“I doubt she is in any danger,” Dalox says.
I want to slam him back into orbit, but somehow I hold back my anger.
“What do you mean?”
“If she’s been taken, then they’ll want her intact. Most likely to get to you.”
“That isn’t helping, Dalox,” I snarl.
“Come with me,” he says imperiously. “And we’ll get your mate back, along with your crew.”
“Why the nev would I go with you? I have my mate to find.”
“Because I’ve been here three nevving nova-weeks waiting for you, nev-head. If anyone is going to find your mate, it will be me,” Dalox responds.
I want to explode. I want to shift into my Sarkarnii form and burn this place to ash because it dared to take Maggie from me. I want to do anything but go with Dalox, to leave this place, the place I last saw her.
But my guilt gets the better of me. The last thing I should have done was leave her on her own.
As Dalox disappears into the crowd, I follow him. My heart is heavy, my feet heavier. Without my Maggie, it’s harder to breathe, to even see an end to everything.
I thought I had it all. I thought the Ulep threat was to be neutralized. I thought I could return to rut for her, and that it would be perfect.
I was wrong on all counts. Everything I have achieved is naught if I cannot protect her.
“In here.” Dalox darts down a side alley which seems barely wide enough for a Sarkarnii.
I follow, my feet like molten metal, and there is a rush of wind I think will pull me off my feet.
Then I am not on the nevving planetoid. Instead I am on the bridge of Dalox’s ship.
“Nev!” I take two paces towards him, already considering violence, but Dalox, for all he’s older than me, is faster, and I find myself pinned against a bulkhead.
“It’s a portal, Driok, courtesy of Darax,” he snarls in my face. “And it’s the only way to get on and off the nevving planetoid without detection by the nevving Ulep.” He squeezes my necktighter, baring his fangs. “You think you were the only one pursuing the end game with them?”
“It was my duty, Lord Dalox.” I force the words out past his hand.
“A duty you were undertaking well until now,” he rasps. “But I know you want to rescue your crew, and it’s the last thing you should be doing.”
I stare at him. Dalox is no longer a Sarkarnii; he is a traitor. Because of him, I have lost my mate as well as my ship and my warriors.
And I have nowhere left to turn.
MAGGIE
Istare at the robot. It has shed the fabric wrapped around it and is essentially one cube stacked on top of another, with nothing visible in between. It is able to extend appendages from any one of the cubes, and rather than standing on legs, it hovers.
Also, it has an expression on its “face,” made out of lights on a flat black surface. At the moment, it sort of looks like it’s smiling.
I want to punch it, only I think I’ll hurt my hand, and other than assuaging my anger, it won’t do me any good or the bot any damage.
The odd egg-shaped container we’re in shakes from side to side. Worryingly, it looks very similar to the odd egg-shaped pods we were stuffed into by the cockroach aliens, the Veseli, just after we were taken in by the Sarkarnii and then almost immediately kidnapped again.
It doesn’t bode well, and I have to hold on to my desire to punch a robot in order not to let the icy feeling of terror overwhelm me.
I’ve already asked it where we’re going and why, but the stupid thing just said something about assistance and then beeped a lot.
I stare at my feet and wonder if kicking the robot would hurt less and make me feel any better when the egg comes to a shuddering halt.
