Chapter Ten

Alex stared at his reflection for a long time. He hadn't shaved before they left Murcadia, and the stubble was beginning to show dramatically, blending with the look of a bruised eye. The ship they booked was much smaller than the Newton, and relatively amenity-free. But it was available when they needed it, and had two economy cabins open. It meant he and Evan were sharing a one-room suite with two beds, a small couch and one washroom, but after everything they'd been through in the past few days, he liked the feeling of seclusion. Zane's cabin was one level up and at the opposite end of the ship, but the trip was a short hop to the station and they all planned on using it to catch up on some sleep.

Finally tired of staring at his chin, Alex started shaving. He was angry. At Kellman for being such a prick, at Thomas for putting up with it as if he had no choice, at Evan for putting himself into such danger keeping him safe. But most of his anger was directed right where it belonged - at himself.

Typical thinking. Or more to the point, no t thinking. Just jump right in, head out to Murcadia for a look. He nearly nicked his jaw with the laser-accurate shaving scanner. Ignore the most obvious connection and go blundering into a situation that could have gotten us all killed. Once Evan had recovered enough to actually sit up and talk to him for a few minutes, Alex had taken time out to mentally kick himself in the teeth often and with great force. He could have saved them all the trouble by agreeing to go visit VanHolt straight away, right when they decided he very possibly could have some vital information. Regardless of what Paulson Carpenter may or may not have told the lawyer in advance.

Hell, if I had half the brain I thought I did, I would have let Evan block Carpenter's off-planet communications and gone straight after that albino blood sucker! Of course the lawyer knew more than he'd let on. Didn't they always? What possessed him to want to avoid it and take this useless trip instead? Probably the same irrationality that had him always focusing his anger on other people. Blaming Kellman, VanHolt, even Paulson Carpenter was a hell of a lot easier than blaming himself.

A knock on the small washroom door interrupted his self-recriminations.

"Yeah?" Alex opened the door. He was finished anyway, and ready to get some decent sleep.

"You finished yet?" Evan stood in the doorway, eyebrows raised in the desperate plea of a man who'd been in line far too long.

"Jeez, yeah." Alex hurried out so his friend could get inside the small room. "Why didn't you say something?"

"I just did." Evan hurried inside and let the door swing closed. The room was too small to share, unless one occupant was standing in the tiny shower, so Alex taking his time shaving had brought the Sha'erah to the brink.

"Sorry," Alex called through the closed door. He walked the short distance to one of the beds and sat down, mentally and physically exhausted despite the four hour nap on the shuttle-port couch. In three days they would reach Seb-Five, a major port station where transports of all sizes docked to refurbish supplies, pick up new passengers and drop off crew members for welcome R&R.

The ship they were on had pulled away from Murcadian space over an hour ago, leaving behind a man who hopefully wouldn't sleep soundly at night ever again. Alex knew Kellman refused on principle to believe his suggestion that Thomas might not be all he thought he was, but the seed of doubt had been planted. And as brutal as he saw the man be when beating his Sha'erah, it was hard to fathom the larger man not calling an end to it at some point. After all, Thomas could easily pound Kellman into dirt with one fist and not even break into a sweat. He had to realize, consciously or not, there was nothing preventing him from doing just that.

Evan stepped out of the bathroom wearing a towel, still damp from a shower that had two broken recycling vents and couldn't suck all the moisture back as greedily as it should. The bruise on his shoulder seemed to have spread, taking up the entire area from his chest to his arm, but the color was slowly starting to fade.

"How's the shoulder?" Alex stood and started to undress before he got so tired he couldn't manage it.

"It's fine, really. Just looks bad." Evan flexed his arm and shrugged. "How's your eye?"

Alex laughed shortly, tossing his pants over the foot of the bed. "I've had worse." It was a bold-faced lie, but one his friend seemed to accept. If my mother could see me now.He'd never explained to her exactly what happened on their expedition. Never told her the details of his being in danger of being killed on more than one occasion, the least of which resulted in him killing his father. Madame Duvia disliked hearing dirty details about her own life or that of her son. She preferred to hear all the dirt and gossip about the people in her little circle of friends. No doubt they, in turn, enjoyed hearing about her misfortunes and mistakes just as much.

"Do you want me to show you what I found in the files?" Evan sat on the other bed, which was separated from Alex's by a small night table.

"Tomorrow. I'm beat." Alex lay back on the bed and pushed his legs under the light blanket. "And you should get some more rest."

Moments later the lights shut off and a quiet chime informed them their morning alarm was set. Alex closed his eyes and considered trying to meditate again, but almost immediately he could feel the soft tug of sleep pulling him down. While Evan was sick, he hadn't appeared to be affected by the fact that Alex wasn't sleeping. Doctor Zane had explained that was due to the poison and the medications fighting it, and that as soon as Evan was well, the habit would return. Now that he was well, and no doubt their sleep patterns were once again linked, he wanted to make sure he wasn't keeping his friend awake when he so badly needed his rest. Memories of Evan looking pale and sweat-soaked, close to death, sent shivers down his spine.

In what felt like two minutes, he realized he'd been no burden to Evan's sleep patterns whatsoever.

"Good morning." Alex dragged a hand over his face as he sat up.

"Breakfast should be here in a half hour." Evan was on the couch, only a few yards away from the beds in their small cabin, still buttoning his shirt. His black hair was damp from a recent shower.

Alex forced himself off the bed, nodding as he made his way to the washroom. A quick shower woke him up sufficiently, and a shave finished it off. He left only the small growth of hair he'd grown used to just below his lower lip. Evan might think it was silly, but he'd noticed the Sha'erah's own hair had grown longer over the months. It was still relatively short, but not as strictly cropped as it had been the day they'd met. Alex liked to think that was some small indication Evan was beginning to express his own personality. Not that the man was shy about saying what he thought!

By the time he finished getting dressed, breakfast had arrived via mechanical courier.

"I assume Zane's eating in his room?" Alex sat down and reached for the coffee first.

