Imminent Danger: And How to Fly Straight Into It Page 5

They raced through the hole and into a large, corrugated metal tube. At the far end of the tube was a plain, black metal door. Eris, still hanging over the raider’s shoulder, watched him punch a series of buttons on a control panel and then rip off a glove and slap his hand against a metal plate on the wall. This must be his ship, Eris thought. There was a loud beep, and the door slid open.

  They hurried into the small airlock. More buttons, through another door, and they emerged into a narrow room lined with shelving units. The raider slammed his hand against another wall panel, and the door to the airlock slid shut behind them.

  After dumping Eris on the floor, the raider sprinted out of the room. Seconds later, the engines roared to life.

  Eris groaned and sat up groggily. “Are you all right?” she asked Miguri, who sprawled on the floor beside her, panting heavily. They both grabbed at the shelves to steady themselves as the ship began to vibrate beneath them.

  “We were just abducted from our abductors by another abductor,” he replied in a disgruntled tone. “How would you classify our situation?”

  “What do you think he’s going to do with us?”

  “Nothing good, I imagine. He is a raider, after all.”

  Eris smiled wryly. “At least he’s not one of those evil Rakorsians, right?”

  The Claktill’s tail twitched in agitation. “That is the thing, you see,” he mumbled. “I am fairly certain our abductor is Rakorsian.”

  Eris crossed her arms. “Now you’re just being paranoid.” Suddenly, the ship rocked violently. “What was that?” she shrieked, jumping to her feet.

  “I believe we have detached from the Ssrisk cruiser.” Miguri pointed above her head, where there was a small porthole. Looking out, Eris could see they were floating away from the curved hull of the Ssrisk ship.

  They heard a loud clanking noise outside the airlock followed by the sound of metal grinding on metal. “What was that?” she said.

  “I do not know,” Miguri admitted, “but it does not sound good.”

  The ship darted forward. Eris lost her balance and fell, sprawling beside Miguri on the metal floor. “Ow! Who gave him a driver’s license?”

  As the ship continued accelerating, Eris struggled back to her feet. “I’m going to find out what’s happening,” she told Miguri. “Wait here. No point in both of us getting shot.”

  Miguri nodded.

  Hanging onto the wall, she clawed her way to the doorway through which the raider had disappeared. She staggered through the opening and out into a long, narrow, cluttered corridor. Metal boxes were stacked up on either side, held in place by sturdy-looking straps. Eris could see flickering lights spilling out of an open doorway at the far end of the hallway. The cockpit?

  The ship was flying more smoothly now, allowing Eris to keep her footing as she ran down the corridor. Bursting into the cockpit, she found the raider sitting in a high-backed chair. His hands were flying across the ship’s control console, turning dials, punching buttons, and flipping switches.

  Eris peered at the main display, which looked like a radar imaging system. At least a dozen small blue dots were quickly approaching a large red dot in the center of the screen. If we’re the big red dot, we’re in serious trouble.

  She tore her gaze from the screen to the cockpit’s 180-degree window as the raider turned the ship back toward the Ssrisk cruiser. Several small Ssrisk ships were speeding toward them, shooting out bursts of plasma. Somewhat similar to their mother ship, the fighters had rounded forms though with symmetrical protrusions on each side.

  The raider’s ship suddenly lurched, shook violently, and lurched again. Eris grasped the back of the copilot’s seat to keep her balance. “Did we get hit?” she asked the raider. He ignored her.

  Eris watched as the black-clad pilot returned fire at the Ssrisk. Blasts of plasma shot out from somewhere under the cockpit and seared through space toward the fighters. When two of the small Ssrisk ships exploded, Eris resisted the urge to whoop victoriously. We don’t even know why this guy kidnapped us or what he’s going to do with us once we’ve escaped the Ssrisk. She pushed that thought to the back of her mind. The important thing was to survive the next five minutes.

  “Vastiskira Ssrisk,” the raider chuckled through his opaque visor as another of his shots hit its target. The Ssrisk fighter erupted in a ball of fire that was quickly sucked away into the vacuum of space. “Yukri va rentuk!”

