The pensive expression on Ari’s face made her step in. She’d make sure they’d look into Ari’s family later. Like when they were safely away inElemi. “Now that you know what we’re up against”—she addressed the bot—“can you come up with a way for us to help speedElemi’shealing process?”
“Well…” The spider-bot scratched the side of his round head. “If A-Man was up and running like normal, I’d tell him to use his psychic mojo and heal her. That would be the fastest way.”
Ari’s eyebrows rose. “I can do that?”
“That and more, big guy.” JR 12 humphed. “So, without the psychic amplification Ari could provide, we only have two other choices.” The bot sat on his hindquarters, allowing his back four legs to spread out. “One, regenerative bioengineering. This would aid in reweaving her organic tissue to regrow the cells she needs. Or two symbiotic nanobots. If we don’t have the time for the bioengineering, we can create nanobots to open communication with Elemi so we can determine the best way to help her. Of course, we’d have to be careful not to interfere with her primary consciousness functions.”
Well, damn.Morgan’s shoulders slumped. Neither one of those were good options. It’d take weeks, if not months, to get either of those things going. She fought the tears threatening to grow. She pursed her lips. Crying wouldn’t get things done.
“Frukme front and back,“ Ari cussed. “There’s got to be…”
A bright surge of light blazed, making her blind before complete darkness blanketed the room.
“Light gone!” As’ni‘s cry echoed in the large room. “Bad furries come back!”
“Goddess, I hope he’s wrong,” Ari stated as his steady arm wrapped around her shoulders.
For a moment, she let herself fall into this comforting embrace. With a resigned sigh, she pulled back. “I’m afraid he’s right.” She fumbled around the tabletop to find her multicorder. There. She grabbed it and turned the screen light on. In the hazy glow it provided, she looked into Ari’s steady gray eyes. “It’s another system shutdown that puts us in danger. I doubt Welozz will listen to anything we have to say to defend ourselves.”
“Danger? Ha, ha, ha! I laugh at danger!” JR12 exclaimed.
Morgan blinked as she aimed her multicorder at the spider-bot. “I can’t believe you just quoted Simba fromThe Lion King.”
JR12 gave a quick hop on his eight legs. “Okay, then. How ’bout these cookies?Danger is my middle name!”
Morgan couldn’t help it. Her lips quirked into a smirk. She loved the Austin Powers movies. “Well, considering what we’re up against, it seems a quote from the movieJawsfits this situation better.”
“Oh yeah?” JR12‘s head cocked. “What’s that?”
“We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
The distant sound of Ozevroc claws clicking on the metal floor in the hallway made Morgan tense. With deft fingers, she called up the ship’s data to get a quick reading on why the lights went out since the ship’s computer wasn’t working either.
Let’s see… life support, engine functions, and gravity all within normal parameters. Oh wait. Navigation. Not only was it sucking in extra power for no good reason, it was making the ship go way off course. Instead of skirting around Federation Consortium space, the Ozevroc ship now headed straight for the heart of that galactic seat. A place full of patrols and bounty hunters eager to get their hands on any Ozevroc smugglers… dead or alive.
If that happened, she and her new friends had zero chance of survival.
“Someone bypassed navigation to make this ship head straight for Consortium space.” She narrowed her eyes on the handheld as she tried to find a way into the system so she could countermand the current orders. So far, the pathway eluded her.
“And that’s a bad thing?” Ari looked over her shoulder.
“Yeah, A-Man.” JR12 scuttled under the glow of her handheld, his metal legs clicking with purpose. “Our hosts have bounties on their head across every corner of Federation Consortium space. So, if we’re really lucky, we’ll get blasted to bits instead of getting hauled in and arrested.”
Morgan nodded. “That about sums it up.” Heat crept up her neck as she continued to search for a way to fix the problem before the high chieftain and his horde burst in. She glanced at the purple crystal man with his hands over his head, whimpering. His figure was on the outskirts of the glow of her handheld, but she saw enough to know his agitation might get out of hand.
“Quick.” She nudged Ari to look in As’ni‘s direction. “Take him to a dark corner so the Ozevroc doesn’t see him.”
Too late.
Before Ari could move, a group of Ozevroc rushed in. First the sharp smell of their unwashed bodies filled the room, then the clacking of their hard stomping claws echoed on the unforgiving floor. Each one carried pole-shaped weapons in their upper arms that had a glowing tip, giving them plenty of light to see from.
“Human. Today you die!”
And there he was, the high chieftain Welozz of the Ozevroc. Looked like he was in a fine tizzy. Angrier than she’d ever seen him before. His four beady eyes glowered in slashes of red while spittle flew out of his snout and exposed his yellowed sharp upper and lower incisors. Dang, he might even mean his greeting this time.
Putting her shoulders back, she gripped her handheld and faced him, eyes averted. “Not today, High Chief. Lots to fix.” Boy, that was true now more than ever. “Ship headed to forbidden void. Must stop.” She’d learned early on to never utter the words Federation Consortium. The Ozevroc refused to acknowledge anything beyond their little slice of existence. Especially since they blatantly robbed and smuggled whatever they could from the established galactic systems.
“You die! Then stop ship.”
