The Riddle (Alternate Dimensions Book 2) Read online

  “Shhh, shhh. I know you had nothing to do with it,” I soothed, gripping her hand. “Some very, very bad people have been hunting Jyra for a while, and now they have her. We want to save her, more than anything else, but we need your help to do it.”

  “Me? What can I do? I don’t even think I can walk right now.”

  “We’re going to break into the lab that started all of this. Find clues and hopefully piece together enough to figure out what’s going to happen next. But first, we need to know where this lab is, what kind of security measures they have in place, and all that. Angel says all available information about it is completely redacted and buried under so much red tape that it would take us years to acquire then decipher it.”

  “You need me to save Jyra?”

  “If you’re up for it.”

  For the first time since I met her, I saw a genuine, non-drugged smile on the alien’s face. “Jyra saved my life once. Long ago. There was another explosion, believe it or not, and she carried me from the lab all the way to safety. Her! The tiny little thing. And she kept going back for others. I’ve never forgotten that.”

  Her eyes took on a faraway look, like she was recalling a superhero’s origin story or her favorite childhood memory. “Jyra’s the type of person, who never stops, is never afraid of failure. When I first met her, I thought she was strange, but I realized I’ve never wanted to be more like anyone else in my entire life. You would like her, you know. But then again, everyone likes her. Everyone with a brain at least.”

  I nodded, thinking of how the woman had tried to help me in the strange visions that our enemy liked to torment me with. “I think I already do. I’m going to call Angel now. Do you think you’re up to telling her everything you know?”

  “Yes, of course. Anything I can do. There are so few Jyras in this universe, I’m not about to let one of them slip through our fingers.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” I murmured, squeezing her hand.

  “It’s what’s right. That’s what friends do, after all. We watch out for each other. No matter what.”

  “I suppose you’re right. Are you going to be okay if I leave to get the Captain, Zkkyy?”

  “Yeah, I’ve lived through worse. You’ve been there.” She laughed, and I turned to leave. “Oh, and Ms. Andi, was it?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Call me Zik, please. All my friends do.”

  I felt myself smile at that. What a sweet, little furry person. “All right, Zik. I’ll be right back.”

  ***

  Despite Zik’s complete willingness to cooperate, it still took another two days to get enough information for Angel and her captain-double to formulate a plan that didn’t end up with all of us dead in our spacesuits. The poor krelach tried to fight against the exhaustion that so frequently rocked her, but she was coming back from multiple ruptured organs, internal bleeding, and shattered bones. As much as she would have no doubt pushed herself harder, we still wanted her to be alive for when we actually saved the scientist.

  But finally, after a lot of hard work and probably about a thousand injections in various parts of my body, we were heading toward the lab, and I was almost at my full function.

  I got the feeling that Viys’k and Janix would prefer if I sat the mission out entirely, but they needed me in case there were any attacks by our dark and churn-y friend or any other strange things that might happen. Idly, I often wondered what would happen if I tried eating him again, but I was guessing that was more of a one-and-done thing. I doubt he would ever let his guard drop that low in my presence again.

  But hey, I could hope, right?

  Still, the odds didn’t seem too terrible. From the information that Angel was able to gather from both her scouts and automated probes, the station was completely abandoned. Of course, it was also nestled snugly in restricted space, and we would be violating all sorts of laws and regulations.

  Granted, as Angel often said, that was only a problem if we got caught.

  Besides, I was already the most wanted woman in the galaxy; what were a couple of extra galactic felonies on my rap sheet?

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Janix asked as I stepped into the spacesuit Angel had provided me. Since the station was completely shut down, there was no life support, and minimal gravity was being generated. For the first time since I had been in space, I was going to be in actual space, and I was actually about as excited as I was terrified.

  “For the billionth time, yes. You guys need me.”

  “Yeah, we also need you not to have a broken spine, but you saw how well that went last time.”

  “Hey, I took out two of ‘em.”

  “Well, there were three, so how did that turn out?”

  “Dude, chill. It’s over. I’m better. Can you let it go?” I was starting to be more irritated than charmed by his constant harping. I got that it came from a good place, a place of concern, but it was getting startlingly close to a nagging mother and I had never been about that life.

  “No, I can’t just let it go, Fire Skull. Because it seems to me that you think you’re some invincible mutant, but in reality, you can die just as easily as the rest of us. The only issue is, when you die, the whole universe is probably going to go with you!”

  Viys’k let out a disappointed sound. “I remember once in my life there was a way to convey emotions without yelling them.”

  I rolled my eyes, but the thief was right. I needed to defuse the situation. “Look, I don’t think I’m invincible. In fact, I’m acutely aware of how fragile I am.” I stood, zipping and buckling the body of the suit the rest of the way. “But I spent a good first half of my life absolutely paralyzed in fear of those who were stronger than me. I’m over that now. I may not always win, but I’m going down swinging.”