  Eris had no clue what he was saying, but was surprised he could be laughing when his own ship seemed to be on the verge of exploding. “You’ve got the strangest sense of humor,” she muttered. Then, to her dismay, the ship lurched again.

  “Harati kavarti kivora gra,” the raider said to her. His hands continued their dance across the control board. When Eris didn’t move, he made a sit-down motion with his hand. Eris hastily threw herself into the copilot’s chair.

  Another one, two, and then three Ssrisk fighters exploded. But Eris saw that more fighters were pelting toward them, each firing blasts of plasma. There were so many, and they looked so small, that she began to wonder if there were even Ssrisk aboard the fighters. Is there such a thing as remote-control spaceships?

  The raider’s ship started to shudder. “Maka kirova!” the raider growled, obviously displeased with the turn of events.

  Is he that bad a pilot? Or is something wrong with his ship?

  Miguri suddenly tumbled into the cockpit. After quickly scanning the scene, he shouted at the raider, “Ali kibella di gostras valto macta?”

  The raider turned his helmeted face toward the Claktill and cocked his head as if he found Miguri’s words surprising. Then he pulled the lamri from his belt and tossed it to Miguri, who caught it just before the ship lurched again.

  “Alvish naltim!” snapped the raider, returning to the ship’s controls.

  Miguri pressed the raider’s lamri to the one on Eris’s necklace. “Here,” he said. “Now you will be able to understand him. That will have to do for now.”

  “What did you do?” said Eris.

  “I attuned your lamri to Galactic Common,” said Miguri, clutching the arm of her chair as the ship lurched again.

  “But I don’t speak Common,” she protested. “How will he understand me if I’m speaking English?”

  “I am fairly certain his lamri is already attuned to your human language,” Miguri replied. “Most lamri are connected to an interstellar network, and once one lamri learns a language, the whole network does. The Ssrisk must have devised a way to sever that connection and remove languages from individual lamri. Fortunately, lamri can always communicate by touch.”

  “Hey, as long as we can communicate, I’m good.” Eris jumped when a plasma bolt hurtled past the cockpit, narrowly missing the ship.

  “Are you planning on giving that back?” the raider said, holding one hand out toward Miguri without glancing away from the console.

  The Claktill hastily returned the lamri.

  “Either of you know how to fly?” the raider asked.

  “Why would we want to help you?” Miguri trilled. “We do not even know why you abducted us from the Ssrisk.”

  “Not that we mind!” Eris said.

  “Nevertheless,” the Claktill said, “I see no reason to help you out of a mess you started.”

  Their pilot laughed. “Quite the temper you’ve got there, rat. And here I thought Claktills were all pacifist pushovers. Seriously, don’t you feel the ship heaving? The left empennage was damaged when we detached from the Ssrisk cruiser.”

  “And here I thought you were trying to impress us with your flying ability,” Miguri said.

  “Miguri!” Eris exclaimed. Why is he being so rude?

  “If I don’t repair it,” the raider continued, ignoring Miguri, “we’ll be dead in space. And that would be bad for you, because whatever plans the Ssrisk had for you before, they’d rather see you dead than have anyone know I stole you from right under their scaly noses.”

  Miguri looked pen
sive. “Very well. I will fly your ship.”

  The raider stood. “Good. You’re the pilot. Fly straight.” He turned to Eris. “You, take over the weapons controls. Kari knows the Claktill can’t do it.”

  Eris stared at him in astonishment.

  “Terrestrials,” he sighed, and then leaned over the console in front of her. Speaking slowly, as if to a child, he said, “Use this screen to target the enemy. Hold this control to aim the guns. Press this button to shoot the guns. Do not press this button, or you will overcharge the system and destroy my ship.”

  Eris hesitantly placed her hands on the weapon controls. This is almost like playing a video game, she thought. Watching the targeting display, she maneuvered the stick until the guns were pointed in roughly the correct direction. She gingerly pressed the firing button. Two dots of light appeared on the display and headed toward the nearest blue dot. They missed, but it was close. With more confidence, Eris adjusted her grip and fired again. Another miss. On her third attempt, she hit. This time, the blue dot flashed on the display and disappeared.

