Abducted - Escape From Kraile

Chapter 20

As soon as the shuttle doors closed, I took off the heavy robe and set it aside. I wanted to hurry and wake everyone, but Leonidas told me to wait. He said that once we were on the Miir ship, he'd show me the proper way to release them from the body bags.

"You and your family are safe now," he said. "Rest." Then he hurried off to the bridge and we lifted off.

For the first time in a long while, I was alone — except for nine floating bodies. I paced the floor, fiddling with my hair and cracking my knuckles. At last, my nervous energy burned off. I felt suddenly weak. All the tension, hope, fear, and everything I'd felt from the moment I'd found the aliens in my barn, came rushing to the surface. I dropped to the floor next to my parents, buried my head in my hands, and cried. I let it all out, in one of those snuffly, awful cries that makes your throat hurt and your eyes burn. All the pent-up stress and frustration I'd been holding in flowed out of my body.

When my emotions finally dried up, I was more exhausted than ever. But it was a different kind of exhaustion. The kind that comes from emotional release and healing. For the first time since the ordeal began, I allowed myself to think about going home and sleeping in my own bed again. I felt like I could sleep for days, if the nightmares stayed away.

Suddenly, Leonidas's voice came over the intercom. Something in his voice jolted me to my feet. "Luke, come to the bridge immediately. Bring the Elders cloak."

I grabbed it and ran, heart pounding, blood pumping. I couldn't recall ever hearing Leonidas sound so... not calm. Bursting on to the bridge, I fought to catch my breath. The first thing I noticed was that he still had his Elders cloak on. "What's the matter? What happened?"

"It appears that we were followed by a Krailian warship, and they are hailing us on a visual com channel. I am not sure what they want. But before I accept their communication, you must put on the Elders cloak and buckle in."

My heart sank. He might not be sure, but I was. What? Did they forget to say be careful, or watch out for that first star on the left, it's a doozy? No, they had somehow discovered the truth. I could feel it in my bones.

I quickly slipped on the heavy cloak and buckled into the seat next to Leonidas.

"Remember, do not speak," he said.

"Okay."

My hands trembled under my cloak, as a million questions raced through my mind. What had given us away? Would we all go back to prison? Would they blow the shuttle to smithereens?

I waited silently while Leonidas pushed a few buttons, causing the front display of the ship to flash. Suddenly we were viewing the bridge of another ship, and what I saw sent chills cascading through my body. Sitting in the captain's chair was the largest Krailian I had ever seen, and I'd seen some big ones. He must have been eight feet tall, and as wide as a truck. He wore something I hadn't seen on any of the other spider-aliens — a wide yellow band that matched the color of his eyes. It wrapped around his midsection and displayed an insignia. I was fairly certain it marked him as a high-ranking officer.

Leonidas obviously knew who he was, because he addressed him by name. "Greetings, General Drac," he said, reverting to his Elders voice. "To what do we owe the honor of your communication?"

The Krailian general laughed. At least I assumed that's what it was. His body shook, and a sound like a crazed dolphin, only deeper and more sinister, came out of him. "You can dispense with your lies, Trillian. We know you are not Elders, and that you dressed yourself in stolen robes to rescue the humans."