He assumed there must be some kind of sensor in the gloves of the suit, so he waved at the terminal, and dozens of different symbols flashed by. He searched for the one that looked like a backward S, with a horizontal stroke through it and a dot above—the same one he’d seen plastered on the bulkheads of the hangar deck.
But the letters flew by too quickly. It stopped at a symbol that had two vertical lines with a dot between. The elevator door closed, and instead of descending, the car shot upwards.
Crap!
He tried to swipe at the terminal again, but the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened. He stepped out onto a circular catwalk and grabbed the outer railing.
Jason peered beneath him at a great complex over a hundred meters in diameter. At its heart on a large pedestal sat the sphere. Six giant conduits protruded from the relic and ran along the deck, beyond the bulkheads of the chamber. From everything Kione had claimed, Jason supposed the Seekers were using it to channel the power from the sphere to somewhere else on the ship. Potentially to a weapon emitter.
Around the sphere were several workstations manned by Seekers. But they weren’t as threatening as the others he’d seen. Their armor was less bulky and their helmets less pronounced. They were also unarmed. He wondered if they might be engineers.
There were, however, plenty of their brethren patrolling the chamber, appearing as menacing as ever, with their curved rifles at the ready. Jason had seen enough—it was time to go. He walked into the elevator and waved his hand over the terminal. He did it a little slower this time and watched the symbols fly past. It scrolled all the way to the end—the backward S. He pulled back his hand, and the doors closed.
After a quick journey, he reached the familiar surroundings of the hangar deck. Its size awed him as it had the first time. The Julieanne sat off into the distance. It was so small and pathetic compared to the larger Seeker crafts around it.
Now what the hell do I do?
Jason walked toward one of the Seeker vessels. Inside were significant differences to a standard commonwealth craft. In place of a viewport at the front of the cockpit, there was a holographic screen wrapped around the pilot’s seat. On each side of the seat were unusual conical-shaped controls. And behind, instead of chairs, half-meter-long shafts protruded from the ceiling.
He inspected the helm where the same alien text was present.
Footsteps marched toward the craft and a group of twenty soldiers, armed to the teeth, streamed up the ramp through the rear airlock.
I’m boned…
One brushed past Jason and took a seat at the controls while the others each put their hands around a ceiling shaft. A click accompanied each one. Handholds?
Not wanting to appear any more suspicious than he already did, Jason did the same with the handhold above him. His glove magnetized to it, and the soles of his boots did the same to the deck plating.
The airlock at the rear of the ship closed, and the pilot powered up the craft. It gently lifted from the deck and headed toward the hangar deck exit.
Cargo Ship Argo
Conrad peered through the viewport at Psi-Aion below. His thoughts were only for Tyler. He and the others had been on the surface for over nine hours now. An entire night. The sun would soon rise.
He’d hoped it was just a simple matter of them having mechanical issues with the Maybelle, but with the lack of communications, he knew better. Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Conrad gritted his teeth. If there was anyone who would get them embroiled in a conflict with an alien species while throwing them light-years away from their home, it had to be the eldest of the Cassidy kids.
Rycroft and Alyssa strode onto the bridge. While Conrad had re-strapped all the cargo below deck, the Rycrofts, with the help of Professor Petit, had concocted a plan to take the Argo through the atmosphere. He wasn’t optimistic, but he cared greatly for Tyler and would do whatever he could to save him.
Alyssa walked over to him at the systems station. “Has there been any sign of Jason?”
Conrad shook his head. “For the hundredth time, no.”
She shot him a nasty glare. “There are people on this ship who still care for him.”
“That’s not fair. I care like everyone else. It’ll be difficult to replace the Julieanne. They stopped making those pods years ago.”
Alyssa stormed off to the operations station and Conrad smiled.
That was a good one.
He turned to Rycroft who was getting comfortable at the helm. “Is everything ready?”
Rycroft ran his hands over the controls. “We’ll find out soon enough.”
Alyssa walked to the helm and she pointed at her father’s monitor. “I wouldn’t advise dropping below this margin. If we do, we’re toast.”
While the pair continued to go over their plan, Conrad took another look at the scanners. He did a double take at a blip. “I have something,” he said.
Alyssa rushed over to him. “Jason?”
The object moved toward Psi-Aion and its outline became clearer. “That’s not the Julieanne.”
Alyssa’s demeanor deflated. “If it’s not the pod, what is it?”
“Seekers.” Conrad shook his head. “It matches the size and configuration of the transport ship they sent down to Orion V.”
“What do you think they want?”
“The kid alerted them to our presence here. They may be coming to finish us off.”
“We weren’t seen as a threat back at Orion V.”
“They might think otherwise now.”
“It’s not worth the risk.” Rycroft ran his hands over the helm. “We’ll have to call off our expedition to the surface until they’ve passed by. I’ll
