"Someone just sent out a very big shipment."

Zain walked around Reene in the late-day sun. On the outside, the ship didn't look any worse for being dragged through the desert, but Reene couldn't take any more. Another attack would do it, and they were now nearly on top of the portals and the Bobzilla feeding grounds.

Lacey was inside, checking to make sure Oliver had survived the trip. Just as well. Zain realized that, for some reason, she could read him too easily. It was an issue he wasn't used to dealing with. Usually, the people around him couldn't read him or didn't care.

He also had a very bad feeling that he wasn't in any mood to share with her. He'd checked the last set of illuminated images in the dome against Reene's computations. That last shipment had gone to a planet in the X445-3 sector, quadrant A-M-3.

After that, he'd done a quick survey of the other planets Reene had matched up. He recognized some of them. All were outer rim, all contained inhabited juvenile planets. So, who was using teleportals to ship to planets that had not achieved space technology outside their own solar systems? It was strictly prohibited by the galactic community of CinTerr and adamantly enforced by InterGlax. Illegal didn't even begin to cover this operation. He and Lacey needed to get the hell out of here and soon.

Pio stepped forward and made a series of clicks. The standard issue communications earpiece that Reene had loaded translated in his ear: "We are here."

Zain smiled at Pio's obvious statement. "Thank you. We appreciate your help." His reply translated into krudo.

Pio's little head swiveled. "Ship talks much."

Zain laughed. "Yes, he does." He nodded toward the nearby portal. "Can you take me below now? I'd like to see the repair station."

"Yes."

"Yes, what?" Lacey asked, appearing behind Pio, wearing a communications earpiece like Zain's. Between that and the pistol and holster she'd commandeered, she was beginning to look more like Crista all the time. Bad for both of them.

"I'm going below," Zain said. "Stay here with Reene."

She raised her chin. "I'm coming with you."

He set his jaw. "I'd rather handle the initial investigation alone. It could be dangerous."

Pio's head swiveled back and forth between them.

"Dangerous? Now you're worried about danger? It's a little late for that, don't you think?"

"It's safer here," he insisted.

"Well, let me think about that. Would I rather be inside Reene playing Lacey-in-a-Can for the Bobzil-las, or follow you into the dark unknown? Decisions, decisions." She stared at him and he knew he'd lost.

"Fine," he muttered, brushing by her to enter the ship. "We need to pack a few things."

He made his way through the disheveled corridor to the forward cabin. "Systems check," he said to Reene as he took his seat. Reene rolled through the stats in a holo-image that faded in and out above the console. Half the controls weren't even lit, and the other half didn't look at all healthy. He needed to get enough power to run the perimeter alarm tonight. And weapons might be nice.

"Sir, the nanos have stopped working. They repaired as much as they are capable of, but we had significant internal disruption. The power cells are nearly depleted, the aft fin is bent, all sensors are inoperable, fife support is unavailable, core systems are below twenty percent..."

Reene continued his depressing report. Zain hoped Pio was right about the underground maintenance facility. Without replacement parts, Reene would not make it through tonight. "Reene, prioritize and download to my datapad a list of parts you need. Power and weapons come first."

"Data ... downloaded." Zain frowned at Reene's hesitation. The power levels dropped appreciably, barely above the dead zone.

"Reene?" he asked.

"Sir, I am switching to auxiliary now."

Lacey sat down next to Zain. "What does that mean?"

He turned to look at her. "It means Reene's in trouble."

Her eyes grew huge. Then she stared at the console. "Reene, can you store your working memory anywhere?"

"My start-up routine is not designed to-"

She moved forward. "Just do it."

"Transfer initiating." After a few seconds, Reene announced, "I will be shutting down now."

Next to him, Lacey gasped. "No."

Zain hit the controls to open the back hatch, then all the lights on the his panel went dark. He waited, hoping they would come back on. They didn't. He'd just lost Reene.

Lacey watched him, her eyes full of compassion. "We'll get him back, Zain."

He shook his head, feeling the frustration and anger of helplessness. He hated it more than anything. No matter how hard he tried to control his world, he always ended up losing. Crista, and now Reene. Would Lacey be next?

"We need to get underground," he rasped.

He rose abruptly, grabbed his pack and knelt to load it up with their gear. New priority list: secure parts, repair Reene and bring him back, shut down the automatic laser cover, send Lacey and cat home, finish mapping this bloody system, all the while avoiding the owners of this lovely facility, InterGlax, and a handful of persistent bounty hunters. How had things gotten so complicated?

