Beyond by Maureen A. Miller

Author:Maureen A. Miller [Miller, Maureen A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Createspace

CHAPTER TEN

“It’s time.”

Her butt hurt. But the rest of her was quite comfortable. She yawned and slipped her arm around the pillow. It moved beneath her.

“Aimee, it’s time.”

She frowned. Time for what?

“Aimee.”

She felt the words brush against her ear and jumped.

“Easy there. That’s my jaw you almost broke.”

Aimee rubbed the top of her head and blinked her eyes. Light filtered in from the opening of the cave. Outside clouds hugged the ground like diaphanous patches of snow. Cognizance returned and she sat up straight, rubbing her palm into her eye and staring at Zak who wore a bemused smile. It looked really good on him.

“Are you going back to the ship?” she asked.

“Yes. It has been quiet out there. Maybe we’re going to get lucky.”

“Or maybe they were waiting for the morning as well.”

Zak shook his head. “I admire your keen sense of impending doom.”

She had to laugh at that. “I’m here to help.”

He smiled, but his lips thinned and his eyes grew alert. He moved to the rim of the cave. "I’m going inside the ship, but I want you to stay here. You can see the TA from here. When I open the panel, you run like an erect sumpum is after you. As soon as you’re in, we’re taking off—” he paused and added, “that is, if I can fix the damage. And don’t you dare ask me what we’re going to do if I can’t.”

Aimee snapped her mouth shut. It was exactly what she was going to ask.

“Alright,” he leaned forward with his gun extended, “remember…as soon as you see that panel open—”

“I become an Olympic sprinter.”

Zak’s lip curled up at the corner. “You think I don’t know what that means. I have heard of your Olympic games. They’re nothing compared to the Zorgan races on my planet.”

“Oh, sure, sure. Hit me with the, my planet is bigger than yours speech.” Aimee laughed, trying to subdue her apprehension.

Zak looked at her. When he stared at her like that she felt her ears go numb and the world go fuzzy, and all she could see was a golden light…and it beguiled her. It beckoned her. But she could not go to it. The golden light shifted, and he was gone.

***

From her perspective, the Zari looked like a big horse lying on its side with its legs stretched out. The swell of the cockpit resembled the swell of the horse’s belly. She saw Zak slip inside without incident and she finally started to breathe again.

There was light now, but it was a haze bogged down with clouds and wispy vapors. It was like a haunted version of the Aurora borealis. Lofty cacti secreted a glistening liquid that trickled down their sides as if the tree was crying. Red-stalked plants spiked out of the ground to form a stockade around Zak’s ship.

Aimee hugged her arms about her and listened for him. What did she expect to hear, him hammering away? She didn’t hear a hammer, but she did hear something.

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