Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

He had upset Rose.

Dav didn’t know precisely what he’d done, but he had a feeling he had made a misstep in what he’d said to her.

He’d have preferred to carry her himself, and somehow patch things up, but he had to concede Rose was right to accept the Hasmarga’s help.

Their strength and speed, even while carrying Rose between them, made it difficult for Dav to keep up with them, and he could see the others in his team were having the same difficulty.

And right now, speed was the only thing saving them.

As long as they could keep ahead of the Kimol—and the Bandri, for that matter—they could get to the drones and go.

He checked the small comms device on his wrist. With the satellite that Sazo had put into orbit shot down or offline, the system had to plot their return journey based on generalities, and he was very aware they would have to hunt a little for their drones.

There was no exact route to rely on.

“Slow down.” He called the order to his team, and the Hasmarga turned at his words and came to a stop. “We’re close to the drones. Anyone see any familiar landmarks?”

Nortega used the visual enhancer built into her visor and slowly pivoted. Wangao did the same.

The Hasmarga lowered Rose to the ground and she murmured her thanks to them before stretching the stiffness out of her arms and legs.

“There.” Wangao pointed west, and they all turned to look that way.

“I see them.” Nortega slapped Wangao’s arm. “Well done.”

Dav had used all his concentration on moving as fast over the rough ground as possible, but now he looked up to see where the Barrist and Sazo were waiting.

He could just make out the two big ships against the planet behind them, and a smaller ship a little way away. The Havelan ?

Nortega saw the direction of his gaze, and looked up herself. “Looks like we’re in talks with someone.”

“The Kimol, I think. If that’s the Havelan .” It made it even more urgent to get to the drones.

Suddenly, the Hasmarga made a sound, a strange clacking noise Dav found touched something visceral in his hindbrain, making his heart pound and his adrenalin surge.

Near the Barrist , appearing as if from a light jump, was an utterly alien ship. It was made up of five shallow disks stacked together. The largest at the top, descending to the smallest.

“That’s your people?” Rose asked, pulling the translator out of her pocket.

Neither Cri or Tanck answered, they fell to their knees instead.

Their attention was on the sky above, but from behind them, the sound of a ship traveling fast and low made Dav turn to look.

It was a small ship, skimming the plains, headed directly toward them.

“Tell your people to set down their weapons.” The words came from the translator Rose held in her hand.

She looked at it with dislike. “Pyre?”

“Tell them, Rose, or I will shoot.”

“Who is it?” Dav made his way toward her.

She switched the translator off and frowned. “Someone like Irini,” she said. “But not nearly as nice.”

The ship fired its weapons, hitting rocks to the east of them, and Rose switched the translator back on.

The shot had finally got the Hasmarga’s attention. They rose to their feet and turned, wings clacking.

“What do you want, Pyre?”

“You. And quickly, or I’ll shoot your friends.” The ship landed, and Dav noted the large weapon attached to the front of it.

“No.” Dav shook his head, and reached her. Put himself in front of her. “Not without me.”

“If you come right now, he can accompany you. But his weapon stays behind.” Pyre’s side door opened.

Dav turned, saw Rose had closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sky. He didn’t know how to read that.

Then her eyes snapped open.

She glanced back at the Hasmarga. “Nortega, you should take Cri and Tanck up in the drones with you after Dav and I are gone, as there’ll be space. Get in touch with their people.”

It was a good idea, and Dav signaled to Nortega an affirmative. She gave a nod in response.

“Now, or someone dies.” Pyre’s voice came over the translator.

Rose moved toward the ship, and Dav kept to her side.

He saw her switch off the translator.

“I thought she was my friend at first. She helped me escape, but there have been a few weird things since then, and now this. I’m not sure whose team she’s on. Probably just her own.”

Dav had grown up hearing scary stories about the thinking systems wars and the massive danger of thinking systems with bad agendas. He was aware that Sazo could be devastatingly destructive if he wanted to be, but he had instead proved cooperative and an ally.

From what he gathered, as he helped Rose up the steps into the ship, Pyre was the very thing he’d been warned about.

And he and Rose were stepping into the belly of the beast.

“Do you forgive me?” he murmured as he lifted her up. He did not want to get inside this ship without making things right.

She stopped a few rungs above him. “Forgive you?”

“For whatever made you so angry with me before?”

She reached down, slid her fingers along his cheekbone. “Yes. Do you forgive me for being so grumpy?”

He turned his head, kissed her fingers. “Yes.”

The weapon shot again, and Dav wrenched his gaze from Rose to see that once again, Pyre had struck to the side of their group, and hadn’t hit anyone, but she was obviously at the end of her patience.

He gave Rose a boost up the last few steps and followed her inside.

The door had barely closed behind them when the ship shot straight into the air, and kept going up.