Caretaker (Caretaker Chronicles Book 1) by Josi Russell

Author:Josi Russell [Russell, Josi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Future House Publishing
Published: 2015-09-01T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Ethan and Kaia’s eyes locked, seeking confirmation of what they thought they'd heard. They both looked back toward the door to the navigation room. Rough, low-pitched sounds were coming from the hallway on the other side.

“Someone’s here.” Kaia hissed. “They’re not speaking our language, either.”

“The Alorans must have come to check things out early,” Ethan said softly, slipping an arm around her and pulling her over to the wall.

“How did they get on? The computer announced no ship docking.”

“I have no idea. But they’re here now. And they’re headed this way.” He looked puzzled. “Why can we hear them? The doors are closed.”

“They must speak on a different frequency, one that travels through titanium like our voices travel through water. And it sounds as if they talk significantly louder than we do too.” She cringed closer to Ethan.

“We’ve got to get out of here.” Ethan’s eyes scanned the room. There was no good place to hide.

Suddenly, he felt Kaia pulling him by the arm toward the Secondary Navigation Room. Once inside, she pointed to the one panel she’d left open after closing up the computer banks. They slipped through the hole into the Tertiary Navigation Room and she pulled the panel closed behind them. Carefully, she unclipped the wires inside the panel, letting them fall back like a curtain over the hole, and used the clips to secure the loose piece of wall. In front of it, she released the wires on her side of the hole and closed the panel, setting it into the grooves that held it, but not securing it.

Ethan listened carefully to the sounds from the hallway on the other side of the wall. Recognition came to him and he looked up in surprise. “Kaia,” he whispered. “They’re speaking Xardn!”

She looked at him.

“Yes,” he said softly, “yes. I hear it. It is . . . different, slightly, than we speak it. It sounds like a strong accent, but it is Xardn.” A hope began to grow in Ethan. Perhaps, if he could communicate with them, he had a chance of finding a way to negotiate with them.

They listened again. Kaia caught his eye and held up four fingers, raising her eyebrows in a question.

He nodded. It did sound like there were four of them. They had reached the Primary Navigation Room, and as their voices intensified, Ethan realized they were in the Secondary Navigation Room. He stepped softly toward the computer bank and pressed his ear against a panel.

A gruff voice was speaking in Xardn. Ethan caught most of the sentence. “No humans appear to be left aboard. Perhaps the human military did away with the Caretaker as we proposed.”

Another one spoke. “If they were wise, they took our advice.”

“Have they fulfilled the terms of the agreement?”

“It appears that they have. There are 4,000 slaves aboard. They are in stasis below.”

“I think it wise to keep them that way until after they are distributed to the buyers,” said another one.

“I agree. There is less complexity that way.

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