The Discovery' (Alternate Dimensions Book 4) Read online

  But what I could do was help lower our snoozing pilot to the ground, and I readily did so. I imagined it was comical to watch from the outside, but it certainly wasn’t the time to laugh about it.

  Once the unconscious mooreerie was deposited safely onto the ground, we tossed down two supply packs and a dagger just to the side of the human. “Those are for you,” I called down once more. “I recommend waiting until after we leave, though.”

  “Make sure you actually pick up some scrap. It’ll be flagged if you come back empty-handed.”

  “Oh, uh… thanks!” I hadn’t expected that, but it was certainly appreciated. Maybe I found a kinda ally out here in the thick of Genesis’ territory. Too bad I was about to abandon him and all that. I pulled my head in and shut the door before looking to my friends as they settled into their spots. “Poitre says to make sure we actually pick up some scrap or we’ll be flagged.”

  “And what exactly does being flagged entail?”

  “Well, I didn’t exactly ask him the specifics, but I think we can agree it doesn’t sound good.”

  “I mean, yeah, but details matter.”

  I did my best to resist rolling my eyes. “Then start picking up debris! We’re probably already taking suspiciously long, anyways.”

  “Give me a minute. I’m just figuring out how to properly work an entirely new machine, you know, nothing that required quiet or concentration.”

  I got the message and zipped my mouth while tucking myself into a corner. Janix and Viys’k were equally quiet, but that could have been due to the fact that they seemed to have found the two workers’ lunches and were devouring them. I would have asked for some, but honestly my stomach was too much of a mess to partake. Besides, I wasn’t even sure I could digest whatever was in the mooreerie worker’s meal.

  A barking laugh sounded from Angel as we lurched forward. “I think I’ve got it!” She cheered. We all gave her a round of polite applause, which cut off pretty quickly as we jerked forward so hard I hit my head on the wall behind me. “Maybe got it isn’t accurate, but I’m on my way.”

  “You’re doing great,” I groaned, rubbing at the back of my head. Janix reached over, and put his arm behind my slightly throbbing skull.

  “That might help a bit,” he offered.

  “I dunno,” I said, shooting him a look through hooded eyes. “Your muscles aren’t as soft as I like my pillows to be normally.”

  “That’s true, they are rather defined and impressive, aren’t they?”

  And there went the flirty look. “I was trying to be cute and you just had to go and ruin it, didn’t you?”

  “Nothing I could do could make you any less cute than you are.”

  “Awww.” I laughed and pinched at his cheek teasingly. He batted my hand away, then reached down to pinch my side.

  “Angel, either crash us or get this scrap before I strangle the both of them.”

  “My, my, a bit touchy, aren’t we?” the half-kin chided. Despite her snarky response, she still continued to focus on the console panel, and we lurched forward once again -albeit with about half as much violent jerking.

  We took another step, and then another, followed quickly by another before Angel found the rhythm. From there, it was a smooth transition to right over the still-smoldering engine. The half-kin paused once more and I could see her sharp eyes darting over the array before she consulted the gadget on her wrist once more.

  I didn’t know what she was looking up, but apparently it had all the answers she needed, because I heard something unlock below us and slam open, before a chorus of other mechanical sounds issued right after.

  “Not bad,” Angel said, always one to congratulate herself on a job well done.

  “Who knows, if this whole pirate thing doesn’t work out for you, at least you’ll have a fallback option.”

  The Captain’s responding laugh was almost abrupt enough to be a snort. “The only way the pirate thing won’t work out is if I’m dead, and even then, I’ll be a dead pirate.”

  “And don’t forget freer of the half-kin and revolutionary historical figure.”

  She shrugged at that, clearly concentrating on scooping up the remains of our previous vessel. “Us Strangers aren’t meant to be historical figures. That’s why I chose to quietly slip through the cracks and help the worlds this way.”

  “But how’s that possible if we’re the ones making sure that history doesn’t end with a ‘and then everyone died’?”

  “It’s easy when you remember that we’re doing all of this so that others can live in prosperity. While it’s cool to be born a hero, it’s not easy. We’re not meant to know peace. We fight, we right wrongs, and then we die. Sometimes we do that last part before the second part. But if you’re thinking you’re going to escape this life with a happy ending, it’s about time you start setting more reasonable goals for yourself.”

  Her words weren’t easy to swallow, but I did my best not to get defensive or overly optimistic. “I guess when you’re immortal that violent deaths are really your only option at this point.”

  “Now, you’re getting it. And we all got to go sometime, don’t we?”

  “Not me,” Viys’k said with a smile about her whiskers. “I plan on living forever, or until I ascend to another level of consciousness beyond this mortal coil.” She paused a moment before her whiskers twitched again. “Or drink myself into a blissful eternity. Either way, it’ll be on my terms.”

  “I’m sure it will.”

  The metal scrapings and banging finally quieted and all of our gazes flicked to Angel. “That should about do it,” she accounced, heaving a sigh of relief. “Congratulations everyone, we’re on our way to getting exactly where we need to go.” She allowed us a moment to revel before hitting her wrist thing once again. “Hey, any luck on the readings of the facility?”