  “I…it’s just…” The mooreerie growled in frustration and jammed his helmet onto his head. His hair splayed out in about a thousand different directions under it, almost completely obscuring his face, and I couldn’t help but laugh at the sudden break in tension.

  “I, uh…I legitimately don’t know what to do about this.”

  It was hard to talk between barks of laughter, but somehow, I managed. “Oh, my god, take your helmet off, I’ll braid your hair really fast.”

  “You can do that?”

  “Sure, it takes like ten minutes. Come on, we don’t want to keep Angel waiting.”

  “Are you kidding me?” Viys’k countered. “She’s probably checking every last bolt on the ship a dozen more times before we leave.”

  “At least she’s thorough.” I said, sitting back down on the bench and gesturing for Janix to sit down on the floor between my open legs. He complied as he pulled off his helmet, and I buried my hand in his hair.

  It was surprisingly thick, almost impossibly so, and occasionally the hairs seemed to wrap around my hands and fingers like they had a mind of their own. They were certainly pretty, too–vibrant blue strands against my pale hands.

  I sectioned it out gently. I had learned through years of volleyball team slumber parties that every girl on the team had a different scalp tolerance. When the mooreerie didn’t wince, I continued on, tucking the first three into my appropriate fingers then crossing them over.

  I felt myself relax as I went along. It certainly wasn’t quick going with the amount of hair the alien had, but it was surprisingly soothing to do something so familiar and low-tech.

  Janix seemed to be unwinding as well. His normally high shoulders started to sag a little, sitting where they were supposed to. A few moments later, he shifted, resting his head against my thigh. I wondered if he had ever had a moment like this to just relax and be touched by a friend without the expectation of money or sex. I knew he’d lived a tough life–someone had cut off his freaking arm for goodness sake–but other than that, he was a blank slate. What made the man that stood before me? What led him to being chosen by the strangers to end up in the same prison as me?

  I finished
the braid and realized I didn’t have a hair tie to close it, so I just twisted the hair at the bottom. Again, it almost seemed to move on its own, coiling around itself until the hairstyle was safe from unraveling.

  “There you are,” I said with a gentle pat to his head. But when the man didn’t move right away, I let him stay, resting my back against the wall. “So, is your hair, like, prehensile or something?”

  “Hmm? Oh, no. Not particularly. But ours is differently structured than humans. It's hollow and electron-sensitive. It responds to the current running through you guys particularly well.”

  “Really? That's kind of cool.”

  “You think so?”

  “Yeah. Don't you?”

  “I guess I've never really thought about it. I guess I should go see how I look.”

  He stood and headed over to one of the mirrors. Turning this way and that, he examined the french braid. For a moment, I was worried he was going to go all Earth-bro on it and declare it too feminine, but he nodded in appreciation.

  “I wouldn't have thought it possible, but I'm even more handsome.”

  “It's the cheekbones, it frames them nicely.”

  “So, you agree that I'm handsome?”

  I shook my head and laughed quietly. “Oh, that's never been the question. It's just your personality that's up for debate.”

  “What? Personality? What's wrong with my personality?”

  “Just put your helmet on. Let's go see if Viys'k is ready.” I said, walking out.

  “No, really, what's wrong with my personality?”

  But, I was already far enough down the hall that I didn't have to answer. I did feel better, though. Maybe, after days of high stakes and action hero missions, it was nice to just sit back and do something unimportant to the survival of the universe.

  We made our way to the hangar, where Angel and her captain-double were waiting. They were suited up, but there was still such a significant height and body type difference between them. How many people in this universe thought that the dreaded captain of the most feared pirate clan was a curvaceous femme fatale seirr? It was a pretty ingenious cover; it decreased the risk of assassination while also letting the diminutive half-kin race about the galaxy on missions she deemed worthy.

  “Ready?” I asked once I was close enough.

  “Just waiting for the final okay from Viys'k.”

  “You'd think with you guys running such a fancy operation and all that you'd have your own personal mechanics,” Janix said, smarmy as ever.

  “We do,” Angel retorted. “But your friend is the one, who doesn't trust them.”

  “She's a bit of a perfectionist.” I offered.

  The real captain shrugged. “Doesn't bother me. I figure, given the stakes, we can't be too careful.”

  “Good point.”

  So, we waited until the krelach came out onto the ramp and gave us the okay before boarding ourselves. It was a fairly compact transport, much more than any of the other ships we had stolen, which actually was an impressively high amount, considering the short amount of time I had been in this galaxy.

  There wasn't much banter as we headed to the location Zik had given us. Occasionally, her voice would come over the comm to check in, but that was about it. I got the feeling that each of us were trapped in thought.

  While what we were doing seemed pretty simple, it carried a lot of life-ending potential. We were trespassing into Council controlled, government space. We were re-visiting the same terrorist attack that I was accused of making, which also just so happened to be the same place that the dark entity that was hunting us had made its final move on Jyra.

