Enticed by the Alien Warrior by Hope Hart (spiritual books to read .TXT) 📕

waiting with them, and from the look on his face, he’s not exactly excited about taking us with him.

His eyes scan the guards, who all straighten under his attention. Finally, he murmurs something to them, and Korzyn steps up next to us.

“What are you doing here?” Sarissa mutters, holding up her hand in a bid to protect her eyes from the sun.

“Arix ordered me to go with you.”

From the scowl on his face, he’s feeling just as terrible as we are, and Sarissa gives me a satisfied grin as we head toward the mishua.

We’re mostly silent as we travel toward the ship, passing the time with our own thoughts. Kate’s face is grim, and I know she’s worried about being responsible for so many lives.

Finally, the huge ship comes into view, and we all take a moment to stare at it silently.

It’s a shock to the system, seeing the futuristic silver spaceship in front of us. It’s designed in a V shape, with the bridge and main hull in the point of the V and what Alexis says are hangars at the two ends of it.

I stare at the rows of windows, imagining myself standing on the ship, looking out at the deep blackness of space.

Butterflies are wild in my stomach as we leave the men to guard the outside of the ship and walk up the steps. Are we seriously going to be able to fly this thing into space? Where one mistake can cost us our lives?

Thankfully, I won’t be responsible for keeping everyone else alive. Alexis and Kate are already having an intense conversation about the ship as Clara, Sarissa, and I follow them into the area Alexis referred to as the “bridge.”

They get to work, pressing a few buttons, murmuring amongst themselves, while I wander the bridge, keeping my hands firmly behind my back as I examine the multitude of bright lights and weird-shaped buttons.

Sarissa leans against a wall and watches them work with keen eyes. She’ll likely ask to be taught everything Kate knows, just in case Kate is ever out of action.

Kate flicks a switch, and I gasp as a hologram appears in the flight deck, highlighting various charts, graphs, and numbers. Kate and Alexis mutter some more, still pressing buttons in an order that makes sense only to them.

Clara moves closer to me and Sarissa. “I wanted to thank you both for what you’re doing.”

I raise an eyebrow, and she tilts her head, lowering her voice even further. “Sarissa told me you’ve made a deal to help us get a control chip.”

Fury burns through me, and I can’t even look at my cousin. I can feel her eyes on me, but I refuse to meet her gaze.

“Please,” I say. “Don’t mention it.”

Clara’s brow creases in confusion. “I know it must be difficult over there, so far from your friends, but I wanted to let you know how much I and the other women appreciate it.” Her eyes turn sad. “I was supposed to graduate college the day after I was taken.”

My mouth tastes like ash. “What were you studying?”

“Political science. I was the first in my family to go to college. My parents were so proud. Now they probably think I’m dead.”

“I’m so sorry.”

Clara shrugs. “We all have our stories. None of them are good. That’s why I’m looking forward to getting off this planet. Maybe we’ll be able to find a way to contact Earth. At the very least, we might be able to give our families some hope.”

My stomach swims, and I take a deep breath as I finally meet Sarissa’s knowing gaze. This is what we’re fighting for. These women who’ve had everything taken from them.

Kate lets out a triumphant sound and hits a blue button, and we all jump as a smooth female voice sounds, speaking a strange language.

“My translator isn’t picking that up,” Alexis frowns. “Is anyone else’s?”

I open my mouth, but the voice cuts me off.

“Language detected. Human. English. Please insert control chip for full access to flight capabilities.”

Kate frowns, and Sarissa snorts. “You mean the control chip we don’t have?”

“Please repeat your question.”

We all freeze, and Alexis clears her throat.

“Computer, access last known flight path.”

“Access denied. You may not access any functions in that category. Please insert control chip.”

I can practically hear Alexis grinding her teeth. Kate grins at her.

“Access weapons systems,” Kate says.

“Access denied. You may not access any functions in that category. Please insert control chip.”

“Access flight systems,” Alexis tries.

“Access denied. You may not access any functions in that category. Please insert control chip.”

“Access startup systems,” Kate mutters.

“Accessing…please hold…systems accessed.”

My heart flutters in my chest.

“Access primary controls,” Alexis says.

“Access denied. You may not access any functions in that category. Please insert control chip.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Sarissa murmurs. “What can we do?”

“You may access environmental systems.”

Alexis lets out a long-suffering sigh. “Display environmental systems.”

“Environmental systems displayed. Please select your preferred temperature.”

Is it just me, or does the computer sound…smug?

“Great. We can change the fucking temperature,” Kate mutters, and Alexis laughs.

Alexis and Kate study the holo-screens in front of them, and I sidle close enough to examine them. They’re now in English, yet I still have no idea what they actually mean.

Alexis frowns. “Computer, please list current accessible functions.”

“Functions not available. Please state your desired action.”

“Access fuel systems.”

“Fuel systems displayed.”

“Well, we can also see how much fuel we have. That’s something,” Alexis mutters.

“Explain this to us like you’re explaining it to a six-year-old,” Sarissa orders.

Kate glances over her shoulder.

“It’s not great,” she says. “We may be able to get off the ground with the secondary systems, but we can’t use any of the ship’s weapons, which would make us sitting ducks in space. I’ll need to spend at least a few hours in here to understand exactly what we can use, but…”

“We’d be taking a massive risk.”

Alexis snorts. “Getting on this ship with the control chip is a massive risk. You have no idea what you’re going to find out there. Using it without full access