"He hasn't called, maybe he's sleeping in." Evan set the plates on the small table, pushing the PDA out of the way. "I checked for messages while you were showering."

"No more break-ins?"

Evan shook his head. "Not yet, anyway."

"You almost sound disappointed." Alex grinned, watching his friend.

"Disappointed? No, of course not." He shrugged. "Surprised, maybe. I still want to know who it was, and why. And how they got as far as they did."

"You said they didn't get in."

"No, but they might have if they'd kept trying. Or if they'd come back before I found out and fixed it."

"Well don't worry, I still think my files are safe in your hands."

Evan looked at him as if he was an idiot. "They wouldn't have been, if I hadn't found out when I did."

"Relax, Evan." Alex chuckled lightly at his partner's attitude. It was impossible to compliment the man. "Who knows, you might get a second chance to track the hacker down."

Evan pushed his breakfast around the plate for a minute, staring at it but obviously not seeing it. Finally he looked up at Alex again. "That stuff you told Kellman, about Thomas . . . Do you really believe it's true?"

Alex shrugged one shoulder and stabbed a piece of egg with his fork. "I believe it's possible. There has to be some explanation for why Thomas didn't break my neck when I had his Keeper by the throat. That time in his trophy room, I wasn't gonna kill the guy, just stop him. But after you . . . I wanted to kill someone."

Evan nodded slowly, looking at his plate again. "You know, I would never do that."

Alex stopped chewing and looked at his friend.

"I don't know what would have happened if I'd been with Spencer for another twenty years. Maybe . . . I couldn't have imagined it before, but maybe after that long, I would have thought differently about him. About my position."

"You think there's a chance you could have refused his orders? Left him, maybe?"

Evan shrugged. "I don't know. I think -- now that things are different -- I think I can't be positive about that anymore."

"Fair enough." Alex sipped the coffee, watching Evan's face. It was a milestone, considering, but not one he wanted to ruin or depreciate by saying the wrong thing, as he so often did. For Evan to even consider the possibility that he could have asserted himself against Spencer Marcase was something Alex never thought he'd live to hear.

"I don't want you to think I could ever do that to you."

Alex blinked.

"Or that I would ever do that to you." Evan was looking straight at him, black eyes sparkling with the seriousness of his tone. "It's like you said we're . . . "

"Friends," Alex supplied, smiling. His heart was jumping around a bit, sensing victory in a major direction.

Evan nodded. "Yeah, friends."

"Even though you don't really understand it?" Kellman's words were echoing in the back of Alex's mind, taunting him with the doubt that any Sha'erah could ever truly understand the concept. But Evan wasn't just any Sha'erah.

"I think I do." Evan's gaze dropped back to his plate. He shrugged a little. "In as much as I understand anything you do or say."

Alex laughed then, feeling the true humor of irony for the first time in a long while. He raised his coffee cup. "Touché."

They ate breakfast in the quiet relaxation of understanding, interrupted only by the occasional ship-wide announcement telling them when and where they could enjoy any number of meals or views of passing moons. Afterwards, Alex looked over the files Evan had found mentioning Lewis VanHolt and the senior Kellman's elaborate will designed to leave Thomas with whichever of Kellman's offspring was currently in control of the business. There were provisions up one side and down the other, preventing any alterations of the will. Evan pointed out several sections that seemed familiar to him, reminiscent of work VanHolt had done for Spencer several years ago.

After an hour studying what Evan was showing him, Alex got up to order more coffee. "Just out of curiosity, did you find any evidence of that same break-in we had when you were looking at Kellman's stuff?"

Evan shook his head. "No, and I looked around for signs while I was there, as much as I was able. But . . . "

Alex turned around and faced his partner when he heard the sentence trail into uncertainty. "But what?"

Evan's black eyebrows were knitted together, darkening the expression of his whole face. "I just realized, with his security so pathetic, anyone good enough to get as close as they did to mine could have walked around inside Kellman's without leaving any more trace than I did."

Alex leaned against the dispenser. "But that doesn't mean they did. I can't see anyone being all that interested in Kellman. Then again, I can't see anyone being all that interested in us, either."

"I guess you're right," Evan tossed the PDA to the couch. "I do wish they'd try again, so I could catch them in the act and figure this all out."

"Well, maybe -- "

Alex's sentence was interrupted by an urgent beep from the room's message center. He turned around and flipped it on, glancing at Evan who quickly approached to see the message.

In an instant Doctor Zane's face appeared on the small screen, looking anxious, almost pale. "Alex, good, you're in. I've found something. Something very urgent you both need to see."

"What is it, doc?"

"Not here. It can't be broadcast over a ship's channels. Meet me in pod seven, level two. We'll be safe there. We can talk there."

Before Alex could comment, the image vanished, replaced by the slowly spinning ship's logo. He turned to Evan. "That was odd."

"I don't like it." Evan shook his head emphatically. "He knows I can secure any channel."

"Yeah, well maybe what he found has him so rattled he forgot." Alex didn't like it either, but it was Zane. They'd both seen him, looking paler than normal and obviously upset. "Maybe it has something to do with our mystery hacker?" He found his shoes and started pulling them on.

"How? Who on this ship could possibly have known anything? I haven't even started looking for VanHolt yet." Evan reluctantly put his shoes on, then reached into one of their bags and produced two hand guns. He slipped both into his belt, hidden by his black jacket.

Alex gave a resigned sigh and retrieved two small weapons of his own. He put one in his belt and the other in an inside pocket of his own jacket. "I guess we'll find out."

Evan stopped him with a hand on his chest. "Uh-huh. I'll find out."

Irritated, Alex reached up and pried Evan's hand away. "Yeah, you'll find out the same time I do."

"I told you if this got dangerous I wouldn't let you risk yourself!"

Alex had managed to push through the door, and now strode purposefully toward the lift, Evan on his heels. "I'm not letting you take any more hits for me. If it gets risky, we'll both bail out. Right now it's just questionable." He reached the lift and punched the button, calling a car. "Zane said he needed to see us both."

"If that was Zane." The car arrived and Evan forced his way in first, but was unable to prevent Alex from following.