  “Good enough,” the raider said, and then sprinted from the cockpit.

  Eris continued firing at the blue dots on the screen. Most of her shots missed, but every so often she hit a target. She felt a rush of adrenaline whenever a dot flashed and vanished. They are trying to kill us, she rationalized.

  “The shields are down to 30 percent,” Miguri squeaked as he struggled with controls designed for someone twice his size. “Kari, these are good shields,” he muttered.

  Shields? That explains why we haven’t exploded yet.

  The raider’s voice suddenly blared from an overhead speaker. “Engage the ship’s lamri, rat.”

  Miguri scowled up at the speaker. “Engage the lamri? Are you mad? We could take the whole system with us!”

  “This ship is too small to affect anything unless it’s in very close range,” the raider said. “At the most, we’ll vaporize a few Ssrisk fighters. I can live with that.”

  “I do not think—” Miguri began.

  “Either do it now, or I’ll put you out the airlock and do it myself.”

  “This is really not a good idea,” Miguri told Eris.

  “It sounds better than being blown up by the Ssrisk,” Eris said. “It’s his ship. He must know what he’s doing.”

  Miguri sighed and then punched the button. “Lamri engaged,” he reported.

  A computerized female voice announced from the overhead speaker, “Dovu ra hari. Dovu ra hari.”

  Eris sucked in a deep breath. Gripping the arms of the copilot’s chair tightly, she braced herself for the upcoming pain.

  SHWOOP.

  8

  “Hurun omikaru va. Hurun omikaru va.”

  The computer’s voice jolted Eris back to reality. As soon as the pain of the Pull receded, she looked at the targeting screen. All the blue dots had vanished. Outside the cockpit window, she could see only clear, starry space. My first space battle, she thought, collapsing back in her chair. That wasn’t so bad.

  Eris heard a deep chuckle behind her and spun around in her chair. A tall, lithe young man was leaning against the door frame, an amused smirk playing across his lips. He had a defined, clean-shaven jaw and bronze skin. As Eris stared at him, he looked from her disheveled hair down to her scruffy jeans and back up to her smudged face. She promptly blushed a bright shade of pink.

  He brings tall, dark, and handsome to a whole new level, she thought incredulously. Then she spotted the black body armor and the striker holstered on his belt. “You’re the raider?”

  The young man, who looked to be in his early twenties, crossed his arms against his chest and bowed. Shaggy dark hair fell with casual elegance over his gray eyes, which were twinkling in the dim light of the cockpit. “At your service.” Glancing out the window, he added, “I take it we escaped from the socially awkward reptiles?”

  Eris was in shock. The cool and deadly raider who had abducted them from the Ssrisk was now playing the charming, friendly host. And, she realized, his voice seemed to be doing something odd to her body. Her heart was beating rapidly, her breath hitched, and she felt her insides turning to jelly. He’s got to be the most gorgeous man I’ve ever laid eyes on. He’s absolutely … wow. Just wow. Eris had never had such an extreme reaction to anyone before and had no idea what to make of it. “I … um … what?”

  The raider turned his gaze back to her, his expression one of amused interest.

  Why does he keep looking at me like that? Guys never look at me like that. Is he even human? He looks human. Eris could not for the life of her remember the question he had posed. “That is … uh …”

  He laughed. “You’re concerned about my empennage, right? Don’t worry, I fixed it. And I know I’m devastatingly attractive, but you’re staring a bit more than even I’m accustomed to.”

  Something prodded her side sharply. Eris glanced down to see Miguri glaring at the raider. “She thinks you are human,” the Claktill snapped. “But I know what you are, Rakorsian.”

  Eris woke from her stupor and shot the Claktill a shocked look. “Miguri! What happened to not pissing off the person with the striker?”

  “I would hardly call a Rakorsian a person,” Miguri muttered.

  “Wait, he actually is Rakorsian?” She peered up at their abductor. “But he looks so … human.”

  “Human?” the raider asked Eris casually. “Is that what your species is called?”

  Miguri’s tail twitched in agitation. “Yes, Rakorsian, this girl is a human. And as a terrestrial, she belongs on her home planet. She did not belong on the Ssrisk ship, and she certainly does not belong here on yours.”

