A Plain Jane Book One

  Chapter 8

  Jane

  She didn’t even pause. One of the security officers told her to halt, but she did the exact opposite. She ducked down, pushed onto the floor, and did an automatic, quick roll, coming up and pressing into a full and neat somersault until she had landed right behind a console.

  Two blistering rifle shots slammed into the side of the console.

  She didn’t hold her breath or scream; whatever had control of her body didn’t want to waste the energy.

  There was no doubt that it was in full control now.

  Jane somehow still had the ability to speak, and she was mumbling to herself frantically, begging her body to stop.

  Yet her body had something else in mind.

  The research lab was a big one, and though Jane had never had much to do with them, she’d seen a couple in her time. This one was almost the size of a hangar and had several banks of highly sophisticated computer terminals with rows and rows of different holographic pictures and images swirling over them.

  Beyond the bank of computers and floating holograms, right at the back of the room, was something else. It was surrounded by a heavy circle of yellow light, no doubt a sophisticated containment field of some sort, or perhaps a security field. Really, she’d never had much to do with anything like this, so she was just guessing.

  Within the field was a simple black box. It was neat, it was even, it had no markings, it appeared to be perfectly flat on every side, and it was jet black.

  The second Jane saw it was the second a powerful shock of recognition blazed through her stomach. Though she couldn’t control her limbs, she could still feel the sensation as it ran through them.

  Several more plasma blasts ate into the side of the console beside her, and in another moment, she heard a clicking sound. Before she could wonder what it was, she scooted to the side, dug her hand into the panel of one of the consoles beside her and yanked it up above her head as an object slammed down. There was a great electrical discharge that was absorbed by the panel casing, and then Jane found herself throwing the casing to the side.

  She looked down briefly to notice that something looking suspiciously like a shock grenade was lying on the ground.

  Dear god, they’d thrown a shock grenade at her, and she’d ripped the panel off a computer console to protect herself. She’d had no idea what they were throwing at her, and yet her body had reacted before the thing had come into sight.

  “Oh no, oh no, oh no,” was all she could repeat to herself.

  She waited, still pressed up against the bank of consoles behind her. She could hear the footsteps of someone coming up behind. Perhaps they believed the shock grenade had stunned her, because the cadence of their step was easy and light.

  She waited – or more accurately, her body waited – until the steps drew parallel with the bank of consoles. She flipped up, faster than she’d ever moved in her life. She brought a hand up and twisted it over the grip of the security guard’s gun, using her leg to push between his and then flicking up her ankle, making the security guard lose balance as she forced his leg off the ground. She pushed heavily into him, grabbed the gun, and then dived back behind the security console.

  “Good god, what the prack is going on?” she heard somebody ask desperately from the other side of the room.

  She shared their sentiment. Jane desperately needed to know what was going on too.

  Once again, her body had other plans.

  Before she could wait for the two remaining security guards to come up with another plan to disable or kill her, she felt her arm lift up behind her and twist until her palm was resting against the console panel above. She was still sitting there with her back pressed against the console, her legs still pulled up in front of her, her free hand still holding the gun. Without even looking at the panel, she started to feel her fingers dance across it as they typed something quickly and efficiently. She had no idea what she was doing, but obviously that didn’t matter.

  There was a low hum and then a quick click, and finally she let herself stand up. Well, not that she let herself do anything; her body decided that it could stand up. When it did, Jane noted that all three security guards and all the scientists were now locked in place with security fields.

  They were all looking at her, human or alien, with expressions of total horror on their faces.

  “Who the hell are you?” one of the security guards snapped out in a gruff growl. “You won’t get away with this. You would have triggered the security alarms; they’ll be coming for you. There’s nowhere to go.”

  “Who are you?” one of the scientists repeated, a human female, her expression perhaps the most horrified of all.

  “I work in admin,” Jane said simply, her voice shaking but her body remaining still and controlled. She felt herself turning, felt her grip tighten around the rifle as she brought it up, her other hand holding it firmly in place.

  She started to walk toward the little black box on the far side of the room.

  Jane was aware of a large commotion outside of the research lab doors. She could feel something shaking under her feet, and though the doors were soundproof, she still fancied she could hear the shouts and screams of what was no doubt the entire security corps of the Galactic Force waiting to burst through and shoot her dead.