"The way I see it, we can look like a couple of dorks and argue right up to the front door, or we can just get there and find out what's going on, and deal with it." Alex found the proper level and touched the indicator. The lift obeyed instantly with a slight jump and a purr of well-tuned gears.

"I was right about one thing." Evan stared at the level indicators as the lights flashed by. "You are a brat."

Alex grinned, pulling the gun from his belt to check it again. "I love you too, Evan."

They reached level two in minutes, stepping out into an empty corridor. Most of the ship's passengers were enjoying lunch or the view of several moons coming into range as the ship left the Murcadian system and drew closer to the large, dead planet Seb-Five orbited. Beside him, Alex could practically feel the tension keeping Evan alert to every sound and motion. The fact that there were none was putting him on edge.

"There's pod seven, at the end of the corridor." Alex glanced around the hallway. "No sign of Zane."

"Maybe he's inside." Evan reached out and pulled Alex behind him. "At least stay behind me."

"Sure." Alex rolled his eyes but complied. "That way I can take the hit from behind, give you plenty of warning." He was sure he heard Evan mumble something, but the exact words were incoherent. They arrived at the hatch to escape pod number seven at the same time and found it empty. The spacious survival unit was nestled snugly into the belly of the cruise ship, complete with the latest in rescue equipment, rations for ten that could last up to two months, sophisticated monitoring and signaling equipment, and in case of last-ditch desperation, four cryogenic suspension units. But no doctor Zane.

"Either he's not here yet . . . "

"Or he's not coming." Evan turned around in the pod, having searched for any note or sign the doctor had been there and gone.

"All right, let's get out of here." Alex gripped his weapon and moved toward the hatch. Inches from the opening, the familiar whoosh of movement startled him into pulling back just in time. Both inner and outer hull doors rapidly closed, locking them in with a resounding thud. "Now it might be getting dangerous." Alex turned, immediately realizing the mistake, and found Evan already accessing the emergency controls.

"Dammit!"

"What? Don't tell me you can't override this!" Alex felt his tension mounting suddenly. The only thing keeping it in check had been his certainty that the Sha'erah could quickly and easily open the doors again.

Evan stood beside the access panel, left palm pressed over the keypad. His face was reflecting his struggle. "Someone else is in here!"

Alex stepped closer, his gun forgotten. He put a hand on Evan's arm. "What do you mean, someone else is in here?"

"It's him." Evan's eyes remained unfocused, and the information flashing across the screen was too fast for even the monitor to keep up with. "He's in here, right now!"

Alex blinked. "The hacker?" His mind was racing. Had Zane set them up, after all this? No, he couldn't have. Maybe that wasn't Zane, or he'd been forced to lure them down here. But for what? Were they to be killed? "Can't you get these doors open?"

Sweat was building on Evan's face and neck, evidence of the struggle taking place inside his mind and the computer's mainframe. A struggle with an unknown assailant that Alex was completely helpless to assist with.

"He's two steps ahead of me!"

"Just don't let him -- "

The burst of power between the two airlocks ended Alex's plea, and the need for it. He fell backwards as the blast shoved pod seven violently away from the cruise ship. Dislodged from the access panel, Evan landed on top of him, then rolled to the side as the momentum shifted back to null. An instant later, escape engines kicked in and the pod stabilized with its own artificially-generated gravity.

"Dammit!" Evan launched himself back to his feet, then turned around and offered Alex a hand up.

"First things first." Alex adjusted the gun in his belt. It had jabbed into his gut when Evan landed on him, but thankfully the safety had held. "We're alive."

"He was in there! Whoever it was, he was in there with me! Countering every move I made like he knew exactly what I was going to do!" Evan's face was filled with a rage the escape pod wasn't big enough to contain.

Alex swallowed, his mind still reeling with what had happened. But, they were alive. Now all he had to do was survive being stuck in a pod with a very outraged Sha'erah.

"It's my fault, Evan. I insisted we come in here and see what was going on." As usual, act first, regret it later.Evan spun around to face him, black eyes sparkling with anger. The look forced Alex back two steps until he was pressed up against the curved wall.

"I’m Sha’erah! No one can do what they did unless they were too!" Evan's anger seemed directly aimed at Alex, being the only other occupant in the small pod. "No one's as good as that!"

"Evan! Calm down!" Alex wanted to reach out, grab his friend by both arms and talk some sense into him, bring him down from this violent rage, but he didn't think he could risk it. What if, in this black mood, Evan started following his lead of acting first, thinking later?

"We've been launched!" Evan glared at him as if he couldn't see the situation they were in. "And we're being steered, in case you hadn't noticed."

Alex hadn't noticed. He stared at the controls, disbelieving what he was seeing. They were being steered. Instead of simply falling away from the ship and floating harmlessly until the captain realized one of his pods had launched and sent a retriever for it, they were actually traveling somewhere!

"Then calm down and let's figure out where we're going." Alex pushed past Evan, risking a backlash, and sat in front of the main controls. "Is he still in here?" When there was no reaction, he turned and looked up at his friend. Evan was staring blankly down at him as if in shock. "Evan! Is he still in control of the pod?"

The Sha'erah made a noise, then hurried over to the panel. He raised his left palm to place it over the main unit, but as the metal made contact, a brilliant flash of blue light erupted from the wall-mounted unit, throwing Evan to the other side of the pod like a child's stuffed toy.

"Evan!" Alex rushed to where his friend had landed, dazed and semiconscious, on the floor. He fell to his knees and put both hands on either side of Evan's face. The Sha'erah's eyes were open, but they weren't focusing on him. "Are you all right?" Alex let the fingers of one hand slide down to the Sha'erah's throat. His pulse was strong and steady.

"I'm okay." Evan's voice had little volume, but he struggled to sit up.

"What happened?" Alex helped him to a sitting position and leaned him against the cushions of the bench behind him. Without waiting for a reply, he reached down and took Evan's left hand in his. The silver metal felt hot to the touch, and where it met the hand his skin was red and angry looking. "Damn." Alex glanced around quickly, then found what he was looking for tucked under the very bench Evan was leaning on. He pulled out the first aid kit and found a compress designed to sooth the pain of electrical burns.

