Chapter Forty-two
Slicing through space, Kat dived straight at the silver ship and passed through its skin easily. She could feel Lock behind her but he said nothing as they looked around the cockpit they suddenly found themselves in.
Xairn’s massive form was hunched over the controls and he seemed to be concentrating fiercely. Kat felt a stab of panic as she realized she didn’t see Lauren. But I feel her here! Where is she? Where—
“Oh, that feels so much better.” Lauren came forward from a hidden compartment at the back of the ship. She was wearing one towel draped around her body and blotting her still-damp hair with another. Kat guessed she must have just come out of the shower. Who knew they had showers on these ships? she thought as she watched.
It was a standard feature on the older models, Lock murmured. Warriors used to have to stay away from the Mother ship for much longer—each ship had all the comforts of home. Well, as much as it was possible to have in deep space, anyway.
“I am glad you’re feeling better.” Xairn glanced up, his red-on-black eyes widening briefly as he took in the way the thin towel draped over Lauren’s curves. Then he looked back at the controls hastily. “It must be a relief to get the remains of the dravik off your skin.”
“It certainly is.” She settled in the passenger seat beside him, still patting her hair. “I just wish I had some other clothes to wear. I’m afraid your cape is ruined.”
“That’s quite all right.” Xairn’s deep voice sounded slightly strangled. “I’m certain we can find you something…suitable to wear in the place we are headed.”
“Where is that? Where are we going? Are…are you still going to take me home?”
He nodded stiffly, still not looking at her. “I have sworn to do so and I will keep my promise. But it wouldn’t be safe for us to go back to Earth now—not before we make a few minor adjustments.”
“Adjustments? To what—the ship? So your father can’t trace it—right?”
Xairn shook his head. “That is not what I am referring to at all. We’ll need to adjust our DNA—both of us—before I can safely take you back to your home planet.”
“Our DNA?” Lauren sounded horrified. “What are you talking about, Xairn? I don’t want my DNA adjusted!”
“I’m sorry but it’s necessary.” He stared straight ahead as he spoke, his broad shoulders tense. “Which is why we’re heading to the Maw Cluster at this very moment. The best genetic manipulators live there. They can help us reach our destination safely.”
“But…” Lauren made a helpless gesture. “How far away are they?”
“About a hundred thousand light years from Earth.”
“What?” Lauren demanded. Then she took a deep breath and put a hand on his muscular arm. “Xairn, I’m trying really hard not to get upset or excited here. But it sounds to me like we’re going in the opposite direction of where we need to be.”
“Lauren…” Xairn looked pointedly at her hand on his arm and Lauren withdrew it hastily.
“Sorry. But look, how can you even get us so far away and back again before we get old and die? I mean, I’m a cupcake baker, not a physicist but I don’t see how it’s possible.”
“It’s possible, all right. Using that.” Xairn nodded at the viewscreen and Kat followed his gesture involuntarily. What she saw was incredibly strange. There appeared to be a dark silvery-blue, swirling hole somehow cut into the fabric of space. Not just a hole, she thought, still staring. It’s like a funnel or a spout. Like water circling the drain in a bathtub—the biggest bathtub in the universe.
“What’s that?” Lauren sounded as awed as Kat felt. “Is it a black hole?”
Xairn made a strange, deep rumbling sound from low in his chest that made Kat drag her eyes away from the strange sight on the viewscreen. After a moment, she realized the big Scourge warrior was laughing. It was a rusty sound, as though he didn’t laugh very often, but kind of nice anyway.
“Of course not,” he said, one corner of his mouth twitching with amusement. “If it were, our ship would have been broken to bits and sucked in by its huge gravitational pull even before we saw it. That, Lauren, is an inter-dimensional gateway. A wormhole.”
“A wormhole? And you’re going to fly us into it?”
“Through it,” Xairn corrected. “We’ll be at the Maw Cluster instantaneously. After we conduct our business there, we can find another to take us home—your home anyway. That sector is full of them and the star charts indicate several that will bring us back to your solar system.”
“I don’t know…” Lauren looked doubtful.
“I do.” Xairn closed his eyes for a moment and his entire body tensed. “Can’t you feel that? My father is out there somewhere, not far behind. He’s seeking someone or something else now, but the moment he captures it he’ll turn his attention to us.”
Lauren looked over her shoulder fearfully although there was nothing but the back of the ship to see. “He’s after us? You mean in a ship?”
