Syn-En: Registration (7 page)

Two more men joined the crowd behind him.

He had to end this and soon. Crouching, Bei set the pregnant woman on the ground. He smoothed the rocks away before lowering her head. “I will leave now.”

He had to find the woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She could help him find his clan. She could help him find himself.

Raising his hands a little, Bei rose.

The men charged.

Chapter 7

A metallic taste flooded Nell’s mouth. Swallowing the blood, she squeezed her eyes closed. Her head pounded from being upside down. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be happening. The ground just didn’t open up and devour people. She peeked through her lashes. Dirt and sand pressed against her visor helmet.

Pressure squeezed her chest; her lungs labored for air. Lights danced in her peripheral vision. Oh, God. She was going to pass out. She was going to die!

Worms of electric blue squirmed across her helmet. Her hair crackled and her neck stung as if bitten by hundreds of Army ants. Dammit, she knew something lived in the sand.

And now it was eating her.

A bitter lump lodged in her throat. The sand parted and her head popped into an opening. A spotlight of sunshine shone through a hole in the sand dome. In its glow, she spied the white skeleton of a tree, the cracked mud of a dry river bed, and a brown carpet.

The sand spit her out with a pop.

Then she was falling down toward the ground, picking up speed. The ground jumped up to meet her. She raised her arms and gritted her teeth. She hoped she remembered how to somersault. Her fingers touched cold dirt, brittle bits of dried grass swirled like confetti. Bending her arms, she tucked her chin.

The dead vegetation scraped her helmet as she rolled. Grass crunched under her spine. Ha! This gymnastics stuff was a piece of cake. Her legs slammed against the ground, splayed out in front of her, and she stopped moving. Pins and needles raced across her body.

She’d always hated gymnastics.

A shadow moved across her visor.

Nell batted it away, hit nothing and let her arm drop to her side.

“That was an interesting landing.” Elvis patted her arms and legs, checking for broken limbs. “I would have bet humans were not so deformed that they couldn’t land on all fours.”

“Not deformed. Evolved. Humans are evolved.” Levering up onto her elbows, she glared at the Amarook. “And that’s a fine lot of thanks I get for saving your life.”

Elvis cocked his head. His wolf lips twitched. “I appreciate the effort, but I do not believe either of our lives are safe just yet.”

“Good point.” Leave it to a wolf to split hairs. Aches and pains drummed Nell’s body as she staggered to her feet.

“Do you know where we are?” The Amarook shook his hide, creating an aura of dust and sand.

“Definitely not in Kansas.” A memory niggled at the back of her mind. Although this place looked familiar… She kicked off the sand shoes and buckled them to her pack.

“What does Mom say?”

Heat flooded Nell’s face. Sheesh, she should have thought of that. Especially since the arrow pointing the way had disappeared from her visor. “Mom?”

A second passed. Then two. Five.

Nothing.

“She’s not talking.” Which was weird. Mom had promised not to leave Nell alone. Could the blue worms have done something? Was that why her neck stung? “What’s Pi to twenty decimal places?”

Silence echoed inside her skull.

“I’ve lost my connection to the ship.” And to Mom. Nell set her finger against her throat, counted heartbeats.

Elvis’s whiskers twitched and he stroked her hand. “Are you well?”

“I felt a small shock before I emerged from that sandy birth canal.” Not something she wanted to experience again. Ever. “And since my brain box controls all my vital organs, I wanted to check to make sure I wasn’t, you know, dying.”

Dying wouldn’t help Bei, Rome or Keyes.

“And are you?”

She shook out her hands. “I think I’m feeling a little panicked. But I’ll be fine. Really.”

She didn’t have a choice.

Rubbing her hands together, she glanced around. Across the dead grass, lights glowed through the bone white branches. A stone path edged the field. “You know this looks like the park where we were supposed to land.”

Except everything was dead.

She hoped that wasn’t a sign.

Elvis craned his neck and stared at the ceiling. “I believe you can breathe easy. The energy barrier is holding back the sand.”

Nell looked up. Sand and dirt snaked across the domed ceiling. She dropped to her knees and raised her hands. Right, like she could hold back the deluge if it came. “Holy cow!” Bursts of light pushed back the darkness. “Are those stars?”

