“Just try, damn it!” Ava gritted.
“Affirmative,” the computer replied, unruffled.
The harness dug into Ava’s shoulders as she was jerked from side to side. She thought about asking Evie to turn off the artificial gravity but honestly didn’t know if that would make things better or worse.
“Asteroid Belt 116749 is now in sight.”
“Yes!” Ava cried triumphantly. “We can do this!”
“Unlikely,” the ever-unflappable Evie replied. “Though the pod can change direction faster than the Gathendien ship and I have eluded its acquisition beam, the ship is still pursuing us and—”
“Evie,” Ava gritted, “you’re killing me.”
“Negative. Killing you is counter to my programming.”
“I don’t mean literally!” She grunted as the pod changed directions again. Thank goodness motion sickness never plagued her. “I’m trying to be optimistic!”
“Optimism at this juncture is inadvisable.”
“Oh, for crap’s sake!”
That must not have computed because Evie ignored it. “Approaching asteroid belt.”
“Yes!”
“Plotting a course through asteroid field.”
“Thank you.”
“Warning. Proximity alert.”
“Shit!”
Ava suddenly flew forward in her seat as if the pod had jerked to a halt. All breath left her lungs as she slammed into the harness with enough force that she was surprised it didn’t crack her ribs.
Yeah. That was definitely going to leave bruises.
“Warning. Acquisition beam is acquiring pod,” Evie said, her voice slowing and deepening as if she were running out of juice.
Every light in the pod abruptly shut off, leaving Ava in complete darkness. The faint hum of the AC or atmospheric generator or whatever provided her with air ceased, leaving behind eerie silence broken only by the pounding of her heart.
Ava’s body went weightless. Her long hair floated up around her face as the artificial gravity shut off.
Oh crap. The Gathendiens had caught her.
CHAPTER TWO
Jak’ri lowered himself beside the female on the soft grass. Legs bent, he looped his arms around his knees and studied her surreptitiously from the corner of his eyes.
He had never met an Earthling before. He’d never even heard of her planet. But the difficulty she had speaking Alliance Common indicated she was—as she had told him—from far, far away.
How had she come to be on Purvel? She said she’d been traveling with Prince Taelon. But he had heard nothing of an impending visit from the Lasaran prince. In fact, the last he’d heard, Prince Taelon was missing and presumed dead. “I should have known you weren’t Lasaran,” he commented. “Lasaran women do not bare their arms.” Hers were slender and delicate with small, faint brown speckles sprinkled across them that intrigued him.
She glanced down. Trousers made from a faded blue fabric encased slender legs and nicely rounded hips. A colorful shirt streaked with dirt and torn in a couple of places hugged breasts that were larger than a Purveli female’s and a narrow waist.
She grinned, revealing straight white teeth. “True.”
He liked hle. It brightened a pretty face that bore more faint brown sprinkles on her nose and cheeks and almost as many smudges as her shirt, attesting to the arduous climb that had brought her to him.
Then she winked. “Maybe I am Lasaran and just like breaking the rules.”
He laughed. “You would be the first then.” Lasarans had very stringent social rules, one of which required both men and women to wear clothing that covered everything except for their heads and hands.
“I believe you,” she said with a laugh of her own.
Lasarans also forbade physical contact of any kind between unmarried men and women of childbearing age. So even as distraught as she had been when he’d found her, hugging him would never have occurred to her.
Jak’ri was glad she wasn’t Lasaran. Her presence and her embrace had been a wonderful surprise. He’d liked how small she felt against him and the protective instincts she’d inspired as he’d stroked brown hair that was as soft as murwi fur.
A cool breeze wafted over them, dragging the hair back from Ava’s face. “The view here is beautiful,” she murmured, a wistful smile transforming her from pretty to absolutely beautiful.
Peace and contentment seeped in, replacing the tension that had driven him to seek out his favorite meditation spot. “Yes. I come up here sometimes to forget my worries.” Worries that—in this instance—revolved around the heated political debate that continued to rage across the planet over whether or not Purvel should enter the Aldebarian Alliance.
She arched a brow as she cast a glance over him. “Forget your worries in as little clothing as possible?”
He laughed. “I always end my meditations with a long swim.” He nodded toward the ocean. “I like to dive off the cliff.”
Her eyebrows flew up. “That cliff?”
He nodded.
She shook her head. “I love to swim, but I would never dive off anything this high. Isn’t it dangerous?”
He shrugged. “We are a hardy race. A dive from this distance doesn’t hurt us.”
She looked doubtful. Perhaps—despite the similarities in appearance—her race was more fragile than the Lasarans.
She had certainly felt fragile when he’d held her. The females of his species—even those who didn’t match the males in height—were all hardy. Years of long hours spent swimming lent them broad shoulders and muscled arms and chests.
Another breeze caressed them.
“This is nice,” she murmured, some of the tension in her expression easing.
He smiled. “I agree.”
She held his gaze for a long moment, then looked away and cleared her throat. “I guess we should start looking for my friends.”
While he would prefer to spend more time with her and learn more about her, he could understand her concern for her friends. Her inability to remember how she had come to be on Purvel disturbed him. Had she been in an accident of some kind and suffered a head injury? He hadn’t felt any lumps when he’d stroked her hair. And his hand hadn’t come away wet with blood. But he should coax her into seeing a healer after they located her friends to ensure she was well.
“As you wish.” Rising, Jak’ri extended a hand to her.
As soon as she took it, he gently pulled her to her feet. Uncertain of her people’s customs, he released her as soon as she stood.
Ava looked toward the forest.
Wee-wonk! Wee-wonk!
Jak’ri jerked awake as a ship-wide alert blared through the lab.
Agony inundated him, dragging forth a moan.
Wee-wonk! Wee-wonk!
What the drek?
Groggy from whatever serum the Gathendien scientists had injected him with, he glanced around with bleary eyes.
Everything was out of focus. His stomach churned. His head pounded.
What had they done to him this time?
The shackles that bound him to the cold metal table clanked as they opened.
“Return him to his cell,” a male voice growled.
Rough hands gripped him and yanked him off the table.