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17
My curse was followedby the sound of dozens of nocked bows, all pointed toward the gathered evacuees.
The Iri moved amongst us, directing some toward the building Selvia had gone into, and others to the one beside it. Still others were pointed toward a third building.
Selvia herself reappeared in front of us, a long, slender tube held in one hand.
I was no expert, but I knew a weapon when I saw one.
"Laser hand cannon," Slek muttered. "An oldie but a baddie."
That didn't sound good.
"You are their leader," she said to J'avet.
He nodded and rode steadily to his feet. "I am."
"You, a pilot and these Freytaurians," she shot Danec and Slek a disgusted look, like they smelled of something nasty, "will come with me."
Before I could twitch, much less argue, she waved her cannon at me and Jones. "These two as well," she stated.
Jones shot to his feet. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
Calm to the point of coldness, Selvia raised her cannon toward him. A beam of orange light shot out the end. It struck him in the chest, then enveloped him entirely. He threw his head back to scream, but then disappeared as if he'd never existed.
My breath caught in my throat. I'd seen people die before, but never like that, with no warning at all.
"Shit," I whispered.
"Now you understand," Selvia said. "Obey and no one else will be harmed."
A thousand questions tumbled around in my head, but for once I kept my mouth shut. Selvia's demonstration was more than enough to convince me to contain my patience.
J'avet looked furious, but when Selvia gestured us toward the closest pod, he nodded for us to walk that way too.
As if I had planned to do otherwise.
"If you have further thoughts of escape," Selvia said, "we have other weapons, all trained on the others in your landing party. Their continued existence depends on all of you."
I thought that might be the point in separating us all. Divided, it would be harder to rise up against them.
"I'm not sure there's enough fuel to get far," Brinley said as we stepped into the pod.
"My people have worked to drain the others. The combined fuel is on board."
"Oh." Brinley nodded. "That would work."
I wouldn't even pretend to be surprised they knew how. The Iri were clearly more advanced than they let on. The bare chests must be a life choice, not a lack of resources. Good for them, I suppose.
Selvia nodded. "Fly us up into orbit."
"There's the small matter of someone up there taking aim at ships above this planet," J'avet pointed out.
"They are of no concern," Selvia replied.
I frowned at her and caught Danec and Slek with identical looks of disbelief on their faces.
"We'll be concerned when they shoot at us," Slek muttered.