  Jane didn’t wait to find out. She started walking toward the field on the other side of the room, and she started shooting. At first, it buzzed as the shots had little effect. But with every step she took closer and every blistering round she fired, it started to weaken. And then, when Jane was almost upon it, it changed color to a deep red.

  There was a massive bang as the doors behind her exploded. Before Jane could turn around and watch herself get shot, she felt herself twist the rifle in her grip and she lunged toward the security field, using the butt of the rifle to strike it. That strike was all it took. The security field blinked out.

  There were several screams from the other side of the room, and she could hear round after round being fired at something. Out of the corner of her eye, as her body lunged toward the box on the ground, she saw a flickering blue security field in front of the door. Apparently, when her body had expertly managed to fool the computer into putting security fields around all the people in the room, it had also, quite smartly, put one right in front of the door. But just as Jane had been able to shoot through the security field containing the box, the people in front of the door would be able to do the same. The second they did was the second they would shoot her.

  She didn’t stop to wait and find out. She felt her body collapse to the ground as she snatched up the box. She slammed one of her palms onto the underside of it and then twisted it in her grip and slammed her other palm down on the top.

  There was a snapping sound and an enormous crackling, and Jane was sure that the security field in front of the door had finally failed.

  Suddenly something happened to the box. Something surprising, something quick. In the blink of an eye, it was no longer a box. In the blink of an eye, it was something else entirely. It jumped right out of her hand and landed on the ground, and then it morphed and grew. In a second, it was a creature, a tall, incredible, completely black creature. It looked like a robot with a large barrel chest, but it seemed to have human, organic eyes.

  Suddenly, it moved. It moved faster than anything Jane had ever seen. It flipped right over her and landed behind her, just as a shot slammed into it, a shot that was meant for her. The shot didn’t affect it in the least, and it snapped down and jammed its hand right into the edge of the yellow ring that had been producing the security field. As several more shots slammed into it, the security field buzzed back into place. Yet this time it was different; it now crackled with energy. It was also no longer a simple yellow; it was now a dynamic, electric blue.

  Jane realized she had control over her body again, and slowly, as she shook violently, she let herself crumple down onto the floor, brought her knees in
, grabbed her arms around them, and just sat there, trembling wildly, rocking back and forth in fear and desperation.

  Shot after shot slammed into the security field, but soon they stopped; nothing could get through.

  Jane didn’t care anymore. She just sat there, huddled behind the creature, her back to all the action, rocking back and forth, her arms clutched around her legs, her head huddled down between them.

  …

  Lucas Stone

  Lucas finally lowered his gun, but it was slow. He’d called off the shooting; it didn’t seem to be having any effect. No matter what they threw at the strange blue security field, nothing weakened it.

  Pracking hell, what was going on?

  The thing wasn’t attacking anyone or moving anywhere. It simply knelt there with one of its peculiar arms jammed right into the ring that produced the security field.

  “What the hell is going on?” one of the security officers asked by his side.

  Lucas didn’t answer. His eyes were stuck open and focused on the creature before him.

  A robot had sprung to life right from the Paran Artifact.

  While that was incredible, it wasn’t what stopped him from breathing.

  Jane.

  When he’d rushed into Research Lab Two – when they’d finally broken through the insanely sophisticated hack that had kept the doors closed, only to find a security field in front of them – was when he’d seen her. He hadn’t believed his eyes at first. Hadn’t believed it when he’d watched her walk carefully, with perfect poise and control, toward the security field and the Artifact, blasting away as she neared.

  He hadn’t wanted to shoot her. So he’d ground to a halt and watched as she’d collapsed on top of the box, bringing it up to her chest and slamming her palms onto it, the robot forming instantly.

  Now she was simply sitting there, crumpled into a ball, rocking back and forth, head between her legs, back toward them.

  “Lucas, Lucas,” someone called from his side. He turned to see Marie.

  It was hard to tear his eyes off Jane and the creature, but when he realized that Marie was in the room, he took several steps toward her. “Get these containment fields down now,” he snapped quickly. “Are you okay, Marie?”

  Marie nodded her head, her beautiful tousled blond hair bouncing in front of her face. “What’s going on? Who is she? What is that thing?” Marie asked quickly, her wide brown eyes pressed with concern and surprise.

