Night Song (The Guild Wars Book 9) by Mark Wandrey (best ereader under 100 .txt) 📕

blue spot no bigger than a marble. Soon, it would be infinitely further. He’d been careful not to show his wife how nervous he was.

Hundreds of men and women under his command were out there, somewhere, maybe wondering where their commander had disappeared to, and why he hadn’t returned. Their kids only gave the mission a higher cost. Not only did he not want to risk them on a combat mission, he didn’t want to have to face his wife if any of them got hurt.

“All hands, prepare for transition to hyperspace.” The alien computer voice reminded him of his kids, though it was in Zuul, and not English. The way the pups formed words was always a little different. Their lips were longer; their mouths shaped differently. They hadn’t evolved to form Human words. He was sure they were going to learn Zuul, and they should.

He hoped his wife could ultimately forgive him, because even if they all made it back alive, the kids would never be the same after this trip. A second later, he was unmade into hyperspace.

* * *

Sonya stood in front of the view screen, hands clasped behind her. Earth was falling behind them, now over 140 million kilometers away, and growing further by a couple thousand kilometers per second. This, officially, was the furthest she’d ever been from home. Something ached in the back of her throat, but she swallowed to force it back down.

“We’ve been further from Earth before.” Shadow appeared next her, and she narrowly kept herself from leaping away. He’d become quieter, and she’d been too distracted to even smell his approach.

“Listening in on my thoughts now, brother?”

“I’d almost forgotten, until I saw the gate. We came in this way once before, eyes closed, still carrying the scent of our mother, learning what the smells of Humans meant.”

The ache returned, and she flicked her ears in annoyance. “I don’t remember anything but Earth.”

“I know.” He leaned against her for a long moment before stepping away. “Aren’t you glad to be back in space, closer than ever to where we came from?”

Sonya had no answer to that, except to muffle the whimper that tried to climb out of her throat.

She watched the viewscreen until the engine’s thrust increased and the alerts sounded, then returned to the bunk she shared with Ripley. They were performing their final braking maneuver in preparation to rendezvous with the stargate.

“Ready to feel all your atoms?” Ripley asked cheerfully, not looking up from whatever project she had on her slate.

“Shadow reminded me we did this when we were babies. How hard can it be?”

Ripley wrinkled her lips in a half-hearted snarl, then shook her head. “We probably should have asked Uufek if hyperspace feels any different to Zuul. All we have are Human reports.”

“From what I understand, it sucks your first time no matter what, so at least we have that in common with the rest of the cadre.” That almost cheered Sonya back to her normal mood, picturing Hewers heaving big globs of barf in zero gravity.

“Except we already did this once when we were tiny,” Ripley answered, doing a semi-solid Shadow impression.

“Except that.” She barked a small laugh and strapped in with an abundance of caution. Unable to find anything else to distract herself with as they approached the gate, she stretched and looked back at her sister. “Ripley.”

“Yeah, Sun?” Ripley flicked an ear back toward her but didn’t look up from her slate.

“Have you? Talked to Uufek?”

Ripley’s ears flattened slightly, then swiveled. “No. She asked if we wanted to join her for a meal after we’re in hyperspace.”

“Do you want to go?”

Blonde ears flickered again, aiming in different directions. “Do you?”

“She knows something about us,” Sonya said after a long stretch of silence. “What do you think we can find out in one hundred and seventy hours?” She meant it to be teasing, but it came out with utter seriousness.

“You know what, Sunny?” Ripley turned fully to look at her, jaw dropping in something like a smile. “Everything.”

Sonya closed her eyes as the transition alarm sounded. “All hands, prepare for transition to hyperspace.” The Zuul voice was mechanical after being rendered into English.

Her thoughts crowded so messily in her head, even reality splitting around her was only so much noise in the universe.

* * * * *

Chapter 9

ZMS Paku, Hyperspace

“Shadow, Dad said we could unload the CASPers and train,” Drake said with a great deal of patience, for the third time. He’d been outvoted by his siblings, but the walk took longer than they’d expected, and he hoped to change any of their minds by being entirely reasonable.

He could go by himself, and usually would be fine to just break off from his siblings, but Shadow was so intent. If someone else would agree with him, Drake could convince himself whatever Shadow wanted them to do could wait.

It all made sense to Drake, but neither his brother nor his sisters seemed inclined to help. Which meant somewhere, half the ship away, their CASPers stood idle in their racks so Shadow could show them something.

It wasn’t the most annoying thing in the galaxy, but it felt top five right about now.

“The CASPers will be there when we’re done,” Shadow replied, also for the third time.

Drake moved that statement and tone into his top three of annoying things.

“Why are the halls over here so empty?” Sonya asked, walking more closely to Ripley than usual. “The ship’s carrying a full complement.”

“Smells like this corridor gets traffic,” Rex answered, ears flattening.

“We went through the gate half an hour ago. They probably have drills or routines, or maybe get to rest once we’re in hyperspace.” Ripley’s posture remained loose, though her words clipped a little. “Since nothing