Page 86 of Blightfall

Arturo

“All ships,” I said, “lift off and fly low across the canopy for ninety kilometers. On Nedder’s signal, pivot and fly to the station in diamond formation.” Behind my seat, Dayan was harnessed in and crunched up. We were hoping they wouldn’t be recognized on the station, as they were wearing one of Alanik’s flightsuits and had covered their hair with a kerchief. Suki sat at the dash, and Naga had tucked herself inside Dayan’s harness and snuggled up to them for support. I had no idea if Dayan found this supportive—they kept looking at Naga like she might bite them—but when I tried moving Naga to her sling, she immediately teleported herself back into Dayan’s arms. I didn’t know how to tell her that maybe we should ease Dayan into close contact with aliens, so I let it go.

We all lifted off and flew away from the city, right above the tree line—high enough to be maneuverable if Ivy’s drones attacked, but low enough to minimize the number of civilians who might spot our ships. Sadie had Hoid and Twist in her ship for this flight, while Nedd and Gilaf took Nope and the weaponslugs—Squeeze and Wham—in their ship. Alanik shared her cockpit only with Bob.

“Nedder,” I said. “Report?”

“No drones yet,” Nedd said. “Monitors indicate a few up near the space station. Approaching turn point.”

On Nedd’s mark, we turned our noses upward.

“Here we go,” I said to Dayan as the flight began to climb. The purple-brown forest shrank beneath us, and the city became visible in the distance, a white circle set against the deforested brown hill.

“Damn,” Dayan said. “That’s a long way down.”

“That’s not where the danger comes from,” I said.

“Danger comes from!” Naga agreed. I looked over my shoulder and found Dayan with their arms wrapped around Naga.

Maybe Naga did know what she was doing when it came to acclimating Dayan to alien life.

“Drones are descending now,” Nedd said. “Set to intercept before we reach the station.”

“Switch channel to hypercomm now,” I said. “Sadie, take the lead. Everyone else, no chatter.”

We all switched to the hypercomm. “Ivy, do you copy?” Sadie said, taking over for me to give the illusion that she was our leader. “This is Sentry, chief bodyguard to Inspector Zuzen. We are en route to your location. Taking a bit of a detour to avoid alerting your populace.”

“I appreciate your discretion,” Ivy responded immediately.

“We look forward to meeting you!” Sadie said. “I assure you my human and UrDail associates will be under control at all times. You need not worry. They are very well trained.”

“Is she serious?” Dayan asked in my ear. We’d equipped them with a headset, but they spoke off radio, so only I could hear them, and barely so, over the noise of my boosters.

“That’s how they talk,” I said.

“Unfortunately,” Suki said, “the flightleader is correct.”

“Fantastic,” Dayan said.

As we neared the station, I could see the drones approaching above us. Beyond them, I got my first real look at the space station—I’d envisioned it like one of our platforms, rectangular and flat, but it was shaped more like a pipe, round and long with open mouths at either end.

“Inhibitor field begins fifty kilometers from the station,” Alanik said.

“Copy,” Sadie said. None of our cytonics would work once we reached it, but we weren’t using illusions to hide our identities, so we should be okay unless Ivy decided to detain us. In that case, we’d have to either launch a ground assault to take over the station or use our ships to flee. Boarding the space station gave us an opportunity to find answers, but I still would have preferred to fly out and come back for answers with an armada of ships at our back.

“More drones approaching out of the debris,” Nedd said.

Scud. I could see them on my monitors. There were ten of them, all moving directly toward us.

“Those ships are merely an escort, meant to welcome you,” Ivy said. “Pay them no mind. I look forward to your arrival.”

“Thank you for the warm welcome,” Sadie said.

“I think ‘warm’ may be an overstatement,” Suki said off radio.

I agreed, but at least Sadie was doing a good job playing the part.

There were more drones ahead, hovering around the space station. Dayan leaned against the side of my seat, trying to make sense of my proximity monitor.