Chapter 16 #2
His frown worried her. She nibbled her lip, debating whether to bother him with more questions.
“How is it powered?” spilled from her. She gritted her teeth.
“With those tanks, I suspect.” He pointed at the base of the cavern and continued on. “Maybe sol?”
She kept quiet, glancing over her shoulder to be sure they were alone. The air became denser like a sodden blanket. She pushed through it, wiping her brow, which only made her fingers wetter. Why did Illan seem unbothered?
“Aren’t you hot?” she snapped.
He grinned. “Regulate your suit.”
“My what?”
He chuckled, tapped her O.D.I., and in an instant, her body cooled.
“Holy Elorach,” she moaned.
“I forgot about that functionality,” he said with a grin. “I endured an uncomfortable heat when we breached this place.”
She grinned at his back as he led them deeper. “Did you consider that Brac might not be down here?”
“Of course I did. I am Durn; we think in statistics. But I am curious. If he is not down here, then who or what made that noise? And what is that?” He pointed his blaster at the device that was a thousand times bigger than Haile.
She scowled at it. If she had to hazard a guess, it had the shape of a weapon.
At last, they reached a door. A warning sign said not to enter when the machine was powered.
Illan ignored it, shoving the door aside when it jammed halfway.
An enclosed console sat at the base of the vast cavern.
The air was cool, dank, so much better than the heat of earlier.
The Maloidians probably hadn’t wanted to waste energy trying to warm this space.
Illan studied the console, tapped a display vid, then jerked back when it flickered to life. “It is zoomed in on…nothing. Just somewhere in space.”
“Maybe it’s something that used to be there.” She slumped against the cold, rocky wall. “If we consider this thing a weapon.”
He gazed at her. “You could be right.”
His words sent a frisson of pleasure through her. An unbidden smile formed. He didn’t notice, intent on capturing the target’s points on his O.D.I. While he was distracted, she opened the door, ready to return to the surface.
He glanced at her. “Yes, let us find Brac.”
The instant he stepped into the passage, he flew backward, slamming into the wall.
He bounced and sprawled on the floor. She gasped but had the foresight to peer around the door frame, making sure whoever had fired at Illan wasn’t waiting for her.
There was no sign, so she hurried to Illan’s side and grabbed him by the collar of his armor.
Thanks to the number of times she had to lift Seba, she was able to drag Illan into the device’s cave.
She left him and hurried to shut the door before returning to his side.
Blood oozed from a wound on his upper arm.
He blinked at her, his face pale. “Kuck, it hurts,” he said.
She grinned. “It would.” Palming her med-gun, she ran it over him, still fascinated by the way his flesh knitted together. “Seems like we know who has Brac.”
“And they know we are here,” he gritted out.
“We could lure him out again.”
“Again?” Illan harumphed, then stiffened. “They want a female. Whatever happens, do not let yourself be captured.”
“That isn’t a bad idea,” she said, beaming at him.
“No,” he snapped.
“Yes,” she sang. “You pretend to be dead. I’ll wail about you leaving me alone and defenseless. Then when he comes to seize me, you kill him.”
Illan blinked at her. “I do not know what to think of your bloodthirsty nature.”
“He shot you,” she growled. “I protect what’s mine.
” She leaped to her feet and opened the door.
Then with a muffled giggle, she shoved her blaster in his hand and threw herself on top of him, screeching like a stabbed ucdeas.
“No, my beloved, do not die. I need you. I cannot survive without you.” She ‘sobbed’ in what must be the worst performance anyone would ever see.
His trembling shoulders beneath her hands told her he was enjoying this way too much.
“Quit it,” she hissed. “You’re supposed to be dead.”
In one of her dramatic arms-raised-in-sheer-distress moments, she caught movement along the passage. “Who will save me?” she wailed, nudging Illan with her knee in his ribs when he chuckled.
A pale-yellow face appeared in the doorway.
She froze, stared at it, then scrambled back, throwing out a hand to ‘defend’ herself.
The male hurried inside as if to calm her.
Illan rose like a monster from the lake’s depths and fired. “I cannot believe I let you do that,” he said, nudging the male’s body with his booted foot.
She shrugged. “It worked.”
Illan caught her by the wrist and swept her into a kiss that ricocheted sparks and vibrations through her body. “It did,” he whispered, resting his temple on hers.
“Think he’s the only one?” she asked, her voice shaky, her lips tingling.
“We made that assumption earlier. I do not wish to be taken for a fool a second time.”
“Why did you?”
“If Brac says he hears no one else,” he tapped the yellow male’s part with his boot, “then he does not exist.”
“Ah,” she said. “So, this male must have known that and remained silent.”
“I suspect so.” He smacked the red of her blaster and fired at the prone male. “Now he will not take us by surprise again.”
She palmed her blaster, chose the yellow for stun, and followed him up the passage. “We must find Brac.”
“Agreed.”
Their caution wasn’t as intense as earlier, not with one dead. Maybe Illan believed no more yellow males awaited them?
“He’s a Maloidian?” she asked.
“Yes, though why they are here is the confusing part.” He hitched his thumb behind him at the massive cavern housing the device. “It has to do with that, is my estimation.”
“Same,” she said. “That weapon doesn’t bode well. Why on Vora? What’s within range?”
He grunted and entered the common, heading to the next door, but he hesitated. “They must know we are onworld. Brac!”
“In here,” the male called out.
Illan charged through the door at the end of the room. “How many?”
“Just one.”
She slumped, lowering the blaster. Her forearms had begun to cramp—the damn thing was heavy.
“How were you taken?” Illan slapped the blue button on his blaster and fired at the manacles binding Brac’s wrists. They clanked and dropped to the floor, freeing him.
“Stunned, though why he did not kill me outright, I cannot say.” He staggered to his feet, splaying his fingers against the nearest bulkhead for stability.
His expression darkened. “What I discovered is worse, Illan.” Brac stumbled into the common and ran his fingers across the console.
“Ulta, I am well. Illan and Lady Ziamee are with me.”
“Good,” the male said. “I have battleships en route.”
“Stay connected. You need to hear this.” Brac faced Illan and Ziamee. “This facility housed a cannon that had one target.” He pressed a hand to his chest as if he struggled to breathe. “The planet Durn.”