"I didn't even touch it. That thing was in some kind of defensive mode or something." Evan winced as Alex applied the compress to the palm of his hand and held it there.

"It's just an access panel, how can it act in a defensive mode?" Nothing made sense. Zane's apparently forged message, the pod's launch, them being steered in an unknown direction by an unseen force that could attack using a simple computer command interface module. Alex kept one hand on the compress, holding it in place over Evan's palm, and fished around inside the kit for something he could wrap around it.

"I don't know." Evan shook his head. He had to hold his wrist with his other hand to keep the palm in place while Alex wrapped a thick, soft bandage around it. His former black rage had been replaced almost completely with a confused anxiety matched by his Keeper's.

Alex checked his handiwork. "How's that?"

Evan nodded. "I'll live, thanks." He smiled sheepishly, then let Alex help him off the floor and onto the bench. "Now what?"

Alex sighed. "Good question." He sat next to his friend on the padded bench and tried not to look out the view ports. The pod wasn't capable of much in the way of travel, having only stabilizers and engines designed for quick bursts to navigate out of trouble. Wherever they were being taken couldn't be very far, but there weren't any habitable planets close by.

"Gentlemen, please get comfortable."

The strange voice startled both men. Evan's right hand was on the butt of a gun in a split second while Alex tried to get his heart swallowed back down where it belonged. Before they could speak, the voice continued.

"You've a long journey ahead, but it will pass in no time."

When Alex registered the hissing sound, the gas was already blurring his vision. He heard Evan's shout, and thought he saw the Sha'erah move forward, but then he was inexplicably staring up at the ceiling lights of pod seven. From several fuzzy miles away he realized they'd been drugged, and vaguely hoped he'd fallen in a comfortable position as he drifted into what promised to be a long, deep sleep.

Alex heard moaning and turned his head to try and determine the source. When he moved, the sound stopped but the headache started. He opened both eyes and realized the moaning was his.

"Damn." Gingerly, he rolled to his side and sat up, blinking to focus vision that had been blurred by a drug-induced sleep. When he could see, he searched the small bare room and found Evan lying on a crude bed beside him. "Evan." Alex shifted from his bed to his partner's, trying not to move so much that the headache would worsen. "Evan, wake up."

They were alone in the small room, furnished with two bunks and an old-fashioned bare bulb hanging from a high ceiling that offered just enough light to see by. Evan was still unconscious, but a quick check of his pulse settled Alex's nerves.

"Well, we're alive. Now what?" Alex rubbed his temples, then reached down and took Evan's left hand in his. The bandage he'd wrapped around the burn was still in place, so he carefully unwrapped it and held the palm up toward the light. The redness around Evan's silver implant was gone. He touched the strange metal and felt no residual sensation of heat in either the silver or the skin. He set the hand back on the bunk and unbuttoned Evan's shirt. It was impossible to tell how long they'd been asleep, and Alex was beginning to feel twinges of fear. The escape pod had cryogenic chambers, but that science was still so iffy a person had to be desperate to risk it. Seven out of ten attempts ended in death or permanent limb damage.

Okay, so his shoulder’s still bruised. Alex sat back, blinkingBut does that mean we haven’t geen gone long, or we’ve been frozen? Frustrated and nervous, he stood and paced to the door. The access panel next to the door was lit but not red. Could I be so lucky? Alex pressed his hand into the panel and the door opened obediently with a quiet whoosh. Startled, he stood in the doorway, expecting someone to come rushing in, preventing him from going anywhere. He glanced back at Evan, then stepped halfway through the door to have a look.

There was no one. In either direction the hallway stretched on indefinitely, lined with similar doors and lit by single unit lights hanging from a ceiling he couldn't see. Alex moved back inside the room and leaned against the side of the door, twisting the ring around his finger. Okay, what do we know?

There was no way of knowing if he and Evan had been put in cryogenic freeze, but then again there hadn't been anyone else in the escape pod with them. So it could have been retrieved, and then they'd been frozen. But that still didn't seem all that likely. Unless their captors didn't mind taking such a chance, risking their deaths in transit. Their weapons were gone, that was a given. Alex didn't want to chance the door closing and not opening again, so he moved back inside the room and let it shut when it sensed the path was clear.

He walked back to where Evan was still lying and sat on the edge of the bed just as his friend began to move. The second his eyes opened, he shot up to a sitting position.

"Hang on!" Alex pushed him back down. "That first step is hell."

"God!" Evan pressed a hand against his forehead and closed both eyes tight.

"Yeah, great hangover. Just take a minute, it clears up." Alex stayed on the bed, facing his friend.

"Where are we?" Evan opened eyes that were watering slightly and blinked several times, looking up at Alex, then around the room. "What happened?"

Alex shrugged. "We were drugged in that pod, that's all I know. Where we are, how long we've been out, who brought us here . . . I don't have a clue."

More slowly this time, Evan raised himself to a sitting position. He glanced at his left hand. "We couldn't have been out too long."

"Does that still hurt?"

"Just a little."

"I checked the bruise on your shoulder, it's the same as it was yesterday. If it's still yesterday."

Evan looked at him. "If we were on ice nothing would have healed."

"Yeah, but we'd most likely be dead." Alex stood with a frustrated sigh. "The door's not locked, and there's no one out there."

"You didn't go looking around, did you?" Evan got up then, looking alarmed and worried, and followed Alex to the door.

"I was waiting for you." Alex palmed the keypad again and the door slid open with the same quiet movement of air. They both stepped out and looked down the corridor in both directions. "Maybe this is just a dream."

Without warning, Evan took hold of Alex's arm just above the elbow and pinched the skin as hard as he could.

"Ouch!" Alex pulled back, glaring at the Sha'erah. "What did you do that for?"

"You're not dreaming."

"Well thank you very much!" Alex rubbed his elbow and let out a snort of air, but Evan wasn't paying attention. He'd stepped farther into the hallway and was staring off in the distance.

