Deena and Pakchikt waited in the ship in orbit around KekTan for Baren to contact them, which took only four days. The big insect had given the man a communicator. The receiver was inside the bug somewhere. Deena wasn’t privy to the conversations, but Pakchikt told her Baren had managed to sit next to ‘Buster’ and her husband in the café in the lobby of the building they lived in. He overheard them talking about going to Earth.
Earth. Back to Earth! Deena felt a thrill inside. Of course. Everything finally came full circle. This would end where it all began.
“So we go to Earth?” Deena asked Pakchikt.
“I don’t know any planet called ‘Earth’, but if they’re going in an Odok ship, we can travel with them if I can get this ship close enough before they bounce out. They’ll pull us along with them. It’s tricky, but we have to get to her on that planet. Security’s too tight here.
“Did you pay Baren?”
“Not yet. He needs to find out which ship she’s going on. Then I’ll give him the account pass. I set up an account for him on KekTan. He can go anywhere from their world, or stay there. It doesn’t matter to me. We’re going to Earth to kill this Buster, then I’ll finally get to go home and collect my payment.”
And get this bomb out of me, he thought.
Baren got the name of their vessel, and Pakchikt managed to move his speedy little craft right next to the monster ship before it disappeared.
The bug was a damned good pilot, inhuman really. Deena barely contained herself as his little skiff sped away from the big ship to the safety beyond the curve of the planet Earth. Then he set it in an orbit from which they could see the Odok vessel on his instruments.
“How come they haven’t detected us?” Deena asked. “They must have a lot of equipment.”
“Camouflage shields,” Pakchikt replied. “They make this ship appear like its surroundings. The electronic signatures are contained, and the heat and exhaust comes with us until we’re clear and I purge it.”
“Nice,” Deena sighed. “But this isn’t Earth. Earth has cities, and this planet’s empty.”
“The Nameloids steal everything,” Pakchikt said. Deena couldn’t comprehend what he meant, and thought there’d been a mistake in translation somehow, but it didn’t matter. If Carol was here, this was where she wanted to be.
Five shuttles exited the big ship, showing in clear view on the sensors of their little one. Pakchikt followed them down and landed nearby, behind rolling hills and a grove of trees. They waited until the landing party started to explore the area. Cautiously they left the camouflaged ship and entered the trees, and watched.