‘Right now, however, I shall do as you advise, Dragon. Twelve hours to complete evacuation. Department heads will meet in Government House as soon —’
‘Under Centre Stage would be preferable,’ Maelgwn interrupted, aware of the fact that he was pushing his luck.
‘In the dressing rooms?’ She frowned, and when Maelgwn nodded to confirm her query, she knew it was pointless to ask why. ‘Very well then, have it your way, Dragon. Under Centre Stage it is.’
Once Candace had left to address her department heads, Maelgwn spotted Noah standing quietly nearby and approached to ask: ‘Do you know of Tory’s whereabouts, no one has seen her?’
Noah nodded. ‘She’s having a session with Thais in the healing temple,’ he advised and then ventured to add: ‘She’s had a tough time in the past few weeks … when she didn’t hear from you following your parting disagreement …’ He shrugged.
Maelgwn was a little ashamed of his behaviour in retrospect. ‘I know her hunch about the Devas was right, Noah,’ he confessed.
‘Your hunch could just as easily have been right.’ Maelgwn seemed so remorseful, Noah gave him another viewpoint to consider.
‘But it wasn’t. And I haven’t had a spare moment to let Tory know or to apologise.’
Noah wondered how Maelgwn could be so certain about the Devas, but did not ask, knowing Tory would be very relieved to learn that she was no longer out of sorts with her husband. ‘Well, I was just waiting for her to complete the session with Thais when you found me. She should be done by now.’
‘Then let’s go find her.’ Noah looked confused, so Maelgwn explained further. ‘I want you to stay close to me, for we have much to discuss. But first, let us see Tory to safety, and the Devas.’
‘The twins are something extraordinary.’ Noah was keen to offer his opinion. ‘I feel sure you will be amazed by their progress and abilities.’
Maelgwn nodded, wanting to know more about what had transpired in his absence, but as the siren sounded to alert the city to evacuate, there was no time to spare at present.
On arrival outside the healing chamber, Noah and Maelgwn were surprised to find the entrance door locked.
‘No problem,’ Maelgwn commented, only fractionally annoyed by the minor delay. He knew what the interior of the chamber looked like and so willed himself inside. Noah followed.
The two men were startled by the noise and air turbulence of a transport firing up its thrusters in the room.
‘Holy Goddess!’ Maelgwn cried over the din, as the vessel shot straight up, smashing through the glass dome overhead and bringing large chunks of glass crashing to the ground. ‘Watch out!’ Maelgwn dive-tackled Noah, driving them both out of the way of the falling debris.
When the sound of smashing glass subsided, Maelgwn and Noah dared to raise their heads. They spied Thais, still unconscious in the middle of the chamber, bleeding from cuts made by the falling splinters of glass. Maelgwn placed a hand over the communicator he wore on the left-hand shoulder of his suit, and issued a silent command to the head healer of the body sciences, Cadfan, to attend the scene in the temple.
‘Tory isn’t here,’ Noah stated in a panic, having stood up to scan the room for her. ‘She must have been on board the vessel.’ Without any thought, and without waiting for word from Maelgwn, Noah closed his eyes to will himself to Tory’s side.
‘I just tried.’ Maelgwn placed a hand on the distraught scholar’s shoulder. ‘She must be restrained by a NERGUZ module.’
‘But all those devices were confiscated by the Pantheon,’ Noah blurted out in disbelief.
‘And what does that tell us?’ Maelgwn commented, and Noah’s jaw dropped as the implications ran through his mind. ‘We need to track that vehicle,’ Maelgwn stated.
‘But, En Thais?’ Noah looked to the injured healer, whose cuts had now begun to heal.
‘En Cadfan is on his way,’ Maelgwn advised, and vanished.
‘I’m right behind you.’ Noah willed himself to the space tracking station in the wake of the Dragon.
On board the small vessel Tory was trying to figure out her abductor’s plan and motive. Surely he can’t go far in this tiny craft.
No sooner had she made this observation than the Falcon man issued his ship a new command and it began to expand and change form in mid-flight. As the interior of the spacecraft tripled in size and upgraded its capabilities in the process, Tory couldn’t believe what she was witnessing — this was new technology. This guy must have Pantheon connections. Even the most infamous pirate would have been hard-pressed to steal so much advanced technology and get away with it.
‘Right!’ Her abductor turned from his control panel to address her unconscious form. ‘You could try meddling with the control panel … in which case you’ll get us both killed, or you could just lie back and enjoy the ride.’
Tory noticed a clipboard hanging nearby and willed it at the Falcon to protest against her predicament.
‘You little bitch!’ he snarled as the metal board whacked him in the back of the head and he rose to retaliate. ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two about messing with —’
‘Mission Control to Crow. Come in, Crow.’
