CHAPTER 20

ARTEMIS

Docking on Nova Station was remarkably, disturbingly easy. All I’d had to do was wait for another, larger ship to arrive – which only added another day to my timeline, hide behind it, and secretly dock the other ship from the rear to use as a ramp onto the station, all the while securely hidden from any sensors through a cloaking technology that wasn’t yet available on the market. More confirmation that my ship had indeed belonged to The Program.

Not for the first time I wondered why they’d abandoned it when it was so easily salvageable.

Sneaking through the other ship made for an even easier experience than docking. The only necessary effort needed to blend in was to obtain one of their maintenance crew uniforms and stand at the back of the crowd as if I belonged there. No one looked twice at the person collecting their rubbish, especially when the garb was so drab and dreary. The grey jumpsuit may have clung to my curves but that was only due to my abundance of them. I wished for the first time since taking it off that I had my chest binding back, but then dismissed the thought. Those things were uncomfortable and constricting and I was glad to be rid of it. The uniform also made me look like I was dressing up as a corpse, the colour washing out my skin and ensuring I blended into the grey of the metal walls.

Currently, however, my largest concern was the way I’d had to leave Dave Junior back on the ship. He was a force to be reckoned with when he didn’t get his way, especially if his way meant he came with me wherever I went. After the umpteenth time he’d refused to stay put and tried to follow me, I’d been forced to lock him inside the room I’d claimed as my bedroom, welding the door shut much like I had for my Nova Academy friends when The Program had attacked, and walked away to the sound of him jumping frantically at the door in an attempt to knock it down. To say he was displeased with me would be an understatement.

I just hoped the door would be able to hold him.

But Dave Junior would have to wait. It was time for me to get Bal, to rescue Reece and Adara, and to free the children. I wondered if I’d run into any of the others while I was here, too. I didn’t know if I’d be able to stay focused on my task if I saw Bromm. The anxiety had finally hit as my brain ran in circles trying to decide if I had imagined our encounter or if it was real.

The jury may have still been out on that, but there was only one way to know for certain. Just not right at this moment with so many people around. I was able to somewhat control my abilities. After spending the majority of my time on the ship practicing to assess what I could do I’d discovered quite a few strengths and limitations. As it turned out, the need for energy had increased if I wanted to use them over a prolonged time period, easily resolved with the few Nutri-bars I’d packed into my pockets, but that also led to the discovery that the blue glow was impossible to even dim, let alone get rid of.

The other maintenance staff were also spread out away from one another as if they were afraid to socialise even with each other. Their eyes were downcast, their shoulders slumped, and I had the worst feeling that the officers of this ship were treating them beyond poorly. And if that was the case, what was their purpose here?

All indicators painted them as either members of The Program or in league with them. Neither scenario was particularly reassuring, but that was what I got for sneaking onto a military base under The Program’s command.

But the blatant redirection of their gazes provided the perfect opportunity to snag one of the holo-tabs from where it hung on the belt of the woman in front of me. She was Terran, as were most of this ship’s crew. Another indicator that The Program’s Earthen employees were congregating here.

Acquiring Nova Station was the motherload of successes for them, but their plans for it were undoubtedly bad news. If they could take over an entire military station as prestigious as Nova, what else could they do? And what damage could they do with it?

These were all thoughts I’d had, albeit fleetingly, over the past solar, but being trapped inside a windowless facility always narrowed my world into just inside those walls. Now that I was out and seeing things with my own eyes, everything was coming into sharp focus. The severity of the Intergalactic Union’s shaky foundations was settling in, and I hadn’t even set foot on the station itself, yet.

But that was something to think about after the rescue mission.

I waited until the crowd dispersed before ducking into a secluded alcove, and then I waited some more until I was sure no one was around. Ensuring I was deeply enough ensconced in the shadows, I closed my eyes and used the holo-tab to connect to the web.

Immediately, I found myself teetering on a thin white line, my intent to hunt through them until I found the one to connect me with Bromm’s holo-tab, but the same thing that had happened before occurred again. My current line brightened and thickened then began to lengthen in one direction. It held onto me through some unseen force, dragging me along until it merged with a second line in a blinding light show.

And then I was face-to-face with the man I was so eager to see.

‘Arty?’ he asked, glancing around like he wasn’t sure where he was or why he was there. ‘What’s going on?’

‘I’m on Nova Station,’ I said, equally stunned to see him here. ‘I was trying to connect to your holo-tab, but it seems I’ve connected with you instead…’

‘Shit. I’m in the cafeteria right now, so I know I’m not asleep. How am I here?’

‘I don’t know,’ I admitted, my answer the same as when he’d asked the last time we’d met here.

His eyes searched mine, their blue depths brimming with a burning intensity I didn’t know how to name. And then his hands were gripping my hips to pull me close as his lips descended on mine with a ferocious passion. I spent a moment getting over the shock of the action but was soon tangling my tongue with his and moaning into his mouth.

The moment ended too soon, both of us pulling away to gasp for air, his minty-cool breath puffing over my face.

‘You’re here?’ he asked, his tone hopeful yet cautious.

‘I’m here,’ I confirmed. ‘I can’t believe this is happening again. It really is real, isn’t it? You’re really here with me right now.’

His answering smile was sad. ‘You doubted me?’

