Taken to the Stars by J.N. Chaney & Rick Partlow

Author:J.N. Chaney & Rick Partlow [Chaney, J.N. & Partlow, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Variant Publications
Published: 2023-09-09T14:00:00+00:00

It was lighter, and I should have felt good about that, but instead, it just made me feel more vulnerable. At least there were no boats on the river this time of night. The only traffic that I could see was a few vehicles and pedestrians on the road, none of them showing any interest in us.

“It’s just another mile,” Arban told us. He’d throttled down the boat, keeping us close to the shore, and I could barely hear the hum of the motor over the lap of the water against the bank. “I think. The picture I saw in the comms viewer had a water tower.”

I peered into the darkness beyond the local glow from the windows of the buildings along the shore, trying to find a water tower and hoping that these people’s idea of what a water tower was the same as mine.

“I wonder if Brazzo has the ship repaired,” I said, the thought drifting through my mind like the boat across the river.

“I wonder if the ship is even still there,” Giblet commented. “This isn’t the best system in the world to be floating around unarmed.”

“Not that the cyborg could use weapons if we had them,” Laranna said acerbically. “But if you’re that worried, why don’t you call them and find out?”

I frowned at her. We could see each other more clearly now that our eyes had adjusted to the dark, and we had a little more ambient light to work with, but I couldn’t tell if the suggestion had been sarcastic or sincere.

“How would I do that?” I wondered. “The radio is back in the shuttle, and we’re a long way from there.”

Laranna squinted at me then pulled one of the small walkie-talkies the robot had given us out of a pouch attached to her jacket. Honestly, I’d forgotten about them. I grabbed mine out of my jeans pocket and gaped at it in disbelief. It was smaller than any radio I’d seen, but I figured that was just a product of the high-tech civilization here.

“I thought these were so the three of us could talk to each other,” I admitted. “You’re saying you can reach a ship in space with one of these?”

Laranna looked as if she wanted to roll her eyes, but instead she touched a key on the side of the device.

“Anguilar Zoo Ship 0-234LNE, this is Laranna. Are you receiving me?”

Nothing for a few seconds, and I was getting ready to ask if she was sure the thing worked like she thought it did, but Lenny’s voice interrupted that train of thought.

“We hear you, Laranna. Is everything proceeding to plan?”

I barked a laugh at that, but there was no humor behind it.

“Not even close,” Laranna told him, running a hand through her hair, face falling as if vocalizing the problem was making her think about it in its entirety for the first time. “We have major problems. One of the two suppliers down here is a Varnell, and he just framed us for the murder of the second.

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