He shoved a food ration into the pack and looked up to find the medkit in front of his face. Lacey held it and peered down at him.

"We might need this," she said evenly, but the words went right to his gut. He closed his eyes. She shouldn't have to worry about carrying a weapon, or requiring medical attention, or searching the landscape for the next predator. She should be home safe. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was, but the words seemed inadequate. He deserved to be hated and sworn at, but she didn't. She just handed him a kit he might have to use on her.

"Zain?"

He opened his eyes to find her kneeling in front of him. In her blue eyes was compassion like he'd never imagined. Not pity, not anger. Just concern and worry. She cared about him. He wanted to tell her that he wasn't worth it; she deserved better than she'd gotten from Bob, but he wasn't her answer.

Her soft hand pressed against his face. "Zain, I'm sorry about Reene. Are you okay?"

"I'm ..." he started as her palm slid along his cheek and she moved closer. The power of her skin against his robbed him of speech and subverted his control. Don't come any closer, Lacey. But whatever his mind was trying to say was lost in the blue of her eyes. Her face was like a new day, fresh and innocent, before his memories clouded it; that split second of peace he felt until reality smothered it. When Lacey filled his vision, nothing else mattered.

"Talk to me," she whispered, her eyes searching his.

Whatever control he'd had vanished. The medkit hit the floor. His hands gripped her shoulders and drew her to him until all he could see was the promise of peace. He heard her small gasp as his mouth closed over hers. So soft, so tender. He took more and she gave it to him, opening her mouth. He delved deep into her sweet heat and felt her fingers on his face pull him in. Her tongue found his and she moaned, fueling an escalating fire, and his body began to tremble. It had been too long, and she was too close. He should back off, but there was little hope of that. Even less with her nibbling at him that way.

Passion roared through him and he knew he couldn't tame it. He wanted her. Wanted to toss her on his bunk and take everything her actions promised. Drive into her, bury himself over and over again until she obliterated the past completely. He wanted to save himself. . .

Even as the thought formed, he froze. No!

He pushed her away. She blinked at him in confusion, her lips swollen and still parted.

He swore in his native language, a phrase he normally reserved for the most heinous of crimes. The phrase fit. He shoved himself to his feet and turned his back on Lacey. He couldn't face her. Not after taking something he had no right to. He should apologize but it would have to wait. He was too angry with himself. Any words would be filled with disgust.

As he returned to filling his pack, he heard Lacey stand up behind him and shuffle over to her seat. In his peripheral vision, she sat down and crossed her arms. She didn't speak, didn't yell, didn't fight him. She should be giving him hell; hurt him like he'd just hurt her. So why didn't she?

He shoved the last of the supplies into his pack. The medkit lay at his feet, and he grabbed it and stuffed it in.

"Oliver will have to stay here," he said, pulling on the pack.

Zain turned to find Lacey standing next to him, her rifle slung over her shoulder. She wouldn't look him in the eye, but he didn't need to see into her soul to know what he'd done. He was no better than that bastard, Bob. But at least she understood that now.

He turned to walk to the back of the ship. "Let's go."

Chapter Twelve.

Zain went first and she fell a few paces behind. Outside the dome, a waiting Pio raised up on four legs. "Follow."

If she hadn't made such a damn big deal about going underground, she could just stay in the ship. But no. She had to be independent. She had to be in control. Right up until the moment when she made a complete and utter fool of herself.

Dammit, he was the one who kissed her. She was just offering a little compassion after Reene shut down. Next thing she knew, she was swept into Zain's passionate vortex, riding a wave of passion she'd never dreamed possible. There was so much power and desperation in that kiss; he couldn't fake that and she wouldn't believe he didn't mean it. So why did he push her away? To humiliate her? To teach her some twisted lesson? Whatever the reason, he wasn't getting another chance. She'd already done her time. Her one priority was to get off this planet-alive and soon.

Inside the dome, Pio sprang off the stone floor and landed on top of the center island. Then he turned around and pointed one bony leg to the other side. "Here."

Lacey and Zain stepped around to where Pio indicated. That's when she noticed the circle carved into the stone floor around them.

Pio carefully placed each of his six legs on various spots on the black surface of the island. Beneath him, the entire top burst into a bright array of circles and squares. Lacey gasped. Underneath that film of sand was a control panel just like in Zain's ship. Then the ground moved.

