Chance of Stardust

Stardust (ch 12)

They followed I-80 north until dawn sparkled off the Great Lakes and then turned west. I-29 sliced the landscape below, cutting through farmland and prairie on its way to the Canadian border. For the first time in her life, Cassie was grateful for internet maps since she had no idea how to get to Ashland, Nebraska on her own.


The hirrient landed their ship in a corn field, the tall waving stalks shielding them from view. No jets marked trails overhead. No helicopters chopped through the skies. They’d gone undetected by local and military scanners, then.


Kyall tapped into another smart phone nearby and she called up photos of the museum in question. A large glass and metal circular structure dominated the front of the building with flat-topped buildings squaring off behind it. Towering replicas of rockets and shuttles stabbed through the front lawn like garden statuary.


“Lots of glass,” she noted. “There are probably alarms on those as well as live guards patrolling. I don’t know all that much about security measures in places like this.”


Revelin nodded, his gaze intent on the images of the building.


She forced her eyes away. Not looking at him was harder than she’d thought. She’d managed the not-talking-to-him part by speaking to the other hirrient.


She couldn’t get that kiss out of her head in spite of his jackassishness. Part of her—the reasoning, mature part—knew he was right. They needed to put that kiss behind them and get over it. There was no future in a relationship or even friendship between them. Another part of her—the stubborn, female part—just wanted to kiss him again and prove to the dolt that he wasn’t as uninterested as he wanted to claim. Unfortunately for her peace of mind, the female part was winning.


She sighed, enlarging the image on the screen to zoom in on the roof. Kyall leaned closer, his hands curling over the back of her seat. Why couldn’t she be attracted to him? He was friendly and helpful. Ari with his pretty face and flirty attitude made her laugh, but she didn’t want to kiss him. Davi, the silent one, had the sweetest smile, but she didn’t have the urge to rip his clothes off. Cuddle him, yes. Sex? No. And Leiv? She wanted to hit him in the head with something at least once a day.


No, it was Revelin with his patience he professed not to posses and his sense of honor that made her motor hum. If only she could find a man like him on her own planet, she would have it made.


“Show me the display room again,” the irritant to her left demanded.


She did. Images of planes and shuttle craft hanging from wires over the shining expanse of tile flooded the screen. It was a veritable hirrient playground.


“The engines are primarily in the back to provide thrust,” she told them. “Some of these have one engine, some two. We’ll need to sort them out and I can show you which are the newest designs.”


“You will be staying on the ship with Llyr and Kyall.”


A command? She shot him a glare. To hell with not talking to him. Why should he reap the benefit of silence while she suffered, bottling it all up?


“Not likely.”


He ignored her, touching the screen. “This one. What can you tell me?”


She didn’t look. “I’m going with you. How else are you going to know the best planes to check? You don’t have time to search them all.”


Golden eyes flicked to her. “What we are about to do is considered a crime on most civilized worlds. Is yours different in that regard?”


“Stealing is a crime, yes, but what has that to do me?”


“If they have imaging surveillance, I don’t want you tied to us or our crimes.” He looked back at the screen. “You will stay with Llyr and Kyall and be safe. Tell me about this aircraft.”


He was making sense, damn him. She scowled at him a moment before returning her attention to the iconic aircraft he indicated.


“The SR-71 Blackbird. It was a high altitude, high speed surveillance aircraft. It’s an amazing plane but out of service now.”


“Single pilot?” Ari wanted to know, eyes bright with excitement.


“Two if I remember right. One pilot and one surveillance crew member behind him.”


“Inner atmosphere vessel,” Revelin reminded the younger hirrent. “It may not have what we need.”


“There is another exhibit in a smaller building to the back that shows off some space going vessels, both historical and some concept designs. They’re trying to restart the space program in style.” She brought up the map of the museum complex and tapped the screen. “You might want to split up and try here at the same time.”


“Are there any images of the room?”


“Not that one.” She touched a notice at the edge of the page. “It’s due to start in two days so I’m pretty sure they’re setting it up now.”


He nodded, still scanning over the layout of the museum. “Cassie? Stay with the ship. Stay safe. Please?”


She didn’t look at him. He slid his fingers under her hair, curling them around the back of her neck. The heat of the touch soaked into her skin and she closed her eyes, wishing she could ignore his effect on her.


“Please?”