"It's not your dream, it's mine."

"What?"

Evan looked at him, a worried expression darkening his face. "I had this dream when I was sick. It was this very corridor."

Alex stepped closer, looking into his friend's black eyes. There was something in his expression that was giving him a chill. "What is this place?"

His reply was a slow shaking of his head as both eyebrows knit more tightly. Finally he seemed to resign himself to the answer. "It's home."

"Home? As in where you came from?" Somehow Alex knew he was going to say that. "So, I'd hazard a guess our mystery hacker is here."

"Someone knew what we were doing from the start. They followed us, then brought us here."

"Yeah, but why? It's not like we were getting close to anything." Alex shook his head, then let out a sigh. "Well, I guess our hosts are waiting for us to take a look around." He turned and started down the corridor.

"Where are you going?" Evan reached out and grabbed Alex's shirt sleeve, pulling him back.

Alex shrugged. "I just picked a direction. Should we go that way?" He pointed in the opposite direction and raised both eyebrows. "Looks to me like it hardly matters."

Evan hesitated.

"Look, we don't have much choice. Wherever we are, someone brought us here. We're alive, unharmed, and not exactly locked up and under guard. We're not going to find a way out sitting in here waiting." He stood there, looking at Evan. It dawned on him they were totally and completely screwed, having no idea even what part of the galaxy they might be in, let alone on what planet or moon, or even if they were on a planet or moon. They had no weapons, and the forces that had brought them here were obviously two steps ahead.

"Evan, if this is where you came from, then we were brought here. We might as well look around." He put a hand on Evan's arm, fully aware of how upsetting this could be for his friend, but still unable to think of anything more comforting to say. "We'll be fine if we just stick together."

Evan's expression changed to one of resigned certainty. "I'm not letting you out of my sight."

Alex grinned and gave his arm a pat. "I'm counting on it."

They started down the empty corridor side by side, ignoring all the doors until it became apparent the hallway seemed to have no end or intersection to offer them. Alex looked at each door as they passed, but found no markings to indicate what they'd find if they opened them.

"Well, obviously we're supposed to wander around on our own." Alex stopped in front of one door and glanced at Evan. "This is as good as any."

Evan placed his hand over the keypad and the door opened without hesitation. They both stood in the doorway, waiting for something to happen. When nothing did, Alex shrugged and stepped carefully inside, looking around as he did.

As far as rooms went, it was unimpressive. Four walls, one bunk and a row of computers and unfamiliar equipment set in the headboard of the bed. There were linens, freshly made and perfectly tucked in.

Alex glanced at Evan. "Bedroom?"

The Sha'erah's jaw was clenched, sending ripples through his skin as the muscles clamped down.

Alex felt his face flush with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"Yes." The word barely made it through the clamped jaw.

"Okay, let's try another one." Alex left the room without investigating further. He tried the door directly opposite the bedroom, hoping it would be something different, and was rewarded with a larger room filled with equipment, computers, two chairs facing each other, and a medical exam bed against the far wall.

"Don't." Evan grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the entrance.

Alex didn't argue, allowing the door to close again. Well what the hell did I expect?He knew any facility that created human beings to order wasn't going to be an esthetically pleasing place to visit. It just never occurred to him until that moment he'd be seeing where Evan had been created. Made to order thanks to the specifications of one Spencer Marcase.

"Since this is your dream, how about you pick the next one?" He tried to smile but it didn't work.

With a quiet sigh, Evan led the way further down the long corridor.

"Do you remember this place? I mean, this hallway? Is there an end somewhere or a lift or something?" Alex watched his friend's face for any sign of a changing emotion, anything other than the mix of dread and anger he was seeing now.

"I know those are bedrooms." He pointed to the doors on their left without looking at them. "And those are training rooms. That's where we learned to be Sha'erah."

Alex nodded, letting an uncomfortable silence fall as he followed his friend down the corridor. There had to be someone around, probably watching. Were they observing them, seeing what they would do or how they investigated their surroundings? What did they hope to learn by just watching? They'd been brought here for a reason, accelerating a discovery they very well might never have made otherwise. Not a very smart move, considering.

He looked up at Evan again. The look of anger seemed to be altering to one of determined resignation, as if he was remembering something from long ago, following that memory until it led him somewhere. Alex had no choice but to follow.

They stopped at another door, exactly the same as all the others they'd passed. Evan paused, his hand hovering over the access panel as he looked at Alex.

"This should be the main study room. Where we learned everything else." He pressed the panel and the door opened instantly and silently.

Alex stepped inside what appeared to be an anteroom of sorts. It was large enough to fit three or four people with the door shut, holding them between the exit and another door that led into a large lecture hall they could see through a soundproofed glass window. The viewing area was behind and to the left of a large video screen spanning a good thirty feet by sixty. Facing that were two rows of five seats, occupied by children of the same age, Alex assumed about seven years old, maybe eight. Each child sported a delicate tattoo on his neck, and a matching symbol on the back of one hand. There was no instructor, just the video screen and images flashing across it almost too fast to focus on. He had to assume there was narration, since their viewing room was soundproofed, he couldn't hear a thing coming from the room. So far, none of the students had so much as glanced their way.

On closer inspection, Alex realized the children were all wearing small headsets as they stared unblinking at the screen. "This is school, then?" He looked at Evan and received only a curt nod in reply. His friend was looking around the room, apparently seeing more in his memory than what was actually in the lecture hall.

Alex swallowed, unsure what to do next. This was what they'd been looking for -- or rather, what he'd been looking for -- but now that he'd found it he had no clue what to do.

Before either of them could decide what their next move should be, the screen flashed and went dark. A speaker above their heads crackled to life, allowing them to hear the same voice the children were listening to. Alex recognized it immediately as the voice from the escape pod.

"Sha'erah, we have visitors." The voice boomed with a resonance of benevolent authority, reaching every corner of the room without having to raise its volume.

Evan looked at the speaker, then at Alex. "It's the Maker."

"The what?" Alex stared at him.

