Alex asked him, “What’s the deal with all the weapons talk? When we were getting ready for a full-on invasion, nobody briefed us this much on artillery. This isn’t supposed to be a dangerous mission from what I understand.”
Greg seemed taken aback by the question. “Vardis didn’t tell you? He said the area he hid the weapon is heavily armed. It shouldn’t be a problem because he’s got the codes to everything, but better safe than sorry, in my opinion.”
Alex shut out the rest of what Greg explained. She focused on the fact that they were expecting to see heavy resistance on such a simple task—picking up a weapon. Something was off. Alex couldn’t put her finger on it but, whatever it was, it had to do with Vardis.
There was no time to deal with doubts at the moment, though. The mission was a go. Once Greg finished lecturing Alex on the different things to pay attention to, Alex went to her teammates and briefed them on the possible complications. No one seemed to be surprised. Now that everyone was up to speed, Alex went and found Manny.
The Beholder was still dealing with his paperwork but looked much less bothered than before. “Finished with all the prep?”
Alex shrugged, not knowing what else to do. “This is starting to sound like much more than Vardis suggested. I want to see if you can help me pin down where the Dark One’s attack came from.”
Manny stretched out one of his tentacles to Alex. “Take hold of this.”
Months ago, the notion would have disgusted Alex, but she’d grown up a lot. She grabbed it, and the Beholder’s eyes rolled back as he tried to see what Alex had seen.
After a couple of seconds, Manny opened his eyes again. “They are really from the same dimension. I can see that much.”
Alex let go of his tentacle. At least that part was true.
An alarm sounded in the stables; it was time to head out. Alex wished she had more time. She wasn’t certain what she was about to walk into, but she didn’t feel prepared. But how was that different from anything else she’d experienced?
Chapter Six
The dragons were set to take off at six in the evening. Tensions were high on the base. Alex didn’t need to be told this was the first time dragons had been sent into space. True, they had gotten pretty close when Boundless had dealt with the meteor, but this was an entirely different beast.
Manny assured the riders that the whole thing would go smoothly. This wasn’t something they had whipped up on a whim. Myrddin and the human base had been preparing for dragonriders to go to space since the inception of the program.
The last thing Boundless had to do was get their new gear. They would be holding onto their dragon anchors, but the armor they had used before would be useless. Someone in the DGA department (Alex suspected it was Abby and her crew) had figured out an ingenious way to use the draconic fluid in the anchors to supplement oxygen.
That meant that dragonriders wouldn’t have to wear bulky spacesuits. They would be going into space with suits that were designed to deal with extreme temperatures.
The suits were self-regulating and would keep the rider’s body temperature optimal by supplementing the rider’s metabolism with draconic fluid. The only downside was that the riders wouldn’t be able to use the more powerful personal augments that relied on the draconic fluid.
Alex didn’t think that would be a problem since there shouldn’t be any fighting. The additional augments the dragons had been outfitted with were merely a precaution. Vardis had repeated multiple times that he could easily turn off the defenses around the weapon.
Vardis still hadn’t disclosed what kind of weapon it was. That annoyed Alex, but the alien had assured her that explaining it would be a waste of time. The weapon was something that worked on an entirely different plane of reality, and Alex wouldn’t be able to grasp the explanation of what it was or what it did.
She still thought it was fishy that it had been stored on her plane, but she knew little to nothing about quantum mechanics or multiple dimensions. For the time being, she resolved to keep her mouth shut and see what happened.
Myrddin still hadn’t contacted Alex, and it was making her anxious. This was the first mission she was heading up, and she wished that he had at least left her something to work with. Granted, it meant Myrddin trusted her, but she wouldn’t have turned down some hand-holding.
Once Boundless had had their suits refitted, they went back to the stables to prepare for the launch. Jim was talking nervously to Jollies, joking much more than usual while Brath and Gill had grown quiet, speaking only in small bursts about unrelated things.
Alex stopped the group outside the stables. “How’s everyone feeling about this?”
No one in Boundless seemed to be in a rush to speak up. Finally, Gill said, “’Uncomfortable’ would be the best way to put it.”
“And what’s got you feeling that way? I don’t want to head up there until everyone has their heads on straight.”
Gill looked over his shoulder as if he were worried that someone was listening in. “For one, this is all new tech we’re using. None of us has tested it. Secondly, we are also going to be using this tech in a completely new environment. I don’t know anything about Earth, and I know even less about your solar system.”
Alex could see Gill’s points, but those were things neither she nor anyone else had control over. “We all have gravity on our
