“Is there anyone we can talk to?” Tim asked.
She knew he was casting her worried looks, in between casting worried looks outside.
Then the AI’s tone sharpened. “I have locked down all transmissions, both on board and incoming. I believe someone or something is attempting to take control of this ship.”
There was sufficient determination in Veirn’s voice to tamp down Riina’s worry that this might happen. It didn’t help with the worry that someone wanted to take control of it. Who or what out there wanted to take over their ship?
“Something is approaching,” Trac said. “I believe it is a ground flyer, but not one I’ve encountered before.”
“You don’t do a lot of ground missions,” Tim pointed out, though absently.
“True,” Trac acknowledged, “but I have read your after-mission reports and viewed your video.”
“Fair point,” Tim said.
The exchange might have made her smile at another time. This was not that time.
Now she could see the approaching flyer, and it was indeed unusual.
Most flyers she’d encountered were aerodynamic in design, so they could move easily through atmosphere with a minimum expenditure of fuel.
This one was wide, flat, blunt-nosed, with a square structure affixed to its surface like an afterthought. Its surface was a patch-work dull as the rest of the place, as if clean and tidy were abhorrent to whoever owned this place.
Its progress was less than smooth as well. It almost seemed to be bouncing its way toward them, but the bounces weren’t regular. Its approach was more that of an eager—and ugly—pet.
“That is ugly,” Lt. Dish said. “And clunky. It looks like it might crash at any minute.”
“Yes,” Riina said dryly. “Can we get a read on the outside atmosphere?”
She was starting to have a bad feeling about where they’d landed. The Garradians did not have many waste places. Their goal was always to repurpose as much as possible. And they didn’t crash ships very often, at least not in the past.
In this uncomfortable present, they were probably accumulating some damaged ships somewhere. It hadn’t been her problem.
It was Trac who was able to take readings. The ship’s systems were still on tight lockdown, she noted.
Readings appeared on her screen. Like they’d experienced inside the entity, the readings were a mix of familiar and confusing.
“Are you experiencing any of the attempted intrusions that Veirn is?” she asked. She had almost called them attacks, but that would up the level of concern and it was already pretty high.
“I am,” Trac said. “My systems are very robust.”
“Do you think they secured any data on us while we were…getting here?” she asked now.
Again, Trac would have been the only one who could have told her, assuming he’d been able to capture readings during their free fall.
“None of their sensing equipment was able to penetrate the outer skin of this shuttle,” Trac said.
Garradian ships were also very robust, Riina knew.
The approaching craft had reached them and thumped to landing just shy of the nose of the shuttle.
Rina was aware of a change in Drun’s breathing pattern. She wanted to feel sorry for him, but he had wanted to see aliens and now here he was. They could have done without him or his group right now. She was very aware of the extra burden of those lives in this situation.
A ramp jerkily lowered before slamming against a surface she decided was some kind of metal. This was not a natural place, she sensed, despite the dust or dirt cloud that rose around the ramp.
After a fraught pause, a figure began to emerge from inside the craft.
It was large, vaguely humanoid despite its rolls and rolls of what she presumed was flesh. Its feet were naturally huge as well, and slightly splayed as the figure descended. Its clothing was tattered and frayed, not to mention dirty. Trousers rode low on massive hips and when it half turned she saw…
