“Where are the Humans now?” Giodol asked.
“They are heading for the Juirean shuttle and should be arriving there momentarily.”
“Good. So your plan for their escape was a success. My congratulations, Ransin.”
The Juirean agent did not know what to do at this juncture, so he figured honesty would be his safest route. “My Lord, I cannot take credit for the escape. My procedures had not been put into place before the Humans were able to escape on their own.”
Giodol stared at the agent for a long moment, as Lord Yan’wal moved up beside him and closer to the screen. Then the senior Overlord spoke. “So we were not able to contain the Humans for more than a few minutes in the central lockup building before they escaped, without our help, and seemingly with little effort?” Yan’wal tone was as cold as ice.
“Yes, My Lord. Humans appear to be very resourceful.”
“Humans nearly destroyed my entire fleet!”
“I meant no disrespect, My Lord,” Ransin said quickly, feeling his heart pounding in his chest. He knew his skin colors would be shifting wildly, as they did when he was nervous. “We have ample tracking devices on the shuttle and will be able to follow them to their next destination.”
Yan’wal turned to Giodol. “Have the battle force shadow the Humans without revealing themselves. I know they will seek out others of their kind. We must be ready when they do.” Then he turned back to the screen. “Agent! Do not lose them.”
“No, My Lord. I will not lose them.” To Ransin’s immense relief, the screen went dark.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Adam and his group made it to the Cassie 1 without incident, at which time Kaylor went ballistic.
“What about my ship? I can’t just leave her!”
“Where is she?” Adam asked as he slipped into the pilot seat.
“In orbit. They brought us down in a shuttle.”
Adam thought for a moment. “Good, we’ll pick her up on the way. We can always use more room, and the workshop you have aboard will come in handy.”
Kaylor had no idea what Adam had in mind, but he was happy just to learn that his precious FS-475 was not going to be abandoned. Besides, his whole life was aboard that ship.
They rendezvoused with the FS-475 within ten minutes of reaching orbit, and Adam maneuvered the Cassie-1 over the aft access port. Once the seal was secure, the five escapees transferred to the much larger ship. Adam told Kaylor their new destination.
“Zylim-4! Are you crazy?” the alien protested. “That place is so radioactive it’s about to achieve critical mass just sitting there.”
“That’s where we’re going, nevertheless.”
“Why there?”
Riyad and Sherri had just entered the pilothouse. Adam nodded at Sherri and said “There’s something we have to check out. It could be important.”
Kaylor set about programming in the coordinates, then turned and began stroking the two fingers of flesh that protruded below his ears. “If my nodes dry up from the radiation, it will be your fault.”
Adam had no idea what he was talking about, so he simply ignored him.
Riyad stepped forward.
“So? Why Zylim-4?” he asked. He preferred not to tip his hand at the time, and relay his own beliefs about the planet.
Adam closed to within inches of the pirates face. “I want to make one thing perfectly clear: this situation is completely different from the time you and your goons got the drop on us before. You may have been some big-time terrorist back in your prior life, but here, I have no doubt I could take you.”
Riyad held out his hands. “I have no doubt either, my friend. You are younger, stronger and more traditionally-trained. At the time of our prior association, we were both in a completely different reality. Now we must operate as a team.”
“Nice words, Tarazi. But all I have to go by is your past record. I don’t trust you. I know what your ultimate goal is, and as we get closer to finding a way home, I know you’ll do whatever it takes to make your fantasy come true. And if that means stabbing us in the back, you’ll do it. You’ve done it before.”
Riyad brought his hands up into a prayer position and nodded. “I agree with you, if you only go by our brief encounter months ago. But things have changed. My pirate fleet is destroyed; I have no money and no resources. I am now at your mercy, as well as that of your lovely lady friend,” he said, nodding at Sherri. “I will not be a problem. Rather I can be an asset. But you still have not answered the question. Why is Zylim-4 so important?”
Adam stared back at Riyad. There was a long pause, as Adam weighed the option of trusting him or not. Finally, he bit his bottom lip and nodded.
“When we get there, I’m going to need all the help I can get. I have no choice but to trust you. However, I will be watching you.”
“Perfectly understandable, my brother.”
Then addressing everyone in the room, Adam began, “Zylim-4 is where Sherri was brought when she was first abducted by the Klin. It’s some kind of major base or processing center, and according to Sherri, there are a lot of those weird people there, like the ones you talked about, Riyad — those who committed suicide.”
So I was right! Riyad thought. Zylim-4 is the base. And it was gravity that led him there…
Aloud, he said, “That’s amazing. They must surely know the location of Earth.”
“That’s my hope, but according to you and Sherri, these other Humans are more foe than friend.”
“So what’s your plan for getting us in? Zylim-4 is an inhospitable place, as Mr. Kaylor has alluded. All the living facilities are deep underground and secure. And then there’s the radiation.”
Adam turned away from Riyad and stared out the front viewport. “That I haven’t figured out yet. But once we get there, we’ll be going up against other Humans, not the normal wimpy aliens we’re used to — present company excluded, of course. I will need to count on all of you.”
“Don’t worry, my friend. We are all on the same team now. And you will find that I can be a very good team player.”
After a few hours of planning, Adam called a meeting in the cargo hold of the FS-475.
“Kaylor and Jym have been doing some research on the internet — I mean the Library — and have found quite a bit of information regarding Zylim-4 and Locin-Annan. I’ll let Kaylor fill you in.”
Kaylor sat at the small desk with the monitor embedded in the bulkhead above it. A schematic appeared on the screen. “Locin-Annan is a community of miners and support staff of about 5,000 beings. It’s now located primarily to the right of the main dig where uranium ore has been extracted for about fifty standard years.” He highlighted a large bulb-shaped area to the left of Locin-Annan. “This large cavity is where a very productive vein of ore was mined until it dried up about twenty years ago. Then along this long shaft leading to the area, a cave-in occurred fourteen years ago. Since then, it appears no one has bothered to reopen the passageway.”
Adam stepped up to the desk and pointed at the large cavity. “This is where I believe the Klin and Humans may be hiding. This area is over ten football fields in size, with numerous offshoots. Also, when the mine was operating, there were sleeping quarters, power facilities, storage buildings — and even a small hospital before they closed the place.” He smiled over at Sherri.
Kaylor then highlighted a round area between the settlement of Locin-Annan and the now-deserted cavern. “This large area here was the open-pit mining area until it, too, dried up. The mining companies installed a large air-lock in the lowest part of the pit. This is where Adam believes we should set down. Off of the airlock are various passageways leading into the settlement to the right, and the cave-in area on the left.”