Ashes in the Sky Page 10

  “I get it. I’m the one whose planet it’s aimed at.”

  I clenched my fists and glanced over both shoulders. Why couldn’t I see changes in the walls like the Erescopians?

  But maybe I could.

  Adjusting my backpack on my shoulder, I closed my eyes and listened. David was so close. A hum echoed off his body, calling to me. I eased toward him, my skin yearning to revel in his essence.

  No! Come on, Jess. Focus.

  I blinked and blinked again, trying to tune him out. His tone, his smell, his resonance encompassed all. I gritted my teeth, focusing myself. There had to be something other than David that I could key into.

  A high-pitched squeal hid just beneath the roar of David’s—everything. I took a step away from him and centered on the odd sound. The farther I stepped away, the weaker the sound became, only to be overtaken by a different tone. But even that wasn’t right.

  Holding my hands out so I wouldn’t run into a wall, I moved down the hallway until a tone stopped me: a high pitch with a dash of clatter simmering beneath. The sound made me think of falling.

  I opened my eyes. At my feet, lay the square etched block on the floor that I remembered seeing when Nematali had stopped to talk to the alien. “This is it. This is where we were.”

  A rush of energy blasted through me. Delight. Pride. Satisfaction.

  Huh?

  David’s gaze dripped over me like I was an ice cream sundae, and he hadn’t eaten in a month.

  Umm, what were we doing again?

  He looked away, and the sizzle under my skin subsided. “Do you know where you fell through?” he asked.

  I felt along the wall, hoping to find the phantom door.

  Nothing. Dammit.

  Disgusted, I folded my arms and propped myself against the swirling metal. “I’m never going to … ” I shrieked as the surface softened and gave. The fierce cold of the inner wall stabbed me before I thumped onto hard metal. Ouch.

  A slurpy noise came from behind. David appeared, tripped over me, and stepped on my backpack. I gasped as he slammed to the floor. Oops.

  He sprang up with the grace of a ninja warrior. A tall, dark, and deliriously sexy ninja warrior. Down girl.

  David leaned against the swirling partition. “Safety tip, when you traverse through a compulsion panel, you should always move in case someone travels behind you.”

  I sat up and rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, I’ll remember that for the next time I compulse one of those panel thingies.” Breathing shallow in the stifling heat, I unzipped my backpack and checked my camera. No obvious damage, thank goodness.

  David helped me to my feet. “Now where?”

  After falling, I’d moved to my left. I didn’t remember how many paces I’d taken, but it had been quite a few. I retraced my steps. All I’d done was walk for a few minutes until …

  A frigid chill slapped me and my gut bottomed out as the floor opened up beneath me. Ready this time, I landed on my feet and stepped aside, giving David room to land beside me. Dang if I wasn’t getting the hang of this!

  David rubbed his cheek alongside mine. A jitter of happiness shot through the air between us as we separated. “You’re learning,” he said.

  “I’m a quick study.”

  We headed down the hall. All I remembered was that it was a long way. Several doors opened as we went by, but we didn’t investigate. Nearly ten minutes had passed before we reached the hard left turn that I’d hidden behind when I’d taken the photo.

  I pointed down the hall. “They were right there, and the door must be in the wall at the end of this corridor.”

  David stomped forward with no regard for stealth.

  If I had taken a picture of killer mustard, shouldn’t we be quiet? I mean, if I was a bad guy hiding some sort of doomsday powder, I wouldn’t be too happy about people snooping around.

  An archway formed, and David stepped inside. There was the powder, just where it had been in the picture. One slight difference. The cylinder was now nearly full.

  The door closed behind us. David squatted beside the table as he stared into the tube.

  “How do we find out what it is?” I asked.

  He picked up a few long, palm-like dried leaves on the floor beside a twig in a planter. They crumpled in his hands. “I’d say we already have our answer.”

  Crap.

  Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap!

  “How much of that stuff would they need to screw up Earth?”

  David stood, his eyes not leaving the cylinder. “To start a slow chain reaction? About a teaspoon.”

  A rock formed in my chest. “You gotta be kidding me. That’s gotta be almost a quart.”

  He glanced about the room. “I know.” He reached for the wall, and a glass case appeared. He opened the door and pulled out two vials from a tray. “There you are.”

  “What is it?”

  “Glaxon A and Glaxon B.”

  “Okay. Umm, is that bad?”

  He nodded. “Mix them together, and you get mustard powder.”

  Mustard. My new least-favorite condiment.

  He moved his hands through the liquid surface on the other side of the room, and the temperature elevated. It was kinda like standing in a microwave. The spot where he had messed with the wall formed into a deep, hollow box of red, swirling flames.

  A kiln, just like in the recycling center.

  He threw the two vials into the fire. The powders inside them sparked and disappeared. He emptied the contents of the rest of the trays into the flames. The containers melted instantly. Once he destroyed every vial inside, he closed the glass case and sank it back into the wall.

  The temperature abated as soon as David closed the kiln. Thank goodness, because hanging out in an oven is not my idea of a fun day out.

  He squatted again. Sadness coated his eyes as he looked into the tube of yellowish powder.

