Van Terra

Chapter One ~ Fall From Good Graces

The subsurface train jerked to a stop, sending Grace Alvarez stumbling forward. Her already-racing heart skipped another beat as the bright green tunnel lights flickered outside the train windows. Murmurs spread through the crowd of passengers.

A hand grabbed Grace's arm to steady her. Kara Callisto's hand. "You okay?" Kara asked.

"Yeah." Grace adjusted the hood of her blue jacket to better hide her face. "What's happening? Does this have to do with us?"

Kara didn't respond. The tunnel lights flickered twice more before going out entirely. The train's interior followed.

Kara had kept up a confident façade all night, even when the governor's guards chased her and Grace and tried to kill them at every turn. Listening to her muttering curses under her breath now was unnerving.

Only hours earlier, Grace's day had been playing out just like every other she spent in the Governor's Palace. She'd woken up in a room that still felt too big, even after years living in it. The tutors Governor Starr had hired taught her math and science and the history of the Starr family's rule over Kronos, the capital city-planet of the Janus System. And when Grace wasn't studying, she was watching broadcasts, or reading the books her tutors left with her, or searching the net for some clue to her past, some clue to who she really was.

It had been like this since the day she'd saved Starr's life and he'd saved her from wandering the streets without a home or a family.

It had been like this until the bodyguards that kept Grace away from the public's prying eyes tried to kill her, apparently ordered by Governor Starr himself. If Kara Callisto, the supposed ambassador from Earth hadn't arrived to kill the guards and drag Grace away from the palace...

Grace would definitely be dead right now.

"What do we do?" Grace pressed. She didn't know a thing about Kara, besides the fact that she was a spy, but she had promised Grace safety and answers about her past.

"It's going to be fine," Kara said, sounding more like she was trying to reassure herself than Grace.

The subtrain intercom clicked on. "Callisto," a deep voice said. "Kronos police have you surrounded. We know you've kidnapped Grace Alvarez. Turn yourself in now and we'll spare your life."

"Why are they saying you kidnapped me?" Grace asked as loud as she dared.

"You're proof of Starr's secret lab experiments," Kara replied. "If I can get you to Earth, we can persuade the Interstar Council to help us stop him."

"Who's 'we?'"

A thud came from the back of the train car. Its metal doors let out a terrible screech in response to being forced open. Flashlight beams passed over the crowd, offering brief glimpses of the other passengers, a mix of aliens from all over the Kronos system and beyond. Light illuminated skin in every color, scales and fur, animalistic ears and eyes, and a handful of people who looked as human as Grace and Kara.

Regardless of what planet they were from, everyone in the train looked somewhere between confused and scared.

"Grace," Kara whispered. "If something happens to me, you have to keep going. Get off Kronos, get out of the Janus system, get to Earth."

"Why Earth?" Grace struggled to breathe. How was she supposed to get anywhere near the Solar System?

"You need to find my organization, Earthguard," Kara continued. "The Kronos government has been experimenting on abductees, and we need you as proof."

A flashlight beam blinded Grace. "Found them!" a Kronosian police officer shouted. Grace squinted as his silhouette raised a blaster.

"Get ready to run," Kara hissed. She held up her arms and stepped forward. The simple black and white clothes she'd worn to disguise herself as a diplomat were stained with blood and grime. Stray pieces of blonde hair had fallen from her ragged ponytail. "I surrender."