Proposition by Unknown Read Free Book Online Page B

Geoff crowded around him.
    “What is it?” she asked fearfully.
    Had the Xyran found them? Was something happening to the pod? Were they about to die?
    “Navigation has detected a life sustaining moon and is diverting us to it,” Krig said.
    “Do we want to be diverted to it?” Geoff asked grimly.
    “We don’t have a choice,” Krig replied. “Escape pods send out a location ping, but they’re also designed to deliver themselves to the first place with a nitrogen and oxygen atmosphere, which is why we’re headed toward some moon. I think it’s a wise choice because this pod has only a certain amount of resources.”
    “Will we be safe on that moon?”
    Krig gave her a brief but unsettled glance. “I don’t know.”
    And that, of course, did nothing to alleviate her stress.

Chapter Six
     
    Krig concentrated on the console readings as the gravity of the moon brought them down through the clouds a little faster than he’d like. He wished he had thruster control to at least scan the terrain and find the best possible position, preferably the high ground. But he didn’t, so they were flying in blind.
    He left most of the controls in the autopilot’s capable hands. Had the life pod been damaged or something he would gladly take over, but all he really had to do was make sure the magnetic shields held as the hull heated up. Still, the pod violently shook as it broke through the atmosphere. If they hadn’t been strapped in they would’ve been in for a bumpy ride.
    Krig got a quick glance of a lush green surface and tall trees before the landing thrusters engaged to slow down their descent. But something happened, and Krig wasn’t sure what it was until a loud boom impacted the side of the pod, throwing them off trajectory. He heard Keirah scream and the crunching of metal as the magnetic shields collapsed, and then they were rolling around like a ball.
    Everything went black.
    Awareness came back to him sharply as he instantly remembered what happened, and he jerked only to feel the bite of the safety harness across his chest. He looked around and realized they had crashed upon the surface, although the pod was still intact. It was the sideways landscape on the view screen that told him their landing had been less than ideal.
    He unhooked his harness and turned to find Keirah and Geoff also unconscious. He hurried to Keirah’s side and lifted her head.
    “Keirah, draga ,” he murmured into her ear before kissing her mouth. “Wake up.”
    She blinked her beautiful blue eyes, and for a split second, she smiled warmly at him, which made his heart pound in his chest, before awareness sharpened her gaze and she swung her gaze around to find her husband. Disappointment sluiced through Krig, and he took a deep breath to contain his jealousy. He wanted all her attention on him, not on her puny human husband.
    “Keirah?” Geoff asked groggily from behind him.
    Krig sighed.   Puny husband was awake.
    “I’m fine,” she answered. Her gaze came back to him. “What happened?”
    “I’m not sure. Let me go explore. Stay here.” He stood and pulled out a blaster from under the console, and he opened the door. As he headed outside, Geoff went to follow him. “I said stay here.”
    “You need backup,” Geoff argued.
    “I am Alphan. I can take care of myself.”
    “Have you ever been on this moon before?”
    “No.”
    “Then you need backup. What if there’s some type of tentacle creature that reaches out and snaps you up? We’d never know what happened to you.”
    Krig seriously had no idea what he was talking about. “Tentacle creature?”
    “Sure,” Geoff said. “Happens all the time in movies.”
    “Hmm,” Krig muttered, giving up. If the tentacle creature got Geoff then that would solve a lot of his problems. “Get another blaster from the storage compartment under the console. The pod has four.”
    The moon was lush with vegetation, and the pod’s off-kilter trajectory was a scorched path of