The Colony (The Survivors Book Seventeen) Read online

  ____________

  “What happened?” I rolled over, and saw Mary was still sleeping. I gently shook her, but she stayed dozing. I had a massive headache, and my lips were dry. I discovered Hugo in the suite’s living room, using his tablet.

  “Dad, you okay?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  He lowered the device and regarded me with concern. “You and Mom were super weird last night.”

  I rubbed my temples. “We were?” I couldn’t think of anything but the Traveler. Then the shot they’d given us. “It was the drink.”

  “That makes sense. I made sure you were safe,” he said proudly.

  “You did?”

  “The Representatives were acting odd, watching you both, and I excused us,” Hugo said.

  I was thrilled we brought Hugo along. The Takmas were a peculiar bunch, and I couldn’t wait to leave Rylan. “Thanks, son. You did the right thing. I guess our bodies couldn’t handle it.”

  Mary finally emerged, her hair in disarray. “What was that?”

  “I don’t know, but let’s clean up and go to the Cyclone. I need some coffee.”

  Hugo smiled again and passed us each a sealed mug. “Already done.”

  Mary acted surprised but accepted it silently.

  I tested the coffee, and it was perfect. “Hugo to the rescue. Come on. Let’s gather our things.” The last thing I wanted to do was talk to the Representatives again, but I knew we’d have to say our goodbyes.

  I changed into a fresh uniform, and went to zip up my pack when the pulse pistol fell out.

  “Dean, why did you bring that?” Mary asked.

  I quickly returned it and shrugged. “Alien military planet. Thought it might be better to be ready for anything.”

  “Keep it hidden.” Mary’s hair was tied back, and she splashed water on her face. “Do you think that was on purpose?”

  “The drink?”

  “Everything. Ashtom is a wild card. The first thing I’m going to do is have Suma disconnect the Travelers and connect them to our own. I don’t tolerate games. Especially when lives are involved.” Mary took a sip of her coffee.

  “Good idea.” Hugo was already by the doors, his pack on his shoulders. “You did well, Hugo.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” He beamed at the praise, and we exited the room, finding two Takmas soldiers stationed at the door.

  “Escorts?” I asked.

  One of them nodded, and they turned in unison, marching away. I guessed we were supposed to follow them.

  Once outside, I saw a commotion near the transport vehicle.

  “What’s going on?” Mary whispered.

  A group of Takmas circled someone, and they were shouting at the target. It was completely unfair.

  “Dean, stop!” Mary called, but I was already moving. Before I arrived, I spotted the green skin and obvious ears of a Storel. My pack fell to the concrete, and I pulled the pulse pistol free.

  “What are you doing?” I shoved a rowdy Takmas, who was a good head taller than I was, and he barely reacted.

  An offender spun around, and I saw it was Representative Ashtom. “Mr. Parker, this is none of your concern.”

  The victim was our driver from the day before. His face was swelling, and thick purple blood dripped from a cut on his chest. It stained his drab uniform.

  “No. It is.” I shoved past Ashtom, and he fell to the ground. My gun was aimed at him by accident, and I felt the sensation possess me. This was the vision I’d seen yesterday. One of two possibilities. The soldiers warbled from their necks. I dropped the gun and helped Ashtom to his feet, then stood between him and the Storel man. “I didn’t mean to do that, but your actions seem unfair.”

  “The Storel aren’t your business. We saved them, and they owe us a life debt.” Ashtom dusted his pants off.

  “Were you trying to kill him? Is that common?” Mary asked, taking my side.

  “This Storel disobeyed direct orders,” Ashtom said.

  “Is this true?” I asked him. The driver flinched.

  “They can’t answer you. We’ve blocked their voice boxes. It’s a simple procedure. We do it when they’re born,” Ashtom said.

  “What?” I clenched my hands, struggling to control myself.

  “The Storel have attempted to escape Rylan on numerous occasions, so we prevent them from communicating with each other.” His big eyes blinked rapidly.

