You’re going to have to talk to the freighter owner, Erick said, concentrating on keeping his barrier in place.
The soldiers recovered from their surprise quickly. They backed up and fired at it. They were far enough away from the barrier that when the bolts ricocheted back in their direction, they were not hit. But as soon as they saw that happening, they took cover behind crates in the cargo hold and continued to fire.
Convince him to come out, Erick added, and then we’ll have to figure out a way out of here. Maybe he knows a back door off the ship.
Actually, I’m talking to the dog.
I’m sure that will be effective.
He showed me where the secret switch is. Jelena crouched and felt along a seam between the deck and the bulkhead. He also expressed concern that the invaders might take the steaks out of the refrigerator.
Is that what he was complaining about earlier?
Erick grimaced as six blazer rifles joined forces, all streaming power into his barrier. He had already drained himself by causing the batteries to blow up, and he could feel his mental energy being further sapped. He wouldn’t be able to hold that barrier up indefinitely. Why couldn’t those asteroid kissers just go unload their stolen cargo and leave them alone?
His owner is hurt, and he’s angry, Jelena told him. He wants to tear up the people who did it.
Erick glanced back, imagining Jelena opening the secret door, and a huge dog leaping out to maul them with giant fangs. He knows that’s not us, right?
We’re working on that. Ah, there.
A panel that looked exactly like the rest of the panels along the bulkheads swung outward. Jelena stepped back as a grizzled bald, bronze-skinned man inside a dark cubby pointed an old revolver at her chest.
Erick cursed and almost dropped his barrier to erect one between Jelena and the gunman, but sensed that she already had one up. Good. He could concentrate on his own.
He leaned a hand against a hatch for support, his legs growing weak with the effort required. Those soldiers were relentless.
A short, sausage-bodied dog that couldn’t have weighed more than ten pounds climbed out of the secret opening, slender short legs churning as he ran toward Jelena. Somehow, he made it through her barrier—ah, she’d adjusted it to let him in while keeping bullets out. He jumped up, resting his forelegs against her knee.
“That’s the dog that wants to tear up the people who hurt its master?” Erick asked.
“Small dogs don’t know they’re small,” Jelena informed him. “Uhm, can we come in?”
The latter question must have been for the grizzled man with the gun. He hadn’t fired yet. Judging by the confused wrinkle to his brow, he hadn’t expected to have his hideout breached by an eighteen-year-old woman in a pink shirt proclaiming her love for horses.
Voices sounded over the weapons being fired from the cargo hold, someone giving orders. Someone else asked if there was another way around. Erick leaned his whole body against the hatch, praying they would give up and stop firing at his barrier.
“There’s no way out from in here, girl,” the freighter owner said.
He lowered his gun, and winced, one hand straying toward his leg. A huge piece of shrapnel was embedded there, and blood saturated his trouser leg. Someone else shouted in the cargo hold, and he stumbled back, grimacing deeply. He looked past Jelena and Erick toward the other end of the corridor, toward the sickbay Erick had identified earlier. He probably wanted some of the drugs in there, but hadn’t dared sneak out to get them.
Erick was on the verge of offering to get them when a whoomp came from the cargo hold, and something much more powerful than rifle fire struck his barrier.
He gasped and dropped to his knees, almost letting it drop.
“Erick,” Jelena blurted, whirling and grabbing him.
Her barrier dropped, and the freighter owner could have shot her in her unprotected back. But his gun remained at his side, his eyes laced with pain. He looked like a man on the verge of surrendering.
But the imperials didn’t want captives. Erick had seen into that one man’s mind and knew they planned to kill the freighter owner.
They struck my barrier with something huge, Erick told Jelena. I don’t know what.
His brain ached, and he couldn’t use his senses and keep his barrier up at the same time. As it was, he was on the verge of dropping everything, his body included.
Jelena leaned her staff against the bulkhead and hauled him to his feet. She pulled him back toward the hidden cubby. Was it large enough for all three of them? Erick let himself be pulled, but he doubted it. He also doubted the wisdom of climbing inside of it.
We’ll be trapped, he said.
I’ve got breaking news for you. We’re already trapped.
She pulled him into the cubby, and the freighter owner blurted a protest.
“What are you doing?”
“Joining you,” Jelena said. “Scoot over, please.”
She smiled, and this time, Erick sensed her attempting to manipulate the man.
He glowered at her, but looked toward the intersection, where the soldiers were promising, “We’re almost through, boy.”
He scooted over.
Jelena stepped inside with Erick. He almost pitched over when the dog darted between his legs to return to his master. Jelena glanced at the panel, and the secret door swung shut, plunging them into darkness.
Another muted whoomp sounded, and intense energy struck Erick’s barrier. It crumpled, and so did his legs. He blacked out and fell against Jelena.
5
Erick woke up, his head hurting, the worst headache he could remember stabbing at the inside of his skull. He felt like he should be lying or at least sitting down, but he was upright, pressed between Jelena and a bulkhead. There wouldn’t have been room to collapse to the deck even if he wanted to.
The smell of smoke and someone’s aftershave, presumably not Jelena’s, tickled his nose. In the corridor outside, thumps and terse orders sounded.
Erick started to