“He’s pursing with his mind.” Xairn made a face. “I can hear him whispering to me. Urging me to bring you back to him… Gods!” He pounded one huge fist on the steering yoke. “We have to get away before it’s too late.”
“All right.” Lauren’s face had gone pale but she began strapping herself into the safety harness with determination. “All right, Xairn. Get us out of here.”
His grip on the controls tightened and the look of concentration on his face was frightening in its intensity. “Hold on. Traversing a wormhole is rough business.”
We have to go! Lock’s voice in Kat’s head startled her. She’d been so caught up in the interaction between Lauren and Xairn that she’d almost forgotten what was going on. Kat, we have to go, Lock said again. If they take us with them through the wormhole, we might never get back to our physical forms.
Got it. Kat gave herself a mental shake. Let’s get out of here, grab Deep and go.
Rising up through the skin of the ship, she found herself in the darkness of space once more. Deep? Where is he? She felt a moment of panic and then she saw the bright silver streak of his spirit zipping around, just inches away from the seeking black smudge of the AllFinger’s tentacle. God, how was he doing that? Staying one step ahead of the evil like that? Kat felt her heart, thousands of light years away, jump in fear as she saw the tendril of darkness almost catch him just before he skipped away.
Deep, she called. Deep, come back to us! We know what’s going on with Lauren. Let’s go home.
Can’t. His mental voice was hoarse with exhaustion. He’ll feel it. He’ll know there’s more than one of us if I join you two. Can’t risk it.
Yes, you can, Brother! Come! Lock demanded, but his command had no effect on the brilliantly darting light that was Deep’s spirit.
You’ll have to go without me. I can’t distract the AllFather and hold you here much longer anyway.
Don’t you dare let us go while we’re still separated! Kat raged at him. We need you, Deep. Lock needs you and he’s going to need you even more after I’m gone.
I’m sorry, little Kat. But I—
Just then there was a blast of light from the direction of the wormhole. Momentarily distracted, Kat turned her attention to it just in time to see the small silver ship circling the wide funnel like a toy boat being sucked down a vast drain. My God, she thought. Can they survive that? They’re going to—
Deep! Lock’s mental voice was filled with such anguish that Kat felt it like a knife in her heart. From the corner of her eye she saw something that made her scream in sorrow and disbelief.
The bright, flitting light had flown too close to the black tentacle of darkness. As she and Lock watched, an oily, black, many-armed cloud erupted around it and began to engulf it, like an octopus snaring its prey. For a moment the light seemed to be straining to pull free, struggling away from the tentacles until only one of them had a grip on it. No, not just a light—that’s Deep, Kat thought numbly. Deep, please no! Not now. Not when I finally know that you really do care for me. That you love me the same way I love you! Please!
But her mental plea did no good. As they watched, a thousand more tentacles exploded, like a nest of writhing snakes. They covered the light, drawing it inexorably inward…until the darkness ate it completely.
No! Kat howled with anguish. No, Deep! No! She felt Lock’s grief too—an agony so intense it was almost unbearable…and then, suddenly, they were flying backwards, away from the darkness and the vanished light. Away from Lauren and Xairn and the wormhole and the polluted Scourge home world at a tremendous speed until everything was a blur.
Stop! Kat was in a panic. Stop! We have to go back for him! We can’t just leave him there.
He is already lost. Gone beyond our reach. Lock’s voice was quiet with despair. And we cannot go back. It was Deep’s power that brought us out so far and held us in place. Without him, we can’t help being pulled back.
Even as he spoke the incredibly fast, intense journey was over. Kat felt herself reenter her physical body with an almost audible thump. Her eyes flew open and she found herself looking into Deep’s face.
The coal black eyes she’d grown to know so well were open but unseeing. His broad chest rose and fell but the rest of his big body was limp.
“Deep?” Kat patted his cheek eagerly. “Deep, can you hear me?”
“My lady, he’s gone. He cannot hear you where he is.” Lock’s voice was thick with sorrow.
“What do you mean?” Kat demanded. “Where is he?”
“Gone,” Lock repeated. “His spirit is untethered from his body, lost forever to the AllFather. Only a shell remains.”
Kat looked in horror and disbelief at the familiar, sharp features of the dark twin. Deep had made her completely crazy at times, he had even managed to make her believe he didn’t care anything for her even though he was madly in love with her. But despite his contrary nature, she’d grown to love him dearly. And now…
Now he’s gone, she thought numbly. Gone forever and there’s nothing I can do about it.
A sob rose in her throat. A sound of pure longing and loss and grief.
Gone…forever gone. Oh Deep…