All of the children had removed their headsets and turned to stare at the pair of them.

"These visitors are a fine example of what life holds in store for you, once you join with your Keepers."

"Who is the Maker?" Alex stopped looking at the children who were still staring expressionlessly at them from their seats.

Evan looked at him, black eyes catching a shimmer of light from the other room. "He is the one who created us all." He turned and looked back at the children. "I remember it now like it was a dream, or a story." He looked at Alex again, confusion clouding his face. "But it doesn't feel real."

"Sha'erah, you are dismissed."

Alex glanced back at the room and watched the children silently leave their seats, then line up single file and walk quickly and quietly out of the lecture hall through a back door. Not one word was spoken among them. He glanced back at Evan. This was a far cry from his school days. A far cry from anyone's.

"Gentlemen, feel free to continue your tour." The voice was directed at them now, and was followed by an immediate unlocking of the door that would lead into the lecture hall.

"Who are you?" Alex directed his voice toward the speaker but looked around the room for any sign of movement or monitoring. Evan followed silently.

"I am the Maker. I am the one you've come to see."

Alex proceeded cautiously. "The maker of what?"

"The maker of all Sha'erah," the voice said in a decidedly proud tone.

The seats in the lecture hall were wired to all manner of equipment Alex recognized as nerve stimulation and sensory input monitors. He assumed they were used to accelerate the learning process, allowing six-year-olds to absorb the information it would take the rest of the human population fourteen or fifteen years to get around to. Add to that the possibility of subliminal sleep training and you got a perfectly educated, aptly trained slave completely lacking in any will of his or her own.

Alex felt nauseated. "You brought us here?" He suddenly wanted to be anywhere but here. The notion that he'd had no business going on this quest in the first place had never felt so profoundly sure. Now he just wanted to get himself and his friend as far away from there as he possibly could. Forget all ideas of finding answers or ending riddles, and live the life they'd grown to enjoy over the past ten months.

"You were searching for me." The voice followed them through the room without losing any volume. "Evan is one of my best, you know." The Maker's tone was again dripping with pride. "He's always been my favorite of the adaptations, and so perfectly in tune with his abilities. I've never come that close before, and haven't yet again."

Alex suddenly felt extremely possessive. He ignored the look Evan was directing his way and let his voice convey his emotions. "This isn't a recall. You're not getting him back."

The Maker laughed. "I am the only one who could reclaim him, you realize."

"But you're not." Alex felt his mind prepare for a fight. Verbal sparring was becoming a hobby with him, but he was more than willing to turn this into something more physical. If he could find something physical to attack, that is.

A door at the far end of the room opened. "Please, continue your tour. I shall remain at hand to answer any of your questions."

Alex ignored the door and looked at Evan. The look of trepidation on the Sha'erah's face was even more alien than the tattoos or silver embedded in his palm. Alex wasn't sure what frightened him more . . . the look of anger and hate he'd seen on Evan's face that day on Cryian, or the fear he saw there now.

"He can't hurt you, Evan." Alex waited until the Sha'erah blinked, focusing on him. "Trust me. Whoever this Maker is, he has no power over you. Not any more."

Evan swallowed. "I don't know the way out of here. Or where we are. Or how we can get away."

Alex knew Maker was listening, and perhaps the entire planet was listening, but it didn't matter. Evan was right, they had no way out, and could easily be killed at any moment and would probably be helpless to stop it. "I know. But that doesn't change anything. He can kill us any time he wants, and could have by now if that's what he wanted to do. But no matter what happens, he has no power over you." And he’ll have to go through me to try and get any.

Evan was shaking his head slowly from side to side, his expression changing to resignation. "But he does. He's the Maker. I'm Sha'erah."

"And I'm your Keeper!" Alex held up his hand, flashing the sliver ring in the light. "Nobody's taking this away from me. I don't care what he calls himself, Evan. Maker, Master or the Muffin Man! We're a team, and nothing's going to change that. Understand?"

Evan seemed to snap out of a trance. He looked at Alex, eyebrows creased as he seemed momentarily confused. Finally he nodded. "I understand."

Alex let out a slight sigh of relief. "Okay, let's look around."

They entered the next room and found three doors to choose from. Before Alex could ask the speaker in the wall which way they were expected to go, the third door to the left opened. This room was more chilling than anything Alex could have anticipated.

Facing them, set slightly into the wall, were ten circular pods pulsing red and green. Each pod had dozens of tubes running into and out of equipment and computers set in the walls, floors and ceiling of the sterile room. Monitors above each one showed the status of each pod labeled as heart rate, pressure, temperature and adaptation implant level.

"Our newest batch." Maker's voice emanated from a wall speaker. "You've come at a most special time. Ten graduates will be delivered to their Keepers this week, followed by the delivery of our newest group."

Alex couldn't even swallow. His stomach had knotted into a ball that wanted badly to bounce right straight out of his gut, and he was sorely tempted to let it. In a minute or two, when the shock wore off, he was sure anger and disgust would take over and smooth things out, but until they did he was afraid to even glance at Evan. If there was any sign of the horror he was experiencing showing on his face, he couldn't risk his friend seeing it.

"Here they are grown, developed outside the womb so implantation can begin during development. It's a delicate balance of biology, genetics and a technology I'm afraid would go beyond your comprehension. Each child is designed per their future Keeper's orders. Mostly standard, but on occasion I'm given the challenge to produce someone like Evan, with a talent very rarely successful. But in him, I achieved absolute perfection!" Maker's voice practically beamed with pride. "I've tried to reproduce the results several times, but I've never succeed to his degree of mastery. Which makes Spencer Marcase's order one of a kind. You see, we produce ten at a time, devote our entire energies to their care and training. Ten Sha'erah, delivered every seven years, keeps the population down."

"And the prices up." Alex felt his upper lip curling with disgust as he spoke.

"Precisely."

He forced himself to step closer to the nearest pod, but couldn't look directly at it. Instead he focused on the computers busily working away. "But I thought they left here when they were five?"

