Anstractor (The New Phase Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

tracker figured out their city had been invaded. Even worse, the panicked old man had told the tracker about the shadow who had bound and gagged him by his stall.
    A soldier was found dead and another was missing, with traces of his DNA all over the tower he had manned just the night before. Rafian could imagine the Geralos thinking he was some hellish creature that had come up from the jungle to kill their people. Despite himself, he smiled at the chaos he had wrought in only a few hours. Everything was working according to plan, and he knew in time they would take the ship above the city to do a manhunt. Rafian didn’t have much longer to wait, as two loud Geralos came onboard. The engines came alive, and the ship began to rise.
    He took out a las-gun that was rigged with a silencer and attached an elemental selector. He watched the pilot intently to see if he could figure out the controls and was relieved to see that it was not unlike the ones he had used on the simulation ships.
    When they were airborne and circling the city, Rafian moved the elemental dial to ice and shot the passenger in the head, which rendered him bone-stiff as his innards froze in a slow, painful death.
    Next he slipped behind the other pilot, cut his throat in one motion, and pushed him over to the passenger seat. He took over the controls and righted the stalling vessel. He knew that anything would look suspicious if he moved to escape too quickly, so he continued to circle the city as the deceased pilots would have.
    While Rafian circled three times, he established some familiarity with the various switches of the HUD, pointed the nose of the ship upwards, and jettisoned the engines to launch into space.
    The whole process of killing the pilots, flying circles, and breaking into space took less than an hour. Yet for the tense teenager whose nerves were like icepicks, it seemed like an entire day.
    Once in orbit and with no trace of anyone following him, Rafian signaled the Helysian , and it materialized in front of him. He managed to dock the alien vessel—albeit roughly—aboard the ship and was then rushed into the decontamination center, where he was immediately scanned for parasites and biological weapons. While this was standard protocol for planet jumpers, the process was one that you never get used to.
    Rafian felt a twinge of relief as the boom of the engines let him know that they had jumped into deep space and out of range of the Geralos horde. He was made to sit in the chamber for a couple of hours as various scientists and doctors looked over his suit and body to make sure he was not a danger to the crew. Once cleared, he was given a uniform he didn’t recognize and met by none other than the beautiful Vani, who was tasked to escort him to the bridge. Rafian felt the entire situation was bizarre, since Vani was being nice and actually talking to him. She had always been so rude and cold before, but now she was talking to him excitedly as if they were old friends. She was praising him, but the events of the past day were still so fresh in his mind that he just could not focus on her.
    She was saying things about how amazing he was and how they all felt he would not return. However, his thoughts were on how his racing heart had felt as if it were bursting as he flew up and out of that city, knowing that a tracking ray could tear his ship apart once the Geralos realized what was going on.
    The couple emerged from the detox station through glass sliding doors and was met by five thousand people—practically everyone onboard—cheering and clapping for Rafian. Vani was pulled out of the way as photos were taken, holos recorded, and congratulations were issued to the ship’s outcast stowaway now turned recon graduate. From the crowd emerged the cadet commander and the ship’s commander in full decoration to stand in front of the tall, slightly embarrassed Rafian, who could do nothing but salute.
    “Congratulations, Colonel,” the