Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105936 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 530(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 353(@300wpm)
But that was when the screaming started.
I’ve said before that the Captain’s quarters were soundproofed, but apparently that didn’t apply to the Ready Room. Because through the door, I could hear people shouting.
“That’s a fucking asteroid field! Yorrin, take evasive action!” That was Turk’s voice—I was sure of it!
The Illyrian lurched back and forth, throwing me from one side of the Ready Room to the other.
“Gurflug—navigate us out of here!” I heard Turk shouting.
“Never!” I heard the Galafruxian burble in reply. “We will all die together here in Deep Space! And may your Gods have mercy on your soul!”
This was too much. I knew I was supposed to be protecting my true identity and hiding until the end of the trip, but I couldn’t anymore. No one else on board was able to navigate us to safety!
Slapping the door mechanism, I rushed through as soon as it opened and ran out onto the Bridge.
Everyone was staring at the Viewscreen, which was filled with huge, lethal-looking asteroids. Yorrin was doing his best to steer the ship around them, but Gurflug had managed to shoot us out right into the middle of the field and the huge chunks of rock were only getting thicker and closer together.
I saw at once that we only had moments before there was a fatal collision that would, indeed, send us all to Eternity. And Gurflug was just sitting there with a smirk on his flat face, his purple eyes bulging in satisfaction as he waited for the inevitable crash.
I rushed over to the self-satisfied bastard and snatched the nav band off his head. It was none too clean, but I jammed it over my temples anyway.
“Hey! What are you doing?” he demanded in his gurgling, underwater voice.
“Fixing your mess, asshole!” I snapped. Then I closed my eyes and brought up the star charts.
Working faster than I ever had in my life, I found a route to another wormhole—one that was barely a click away.
“Yorrin!” I yelled, pointing at the viewscreen. “Look at that route! Can you get us there?”
His eyes widened and he looked at me in surprise.
“Cass?”
“Can you get us there?” I demanded. “Can you—”
“Give me that!” Gurflug made a snatch for the nav band but I managed to dodge him.
“Do what she says!” Turk was roaring. Then he was up and striding over to punch Gurflug as hard as he could in the gut.
Ooof!” the Galafruxian wheezed and folded in the middle before falling to the floor. “How dare you?” he whined.
Turk ignored him. All of us were watching the viewscreen. In a few more tense moments, Yorrin had us to the edge of the wormhole I had found.
“Go—take it!” Turk ordered.
I jammed my thumb down on the Jump button and the ship dived in.
This time there was no time dilation—only the feeling of being stretched for a moment. And then we were out the other side and, thank She of the Four Faces, I could see Rigelis Nine in the viewscreen.
We were home.
But my elation and relief didn’t last long.
“Navigator Cass? Where have you been?” a voice asked me.
I turned and saw that Frux, the Clan Savage Union Rep, was staring at me in surprise. I started to turn away at once, but it was too late.
Striding over to me, he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me around to face him.
“Why, you’re not Cass—at least, you’re not a boy, anyway. Why do you look so familiar?” he demanded.
“I don’t know—let me go,” I mumbled. And then Turk was there, shoving in between us.
“You heard her—let her go,” he growled, his bronze eyes flashing possessively.
But the damage was done—I could see it in Frux’s beady little eyes.
“Captain, isn’t that Jessina—the Clan Cruel Princess who was missing before we left?” he demanded. “You had us search the spaceport high and low for her, and all this time she was here, with us! Have you been hiding her in your quarters?”
“Shut the fuck up, Frux,” Turk growled. “Don’t talk about things you don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand, all right,” the Union Rep sneered. “I understand that you kidnapped another Clan’s Princess and you’ve been holding her hostage doing the Goddess alone knows what to her for the past two months!”
“It wasn’t like that!” I protested. “Turk didn’t kidnap me!”
“Well, my dear, we’ll see what your father has to say about that,” Frux sniffed. “And my Chieftain will want to know as well, I’m sure.” He shot Turk a venomous glance. “I’m sure many people will be interested to hear that the Princess has returned—and all of them are going to want to know exactly what you’ve been doing with her in your quarters!”
“You fucker, if you say a word—” Turk threatened, raising a fist.
“It’s too late,” Frux said coolly. “If they don’t hear it from me, they’ll hear it from another Crewmember. And if you dare to touch me, I’ll let the Chieftain know about all the other suspicious circumstances that have happened during this trip! I have a whole roomful of witnesses here.” He nodded around the Bridge where every eye was glued to the scene unfolding. “You don’t dare touch me.”