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“No change in course,” a crew member announced. “They haven’t even brought their weapons online.”
“Prepare to fire another warning. I want them alive if possible, so aim for their thrusters.”
His crew made short work of the Kayadon ships thrusters, knocking them dead with a few well-aimed charges. The ship now glided on its own momentum, tilting off kilter as it went.
“Scan for life.”
“I’m reading only one life form on board, Your Majesty.”
“Only one?” his mother replied, astounded. Even she knew that was unusual. Could this be a trap?
“One Kayadon can be deadly,” grated Tristan, his gaze flicking down to his mother. “Belinda, take my mother back to her quarters.”
While Belinda moved to obey, his mother planted her feet, eyes flashing with fiery defiance. “I think not.”
“Mother, please.”
“Have you forgotten who I am, son? I was leading armies while you were still weaning. I am not some whelp in need of sheltering, and I am quite comfortable where I am.”
“This is space, Mother. This is different.”
“Your majesty,” Belinda beseeched. “If this is an ambush—”
“Belinda, dear, if this is an ambush, then that sorry creature has his work cut out for him. They took our king from us, my husband, and our rage is deep. I will look into the face of our enemy and slice his head from his body myself.” His mother had two speeds: kind, motherly queen and ferocious shieldmaiden. This shieldmaiden wanted revenge as much as Tristan did.
Tristan felt the heat of her rage wafting from her body. So potent and full of malice that if she wasn’t so controlled, she’d have shifted into her dragon form. There was no arguing with her like this. And if his mother wanted the Kayadon’s throat, she would have it.
To his crew, Tristan ordered, “Pull the ship into the lower docking bay. Have all available guards meet us there, locked and loaded.”
2
This is how I die, Juniper Jacobs thought to herself.
Alone, starving to death in an alien spaceship, barreling through space until the end of time…or until the ship crashed into a planet or an asteroid or a broiling-hot star. Eviscerated.
“What a way to go,” she muttered. If only her brother Jordan could see her now. He might just congratulate her on a righteously epic death. Perhaps he was looking down on her, or up, from wherever heaven was located here in space, if there really was such a thing as an afterlife.
June casually lounged in what she could only assume—from years of watching science fiction—was the captain’s chair, center stage in the high-tech command station, nibbling the last of her food reserves and staring out into space. Tiny stars gazed back at her, like she were an animal on display for their amusement. She sure hoped someone was getting a kick out of her situation.
After sucking the last little morsel from the plastic, she crumpled up the chocolate bar wrapper and tossed it to the graveyard of empty junk food carcasses at her feet and then licked her fingers clean, not willing to waste a single carb.
That was it. No more food.Donezo. “You really fucked up this time, June.”
Her own voice sounded hollow in the lonely metallic space. If only she’d packed more food for herinnocentwoodland hike in upstate New York where her bursting bladder had led her off the path, where the sun glinting off metal had lured her like a sparkling Pied Piper into what would ultimately be her tomb. All she had to look forward to now was a slow death from starvation. This alien spaceship, for that was what she’d determined it to be, was locked down tighter than Fort Knox. She could travel from the command station to a succession of hallways with too many doors that she couldn’t open and the large bay room where she had first, stupidly, wandered in. What was it they said about curiosity and cats? She still wasn’t sure if she had inadvertently pressed a button or if her mere presence had triggered the ship to take off, zooming into space as she screamed her lungs out and hung on for dear life.
For what must have been several days at least, she’d been wandering the halls, trying to figure a way out of this predicament, unable to read the strange symbols on the many dials and levers. Unable to find a kitchen or pantry or even a bed. Unable to call for help—though who would be able to save her? Earth’s technology wasn’t this advanced. Within the first few hours of flight, she’d said bon voyage to Earth’s moon, tears still burning her incredulous eyes while pure terror choked sob after sob from her throat.
Now she was resigned to her fate…for the most part. There was no telling how far she was from Earth now. No one knew where she was. No one was coming to save her.
She fought the crippling despair, invoking the stoic, emotionless state that had protected her in her youth. Every now and again, a burst of determination crept in, and she worked to understand the ship’s controls in hopes of saving her own ass; she hadn’t survived her childhood to give up on herself now. Still, she figured it would take NASA scientists years to reverse-engineer this craft. A grad student pursuing the field of child psychology had zero chance.
When feeling brave, she’d test random buttons becausewhat the hell? I’m going to die anyway. Usually this sort of advanced scientific testing resulted in a low beeping that resembled a computer program returning an error. Sometimes a voice would blare over the intercom, foreign and grating, like a beast from nightmares. Sometimes the front window would become a screen displaying what, to her, were random images: an alien creature with antenna and bulging eyes that reminded her slightly of Stitch fromLilo and Stitch; a dark forest with Avatar-like plants; a river that could be located on Earth for all she knew; and endless images of planets.
Who knew all this life existed out there in the big wide universe? Too bad she’d never have the chance to tell anyone.
Growing tired, she snuggled up on the hard floor, using her backpack and flannel shirt as a makeshift pillow and blanket, and dozed off…only to be jolted awake by a loud siren and a stern voice over the intercom asking her to respond—
Asking her to respond!