  “Apologies Captain,” It was back to the first voice she had spoken to. “But it seems to be completely shielded. We have the old blueprints, but we severely doubt that the layout hasn’t been significantly altered. The amount of energy needed to maintain a shield of this nature is massive. There has to be at least one reactor, but I would lay bets on more.”

  “Well, today seems to be a day for gambling, so you’re in good company. Focus your scan on the outer walls if you can. That’s the first hurdle we’re going to have to launch over… I meant that metaphorically, by the way.”

  “I figured as much, Captain.”

  “Right, carry on. I’ll just be here expertly driving a vehicle that I’ve only been in for about ten minutes.” She clicked off the tiny com and flashed me a grin. “If only it was all this easy, right?”

  “Say that after we get inside.”

  “And save your friend. Right, right. I didn’t scoop you out of space to let you fail now.”

  “I remember that moment your ship first loomed over us,” Janix said with a dry laugh. “I was so sure we were going to die.”

  “That’s because you were about to, just not from me. Some of the Council fighters on your tail were aiming to kill, despite their orders. That was the cloudy one’s doing, I suppose.”

  “Genesis,” I offered.

  “Wait, really?”

  “Yup. That’s what Maven said.”

  “Well, that’s an absolutely stupid name. They’re all about the destruction of everything in existence, not the creation.”

  “I think they’re trying to create a new era where their kind is in power again, whatever that means.”

  “It means a whole lot of death, let me tell you. I once was pulled into a vision of another Stranger whose planet wasn’t doing so well. It… wasn’t pretty, and I’ll leave it at that.” She took a steadying breath. “Your Jyra had them, too.”

  “Visions?”

  The Captain nodded. “It’s hard to tell whether they were from a similar universe that had already failed the clo-Genesis’s little turning point or if it really was a glimpse into the future. We’re not really c
lear on all that.”

  “Speaking of other Strangers,” I murmured, watching the ground as it passed underneath us in great strides. “Why haven’t I been talking to any of them lately?” Angel’s mouth grew into a tight line and I didn’t miss the grim look. “What’s going on?”

  “Why does anything have to be going on?”

  “Because you have that look,” Janix called from his seat.

  “Yeah, you always get that look when you want to say something unpleasant,” Viys’k added.

  “No, I do not.”

  “You absolutely do. I’m a thief. Watching people’s micro-expression is practically required for my trade.”

  “It’s not a big deal, really.”

  “Then tell me what’s going on.”

  “Well… you’ve been locked out. Temporarily.”

  “Locked out? What do you mean?”

  “Look, we know that the cloudy creep has infiltrated us. We don’t know which of us it is, or how they got there, but we know that they are indeed in our little cluster. We have to protect you from them, so if that means keeping you out of the Meeting Place, we decided that was worth it.”

  “You decided!” I was a bit incredulous. I knew I was new to this universe, and had been blocked off from my Stranger abilities for years due to my head injury, but that didn’t mean they had the right to just make decisions for me like I was a child! I had risked my life, broken my spine, and bled dozens of times over for this Great Choice, and it hadn’t even arrived yet. Hell, I was even bleeding at the moment! “So, I didn’t get to be a part of this conversation at all?”

  “To be fair, you were unconscious at the time in the medbay. We had to make a democratic decision to keep you safe.”

  “That is monumentally unfair, and you know it.”

  “Life often isn’t fair, and if you expect it to be you’ll be sorely disappointed. Now, are you going to stop nattering at me, or is this what I should expect until we bust down the doors of this place?”

  “Wait, we’re not actually busting down the door, are we?” Viys’k asked, leaning forward once again.

  “No! We’re infiltrating! I’m just trying to change the topic.”

  I held up my hands and sat back, willing to let this go. I could talk to Angel later when we were both more level headed. “Fine, fine. We’ll discuss it later.”

  “Oh, joy. I do so look forward to that lecture.”

  “I’m glad.”

  A tense sort of silence fell over the small cabin, Angel steering in the pilot chair, Janix and Viys’k sitting on the only two crew chairs and me sitting curled against the wall. We sat that way for several moments, watching the landscape through the window, before our target finally loomed at the very edge of our vision.

  “That is way bigger than any of our blueprints,” Angel breathed, staring out at the shining, sprawling facility.

  “They’ve definitely been making some additions,” Viys’k remarked with six narrowed eyes. “Can you call a holo-print up on your mini-com?”

  “Give me a moment.” She pressed a couple of buttons and finally the voice of the Captain’s double came over the line.

  “Yes, darling?”

  “You know you’re not supposed to call me that over open lines.”

  “What are you going to do? Punish me?”

  We all exchanged salacious glances, but Angel just cleared her throat and kept on, “Can you send me some of the prints of the abandoned colony headquarters?”

  “Sure, coming right up.”

  “Thanks.” Angel clicked off the comm and less than a second later, the face of her wrist-gadget illuminated, and a hologram was projected onto the window at the front of the scrapper egg’s cabin. She compared it to the massive buildings growing ever closer and our impressions were confirmed. “Yup. That’s what I would call some serious construction.”

