Page 82 of Evan and the Alpha

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Evan

Istalk onto the bridge, Ge-Ro right behind me. I’m rolling up my sleeves as I advance on Scott, ready to deck my brother one.

I’m mad at him. I’m more mad at me for letting him get away with this bullshit. Vince warned me. Heck, Sobek and Ge-Ro and Yafir all warned me. And I still came over here, still scheduled an appointment with Min.

Really, I kind of deserve to be kidnapped. Deep down, I wanted to believe that, as much as they were being dicks to me, my family wasn’t that bad, so I ignored the warnings. We should have just not bothered today. “Hey!” I bark at Scott, who startles. “What’s the big idea?!”

Slowly, he turns to face me. “Evan!”

I throw my arms wide, nearly smacking one of the consoles. One of the ensigns looks at Scott, then at me. They hesitate when their eyes land on Ge-Ro. “You didn’t let us off!

“You can’t be here, you don’t have clearance,” Scott protests, rising from his seat.

“I swiped Dad’s card,” I sneer. “And that’s beside the point—you took off with me and an alien life form still aboardthe ship!”

Scott glowers at me, then at Ge-Ro. “Doesn’t matter,” he says. “The big croc is a bit of a problem, but we’ll figure it out.”

“Yeah, by landing and letting us back off the ship.”

Scott shakes his head. “Sorry, Ev,” he says. “I have orders, and they involve getting you off the planet. Even if we landed, I can’t let you set foot anywhere outside the ship.”

“That’s bullshit!” I snap. “That’s such—I wanted to stay there! Why can’t you guys ever listen to me?!”

Scott sighs. “Ev—this one came from headquarters. They’re worried about you. Dad reported back on your condition. So did Darwin and headquarters said they wanted the mission pulled and all personnel brought back to base immediately so you can be examined—”

“You mean experimented on!”

Scott scoffs, shakes his head. “Evan,” he complains.

I shake my head furiously. “You could have just … not told them.” There are tears in my eyes.

“Evan.”

“You could have not told them and left me there, you could have said I was missing or dead and then!” I sniffle. “I could have stayed there with—”

“With that brute?!” Scott roars. “With that prick who won’t let you out of his sight, who sends guards with you to make sure no one but him touches you?! I saw what he did to you, Evan, you were bleeding and he was choking you, he tried to kill you—”

“He wasn’t trying to kill me!”

Min brushes by Ge-Ro and puts her hands on my arm. “Calm down,” she advises, and I want to snap at her, tell her to fuck off, but she’s glaring at Scott. “Evan’s in perfect health. Did anyone report that to headquarters?”

Scott scowls. “Doctor Kwan …”

Min shakes her head. “He was perfectly fine. He was receiving medical care. We could have stayed and then made the journey after …” She glances hastily at my belly, then back to Scott. “After the risk of space flight has passed.”

Just as she says that, the alarm lights come on and the robotic voice chimes, “Attention all personnel. Atmospheric exit in T-minus thirty seconds. Please buckle in and remain seated until orbit is achieved.”

“We’ll talk about this once we gain orbit,” Scott says and turns around, sitting back down.

“You,” I start, but Min pushes me toward the wall, indicating the emergency fold-down seating. Reluctantly, I sit and buckle myself in. Min has to help Ge-Ro, who looks more and more confused.

The ship’s additional thrusters engage, roaring; the ship shakes so bad, it sounds like every last rivet is going to fall out and the whole thing is just going to rattle right apart.

It’s the worst part of space flight, in my opinion. I squeeze my eyes shut. I reach for Ge-Ro’s hand, then clasp it tight. He squeezes back, and I can feel him trembling. I’m not sure if it’s the ship or fear.

Min takes a deep breath beside me, and then, suddenly, the rattling stops. The roar of the thrusters dies away; we level out. The alarm lights fade.