  “You freed them from their world and then enslaved their race, removing their means of communication?” Mary stepped closer to Ashtom. “What did you save them from?”

  “Not removing. Blocking. And we’re saving the Storel from themselves,” Ashtom whispered.

  “Dean, we’re leaving.”

  Hugo pointed at the injured man. “Dad, we can’t abandon him.”

  “Son, we have to.” I grabbed my pack and climbed into the waiting vehicle. Instead of being escorted, I’d drive us myself.

  “Don’t think you’ve heard the last about this,” Mary told Ashtom. “We appreciate the trade, but the Alliance doesn’t permit this kind of behavior.”

  “Then perhaps we were shortsighted in joining such a group. Do you not want to be in our circle?” Ashtom’s words were laced with threats, but Mary didn’t bite. She entered the passenger door, clutching Hugo’s arm.

  “Drive,” Mary hissed.

  And I did.

  “I don’t like it here,” Hugo said.

  The soldiers lining the route from the Cyclone to their head building were absent today, and it was desolately quiet. I was thrilled to see my ship as I parked next to her. As promised, the remaining Travelers were on board, and we sealed the hatch while I powered the Cyclone on.

  “Dean, there’s something on the Alliance channels. Breaking news.” Mary’s face was pale, and I read the headline.

  Death’s Maiden has escaped her level one cell at the Traro prison.

  ____________

  Jules read the message again. “This is absurd. How could anyone escape Traro? Papa was just there, and said it was as tight a fortress as he’d ever witnessed. Even the main levels were so secure, he didn’t expect anyone could ever breach them.”

  Magnus paced the bridge, tapping his chin with a finger. “This is her.”

  “Who?” Rumi asked.

  “Death’s Maiden. That has to be the woman who arranged all this mess on Udoon,” Magnus suggested.

  “What is Traro?” Jaessa asked. She seemed more worried than usual.

  “Traro is a planet run by the Guardians. For a cost, they take the most dangerous prisoners, and keep them in captivity. The Alliance has already funded nine placements, but before we existed, worlds like Shimmal would pay out of their own pocket. It’s a lucrative business,” Natalia said.

  Jules absorbed the words, and thought of something. “So Traro is all about profit.”

  “Right. They run a business.” Magnus stared at her.

  “Maybe not.” Raron, the Keppe soldier, turned to them from his seat at the second helm position. “It would be costly to run an operation like that. Can you imagine housing so many prisoners? Having to feed them, shelter them, and keep them occupied. And the staffing salaries alone? I bet they’re not doing as well as you’d think.”

  Jules considered this too. “We have to go there.”

  Magnus lifted his brows. “To Traro?”

  “That’s right. If she escaped yesterday, how did she communicate with Peters? Or Leshi and Drav, the gemstone owners?” It didn’t add up.

  “Then it’s not her,” Rumi offered.

  “We already said that this woman clearly had no means to fund such an operation, and that she needed a warship. It makes perfect sense that it was the prisoner.”

  “Death’s Maiden. Pretty mysterious, don’t you think?” Nat asked. “What’s her real name?”

  “It doesn’t say,” Magnus answered.

  “More reason to visit Traro. Let’s leave tonight.” Jules was itching to solve this mystery. How did
it connect to Ebos?

  “Okay,” Magnus said. “Rumi, inform the crew. Ensure all of our team has departed Udoon.”

  “Yes, sir.” The Padlog officer began communicating with the staff on his console.

  “When can we return me home?” Jaessa asked meekly.

  “Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about you,” Jules assured her. “Give us a couple of weeks and we’ll be on our way. It’s been twenty years, what’s another few days?”

  This didn’t seem to ease her tension, but Jules couldn’t leave yet.

  “I have to give back the gems. Jaessa, would you join me?” Jules headed for the exit.

  “Be quick. We leave in two hours,” Magnus said.

  Jaessa was directly behind her, striding through the halls. “Do you think this woman is dangerous?”

  Jules scowled. “She had to be imprisoned for a reason.”

