The crew looked around as she entered the flight deck. Their eyes went wide when they saw Adena was being followed by a woman with a blade where her left arm should be. Adena addressed Jake. "Mr. Dyer, shape a course for Tabletop."
His eyes flicked between Adena and the silver lady. After a few seconds, he swallowed any protest he might have had and nodded. "As you wish, Captain."
Adena sensed the anger and resentment beginning to build around her as the crew bent to their tasks. Zared pushed past her and took up a stance to the rear of the flight-deck, close by. Adena glanced at him. His face looked dreamy as if he were drugged. She wondered how long he'd been under the creature's influence and how he'd escaped his chains.
At that moment, Greg spoke from behind her in the passageway. "You're not Cathy!"
The pressure of the creature's blade slackened by one iota, and Adena and Jake moved at the same moment.
Drawing her revolver, Adena whirled on the creature as Jake drew his weapon and leveled it at its head. Greg, she saw, had a weapon drawn already and pointed at the woman's kidneys.
The woman blurred. Adena's pistol vanished from her grasp. Two deafening shots rang out from Jake's revolver before the blur passed him, leaving him lying in a heap on the deck. Greg stood staring where his right forearm had been scant seconds before. A bright gout of blood shot from the arteries. He began to sway on his feet.
The woman appeared not to have moved at all. Again, Adena found the blade at her throat.
"You will take me to this way station," the woman said.
"I...I will tend to my crew first!" Adena ground out.
"Direct others to do so. Now."
The pressure of the blade against Adena's throat increased. Adena winced.
The silver lady’s voice grew stronger. "Obey my orders."
Adena was forced to watch as the two men were carried out of the flight deck. Jake groaned, much to her relief. At least he still lived. Greg, on the other hand, appeared to have gone into shock. "See to him!" she called as a bleary-eyed Conner helped carry him aft.
Greg recovered consciousness to find himself in a strange bunk. Conner hovered over him, his expression anxious. Greg stared up at him. "Did Cathy just cut off my arm?"
"It wasn't your friend, but yes, she did. I've bound it up for now and put you in the skipper's bunk."
Greg recognized Adena's scent. "Nice quarters," he muttered. "To the skipper go the perks."
"Yeah, something like that." Conner helped Greg to sit up and held a glass to his lips. "Drink this. It'll ease the pain and do something for the shock."
The liquid had an unpleasant, bitter taste which an infusion of herbs failed to mask entirely. Greg swallowed it down and felt a warm numbness spread outward from his stomach. His arm hurt like hell, but the laudanum began to dull the pain. "Where's Adena?"
"Here." Adena entered as he spoke. She came to stand by his bunk. Her expression was tender and tearful. "Poor Greg! You're never out of harm's way, are you?"
"I guess not." He glanced at the door behind her. "Where's that...that thing?"
"On the flight deck, making sure she's obeyed. It seems she wants us all healthy enough to follow orders, so she permitted me to come back here to check on you."
"Is...is Jake okay?"
She glanced at Conner, who nodded. "He's more winded than hurt," Conner said. "He'll live."
Adena's pretty features twisted into a grimace. "That's a blessing. He's a good man."
Greg frowned. "It hardly moved, yet it put all three of us out of action."
"I know. I felt as helpless as I've ever done, and I'm not a slouch when it comes to fighting." Adena face set. "I really, really hate having to take orders on my own ship!"
Greg lowered his voice. "Is there any way we can get rid of it?"
"I don't know." She looked around her quarters. "I hoped Mr. Phibuli would have some advice, but he's vanished."
"Your mechanical parrot could have advice?" Greg stared.
"He's not just a parrot. It turns out he has more in common with that creature up forward."
"It took on Cathy's appearance."
"I think they have some kind of ability to change their form."
Greg sighed and tried not to rub the bandages covering his arm. "Well she certainly fooled me. I hope the real Cathy's okay."
"So do I, but I don't hold out much hope. The thing obviously copied its appearance from her."
Greg scowled and clenched his fist. "If it has killed her, I want a piece of its hide!"
"Don't worry, we'll think of something. We're heading for Tabletop. It's one of our way stations, one of the first, actually." She glanced at the odd ten-hour chronometer mounted on the bulkhead. "At this speed, we'll reach it in an hour. Then we'll see what we can do." She laid her hand on Greg's shoulder. "Rest now, and let the drugs do their work. I'll wake you when it's time."
Greg tried to protest, but the laudanum was pulling him down into a warm, fuzzy fog of forgetfulness.
Adena watched, stroking his shoulder as her face faded into blackness. He heard her speak to Conner. "I'll leave him to your care. Call me on the flight deck if there's any change in his condition."
"Aye-aye, skipper."
"One way or another that thing will pay for what it did!"
The silver lady barely glanced at Adena when she returned to the flight deck. Something about her seemed different. Looking out the corner of her eye Adena figured the creature's skin had taken on a silver-blue tint. "Where are we, Hsu-Li?"
The navigation officer gazed ahead to avoid looking at their hijacker. She pointed. "Coming up on Tabletop now, Captain."
Adena peered through the windshield, following Hsu-Li's finger. The mesa rose out of the plain a few degrees off the starboard bow about fifty miles away. The first of a row of ancient
