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At least two dozen Pandraxians were busy watching monitors or talking into comms, and both walls to my right and left were filled with three-dimensional images of theVyper'scorridors, machine rooms, and other readouts I couldn't even begin to understand.
"Lord Protector." Ryggs approached us without fanfare, holding up a tablet to Garth. He pointed at a cluster of long, dark ships hovering near a smaller moon. A quick glimpse at the four-paned window told me that the moonon the tablet was the same as the one I saw near Pandrax with its unmistakable magenta glow.
"By Staphor, I should have killed that frygging bastard," Garth spat out in a tone that alarmed me.
"It's the king himself," Ryggs informed us.
I swallowed as I recognized the spaceships as the same type that had attacked Earth. "What does this mean?"
"I'm sure that King Crough wants to use our altercation as an excuse to weasel his way into the empire," Garth said between clenched teeth.
A shiver moved through me. "Does that mean he will want us back?"
Garth pulled me into his embrace, not caring about his crew's eyes on us. "Never. You're mine," he growled.
His possessive demeanor told me more than he wanted to let me know. He was worried, like me, about King Crough's intentions and what Emperor Daryus might decide. But I also fully trusted him. I knew he would never give me up, nor Kevin—whom he had grown quite fond of—without a fight.
Still, it was the fight part that worried me, because there was always a winner and a loser.
"Garth…" I whispered, unsure of what I wanted to say or plead.
"He will die before I allow him to lay another hand on you, cinna." He kissed me. "I will kill him for what he has already done to you."
"The shuttles are ready," a crew member called out.
"Shall we?" Garth extended his arm to me and I placed my hand in the crook of his elbow to lead me to the hangars where a shuttle awaited us.
I boarded the ferry on shaking legs, happy to see the others already inside, mixed in with some more of Garth's warriors and crew.
As soon as we found our seats we took off.
Windows all along the sidewalls, offered a view of light plum-colored clouds as we flew through the atmosphere. I hadn't been an avid sci-fi movie fan, but from the few I watched, I expected rattling, shaking, and to be bounced on the seat. But nothing happened, it was like flying on a plane, only smoother.
A small gasp moved through the ranks of humans when we breached the cloud coverage and received our first glimpse of Pandrax.
We were flying somewhere over a large ocean with water gleaming like an amethyst. Ahead of us, large tower-like buildings rose into the air, reminding me somewhat of the skyline of New York from the water, just taller and denser.
If the violet lighting and the too-bright rising purple sun hadn't already been a dead giveaway that we were on an alien planet, the buildings as we got closer would have.
In between incredibly tall, rectangular structures hovered stationary large, round balls, but I didn't see anything that would indicate that they were mounted to the ground.
Long and narrow smaller ships flew between the buildings, some piled up like cars on a freeway during rush hour, only they were in the air.
"Strato gliders," Garth explained.
As we got closer, I noticed tube-like connectors, through which from time to time a long shadow rushed by, too fast to make out clearly, but making me think of a supercharged train. When I asked Garth about it, he called it a strato liner.
Canals filled with dark water and boats flowed between the buildings, like streets.
"Does the entire planet look like this?" I asked.
Garth nodded grimly. "The price we pay for our technology. Some Pandraxians love it."
I could definitely see the allure. Like any thriving big city, lights blinked from every nook and cranny, indicating a hive of activity.
Oncewe entered the city limits, we flew low enough to recognize boardwalks surrounding the canals on both sides, filled with aliens moving with purpose or mingling as if on vacation. The normalcy of it boggled my mind.
Not much later my breath was taken away by an immense structure, bigger than anything I had ever seen. Eight towers soared above the city, taller than any of the other structures, with a humongous dome covering it. It was colored in a faded alabaster white, and was truly a sight to behold. It was so large it easily measured about the size of a small island.