I shook my head vehemently. ‘No, Bromm. I never doubted you. I doubted what happened, though. I couldn’t tell if it was real or if you were just my mind conjuring you up because I missed you.’

‘I miss you too, love. So fucking much.’ He paused, thinking something over. ‘I guess now’s as good a time as any to talk. I have the location.’

I pulled back further, separating our bodies but keeping the physical connection through our hands. ‘Where?’ His wince was subtle, but I still caught it. ‘Where, Bromm?’

‘The Forbidden Planet…’

I wracked my brain for any information I had on such a place but came up empty. Odd… Whatever made this planet ‘forbidden’ must have alluded my self-run education. Or details about it were just very well hidden, even from my methods of acquiring information. That didn’t bode well and his reaction made a little more sense with that reasoning, but it didn’t change that it was where we now needed to meet. ‘I’ve never heard of it. You’ll need to send me coordinates.’

‘I’ll get Xander on that. I have no idea where it is,’ he confessed.

‘When? I’ll be heading into the testing facility after this. I’ll need to input the coordinates into my ship to map out the course beforehand.’

His lips pursed in frustration. ‘I won’t see him again until tomorrow.’

‘Okay, no worries. I’ll just do a search while I’m in here. Leave it with me.’

‘I’ll let Foryk and the others know you’re here.’

‘You need to prepare to leave for tomorrow,’ I told him. ‘It might take longer depending on the time it takes for me to get everyone out, but just watch out for a shift in the guards’ behaviour. That’ll be your cue.’

‘Are you sure about this?’ he asked, concern and anxiety warbling his words. ‘Artemis, I don’t want anything to happen to you.’

I gave him a self-deprecating smile. ‘I’ll be fine, Bromm. Even if they catch me, I’ll find a way out again. I’ve done it twice already.’

His hands came up to cup my face, ensuring I couldn’t look away. ‘You never should’ve been in a situation you needed to escape from in the first place, love.’

I scoffed. ‘We can’t change the past. No point in wishing things were different.’

His bright purple eyes crinkled with his frown, the dual pupils narrowing to pinpoints on me. ‘I can’t stay for much longer, but this conversation isn’t over.’

I felt like I was missing some sort of sub context, but his intentions were clear and I softened at the tenderness he used to stroke my cheeks. His beard stretched between us to tickle at my face, gently swiping over my bottom lip before he leaned in to slant his mouth over mine. It was a quick kiss, but the emotion behind it lingered like he had just engraved them into our lips.

‘I love you, Artemis. I’ll see you soon.’

‘I love you too,’ I whispered, but he had already disappeared from the web.

I jumped from the line to follow the others in the web, moving further and further away from the dense tangle in the middle and onto a thinner, wispier line that almost gave off the impression of being dusty with misuse. It was haggard and weak compared to the others, something I had yet to find inside the web. Typically, the lines were strong and bright even with misuse. Wherever this Forbidden Planet was and whatever made it so forbidden, it seemed that the Intergalactic Union also wanted it forgotten.

Finally, I broke through the last remaining barrier into what I could only describe as a blueprint. An image appeared of the planet in question, overlayed with an abundance of notes that distorted the image. When I focused on one of the notes, the image morphed into a close-up of what was written. It seemed that the planet had been sectioned into different zones, and this one was concluded to be uninhabitable. The next few were the same until I reach the last. This one, however, was labelled ‘Potential Habitability’.

When I homed in on one particular file I almost fell off the flimsy line in pure shock. Image after image of the wildlife I’d begun to familiarise myself with sprung up. Purple-trunked trees, a line- up of blooms ranging from vibrant colours to pastels to black-petalled wonders, crystal-spotted mountains, the lake in the valley that shimmered in rainbow colours reflecting from the mountains… The very same lake I spent eating the majority of my meals gazing at with Libby at my side.

And then there were the images of the creatures. Various birds caught soaring above the trees, their feathers blending into the sky above them or the leaves below depending on the angle the image was taken. Tiny critters that were seen scampering across the forest floor or over mountain rocks. And the most startling image of all: Dave. Or what looked like Dave. This one was alive, full of vivacity, the picture capturing its expression mid-snarl as it lunged for the camera. Skin a vibrant purple similar to the trees and covered in a thin layer of fuzz; four ears, two pointed forward and two pointed back; six large, red eyes the same vivid shade as the venom-filled fangs on full display inside a long muzzle; a thick, mace-like tail that was primed in the air is if ready to smash and kill; long black claws that reminded me of Tornu spikes extended from enormous paws, ready to slice and slaughter. This would be what Dave Junior grew into, I realised, a sense of wonder washing over me at his species’ clear ferocity and lethality.

Then the images changed again, my mind spinning with the implications of this discovery. Staring right at me was the vaguely familiar image of the interior corridors and laboratories of the underground structure I’d been trapped in with Libby and Bal for the past solar. The building that had housed all of the women I’d just freed. The very facility I had just levelled to the ground in a fit of rage and revenge.

The Forbidden Planet was where I’d just come from and our final destination. Which meant we couldn’t use it as our rendezvous point.

The plan needed to be scrapped, and unless they already had a plan B we were out of time to forge a new one.

But first, I had to warn the others.

Sorry, Bal. I’ll find you soon, I promise.