Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The monster’s large body writhed beneath Eos.
Blind terror tore through her. She scrambled for something to hold on to, but the scales were too slick.
The creature bucked and thrashed. She went flying and landed on the sand. She rolled, spitting sand out of her mouth.
The sand monster turned, lifting its giant head up above her. Its neck flared out into a hood, like the naja cobras on her world. Her chest was so tight she thought it would implode. She scrambled backward, trying to find her feet.
Dathan leaped down onto the sand in front of her. Between her and the creature. He waved a small laser igniter in his hand.
“Eos, get up and back away slowly.”
She got to her feet, not once tearing her eyes off the fearsome creature. Its head swayed slightly as it followed the igniter. Now she studied it, looking beyond the scary, large mouth with rings of teeth. “It doesn’t have any eyes.”
“It doesn’t need them in the sand.”
“So, it can’t see us.”
“Maybe. It’ll have some other senses.” He set the igniter on the sand. Grabbing her hand, he tugged her backward with slow, methodical steps. “But I think we need to leave.”
They’d taken three steps when the creature let out a roar.
“Run,” Dathan yelled.
She didn’t need him to tell her. They sprinted through the ruins. Behind them, she heard the creature sliding over the sand. Her heart raced, blood pounding through her. That sound would haunt her dreams.
If they survived.
Suddenly, the creature circled in front of them. Its long body formed a large ring around them.
Trapped.
Eos grabbed Dathan’s arm. Her fingers dug into his skin. With this man beside her, standing in the ruins she’d searched for all her life, she realized there was so much more she wanted to do in her life.
He gripped her face in his hands. “I’m going to distract it. I want you to run. Get to higher ground.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
He gave her a light shake. “This is my hunt. You’ll do as I say.”
She smiled. “This is our hunt. We’re in this together, Phoenix. Right until the end.”
“Damn you.” He cast a quick glance over her shoulder. The creature was holding steady, its focus on them. Then Dathan tugged her up until she was on her toes and kissed her.
He didn’t rush. Overconfident until the end.
The creature roared, and she sensed it start toward them.
But she and Dathan didn’t move. They just held each other tight.
All of a sudden, there was a huge blast of air and energy around them. They were knocked off their feet, and Dathan rolled until she was under him.
But sharp teeth didn’t tear into their flesh.
Blinking, they both sat up. The surrounding air shimmered blue, distorting everything, like they were looking through old glass. What the—?
The hairs on her arms stood up from the energy she felt pulsing around them. Through the shimmer, she made out the Infinitas above them.
The sand monster gave an ear-splitting shriek and dived back into the sand.
“You two okay?” Niklas’ voice came through both their Syncs.
Dathan pulled Eos closer and drew his Sync out. “Fine. Nice timing, bro.”
“How did you scare it off?” Eos pressed a palm to her chest and prayed her racing heart would slow.
Niklas’ face filled the small screen. “We scanned it. Like the sand, it has a high concentration of xalica.”
Dathan laughed. “You reversed the polarity on the mag-lift.”
“Yep. The magnetic field repels them.”
“We’re going to lower the setting.” Zayn’s lazy voice came through. “We’ll keep the mag-lift going, so we shouldn’t have any more visitors. At least of the scaly variety.”
Seconds later, the Infinitas moved away and the blue shimmer died. There was still a faint charge in the air. Dathan dusted sand out of his hair, then reached out to dust off Eos’. “How about we grab your kit and then go and get a drink? A large one.”
She leaned into him. “A drink sounds good.”
Hand in hand, they headed back to where she’d been working. She hated to admit it, but she kept scanning the ground for any movement.
She came to an abrupt halt. A large, deep gouge in the sand cut across her worksite where the creature had torn through the area. “We’ll have to go around.”
Dathan didn’t answer. Instead, he moved to the edge of the ripped-up ground and crouched down. “Look.”
Moving closer, she peered over the edge.
Some sort of structure was uncovered, partially buried by the sand. Four large spires speared upward. No, not spires…
“Antenna.” Excitement leaked into her voice. “It’s some sort of communications center.”
Dathan glanced up. “Want to take a look?”
“We should run some more scans, then—” She broke off on a gasp as he leaped over the edge.
He jumped down into the crevasse and landed beside a doorway that had lost its door. It gaped like an open mouth, daring them to enter.
“Come on, Doc. This is one of those times you just have to leap.” He held up a hand.
Eos ignored the prim voice in her head telling her to wait and plan. She jumped down, and Dathan caught her in strong arms.
They entered the doorway. He flicked on an ion flashlight and clipped it to his forearm. The corridor was narrow and partially filled with sand. At the end, it opened up into a larger room.
He moved to the center of the room and studied the remains of what could have been an old-fashioned computer system.
The desert sands hadn’t been kind, eroding away much of the metal and wiring.
He fingered a red wire. “Might be for communications, but it could have been anything. Environmental controls, food processors…”
Eos scanned the room and spotted something. “Take a look at this.”
He crouched down where she indicated. “A long-range transmitter. So maybe the communications idea is right.”
She glimpsed something in the shadows beyond the console. “Point the light over there.”
He did as she asked, moving in close to her. She leaned over his shoulder. It would be far too easy to get used to the warm strength of him.
“Another body,” he said.
Just a black pair of boots were visible, the rest of the body covered in sand and partly hidden by the remnants of the computer system. They worked together to dig away the sand, finding an efficient rhythm, and soon had the body uncovered.