  “Shouldn’t we put that in the kiln, too?”

  He shook his head. “No. It needs to be deconstructed at the molecular level.”

  “Do you know how to do that?”

  “No, but if it gets hot enough, we won’t have to. It’s highly volatile at extreme temperatures.”

  “How extreme?”

  “Explosion extreme.”

  Whoa. I guessed that meant hotter than that little kiln. “What are we going to do?”

  “I don’t know yet.” He stood, his eyes darting toward the door. “Someone’s coming.”

  David bounded to the wall opposite the kiln and pawed at different points in the partition. The doorway became a beam of light.

  I ran to him. “What do we do?”

  His hand sank into the glistening surface. He grabbed my arm, yanking me inside. The liquid sheen filled in, encasing us in a narrow, tall space with shelves illuminated in a soft, blue hue—some kind of walk-in closet.

  David pressed against the wall and pulled me to his chest. My backpack scraped the shelving. I tried not to breathe; afraid something might fall as footsteps tapped outside the door.

  15

  Erescopian banter filled the room. David’s grip on me tightened as a few of the voices gained in pitch. What were they saying?

  His hold loosened slightly as he leaned away, gazing deep into my eyes. The blue lighting cast deep creases across his forehead. Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

  The voices had stopped. Footsteps circled the room.

  Don’t look in the closet. Please, please, please don’t look in the closet!

  David glared at the liquid doorway as if expecting it to open. I shivered, waiting for our inevitable capture, but the door remained sealed.

  After what seemed like hours, David felt along the edges of the exit and pulled me through. The room seemed unchanged, except the table in the middle of the room lay bare, only a slight half circle marking where the cylinder had been.

  “It’s gone.”r />
  “I know.” He glared at the outer door. His lip twisted.

  “What’s wrong? What did they say?”

  He blinked and turned to me. “Earth isn’t the target. It never was.”

  “Then where?”

  He lowered his gaze. “Mars.”

  “But Mars is already dead, isn’t it?”

  “No. It’s only sleeping.”

  “You’re telling me that stuff will screw it up for good?”

  He nodded.

  “But why? It makes no sense. That’s your new home. Where else will you go?”

  David grasped my hands. His eyes implored. My stomach sank as he searched for words I could tell he was frightened to speak. “My people support the terraforming project, but only conditionally.”

  “What does that mean?”

  He hesitated, chewing his top lip. “If I cannot breathe life into Mars, I have to support the occupation of Earth.”

  “And you agreed?” I tried to pull my hands away, but he tightened his grip.

  “I had no choice. The scourge had already begun. Your people were dying. It was the only option they gave me.”

  “But why would they ruin Mars? I don’t understand! They could have had their very own planet. They don’t need mine.”

  He pulled my head to his shoulder. “I don’t know. It makes no sense.”

  The wall beside us liquefied, and the Good Will Ambassador stepped inside. “It makes perfect sense. It is about preserving Erescopian lives.”

  Four lavender aliens entered behind him, filling the small room. David pulled me behind him as he stood against Poseidon. “And how does killing Mars save Erescopian lives?”

  Poseidon tilted his head to the right. Fire blazed in his eyes. “Our ships are overcrowded, and we are at the bottom of our food stores. You know this. Our people need a planet.”

  “We have a planet. Mars.”

  “Earth is an already thriving world with infinite food crops, complete with infrastructure and primitive technology that can easily be upgraded.”

  “Your point?”

  He stepped toward David. “We won’t need to rebuild. Once the planet is heated, we can populate. Become a civilization again. Model Earth into the perfect Erescopia.”

  “We can do all of that on Mars.”

  Poseidon’s lip turned. “Not if we are building a new planet. It will be years before we can plant food crops and even more years to complete an infrastructure. By then, half the people in those ships will be dead. This is what our people need.”

  David stiffened. “But it’s not what they want. The council agreed humans were sentient. They don’t want this world.”

  “They will, when the alternative is taken away from them.”

  “Don’t do this. The humans will help supply us with enough food to give our people the time to build on Mars. There’s no need to take what the people of Earth will offer in good will.”

  Poseidon slowly strode toward David. His nose flared. “I disagree.”

  David retreated until we both collided against the rear partition. The metal tingled at my back.

  This was it. The evil villain just relayed his evil plan. Now he’d do something bad. Trapped between a wall and Poseidon and his goons, I clung to David’s back.

  David reached around, steadying me with a hand on my waist. “So what now?” David asked. “Are you going to kill us?”

  I startled. Had he read my mind?

  “No,” Poseidon said. “I need your help.”

  “And why would I help you?”

  “Because you know, deep down, that I am not your enemy. You know taking Earth is the best chance our people have to survive.”

  David’s hand trembled on my hip. “Not at the expense of innocents. You’ll need to find someone else.”

  Poseidon sneered. “There is no one else. I’ve been through dozens of scientists. None can tell me how to properly use this.” He tilted the mustard canister toward us.

  “Colotia powder is unstable. Even holding it is suicide.”

  “Unless you are a terrestrial development expert, of which there is only one left amongst our people, thanks to you.”