It wasn’t a word she had expected to hear from him. A sigh slid out of her.


“I’ll stay. I promise.”


“Thank you.” A brief caress and he was gone, Ari and Leiv trailing in his wake.


Kyall made a soft sound and Cassie looked up. He met her eyes with a smile and glanced back at the door.


“He likes you,” he murmured, turning his attention back to the screens.


“What makes you say that?”


“He asked. Politely. I’ve never heard him do that in all the years I’ve known him.” He dragged a seat over beside hers and dropped into it, lazy and graceful.


“Giving me orders gets him nowhere.”


He shrugged as if the subject were unimportant. “Usually, that just means he exerts a little more physical force in the asking. There are locks on your door and you’re not too heavy to carry there.” He slanted her a teasing look. “Might even be fun.”


She ignored that.


“You’re saying he’s a bully?” That didn’t fit with what she’d seen from Revelin in the few days she’d been here.


“No. He’s the Prime in charge.” He fiddled with a few more things and sat back. “You would have to know Revelin to understand. He isn’t happy that Leiv took you from your home. We lost our home as children, were held as prisoners for years. He will never do that to another being but Leiv forced him into a bad position by bringing you here.”


“Now he feels responsible.” She shook her head. “That doesn’t mean he likes me, Kyall. It just means he’s making the best of a bad situation.”


“The most logical thing would be to do as you suggested, use you for bait and kill the Gurot when they walked into the trap. You told him that yourself. It would give us more time to find what we need, but he refuses to even consider it.”


“I’m a woman. Maybe that has something to do with it.”


“No.” Kyall’s smile widened. “The ladies at court have never inspired that sort of consideration from him. It’s you, Cassie, that he can’t see hurt.”


She studied him. There was something knowing in the twinkle in his eyes, something that made her wary. She narrowed her eyes at him as a new and uncomfortable thought occurred to her.


“Kyall? What is it you smell that you aren’t telling me about?”


He laughed and turned back to the controls, shaking his head. “Ask Revelin and see if he answers.”


Yeah. As if that was going to happen.


She turned her mind back to the screens and images of the museum and felt her heart speed up. It was almost time. Kyall tapped the controls and the images vanished, leaving the outside world in panoramic splendor around them. Across the screens, twilight dimmed the light, turning the world into shades of shadows.


“Here we go.”


The ship lifted from the field with soft rush of power and Kyall turned the nose toward the glow of the city. They had reassured her that no one could see the ship as it glided over power lines and between buildings, following the road map she’d called up earlier. She didn’t know how they managed to hide and she hadn’t asked since she had the feeling she wouldn’t understand it any better after an explanation. Kyall took it slow and easy, letting the city drift below them until the glass and steel structure of the museum came into view, illuminated in a wash of landscape lighting and security lamps.


“We’re going in from the top,” he explained as they slowed to a hover over the entrance. “They are less likely to be seen that way.”


Llyr shuffled into the control room, his hair tousled and his eyes sleepy, and came to lean against her shoulder. She slid an arm around him, unable to resist cuddling him. He curled into her, but his eyes remained on the screen.


“What wrong, kytt?” Kyall wanted to know.


Llyr shook his head. “Something’s going to happen.”


The boy’s tone held an ominous note and Kyall shot him a searching look. “Good or bad?”


“It’s not decided yet.”


Cassie gazed down at the boy, perplexed. There were times, like now, that he sounded too adult for his size.


“Then let’s wait a bit and hope for the best.” Kyall made a few adjustments and the soft rush of the engines went silent. “No point in setting off a self-fulfilling prophesy.”


She wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but the opportunity evaporated as four shadows dropped onto the glass roof of the museum entry. Two of them made quick motions along the seams of a plate of glass and the other two lifted it free. It took only a handful of seconds and they dropped through the opening onto a girder that ran the length of the room. Quick and silent.


One screen showed her the view through the exterior glass while another showed the view from what appeared to be Leiv’s shoulder. The image bounced and shifted as he moved but she could see gleaming marble tile below him and the glimmer of lights off stainless steel memo boards that lined the walls. A security guard leaned over his half-moon desk, peering at his own screens of interior images. Leiv slowed as he moved overhead. The man suddenly shifted and pulled a cell phone from his pocket, flicking at the screen, and the sounds of sports commentary filled the silence. The hirrient moved faster and the guard was left behind.