Evan hadn't moved from the doorway, but kept his eyes locked on Alex's every move.

"Evan left us when he was five." The voice moved from one speaker to another, closer to where Alex was standing, giving the impression of having followed him. "He was an extreme example. Smart, perfectly adapted. I've never been able to duplicate him."

Alex shot his friend a look, but spoke to the voice calling itself Maker. "You keep saying 'we', but I haven't seen anyone other than the children."

"I use the omnipotent term." Master switched to using all the speakers in the room. "When I speak of "We", I am referring to my machines."

There was movement in the far corner of the room. Slowly, three wheeled constructs pulled away from the wall where they'd appeared as complex mechanical arrays. Now Alex could see them for the robots they were, complete with multiple arm extensions, audio and visual inputs and sensory arrays.

"I remember them," Evan whispered at Alex. He'd stepped closer, pressing into his Keeper's side as they watched the robots wheel closer. "They're the teachers."

Alex glanced at him, then looked at the machines. They rolled to a halt several feet away and looked at him with blank mechanical faces. "These things were your teachers?"

"I find humans so difficult to deal with," Maker continued.

"Aren't you human?" Alex was afraid of the answer, but it was what he'd come to learn.

"I'll answer all of your questions at dinner. You and Evan will join me after your tour. But right now, I have business to attend to. My workers will show you the way."

Alex heard the faint click as the speakers powered down. The three robots turned on spinning wheels and slowly rolled toward an open door. Alex moved to follow them but Evan grabbed his arm.

"I've never seen Maker before." His voice was still an urgent whisper, even though the robots gave no indication of listening.

"You've never seen him?" Alex looked at his partner. "You mean, never?"

Evan shook his head and released his Keeper's arm. They both started to follow the robots out of the room and down a long corridor. "I don't even know what species he could be."

Alex's mind was beginning to feel a bit numb from it all. Too much information. He wished Zane was there, maybe he could shine some light on the whole situation. But he didn't even know where they were. They could be at the opposite end of the galaxy for all he knew, with no way back.

"Sha'erah have been around for what . . . a few hundred years?"

"Seven hundred, I was told."

"Okay, seven hundred. This Maker guy, he claims to be the creator of all Sha'erah. So either he's just one in a line of humans responsible for all this, or he's not human." He started spinning the ring around his finger as they continued down the hallway behind the slowly rolling robots. "He could be lying. He could just be representing a group." It was hard to believe what they'd seen so far could be the work of one man. "Do you remember seeing anyone else when you were here? Any humans?"

"No. Just the other children, and them." Evan nodded toward the robots leading them into another room. "All I remember is learning and being taught."

And I was whining aboutmychildhood?Alex couldn't remember a time when he'd felt more like a jerk. They followed the machines into another room filled with equipment and work benches strewn with tools and diagrams. The tour continued, showing them room after room filled with monitors, equipment, testing apparatus and things even Evan couldn't identify.

"What do you remember about leaving here? When Spencer came and got you?"

Evan shrugged. "Not much. I was . . . " He glanced around, even though they were the only ones in the room. Neither of the robots so much as turned toward him. "I was nervous. I remember that."

"Anyone would be," Alex smiled slightly. "Do you remember a ship? Did it take long to get from here to Cryian?"

Evan sighed as his gaze drifted away. "A few days, maybe a week, I think."

Alex nodded. "Okay, good. At least we're not completely out in the middle of nowhere."

"If you consider Cryian as being somewhere."

"Good point." Alex's smiled widened. That was the first hint since they came to in this strange place of the Evan he'd grown close to all these months. Maybe once the shock wore off, the Sha'erah would feel more like himself. More in control of the both of them. Until that time, Alex knew it was his turn to be the anchor that kept them centered.

One of the robots beeped and the other two responded, then started rolling out the door and back in the direction they'd come. The first one chirped at them, spun around, and led the way through another door, down a short hallway, then into a room that looked decidedly more human.

"Must be dinner time." Alex glanced around the room, warmly lit by lamps set on tables neatly situated beside comfortable chairs spread about in small conversational groupings. He noticed the floor was void of any carpeting or texture, probably for the sake of the wheeled 'bots.

"Make yourselves comfortable, gentlemen. I'll be with you momentarily." Maker's voice seemed to float around the room from hidden speakers. "Help yourself to refreshments, I'm sure you're both in need of fluids by now."

A panel in one wall slid up, revealing an old fashioned wet bar, glasses and ice dispenser.

Alex immediately registered his own dire thirst. He walked to the unit and filled two glasses with water, ignoring the assortment of alcohol and other liquids. Evan hesitated when he handed one glass over.

"If he wanted us dead, he had plenty of time already." Alex held the glass higher, insisting his partner accept it. They were both dehydrated.

Reluctantly Evan took the glass, then carefully sipped the water. When nothing happened, he downed it as quickly as Alex did. "I've never seen this room before." He set the empty glass on a table and looked around the room, shaking his head slightly.

"You wouldn't." Maker's voice didn't come from the speakers this time. Both men turned, trying to locate the source. "No Sha'erah has been in my private rooms before."

Alex caught sight of a curtain being pulled aside by unseen strings. He turned to face their host, waiting for him to step out of the shadows, and reveal who, or what, it was. What he saw coming through the parted curtain definitely wasn't human. Or at least, hadn't been in a very long time. He froze, mentally and physically, with Evan so close beside him he could hear the Sha'erah breathe.

Maker wheeled out from behind the curtain on a base of wheels, shimmering silver metal starkly contrasted in sections by human flesh. A half-crown of blond hair shared space on a skull made mostly of silver, with a human face sporting one decidedly mechanical eye. From forehead to neck, he was human. But his chest split into two sections, metal meeting flesh, which widened until his entire abdomen was a mesh of mechanical parts and blinking lights. Both shoulders were metal, but his left arm was human, down to the hand which sported metal fingers. A silver waist gave way to two human legs down to the knee, where they both melded into a solid box of silver metal supported by multiple wheels that moved with a quiet, gentle whir.