The man’s anger vanished as the incoming communication stole his attention. He returned to his seat and activated the headset that allowed him to communicate with Mission Control. ‘This is Crow.’
The incoming transmission had been transferred to the headset once it was activated and Tory drew closer hoping to overhear the caller’s conversation.
‘Mission accomplished,’ Crow advised his superior. ‘I have possession of the merchandise, which is sedated as requested …’ he covered the mouthpiece to mumble to himself, ‘most of her anyway.’
The next question his superior asked seemed to bother the Falcon pirate. ‘What does it matter where the body is positioned in the craft? She’s out cold, I assure you.’ He listened intently to the response, growing ever more wary, although his puzzlement did not reflect in his voice. ‘If it is so important to you, my Lord, I shall go move her and report back. Out.’ He retracted the headset. ‘Why does this not seem like a simple kidnapping anymore? I mean, what could be so goddamned important about positioning her body right in the centre of the vessel?’ Crow looked over the ship’s instrumentation and noticed one small part of the security panel that wasn’t functioning. It was the bomb detection readout. ‘Shit!’
What is it, what’s wrong? Tory gave chase as her pilot made a dash for the back of the craft.
On his way past Tory’s slumbering carcass, which was already positioned in the middle of the craft just as Mission Control desired, Crow grabbed her up, dragged her to the rear of the vessel and dumped her there. ‘You double-crossing son-of-a-Lahmuian, Nergal.’
Nergal! Why would Nergal want to kidnap me?
A hatch at the back of the craft led down into a storage hold which also gave access to the ship’s circuitry. Tory followed Crow below, where he quickly made for the middle of the craft.
‘Stuff it! I knew it!’ Crow cursed, mad at himself for trusting the word of a member of the Pantheon.
In the midst all of the inner workings of the craft was a very complex self-contained device. Please don’t tell me that’s a bomb. That would seem to explain why Crow’s employers wanted to ensure her body was in the centre of the craft — directly above the device. That way, when it exploded, she would be evenly dispersed into space in all directions, which would thwart any chance of her scattered body parts regrouping in a hurry. The Pantheon want me dead. The realisation was chilling. But why, what have I done … recently?
‘The escape pod.’ Crow headed to the rear of the cargo hold.
So you’re just going to leave me here? Tory willed tools and anything else that wasn’t tied down to travel in the pirate’s general direction.
‘Hey, I’d love to take you with me.’ Crow pressed a button that opened the hatch of the pod, while fending off flying metal. ‘But there’s on
ly room for one, you understand? Ouch!’ he cried, as a hammer slammed into his cheek. ‘I lost out in this deal too, you know? Them’s the breaks, sweetheart.’
Coward! Tory wanted to yell, as the pod door closed. The craft immediately took off. I am in some serious shit here, she acknowledged and yet was amazed by how calm she felt about her imminent physical destruction. The bomb. She turned her attention to it and attempted to will it off the wall. However, it did not budge. Tory realised that to achieve the bomb’s removal, she would need to find and detach each of the rivets that fastened the bomb in place. Easier to try and move myself, she decided.
On her way to the main deck level, a great flash of light and heat overcame Tory. Too late. As the spacecraft exploded in all directions, the silver thread attaching Tory’s soul-mind to her body snapped leaving her consciousness adrift in open space.
The explosion was a great spectacle in the distant reaches of the sky above Chaliada. As the event coincided with losing track of Tory’s kidnapper’s craft on their tracking monitor, Maelgwn and Noah were both struggling to comprehend what they believed had occurred.
The bereaved husband stood dazed for the longest time and Noah dared not speak before he did.
‘The Pantheon have murdered her!’ Maelgwn drew the only conclusion he could, his voice quivering with the depth of his loss.
‘We don’t know that,’ Noah reasoned. ‘We can’t be sure Tory was on that craft, nor can we say who is responsible for her disappearance.’
‘Her murder!’ Maelgwn stated bluntly, although his rage was not directed at his friend.
‘Whose murder?’ Brian entered with Rhun in tow. ‘What the devil is going on? I thought you were going to meet me when I landed?’
Maelgwn, beside himself with grief and looking to vent his anger, grabbed at Brian’s clothing. ‘What happened on Nibiru? What did you do to spite the Pantheon like this?’
‘Like what?’ Brian was so stunned by his brother-in-law’s greeting, he didn’t retaliate, but Rhun intervened on the Governor’s behalf.
‘Our Governor was doing his sworn duty! What is the matter with you?’ Rhun wrenched his father away from his uncle.
‘What is the matter with me?’ Maelgwn shouted, preparing to bellow out his grievance. Then he realised it was his son and Tory’s brother that he was addressing and he could not bring himself to announce her death to them, or anyone, until he’d come to terms with it himself. ‘Forgive me.’ Maelgwn vanished from their midst.
Rhun knew something dreadful must have happened. ‘Tell me father’s woes.