Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 17

CHAPTER 17

Ecdre wasn’t happy about hanging on the back of the strange skimmer, but Rose was not prepared to cede the driver’s seat, so he had to suck it up.

She was grateful to have a faster way to get to the watch station, but as she got closer to where she thought it was, she began to second guess her sense of direction, because nothing looked familiar.

Eventually she brought the skimmer to a stop, tucking it behind a large rock, and sighed with relief. The vibrations through the handle bars had been more than a little uncomfortable.

She glanced over at Ecdre. “All right?” she asked.

He made a sound in response that the translator did not translate, so she guessed it was a grunt of annoyance.

She moved out from behind the rock and tried to orientate herself.

It had been overcast the day she’d taken cover on the watch station’s front step, and today was cloudless and bright, but she could see the wink of the lake in the distance, and slowly did a full turn.

And, there . . .

Ecdre had come to stand beside her, waiting patiently.

“There,” she told him, pointing. “That’s the roof, I think.”

He gave a nod and they proceeded on foot, losing sight of the hidden building at times, but always getting it back in view, until eventually she could see the front door.

She crouched down so she would be hidden from view if anyone left the building, and Ecdre found a spot close to her.

He was very careful not to physically touch her, she noticed, and while she didn’t mind it at all, she wondered about the reason for his meticulous avoidance.

“How will we enter?” he asked.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” She studied the overhang above the door. “Maybe we should wait up there, and drop down when someone comes in or out.” Except she had no idea how long that could take. And there was no certainty that they would be able to get to the door before it closed, either way.

Ecdre made a humming sound. “That’s a possibility.”

“How about this. You wait on the roof above, and I’ll knock on the door.” That way, they could control the timing. She felt the minutes sliding away, and even though the skimmer had made the journey so much faster, it was already nearly midday, hours after the attempted communication this morning.

“You will lure them out?” Ecdre turned to study her. “That would save time.”

She nodded. “I’ll wait for you to get into position, then approach.”

“They will open for you?” Ecdre asked.

“If for no other reason than to try to take me prisoner,” she said.

He hummed again, then moved back, disappearing around the side of the rock.

Rose waited, enjoying the sheltered space she’d chosen, where the cold wind barely touched her, and the sun warmed her back.

At last she saw movement on the sloping rock that overhung the doorway, and caught a quick glimpse of Ecdre before he lay flat.

Time to move.

She rose up and walked boldly to the door and gave a friendly knock.

She waited, then knocked again.

Damn, what if there wasn’t anyone there? Who knew how long they’d have to wait for someone to come back?

She blew out a breath in frustration and turned to face away from the door just as a suited figure came running from around the side.

Déjà vu.

She almost laughed, although this time, the guard knew she was there.

Also, this time, when he shot, he hit her.

Fortunately, she was wearing her suit. She crouched down, drawing her weapon from the holder at the small of her back, and shot back, catching him chest-on.

He fell, to her relief, as she wasn’t sure if he was wearing a protective suit or not.

“I need your help to move him,” she called up to Ecdre, and he dropped down in front of her, almost on top of her victim.

“Can you pick him up and take him to the door?” she asked. She studied the wall, and found the small square where the guard who she’d encountered here before had touched his hand.

Ecdre lifted him easily and brought him over, and Rose took off his glove and pressed his fingers to the scanner.

The door popped open.

Ecdre gave her a look she assumed was of approval. “Bring him in?” he asked.

She nodded. “Better to keep an eye on him.”

She lifted her weapon, flattened herself against the wall, and tilted her head to catch any sound in the room beyond, but it was quiet.

She moved through the door, weapon sweeping left to right, but there was no one there.

So far, so good.

They got inside, closed the door, and Ecdre set the guard down.

“I’ll check to see if there’s anyone inside, you keep watch here.” Rose went to the cupboard she had been cuffed to last time, opened it up and turned the wall transparent. “That should help.”

Ecdre made a sound of surprise. “How did you know to do that?” he asked.

“I was held prisoner here before.” She didn’t explain further, nervous that the two she had put down before might still be in the med bay.

She moved to the back, but the med bay was empty, and so was everything else.

When she came back, Ecdre had tied their prisoner up and out of curiosity, Rose pulled his helmet off.

It was the same man she’d hit with a saucepan before.

Déjà vu, indeed.

He wasn’t having much luck when it came to her.

She walked over to the transmission station, turned the dials again, and sang all the while she was doing it. She chose the current favorite of the Grih children, Daydream Believer, and when everything was lit up, she turned to Ecdre.

“Do you understand anything here?” she asked.

He was frozen in place, watching her warily.

“Ecdre?” She almost snapped her fingers, because time was wasting, but just managed to stop herself.

He shook himself out of whatever it was that had held him in place, and looked at the panels. “Don’t you?”

“No, I’m just switching everything on, if that’s what I’m even doing. But if you know better . . .?”