As she watched, Revelin dropped from the girder ahead, sliding under velvet ropes that barred the open entry to a room full of aircraft. Exactly like the picture she’d shown them, some planes rested on the floor while other hung from the ceiling on wires.


Kyall did something and another image sprang to life, this one attached to Revelin. She understood why when Leiv’s view continued down the hall toward the space exhibit.


Ari leaped, caught the wing of a bi-plane, and hefted himself up. She lost sight of him as Revelin ducked into another plane, this one on the ground and the view became a jumble of shadows.


Leiv, it appeared, was in luck. The door to the space exhibit was blocked by temporary walls and a drape of plastic. He slid through, the plastic sheeting lifting and falling as Davi followed him inside. They paused in the doorway, taking in the random scattering of machines and stacks of crates. Some were assembled, like the Apollo 13 type rocket, but others remained in unidentifiable pieces.


A red flicker across the floor made Cassie sit up, suddenly tense.


“There’re motion sensors across the floor. If they trip one, they’ll have armed security guards on them.”


Kyall shook his head, his gaze fixed on the screen. “Any signal will set off the alarms in the place not to mention blast our location to unfriendly ears. They’ll have to take their chances.”


She watched, unable to tear her eyes away, as Leiv and Davi made their way into the room. Each step they took made her cringe. With one eye on the screen that showed the guard and one eye on the hirrient, she watched as they pulled the lid off of a crate and rummage through the contents. Packing hit the floor and she winced, expecting to see the guard move.


A quick glance showed the guard, his fingers moving rapidly over his phone as he texted someone. He scratched his armpit, his eyes glued to his phone as he waited for an answer. More texting.


Revelin emerged from the plane and his view came clear again. Above him, Ari sprang from one plane to the next, setting them swinging. Cassie could practically hear the wires creak as they moved.


An alarm blipped, jolting her in her seat, and Llyr cringed from the sound. It took her a moment to realize that the noise came from inside the ship, not the museum. Kyall punched at a few controls and launched out of his seat.


“Cassie? Have you ever fired a weapon?”


“A few times at the range with my dad,” she stuttered only to find herself unceremoniously pulled out of her seat and pushed into another station.


The screen showed a wider view of the glassed entry and the circular drive. Shadows flickered across the glass, reflections of something not quite seen. Something large. The scene moved as sensors scanned overhead and moved to the horizon before dropping back to the glass dome of the museum.


“What do you want me to do?”


Kyall grabbed her hands and pressed them over the flat plate below the screen. Tiny marks met her fingertips.


“Straight for firing, round for targeting. Wait until you have a blue halo on the screen before you fire. We don’t have the power to waste. Llyr? Get strapped.”


But Llyr was gone.


Kyall swore. “How am I supposed to keep that boy safe if he keeps taking off? Sees some snippet of a possible future and he’s gone.”


Before she could open her mouth to ask him what he was talking about, he vanished after Llyr. Cassie bit off a word the Universal wouldn’t have translated anyway and scowled at the screen. Okay. Straight mark for firing and round for targeting. Targeting what, though?


A glance at the screens to her left had her heart lurching into her throat. The guard no longer sat at his desk. Neither Revelin nor Leiv’s views showed any sign of the man. This wasn’t good.


A light flickered on her screen. On the flat roof just behind the arch of the glass entry, a shadow resolved into something vaguely man-shaped. A blue halo fuzzed into view around him and two strange symbols appeared on the screen. Cassie blinked. She couldn’t read hirrient. The Universal only translated spoken words, not written ones. Kyall needed to come back and he needed to do it fast.


Nerves on edge, she pressed the circular mark and watched the blue halo sharpen, homing in on the figure on the roof. Did she need to shoot now or was Kyall waiting for something else? Her finger twitched over the straight mark and the symbols flashed again.


Kyall burst back into the control room and threw himself in the chair.


“You’ve got them. Take the shot.”


“It won’t fire,” she snapped. “I tried. I just get these weird symbols.”


He reached across and tapped the screen over one of the symbols and an arc of light reached through the screen to slam into the haloed figure. The figure vanished.


“Great. Now what does the other one do?”


“Don’t use that one unless you want to blow up the museum and everyone in it.” He turned back to his own screen. “Get out.”


