The Forgotten Way (Champions of the Crystal Book 6)

Chapter 14: Desperate Escapes

"Ugh," Sabrina groaned, blinking a few times before realizing she was in absolute darkness again. "Ford?"

An answering groan reassured her. He cleared his throat, then said, "Those are some very nasty stunners."

"Kind of a hangover in energy form," Sabrina agreed. "Well, that didn't work."

"Part of it worked," Ford pointed out. "We did remove the wall. We could do it again if we needed to."

"Provided they let us have access to the Crystal again and we could see which wall is not part of the hull," Sabrina said. "I don't think we're going to get another shot at that. How about your other idea—transporting them?"

"We're not so good at being fast just yet," Ford said. "But we may have to try it."

"Mara makes it look so easy."

"Mother's had a century's worth of practice, and there's just one of her. We're still learning how to coordinate," Ford said.

"I almost don't want to learn to be good at it," Sabrina sighed. "Mara is going to hate this."

"I like to think she'd hate our dying even more," Ford said. "Okay, next time we'll try getting rid of them. One at a time. Quick and dirty, without worrying how much air or wall or floor we send with them. Agreed?"

"Right," Sabrina sighed.

"You spent a lot of effort last time trying to get the wall just right. A jagged hole in the middle of it would have worked just as well."

"Fine. I get it. Quick and dirty. Provided they ever let us have access again. If I were them, I never would!"

"They're trying to learn something from it," Ford said. "Once it becomes too risky to run their experiments on us, or they find out what they want to know, they'll just kill us. The fact that they only stunned us means they have to let us have access again. They still don't have their answers."

Sabrina was silent for a moment, until Ford crawled over to her and slid an arm around her shoulders. Then she said, "The only possible reason they can have for doing this is to learn to beat Mara. The reason for which has to be to control the Crystal, or destroy it."

Ford let out a long sigh. "Yes. I find it hard to believe they would go to this much trouble, and have learned this much about crystal energy, unless they had something very bad in mind. Whatever they are using to block my access to the Crystal could probably also be used against Wayfarers. But I think you are probably right: this is all a prelude to an attack of some kind on Praxatillus."

"Then...don't you think our attempts to escape are just helping them? Shouldn't we refuse to act instead?"

"That's probably what Homeworld's agents did. It hasn't stopped them. Sabrina, we came out here for a reason: to find out what these things are up to. We have a pretty good idea, but it doesn't do anybody any good unless we manage to communicate it to someone. Once we've done that, I'll join you in your martyrdom if necessary."

"You're not the only one who wants to find a way home," Sabrina retorted sharply. "I just think we're making a bad situation worse. Shouldn't we focus on trying to get our message out? Can we find something to record it on and then transport that instead of a Kyan?"

"Transport it where?"

"If it's inanimate, we can take more risks. Send it all the way home."

"Yes," Ford said slowly. "Yes, we should try that first. To which end, I suppose we have to get up and explore this room."

His hand found hers, and they got to their feet and began feeling their way along the wall.

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