  Lucas turned away from her, settling his gaze back on the sight before him. The creature, whatever it was, wasn’t attacking. It had never attacked. The second someone had shot at Jane, was the second it had sprung into action. And Lucas did mean sprung. He’d never seen anything move so fast. Whatever that creature was, it was amazing.

  In any case, it didn’t seem much interested in them. It still had its hand jammed into the security field, and it was clear that whatever it was, it was capable of redirecting its own energy into the field and making it far, far stronger than anything Lucas currently had to attack it with.

  Jane was still crumpled into a ball, rocking herself backward and forward.

  He had no idea what was going on. Dear god, he had no idea.

  It didn’t take them long to get the containment fields down. Lucas had the feeling that the only reason it didn’t take long was that the creature didn’t care.

  The second they got the scientists and other security guards loose, was the second Marie ran over to him and placed a hand on his arm. He put his own hand over hers. “You’ll be okay; we’ve got it under control.”

  “Got this under control?” somebody snapped from behind him.

  Lucas turned to see none other than Yaka Bakal – one of the best scientists the Galactic Force had. It was clear by the stiff, stern look on his green face that Yaka wasn’t pleased. “Don’t fool yourself, Stone; we aren’t in control here.” Yaka pointed a heavy finger toward the creature. “That thing is.”

  Lucas let his helmet flick to transparent. He also let his gaze slip past Yaka and back onto Jane. She was still sitting there in exactly the same position, with her head tucked between her knees and her back turned to everyone. She looked completely overcome. If he hadn’t seen her easily and calmly walk toward that security field and shoot the hell out of it before twisting around and pistol whipping it, he would suspect she was traumatized by the whole situation.

  “Who is she?” Marie asked. “Is she a mercenary? A space pirate?”

  “She works in admin,” Yaka replied with a grunt.

  “What?” Marie asked, her confusion obvious.

  Lucas couldn’t blame her. His own confusion was like a wildfire burning right between his eyes. He had no idea what was going on. Granted, he’d only really met Jane last night, and although he’d seen her on and off over the past five years, he wouldn’t have suspected her to be… to have done… to be the perpetrator of whatever the prack had just happened.

  Lucas often felt he was an okay judge of character, and when he’d met Jane, even all those years ago, he’d formed the impression she was one of those genuinely kind people. The kind of person who wouldn’t begrudge you, who wouldn’t mind what you did or what race you came from, who would give you space and would help you out whenever she could. She didn’t seem to be the kind to pistol-whip a security field, shoot three security officers, and hack through Galactic Force terminals.

  Yaka walked right past the security officers and headed straight up to the security field and the creature behind.

  “Hey, get back,” one of the security officers said, trying to grab Yaka’s shoulder. Yaka shrugged out of his grip and gave a snarl for good measure.

  “Dammit,” Lucas spat and jogged up after him.

  “Right, what are you?” Yaka said as he approached the security field, his walk determined and his voice sounding not at all putout or frightened.

  “Yaka,” Lucas growled as he caught up with the scientist. Lucas kept his gun raised and pointed right at the robot. “We need to get out of here. We don’t know what it can—”

  Yaka gestured to the field offhandedly. “It is plainly not a threat to us, Stone. If it was a threat to us, it would have killed us already. Trust me, I saw that girl move, and I saw how fast the robot moved too. If they wanted to, we would be gone by now. Yet we are still here, and the both of them are hiding behind that security field. Now, I want to know why.” Yaka walked up to the field, and though the creature watched with interest, it didn’t move, and it didn’t attack.

  Feeling the fear and hesitation rip through him, Lucas still walked right up next to Yaka. He kept his gun raised but pointed it at that creature rather than Jane behind it.

  Yaka leaned over and put a hand on the end of Lucas’ rifle, pressing it down. “Don’t aggravate it,” he snapped. Then he turned back to the creature.

  There was complete silence in the room now, and while Lucas knew that every security guard would be pointing their weapon right at the creature, none of them were moving and none of them were shooting. Everybody seemed to be waiting.

  “What are you? What do you want?” Yaka asked, letting his hands drop down to his sides, his tone even and careful and lacking the aggravated edge he’d used on Lucas.

