Metamorph: The Outbounder Chronicles by Chris Reher

Author:Chris Reher [Reher, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: First Contact, Space Opera, Science Fiction, aliens, Alien Invasion, adventure
Published: 2016-11-16T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

“You’re up early, Agent Ash.”

Laryn looked up from her search through the food cabinets of the Nefer’s galley when Ryle’s voice startled her from her thoughts.

“Still getting used to the Nefer’s timing,” she said, taking her drink to the scratched table. She wasn’t really hungry, but she probably needed the cup of the nutrient-packed liquid the processor had mixed up for her. She sank into a seat and pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders. It seemed cold in here. “And Toji is making noise, talking to himself. Said he doesn’t need to sleep for a few more days.”

He slid into the opposite bench. “I guess Azah and Nolie are still snoring.”

“He shouldn’t overdo it,” she said, sipping from her cup. It reminded her of banana-flavor. Not the flavor of bananas, but the sort of flavor that came about when someone tried to fake bananas, usually for something that had no business tasting like bananas. “That knock on the head he took is not trivial. I want to monitor him when we leave orbit.”

Before turning in for a few hours, the crew had made room for their new passengers aboard the Nefer, padding shelves in the cargo hold with blankets and setting up extra beds in their own cabins. The crew would make do with the chairs on the bridge for the few hours it would take to traverse the Hub to get home. Bringing the castaways aboard meant having to submit the Nefer to a complete decontamination upon their arrival – a time consuming and expensive undertaking. Corlan Shelody would not be happy and Laryn hoped there was something among the data they were returning to the station worthy of his investment on this planet.

“It’s so strange,” she said, looking into her drink. “These people were lost here for years, such an incredible distance from the Hub, and yet, were only a few hours’ travel away. This whole time, all we needed to find them is to know when to drop out of the right filament.”

“It’s what gives meaning to the outbounder missions,” he said. “In the end, it’s all a matter of luck.”

She looked up. His eyes, too gentle to match the angular face, seemed to study her as if looking for something beyond this idle conversation. He had a way of doing that, never shifting his gaze from the subject of his interest, even when such frank contemplation seemed intrusive. She almost reached out to push a strand of hair out of his face before remembering that she didn’t know him well enough to do that. “Until some renegade with a treasure map points the way to a secret alien lair,” she said.

“Yeah, Iko knew what we’d find here.”

“Do you believe Toji? That he didn’t know what Iko was up to, I mean? What he told us about the Kalons?”

Ryle pursed his lips and thought about the question for a moment. “Yeah, I think I do. It seems to fit.”

“Fit what?”

“What I know about the Kalons.

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