Shadows of Mars (Broken Stars Book 1) I.O. Adler (read people like a book TXT) 📖

helmet shifted and Four Arms released her hoodie while keeping a grip on her ankle. But she managed to pull her body into the hall.

“The door, Jen, get the door!”

Four Arms let go just in time as the door hissed shut.

“Which way is Mom?”

But Jen didn’t answer. If she could only talk through the hologram projector, then Carmen had two directions she could go. According to her sister the Melded had found her mom’s body in a room she hadn’t yet seen. She estimated she had explored half the ring in the direction of the medical bay.

So she jogged the opposite direction, wondering what exactly she was supposed to do once she found them.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

She could hear the Melded Primary Executive shouting up ahead. It was just out of sight up the slope of the hallway. Once he paused in his tirade, She Who Waits replied in her soft voice, only to be interrupted as the worm howled.

They were coming her way. Carmen ducked into the nearest door and took cover behind a vertical wall of the box machines. The air felt stuffy. The door took forever to close behind her. One of the Melded soldiers appeared just as the door shut. He pounded at the door but it wasn’t opening.

A verbal exchange followed.

Carmen rose and cocked her head to better hear, but it was more of the same, with the Primary Executive carrying on with a series of outbursts and not letting She Who Waits answer. They remained outside the door for a moment before the worm’s voice moved off down the hall.

Had Jenna locked it behind her? Carmen approached the door but before she could touch it, it slid open.

The worm, She Who Waits, and two of the Melded soldiers were heading towards the audience chamber. One of the Melded guided a cylinder as it hovered next to him.

She felt it in the pit of her stomach. Her mom was inside the cylinder. But if the Cordice had some semblance of control of the ship with the caretaker gone, why hadn’t they stopped the Melded before?

She got her answer moments later.

The door to the audience chamber wasn’t letting them in. The soldier in the lead took a moment to fiddle with a device on his wrist. After a minute the door opened. Which meant they could access any of the rooms on board the Cordice home ship despite Jenna’s interference. Carmen knew they would have found her if they had wanted to take the time.

The two Melded along with the Primary Executive slipped into the room. The worm began yelling again. The Melded leader was starting to remind her of a certain PE teacher in junior high who had three modes of communication: mumbling, loud, and hysterical whenever a student wasn’t doing what they were supposed to, which was always.

But the cylinder was unguarded, at least for the moment.

Carmen rushed towards the cylinder. It was mounted on what looked like a floating pallet jack with no visible handle or controls. She put a hand on the metal. Tried to see through the small window at one end. She made out a face obscured by condensation. Whoever was inside had shoulder-length dark hair like her mom’s.

The door to the audience chamber still hadn’t closed. Perhaps whatever hack the Melded soldier had performed was keeping it open.

“I’m here, Jen,” Carmen whispered. “I’m with Mom. What can you do about the door?”

One of the Melded soldiers stepped into the hall. He was shorter than the others and round of body, asymmetrical with three tentacles and pads for hands. The bare tentacles weren’t covered by his suit. His skin held an iridescent sheen. He pointed his weapon at her and barked with a metallic voice.

Carmen froze. “I’m here. I’m surrendering myself.”

He barked again.

She was cautious not to stare or move and kept her hands at her side. The Melded grabbed her and pulled her into the audience chamber. The worm had Four Arms pressed down onto the floor. Green Eye was ducking nearby, his nose seeping dark blood. She Who Waits stood next to the worm and Carmen spotted Barrett cowering behind the hologram console.

The white light was gone.

She glared at the worm. “I’m here, so calm down. There’s no need to hurt anyone. That’s my mother you have out there. What are you doing with her?”

The Melded soldier escorting her brought her next to Barrett.

The Primary Executive dropped Four Arms and slid towards her with She Who Waits following. Carmen held her ground as it leaned over her like a crashing wave.

“Do not be troublesome again,” the worm said. “My soldiers were incompetent. But you shouldn’t have escaped.” It barked an order to Metal Voice. The translation light flickered. “Take Sylvia Vincent to our ship.” It glanced at She Who Waits and grumbled again. The red translation light vanished.

No eavesdroppers, Carmen figured.

It didn’t make sense. Carmen racked her brain trying to understand what the Melded would want from her mother. They were after the harvester and it was here. Did the Primary Executive think her mom was still in control of it? And how had they found out any of their information?

The worm got Four Arms on his feet and shoved him towards the door. It waved for Green Eye to follow, then added more orders as his underlings hopped to.

Carmen spoke softly to She Who Waits. “Can we talk without them understanding?”

“I am obliged to translate all attempts at communication.”

“You were willing to board the Cordice home ship with us against protocol. And if you’re helping them take the harvester, it means you’re acting against the Cordice. So whose side are you on?”

“I’m neutral in the affairs of the Framework.”

“But you’ll help anyone who asks. Is that correct?”

“I assist within the parameters