of the Vegans looked particularly happy. They stepped back when Queenie approached.

  “Those are just connectors,” Queenie said. “What you’re looking for is down here.”

  She leapt into the panel, disappearing from view. A few moments later, she reappeared with a small metal device in her mouth. She hopped out and dropped it at Peri’s feet.

  “What is this?” he said, picking it up and turning it over in his hands. “I have never seen technology like—”

  The metal rippled in his hand. Cyan smacked it away from him just before a series of spikes shot out from it.

  The Vegans leapt back, their arms wrapped around each other as they stared at it. The spikes retreated, then the entire thing began to melt. In seconds, it was just a pool of silver liquid on the floor, and then, even that evaporated into a fine mist.

  “I didn’t know it was going to do that,” Queenie said, her eyes wide.

  “It is all right,” Peri said. “But do you know what that was?”

  “I’m not supposed to say.” Queenie bowed her head.

  “Queenie…” Gwen reached out to the kitten and picked her up, holding her close to her chest. “Who gave you that?”

  “My friend,” she said. “He’s the one who taught me how to hook up the connectors to bypass the ship’s systems so he could help me change the gravity levels. He said the device would keep people from interfering and I could just drop it nearby where I was working, but I had to do it now or he wouldn’t be able to visit me anymore.”

  “Was that the only device of its kind?” Peri asked.

  “I think so,” Queenie said.

  Peri nodded, then turned back to the panel and got to work. Cyan observed him nervously.

  Almost to herself, she said, “We know that there are Sadirians aboard who wish to return to the old ways. They preferred the High Council’s rule.”

  “Marq has been working at finding them,” Xan said. “But it’s difficult. We think some of them have been mentally programmed to act as sleeper agents. They wouldn’t even know that they’re working against us.”

  “That’s awful,” Gwen said.

  “I promised you the truth,” Xan said. “Even when it’s ugly.”

  She scratched under Queenie’s chin, surprised that the kitten was letting Gwen hold her for so long.

  “Is there anything you can tell us about your friend that might help us find him?” Gwen asked. “His hair color? Height? Eyes?”

  Queenie let out another clicking meow, kind of like the sound Gwen had heard cats make in Internet videos when they were watching birds.

  “He looked different every time,” Queenie said. “But his eyes were always the same. He would show me. That’s how I knew who he was.”

  Xan’s entire body straightened, as if he was on high alert. The sinking feeling returned to Gwen’s stomach, and she doubted it was related to the gravity field this time.

  “What color were his eyes?” Gwen asked, even though she already knew.

  Queenie looked up at her and said, “They were silver—all over.”

  Xan hissed in a breath. “A Scorpiian. Onboard the Reckoning.”

  “I thought there were safety protocols specifically to keep them from coming aboard,” Cyan said.

  “There are,” Xan said. “Every Coalition ship has them. All of the access points—air locks, hangars, maintenance hatches, even the emergency escape pod bays—they all have detectors installed to scan for Scorpiians.”

  “Why don’t you have them throughout the ship?” Gwen asked.

  He shook his head. “The scans require a lot of power. It was considered too much of a drain on our systems.”

  “I guess it’s a good thing you know you can just install a bunch of black lights now,” Gwen said.

  Xan ran his hand over his face and sighed. “Unless he already knows that.”

  “What do you mean?” Gwen asked.

  Xan shook his head, then lifted his watch. He tapped its surface, and said, “Priority alpha communication. Ari—Florida base.”

  A moment later, a warm, masculine voice came from the watch. “Hey, Xan. What’s up?”

  “Has Zemanni left the base in the last forty-eight hours?” Xan asked.

  “Z?” Ari laughed. “You checking up on him again? You gotta let this go, man. Zemanni is retired and living the good life with his Earth-wife.”

  “You would know, right?” Xan said, his voice strained as if he was trying to infuse lightness into it—and failing. “But you’re sure he hasn’t left? Not even for a few hours here or there?”

  There was a pause, and Ari’s voice was more subdued when he spoke again. “Z, Kyle, and a few others have been doing some video game tournament for three days. No one’s been able to beat Z yet, so he hasn’t tapped out for a break at all. As long as he has a steady stream of coffee, he’s good.”

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11