Star Fusion by J R Mollick

Author:J R Mollick [Mollick, J R]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-03T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 9

To Find an Empress

They all looked around, confused.

Zan’s voice felt weak. “Should we try to find anything that can lead us somewhere else?”

Chells said nothing. Tess wore a blank expression.

Tetner said, “There were other rooms here; I can go check. They had interest in us anyway, so we can probably analyze the results better than they do.” Tetner chuckled and hit the top of the door, causing it to fall away. He hopped over it and disappeared into the dark hallway.

Bis went over to Zan. “Why would you want to use that thing? What if you had been wrong?”

Zan didn’t react. “It’s okay to be wrong.”

Bis looked angry. “No, not when it’s your life on the line. You’re all I have left, kid. Don’t be stupid.”

Bis walked away to check on the cages of the aliens. Most of them were mumbling. They looked like they were from the nearby village.

Zan got up and sat next to Tess.

“How are you holding up?”

“Not good…not good at all. They told me stories about Pilots who lose their ships—it feels like they lose a part of themselves.” She flexed at her arms. “But this feeling, I feel lighter, and I know that’s not good.” She gripped her hands together. “I used to not be able to use my arms, my sister took care of me. That’s what the patches do, they let me operate. So, when we crashed and the ship got destroyed, I thought that was it. I figured I’d messed up and I was going to die in that forest.”

Zan regarded Tess’s sad face. “It wasn’t your fault, you did your best.”

Tess waved him off. “I could have done better, we knew something was wrong.”

He didn’t know how to comfort her. “Hey, I made it through because of you. I don’t expect you to be happy about what happened, no one would be, but just remember that you have friends, and you did save Chells.”

Tess wiped her face, looking away from Zan. “Okay, Sal, let’s check on the others. See if they found anything.”

Bis had opened the cages and was checking on the aliens. All of them were still breathing, but none of them moved beyond that. Then Tess, Zan, and Bis met in the hallway.

“I’m going to tell our friend about the aliens in the cages. Maybe he’ll have ideas about them,” said Bis.

Zan followed Tess into a room. It was larger than the others, with more tables for computers, and there was a big screen at the back of the room.

“They made plans here?” Zan asked. The screen was flashing blue like the previous one.

“I don’t know.” Tess put her hand to the computer, but nothing happened. “Of course,” she sighed.

“Mayday, can you connect to the computer?” There were charts on the wall. Zan sat down, looking at the computer wall. He was glad to get off his feet, as he ached all over from the YuVee’s kicks and punches, especially his arms.

“Breaker Catalysts? Equilibrium Stabilizer?” It sounded like parts for some machine.

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