Chapter Four

Omnipresent red dust swirled in the wind. The setting sun turned the sky a gritty orange. I brought my hover bike to a stop by an eroded angle of granite that protruded from the sand like a giant finger giving the universe the bird. I quickly climbed to the top and psychically scanned Dolon’s ship. Drekk. Four of Nilus’s warriors were inside with my mother. Oh Goddess, Mami was probably freaking out or unconscious.

I needed a diversion. Triggering my ultrasonic bug caller, I waited until thousands of var bugs answered my summons and scrambled down the rock. They followed behind me like well-trained pets.

Quinn’s gruff voice sounded from my communications earbud, “Damn. You’re an alien version of the Pied Piper.”

How flattering. “I do not steal children.”

“Prickly little thing, aren’t you?”

“Only when I’m dealing with conceited know-it-alls like you.” My berserker senses sent a mental warning. The image of a badly sunburned warrior leaving the ship formed in my mind. Which meant I had about sixty seconds to prepare. I pulled my weapon and approached cautiously.

A warrior with a blister-covered face exited the ship, saw me, and went for his laser pistol.

I dropped to the ground, rolled, and fired.

The beam hit the warrior dead in the chest. His mouth opened in a silent scream as his body disintegrated into a million fireflies.

“Nice shootin’,” Quinn commented.

“Goddess, was that a compliment?”

“Don’t get cocky; you’re still outnumbered.”

“Yes, my lord,” I replied sarcastically, and used Papa’s handy scanner override to enter the ship. Keeping their distance, the bugs trailed me, clicking hungrily.

Throwing up an illusion of Nilus, an attractive, older male with cold, dead eye, I strutted down the hallway.

Three of Nilus’s thugs came to attention when they saw me.

Dropping my voice an octave, I demanded, “Where is the female?”

A warrior with a horrific scar across his face pulled his weapon. “You’re not Nilus. Who are you?”

“Your worst nightmare.” I tossed the bug caller at them. “Welcome to the nine hells.” I altered my illusion and it appeared as if I had vanished.

Scarface’s eyes widened in surprise. “Where did he go?”

Too busy looking for me, he failed to notice the var bugs surging up the walls and onto the ceiling. As one, they dropped onto the warriors, rapidly covering them from head to toe. Their horrified cries joined with the hissing clicks and created a scene right out of an Earth horror movie.

“Shit! They’re worse than a pack of ravenous wolves,” Quinn declared.

“There’s not much to eat on Qeeturah except iplo lizards, and they in turn eat the bugs.” My stomach rolled when a bug disappeared up Scarface’s nose. That was beyond nasty.

“Starving critters and a hostile environment. Makes for the perfect getaway,” Quinn said a little too cheerfully.

“Your getaway destination also includes hurricane-force winds, major sandstorms, and temperatures that can rise to 140 degrees.”

“I was raised in Arizona. I’m used to scorching temperatures and sandstorms,” Quinn replied.

“Been there. My mother insisted Papa and I investigate the Superstition Mountains in the dead of summer. Qeeturah’s heat beats Arizona’s hands down.”

Quinn snorted. “Hot is hot.”

“Aiieeeee! Aiieeeee! Aiieeeee! Aiieeeee! Aiieeeee!” The thugs broke into a wild jig as they battled feverishly to get rid of the hungry critters.

“Get in the cell!” Scarface yelled to his warriors.

I watched as they retreated into the holding cell and engaged the energy barrier. Scarface wasn’t a complete dumbass.

Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Zap! Hundreds of bugs committed suicide on the glowing energy field.

Mami was curled up in the corner of the cell, watching as the warriors stomped, smashed, and crushed the bugs that had followed them in.

I dropped my illusion for a moment and put my finger to my lips.

Relief filled Mami’s eyes when she spotted me.

Scarface plucked an insect off his face and noticed my mother was untouched. “Why aren’t the bugs attacking you?”

“I didn’t desecrate the sacred places,” Mami answered, trembling badly.

I became a rotting corpse crawling with maggots and wailed, “Leave this place or die.”

Scarface jumped about a foot, yanked out his pistol, and fired at me. The beam was absorbed by the energy barrier. “You can’t be real. It’s some kind of trick.”

“Looks real to me,” his buddy muttered.

The third warrior backed away. “No one said anything about ghosts.”

I added a gruesome black snake slithering out of my left eye socket to the illusion. “Death is the price for violating our burial site.” The snake hissed, exposing nasty-looking fangs.

“Not real! Not real!” His eyes rolling in fear, Scarface kept firing at me until a bug latched onto his nose. He squished it and hopped up and down on the remaining insects like a demented jackrabbit. “Die! Die! Die! Die! Die! Die!”

When the last bug had been killed, I deactivated the energy barrier.

The remaining var bugs rushed in.