  I felt another pang of guilt as I thought of her again. I hoped she was all right, all things considered. She was still valuable, so they wouldn't kill her...right?

  “This is as close as we're gonna get,” Angel said as we pulled the space equivalent of a parallel park next to the gaping hole in the side of the lab. It was pretty intimidating, seeing the blast zone that had kicked off my whole adventure–but this time considerably less on fire. The metal surrounding the bus-sized hole was stained black, curled outward from the lab like party streamers. I couldn't imagine how much force must have been in whatever it was they used. And I hoped that I certainly wasn't ever on the other end of it.

  “Ready?” Viys'k asked, heading over to the hangar door.

  “Considering I don't ever think I'll truly be ready to walk into a depressurized void, yeah.”

  “All right, everyone make sure your suits are booted and ready to go. Don't forget your helmet latches.”

  My hand automatically went to the industrially strong magnetic clips at my neck just to double check. We were good. I didn't want any inadvertent head explosions, or–you know–death. I had too much to do to be dead.

  We all gave the krelach the thumbs up, Bajol heading up to the cockpit to relieve Angel. Once the tiny captain was with us, we walked out into space.

  We were certainly a motley crew. A smuggler, a thief, a body double, a space pirate, and one very lost human girl, but it still felt a bit badass as we all strode down the ramp together. It took me a hot minute to get used to my weighted boots moving around in zero grav, but I managed without tripping and totally ruining the moment. Sure, I had practiced, but I had only had a couple of days to do so, and it had been within the confines of Angel's ship. Not exactly true to what my real-world experience was going to be.

  “All ship readings are coming back in the appropriate vectors,” Bajol's voice buzzed over our speakers in our helmets. “I will alert you if anything approaches our warning parameter.”

  “Thanks, doc.”

  “I'm here too,” Zik sounded, obviously anxious.

  “We are well aware of that,” Viys'k said. “We're about to head into the blast site. Any tips?”

  “Watch out for anything generating any light. It should be pretty dark in there, so glowing means active but damaged lab equipment.”

  “And that's dangerous?”

  “Not necessarily, but possibly. It could be our old coffee mixer. Or an ionic vaporizer. It's not a gamble I would take.”

  “Gotcha, so if it glows, leave it alone.”

  “Good rule of thumb.”

  “Anything else?” Angel cut in.

  “Um, eat your fruits and veggies?”

  “Great. I'll keep that in mind. Stepping off now.”

  She reached the end of the ramp and stepped down, slowly drifting down into the lab. I followed a few seconds later, and I felt like we were crossing a point of no return. Like the world's slowest roller coaster, I slid down into the blackness. It was several seconds before my feet touched the solid floor of the space station, and each one seemed like its own mini-horror movie. But thankfully, I made it, and I clicked on my shoulder light.

  No one was swallowed by any sort of hidden space monster, so that was good. Once we had all landed, Angel started to move forward, sweeping her light across the room.

  “You're in the heart of the lab right now,” Zik's voice crackled to us again. “This is where we were going to show the world everything we had worked on. All those years of research, of sorting sound waves and categorizing sub-space frequencies. For nothing.”

  I recognized the sound of guilt and the missing of a friend. “Don't worry, we'll get her back, Zik.”

  She didn't say anything, and Angel continued her sweep of the room. Once it was clear, we headed for the blackened, sliding door that was stuck in a half-open position. As we walked, I spotted the uncomfortably familiar place that I had been trapped under burning debris. If I squinted, I was pretty sure that I could see my outline somehow singed onto the floor.

  “You're in the main personnel corridor now. Follow the left path, and that should take you to the experiment runner's quarters. If she kept any secrets hidden here, they'll be somewhere in there.”

  “Got it. Following the path now.”

  We transitioned into formation as we walked. Angel and h
er double at the front, me in the center, with Janix and Viys'k in the back. Everyone was armed with guns, except me of course. They had debated for a while about arming me but figured that a few days’ practice with a blaster pistol might not be enough. Couldn't save the universe if I shot my own head off, right?

  It was almost anti-climactic as we reached a set of what looked like glass doors separating us from the bland halls and what were obviously the living quarters. What little experience I had told me that they probably weren't glass at all, but I wasn't about to punch it and find out.

  I saw the pad where someone might swipe an ID card or punch in a code, but there was no power in the dark, cold wreck of the lab.

  “So, how do we get in?” I asked. I wasn't privy to the technical details of the plan, mostly because I wasn't the demolitions, lock, or anything expert. I was pretty much only there because of my connection with Jyra and unpredictable, mutational powers. There would have been a time, where I might have been a bit put out for being so useless, but I certainly didn't mind it now. I had a tragic enough backstory on my own. I didn't need a worse one that provided the type of skills my friends had all picked up.