Worlds Away Read Online Free

been instructed.
    Just before they exited the main doors, Michael swiveled his
head around and got a brief look at Kenny. The young physicist hung limply
between the two soldiers, and was possibly even unconscious. Michael wanted to
race back to help, but he knew anything he did might jeopardize the cooperation
of the Solan Empire soldiers—whoever they were.
    ∞
    It was nearly nine hours later before anyone came to their
cell. Michael was growing more and more worried that they hadn’t heard anything
about Kenny, nor had they had any indication from the stoic soldier standing
guard as to what their fate would be.
    Michael stood up from the long bench set into the wall of the
cell when he recognized Lieutenant Gao, who was followed by two other soldiers holding
handguns.
    “How is he?” Michael asked, glancing nervously at the guns.
“Is Kenny all right?”
    “That should be the last of your concerns, Mr. Sanderson,”
the lieutenant said, an ominous tone in his voice.
    Alex got up and stood next to Michael while Yaxche remained
sitting.
    Michael asked, “What do you mean by that?”
    “We’ve received instructions from Central Command. They were
explicit.” With that, he made a motion with his hand to the two soldiers. Both
raised their guns and pointed them at Michael and Alex.
    “What are you doing?” Michael cried out. The only response
he got from Lieutenant Gao was an amused smile.
    The lieutenant nodded at his men.
    Alex yelled, “No!”
    The soldiers opened fire.

4
    Kulsat
Ship :
    Centauri
System :
    When Justine had quantized herself in the past, she’d been completely aware of her surroundings.
    Not so this time.
    Her consciousness only returned to her when she materialized
out of the quantized state—through no action of her own. It took her several
seconds to remember what had happened to her.
    The Ultio.
    Someone, or something, on the Kulsat ship had scanned her
with the sight and then, against her will, transformed her into quanta.
    … And then what?
    Her thoughts were thick; she had trouble concentrating.
Where was she?
    She opened her eyes to an all-encompassing blanket of
darkness. There was no Kinemetic radiation left in her body; she could not use
its influence to sense her surroundings.
    Panic surged through her, and she fought back a scream. She
had to keep her head.
    Though she was blind, she had other senses.
    She could breathe; therefore, there was oxygen. It smelled
musky and a little stale. It reminded her of being in a large industrial
complex with climate control.
    Straining her ears, she could hear the echo of her
breathing; that meant there were walls, and she was in an enclosed space. A
prison?
    Under her back was a hard floor, cold to the touch. Tapping
it with a fingernail produced a high-pitched metallic sound.
    Extending her arms around in a fan-like motion, her hands
did not come in contact with any walls or other objects in her immediate
vicinity. She reached above her and felt no resistance in that direction.
    Carefully, she rolled to her stomach, drew her legs under
her, and raised herself to her knees. Though her muscles were stiff and sore,
she didn’t need much effort to push herself up. The gravity level was about
half of Earth normal.
    She moved her arms around in a circular motion, searching
for a wall or ceiling.
    “Hello?” she said. Her voice came back to her sounding small
and frightened, but there was no reply.
    Stretching one hand out in front of her, Justine crawled
forward on her knees. She needed to know the limitations of her prison cell, if
that were, indeed, where she was.
    Her fingers came up against a wall, and she let out a small
grunt at the sudden discovery. The surface of the wall was smooth and cool, but
unlike the floor, when she tapped her nail against it, the reverberation
sounded more like glass than metal.
    Rapping on it with her knuckles, she called out. “Hello. Is
there anyone there?”
    No answer except the echo of her own voice.
    She