A Starship Called Starsong

Chapter 64

The few lights that were still working in this seemingly-abandoned building were old and had clearly not been updated in the last half a century. The floor was dirty and had several small cracks in each of the tiles. The walls weren't in much better shape. This building was probably on a shortlist for demolition.

We came to a room where nine well-dressed men and more guards waited. The new guards wore a different outfit and likely had nothing to do with our escort. One of the well-dressed men frowned as he saw us. "Why are they not bound?"

One of our escorts from the vehicle shrugged and responded gruffly, "They came willingly."

The well-dressed man shook his head in irritation and lack of understanding. "Fine, bring them in."

As we walked between two posts, they started beeping. The man asked, "Didn't you check their pockets?"

Our escort shrugged dismissively. "That was not in the contract."

Another well-dressed man took a concerned step forward as he spoke with urgency, "Did you at least take their communication devices?"

The escort frowned in confusion. "No one said anything about communication devices. You said they were tourists, not that they worked on a spaceship."

"We messaged your pilot, and he said that you had taken care of it." The man was starting to get frantic.

The escort shook his head. "You said no electronics. We didn't even take our radios, so there was no way you could have contacted our pilot."

I allowed a faint smirk to touch my lips. 'Impersonating a pilot? Shame on you...'

"Guilty as charged." Starsong was always far too ready to admit when he was guilty, without sounding the least bit ashamed.

The worried man demanded, "Find those devices. Now! Before someone tracks them. Check for any other devices as well."

I narrowed my eyes in distaste of that idea. My communication device was my only defense at the moment. Starsong didn't like it either, but said, "They know that you have it, so they won't rest until they locate it. Let them take it."

Our Guides weren't hidden, so those were quickly confiscated. One of our escort was gingerly patting down my pockets and located my communication device in the pocket on my shirt. I spoke quietly, "You don't want to touch that."

All things considered, our escort had been decent, so it was only fair to warn him. The man hesitated, clearly taking my warning seriously after the earlier event in the shuttle. One of the well-dressed men was getting impatient and stormed over to reach into my pocket to speed up the process.

Starsong must have taken exception to the well-dressed man since I actually heard the sound of the security defenses triggering. It may have only sounded like a faint crack, but the effect it had on the man was much more noticeable. All of the color drained from his face as his knees gave out. He gasped for breath as if he had the wind knocked out of him.

I took a step back as several phasers were pointed in my direction. None of our escort were among that number. Apparently, they were fast learners. The first man came forward with his phaser as he demanded, "What did you do to him?!"

I responded calmly, "There are some rather strong security defenses on my communication device, and he triggered them. I did give a warning."

The man narrowed his eyes before pointing his phaser at Cynthia while addressing me, "Put it in that tray on the table."

My anger stirred as he threatened my friend, but I reluctantly took the five steps required to reach the table. I pulled my communication device out. "Is there any way for me to convince you to reconsider? Starsong tends to get upset if I do not carry this with me at all times."