Shattered Destiny: A Galactic Adventure, Episode One by Odette C. Bell Read Free Book Online

away,
checked the butt, and then locked it onto a holster around his
hip.
    He took one more step back.
    Then the man took his helmet off. It
receded into his back plating.
    He was handsome, even by most alien
standards. He had the strong powerful features of an Arterian. He
also had almost mesmerizing blue eyes. He locked those blue eyes on
me.
    Now I could see his face in
full, I could see his surprise, too. “You know how to fight, human,” he
hazarded.
    I nodded. “I’m human, I confirmed. And
yes, I can fight.” There was a slight shudder to my voice. It
shouldn’t be there, but at the same time I couldn’t control
it.
    While yes, I could fight, no, I’d never
fought like that. I’d never been filled with such desperation.
    And even now the prince had retreated back
inside his cruiser, my mind was still locked on him.
    I kept telling myself that I had to be
sick in some way, that I must have been struck on the head during
my fight with the breakers this morning, and I just hadn’t realized
it.
    Yet no matter how hard I tried to reason
with myself, I could not shift my attention from the prince. Even
though the war cruiser was truly massive, I was somehow possessed
of the irrational sense that I knew exactly where he was on
it.
    I watched the man’s direct gaze flick up
to the sweat collecting over my brow. “You should check yourself in
to whatever medical facilities this refinery has.”
    I didn’t even bother to make eye contact.
“I will,” I lied.
    Assuming the conversation was
over, I turned on my foot and headed back in the direction of the
habitation compound, with no intention whatsoever of going to the
medical bay.
Though this facility had one, it was to deal with major trauma, not
with… whatever the hell I was going through now.
    I quickened my step as soon as
I made it halfway towards the habitation complex, heart beating
harder at the promise of throwing myself on my bed and closing my
eyes, giving myself time to understand… this.
    I didn’t get that opportunity. Halfway
across the grounds, I stopped. My hackles rose. The skin along the
back of my neck suddenly prickled, and my heart quickened to such a
thunderous pace, I felt certain it would shake right through my rib
cage. I clutched a suddenly sweaty hand to my messy tunic and drove
my fingers so hard against the fabric I almost tore a hole through
it.
    Again I felt that ethereal hand reach
through time and space and lock on my shoulder. Its fingers seemed
to brush against my neck, then it jerked my head to the side. Just
in time. There was a metal shack several meters to my side. Nothing
more than a few broken walls barely holding up a slanting roof.
Several of the walls were so bent and misshapen they left enormous
holes near the roof that let in mounds of sand.
    The shack was nothing more than an old
shed that had once been used to house refinery equipment but had –
like everything else on this planet – succumbed to the
sand.
    Now I swore I could hear a metallic grating
sound issuing from inside it.
    That ethereal hand remained locked on my
shoulder as another one pushed into my back and thrust me
forward.
    Before I knew what I was doing, I ran into
the shack.
    I had no weapon, but that didn’t seem to
matter – I simply couldn’t reason against the violent passions
thrumming through my heart.
    I rounded the side of the shack
and pushed into a roll immediately, narrowly missing several laser
blasts. It was another of those bots. My brain had half a second to
appreciate that fact before the drone slammed towards
me.
    But something else slammed into me at the
same time. Mark. His helmet was still off, so I could easily see
the concentration pressing across his face as he pushed me to the
side, brought his blaster around, and fired at the bot. Though his
aim was true, it wasn’t quick enough, as at that exact second
another drone sprang from the shack and slammed into his side,
knocking the blaster from his hand.
    I wasted no