“Male. Hard to tell exact age but he had to be in his prime.” She swept sand off the man’s navy-blue clothes. “He’s wearing some sort of uniform.”
Dathan leaned over, brushing more red sand away. “Dr. Rai, I think you have your proof.”
Her gaze was drawn to what was left of the mummy’s bright red hair, then back to the logo on the mummy’s chest, peeking through the sand.
“Suva’s grace.” Her hand shook as she swiped the remaining sand off. Gently, she touched the logo—an entwined S and E circled by a trail of stars.
Dathan grinned. “Welcome to Star’s End, Doc.”
Dathan loved the thrill of discovery.
But with Eos beside him, it felt even better.
He helped her clear away the last of the sand from the mummy. She was trying to contain her excitement but was failing.
He watched her take in every view of the logo and smiled. God, he just loved watching her in astro-archeologist mode.
“There’s no official record of what the logo looked like. Just the sketch I found in that journal.” She ran a fingernail over the circle of stars around the letters, starting out large and getting smaller.
“Looks like a match to me.”
She straightened. Her smile galaxy-wide. “We found Star’s End.” She leaped at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. “We did it.”
With a laugh, he gave her a smacking kiss. “Congratulations. You’ll go down in galactic history. Those snobs at the Institute will trip over themselves to give you a cushy promotion.”
Her smile dimmed. “Yes. I’m sure they will.”
The thought of her light years away hit him in the chest. He set her down. “Now we need to find the treasure.”
“That’s why we’re here.”
“Z’s been working on a way to detect the poplar wood the Mona Lisa is painted on.”
“That’s a brilliant idea,” she said.
He shrugged. “We still need to get close. If the treasure’s locked in a vault or buried, it’ll be a challenge.”
The Sync in Dathan’s pocket crackled to life. “Dath? You copy?”
He lifted the device. “We have confirmation! Thanks to that damn sand monster, we found Star’s End.”
Zayn’s whoop came through clearly, followed by a barrage of questions from Niklas.
“Look, we’ll head back shortly, and you and Eos can talk until your jaws are sore.” He angled the Sync and snapped a picture of the mummy and the logo. “Sending you an image right now.”
“Received,” Nik said. “That’s incredible, but it’ll have to wait. You guys need to head back now. That’s why we called. Z’s picked up bad weather coming in from the east.”
Dathan frowned. “Storm?”
“Looks like a sandstorm. A bad one.”
A trickle of dread burned his throat. “Shit. We’re on our way.”
Eos ran her hands down her thighs. “We need to secure the mummy—”
“No time. Sandstorms move fast. They can turn you around, blind you. We could end up lost in the middle of nowhere and they can last days.”
She straightened. “You’ve been caught before.”
His jaw tightened, dark memories he tried hard to forget rose up. “On a desert planet called Sha’ra.”
She gnawed on her lip. “Can we carry the body? He’s important. He deserves better than this.”
Dathan shook his head. “But we can carry the shirt.”
“No. I can’t desecrate him that way.”
“Fine.” Dathan crouched and withdrew his knife. Before she could protest, he cut out the logo from the shirt.
“No!”
Standing, he shoved the knife away and carefully folded the logo fabric into his pocket. “We have to go, Eos. No time to argue.”
Back stiff, she headed into the corridor. They walked in silence, and then he helped her climb out of the crevasse and onto the street.
“The sky’s still blue,” she noted.
But he saw it. The dangerous smudge of red on the horizon. It was growing bigger every second. “Let’s move.”
They jogged through the streets. The sound started as a distant whoosh but soon grew louder. A dull roar echoed through the ruins.
Dathan looked over his shoulder. Swore. He gripped her arm. “Run.”
“What?” Startled, she looked over her shoulder.
A billowing wall of sand was bearing down on them. It swirled in all shades of red, orange, and brown.
“Move it.” He yanked her forward.
They ran, dodging obstacles and trying to stay on the direct path to the ship. The wind picked up around them, a small spray of sand hitting his skin like tiny pinpricks.
“Dathan? Eos?” Niklas’ voice was almost lost to the roar of the wind.
Dathan didn’t slow down but lifted the communicator. “En route. Not sure we’ll make it.”
Eos stumbled, but he kept her upright. He knew what a sandstorm could do. He wouldn’t let it have her. The sand was already hurting. The full blast of the storm could flay the skin off their bodies.
He looked ahead. He saw the hull of the Infinitas below the dune ahead. But the sand in the air was growing, covering his view like red mist.
“Shit.” They weren’t going to make it. His fingers dug into her arm. “We need to find somewhere to take shelter.”
He cast around, searching for somewhere, but the part of the colony they were crossing was mostly destroyed. There were only knee-high walls and foundations.
He swore again, but this time the words were whisked away by the encroaching sandstorm. It felt like rough hands were scraping at his skin.
Eos shook his arm and pointed. Through the swirling sand, he spied a small opening in a building with its bottom story still intact.
Together, they sprinted. In seconds, the world turned into a red haze. Eos opened her mouth to speak but then clamped her lips shut. She lifted a hand to shield her face.
Dathan pushed harder against the growing wind. The howl was like a scream in his ears. Old horrors reared up, closing his throat.
He looked up.
He couldn’t see the opening anymore. Had no idea what direction to take. He spun to tell Eos.
She was gone.
His heartbeat was a frantic pounding in his ears. He’d lost her. He yelled her name, but it was snatched away by the wind and sand.
He’d lost her.
They were lost in hell.
Fuck.