He shook his head. “What is it that you did before? The sound you were making?”

“I was singing. My people will know it is me, without any doubt, if they hear that, and it’s better than a distress call.” She sent him a sidelong look. “Do the Hasmarga sing?”

“We hum,” he said. He left it at that as he bent over the panel, and twirled a few light circles himself. He began to speak in the dialect she’d heard him and Gerna use before, and she realized she had no idea how technically advanced the Hasmarga were.

“Is there a ship looking for you?” she asked. “Will your people be coming?”

He jerked his head up to stare at her. “We hope.”

“I hope so, too. I know my people are looking for me. If they find me before your people find you, I am sure they will take you home.”

He froze for a moment, then inclined his head. “We would be grateful.” He waved at the panel. “How long do we try?”

“I want to try until I get a result,” she said. There was no point going back to the bunker without making some kind of contact. “What about you? Do you need to return, or will you stay?”

He looked unsure. “I don’t know if we are even transmitting anything. I worry about leaving my . . . Gerna.” He leaned back over the panels and spoke a few more times, then ceded the space to her.

She sang a few more lines, then switched to talking. “Sazo. Dav. I’ve gotten free but my earpiece is broken and I’m transmitting from a hostile location. I might not be able to stay here long. Please look for me on one of the moons around the fourth planet from the sun. I’m fine, but I’m more than ready to come home.”

Suddenly, all the lights on the panel cut out, and a moment later, the lights died, as well.

They were plunged into darkness, and Rose fumbled for her weapon, but too late. Four Fisone came through the door, pointing strong lights straight at her and Ecdre.

She lifted a hand to her eyes, and when the lights came back on, she saw Ecdre had done the same.

One of the guards took their weapons, and then they stood in silence for a beat.

It seemed a little coincidental that they had all converged on the watch station just when she was there.

“What made you return?” The Fisone asking her was the woman who had been shot the first time she’d come here. The translator, which Rose had left on a nearby table, did its work, and everyone looked over at it in surprise.

“I was trying to contact my people to call for help,” Rose said. “So was Ecdre.”

One of the Fisone moved to the translator and inspected it. “It looks like our technology,” he said.

“It is your technology,” Rose said. “It was given to me at the mine when I was taken prisoner.”

None of them expected that answer, she could see it in the way they stared at her.

“So it is from the Kimol,” he said. “Why didn’t you use their comms equipment?”

“It’s a long story, but the short answer is I couldn’t,” she said. “Neither Ecdre or myself is sure we managed to transmit anything. Can you help us?”

There was a moment of silence.

“You want us to help you?” the woman asked.

“I didn’t shoot you, remember,” Rose reminded her. “That was him.” She inclined her head to the Fisone guard who still lay unconscious on the ground.

“You shot me,” one of the others said. “And took my suit. Which is how we knew you were here, by the way. It has a short-range tracker built into it.”

Rose lifted her shoulders, realized she should probably have thought about that. “I did shoot you, when you held a weapon on me. And it didn’t do anything to you. It was the shot from the ship that brought you down.”

“You’re trying to argue that you’re not responsible for whoever shot us from the ship?” another Fisone asked.

“Well, I’m not,” Rose said. “But I wasn’t unhappy about the outcome. You were no longer holding weapons on us. We got two extra weapons and a suit. So I suppose I did profit quite a bit from that incident.”

One of the Fisone made a sound that, if Rose read it right, was a laugh.

So they weren’t devoid of humor. That was good.

“Who are you?” the woman asked.

“My name is Rose McKenzie,” Rose said. “And this is Ecdre of the Hasmarga.”

Ecdre obviously recognized his name. He had been staring at the Fisone in a strange, almost frozen stance, and now he turned to Rose, and she heard the strange humming sound she’d heard before. It was ominous.

She jerked her gaze to his face, alarmed at what he might do, and suddenly he launched himself forward, and hard, transparent wings burst from his back.

They hit the Fisone, knocking them down, and he made it to the door, pulled it open, and was gone.

Two of the Fisone discharged their weapons, both in her direction, rather than his.

She felt the bite as one hit feathered across her wrist, and swore.

“What is wrong with you?” she managed to gasp. “You all shoot wildly. You’re a danger to yourselves.”

“We’re a danger to you ,” one of them said, and she turned her back and hunched over as he, deliberately this time, shot her again.

Someone shouted at him, and when she thought it might be safe, she turned back.

One of the two guards who’d been shot by Pyre had been the one who’d shot her. His weapon had been taken and he stood on the far side of the room, breathing hard.

She stared at him, memorizing his face, and he took an aggressive step toward her.

“What are you looking at?” He bared his teeth.

She didn’t answer. It would have been too provocative. And she didn’t threaten if she wasn’t sure she could follow through.

He’d shot her, endangering her baby, while she had her back turned and was unarmed.

If it were up to her, he would be a dead man walking.