17. CHAPTER 17

Ididn't want to trust him with my ship, but I had no choice. I placed the sidearm in his hand. "The top trigger is for charging the weapon; the second is for firing; each charge will give you four rounds on a small gun such as this; altogether, you have about fifty rounds. Here's an extra." I placed the extra cartridge in his hand.

"Wait, why give this to me?"

"That lever is to throttle, pull back, and it decelerates. The red switch at the top dumps fuel; don't touch it in your frenzy, or you will crash and die."

"Hey!"

"You can pull an image of the nav table from the pilot's chair if you need some direction."

"Hold on here, what's going on?"

"Focus on the fact that I'm letting the ship get closer to that massive one there, and soon—" The ship shook and rocked us both about; I held on to the handle above the airlock. "Begin flying the ship. Get us away from those drones." I entered the airlock as he beat his feet to the pilot's chair.

I was just where I wanted to be, and I opened the door and allowed the heavy winds to blow my body until I smacked and rolled on top of the body of the enormous machine. My body ached from the fall, and I hope I broke nothing, though my arm is fractured. I was going to have to fight through it.

I looked up. All twelve drones chased the ship as it swerved in dips and dives. If he sucked and crashed and died on the surface, then I hoped this ship carried a shuttle inside to escape; if not, then I hoped Caspian was alive because being alone surrounded by corpses would be a horribly dull way to spend my very long life.

The winds were strong, but nothing I couldn't face.

The static of my comms kicked on.

"I"m Glad you made it. You're putting on quite the show already," the familiar feminine voice said, sounding amused.

"Elvira," I replied. "Don't get yourself killed. Hand over my human."

"I can't. You must come and get him yourself. He's being held in the lower deck cell block D. The airlock near your landing location is opened. Good Luck."

"Bitch," I muttered and rushed for the airlock and entered the narrow docking tube.

The loud, obnoxious buzzing of the alarm warned the inhabitants of this great mechanical beast of my arrival. The pattering of feet rushed toward me from the distant hall. More Yogs, I bet. I could smell them as well as I could hear them. How much money did he use to buy so many of them?

Though I doubt any of them would be up for a bargain. I rushed for the corner and pulled free my blaster. The fools seemed to have graduated from the school of wasting an entire cartridge of rounds in a hail of shots in the vague hope that the enemy would just step in front and get killed.

I waited until the eventual reloading to sprint forward from cover, blasting several before charging the others and a whirlwind of kinetic energy, which sent them flying away from me. I didn't want to rely on my jīva as I couldn't afford to lose myself in battle now.

Lingering in that hall of fresh blood and burning flesh was not an option. I moved fast, closed the doors behind me, and bashed the control panel to keep the doors jammed.

The ship was old and damn near falling apart; I could see where the white paint had long since chipped away, exposing the metal, which had rusted as the years went by. The platform I stood on creaked with each step, making me more aware than ever of my towering size over the little green men who would take this path. Now it made even more sense why he had hired so many Yogs!

The platform must have been about fifty feet high, and below it were the whirling engines that kept this ship suspended in the air. One false move would send me tumbling to a very gruesome death.

I moved creak by creak until one railing cracked under my weight, sending it into the metal fans below.

"Fuck!" I yelled as the entire ship shook and jerked, and black smoke rose from a section of the fans. Now I needed to worry if this damned rust bucket would remain afloat!

I ran as fast as possible and sent a burst of energy with each step until I reached the second set of blast doors. I think I recognized this ship from my childhood. The plants that lined the small patches of soil were a soggy brown and withered away; muck crusted the windows so much I couldn't see outside. Someone cracked the filthy benches. This tour ship was used to ferry sightseers through various planets containing primitive and dangerous wildlife. At one point, we Valisians were fascinated with finding planets in the early stages of life and observing the outcome. Many of these ships were decommissioned due to the waning interest in such endeavors.

However, if I remember correctly, the maps of these ships were easy to find and etched into plaques scattered about. Sure enough, there was one, covered in the muck but still easy to read. Now, I knew the location of the ship's bridge but no sub-level holding cells.

"You should take the second elevator, but be careful. It only goes down twenty-three floors." Her voice popped up on my comms again.

"Why are you helping me? Surely there's no fun if I'm not struggling."

"This is fun, but I don't want to spend all day on this."

