Hotbloods 6: Allies

Mort did just that, looking concerned as Navan broke us free of the electrical post that held us to the ground. The clamps released a moment later, and the ship rose into the air, the screen bleeping to say we were low on gas and our guns were out of action. Navan slammed his fist into one of the buttons, turning the warning signals off. We were going to have to resolve the issues pretty soon, but it would have to wait until we could stop somewhere safe. First, we needed to lose the authorities, who would probably be tailing us before we knew it.

Wanting to see if anyone was following us, I moved out of the cockpit and walked to the back of the ship, skirting past a sullen Angie. She didn’t pay me much attention, which suited me just fine. The loss of Lauren was taking its toll on both of us, though we weren’t exactly dealing with it in the same way. Lately, it had been easier to avoid each other, since every conversation ended up in an argument. We just couldn’t agree on how to go about finding Lauren. Every suggestion I made was met with disapproval and comments about being too reckless about things. I supposed I’d proven her right by stealing the compass, but I wasn’t about to admit it.

Reaching the far end, I opened the hatch to one of the defunct gun-pods and clambered inside. The Coeptis was lifting higher and higher, until the ship’s nose tilted up and the roar of the throttle shivered through the metal bones, sending it soaring through the atmosphere of Pulsyde and back out into the brutality of space.

Catching my breath, I watched the landscape recede. It was a peculiar planet, with great swathes of black desert covering most of the surface, while the sprawling cities seemingly rose out of nowhere, offering rest and refreshment to weary travelers from all over the universe. I could only begin to imagine the wealth of different species that came and went from day to day.

I’d barely known the port-planet of Pulsyde, but I was grateful for what it had given me. Fishing the compass from my pocket, I gazed down at the strange glass face set in an oval of bluish gray metal. With this, we would find Lauren and the notebook. We just had to.





Chapter Two





As soon as we’d pushed through the stratosphere of the planet, without a single ship giving chase, I breathed out a sigh of relief. Soon enough, we’d be back in the vast anonymity of space, with Pulsyde becoming only a light in the distance, a barely remembered stop on an unfortunate stretch of our journey to find Stone.

I crept out of the gun-pod with my stolen goods and paused beside the spot where Angie was standing, her gaze turned out toward the window. She was watching the horizon for any ships that might be approaching, just as I’d done, though her view wasn’t as good from the small, reinforced glass panels that lined the main body of the Coeptis.

“So, what happened down there?” she asked as I approached. She looked anxious, her brow furrowed.

“I stole something from the pawnbroker. It was too expensive to buy, and we didn’t have the credits to waste,” I explained, showing her the compass.

“You stole it?” Angie didn’t sound too impressed. “Are there police after us?”

“Nobody seems to be following us,” I said defensively, knowing I’d done it for the right reasons.

“Well, I hope it was worth it. We really can’t afford to be taking risks like that, getting ourselves noticed,” she replied with a tense sigh. “What is it, anyway?”

“The description said it was a species locator. I figure it’s some kind of compass that reveals the locations of different species across the universe.”

She squinted at it curiously. “How does it work?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. It didn’t exactly come with an instruction manual, and we didn’t really have time to ask the pawnbroker as we were snatching it from her store.”

“I was only asking. It’s a valid question.”

“I know… Sorry, I’m just a little stressed after stealing it. Alarm bells and port authorities will do that.” I forced a smile onto my face, silently telling myself to calm down. “Anyway, I’m not sure how it works yet.”

“Let me take a look at it. I might be able to figure it out,” Angie said.

“No, no, it’s fine,” I replied, peering closer at the device. The mechanism inside was a system of miniature cogs and even smaller pulleys. If I could just figure out where the cogs led, I knew I’d be able to get them moving. I examined it for several minutes, with Angie fidgeting across from me.

“Honestly, let me take a look. I’m good at this kind of thing,” she said, suddenly wrapping her hand around the top of the compass. I wanted to mention the fact that I’d been about to head off and get an engineering degree back home, but I bit my tongue. I could see she just wanted to help, but too many cooks were spoiling the proverbial broth right now.

“Seriously, I think I almost have it! And I can’t see the mechanisms if you hold it like that.” I was trying to rein in my annoyance, but a few prickles emerged regardless.

“Wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion, right?” Angie tried to turn the compass toward her.

“Please, just give me another minute with it, will you?”

Just then, Ronad stepped out of the cockpit, a worried look on his face. He moved slowly toward us, as though we were wild animals that needed to be approached with caution.

“Is everything all right out here? We heard raised voices,” he said quietly.

“Have you seen one of these before?” I asked, freeing the compass from Angie’s grasp.

He peered at the device in my hands and shook his head. “Don’t think I have. What did the shop say it was?”

“She didn’t have time to ask as she was running away,” Angie chipped in sourly.

I ignored her, keeping my focus on Ronad. “The description said something about inserting a blood sample, but that’s all the information I could get.”

Remembering the words, I looked at the compass more closely. Through the glass face, I could see a dial of small canisters, with a metal bar running down the middle, and a network of clockwork-like engineering holding it together. But there was nothing that looked like a button or a latch that could open it up. I’d already tried to pry the glass face off while I was in the gun-pod, but that hadn’t worked either. I didn’t want to try with any more force, in case I broke the whole thing.

My eyes settled on something in the bluish gray metal. There, discreetly indented into either side of the oval object’s top curve, were two shallow grooves. I wasn’t sure if my inkling was correct, but there was only one way to find out. Pressing both my thumbs into the indentations, I squeezed as hard as I could, prompting a sharp needle to peek out the top of the locator. It glinted in the low light of the ship.

“What did you do?” Ronad asked, getting closer.

I grinned. “I pushed the sides and it released a needle!”

“What are you supposed to do with the needle?” Angie wondered nervously.

“I guess I’m supposed to prick my skin, or that of the species I’m trying to find—which, in our case, is the same thing,” I replied, tentatively bringing the pad of my index finger to the sharp point. The metal bit into my flesh with a sudden sting, and my blood rose to the surface. A second later, a globule of crimson was somehow sucked back through the hollow center of the needle, where it came to rest in the waiting canister. Like the chambers in a gun, the canister then moved around, disappearing beneath a disc of the same bluish gray metal.

I staggered back, startled, as a holographic image shot out of the compass face, revealing a celestial map similar to the one that Ginji had shown us on Zai. The sight of it reminded me of the young Draconian. I hadn’t thought about him in a while, with everything else that was going on, but I hoped he was okay, whatever he was up to.

Turning my focus to the map, I noticed two green dots in the center, flashing steadily. I presumed they belonged to Angie and me, since we were the only humans on board the Coeptis.

“I don’t see a third dot,” Angie said, peering at the map. “I don’t see Lauren’s dot!”