"Welcome to my home." Maker wheeled into the room, smiling grotesquely at Alex, then Evan in turn. He extended the more human of his arms and moved further into the room, nearer the chairs. "Please, be comfortable."

Alex swallowed back the nausea threatening from deep inside. His brain couldn't seem to function, couldn't wrap itself around the sight before him, or the fact that it was even speaking. Somewhere deep inside he realized he wasn't exactly being the pillar of strength Evan might need at that very moment, but the rest of him couldn't decide if it should stand there staring until reality asserted itself, or demand a release from this nightmare.

He cleared his throat, forcing the gears back into motion. "You're . . . "

"I am Maker." Maker wheeled to a stop a few feet in front of Alex, still smiling. His teeth were silver metal, but the tongue was as pink as any human's. He cocked his head toward Evan. "I am so glad to see you again! I've watched you grow with great pride."

Alex's possessiveness kicked out the stupor keeping him in place. He moved slightly so that he was closer to the . . . thing . . . calling itself Maker, with Evan neatly tucked in a little behind his shoulder. "Why did you bring us here?"

Maker blinked his one human eye while the mechanical one swirled to alter focus. He smiled a tolerant smile. "You were trying to find your way to me, weren't you?"

"You assaulted us and brought us here against our will." Alex tried to sound forceful, but the sight of the half human, half machine was both horrific and disgustingly fascinating. It made sense now, why the rumors had Sha'erah as being not quite human. But Evan sure as hell wasn't one of these monsters!

"You would have found me eventually." Maker shrugged, his silver shoulders sparkling in the light. He turned and wheeled toward the bar. "Evan is that good. And you're an amazing explorer yourself, Captain Marcase. The two of you together could find anything you set out to, I believe." He turned completely around at the waist, facing them while his lower half was still facing the bar. "Can I interest you in some scotch? I understand it's your preferred drink."

Alex blinked, trying not to be sick at the sight of Maker's body turned in half against itself. What kind of monster is he?"That was you, then?"

"You were hacking into the files?" Evan spoke for the first time, his voice a mixture of awe and disgust.

Maker smiled, bowing his head in humility. "I admit it, I'm not as good as you. When I find an adaptation that works that well, I can't resist adding it to my own repertoire. While I have your talent, Evan, I still lack your ability. I was forced to use surprise in my favor, then preprogram much of what happened in the pod."

"You mean, you . . . "

"Yes, Captain. I incorporate the very enhancements I create into my own being. But only those I deem appropriate. So far, I'm the only adult human to be enhanced. The Sha'erah are treated before birth." Maker poured a glass of whiskey and wheeled closer to Alex, holding the glass out. When it wasn't accepted, he merely shrugged and placed it on a table, then wheeled a few feet away again and looked at Alex. "That's what has kept me going all these years."

Alex swallowed, trying hard to keep his eyes on the one human eye Maker had. "All these years? Sha'erah have been around for seven hundred years."

Maker smiled. "Seven hundred and twenty, to be precise. I started out working for the military. Research and Development, they called it." He wheeled away and began slowly moving about the room as he spoke, occasionally reaching out to straighten a painting or adjust a lamp. "I created a process in which soldiers were trained for specific tasks. It was a complete success."

Alex glanced at Evan to make sure his friend hadn't mentally shut himself off. The Sha'erah was watching Maker with the same mix of fascinated disgust he felt himself. He started fingering his ring. "You mean the subliminal training that turned soldiers into mindless fighting machines?"

"Yes, that one." Maker's smile never faltered. "When that project was terminated, I was on the verge of a new discovery, and was forced to pursue it on my own. Over the years I managed to perfect my technique. Eventually, I took to preserving myself so I could continue the work in secret. Though I must admit, I never could have predicted the profits involved." Maker sighed, shaking his head. "Still, this kind of work takes a great deal of money."

"You've been alive for seven hundred years?" Alex knew it had to be true, but it was as hard to accept as the monster telling the story.

"Seven hundred forty eight, exactly." Maker wheeled closer. "I've used my enhancements to prolong my life, communicate with my machines, and develop my techniques, perfecting them until I'd invented the Sha'erah. Now I find challenge in the special orders. Orders which occasionally produce such rare finds as Evan here."

Alex felt the ring on his finger tightened inexplicably. He knew he hadn't pulled it near the knuckle, he never did that. A blue light on Maker's chest panel was blinking, distracting him. "Are you . . . genetically speaking, where do the children come from?"

Maker sighed, holding Alex's gaze. "I'm not their father, if that's what you're asking. Not genetically. That varies from child to child, of course. And they are quite human. Just . . . enhanced." Maker's mechanical eye spun around, altering lenses. "You know, as a deep space explorer, I could easily suggest a Sha'erah with different talents than the ones Evan has. Talents that could better aid you in your work."

There was a glint of something in Maker's one human eye that Alex didn't like the look of. He shook his head. "Evan helps me more than anyone could." He let his own lids lower, showing the creature before him he knew something was going on. "I have no interest at all in someone else."

"You realize, of course, that as the Maker I still have final say in the fate of all my children."

"Evan decides his own fate." The thing was hinting at something and Alex didn't want to play. The light was blinking more insistently now. He tried not to stare at it, wondering what it did for the half-man before him. His finger was beginning to throb now as the silver continued to tighten.

"Evan, ease up." He grabbed the ring and looked at his friend.

"What?"

The metal was biting down now, threatening to break into the skin of his finger. "Ease up!" Alex held his hand so Evan could see it. The silver was heating up, as if trying to melt into him.

"I'm not doing that." Evan grabbed Alex's hand and looked at Maker. "He is!"

Confused, Alex stared at the creature. The blue light on his chest panel was blinking wildly, coinciding with the pulsing pain gripping his ring finger. Anger raged inside as he realized what Maker was trying to do. "You're gonna have to kill me first."

Maker's neck was mostly human flesh, so Alex assumed there'd be some kind of pulse there, some sort of artery he could crush. His mind barely had time to register the feeling of a combination metal/flesh beneath his hands before the world went white, then vanished altogether.

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