The warriors freaked out, frenetically trying to knock the starving insects off their exposed flesh.

Quinn laughed. “You are one stone-cold bitch.”

“Yes, I am, and you would be wise not to forget that.” Goddess, I was enjoying his banter way too much.

“Is that a challenge, darlin’?”

“What do you think?” I flattened myself against the wall as the warriors charged out of the holding cell and ran from the ship. The var bugs scuttled after them.

“Not a smart move,” Quinn said. “Don’t they realize there are more varmints waiting for them?”

“Evidently not.” I flinched as thousands of bugs exploded from the sand. I quickly closed and locked the door. “You think the explosions drew the var bugs in?”

“Good possibility.” Static filled Quinn’s transmission.

“Solar flares are interfering with our link.”

“I…hour…out.”

Mami peeked around the doorway. “Are they gone?”

“They are.”

With a sob, Mami threw her arms around me. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I stroked her back. “I know. I know you are. We need to leave before Nilus sends more warriors.”

“Nilus? Here?” Mami stiffened. “Go outside? Where is your father?”

I lied through my teeth. “Papa is busy fighting off Nilus’s warriors. He wants us to wait for him in the bolt-hole.”

“How did Nilus find us?” A flood of tears rolled down my mother’s face. “Oh Goddess. I’m responsible, aren’t I?”

“No, Dolon is. Nilus is a grave robber. Your brother hired him and his henchmen to plunder Qeeturah.” I handed her the Askole bio-belt I had brought from the bolt-hole.

“Henchmen?”

“Jeebito or Tabaw have been helping him rob other finds.”

Mami pulled her bulky dress over her head and wrapped the belt around her waist. “I knew he was a scoundrel. Can’t we go back to our ship?”

Drekk. I quickly tapped her communications bracelet, and her suit covered her. “It’s been damaged.”

“How badly damaged?”

I sidestepped the question. “Papa wants us in the bolt-hole.”

“I’m not a child. I deserve the truth.”

Mami would find out sooner or later. “Nilus destroyed our ship.”

My mother let out a moan and keeled over.

I blew out a long breath. Now I had to carry her.

The lights flickered, and a high-pitched whine sounded.

I frowned. It almost sounded like a transporter. Nah. Transporters were expensive and drew a lot of power. Power I doubted this piece of junk could generate.

“Wake up, Mami.” I patted her face. “Papa is waiting for us.”

The sensation of sudden danger screamed through my senses. Dolon! He did have a transporter. I threw up an invisibility illusion around my mother and me.

Dolon sprinted down the corridor, tripped over my mother’s foot, and did a face-plant on the floor. “Drekk!” Dolan scrambled to his feet and ran into the cockpit.

A minute later, the engines roared to life.

Balock’s balls. I couldn’t let Dolon take off.

The cockpit door slid shut. There was an ominous click.

Every muscle in my body tensed. Did Dolon know we were on board? Duh. I gave myself a head smack. He wouldn’t have locked the door unless he knew. Grabbing Mami, I threw her over my shoulder and hurried to the transporter room. We had to get off my uncle’s ship before we were out of transporter range.

Luckily, all my uncle’s henchmen were dead, and I didn’t have to fight my way in. The icy-cold room held an old one-person transporter platform and control console. I eased Mami down on the pad and hurried over to the controls. I’d send her first. I typed the coordinates for the bolt-hole into the keypad.

The ship tilted radically as it did an emergency launch. I grabbed ahold of the console.

Mami slid off the platform.

I tightened my grip as the craft shuddered and shook and made a weird whirring clatter.

The vessel reached escape velocity, but the whirring noise got louder. Balock’s balls. Dolon was pushing the engines too hard. He probably realized Nilus wanted him dead and was trying to get out of range of Nilus’s laser cannons. We had to get off this ship now. I dragged Mami back up on the platform.

Her eyes fluttered. “Lysis?”

“Stay put, Mami.” I darted around the console and shoved the control lever to the Send position. A glittering blue light appeared, and my mother vanished. I grinned. Quinn was going to have his hands full with her.

I put the transporter on auto-send and stepped on the platform. For a brief moment, my molecules started to break apart. The light vanished abruptly.

“Consider yourself my guest,” Dolon said mockingly from the speakers.

Jumping off the platform, I quickly checked the settings on the command console, and my shoulders sagged. Dolon had cut the power supply. A white vapor suddenly spewed from the vents. Sleeping gas. The room spun dizzily. My knees buckled, and I collapsed to the floor. The cold, wet vapor clung to me, making it difficult to breathe.

“What to do with you? Decisions. Decisions,” Dolon gloated. “Do I eject you out the airlock or sell you to the slavers?”

Drekk! I tried to get my feet under me, but my limbs refused to obey me.

“I’m going to have to think on it awhile. Sleep tight.”

Everything faded to black.