Kingdom of Stars (The Young Ancients: Timon Book Three) Read Online Free PDF Page B

judge
the crowd. Most of them looked scared, but in that tough person sort of way
that meant they'd still spend their lives, if they had to. "Well, they're
all a bit too brave for an unknown situation. No one will blame you and I for
running if it's needed. Rodale is stuck, of course, but he can guard us if it
comes to that. While we flee." It was too hard to keep all the play from
his voice, stressful situation or not, but the big and totally bald young man
grunted and stepped forward.
    "Sounds
about right. Who's the new pilot, for when the rest of us die?"
    "Bethany."
It was just about the same reason that Petra had for picking Mindy. Timon knew
her name. "I'll go over the controls." It didn't take long, since
instruction amounted to using the hand control unit carefully. Pull up to go
up, down took it down. The hard part was just in controlling things so you
didn't go too fast for where you were.
    "So
when in doubt, go up, and practice for a while first."
    The only
other big problem, other than reforming the craft to lock with the strange
vehicle below them, so that it couldn't easily escape, was communications.
Petra needed to be in the loop, but so did the boarding crew. In the end Timon
took the hand piece, since it was his, and made a ramp for the ones going to
walk down.
    "Bethany,
if something goes wrong, fix the floor and leave."
    "Okay.
How? I mean, how do I fix the floor?" The tall woman didn't seem all that frightened,
or stupid, but it was a bit annoying that she didn't already know how to do
everything. Sensible, being that she'd never had a chance to learn how, but
bothersome. It meant taking another two minutes to show her what to do and then
have her try it. The whole time Timon expected someone to charge out of the
other craft, given how they were connected. That or release a poison gas, or
nano attack dust or whatever they had planned. Instead it was just a whole lot
of nothing.
    Too much
nothing by far.
    In the
end Timon just stood there, imploder in hand, ready to fight and protect the
ramp if he had to, while Karl and Sentle slowly went in. Mindy and Rodale had
his back, since Timon was the well armed one, as it turned out. They were the
wall, if it came to it. The sacrifice to allow the others time to escape.
    Suddenly,
a minute later a faint voice called out.
    "Hey,
there's no one home. Not that we can find." It was the other man, Sentle,
who had a funny sounding voice that cracked a lot and was too deep for a real
person. He wasn't even a full on giant, only being about seven feet tall.
Muscular though, which might have had something to do with it.
    Tim
relayed the information and then sighed.
    "I'm
going to go in then and look around myself. Maybe I can sense something. Field
reading." He didn't want to, since it was probably a trap, but he walked
in anyway and motioned for Mindy and Rodale to move back up the ramp. It was a
nice black thing, with texture to it, like stone, so that it wouldn't be slippery.
Not even when washed with his blood.
    The
inside of the craft was telling however. For one thing there were no windows.
Not at all. Chairs or couches either. That meant the pilot either stood at the
controls, or there wasn't one. Fortunately, that was a thing he'd heard of
before. He'd even seen something like it, in Austra.
    A
computer. It was an artificial mind. If it was the same thing at least, or
something similar. The Ancients all used to use them however, so if that was
the case, and they sent it, it made sense.
    "Computer...
please respond." There was only the one room inside and it wasn't big at
all, being just about big enough for seven of him to sit or stand comfortably,
or him plus the two large men he didn't really know.
    Karl
gave him a look that said he didn't know who that was, and then jumped when a
soft sounding female voice responded.
    With a
put upon sigh.
    "Fine.
You got me. I admit it, it was all me, I throw myself on your mercy. Mea culpa
and all that sort of stuff." It