Homeworld Lost by J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon

Author:J.N. Chaney & Scott Moon [Chaney, J.N. & Moon, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-05-06T16:00:00+00:00

21

The walk back to the bridge was tense. Grum no longer skipped or made jokes. He stayed on the opposite side of the passageway from Solen and waited for us to enter the bridge before following.

The first thing I noticed when we were inside was that Wozim had made one of his rare appearances. The second was that Scratch slept under my crash pod, but had one eye cracked to watch the Tyton. It wasn’t much, but I thought the animal was faking dreamland to keep watch on the most dangerous person in the room.

“Nice of you to show up, Wozim.” I made sure to keep myself between him and the Altion. “Are we going to have problems?”

He faced the central view screen and ignored me. Why would he do anything else?

I turned to Solen. “We are one big happy family.”

Wozim showed his razor-sharp, jet-black teeth. He looked even bigger than the last time I'd seen him, probably because it was hard to really comprehend and remember his demonic physique. I didn't know how to describe him without monster references. His picture was probably beside the phrase evil menace in most dictionaries.

And here he was among us. Just standing there like a force of nature with no regard for our lives.

Solen stood her ground but didn't go too close to the brute. Montow observed the scene and didn't seem happy. This was my fault, so much of his displeasure was probably aimed at me. I would deal with that some other time. Right now, we needed to evade the White Knife in addition to the Gavant warship.

I went to my pod and adjusted the seat. Hands flying over the controls, I reviewed what had been done while I was away. “What was this planet we passed?”

“That is locally known as Lorin Solar,” Montow said. “They're not big on originality. Each planet has the same name with a unique numerical identifier. X-53-Alpha is the Gavant designation for the system. Not popular here.”

“Works for me. Less to memorize.” Neither Wozim nor Solen appreciated my humor. Grum got it, so I gave him a fist bump which he seemed to think was the best thing that ever happened to him. The guy was fun to have around.

I reviewed summaries of three bubble-like cities on the planet’s surface and counted twenty-seven platforms in orbit around the frozen rock. It wasn't large and reminded me of Pluto, which was always a planet in my book. There were only so many times it could gain and lose that status. At some point, we needed to just make a decision.

Homesickness crept up on me like a ninja. I pushed aside comparisons to the Sol system. There would be time for those memories later, probably right after I discovered this place’s equivalent of whiskey.

“We moved close enough to alert their flight control,” Montow explained. “That will help screen pursuit. The White Knife or Ryg will have to do the same or give it a wide berth. It's not much, but every little bit helps.

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