“Static electricity.” He chuckled, then pointed through the trees. “Those are street lights.”

Street lights were good. They meant people. Well, they meant Skaperians. This was their embassy, after all. Rising, she brushed the dust off her uniform. “Guess we should set off to see the Ambassador.”

“Wait.” Elvis freed the straps of his helmet. His black nostrils twitched as he turned his head this way, then that. “The air is breathable.”

Nell glanced at the force field holding up the world. “I think I’ll keep my helmet on for a while yet.”

At least until she could see blue sky over her head.

Nodding, he tucked his into his saddle bags. “I’ll lead.”

“Not a problem.” Amarooks were amazing hunters, better even than wolves on Earth. She waited until he drew abreast of her then started walking.

Aside from the crunch of grass, the world was silent. No birds sung. No insects chirped. No breeze ruffled the dead leaves.

The quiet seeped into her bones and her skin crawled. “Do you think there are any Skaperians still alive?”

She just needed one to stand up with her and declare humans sentient.

Then she could report Bei’s kidnapping. Thanks to her brain box, the aliens’ images were recorded in the Icarus’s mainframe.

“Someone has kept this place running.”

When they reached the path, her boot heels rasped stone. “They’re going to hear us coming from miles away. Should I walk on the grass?”

Elvis smoothed his black feathers off his head. “These are our allies. We want them to know we’re coming.”

“Not if they shoot first and ask questions later, we don’t.” She patted the side pocket of her pack and breathed easier when she touched the hard rectangle of the electronic pad. At least, she still had her introductory papers.

“Perhaps you watch too many movies.”

Like she hadn’t heard that before. “Maybe, but they’ve come in handy. Better brains than mine have come up with solutions.”

Unfortunately, she had yet to meet a single alien from Star Trek or any of the other science fiction shows she watched.

The path serpentined through a dead grove. Pale branches snapped off the white trunks and revealed a rotten core. Remnants of birds’ nests disintegrated into pyramids of brittle twigs on the ground. A fallen tree blocked the path.

Her blood thickened in her veins. Was everything dead or dying? “With all the plants dead, where do you suppose the oxygen comes from?”

“Oxygen can be manufactured from water, just like on the Icarus.” Tail wagging, he loped around the obstacle. “Besides, all is not dead.”

Clearing the branches, Nell saw it. Patches of green where dappled sunlight filtered through the arching force field that hadn’t yet been covered by sand. She smiled and practically danced around the branches. “I love green.”

“It is a good color.” Elvis trotted back onto the path.

She followed, careful to avoid trampling the bits of life.

Ten feet away, the park bled into a smooth street and beyond that were adobe homes. Black squares punched holes in the tangerine facades. A few had bright red and green mats for doors.

Frowning, she looked closer. “They’re plain.”

The Skaperians loved adornment. From the memories they had implanted in her, she knew that frescoes, murals, and tile work covered every available surface in the typical Skaperian home.

“They must be the servant quarters.”

“Across from a park?” She doubted it. On Earth, such prime real estate would go for a nice sum of money. Slaves would get the stuff no one wanted.

“They would need to be close to the caprinae flocks and other livestock.”

A wooly, sheep-like creature with six legs trotted around the street corner and headed for the park. Had Elvis’s words conjured up the caprinae? Nell blinked. “Are you seeing what I am?”

“Indeed.” His hackles rose and he tucked his tail between his legs. “I will scout ahead.”

“What?” She switched her attention to the Amarook.

But Elvis had activated his camouflage.

His presence brushed her mind. An image of the cracked street overlaid her vision. Her eyes watered from the acrid scent of urine. “Elvis.”

“Perhaps you should wait here until I return.” He looked back at her and sent her his thoughts.

She saw herself, a creature in black with a swollen head. Not something she’d want to see on a postcard. “We should stick together.”

Bad things happened when people split up in horror movies. And this abandoned place had “horror movie” practically engraved on the peeling adobe walls.

“I wish to check something out.” He switched his focus back to the ground. The scenery flew by as he increased his pace, left her further and further behind.

