“If you insist,” Reader said. “But we’ll be prepared to run, more than we normally are, because, ultimately, our people have to come first.”
Jeff nodded. Didn’t feel any better or think that he did, either. He hugged me again. “It’s fine, baby. You just focus on being you and figuring out what the hell we’re going to do.”
“I’ll do my best, Jeff.”
“She’ll manage,” Lorraine said loyally.
Claudia nodded. “She always does.”
“Any way I can convince you to stay on the ship?” Reader asked Gower.
“None,” Gower replied, as he checked his armor. “You’re getting all of Alpha Team, both current and former, and you should be happy about that.”
We headed to the elevators because the gangplank was at the bottom of the saucer section, just aft of the front of the sports car’s nose. This time the ride was uneventful.
Wruck was going with us but, as always, he didn’t feel the need for body armor. Drax and Mossy were with him, waiting for us at the gangplank. Excuse me, the Debarking Area.
The Debarking Area was big, and it had an even bigger window where we could look out and, therefore, where those still on the ship could observe in case of issues. Drax was there to man the gangplank and Mossy was there as backup, because he didn’t feel that it was wise to hit a bronze-age society with someone who looked so different.
Couldn’t argue with his caution. Not that we had any idea of what anyone looked like, because by the time the rest of this away team arrived at the Debarking Area, there was still no one visible.
“This bodes. Sorry, but I just have to say it. Wheatles knew we were coming back for them. Why aren’t they here?”
“Many possible reasons,” Chuckie replied. “Some good, some bad.”
“They’re dead,” Christopher offered, clearly choosing Team Bad Reasons. “The natives stopped being friendly and captured them. Someone else heard them, came by, and captured or killed them.”
“Gosh, Sammy Sunshine, we’ve got it. Any good reasons you can think of?”
“They’re waiting to see just who we are,” Reader said. “They have no idea who’s inside this ship since they no longer have communications. They can’t read our alphabet, so they have no idea that the words on our ship say Distant Voyager. Kreaving has gotten everyone to hide or play dead or whatever, in case whoever’s inside this ship is an enemy, not a helper.”
“I prefer James’ reasons, in case you weren’t sure, Christopher. So, I guess it’s down the gangplank and calling yoo-hoo.”
This was the first time we were using it, and it was kind of thrilling. The gangplank, like the rest of the ship, had those pretty gold tones that meant it sparkled in the sun. It slid out as if it was unrolling from underneath—one golden plank at a time. This took less time than I’d have thought, considering how high up we were—Drax Industrial efficiency at its finest.
We got into formation. Since we were coming in a peacekeeping capacity, and since we had no visible weapons, we were in a relaxed formation that ensured an A-C was near to a human, just in case. The size of the gangplank meant that we could easily go out three at a time. Frankly, we could go out five at a time, but Reader insisted we have fewer easy targets, just in case.
So, Wruck led the way, then came Serene flanked by Reader and Tim, then me, Jeff, and Chuckie. Next came White, Gower, and Christopher, then Abigail, Mahin, Lorraine, and Claudia brought up the rear. No one came to greet us.
“Now what?” Christopher asked, as Jeff indicated that Drax should raise the gangplank.
We watched it rise back up because it was cool. From this vantage point I could see that I was right—the gangplank rolled up, then slid into its compartment.
Once it was up I waved to Drax and Mossy, then shrugged. “Now we find out where everyone is.”
CHAPTER 77
“WE SHOULD HAVE BROUGHT Butler or Maurer,” Jeff said. “I think they have navigation built in now.”
Pulled my phone out of my purse. “Conveniently . . .” Put my earbuds in and pulled up my music. Not that I was going to listen to it at this moment. But why make it harder on myself? Dialed Butler’s number.
“Kitty, are you alright?”
“We are. No one’s here and we want to go look for people, but we just realized we don’t have navigation with us. Should you come meet us?”
“I don’t know that I would be any help. While Cameron and I both do have navigation, these planets are not what we’re programmed for.” Heard someone talking. “Cameron says that he can’t determine where north is, which means that our navigation systems are not working here for whatever reason.”
“What’s he say?” Christopher asked.
“We’re as good to go as he and Cameron are. Okay, thanks, John, we’ll possibly be in touch. Or back with people. Or not. It’s all a mystery right now.”
“I’ll ask Gustav and Mother what we can do. I believe we can tap into her navigation, but I don’t want to risk causing her any issues.”
“Definitely no issues for Mother. We may have to make an extremely hasty exit. Let’s not mess with Mother at all unless we have to.” We hung up.
“What now?” Jeff asked. “I’m not wild about us splitting up.”
“We could just radiate out from the ship,” Chuckie said. “Like we were doing on Nazez.”
“That didn’t work so well,” Tim said.
“It worked like it was supposed to,” I pointed out.
“There’s a very real possibility that if these people are hiding, they’re armed in some way and will attack us first and ask who we might be later,” White pointed out.
“Well, we have to do something,” Abigail said. “Because just standing around isn’t going to cut it.”
“I could try to raise the dirt where we can’t see,” Mahin suggested.
“No,” Reader said firmly. “No wasting of anyone’s talents or energy reserves right now.”
My music turned on, presumably because Algar was running out of patience. “Shout” by Tears for Fears was the current selection and that gave me an idea. “Why don’t we do what we’d do if it was the kids hiding?”
“What’s that?” Christopher asked.
Cleared my throat and cupped my hands to my mouth. “Wheatles! Wheatles Kreaving! Wheatles Kreaving from the planet Ignotforsta and part of the crew of the stranded ship Eknara! It’s the crew from the Distant Voyager, here to rescue you! Come out, come out, wherever you are!”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Christopher muttered as I turned and shouted this in a variety of directions.
Managed not to smirk or make a snarky comment as a body stepped partially out from behind an outcropping of rocks. Looked humanoid but he was far enough away and sheltered enough by the rocks that I wasn’t able to make out a lot of definition. “Which of you are those I was speaking with?” Sounded like Kreaving.
“It’s me, Kitty.”
“I don’t know any Kitty.”
“We never told him our names,” Chuckie said. He grabbed my hand. “The rest of you stay here, and Jeff, I mean you in particular. It was the two of us,” he shouted to Kreaving as we stepped forward. “I’m Charles Reynolds, she’s Kitty Katt-Martini. We’re all here to help you.”