"What-" She yelled as the floor lowered beneath her feet. Zain's arm lashed out and grabbed her. Pio and the counter dropped with them, and they all descended into a dark well. Smooth metal walls engulfed them.

Lacey latched on to Zain for dear life until she realized what she was doing. She tried to pull away, but he held her fast. She peered up at him, backlit by the circle of light above. In the distance, the opening sealed itself, plunging them into black except for the control console's glow. There was a loud whoosh as they passed a band of light in the walls.

Lacey gazed into Zain's briefly lit face, and her breath caught at the sadness in his eyes. Pain and guilt. For whom? Then he closed up on her and looked at Pio.

"How long?"

"Short ride," Pio clicked, rocking slowly atop the counter.

Another whoosh, a band of light, and silence.

Lacey studied the widely-spaced, colored sections on the island that controlled the elevator, and noted Pio's six legs were carefully placed on six small red spots.

"How did you figure out how it worked?" she asked.

Pio chirped, "By playing."

"I don't believe it," she said, shaking her head. "All that work, and all along I didn't have enough extremities."

The elevator slowed and Zain held up his rifle. "Get ready, Lacey."

She readied her weapon and waited.

"Done," Pio chirped.

Suddenly the walls disappeared, and they were lowered onto a round platform surrounded by a bank of consoles. The elevator locked into the floor with a dull click. Gone was the barren desert. Gone were the sun and its warmth. All were replaced by miles of metal. Air whistled around the solitary platform, which was about fifty feet in diameter. The lights were dim and ambient, casting shadows around the vast structure surrounding her.

Lacey untangled herself from Zain and walked to the edge of the platform, looked down and couldn't see bottom. On the other side of the hundred-foot-wide abyss, a wall of technology encircled them. There were cables, conduits, boxes, and lights- all meshed tightly together and weaving around level upon level of giant holes twenty feet high. The holes opened into tunnels, and inside she could just make out storage containers packed end to end. She turned around slowly, counting four columns of tunnels and even more containers.

"It's the freakin' Borg," she whispered.

Zain surveyed the complex with grave concern. He'd never seen so much hardware in one place, even in all his years with InterGlax. This was worse than he'd imagined.

If each tunnel ran several klicks, and Reene was right about the twenty levels, this was no ordinary storage facility. This was too big, too expensive, and too damn powerful. He knew one of those containers could hold lot more than supplies and cargo. He'd seen them in action, popping open and sprouting troops, ships, and ground tanks. With the speed and throughput they'd witnessed earlier, all those containers could be dumped anywhere in a matter of minutes.

No ordinary customer needed a delivery that fast.

He scanned the platform and the ring of control panels, and noted one small teleportal arch on the floor. Damn. That was a definite problem. He checked the area, looking for cameras. They would be here, of course. Even a station like this couldn't be one hundred percent autonomous. Unfortunately for him, there was no place to hide. However, if their entry had been detected, they'd probably be dead by now. And Pio seemed to move down here freely. Perhaps the sensors only detected certain types of activity. It would help greatly if he knew which kind.

"What the hell have you dragged me into?" Lacey said, frustration filling her voice.

He clenched his jaw. "I hope we won't be on this planet long enough to find out. Do you want the bad news?"

She huffed and made her way over to him. "You mean there's good news?"

"We already had our good news: We haven't been disintegrated yet."

"You aliens have a really warped sense of humor, you know that?" she replied.

He nodded to the circle on the floor. "Another portal."

"So? What's one more portal?"

"This one is specifically designed for humans."

She looked perplexed for a few seconds, and then her expression lit up. "So we can go home?"

"Not quite," he said slowly. "I'm assuming it leads directly to whoever owns this lovely facility. A service entrance."

"But that would get us out of here," she said, sweeping a hand around.

"Maybe," he noted, walking over to one of the consoles.She huffed. "Don't you want to get off this rock?""Passionately." He scoured the layout of the panel."Then what's the problem?" she asked, an edge to her voice."Problems'. Plural," he said as he read the controls. "One, we don't know who the owners are." He pressed a button on the panel. The monitor in front of it lit up with the message: "Access Denied."

"Two, we've already established they don't want guests." He punched another button. Another "Access Denied."

"And three, we have no idea how to control this damn thing."

He pressed another button, and the monitor in front of them displayed a descending time sequence.

Lacey moved up beside him. "What is it?"