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How Leo had picked up such antiquated terminology was beyond me. Must have been all those Old Earth files he kept on his wallscreen. Whatever the case, the dark bulk of the arachnid ship stole my breath away, and I couldn’t find the courage to tease him.
Nova turned to Asteran. “Can you fly it in the condition it’s in?”
Asteran scanned the melted metal. “I won’t know until I can get to the controls and review the schematics, but I believe so. If I section off that particular tunnel, we’ll be fine.”
The hatch buzzed open. Leo jumped out first then offered his hand to each of us. Goose bumps prickled my arms and legs, and I wasn’t sure if it was the misty morning air or the metal monster that sprawled before us, challenging us to conquer it.
Once again, Asteran took one of my backpacks, so I didn’t have to lug both of them onto the ship. He took the lead, as if he sensed our hesitation. “Follow me. I know these ships well.”
I took one look behind us, across the barren field, to make sure Crophaven didn’t have an army on our tail. Mist rolled over the black crystals, and dried stalks of dead pod plants tumbled in the breeze. No landrovers followed.
“Here.” Nova handed me a beacon light. Taking a deep breath, I followed the others through the melted frame.
Stalagmites made from hardened liquid metal rose around us, prickling up from the floor like giant thorns. Water from a distant source dripped in a rhythmic pitter-patter. A trace of strange chemicals wafted on the air. Inky shadows seemed to move in all directions, and I flashed my beacon light, chasing them around the high ceiling. Could Crophaven have missed one?
Asteran’s light illuminated a sleek, silver corsair sitting in the loading bay. “This is not one of their ships.”
“No, it’s ours.” Nova aimed her beacon light at the emblem of the New Dawn painted on the hull. “They captured my team in this ship. We were stuck in here for days. That’s how Lyra found you wrapped in the cocoons.”
He turned to me. “You saved me?”
I nodded, heat creeping up through my neck and into my cheeks. He must know how I feel about him by now.
Leo positioned himself between us, running his hands along the wing. “Does it still work?”
“It should.” Nova shone her light through the main sight panel toward the pilot seats. “After Crophaven secured the ship, Sirius went to run diagnostics on the corsair. They were going to find a way to fly it out.”
“Well, they’ll have to wait until we get back for that.” I scanned the entrance, making sure no one followed us in. The gray twilight had turned into violet luminescence. The sun would rise soon. “We have to move.”
We entered the tunnel and climbed up an incline. I stumbled on the uneven metal floor, tripping over a hardened bubble in the smooth surface. It was hard to imagine the arachnids spinning out enough metal to build an entire fleet, never mind one ship. There must be millions of them on Cavernia. That thought didn’t help my rising anxiety.
The walls narrowed, playing on my claustrophobia. Hazy, reddish light glowed from the end of the tunnel.
“That’s it.” Nova increased her pace. “That’s the control room.”
“How do you know?” Leo’s voice sounded less confident than it had back on the New Dawn, but there was no turning back now.
“Because I’ve been there.” Nova disappeared around the bend.
Asteran followed, leaving Leo and me in the tunnel.
“You okay?” I placed a hand on my brother’s shoulder. The last thing I wanted to say was I told you so.
“Just peachy.” He wiped sweat from his forehead. “Come on. Let’s get this freak show on the road.”
We entered the control room, and my eyes adjusted to the cloudy, reddish haze. Glassy orbs stood on metal pillars in a semicircle around a giant crystal at the room’s center.
Nova touched the hard edges of the crystal. “I don’t understand. I damaged the controls to get out of here.”
Asteran smoothed his fingers over the base. “They must have repaired it. Did the ship fly after you escaped?”
“It did. We led them to this field. It was covered in pod plants, and we used the poisonous microbes to infect the arachnids on the ship.”
“Interesting.” Asteran stood before the orb in the middle of the room and placed his hand on the glassy surface. “I can feel the energy willing to flow. This ship sleeps, waiting for them to return.”
“Be careful. The last time I tried to play with the controls, the mother brain seized my mind and almost killed me.” Nova circled the orbs as if they would electrocute her.
“That’s why I have this.” Asteran dug into his shirt and pulled out the jade crystal. “Some crystals, like the one over there, transfer and intensify electromagnetic and psychic energy. And some”—he fingered his necklace—“block them.”
“Where did you get that?” Nova inched toward him but still kept her distance from the orbs.
“There’s only one place in this universe to find them, and that’s on Priavenus.” Asteran caught my gaze. “The rarity of the crystals drew the arachnids to my planet.”
“Sucky deal, man.” Leo ran his hand through his hair. My brother looked sincerely sorry, a face I didn’t usually see.
Before I could respond, Asteran turned to the orb and closed his eyes. The purple crystal at the center of the room glowed brighter until it blinded me, and I had to cover half my vision with my hand. A white light shot from the crystal to each one of the orbs, lighting them a deeper shade of bloodshot red. Asteran opened his eyes, and a picture of a distant star system emerged from the hazy red light of the orb. He blinked, and a single planet orbiting around a dense, dim sun swung into sight.
The ship rumbled around us like an ancient beast stirring from hibernation. We stumbled back against the wall. Leo held my right arm, and Nova held the left.
My brother’s voice shook with the ship. “They don’t have seat belts on this thing?”
“Yeah, right next to the Jacuzzi on level one.” I tried to lighten the moment, but neither of them laughed. The floor pitched under our feet, and my stomach somersaulted. Yeah, I’d flown on a deep space transport ship my whole life, but the gravity rings of the New Dawn stabilized each bump and jolt. I swallowed a lump of fear congealing in my throat. Would this ship have gravity? I’d only flown on it in the atmosphere of Paradise 21. Never in deep space.
The shaking intensified as I pictured arachnids floating through the air in each tunnel. No, they had to have gravity or their weak brain sacks might hit the wrong stalagmite, and pop.
My legs felt like lead, and we were pulled toward the floor.
“What’s going on?” I shouted over the rumble, as I sat up, leaning against the wall.
Nova gazed at the ceiling. “The increase in gravitational pull can only mean one thing. We’re going up.”
“Up through the atmosphere into deep space?” Leo’s eyes widened as he crossed his legs beside me.
“That’s where we have to go.” Nova stared at him as if he hadn’t read the fine print in the Guide book.
Thank the Guide the craft didn’t have a sight panel, because the view of Paradise 21 getting smaller and smaller under our feet would make me hurl.
All of a sudden, the shaking stopped, and the gravity lightened. My arms felt five pounds lighter. I wasn’t exactly floating, but the change in pressure dizzied me.
Asteran turned from the controls. “Takeoff was successful. I have pinpointed the destination and calculated the course. We’re on our way.”
Leo whooped and jumped up to his feet. Nova covered her heart with her hand and breathed easy. I caught Asteran’s gaze and smiled. He returned my smile, making me feel as though we could conquer the universe. I’d be queen, and he’d be...
“Everyone freeze. By section four-eighty-seven of the Guide, you are all under arrest.”
My chest tightened until there was no way my heart could move. It can’t be. Yet I’d heard that voice for years in my classes, reciting every answer like a textbook example of how to behave from the Guide.
I turned slowly, denial climbing every nerve in my body.
Tauren stood at the mouth of the tunnel, holding his laser to Asteran’s face.