I half carry, half drag Shadow through the ship up to the XO’s cabin. Now there’s only Caret’ax and me onboard theGladiux, we could choose any cabin.
But I want Shadow to have a good one. An idea is taking shape in my mind, one that could solve most of my problems. And it involves Shadow in a key role.
8
- Umbra-
The blue alien with the tentacles is obviously the chief kidnapper. ‘Mareliux’ is a name I can just about pronounce, which is half surprising considering his extreme space monster looks.
He opens a door and pushes me through it.
“No!” I grab the door jamb and hang on to it for dear life. But Mareliux simply pulls my hand away and pushes me inside.
I’ve done everything I can to resist, but a girl only has so much energy and my mission in the shuttle was supposed to be long over by now. I’m inside their ship, but I suppose there’s a chance they just want to look at me and then they’ll let me go. That might not be great news — if they flush me out the airlock, I may not have time to put my helmet back on before I die in the total emptiness of space.
To my relief this is not an airlock. It looks most of all like a cabin on a ship or a hotel room with a high ceiling. There’s no window, but there’s a bed and some big chairs.
Mareliux closes the door and stays inside the room, saying something in his deep voice.
“Do you want me to try translating?”Vera asks softly. “I will make mistakes, but I have a handle on some of their language.”
Mareliux freezes, then gives me a little smile and says something.
“What?” I ask.
“‘You have a little friend?’”Vera says in English, clearly translating because she changes her voice, making it deeper to match the alien's. “‘So do I.’”
There’s a new voice in the room, the female one that comes from Mareliux’s belt and sounds like an AI. At first I can’t understand a word. Then it starts speaking English.
“To translate into English,”the voice says. “Hi. I am Bellatriz, the most legendary sword in all of the Khavgren Empire. I have been able to learn your language and I can tell you some of what Mareliux says, when he deems that appropriate. This may be such a time. We know that you are Shadow Hadley. Does your AI have a name?”
“I… oh,” I manage, totally taken by surprise to have an alien sword speak to me. “Her name is Vera. And mine is Umbra, not Shadow.”
“Umbra,”the alien AI goes on. “WhichmeansShadow, and presumably that’s where you got your callsign. Wait, I’ll reportthis to His Imperial Highness, Crown Prince Mareliux, heir to the throne of the Khavgren Empire.”The AI switches languages.
“She has access to all of Earth’s radio wave transmissions,”Vera sniffs. “No wonder she speaks so well. If I had that kind of access totheirstuff, I’d be fluent in Khavgrenish right now.”
“I know. You’re ten times the brains of that thing,” I assure her, wanting to keep her morale up.
“We call our language Khavgrese,”Bellatriz says. “Just so you know. I don’t think your services will be needed, Vara.”
“Vera,”Vera insists. “You heard it the first time.”
“Of course,”the alien AI says. “Virra it is. Could you turn yourself off for a while, sweetie? It’s just that we don’t like it when strange alien AIs listen to what the Prince says. Who knows, you might get it into your circuits to record him. And that, I’m afraid, is a serious offense.”
“It’s all right, Vera,” I tell her. It might be a good idea to save her battery. I can’t see an outlet anywhere, and anyway my charger is back at the station. “Turn off for a while.”
My AI gives off a loudhmphbefore she goes quiet.
“Now that’s been settled,” Mareliux rumbles, translated by Bellatriz, “we can do some talking. You may sit.” He points to one of the tall chairs in the room.
“You have abducted me from my planet,” I tell him, ignoring his suggestion. “I’m an officer of Space Force, and so your act is an act of war. I’m a prisoner of war, and I will tell you only my name, rank, and serial number.”
“No, no,” Mareliux rumbles as he sits down on the bed. It creaks under his weight. He’s now face to face with me. “Your world sent a boarding party to my ship, and we received the ambassador, as we understood the request. There was some trouble in the hangar, and we had to make sure you weren’t harmed. Now then, Ambassador Umbra. I have a plan for you.”
“I’m not an ambassador,” I assure him. “I’m Umbra Hadley, Second lieutenant. SF-UH-8749-30. I demand you return me to my unit.”
My heart rate is finally coming down a fraction. This situation is bad, but nowhere near as bad as it could be. For one, I’m still alive. For another, I am inside an alien spaceship, gathering priceless intelligence. Especially if this guy really is a prince, the way his AI claims.
