Sanctuary

Copyright 2023 Emily McCosh This book is a work of fiction. Any names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblances to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review. Cover design, illustrations, and formatting by Emily McCosh Published by Oceans In The Sky PressOceansInTheSky.com Chapters One Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight Nine Ten Eleven Twelve Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen Eighteen Nineteen Twenty Sneek Peek at In Dying Starlight: Encounter One Bat curls on Zane’s pillow and watches him sleep. After some ear pets, he eventually stretched from my chest and waddled off to check on the humans. Lalia hasn’t stirred from her makeshift bed on the floor and both princesses are in the other chair beside mine in the back of the ship. It’s early and we’re not close to any planets, so everything’s quiet. My entire body hurts. I consider heaving myself to my feet, but no one’s awake and I’m not ready for movement. I’m hungry, but not enough it motivates me. I shift in the padded chair, comfy as it is, and grimace. “You okay?” Yvonne’s whisper startles me. She looks pretty rough herself, cheek puffy and forming the hints of a blue bruise as if she got punched. Maybe she hit the ground too hard when I tackled that cyborg holding her up. Either way, she isn’t nearly as bad as I am. Though it’s dark, she’s facing my side that took the brunt of the damage to the implants in my temple. “How does your face feel?” Nice enough of her to ask. “Like I got shot in the face.” She grimaces. “I guess that’s kinda my fault.” “Not really.” I gesture at the damaged temple. “This was before you got dragged off.” “Oh.” She runs her fingers over her sister’s sleeping head. Anya, at least, seems to have come out unscathed, though it’s nothing to say about how she’s gonna be mentally after all this. I’m glad I didn’t blow Kel’s face off right in front of her. “What happened yesterday? I didn’t catch most of it.” Even trying to wrap my brain around the situation worsens the mild headache kept at bay by painkillers. “A lot. I’ll tell you when I remember all of it in order.” She nods, staring at the ceiling. Bat peeks over at us before returning to guarding Zane sleep like a cat watching a mouse. I know he likes Zane, but it’s cute to see him watch over the human. I rub my face, trying to avoid my injuries, but most all the implants in my face—and various parts of my body—ache when touched. Human skin doesn’t take lightly to being smashed against metal, even when the metal is coming from my own body. My cheekbones feel swollen, as well as my temple over my left eye. I’m sure the other one—where the implants took damage—is worse. The skin around my eyes, always a little red and haunted, feels frailer than usual. Looking in a mirror this morning will be less fun than usual. Yvonne’s eyes are on me. Discomfort crawls over my skin, but it’s not as if she hasn’t seen me look like hell before. “It’s either ship crashes or cyborgs that are abominations against nature, apparently,” I say, just because she’s staring so much I feel the need to break the quiet. Her lip quirks. “You think all cyborgs are abominations against nature?” “Only when I’m feeling particularly pissed.” Captain’s advanced medical technology more than any other person, but I’m not in the mood to be so gracious out loud. Yvonne is frowning. “Do you think Captain looks like that? Or can do those things. Like that woman who split her arm in half?” I doubt it. But how would I know? He doesn’t appear to give himself wild augmentations, just the ones to make him nice and immortal and stronger than most of the galaxy, other cyborgs included. Then again, I had no idea ForceZero existed in the first place, so what do I know. “No idea. At this point, I’m not entirely sure I’d be surprised.” “Aaron?” I finally stop messing with my sore face and glance at her. “You sound serious and when you do, usually I don’t end up liking the outcome.” She rolls her eyes, but her expression remains tight. “I don’t know what to do.” Well, that’s a heavy topic. “About everything, or something in particular you’re sulking over?” She slaps me so lightly on the arm it’s barely a pat and doesn’t hurt. “I don’t think we can go back to Neyla Ve.” Well, yes, that problem has occurred to me. “Well, I can,” she amends. “I was never supposed to leave, so if Captain got ahold of me, he’ll just drop-kick me back there. But if he gets his hands on both of us, he’ll probably just take Anya back to Amerov out of pure spite.” “He does seem quite a pettier than I ever took him to be.” She snorts gently. “I know you want your money, and I know it’ll be harder on you, but we’ve got to figure a way to get us to my parents directly on Neyla Ve. No cyborgs or anyone else in the government between them and us. And I realize the tall order of that, but I really don’t know what Captain will do just because we’ve pissed him off and humiliated him to my parents. But. . .” I wait for her to keep going, but she’s staring at the ground, jaw clenched. I would expect to be annoyed about how troublesome and dangerous it will be to attempt to