  The creature twisted its head to the side, and the look to its gaze was one of keen intelligence.

  Lucas shifted his weight, the tension in his body threatening to seize his muscles. As he did, his gun shifted with him and momentarily pointed toward Jane. As soon as it did, one of the creature’s eyes shifted and focused right on him. Now it had one eye focused on Yaka and one eye focused on Lucas.

  “Do not,” it said simply. Its voice was a low but sharp one.

  “Yes, don’t,” Yaka agreed. “Put the gun down, Lucas.”

  Lucas clamped down hard on his teeth, looking from the creature to Yaka and then back at Jane. The second he glanced her way was the second the creature directed both eyes toward him.

  Despite his years of tra
ining, Lucas let the gun drop in his grip until it was pointed at the ground.

  “Right. We aren’t a threat to you,” Yaka said directly. “Tell us what you want.”

  “Protect,” the creature answered.

  “You want protection? What’s after you?” Yaka kept his arms down by his sides evenly, and Lucas could tell that the scientist was fighting the urge to cross them. Whenever Lucas saw Yaka, the alien always had his arms crossed and his expression was always a scowling one.

  The creature darted its head to the side. “Protect,” it repeated.

  “Right. What are you trying to protect?” Yaka nodded his head toward Jane. “Is it her? If it is, let me tell you, she doesn’t appear to need any protection.”

  “Needs,” the creature replied.

  “Right. Why?” Yaka narrowed his eyes, but his expression was still neutral. The scientist was trying hard not to give away any signs of aggression.

  It was something that Lucas was failing at. His body was tensed, his shoulders up around his ears, his lips stuck open, his jaw locked. He hoped like hell Yaka knew what he was doing.

  “From what?” Yaka asked.

  The creature let its head turn to one side, then its gaze slid down to the ground until it finally looked back up at the both of them.

  “I’m going to need more than that,” Yaka noted quickly.

  The creature paused for a moment and then looked straight at Lucas.

  Suddenly, the usual steady stream of live information feeds coming from the Galactic Force computer straight into Lucas’ armor changed. The creature somehow got access to them, and immediately Lucas was bombarded with a new stream of information. It was so fast, there was so much of it, and it was such a shock that he clutched a hand to his head in pain.

  Yaka twisted to the side to stare at Lucas. “What’s it doing?”

  “It is, it is, it’s giving me… it’s giving me.” Lucas kept trying to speak, but the searing pain of having so much information thrust upon the computer that connected his bio-armor with his brain was overwhelming.

  Yaka slowly pulled a device off his wrist, and as he did, it emitted a small blue hologram. It was a personalized computer – a data pad with a sophisticated sensor array. “I’m linking my computer to yours,” Yaka said, glancing up at the creature as he did.

  Lucas kept clutching his head, but slowly the information was starting to abate. In those brief few seconds, the creature had managed to upload more information into Lucas’ system than he’d processed in years. Hell, Lucas doubted there was this much information in the whole Galactic Force computers, let alone the relatively small memory capacity of his suit.

  “I’m having trouble linking up to your computer,” Yaka said, voice low and irritated. “What is it? What did it tell you?”

  The creature didn’t move; its hand was still pressed into the ring of the security field, but it did keep both eyes directed at Lucas. It was obviously waiting for something.

  Lucas had both hands clutched to his head. Though he couldn’t actually touch his skin – the armor of his helmet in the way – it was the only thing he could do to fight against the pain. He stumbled forward, but before he could stumble right into the arcing blue electricity of the security field, Yaka put a hand up and stopped him.

  “Are you okay? What did it do?” Yaka snapped. Perhaps he was starting to lose his diplomacy, or maybe he was just jealous that the strange alien robot hadn’t bombarded his head with a planet-full of data.

  Slowly Lucas was starting to come around, and he let his hands drop from his head. Straightening up, he closed his eyes for a moment and then finally blinked them open.

  “What the prack was that?” He managed to swallow.

