“I’d need to see navigation and the engine room before making an offer.”
“That can be arranged.”
Just when Erick was feeling relieved that the thug seemed willing to talk shop and stop leering at Jelena, the man leaned around him to look at her again.
“She coming in for the tour?”
“No,” Erick said at the same time as Jelena said, “Yes.”
“No,” Erick repeated.
“Yes.” Jelena stepped up beside him and smiled. Telepathically, she added, You don’t really want me waiting out here by myself, do you? Do you know that two people are mating in the shadows over there?
Mating? Jelena, humans have sex. You’ve spent too much time reading books about horses.
Are you sure you’d consider those two human?
Well, maybe not.
There are also sand snakes nearby. Big ones. Anyone loitering out here might get eaten.
The snakes aren’t allowed close to the cities. There are electrified perimeter fences that extend well into the ground. He was surprised she could actually sense any sand snakes—the massive twenty-foot-long creatures would be at least five miles out, if they were around at all. But then, she was better at sensing animals than she was people or anything else, so it shouldn’t surprise him.
What if the fences are broken? Like most of the things in the city?
“Which one of you is actually in charge?” the man asked, smirking.
Erick focused on him and didn’t answer Jelena’s questions. He doubted the city law enforcers would let snakes get close. They were known for eating everything from pets and people to hovercraft full of androids. That was bad for tourism.
“We’re both representatives for our employers,” Erick said. “We’re on equal footing.”
The ship owner lifted a hand to scratch the side of his head. No, wait, he’d bumped the earstar he wore—his shaggy hair nearly hid it from view. Had he just turned it on for some reason? To record them, perhaps?
Erick stretched out with his senses, looking for more people inside the ship.
He stiffened. There were five, and they were all heading toward the open hatchway. He brushed the mind of the thug outside with them, something he should have done earlier. His thoughts bubbled on the surface and were easy to pick up. He planned to shove Erick aside—or kill him—grab Jelena, and take her inside so he and his crew could have their way with her.
Growling, Erick hurled a telekinetic blast at the ship owner.
The man’s eyes flew open as he was thrown backward. His back slammed into the hull of his ship ten feet up, and he cried out in pain before sliding down to land in the dirt.
Jelena turned toward Erick, her eyebrows raised. “Are we not going in for a tour?”
She raised an invisible barrier around them, clearly expecting retaliation, though her expression remained calm, and there wasn’t any judgment on her face. Maybe she had also caught the gist of what the man planned.
“You don’t want to see what they were going to show you,” Erick said. “Trust me.”
She opened her mouth to reply, but weapons fired, orange and crimson blazer bolts streaking toward them. Instinctively, Erick stepped in front of Jelena and started to raise a protective barrier of his own, but there was no need. The energy bolts ricocheted off hers, some sailing back toward the ship.
Two men had jumped out of the hatchway, but others still inside the cargo hold ducked down. One of the orange blazer bolts zipped right back through the hatchway over their heads.
I’ll defend, Jelena told Erick. You attack. Or should we just run?
The ship owner snarled and jumped to his feet. He yanked out both blazer pistols and fired at her barrier as he strode toward them.
“Get out here, you cowards,” he yelled to his crew still in the hatchway. “Get them.”
“They’re Starseers!” one blurted from his belly on the deck inside.
“They’ve just got a personal forcefield. We’ll drain it, no problem.” The owner sneered and fired both weapons again, holding down the triggers for a sustained blast.
Jelena grimaced. A Starseer barrier didn’t run out of battery power like a personal forcefield, but it did drain the energy of the one creating it.
Erick growled and hurled another attack, this one at the man’s mind. His target dropped his weapons and crumpled to his knees on the ground. He gripped his head with both hands.
Erick held up his staff and glowered at the other men. Two of the crew ran back into their ship, but three others jumped out and toward him, continuing to fire.
“Starseers,” the one who had blurted it before yelled. This time, his voice carried across the lot to everyone nearby. “Starseers,” he repeated. “They’ll kill us all!”
“Uh, no,” Erick said. “We’re only defending—”
Shouts came from all around as people raced toward them, raised voices and weapons fire drowning out his words.
We may want to get out of here, Jelena spoke into Erick’s mind.
He drew on his power, using the staff as a tool to focus his mind in the chaos, to knock more of the original crew members backward. All he wanted to do was convince them to leave him and Jelena alone, but seeing people hurled around, seemingly by wind or raw power, riled up the other ones. They kept firing and shouting, and soon, more men appeared, jumping out of the other ships to help.
Blazers squealed, blasts striking Jelena’s barrier. Old-fashioned guns fired bullets too. People who didn’t have weapons threw rocks.
Jelena should have been able to keep the barrier up against the onslaught for some time—her face was a mask of concentration as she, too, gripped her staff—but Erick realized that nothing good would come from attacking these people. Even if they won, they would lose something.
You’re right, he told Jelena. Time to run. This way.
Erick backed away from the center of the lot, careful to stay within the influence of her barrier. He tried to pick out leaders and put thoughts into their minds, suggesting that nothing good would come from attacking Starseers, but their blood was