As soon as the words left his mouth, more shadows coalesced on the rooftop. The blue halo jumped from one to another, too fast for her to get a good look at the figures. Shaking now, she pressed the mark to target. The blue light zoomed in on a figure and she fired. The figure evaporated just as the first had but she was already acquiring another target. More and more shadows appeared. She fired again. And again.


Something hit the ship hard and the world skewed for a moment. Cassie grabbed for the station, trying to keep from being tossed out of her seat as Kyall swore, fast and unintelligibly. The ship righted itself only to be hit again. She jolted off the station and hit the floor, her head making a resounding crack. She pulled herself back into the seat and found the targeting marks again, trying to ignore the ringing in her ears.


“How do I make it go up?” she asked.


“The indicator will move by touch.”


She held on through another rocking jolt before swiping at the screen. The view shifted, showing stars, dimmed by the wash of city lights. The indicator hazed out, finding nothing to lock onto. Gritting her teeth, she nudged the screen again. The blue light shifted, not locking on but getting closer. She pushed again only to crack her forehead on the station as another blow rocked the ship. She blinked at the viewer, dazed. Something wet trickled down her cheek but she didn’t have a chance to wonder.


The targeting light locked on a small area and her blurring eyes homed in on the telltale marker. That had to be a ship or something large. She was supposed to be thinning out the ones on the roof. She slapped at the screen. The view didn’t change but the second symbol flared for a moment and then a boom shook the ship, light erupting across the screen. She heard Kyall curse but the indicator locked on again and she fired automatically.


The second blast streaked through the sky, fainter than the first, only to fade into the stars and the alarm cut off.


“They’re gone for the moment,” Kyall snapped. “Go find Llyr. It won’t take long before they circle around and come back at us. We need to get out of here before they do.”


“Revelin and the others,” she protested as she jerked out of the seat, her hand going to the bump on her head. Her fingers came away bloody.


“Go.”


She stumbled for the door, too confused to argue. Where would Llyr have gotten to? She didn’t know the ship or him well enough to guess.


She made it down the staircase and began opening doors. The first two were bedrooms—whose she didn’t know—and headed for the third when she heard her name called. Llyr stood at the end of the hall, waving for her to join him. As soon as she took a step in his direction, he vanished.


“Llyr!”


She headed after him and turned the corner in time to see him beckoning her down a narrow stair that hadn’t known was even there. He took off again as she neared, darting down the stairs and into another hall. Cassie hurried after him.


“Llyr! Stop!”


“We’ve got to get to the hatch,” he shouted back, careening into another short hall to stop at a square control panel. “It’s going to jam on them. If we don’t get it open, Rev and the others are going to be taken.”


“Kyall wants us back up in the control room.”


“Please, Cassie?” His big green eyes pleaded with her. “Help me.”


She couldn’t very well toss him over her shoulder though the temptation to try was strong. She wavered on her feet, her mind jumbled.


“What do you need me to do?”


“There’s a cabinet up there.” He pointed to a section near the ceiling. “I can’t reach it but there’s a lever inside. When I tell you, I need you to pull it.”


She found the mark on the wall and cabinet popped open. As he said, a lever lay flush with the wall and she had to get on her toes to wrap her fingers around it. The ship jolted again and her mouth rebounded off the wall. She swallowed a few nasty words and sucked blood from her lip. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to get her bearings, but the world behind her eyes spun and shifted in a nauseating whirl.


“Llyr?”


“Almost.”


She waited, trying to keep her balance against the rocking of the ship. Llyr bounced against her hip, his face pale and his eyes wide. She tucked him between her body and the wall, holding him close. Under her ear, grinding metal squealed.


“Now!”


Cassie pulled hard on the lever. It didn’t budge. Gritting her teeth, she put her whole weight into it and it gave way.


A section of the floor a few feet away fell open and the wind snatched at her. She cried out, holding on to the lever with both hands now. Llyr wrapped his arms around her waist, clinging like a monkey.


The roar of the wind and the engines filled her ears. The ship skewed again, tearing her loose from her handhold. She cried out as she tumbled off the far wall and the ceiling tilted precariously. She was going to crush Llyr if they didn’t get stable soon.  Scrambling against slick metal, she crawled up the wall and grabbed onto the lever again just as another hit slung them down.


The lever moved.


There was nothing she could do as the lever sank back into the closed position and the hatch began to slide back into place.


“No!”