"Right," I said sarcastically. Something wasn't right. She wanted me here for a reason. That much was certain. If it was a trap to kill me, then they were doing a piss-poor job of it.

I left the engine room, and the halls were clear. I came across two elevators and punched the call buttons on both. I pressed my back against the wall between them to make sure I had the jump on any soldiers coming in. They arrived, and a small group rushed from the right. Firing on the first two Yogs before delivering a swift kick to the third, I entered the right, opened the grate on the ceiling, ascended into the dark shaft, hopped to the left, opened the grate, and reached in to press the bottom floor. I remained outside the left elevator, and once it reached the final floor it could go, I waited to see if anyone would enter before jumping inside and exiting to a hall that was much cleaner than the area I was in. They clearly did work here. They polished the metal to shine, fresh paint applied to the walls, glass so transparent it could fool a flying beast.

"Ten more floors until you reach the sublevel."

There was no point in asking her anything anymore. I thought of Caspian and having him in my arms again. I was a damn sap, but still, I wanted what was mine!

The sublevel was a dark and miserable place that looked as forgotten as the top half of the vessel. The belly of the beast whined a mechanical tune, and gears rotated and shifted about.

"Caspian!" I called him, hoping he would hear me above the eerie rust-colored music. Something wasn't right, but that wasn't the first time I had spoken those words since this entire venture began.

"He should be in the cell further down the hall."

"Elvira…" I groaned, fighting the urge to ask her another question.

I kept my blaster ready and trekked down the long row of cages until I reached the end. Inside the last cage was not my Caspian but a frail Valisian male. Why wasn't I surprised?

"Elvira. Talk." I sneered, wanting to rip her through the system if I could. I imagined spraying her teeth across the room and hearing the sounds of her bones cracking and snapping under my boot.

"You now have the advantage," she said, a slight tremble in her voice. "For I will give anything to see that man freed."

"How kind of you to deliver your weakness to me." If she spoke the truth.

"I had no choice. I'm sorry for tricking you, but this was the only card I had."

"Lorvian!" Now, there he was; that familiar, lovely tone was what I wanted to hear coming through my comms. "Is that you?"

"Caspian, are you hurt?"

"No, I'm fine. I'm on a ship!"

He said before Elvira came back on the line. "He's fine. Now we both have something the other wants."

"Why the hell should I trust you? Do you think you can dangle the promise of my reunion with that human over my head forever?"

"No, just long enough to get my brother back."

"Brother, you say." I sighed. "Who is he?"

"Please! I've done all I can to hold off Feion's forces but can't do this for long. Return him to me, and I will tell you whatever you want to know. I will return your human to you."

"I can't return through the airlock you opened."

"Sector thirty, middle airlock."

"Fine. I want you to know that I don't enjoy being used. You will pay for this in one way or another."

"I don't like being used either. Please hurry."

I blasted the lock open; the man was half-naked, and his white filthy hair hid his visage. He only just acknowledged my presence until I brought him to the light.

"You… you look like her…"

"Her who?"

He sighed and hung his weak head low.

I placed his arm around my shoulder and dragged him along. "Listen, if you want to live, I suggest you not make me have to carry you. I will leave you if given no other choice!"

"I will move, even if I have to crawl." He said, and with renewed enthusiasm, he shifted to his feet.

We returned to the hall only to find smaller drones heading their way.

"I'll be back." I sat him down and charged ahead, using a combo of my blaster and jīva to take them down. A gust of energy flew by. The drone hit the floor and sparked out of control before black smoke rose.

I looked past the smoke to the frail man. His labored breathing filled the hall as he held his hand out, one purple eye visible under that mop of void black hair.

"See, I'm not so useless." He clawed at the wall until he stood. "You need not help me. I can follow you."

"It will be for nothing if you lag behind, and I'm left with no choice but to desert you."

His pride was on the line; he and I knew it. No Valisian tolerated being a burden.

"Cormac." I contacted my ship, though some part of me wondered if he was dead or had taken off.

"What?!" He yelled, going through hell as the malfunction warning blurred in the background.

"How is it out there?"

"I'm really busy!"

"Connect the damn ship to the sublevel airlock, now!"

"Shit!" he exclaimed. "Hey! Watch out in there. Something's happening to the ship!"

"What?!"

The machinal beast whined and groaned, and the clicking of massive bolts sent me on edge. We rocked and tossed about, and the structure tilted nearly ninety degrees. I held onto the grated floor but was losing my grip.