“No.” Her denial echoed down the deserted streets. She clamped her lips together. Great. Standing on the corner, she listened to her racing heart.

Okay, she had two choices. She could stand here and wait for the crazies to jump out of the glassless windows and grab her, or she could try to catch up with Elvis.

She cracked her knuckles and shivered. The skin between her shoulder blades itched. Was that motion in the window? Did that shadow move? She couldn’t stay here.

The caprinae bleated.

She nearly jumped out of her skin. That settled it. “I’m coming after you, Elvis.”

His excitement coursed through her veins.

Nell sprinted down the street. Her boots played staccato on the pavement. One block, then two. By the third, the squat adobe buildings gave way to ghostly marble facades. Skaperian sculptures lounged in curved niches. Spindly bannisters lined floating balconies, and gold veins climbed white spires.

Small patches of lush grass broke up entryways. Blue flowers climbed delicate archways. Purple fruit decorated green trees. Potted urns and statuary stood sentinel near carved wooden doors.

Her heart rate kicked up. Either someone still lived here or time had stopped, preserving the neighborhood.

She turned the corner.

Aliens lined the street. Tall and scaly, furry and round, cute and scary. A dozen or more, all carrying weapons.

All looked at her.

Chapter 8

Bei grabbed the arm of the closest man and spun him into the charging group.

Five men went down.

More swarmed over the mud and rock hovels on the sides of the cavern, rushing toward him.

Bei dodged a fist, caught another attacker and swung him into a group of four. He resisted the urge to snap bones, cave-in skulls and crush windpipes. He didn’t want to hurt these people. They were scared. Of him.

The very idea.

A man on the right swung the handle of his shovel at Bei’s head.

He raised an arm, blocking the strike. Wood snapped in half when it hit him, spraying shards on the mob. He flipped someone over his shoulder. Tossed another aside. Blocked. Ducked. Shoved.

He felt no pain, wasn’t even winded.

Maybe they were right to fear him.

Bruised, dusty, and bloody, his attackers fell back, circled him like vultures.

“I mean you no harm.” Bei eyed the leader, who wielded a sledge hammer with a broken handle.

Blood drizzled down the older man’s scraggly beard, roping the long strands. “Then you shouldn’t have come here.”

A rock sailed through the air.

Bei feinted left. Another rock cut his cheek. Warmth trickled down his skin. Obviously, they had no problems hurting him. “I just wanted to return the girl.”

“Why? You ain’t Deutche?” The leader twisted the head off the sledge hammer. “No clan helps another.”

Grim faces nodded. Dirty hands adjusted their hold on their weapons.

Bei’s clan helped others. It was their purpose, why he didn’t kill his attackers. But they would not believe him. Hatred ran deeper than the mine they lived in. He raised his hands. “Let me pass, and I shall leave.”

The leader flipped the broken handle around. “No.”

The crowd charged.

Shit. Bei lashed out, hitting flesh, shoved and kicked. A few went down. More took their place. If he kept this up, they would end up hurt, maybe fatally. That would be wrong.

Surrendering was out.

Which left him one option——being taken prisoner. His stomach cramped at the notion. Incapacitating one or two guards was better than harming two dozen.

But he had to make it convincing.

And minimize the damage, lest they decide to kill him.

Bei allowed a few strikes on his arms, a kick to the knee, then a blow fell across the base of his skull.

Systems coming on line
.

“What?” Bei felt his legs being swept out from under him. He landed on his hip, ate dirt. Who had spoken? There wasn’t a woman close enough.

Bare feet and hard-soled boots kicked him.

Raising his arms, he shielded his head from the blows. Had he made a mistake? Were they planning to kill him?

Temporary paralysis initiated while diagnostics running.

Bei froze in place. He tried to draw his legs in, but they didn’t move. What was that voice? Was it God? Then why didn’t the others hear it?

“Enough.” The leader yelled.

The kicks stopped. Dirt rose in small puffs when the mob shuffled back.

Bei remained still. Maybe the voice was trying to help him.

Mobility restored. Anomalous code detected, placing in quarantine. Memory access will be restored in five. Four.