  Yaka moved his fingers about until the blue hologram hovering above his hand changed shape and it looked like a small, square scanning device. He stared down at the display, his eyes darting to and fro. “It has uploaded a great deal of information right into the living membrane of your suit…” Yaka trailed off, and it was obvious from his tone that he was impressed. And Yaka was never impressed. Supernovas, incredibly rare quantum singularities, a half-price sale at ChemEquip – nothing moved Yaka. Now the guy was whistling through his teeth, his jaw slack, his eyes wide with interest. “This is incredible technology. Somehow it has updated the organic memory system of your bio suit. You are now storing more information in that thing than we can store in the entirety of the Galactic Force computer banks.”

  Lucas took a massive breath. It might have been incredible, but what it felt like was a giant headache. Yet slowly, through the edges of the pain, he was starting to find access to information he’d never had before. Ordinarily, Lucas could access the Galactic Force computers through his bio suit, and within a fraction of a second, he could know whatever it was he wanted. Yet there was a limit to how much data he could store at any one time and how much he could access. If he ever went too far away from the Galactic Force computers – like deep into dead space – he would lose that connection completely, and he would have to rely on the onboard memory systems of his armor…. But this, this was different. It felt like somebody had crammed several hectares worth of computer banks right into his implant.

  “No time,” the creature said, “no time,” he repeated.

  “No time until what?” Yaka looked back up at it. “Are we about to be attacked? What kind of enemy are we looking for?”

  The creature nodded down toward Lucas. “Ask,” it said.

  “Right.” Yaka put a hand on Lucas’ chest and steadied him. “Stone, you heard the creature – what are we after?”

  “I, I…” he trailed off, blinking wildly as he tried to force through the pain and latent pressure in his head, attempting to access the memory banks of his armor in the same way he always did. It was hard this time. There was a cloud of information, almost like a fog, and he had trouble seeing what he needed to. Everything was jumbled together – just a sea of information clogging his mind. Yet out of all that information – the symbols and images that haunted him – he recognized one. It was Specimen 14.

  “What… what is that thing?” Lucas asked mostly to himself as nobody else could see the images bombarding his mind. The more he followed the vision of Specimen 14, or the impression of something similar, the more a cold sweat trickled down his back. On fast forward, it was as if he were getting a whole life history of the thing, or if not a life history, at least the history of its interactions with the Parans. He saw hordes of creatures like it attacking Paran home-world after Paran home-world. They were vicious, they were fast, and they were unique. Their bodies didn’t seem to have one form, but rather they were capable of morphing and changing depending on what situation they were in. If they were required to jump fast, to run far, they grew long capable legs. If they needed to rip through metal, to tear down defenses, they grew great big arms and claws. Yet their ordinary form appeared to be one of a white, fleshy creature. Its skin was pristine and clear, glistening and wet. It had no eyes, but a long snout that ended in a jagged jaw with protruding sharp teeth.

  Lucas snapped his eyes open and took a sharp, quick breath. He could now appreciate that Specimen 14 was one of those creatures.

  “It is about to break free,” the robot noted. “Many deaths. Unless you stop.”

  Lucas shuddered and clamped a hand to his head as another stream of information dashed through his mind. It was data on how to fight Specimen 14 and its race. They were fast, violent, chaotic and could assume any disguise. They also picked out the most important target and went after it relentlessly, leaving the weaker targets until last.

  “You must stop,” the robot said again, “stop before it gets here.”

  “Why?” Yaka asked quickly, his countenance now less diplomatic and far more worried. It was strange to see Yaka worried; usually, the man didn’t even look up when the engine core was on fire or when there were reports of space pirates heading to their position. Now he looked worried, his expression p
ressed, his voice quick. It wasn’t every day that an apparently ancient and broken Paran relic turned into a robot and started prophesying your destruction.

  The cold sweat that had raced down Lucas’ back now covered his palms and forehead. “It goes after the most important targets first,” he repeated, aware that his voice was shaky and unsure.

  The Paran Artifact nodded.

  “So you are an important target?” Yaka asked quickly.

  The Artifact shook its head.

  “Jane is an important target,” Lucas found himself saying quietly and softly.

  “You are about to lose containment,” the robot interrupted, its eyes darting off Lucas and then down as if it were trying to look through the floor.

  Jane shook and whimpered as she clutched her legs even tighter.

  Suddenly, the Galactic Force security alarms went haywire. The illumination in the room cut in half, and the familiar red strips along the ceiling that indicated red alert began to flicker.

