Galactic Search and Rescue by Carol Van Natta

Author:Carol Van Natta [Van Natta, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Chavanch Press, LLC

6

Salamaray Citizen Activity Center, Perlarossa • GDAT 3242.334

“Hang on!” Rylando shouted as he braced himself against his standing frame and fought the controls. “I’m opening the side door. Dump everything you’re carrying, or we won’t make it to the top.”

In the display for his monitoring cameras, he saw Pelvannor use the grab bar to lever herself, muscles bulging with effort, into a quasi-standing position.

More debris from the top of the shaft rained down. Tilting the airsled again failed to dislodge the heavy section of denscrete that clung to its roof. Alerts flashed and pinged about too much weight. The overheating coil wouldn’t last.

On the display, Pelvannor unslung her duffle bag and heaved it with amazing accuracy through the door opening opposite her. The airsled rose. How much had that bag weighed?

Po, instantly outraged, called her the Mandarin equivalent of shit for brains.

Rylando righted the airsled and put every kilo of command he had into his voice. “Dump your luggage, now! We’ll get it later.” He opened the door next to Pelvannor wide enough to push things out.

Wide-eyed, Stramlo clutched his bag even tighter.

Po unhooked the web and stood. Instead of removing his backpack, he produced a beamer and aimed it at Jhidelle’s head. “You! Girl! Out!”

Rylando only had time to subvocalize the word “trouble” to Taz before Po’s gaze swung to Stramlo. “Pull her out and hand her to Pelvannor. She’s leaving, alive or dead.”

Astonishingly, Stramlo only hesitated a moment before doing as he was told. Not even Jhidelle’s expression of shocked betrayal stopped him.

Rylando sent the airsled as close as he dared to the service ladder wall. Kicking himself for not thinking of it sooner, he touched the control to mirror the audio and video feeds from his tech. If Po killed them all, the recordings would help see justice done.

Pelvannor hooked one leg around a holdfast bar, then lifted Jhidelle like she weighed nothing and held her out to the ladder rungs.

Rylando watched his exterior camera display to make sure the girl grabbed on tight. A small brown shadow appeared on Jhidelle’s shoulder and jumped onto the airsled’s roof. Only Pelvannor could have seen it, and she was already turning back to face Po.

Rylando didn’t have time to think about it as the airsled rose again. With all the dust in the air, he couldn’t tell if the aftershock was over or not.

Po turned his beamer on Rylando. “You, Mr. Gee-Sar man. Tell your partner everything’s good if she leaves us alone, then strip off your earwire and toss it to Pelvannor.” Po’s lip curled. “Get us free and you can chat all you want after we’re gone.”

Rylando reluctantly touched his earwire, spoke the required words out loud, then pulled it off. If he’d been smarter, he’d have been subvocalizing to Taz this whole time. He’d been so focused on the rescue and worrying about her and his team that he’d missed all the signs of trouble.

He tossed it awkwardly toward Pelvannor, who snatched it out of the air with blinding speed and tossed it to the back.

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