Susan peered around trying to find the others. After escaping into the forest, they’d all got split up. There was still no one else in sight. Around the other side of the tree her attacker moved ever nearer.
“Psst.”
Susan darted her head around to the sound.
“Down here.”
A hand poked upward through the green brush beneath her. “Nicolas!” She grabbed hold and slid into a trench beside him. Her ex-husband pressed a finger to his lips and they waited until the Seeker passed.
“Where are the others?” Susan whispered.
Nicolas shook his head. “I don’t know. I think they’re farther ahead.”
The crack of a Seeker weapon echoed around them and they peered over the top of the trench where a native fell from the blast. His attacker approached him and rolled his unconscious body over.
“Seems they have their weapons tuned down.” Nicolas observed. “On Orion V, those things burned holes in our guys. These are only knocking them out.”
“Can’t have dead slaves.”
The Seeker attached a small device to the neck of the native and continued on, leaving him on the ground.
“Looks like they’re tagging them.” Susan lowered her head and more soldiers approaching their position.
“We can’t stay here for long,” Nicolas said. “We’ve got to find the others.”
Cargo Ship Argo
The Argo bashed and crashed through the atmosphere of Psi-Aion, viciously spiraling downward to their destination.
“Engine room to bridge,” Alyssa called over the ship’s intercom.
“Bridge here. Please tell me you have good news.” Kevin grabbed the helm console with a vice-like grip as the bulkheads shuddered around him.
“Well, we’re in one piece,” Alyssa said optimistically. “But we’ve lost two of our ventral thrusters. The heat shield hasn’t protected everything.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just make sure I pull up a little earlier than normal.”
Kevin checked the monitor on his console. The Argo had pushed through the stratosphere and began to enter the troposphere where the turbulence smoothed out.
“Well done back there,” he praised his daughter. “Give my thanks to Professor Petit.”
“Will do.”
Kevin turned to Althaus. “Have you found the Maybelle?”
“If I can find where the original CDF signal came from, I’ll be able to extrapolate—” His console beeped. “Got it. I’m sending the coordinates to the helm.”
Kevin plotted the course.
Psi-Aion
After filing out of the Seeker ship, Jason stayed well behind the main groups of soldiers, watching them cut a swath through the forest. It had been nothing short of a bloodbath.
He bent down to one of the victims before him and rolled over his body. The face was a familiar one. They were the same beings Althaus had killed on Orion V, and the same ones Jason knocked out on the weapon ship when he’d escaped. The warpaint and primitive weapons made them look like something from an old historical documentary on early human development.
They’re slaves…
It began to make sense. The aliens of Psi-Aion were being used by the true Seekers to do their bidding. And to be their voice. He thought of his friend and how different Nash had seemed on Orion V.
What Kione had seen when he’d probed the mind of the guard on the weapon ship, was the being getting captured, before being turned into one of them.
Jason spotted a small device attached to the alien’s neck. He tried to pull it off, but it wouldn’t come loose. He wondered if it was a control collar of some sort.
Who are the true Seekers if these people are nothing more than their slaves?
In the distance, the bulk of the soldiers disappeared. He stood and hurried off in their direction on a parallel path, keeping out of sight. He reached them quicker than he thought and when he closed in, he discovered why.
A pair of soldiers had come across a female with a small child in her arms. Jason stopped by an adjacent tree, while the mother stumbled, and one of the soldiers raised his weapon at her.
Jason aimed his, too. He hadn’t fired one of the Seeker contraptions yet, but he figured all weapons had a trigger of some sort. Finding what he thought was it, he stood out from the tree, pointed, and squeezed. A bolt of energy launched from it and struck the Seeker down in his tracks.
The woman with the baby stared at him with eyes as big as saucers. She regained her footing and ran in the opposite direction. The other soldier ignored her and turned toward Jason.
Jason ducked behind cover, and a blast pounded into the opposite side of the trunk. He looked down and around. There was no escape. He tilted his head upward and smiled.
With whatever he could find for a foothold, he climbed up the tree and latched on to a sturdy low-hanging branch.
The Seeker poked his head around the corner and stopped as if stumped. If it weren’t for the dark visor, Jason could swear he saw a bemused expression beneath it. Not waiting for his attacker to figure it out, he jumped off the branch and flattened the soldier into the ground.
Tyler had a box-office view from his vantage point behind a downed tree. Most of the natives had fled to higher ground, deep into the forest to set up a line of defense. Some climbed the trees and sat upon branches with bows at the ready, while others crouched along the ground with wooden spears. Across the field the trio of Marines kept out of sight.
In all their numbers, fanned out across the forest floor, the Seekers arrived with their weapons aimed.
“Vakar!” one native yelled.
A barrage of arrows fired from the trees toward the soldiers. Some sailed over their heads, some fell short, while others made contact. Those that did merely bounced off the Seekers’ armor. The spears flew through the air but could only knock their assailants down before they picked themselves back up again.
The Seekers retaliated with a barrage of their own. The bolts
