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I swallow hard. "What about my work and my friend Scarlett? Someone must have called the police when they noticed I was missing?"
"I can assure you in this matter that we've changed some memories and added some documentation. Scarlett thinks you're in Sweden with Sem. As for your job, you've resigned because it's not a good fit at the moment."
"Who did these things?" I ask, irritated.
"I did. No one needs to worry unnecessarily, and once you were safe, I made the necessary arrangements. The secret of the Alliance Force must always be maintained. Now, is there anything else I can do for you while you wait?"
"When will he be back?"
"In about an hour. I suggest you gather your thoughts." Then, as an afterthought, she adds, "Your vitals are monitored too."
"Are you telling me I can't try to kill myself?"
"Exactly."
"I wasn't thinking about it. I might possibly kill Sem, though."
Caroline smiles. "I'd be angry too, Ivy. You have every right to be. We told him to tell you."
"Wait, you knew?"
"Unfortunately, I can't say any more until you talk to Sem." Then, the automatic door closes behind her.
Twenty-Nine
Sem
We can’t get there fast enough. Ivy has been taken. I let my emotions override my better judgment. I should have turned off the tracking on the Known Jewelry I gave to her. But I was only thinking of myself and showing a record of our relationship for the High Council so that when I did tell her, at least the legal side would be in order. I was an idiot, and now I may lose her forever.
"They're right on top of us."
"Back off. Now, now," I command calmly, hoping that my fear doesn't betray me. This particular Dulu ship has been outfitted with superior Agnorrian technology, and our only advantage is our speed. I watch our progress on the computer at my side. "Come alongside them and target their engines. Let us be in the goddesses' light they've not got updated deflectors.”
My officer fires, and we hit the ship enough to damage its deflectors, nothing more.
"Again."
Another blow and their deflectors are faltering. After a few more direct hits, they are down. "Attach us to them. We're going to board them and get this over with." As soon as we're stable enough, we move to the armory. As I attach my armor, I take note of the small cuts on my arm. As soon as I realized Ivy had been taken, I quickly made a blood offering to the goddesses. I hope they’ve condescended to help. Again, I should have trusted fate. Once I’m fully armed, I close my eyes in a small prayer to rescue them all, but most importantly Ivy. And I swear if there are Octo embryos inside of her, I will cut them out myself and burn them.
Quickly opening the hatch, we enter their ship. Of course, no one is there to shoot at us when we board, only some AI that are easy to disable.
I check my scanners. All the humans are being held in the cargo bay. There are about two hundred of them of all ages. Their life signs are stable, including Ivy’s. The Dulu, Octopods, and who knows if the Agnorrians are here are all masking their life signs, so their signs are fading in and out with our new advanced sensors.
I motion for my men to follow me. We head toward engineering. It's usually where the Octopods hide, and they're the ones I'm most concerned about right now. The ship's lights go out, but this doesn't bother us as we can see in the dark, and our helmets are equipped with the best tech, so it makes no difference. All I can think is that some of the humans have escaped. They're the only ones on this ship who have terrible night vision.
We walk down a few more empty corridors and then turn a corner. Suddenly, an Octopod flies at us, guns blazing. I hear some of my men get hit behind me. I don't have time to check if anyone is terribly injured. Probably not, unless they were very unlucky, as our armor can stand up to a lot of gunfire. I take cover, order my men to do the same, and assess the situation. For a minute, everything is quiet.
I check my sensors again. There are three, maybe four, Octopods in front of us, but their life signs keep changing. For all I know, there may only be one. If we go straight down the corridor, we're going to be caught in a bottleneck. I motion for my men to move back the way we came. The Octopods should follow us.
As we move quickly, more shots are fired, but we make it back to a safer position without any damage.
"That's the only way to engineering," one of my officers informs me.
"I know. But Octopods are curious. If we wait here long enough, they'll come to us."
"But what's going to make them curious?"
I touch a button on my armor, and a dramatized audiobook from Earth begins playing.