Desperate, she tried to find traction to brace herself but she couldn’t get enough of a grip to force the lever back open.


“Kyall! Get us out of here!”


Revelin’s bellow echoed in her ears and relief washed over her. She clutched Llyr with one arm as the ship righted itself and they slid down the wall to land on the floor once more.


“Are you all right?” Revelin knelt beside them, unwrapping her hold on the boy with gentle hands. “Llyr?”


“My arm.”


The little prince’s voice was small and pained and Cassie looked down to see him holding his arm.


“Let me see.”


He blinked up at her, trying not to cry, and held out the abused appendage. A clear line of bruising ran across his skin just above his wrist.


“It’s broken,” she murmured.  Heart sore, she pressed a kiss to the damage, wishing there was more she could do, leaving a bloody streak across his skin. She stared at the mark, bemused.


“Let me have him,” Revelin ordered. She relinquished the boy into his care and he rose. “You. Come with me.”


She stared after him as he strode away.


“Are you all right?” Ari asked, sliding an arm around her waist and hefting her to her feet. “You’re bloody.”


“Rough ride.”


“I didn’t know Kyall could pilot and shoot at the same time.”


“I did the shooting.” She touched the bleeding bump on her head again and winced. Nothing seemed to be moving right and she felt off kilter. She leaned into Ari’s support and hobbled back toward the med room. “What happened?”


“Gurot must have traced our viewer signals.” Ari wrapped his arm more securely around her, keeping his pace slow.


“Did you find anything that will work?”


“No.” He caught her when she stumbled over a non-existent bump in the floor. “The machines were missing vital parts. There was nothing left of their systems to salvage.”


“What?” She stopped, pulling against his hold.


“The propulsion systems were gone.”


She blinked at him for a moment, her mind blank. Realization dawned and she groaned.


“It’s a museum. They’re display pieces. Of course, they’re going to strip them down. It makes them lighter and they don’t have to worry about top secret stuff being stolen. Why didn’t I think of that?”


“It’s all right,” Ari assured her, nudging her into motion again. “We’ll find a way. No one expected this to be easy.”


“But I could have gotten you killed or arrested or something.”


The door to her room stood open and Ari ushered her inside to find Llyr sitting up on the side of her bed, testing his arm. Revelin looked up as they entered, his expression going dark.


“Get your hands off of her.”


The growl held a promise of pain and Ari jerked his hands away. Cassie staggered but caught the side of the bed for balance. Her patience snapped.


“Oh, no you don’t,” she snarled. She’d had all she could endure for one day. “You don’t get to do that. I choose who puts their hands on me.”


His lips pulled back from his teeth. “He has no right to touch you.”


“It’s my body, not yours. You have no say in the matter at all so back off.”


“Don’t push me, Cassie,” he warned. “I’m in no mood for it.”


“Don’t push me,” she shot back. “I’ve had all of your bossing and bullying I’m going to take. You snatch me out of my back yard, shove a piece of technology in my head, tell me I can’t go home and now you want to tell me how to live my life? Not happening.”


“Get in the tube.”


“Go stuff yourself.”


That must have translated well enough because his eyes narrowed, the low growl growing louder. She didn’t care.


“You can kiss me and then tell me I’m just a curiosity and easily forgotten but Ari can’t help me? Get out. Just get out of my room and stay out. All of you.”


“You need to get in the tube,” Ari tried. “You need to be healed.”


“I can take care of a few cuts and bumps without your oh-so-vaunted technology, thank you.”


Crossing her arms, she stared them down. The men shifted, sharing dark looks, but didn’t budge. Llyr slid from the bed, still cradling his arm where the bruising was already turning green.


“Thank you, Cassie,” he said, quiet and solemn. “I couldn’t have gotten the hatch open without you.”


“You’re welcome.” She swallowed hard, the anger a thick lump in her throat. “I’m sorry you got hurt.”


He shook his head. “Didn’t you know? You kept me from falling out the hatch. You saved my life.”


With a sweet smile, he was gone. Ari gave Revelin a hard look and vanished after the little prince. Revelin’s growl filled the silence.


“Go,” she whispered. “Just go and leave me alone.”


“This isn’t finished,” he snapped.


The door slid closed behind him and a tear fell from her lashes to trickle down her cheek. She wrapped her arms around herself and closed her eyes. No, it wasn’t over. It had never had a chance to start.