  David recoiled. His skin flashed the purple hidden beneath.

  “Yes, Tirran. Who better to wield colotia’s destructive power than the very scientist who invented it?”

  Wait, what?

  David’s hand tightened on my waist. “I’m not killing Mars for you. It’s senseless.”

  “Killing Mars? I don’t think you have a clear understanding of my vision. I don’t want to kill it, Tirran. I want you to finish your work on systematical temperature modification.” He waved the canister near David’s nose.

  David stood taller. “You want me to splice it—trigger a preemptory evolution reaction.” He shuddered. “I tried it once. The results were catastrophic. Five planets in that system devolved to volcanic spheres.”

  A smile broke across Poseidon’s lips. “But what happened to the other planets in that system?”

  David’s eyes widened. “They warmed.”

  Poseidon nodded. “Just as you said they would.”

  “But at what cost?”

  “Cost is irrelevant. You mapped a similar plan for Mars when we first reached this system. A quick and easy solution to warm Earth.”

  The muscles in David’s back turned to stone. “The council rejected it. The danger is too great.”

  “But you’ve worked it out, haven’t you? You know what you did wrong in the first experiment. You know you can use Mars to warm Earth.”

  David shook his head. “That’s irrelevant. I found a way to terraform Mars. It’s safer for all the planets in this system. Splicing could kill Mars and Earth, leaving us with nothing. It’s not worth the risk.”

  “The conviction in your voice isn’t reaching your eyes, boy. You know you can splice Mars and safely warm Earth. The scientist inside you is dying to know if your theories are sound. You know this is your last chance to finally validate yourself to the people.”

  David straightened. “I won’t do it.”

  Poseidon’s gaze flashed toward me. “A year ago you would have jumped at the chance to prove yourself, but you’ve softened. And I think it has everything to do with your new little pet.” Poseidon reached behind David and wrenched me out by the hair. I struggled, ending up on the ground beside the taller Erescopian. Two of the other thugs wrestled David to his knees.

  “I understand your fascination with these cold-blooded creatures.” He pulled my hair, forcing me to face him. “Their frigid touch has its allure.” His nose twisted as he looked back to David. “They don’t all have to die. I can give this one to you, shunt her to your room so you can indulge in your perversions at your pleasure, but don’t let our people suffer because of your deviant, repulsive desires.”

  David yanked against his captors. “You’re calling me deviant when you want to rape Earth because you’re too impatient to wait for Mars?”

  “Give me Earth. I want it.”

  “There are seven billion people on that planet.”

  “Seven billion humans.” His sneer crept across my skin. “Our people need this, Tirran. The Erescopian race is dying.”

  My scalp burned as Poseidon tangled his fingers deeper into my hair. David lowered his gaze. His shoulders slumped.

  Was he giving in?

  My heart broke as David lifted his face. His lips parted. His eyes stared into nothing.

  Oh, God. Was any of what this psycho said true? Did David really invent this doomsday powder? Was Earth still in danger?

  David’s gaze met mine before he hurled his arms together. The two aliens holding him smashed toward each other, knocking faces. As they stumbled away, David slashed his hand toward the ambassador’s wrist. The pain in my scalp receded as Poseidon released me.

  My breath hitched as David pulled me into his arms. The other two guards blocked the
only exit.

  Poseidon tilted his head and slid the mustard cylinder under his arm. A bored expression crossed his face as he rubbed the wrist David had karate-chopped. “You know I’m right, Tirran. This is the best solution for our people.”

  “Not if it sacrifices the humans.”

  “Genocide was never my plan. We can move a small portion of their population to the colder poles of the planet. They will adapt.”

  “And the others?”

  He shrugged. “Some will survive. We can utilize a good number of them to tend our food crops. The solution is more than generous.”

  David pulled me closer, gripping my waist. “Excuse me if I don’t agree.”

  He reached out and snatched the mustard cylinder from under Poseidon’s arm, and pulled me back into the closet. The wall oozed shut, encasing us.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Hold your breath.”

  “What?”

  “Hold your breath!”

  I sucked in a huge gulp of air before our bodies sunk straight down. Frigid, thick water stung from all sides. Loose. Goopy. Nothing like before. I closed my eyes, clinging to David’s chest as a frost dug into my pores, gouging holes in my skin.

  We slammed to a sudden stop. David held me steady as my body adjusted from sub-zero to sweltering heat. I stumbled, my sneakers tapping on the floor. My head spun.

  “In here.” The wall to our right formed a divot, and he pulled me inside. The opening didn’t close around us. The temperature wavered between the frigid chill of the wall on three sides, to the Sahara heat of the corridor before us.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Seeing if they follow.” He whisked the hair from my eyes. “These aren’t traversable walls. It was way too cold in there. For both of us. I don’t want to go back in unless I have to.”

  Thank goodness, since I couldn’t feel my hands or toes anymore.

  David glanced at the ceiling as my stomach twisted. Unable to look up, I rested my head against his chest. After what seemed like an eternity, he unzipped my backpack and dropped the mustard cylinder inside.

  “What are we going to do with it?” I asked, still clinging to his chest.