Baelon tilted his head, studying her as though she were a curious specimen under a microscope. “Your silence is admirable, though inefficacious. However, I do not need you to use words to understand you.” He raised a jagged hand, its reflective surface catching the faint light. For a moment, it hovered near her temple, and then a cold, invasive sensation pierced her mind.
She gasped. The world spun as he psychically invaded her thoughts. Memories flashed unbidden—her childhood, her determination to prove herself, her desperation when she was first captured. The kaleidoscope of images burned in her mind before Baelon withdrew and left her disoriented.
“Fascinating,” he murmured. His crystalline form flickered with a faint glow inside. “Your mind is remarkably resilient for one of your species. Adaptable. Persistent. Traits we value.”
“Why?” she croaked, forcing the words past her lips. “Why me?”
Baelon’s mouth curled into something resembling a smile. “Humanity is the key to ensuring the survival of the Krystalii. Your DNA holds secrets we can use to accelerate our evolution. You, genetic source, are not just a captive. You are a cornerstone in the future of my people.”
“Cornerstone?” she spat, anger overriding her fear. “I’m not some stupid experiment you can play with!”
Baelon’s crystalline form flared, his glow intensifying. “You misunderstand. This is not a matter of choice for you. As of today, your very existence serves a higher purpose. Resist if you must; it changes nothing.”
The ship trembled, making Baelon glance aside, his mirrored surface catching the flicker of warning lights. “Ah, it seems I am needed elsewhere.” He gestured with his blocky crystalline hand to several Krystalii in various colors behind him. “Transfer her to an appropriate facility to bring her back to optimum health. She is vastly undernourished and dehydrated.” He turned to her. “We must restore your frail form to the peak of vitality. This will ensure you can serve the higher purpose of the Krystalii. The only value your existence offers.”
Before she could respond, Baelon turned sharply, leaving her behind in the cold, reflective chamber with his lackeys. Toni’s mind raced, searching for a way out. Her gaze darted to the other crystal creatures, who watched her silently. Like hell she’d let this crystal piece-of-shit reduce her to being a pawn in some twisted game. She’d shatter his plans… even if it was the last thing she did.
Chapter Two
FollowingJR14’sdirections,Azazelcrawled as silently as possible behind the bot through the crystalline ventilation shafts. The corridors were narrow, with barely enough room for him to move as he wriggled on his hands and knees. He’d have thought a ship of this size would have made its ventilation shafts wider for someone of his bulk to sneak around in. When he shifted his weight, it sent faint echoes around him. He clenched his jaw, hyper-aware of the sound.
JR14’s wings fluttered as he paused at an intersection ahead, scanning for movement. His front metallic claws tapped lightly against the shaft’s edge. “Alert: proceed with caution. Probability of Krystalii proximity within the next 15 meters is 48.2 percent. I advise a temporary halt to reassess movement patterns.”
Azazel exhaled quietly, squirming as dampness coated his back.
“Okay.” He wiped the sweat from his brow. “But we can’t stop every few steps, JR14. Her trail is getting fainter.”
The bot turned, and his pale-blue eyes focused on Azazel.
“Acknowledged. However, haste may cause premature detection, which would decrease retrieval probability by 72 percent.”
“Sometimes, logic needs to bend to instinct,kalu.” Azazel gave a faint smirk, using the nickname to temper his frustration. He motioned for JR14 to proceed.
JR14 tilted his body, as if contemplating Azazel’s words. “Instinct remains an unquantifiable variable. However, your survival rate has improved by 14 percent in past scenarios involving improvisation. Proceed.”
Following the small spider-bot, Azazel pressed forward, weaving through the labyrinthine ducts. Once, Azazel froze when the hum of energy intensified around them. Voices, sharp and alien, echoed faintly. He pressed his back against the heated wall of the shaft and motioned for JR14 to cease movement.
Through a small slat in the shaft’s panel, he watched two Krystalii guards pass below.
Their crystalline bodies differed, one bearing an opalescent sheen and the other with clear crystals. Their bodies refracted the light like prisms, casting eerie rainbows along the walls. One guard paused, leaning its head to the side as though it sensed something.
Azazel held his breath, his grip tightening on the edge of the shaft. He tamped down his psychic senses into an impenetrable cage within him.
JR14 whispered, his tone devoid of emotion. “Detection remains unlikely if you continue to suppress psionic output.”
“Noted, JR14,” he whispered back, not bothering to argue he’d already done that.
After several heavy heartbeats, the guards moved on.
Azazel expelled a silent breath of relief. “Alright, let’s keep moving.”
At last, the shaft he crawled through opened into a larger space. Peering through the mesh covering the opening, he spied some kind of large chamber, filled with crystalline… machines? Furniture? He wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but he sensed the room was empty. But there… yes. He picked up the woman’s psychic signature. Closing his eyes, he expanded his ability to glean as much about her as he could. What he got back was a strong-willed individual… human and feminine.
Her full name breezed across his mind—Antonia Soo-Min Choi. Toni. A tantalizing sense of her femininity washed over him. The same feeling he got when he first touched her essence on FiPan. Yes, this was the woman he had been sent to find.
Lowering himself into the room, he made sure his short-heeled boots landed without a sound. Glancing around the clinical, sterile environment, he took in the smooth crystal walls. In the center of the room was a raised platform surrounded by alien instruments. A faint psychic residue lingered on that slab, unmistakably human. No doubt this was where the Krystalii had held Toni.
Unfortunately, she wasn’t there anymore.
