She started forward, but Tim caught her arm.
“I’ll go first,” he said. If this was a trick, she’d have some warning to get away while he got pecked to death.
But the avian didn’t peck him. It just lowered its shoulder some more, as if realizing how small Tim was. He realized Riina hadn’t stayed behind him.
“Give me a boost,” she said.
He sighed, and cupped his hands, lowering them so she could put her foot in. He used his cybernetic boost to propel her up on the back of the avian, then crouched and jumped, using the same boost.
He landed neatly behind the avian’s head. It was unsettling, to say the least. He could feel the ripple of muscles under the feathers, his sensors registered its living warmth. This close, it disturbed him to see the dirty grayness of its feathers. This was no place for any living creature, let alone this large bird.
“Hold on,” he warned, as he felt the muscles bunching beneath him. Riina’s arms went around his waist, and he realized there was an upside to their current situation. He had a feeling it wouldn’t be wise to share this, however.
The bird lifted off, the span of its wings putting a massive shadow on the ground beneath them as they glided forward. Tim realized there was another benefit to this. He could see further and better even than when he’d been in the flyer.
As if the bird knew it, it circled the whole of the yard, its shadow finding and leaving pile after pile of broken ships and other debris that Tim couldn’t identify. It seemed odd to him that anyone had taken the time to transport all this here—wherever here was—but humans did odd things for reasons he wasn’t sure he’d ever understand.
His cybernetics found and mapped the shuttle’s flight, while sending data of their progress back to it. It could only benefit the shuttle to have this information and would hopefully shorten the time it needed to be airborne and exposed while it searched for some kind of central control.
At first, it looked like a sea of messed up and damaged stuff, but finally, he thought he saw something that might have been a building. When the bird angled direction toward the area, and so did the shuttle, he wondered if their destinations were the same? But then T’Korrin peeled off and landed on the building and they went on.
Great. Their one source of communications had left them.
As the bird began to glide lower, he realized there was another area that could be buildings. In any other situation, he might have found it amusing that it was so hard to tell habitations from junk, but he was flying on the back of a large bird. It robbed him of the ability to be amused.
The bird landed on the top of the building and gave a loud cawing sound. Tim checked his tracking. The shuttle was at the other location. The possibly enemy craft was hovering closer, while still keeping its distance.
“I am attempting to jack into their systems,” Trac said.
Tim winced. “Be…”
“Careful. I know. Veirn is assisting.”
Now their ride lowered its shoulder again. Tim took this as an invitation to dismount. He clasped Riina’s arm and swung her down to the ground, then jumped down, landing lightly beside her.
It wasn’t ideal being on the roof. It was flat with several vents poking up from the surface. As far as he could tell, there was no egress point up here. But, after he’d paced the perimeter, he realized there was no other landing place for the bird.
“We need to get down,” he said.
Rinna held out her hand. He didn’t like lowering her somewhere he hadn’t checked out. He sighed, and acquiesced to her silent request. Riina could take care of herself. For the most part. He jumped down beside her. It was a jolt, but within his ability to cushion the landing. He was glad it wasn’t any higher, however.
This side of the building was a blank slate, so he led the way around, finding another blank side—not even windows broke the surface—but on the third side they found an entrance.
The rusted hatch wasn’t impressive. What was in there that the avian wanted them to rescue?
He tried the handle. It wasn’t a surprise to find it secured. He studied the lock and then tried a power surge. If it didn’t work?—
It did. It still took extra boost to slide it back. Inside lights came on automatically revealing a dismal scene that matched the exterior. Rusted metal cages lined the walls on three sides. all were empty, which was a puzzle. There was a console, perhaps a security station?
Riina went to this and studied the controls.
“I think there is more underground,” she said.
He joined her. He’d seen controls like these before. After a brief hesitation—his mind on that Q’uy ship—he punched in using his cybernetics. The connection was slower than he was used to. This was an old system, old even by his standards.
It was also in an unfamiliar language. He tried triggering controls and after a couple of attempts, a hatch slid open just behind the control station.
“You should wait here,” he told Riina. When she started to object, he added, “Someone could come behind us and lock us in.”