  The gemstone case was in her personal quarters, and she used her powers to lift the heavy object. Twenty minutes later, they were on Udoon Station. Barod personally came to escort them to Drav and Leshi’s room, and Jules noticed how the security woman kept glancing at the sealed container.

  “Wait here,” Jules told Barod, and knocked on the door.

  Leshi greeted her, smiling at the sight of her merchandise. “Thank you, Jules Parker.”

  Drav almost tripped on his own feet, trying to get the case into the room. She set it down, and left Barod and her guards in the hall.

  “You have to depart Udoon,” Jules told them when they were in private.

  “What do you mean? We haven’t started the auction,” Drav stated.

  Jaessa watched them from the exit.

  “Are you kidding me? It was a setup. The moment I leave, that woman in the hallway is going to rob you,” Jules said.

  “Barod?” Jaessa asked. “I thought she was on our side.”

  “My friend, morals are loose in this region. Come on, you can have a transport, and we’ll make sure you’re gone prior to Outpost departing.” Jules had one more thing to do before this happened, though. “But I’ll need payment.”

  “Payment?” Leshi opened the crate, and ran a hand over her prized possessions.

  Jules dug out the piece of the Shandra crystal, and hefted it. “I want this.” She felt the power emanating from the stone even in its packaging. It was important, but she couldn’t tell why.

  “That was our first shard,” Leshi said.

  “If you want to make it out of here alive, you’ll part with this.” Jules held it in the air. “Or you can stay and risk it all.” She didn’t love being so aggressive, but she was tiring of the games, and wanted to be gone from Udoon. Part of her wished the place had been blown up. Maybe she should have evacuated the station and let Peters destroy it.

  “No more taking chances, Leshi,” Drav said. “You may have the crystal.”

  Jules grabbed it from the case, sliding it out from its individual container. It was longer than her hand, with rough edges. She closed her eyes, seeking the home of the stone. She pulled back, letting the crystal drop to the floor. It bounced twice, landing softly.

  “See? She won’t treat the specimen with the care it deserves,” Leshi said.

  Jules barely heard the woman. She’d almost entered a portal. How was that possible? There was no Shandra room, no control table. And it hit her. This had to be part of a sphere stone.

  “The fourth Deity sphere,” she muttered. It might be something else, though. She didn’t feel the Deity’s essence.

  “What?” Jaessa asked.

  “Nothing.” Jules returned the piece into its package. “Get your things.”

  She sensed the tug from the object in her grip. Jules didn’t know where the shard led, but she was going to find out.

  Eleven

  “Traro? How could they possibly allow their most dangerous criminal to escape?” I asked Mary.

  The message was a communication from the Board’s head office, and had Ableen’s signature on the bottom of it. Mary would normally have dealt with this problem.

  “You were there. You tell me,” she replied.

  Hugo leaned over, reading the screen. “Why did they call her Death’s Maiden?”

  I closed the program and glanced at Mary. “She’s a very bad woman.” Ableen had sent us some additional details, but so far, no one could explain why or how she’d escaped from Traro. It sounded like the planetary prison was reeling from the setback, trying to recover from the assault on their soil. Nothing added up, and the details were minimal at best. I wondered if anyone else had made a break for it.

  I hoped that the Collector was still in his cell, his red wraith filling the empty space. The only other prisoner I recalled was Xanz, Ovalax’s devil-horned accomplice.

  “Why is she bad?” Hugo wouldn’t let it go.

  “No one knows her name, but Maiden came to the Daerus Galaxy seventy years ago. She had unfathomable weapons, capable of disintegrating planets, and she did just that, killing billions when they didn’t accommodate her drastic demands. She was finally caught in the Chade system. Luckily, her ship reacted to the trap set by the Catera people, and they saved their home from destruction. She was sent to Traro, and has been there ever since.”

  “She’s old,” Hugo said.

  Mary peered at her son. “She’s not human.”

  “Then what is she?”

  “No one knows. Her DNA didn’t match the records on Traro or anywhere else,” I told him.

  Mary opened her tablet. “And her crew?”

  “No record of any,” I said.

