CHAPTER FIVE
SHE HEARD HER NAME, but she didn’t know who had spoken it. Still deep in sleep, she heard it again.
Caina.
She opened her eyes. She remembered falling asleep in Joshua’s room. The glow from the holopad lit her brother’s face in eerie shadows, except for his eyes, which caught the light and shone like crimson fire. Cristian sat crouched next to him, the two of them wide awake and alert. Joshua put a finger to his lips.
Cristian whispered, “Someone’s in the house.”
A chill ran over her as she stared back at him. “What?” she whispered back.
The biorecognition system would have locked anyone out who wasn’t authorized. Was he joking?
Joshua turned to the door as if he were listening.
Her thoughts raced to her parents. Were they safe? If the biosecurity system was offline then Colonial Security wouldn’t know their home had been invaded. She turned her wrist to contact security, but it had an icon she’d never seen before, lit in red. She had no connection. Syn and Ays were down. Nothing ever happened to the two communication networks on Huron. If one went down, the other took over. There were also countless backup systems in each region.
Joshua motioned with his hand and mouthed, Stay here.
Before she could protest, they heard a thump down the hallway. They all froze, staring at the closed bedroom door. Joshua and Cristian looked at each other. Joshua motioned for the holopad to shut down, and it darkened. He did the same for the wall lights and the room became pitch black.
The three of them were silent, listening. Her heart beat hard, and she held her breath. A hand rested on her shoulder for a moment, and then she heard Joshua and Cristian padding across the carpet toward the door. Soundlessly, the bedroom door opened to the hall. She curled up in a ball on the couch, trying hard to listen. Both of them were young and strong; they didn’t get into fistfights at school, but she was sure they could hold their own against an intruder.
Then came another thud, and a cry that sounded like either Joshua or Cristian. She sat up on her knees. Footsteps sounded down the hall. Was it her brother…or someone else? Suddenly a hand was on her arm.
“Run!” she heard Joshua whisper. She stumbled as he pulled her through the game room and into his bedroom.
She heard the window to the balcony open, and guessed that Joshua had motioned the command to open it. As soon as the window had opened, both of them stepped out onto the balcony. The dual moons shone down, the night air warm. Joshua gave the verbal command for the balcony to lower, and the two of them backed against the rail as the window closed. She could hear voices and footsteps coming into the bedroom. Joshua stared back in the direction of the sounds, then climbed up on the balcony railing, his bare feet balancing on the edge, his lean body hunched.
Caina shook her head at him, terrified of the height. He hesitated, his eyes on the ground below, then jumped. She held her breath as he fell, afraid it was too far. He hit the ground and rolled, then stood up, to her relief.
Turning to look behind her at the closing window, she saw a shadowy figure behind it. A hand reached out to grab the edge of the window. Terror rushed through her veins and she didn’t think, scrambling up on the balcony, her long dress tangling around her legs. With one more frantic look behind her, she slid down from the rail until she was hanging by her fingers.
Joshua hissed at her from below. “Let go!”
She let her fingers slip off. She fell and landed on Joshua. He caught her clumsily, both of them falling to the ground. The image of the shadowy figure sharp in her mind, she got to her feet as quickly as he did.
Joshua sprinted ahead of her, and they ran across the back of the house, heading toward the landing bay. They hadn’t gone far when he grabbed her arm and jerked her back behind a bush, against the wall. She strained to see what he’d seen, trying not to breathe hard, her lungs burning, but all she saw were shadows in the dark. The grass was cold and wet on her bare feet, and in the quiet, a warm breeze blew. He finally crept out from their hiding place and signaled for her to run. They reached the landing bay where the doors were already sliding open, detecting them. They ran across the floor to the skiff he’d arrived in last night.
When it opened, Joshua jumped into the small cockpit and started the engines. The door closed behind them.
Too frightened to say anything, she sat down and activated the seat restraints. She could see Joshua’s hands shaking.
The skiff moved out of the bay, the engines whining softly. A bright light exploded in front of them. She threw her arm up to shield her eyes, and Joshua jerked the nav stick to the left. The skiff turned so hard she never felt it move. She only knew they were sideways.
“Go,” he muttered under his breath. The skiff’s engines shrieked, and it jumped forward. The pressure seemed to crush her as they rushed through the sky. The ship flew across the mountains, toward Remington, the capital. “Are they following us?” she asked.
“I don’t see them,” he answered, his gaze flicking around the screens.
“Did Mom and Dad get out?”
He looked back at her, his red eyes wet and filled with pain. “No. We saw them on the floor, unconscious. The intruders hit Cristian with plasma, and I ran.”
“D-plasma?” she asked, unable to breathe. Harmless green d-plasma just knocked you out; red plasma killed.
“Yes. He’s still alive. I think they did the same to Mom and Dad. I wanted to stay and fight them, but I was afraid they would get you, too.”
“Are you sure Mom and Dad are all right?”
He closed his eyes for a moment, his face twisting in pain, and then looked out of the window. “I don’t know. I think they are. They didn’t kill Cristian.”
A high-pitched alarm rang through the cockpit. Joshua shouted, “Hold on!” and banked hard right.
Pressed into her seat by the restraints, she scanned the small screens off to the side of the view screen and saw three ships following them.
“We’re being targeted,” he said through gritted teeth, and banked again. The alarm stopped, and he took a deep breath. “We can’t let them lock on us again. If they get a chance to take a shot, they’ll hit us, and we just can’t take a hit. We’d go down.”
What kind of thieves had weaponized ships? She wondered. Getting a license to arm a civilian ship was difficult. Very few owners were able to do it.
