She barely had time to strap herself in before he pulled back hard on the joystick. Laureline’s back slammed against the black upholstery as the XB982’s nose pointed skyward, soaring up almost vertically.
A screen flickered to life in front of Valerian, revealing the face of one of the Federation ministers. And he looked really, really unhappy.
“Major Valerian,” he snapped in a tight, irritated tone, “you’re running nearly twenty minutes late!”
“Really?” Valerian tried to put on his best innocent face. Despite the situation, Laureline smirked; she knew that expression very well indeed. With a quick glance up at the roof where, presumably, a thoroughly pissed-off Megaptor was trying to claw his way into the cockpit, he added, “Time flies when you’re having fun!”
“We have the Mül converter, sir,” Laureline chimed in. Unfortunately, this did not seem to placate the minister as much as she had hoped it would.
“Excellent,” the minister replied, curtly. “Now perhaps you could tell me what you’re doing seventeen light years from your rendezvous?”
Valerian winced. “It does sound pretty bad if you put it like that,” he admitted. “But if I say we’ll be there in…” He turned to look at Laureline, eyebrow raised in query.
“Nine minutes,” Laureline supplied.
“Nine minutes,” Valerian echoed, “does that sound better?”
The Megaptor was losing patience, it seemed. The Intruder hurtled into space as the creature slammed about, shaking the vessel in a desperate effort to get inside.
“I’ll inform the commander that you’re behind schedule… and pass along your apology,” the minister said, archly.
“You do that,” Valerian said with false cheer. The minister disappeared from the screen and Valerian exhaled.
“Exospace in five seconds,” Laureline said.
“Somebody’s going to hit the ground with a bump!” Valerian said, and grinned.
The Megaptor was hungry, and the small things that had peppered his skin stung a little. He was angry with his prey for being so elusive; he had not been fed all day. Normally prey was soft and juicy and easy to eat, but this prey hid in a strange box and had been so hard to catch.
This box was very large, but the Megaptor had seen them leap into it, so it knew they were there. It roared, angrily, but could not smell their fear. Could not smell them at all, only the metal of the box.
Fresh irritation made him bite and scratch vigorously again at the large box.
Then, all at once, the box was no longer beneath it.
Nothing at all was beneath it, and as it started to fall, somehow it understood that it was a long, long way down.
CHAPTER TEN
Once they had lost the unwelcome stowaway and confirmed with Gibson that there had been no further casualties, Laureline changed out of the few ratty strips of cloth that was all the Megaptor had left of her dress and decided it was time to take care of their new guest, the converter. She was concerned about what effect all the action might have had on it. She hoped it wasn’t injured, but at the very least it would likely be shaken up. Nobody liked to be in a small box, getting jounced around while subject to the bellows of a Megaptor.
Laureline set the perforated box containing the converter down on the table in the Intruder’s sickbay. She could hear it shuffling around in the back of the box. Using a remote, she deciphered the locking code and the front end clicked open slightly.
“Okay,” she said sweetly. “Come on, little guy, let’s take a look at you.”
The overture was met with a growl as the creature backed up against the rear wall. Laureline hunkered down and peered into the box. She made an appealing clucking sound with her tongue, her voice coaxing. “Come on, Tiger, it’s okay. I’ll look after you.”
More growls, though less certain.
“That’s it… come on…” She smiled at it, and placed her hand down. It hesitated, its eyes darting about and its long muzzle twitching with uncertainty. Laureline was patient, though, and after a long moment, it moved hesitantly to the front of the carrier and placed a tiny, four-digit forepaw on her palm. It looked like a reptile on the surface, but as it moved, Laureline could see that its belly was covered with fur.
“That’s a good fellow,” she cooed. It brightened at the tone of her voice and moved out trustingly. It was small enough to fit in her hand. She saw now that the underbelly fur was bright blue, but patchy and scabby. There were scabs on its back, too, but the eyes it raised to her were blue and gentle.
“You have eyes to die for, you know that?” At her words, the creature’s scaly form flushed to a bright red and it puffed up slightly. Laureline couldn’t suppress a smile.
“Hey, are you flirting with me, little guy?”
The smile faded as she stroked it with a finger, examining it gently. “Your back and tummy are all scabby. How about some intensive skincare to get your mojo back?”
The little creature purred with pleasure. It was a soft, pleasant sound, and Laureline abruptly felt very protective of the small creature. The purring increased as she opened the door to a square compartment in the wall, placed the little animal inside, and closed the door behind it. It looked at her through the circular viewing window, suddenly concerned, as she lightly tapped in a code.
“No need to fuss,” she reassured him. “A little high-grade uranium and you’ll be as good as new. Hang on!”
She hit the button. Four nuclear beams filled the regenerator with a powerful blue light. As Laureline watched, the animal doubled in volume, and beamed contently. When she opened the door to take him out, he looked much healthier and clearly felt better. As he snuggled up under her chin, Laureline melted.
“You know, I remember studying you guys at school,” she told him, placing him down on the table. “I’m dying to find out if everything in the textbooks is true.”
She patted him once more, reassuringly, then reached to remove a diamond stud from the outer rim of her ear and held it out to the animal. His long muzzle twitched as it sniffed at the gem, then he opened a mouth lined with tiny, sharp-looking teeth, and gulped it down.
Laureline watched, fascinated, as the converter puffed up and changed color. Two seconds later, it delicately raised its lizard-like tail and deposited hundreds of diamonds on the table.
Laureline stared at the tiny pile of glittering gems. “Wow!” she said at last. “I need to take you shopping with me.” She picked up the converter and kissed him on the top of the head.
It blushed.
Like his partner, Valerian, too, had cleaned up and dressed in his regular uniform. He sat alone on the bridge, gazing at the precious pearl he’d recovered, turning the smooth, perfect sphere over and over in his hands. He was wondering about the strange dream. Wondering about the beautiful beings who had held this object, who had seemingly manifested in the flesh today, fully formed from his sleeping thoughts.
At length, he placed the pearl down gently in a small well on the console.
“Alex?” he said to the ship’s computer. “Analyze this, please.”
“Certainly, Major,” Alex said obligingly, activating a bright, slender beam of light and directing it on the pearl. Impossibly, it was even more beautiful as it caught the light. Slightly mesmerized, Valerian had to force himself to breathe as the light scanned the pearl. Data flashed up on the screen.
Valerian read the information. Size, weight…
He blinked. “Power—twenty megatons?”
“Indeed,” Alex replied, almost blandly. “There’s ten times more power in that pearl than in the entire ship.”