Wormhole (The Rho Agenda #3)(113)

So lonely. If she’d had more time, Jennifer would have pitied him. Instead, she ramped up her exploitation of his needs and weaknesses, encouraging him to show off his knowledge of the Rho Ship and its systems.

She concentrated on the Rho Ship’s wormhole generation systems. As the knowledge of their design and function filled her mind, she saw what he’d done, reprogrammed the starship’s wormhole drive to connect to the ATLAS gateway, bypassing its primary function of creating a wormhole and shoving the Rho Ship through it.

His will subject to Jennifer, Raul manipulated his neural net with a mastery that came with intimate familiarity, modifying the wormhole drive’s programming with subtle elegance. The feeling of awe Jennifer fed him brought a smile to his lips, a smile that died as the realization struck him.

“My God! You’ve killed us both!”

As she turned her back on him, a barely audible whisper slipped from Jennifer’s lips.

“I know.”





Inside the Bandolier Cave, the coffee mug slipped from Dr. Hanz Jorgen’s fingers to shatter on the stone floor, spewing its hot, black wetness up his pants leg. As a brilliant white glow replaced the Bandolier Ship’s normal, soft magenta, he didn’t even notice.

Hanz didn’t know how he knew, but he did. Something powerful had just grabbed control of the Bandolier Ship’s computers, drawing every cycle of their processing power. He could practically hear the alien circuits groan under the incredible demand being placed upon the system.

Staring at the glowing starship, he wondered what problem could tax it so intensely. Then, as a shudder traversed his body, Hanz decided he didn’t really want to know.





Heather tumbled across the concrete floor, coming to rest with her back against the first tier of workstations to the right of the portal, pain sending streaks of light lancing across her vision as the sheet metal spear twisted inside her shoulder. Fighting off a wave of dizziness, she struggled to her knees to see Jennifer standing inside the gateway device, a dozen feet separating her from where Raul’s legless body floated in the air.

Jesus. What had Stephenson done to him?

Jennifer pushed her headset into place and a new vision filled Heather’s mind. For several seconds Jennifer and Raul faced each other, frozen in place, a blitz of emotions playing across Raul’s face.

Then Jennifer turned to face her, eyes as milky white as Heather’s.

Take care of each other. I love you both.

Then the portal shifted back to empty space. As the decompression wind returned, Heather grabbed the workstation support, choking off the scream that rose in her throat. If she didn’t do something in the next thirty-three seconds, the hungry anomaly behind her was going to eat them all.

Locking away the grief that threatened to incapacitate her, Heather channeled every ounce of adrenaline her body could produce, pulled herself up over the first row of workstations, reached out to grab the floor support for the next tier, and hauled herself up onto it. Once again, the spike in her shoulder twisted, leaving her gasping for breath as a red mist colored her vision.

Gritting her teeth, she lunged up onto the third tier and climbed up, anchoring herself onto the floor-bolted chair in front of the secondary stasis control panel. With her mental countdown ticking down, she grabbed the twin field positioning joysticks and thumbed the right throttle.

Eighteen seconds.





Mark, adjusting to the jump in atmospheric pressure, was only halfway to his feet when the alien reached him, the blow staggering him. Still he managed to catch the alien’s sword arm at the wrist as he was driven back against the portal wall.

Bracing his entire bulk behind the weapon’s hilt, the alien forced the tip an inch closer to Mark’s chest. The muscles in both his arms strained to the point that they threatened to pop through the skin; Mark hammered his right knee into the thing’s groin. The tip of the black blade touched his chest, sending a warm wetness trickling down over his abdominals.

Mark twisted hard to the left, feeling the blade glance off his rib cage as the tip bit into the steel wall. Maintaining his momentum, Mark released his right hand, slamming the knife edge of his palm into the creature’s throat, followed by a side kick that buckled its left leg.

Jennifer’s voice entered his mind as he kicked the alien’s damaged leg again.

Take care of each other. I love you both.

Before he could look up, another explosive decompression shoved him toward the wormhole. His left hand released its grip on the alien’s sword arm and grabbed the portal’s edge as the creature tumbled backward. He felt the alien grab his left leg as its sword spun away into the blackness beyond.

Mark twisted, managing to get a two-handed grip on the portal lip before the additional force of the alien body hanging on his leg sent them both on the same trip the sword had just taken. Raising his right knee, Mark sent his Red Wing boot crashing down into the creature’s face, avoided the arm that swung out to capture it, and did it again. When that failed to have the desired effect, he began working on the hands clutching his left leg, breaking bones with every kick.

The creature healed fast. But not fast enough. The fifth kick broke its hold and, with a growl of anger, it fell into the portal and disappeared.

An instant later the brightly glowing anomaly bubble followed it through the portal.