  “Great,” Viys’k grumbled. “More flying blind. This is how you get killed, you know.”

  “Nobody is getting killed,” Janix said, rolling his eyes. “We’ve all wiggled out of tighter spots, and I’m sure we’ll get out of this one, too. After all, we’ve got potentially the galaxy’s best thief, it’s most successful smuggler, the most infamous pirate, who also happens to be the greatest and most respected revolutionary, and a girl from another dimension who’s developed abilities that seem to be able to mutate to pretty much whatever we need. What can possibly go wr—” He had to dodge as Angel whipped around in her chair and lobbed something at him as hard as she could.

  “We never, ever say that phrase around here.”

  “Geez, superstitious much?” But he didn’t continue and we went quiet again – minus a few snickers from Viys’k and I – as we approached the wall surrounding the complex.

  Then we reached it, the origin point that the vessel had come from, according to the readings sent down by Angel’s ship. It was a shining, metal wall and the rocky path from it was so well-traveled that it was almost like a polished glass.

  How long had this facility been revamped and running? And more importantly, what were they doing? This whole place couldn’t be just to keep one little Stranger half-kin captive. Even if she was the one person who could probably destroy Genesis with just the power of her brain.

  There had to be something else.

  I guessed that we were going to find out, and very, very soon.

  Chapter Three: It’s What’s on the Inside that Counts

  The atmosphere in the cramped space grew tense once again as we finally reached the glistening walls. They were obviously new, still uneroded by the outside weather. I was guessing these structures were a year older or less, which was a bit mind boggling. How long had they had Jyra out here? Three months? Four? I didn’t know and couldn’t really ask. After being in this dimension long enough, I learned that their days were longer than the twenty-four hours I was used to as were their months. I actually had no idea how much time had passed since my arrival other than “a lot.”

  It was strange to think how much time I had lost. My time in the prison, my time in the black market, my time breaking my back then recovering from said cracked spine, then training at the Serkasis labs, and now all this. It all seemed to stream together, and yet stretch out over an impossibly long span. Had I once really just been a college student who sat at her PC all day and played action adventure games? Had my biggest concern been arguing with online trolls who insisted I couldn’t like nerdy things because I was a woman?

  It almost seemed like a different life then.

  The egg’s comm crackled to life and I nearly had a heart attack. “Unit seventy-six, mission report.”

  Janix cleared his throat. “We filled the gully right well.” He said, sounding like some strange mix between Poitre and a terrible English accent.

  “What was that? You’re coming in terrible.”

  “Bit of an electrical problem. We got it fixed but it seems to be doing a number on the comm.”

  “Right. Make sure you get yourself to mechanic for a little maintenance after your drop off.”

  “Of course. Poitre and I will get right on that.”

  “Doors opening now. Stand back.”

  “Righto, whatever you say.” We all rolled our eyes at him but they didn’t say anything on the other side of the comm. Sure enough, the doors slowly began to roll open and we were treated to a view of the inside.

  It was a long, open yard with dozens of different machines lined up. I spotted at least three more egg-like collectors of varying sizes, some more boxy vehicles that were similar to a tank, and then a range of others that I didn’t have a simple classification for.

  Janix whistled as he donned the uniform we nicked off the previous pilot. “That’s quite an array they’ve got there. What do you think they’re doing with all that?”

  “Those are actually from the colonist, abandoned here when the evacuation was ordered. If you look at the tracks, most of these haven’t been used in year.” Angel pointed to the
bottom of several rigs. “It looks like they’ve only been using scrappers to collect whatever is shot out of the sky.”

  “And there’s their cannon,” Viys’k said, pointing in the opposite direction.

  I followed her extended, delicate finger right down its shining claw until I saw the massive gun sitting atop a roof only a dozen or so yards from us.

  “Geez, compensating for much?” I scoffed. But inside, I was just impressed that we had somehow survived three direct hits from that thing. Talk about your Christmas miracle.

  “I dunno. You know what they say about bases with big cannons.”

  “That they definitely have to have at least four reactors to support shielding plus a pulse generator that big.”

  “Not where I was going, but accurate.”

  Despite the pleasant back and forth between everyone else, I felt a growing disquiet in my middle. This was too easy. Something had to go wrong, and it was usually about right now that a portal would open and dump kodadt in our lap, or something would explode.

  But there were no explosions. No sudden and violent monsters popping in for a chat. Instead, we reached the end of the yards and walked under a ceiling of what had to be the dumping zone.

  “Right, dropping the payload,” Angel said, her brow creasing as she looked at the controls again. She had another moment’s hesitation before she pressed a series of commands and the hatch released below our feet.

  There was a deafening clatter of metal hitting the hard floor, slowly dimming as the pieces of scrap bounced across the surface.

  “A bit messy,” the Captain admitted. “but that should do.”

  “If you say so,” I said with a shrug. “But how are we going to know where this maintenance area is we’re supposed to go to?”

  “That part’s easy,” Viys’k answered. “Just follow the smell of oil and welder’s ions.”

  “So says the alien with eight hundred times the amount of scent receptors as humans.” Janix shot back.

  “All right, Viys’k, tell me where to go.”