  “Security alert, level A,” the computer warned. “Breach in containment field – possible unknown biological entity. Worldwide security forces alerted. Security measures Alpha Beta Two enacted.”

  Yaka immediately turned around, surveying the room. “What’s going on? Stone?”

  Though the pain was still roaring through his head, Lucas straightened up. Still breathing heavily, he forced his armor to make a call to Alex. The call didn’t go through. “Prack,” he spat bitterly. “It’s coming here, isn’t it? It’s coming here.” Lucas strode straight up to the security field, as close as he could get, his face now so near to the crackling, arcing blue electricity that if it weren’t for the transparent helmet he wore, it would have burnt his skin off.

  The robot only used one eye to look back at him, its other eye still directed to the ground. It didn’t have to say yes. Lucas knew he was right. Specimen 14 was coming here. As he entertained a mental image of it, a name popped into his head. Darq… it was a Darq. That was the name of its race. Out of the chaos of Paran data uploaded to his armor, that single fact made itself clearly known.

  “What do we do?” Yaka demanded, pointing to the consoles close by the door. “Marie, try to get me a level-three security field around this room.”

  Lucas was still breathing through the pain as he tried to access as much information as he could, attempting to get an idea of how to beat this thing. But there was a problem. Out of the little information he could make sense of, he knew one thing for sure: the Darq were practically unbeatable. They had destroyed the Parans, perhaps the most technologically advanced race in the entire Galaxy. They had done it quickly, efficiently, and silently. So what kind of hope did the Galactic Force have?

  “There’s only one,” the Paran Artifact said as if it could read Lucas’ mind. “It’s close now.”

  “Stone?” Yaka asked, his tone tight with fear. “What do we do?”

  Lucas felt paralyzed – the amount of information, the sheer certainty that there was no way to defeat the creature…. It felt hopeless.

  So he just stood there, covered in cold sweat, image after image flashing through his mind, certainty after certainty rolling around his brain. He couldn’t….

  “Stone,” Yaka snapped loudly.

  When Lucas didn’t reply, Yaka growled and turned from him. “Try to make some defenses, try to contact the security division, tell them what’s going on.” He pointed at the other security forces in the room.

  It was too late.

  Suddenly, the Paran Artifact looked down at the floor, both of its eyes snapping there, its shoulders and body tucking in.

  Without warning, the floor underneath it melted away. Jane screamed and started to fall down, but in an instant, the Paran Artifact twisted around, pulled its arm from the security ring, and grabbed her. It threw Jane out of the way then jumped out of the security ring itself. Snapping down, it jammed its arm into the security ring again, the field flickering back into place just as something snapped forward.

  It was Specimen 14, and now it was trapped by that wall of flickering energy.

  It had happened so quickly, in the blink of an eye.

  Nobody in the room moved.

  There was a giant, tall, perfectly white, wet, snarling creature with no eyes. Though there was hardly any floor left below it, the Paran Artifact had obviously extended the security field there to form a floor as well. The Darq appeared contained for the moment, though it didn’t look injured from the sheer power of the field.

  The Darq leaned down slowly, crumpling its tall body in half until its face was directly opposite the Paran Artifact. It opened its mouth and snarled.

  If Lucas thought there’d been a cold sweat racing down his back before, it was nothing compared to the wave of fear that now washed over him. All of his hair stood on end, his heart beating erratically and frantically fast as his breath stopped.

  It was….

  “Contained, not for long,” the Paran Artifact said, its voice crackling as if it were under pressure.

  The Darq kept growling, bringing its face as close as it could to the security field, its teeth glinting and glistening under the electrical arc.

  “What the…” Yaka trailed off, his eyes strained wide with surprise and fear. It was an expression that Lucas had never seen on the usually controlled, hardened scientist. To be fair, Lucas had never felt fear like this himself, either.

  Everyone in the room stared at the Darq, stilled by the horrible sight.

  Except for Jane.

  Jane.

  Lucas snapped his head to the side and saw that she was still hunched up on the floor, exactly where she’d landed after the Paran Artifact had thrown her.

  Though the Darq didn’t have eyes, it still twisted its head toward her. The instant it did, an electrical shock of desperate fear jumped through Lucas. It was the way it looked – the way it stared at her without any eyes.