  “Weird. Are we going to Traro?” Hugo looked intrigued by the idea.

  “Not a chance. They can handle their business. We’re flying to Ebos. We’ll be there in two weeks.” I was glad to be gone from Rylan.

  “Fine. We never have any fun.” Hugo was pouting, but a boring mission to an empty planet was just what the doctor ordered.

  “Why don’t you go to bed?” Mary suggested.

  Hugo huffed and exited the bridge, leaving us alone.

  “This is bad,” I whispered. “You should have seen Ave talking about Maiden. I swear her voice wavered.”

  “Maybe we should postpone our trip to Ebos.”

  “Not you too,” I mumbled. “Mary, it’s okay. Someone will locate her. And we have work to do.”

  “You’re right, Dean.”

  “I have to tell you something.”

  “Again?” Mary looked me in the eyes.

  “I had two visions of Ashtom on the first day. One of them came true.”

  Mary broke her gaze. “So they are real.”

  “I guess so. We can’t be confident they’ll each come to fruition. But even the vision made it seem like I would kill Ashtom, and that didn’t happen. I guess some interpretation is needed.”

  “And the one where I die. On a warship. Maybe Outpost. That’s going to happen.” Mary checked her dash, and adjusted the trajectory around a layer of debris between us and our destination.

  “It doesn’t have to,” I said. “And if it does, this proves you might not die.”

  “That’s why you want to go to Ebos instead of Traro. You think I’m facing off against Death’s Maiden?”

  “I’d be lying if I denied that, but the chances are so slim. There’s nothing connecting us to her, Mary.” But a part of me did believe there might be a link. I wanted to keep Mary as far away from trouble as possible.

  “I wish Regnig could help us. All this Ovalax business has me spotting shadows around every corner,” she said.

  “Me too. It’ll work out. You’ll see.” I wrapped my arm around her, squeezing her closer.

  Eventually, Mary went to bed, and I chose to stay on the bridge alone for a while to think things through. I considered turning around, but the action felt impossible. An unseen force was driving me to Ebos. It was unnatural.

  The moment I understood this, I did a few tests. “I’m going to stop the Cyclone and change directions
. We should be heading home.” I said it out loud, even though I was technically alone.

  Instantly, my mind changed. It calmed me, assuring me I had to be on Ebos, that it would keep my family safe.

  I recognized Ovalax’s influence. Why was he trying to direct me to Ebos? He’d told me about the Tiprea, and how they’d departed Earth ages before, relocating to Ebos, but I assumed that was a lie. I was curious as to why the prophetic monster wanted me at Ebos so badly. That in itself felt important.

  Was he attempting to end me, or was there more to the story?

  “Talk to me, Ovalax,” I whispered. When he didn’t respond, I tapped my temple with my index finger. “Where are you? Why are you stuck inside me?”

  Nothing.

  “Great. I have an ancient being hitching a ride, and he won’t even negotiate.” I proceeded with the nightly checklist, walking through the bridge, marking details off on the tablet. I did this for each room on board, and finished with engineering, where I ran the usual tests. Once complete, I decided it was time to sleep.

  But when I lay down beside Mary, all I could think about was Death’s Maiden, and Mary burning on the bridge of a warship.

  ____________

  The digital fire crackled in Jules’ quarters, and she yearned for the real thing. How long had it been since she’d done something like a normal girl her age? Her parents had told her stories about camping when they were kids. Papa loved all the aspects of sleeping under the stars in a tent, which made her understand him more. His desire to be out in the field, exploring barren worlds.

  Thinking about being typical made her wonder how Dean was doing. He was probably happy she’d left. That way, he could make out with that blonde woman without worrying whether Jules would catch them or not.

  She was so upset with him, but she still missed him.

  Jules stared at the box containing the piece of the portal stone. Outpost was trekking to the edge of Udoon’s system, carrying Leshi and Drav’s vessel. Magnus had personally suggested to Barod that they were under his charge, and if anyone so much as messaged them during their return home, he’d be back for Barod’s head.