When Jennifer moved to follow, he held up his hand. “Wait outside. Both of us shouldn’t be on the ship at the same time.”
She nodded and stood guard at the hatch.
Ontarii crept into the center of the ship’s small control room. The room was ovoid, and there were no chairs or console stations. Instead, lights blinked from the walls and the ceiling. Hareema weren’t bound into traditional bipedal form, meaning they didn’t need console stations. They could ooze into every nook and cranny the ship could hold.
After a quick inspection, Ontarii realized that there didn’t seem to be any additional areas on the ship. Just one oval room. He turned back to his companion, and that’s when he saw it.
It looked like the corridor wall was moving. The dull gray surface seemed to be slipping forward, looming over the back of his woman.
“Get down!” he yelled, charging up his bio-weapon.
The captain stared at him for a second, wide-eyed and afraid, then dropped to the floor.
Ontarii flung out his hand in the direction of the thing and expelled the greatest charge he could manage. The electric beam hit the creature and it shuddered backward.
He hit the thing as hard as he could, but to his dismay the charge was depleted too quickly. The wall seemed to melt, sliding down to the floor, but the Hareema held its shape and color. Instead of reverting to a red jelly, it became a gray puddle.
Ontarii watched in horror as the puddle shot out a tendril that wrapped around Jennifer's leg.
He summoned up all his strength to blast the creature anew. He held out his hand.
Nothing happened. There was no charge left.
He grabbed the female's arms and pulled hard, hoping to jerk her out of the thing's grasp. She scrambled along the floor and the tentacle came with her.
Ontarii yanked her into the ship, then circled around to bring down his boot on the creature's extension. It wiggled beneath him, so he stomped down hard. Then again.
One more hard stomp and the tentacle released its grip. Drawing back, he kicked the gray beast, propelling it back down the hallway. He wasted no time rushing onto the alien craft and slamming the hatch closed.
His intention was to wait the creature out, to buy some time for his bio-energy to recharge. But the moment the hatch was sealed, he heard it lock. All of a sudden the craft dislodged itself from the side of theEarhart. Before he could blink, the small vessel was speeding away from the human ship.
"What's happening?" Jennifer asked, pulling herself off the floor.
"We're moving." Ontarii spun around, trying to puzzle out the Hareema technology. Not being bound by the typical form of two arms and two legs, the Hareema had built a system the likes of which he'd never seen. Without guidance, it could take him a lifetime to figure out which interface controlled what function.
Jennifer was scanning the ship's various systems as closely as he was. "Where the hell are we going?"
Ontarii frowned. "How should I know? Do I look like I can operate this contraption?"
His anger spilled over into his tone, and she growled softly at him. The sound ran down his spine like an intoxicating drug, and he had to force himself not to think about the need to mate the woman next to him.
They had fallen into another Hareema trap. It seemed like he'd done nothing but stumble through one enemy plot after another. The major was used to anticipating his opponent's next move. He was used to staying one step ahead, outmaneuvering the enemy at every turn.
He was not used to losing.
Now the Hareema were playing him like a game of skipping stones. First, they'd separated him from his flagship, then killed his men. Now he was shooting off into space, destination unknown.
In the blink of an eye, the commander of the Zantharian had become a Hareema prisoner.