  Eris nodded, although she was starting to quite like the idea of being on the raider’s ship. Better him than the Ssrisk, she reasoned, even if he is Rakorsian. The Ssrisk definitely weren’t as much fun to look at.

  The Claktill continued speaking. “Eris, our captor is Rakorsian. We cannot trust him. The only goal Rakorsians have is to crush all other sentient life and bring the galaxy under their sole control.”

  “Hey now, we’re not all like that,” the raider protested mildly.

  But judging by the twinkle in his eye, Eris gathered that the description did not really disturb him. And try as she might, she couldn’t stop staring at him. He’s incredibly good-looking, obviously, she thought, but there’s something else … She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. But whatever it was, it fascinated her.

  Miguri’s hair shot into little spikes at the raider’s words. “And I suppose you are a good Rakorsian, one who does not enjoy splattering Claktilli brains against the wall simply to see how interesting a pattern the blood can make.”

  “As a matter of fact—”

  “No, do not tell me,” Miguri interrupted. “As a child you saw the mindless violence of your fellow Rakorsians and realized all you want is universal peace. So you now roam the galaxy alone, a rebel and traitor to your species, desperately seeking to counteract all the senseless cruelty by helping creatures like us who are in need.”

  “I could shoot you,” the raider offered.

  Eris raised her hand, requesting permission to speak. Both aliens stared at her in bafflement. “It’s a human thing,” she mumbled. “Please don’t take this the wrong way, but seeing as you aren’t a rebel or a typical Rakorsian … what are you?”

  “I,” the raider said, striking a noble pose, “am a freelance agent of the Intergalactic Federation of Terrestrial Admiration and Protection. IFTAP, if you prefer. As a terrestrial, you qualify for my protection.”

  “You are Rakorsian,” Miguri snapped. “Moreover, Rakorsians almost never venture outside their territory unless they are in a military flotilla.” Turning to Eris, the Claktill insisted, “If he is not in the Rakorsian military, then he is either an exile, a mercenary, or insane. We cannot believe a word he says.”

  “Now you’re being paranoid,” Eris said. She began to wonder if Miguri was just suspicio
us by nature. Eris wanted to trust her friend, but she realized he could easily have his own agenda and might have exaggerated certain facts—such as the alleged evil nature of Rakorsians—for reasons known only to him.

  The raider caught her eye and winked. Having never been winked at before, Eris smiled shyly. Why does he keep staring at me?

  “Look, just trust me,” the Rakorsian said with a charming smile. “My superiors contacted me with intelligence pinpointing a terrestrial presence on a Ssrisk cruiser in the Sirius system. So I swooped in to save you. That’s it. I have no ulterior motives.” He gestured at the door. “Come along now. Let’s find something to keep you two unexpectedly entertaining passengers occupied. I need to make a few adjustments to the engines, and we don’t want you poking around and breaking anything, do we?”

  He led them to a windowless room off the ship’s central corridor. It held several benches and chairs, a large octagonal table with colored buttons along the edges, and several metal storage units. A large monitor mounted on the wall showed a view of space.

  “Make yourselves comfortable,” their host said graciously.

  As he turned to leave, Eris called, “Wait! I didn’t catch your name.”

  “I didn’t give one.”

  “Oh.” She looked down, unsure how to respond.

  “It’s Varrin,” he said with a smile before disappearing into the hallway. The metal door slid shut behind him.

  Eris stared pensively at the door. “Varrin,” she said. “That name is so—”

  “If you say beautiful,” Miguri interrupted, “I will never speak to you again.”

  “I was going to say unusual,” she retorted.

  “Of course the name is unusual. It is Rakorsian. They are all unnatural, villainous sociopaths. And do not think I did not see the way you were looking at him! I have met his type before. He will charm you, seduce you, and abandon you without a second thought.”

  “S-seduce me?” Eris stammered. Then she burst into laughter. “Miguri, trust me, I’m not the type of girl men choose to seduce. Get to do their homework, maybe, or babysit their kid sister. But seduce? I don’t think so.”