The sun’s rays crept over the mountains, and the front screen changed colors, adjusting to the new light as they sped into the canyons. Two of the ships followed, but one of them broke off and disappeared from their field of vision. Joshua frowned, muttering, “That’s not good.”
To her relief, she found the missing ship on the terrain display in a lower corner of the screen. “Over there,” she said, pointing it out.
Joshua spoke so low she almost couldn’t hear him. “They’re herding us away from the capital.”
“Who are they?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I don’t know. They’re excellent pilots, but the ships are intraplanetary class, so they can’t go off world. If they keep on us I can always go Out.”
Going off planet without any advance planning was dangerous, especially without telling anyone where they were. If anything happened—engine malfunction, a collision with space debris-- they could be in trouble.
The communication icon on the front screen suddenly came to life. Joshua quickly opened a line to colonial security.
A man with bleached white hair appeared on a smaller screen off to the side. “Colonial Security. Is this an emergency?”
Joshua answered, “There’s been a break-in at our house. Our parents and my friend, Cristian were attacked. My father is Stewart West.”
The young man’s eyes were looking at something else as he spoke. “Okay, we’re going to help you. Are your parents and your friend injured?”
“I don’t know…I mean, yes. The last time I saw them they were unconscious. And we’re being chased by aircraft.”
The man glanced up. “We have someone on the way now. You say you’re being chased? I’m not showing any craft in your vicinity for another 50 kilometers.”
“No they’re—” Joshua said, and then stopped as he examined the suddenly empty skies. “They’re gone. But they were chasing us.”
“Also, we are showing that your house is online, and there is no record of a break in. Are you saying that the system is in error?”
Joshua answered with a little irritation. “Yes, I am. Is anyone there yet?”
“As I said, they are en route and will alert us when they arrive. We’ve identified you as Joshua West. Is this correct?”
“Yes, sir. My sister Caina is with me.”
“Can you tell me exactly what happened?”
“About fifteen minutes ago, I heard footsteps in the house. Cristian and I were going to confront the intruders, but one of them shot Cristian with d-plasma, and I ran back to get to my sister. We escaped to my skiff, and as we were leaving, three aircraft chased us. At least one of them is weaponized.”
The man spoke, his eyes reading a screen as he talked. If he was surprised by the claim that the ships were armed, he did not show it. “While we check on your parents, we’re sending you the coordinates to a safe place for you to dock. Please confirm when you’ve got them.”
An icon blinked, indicating that data waited to be uploaded. Joshua opened the information and looked at the map. “We’ve got it. Are you at the house yet?”
The man did not answer right away. It should only take seconds for Colonial Security to get to their house, Caina knew. His cool blue eyes finally met Joshua’s. “The residence is in sight. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you updated. Is your navigation set?”
“Almost,” Joshua answered. He leaned back in his chair, his hand on the control screen, his long fingers hovering over the navigation instructions without activating them. Instead, he steered the ship in a long, gentle circle over the mountains. All colonial ships were equipped with locators, so it would be obvious that they weren’t traveling to the secure docking area. For some reason, he was stalling. Maybe he wanted to hear about their parents first, Caina thought.
At last, they heard the news they were waiting for. “We’ve located your parents and your friend. They are safe.”
A rush of relief went through her, and she almost jumped out of her seat to hug Joshua, but he put his hand up as if in warning.
“Can I talk to my parents?” he asked.
The man again took his time in answering. “Not yet. There seems to be something wrong with the communication connection at your home.”
“Can’t they use your communication lines?”
“Uh, no…wait, I don’t know. Let me see.” The screen went blank.
After a short wait, he reappeared. “We are unable to establish communication. They’ll meet you at the secure rendezvous. We’re sending some escorts for you.”
Caina was perplexed. Ayn and Syn were up. There was no reason why communication wouldn’t work.
Four ships appeared on the horizon. Caina wondered why they would send so many.
Joshua narrowed his eyes. “Can I speak to Officer Manning please?”
The blond officer smiled. “He isn’t on duty right now.”
“What’s going on?” Caina whispered, a heavy feeling replacing her elation.
I don’t know, he mouthed, looking away from the screen. The four ships approached at a rapid speed into the valley.
Joshua put on his restraints and spoke to the man, his voice even. “There is no reason why you can’t let us speak to our parents.”
The man had little reaction. “There were repairs going on earlier; they may still be working on it.”
“What happened, exactly?” Joshua persisted.
“I’m not sure. I don’t know much about what went wrong,” the man said in a reasonable tone, and wiped a casual thumb across his forehead. Another man appeared next to him, leaning down. Heavyset with thick lips and jowls that hardly moved when he offered a smile, he said, “Hey there, Joshua. We’re all very happy to have your parents safe and they are anxious to see you. They’re worried, of course. As soon as you get to the location, we can all feel better.”
“I just want to hear from them,” Joshua said.
The bleached blond wiped his forehead again. The heavy man never stopped smiling as he answered, “Of course. Come on in and we can make that happen.”
As much as Caina wanted to see her parents, there was a sick feeling in her stomach. Joshua looked over at her. They stared, not speaking, but she could read the same doubt. These men were oddly persistent, and they had no answers. She leaned back and checked her restraints, and then nodded to her brother.
He turned and smiled at the men. “Okay. See you soon.”
The four ships were still a few kilometers away as he kept the skiff in a gentle turn. He keyed up the engines, waiting until the engine indicator said they were ready.
He pulled the ship nose up, climbing until they were perfectly vertical.
The heavyset man lost his smile.
The engines went silent for a heartbeat, as if stalling out, and then in an explosion of heat and noise, they shot up towards the deep blue atmosphere. She couldn’t breathe, the pressure of leaving the planet’s gravity weighing on her chest. The sky went from blue to dark as they left their homeworld.