  “Get out,” the Paran Artifact said. “Get off planet.”

  Immediately, Jane stood up. While seconds before she’d been huddled on the ground as if she could hardly move, she now stood up with grace and ease that suggested she was hardly affected by the situation at all. She turned around, and Lucas caught sight of her face. It was shattered by fright. Her eyes were squeezed shut, tears trickling down either side of her nose, her lips pressed tightly closed. Yet her body didn’t seem to care.

  The second she started moving, the rest of the security forces pulled up their guns and trained them right on her.

  She paused.

  “Don’t,” the Paran Artifact said.

  The security forces didn’t put their guns down. Lucas twisted around and saw the expressions on their faces, or at least the expressions on the faces of the ones that weren’t wearing armor. They were all terrified, shocked; none of them would have ever seen anything like this.

  “Get out, get off planet,” the Paran Artifact said again.

  Again Jane started to move.

  Lucas grabbed his rifle.

  He was aware that one of the eyes of the Paran Artifact was trained on him.

  Jane opened her own eyes, and her gaze darted all the way around the room and then settled on Lucas. He was barely two meters from her. She looked down at his gun and then up at his face.

  “Put your damn guns down,” Yaka snarled from behind him. “Get a brain on your shoulders; you attack that girl, and she’ll attack back. Plus, I don’t think the Paran Artifact over there is going to play friendly if you do. Right now, I would rather it keep us from whatever the hell is on the other side of that security field. So put your guns down,” Yaka growled, and the note of command in his voice rang through the room.

  The security forces didn’t pay attention to him. Instead, they looked right at Lucas. Lucas, after all, still had his gun raised.

  He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know who or what to believe. Technically, standard operating procedure in a situation like this would dictate that he at least try to
take Jane into custody. She’d shot three security guards, hacked through Galactic Force computers, destroyed a security field protecting the Paran Artifact, and had then gone on to activate it somehow. And if he couldn’t take her into custody… he would have to eliminate her. She’d just proved herself to be a threat not only to the Galactic Force, but to the Galactic Union as a whole.

  … Hadn’t she?

  She was still standing there, crying.

  “Lucas,” Yaka growled from behind him. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

  For all Lucas knew, the information that the Paran Artifact had downloaded into his bio suit was wrong. Lucas didn’t have any way of knowing that it all wasn’t made up; he didn’t have the time or the resources to cross check it with the Galactic Force database. Plus, the Parans had always been such a secretive race that he doubted there would be sufficient information on them to check against, anyway.

  It could all be some kind of ruse. Some kind of play. Perhaps Specimen 14 was working with Jane. Maybe it was working with the Paran Artifact too.

  Lucas swallowed.

  He had to make some kind of decision.

  He had to decide whether the Darq was working for Jane or, as seemed obvious, wanted to rip her limb from limb.

  He finally made eye contact with her.

  Lucas put his gun down.

  As soon as he did, the other security forces followed.

  “Get off planet; get off planet now,” the Paran Artifact repeated.

  As it spoke, Jane turned and started to walk toward the door. Then she started to jog, then started to run. And she ran fast, a hell of a lot faster than Lucas would have expected was possible for her.

  “What…” he began.

  “You heard the Artifact, Stone – we have to get her off the planet,” Yaka repeated.

  “But we have to fight that thing.” Lucas turned back to Specimen 14. “If it gets out….”

  “It will go after her,” the Paran Artifact answered. “Won’t damage anything else. Won’t waste energy – has only one goal. Takes out most important first. Will ignore all others; it will go after her.”

  Lucas felt his skin pale. It was a kind of assurance, but it was a horrible one. He wanted to ask the Artifact why the hell Specimen 14 would be so damned intent on going after Jane – a woman who worked in the Administrative Division of the Galactic Force. Someone who was self-admittedly so normal that nothing interesting could or should ever happen to her. Why then would someone so damn simple and normal be the primary target for something so old, mysterious, and horrible?

  The decision came to him. It was the only one he could make. Though it went against all his training. “How do we get a ship cleared?” he asked out loud.

  “Leave that to me, Stone. Just get after her,” Yaka snapped.

  So Lucas did. He stowed his gun, and he ran like the wind after Jane, the most ordinary girl in the Galaxy.