His anger swirled through my head. "The Rodan know Anhui's ship was destroyed and will be searching for survivors. The mother ship must be nearby."
A large blip appeared on the edge of my long-range scanner. "Oh yeah, big mama is heading our way too."
I could sense Voss checking his scanners and felt his anticipation of a fierce battle. "It's a class five battle cruiser, which we will intercept and destroy. Keep on your heading, and I will inform the Overlord."
"Yes, sir." A violent fit of coughing left me gasping for air. The room spun dizzily around me, and the next thing I knew, I was lying on the cold metal deck.
I tried to sit up, but my strength was gone. Wasn't the air supposed to be better closer to the floor? Yeah, I think it was, so I'd just stay put. I closed my eyes and took one labored breath after another and another.
Hothar collapsed next to me. "Can't breathe."
I took his hand in mine. "Hang in there, honey. Zarek will come for us."
A mechanical voice announced, "Life support will fail in ninety seconds. Evacuate to the life pods."
"Would if … there was any," I gasped.
"I'm … honored … to die with you," Hothar wheezed.
Darkness crept into my vision, and I sank into a weird kind of limbo, listening to the computer counting down until blackness claimed me.
A faint voice snapped in my head, "Zoey! Wake up!"
My oxygen-starved mind swirled chaotically. "What?"
"You will not die."
"Okay." Groggily, I tried to raise my head and sucked in a raspy breath. Why did it feel like someone was trying to smother me?
Power radiated off Hothar as he scooped me up effortlessly and, in a deep, growly voice commanded, "Stay with me."
"Tired," I whined, and my eyes drifted shut.
"Zoey! You will obey me," Hothar snarled.
I jerked as a bolt of power zapped me. Ouch! Was that nice? I peered up at his hard, ruthless face. I blinked in disbelief. Whoa! When had Hothar turned into a bossy prick?
"Bossy prick," he repeated. Menace radiated from him.
One look at his brutally relentless gaze, and I groaned. "Zarek?"
"Yes, little one. Hothar will need your help to survive."
I struggled for breath, and the blackness crashed down on me again.
A sharp, stinging pain in my neck from a pressure injector was followed by a blast of energy. My eyes flew open, and a very irritated Hothar-or was it Zarek-stared down at me. "What happened?"
"You passed out again."
One look at the merciless line of his mouth, and I knew I was talking with Zarek. "Sorry, sir, but lack of oxygen will do that to a girl." I glanced around. "Where are we?"
"The Hus Ping space station," Zarek answered and ran a medical scanner over me. "Your vital signs are back to normal. You will stay in the infirmary until I come for you."
"Yes, sir." I sat up and slid off the examining table away from the Overlord. Having him in Hothar's body was giving me the heebie-jeebies.
"Disobedience will be punished," Zarek said, every inch the dictator.
"I wouldn't think of disobeying you, your lordship."
Fire ants stomped across my mind, and I could feel the Rodan monsters growing closer and closer. The horrific memories of their bloody attack on Dallas crashed through my mind. The coppery smell of blood, the gutted corpses, the awful screams of the dying, and the monsters' gore-covered faces.
My heart twisted with pain as Paul's scream of agony echoed in my head over and over again. Rage vibrated through every cell of my body, and with a savage, destructive joy, I unleashed my powers, slaughtering every Rodan on the ship.
The Overlord's furious gaze locked on me. "You little fool, I would have killed them."
"I needed to kill them, sir."
"Did you?" He stormed into my head and examined my memories of that day. "I understand your grief, but letting your emotions control you will only get you killed. Your vengeance has severely depleted your power levels."
Exhaustion rolled over me, and I swayed unsteadily on my feet. "Yes, sir, it has, but I'd do it again." I felt him tampering with my memories. "No! Please. Don't take Paul from me."
"Your focus should be on Voss, not a dead man."
There was a fluttering sensation in my head, and Paul's face faded away and was replaced with Voss's. That day in Dallas became a vague memory as if it had happened to someone else.
"Your only allegiance is to me, Voss, and your family. Do you understand?"
A shudder of fear shook me. "I do, sir."
The Overlord gently stroked my mind. "It's for the best, little one. You cannot bring back the dead."
"I want the monsters to pay for what they've done to my world."
"They will. You have my promise on that."
Zarek's power flowed into me, chasing away my exhaustion. Wowzer! What a rush.
"A Tai-Kok ship is approaching. I want you to take Hothar and hide in the cantina."
With the Overlord in my head, I couldn't sense them. "How many?"
"Too many for you to kill."
"Are you sure?" I flinched as pain zapped my mind.
With the unblinking stare of a predator, Zarek growled, "Do not make me take all your memories."
I froze in absolute horror. Oh my God! Oh my God! I swallowed a scream and babbled, "That won't be necessary, sir. We'll go to the cantina and hide."
The Overlord pointed to two grimy robes lying across another examining table. "Wear those, and do not attract attention to yourself. Do you have any questions?"
"No, sir."
"Good." Hothar's eyes rolled back in his head, and down he went.
"Shit!" I grabbed the scanner and ran it over him. Hmmm. His oxygen levels were still a little low. Picking up the pressure injector, I gave Hothar the recommended dose and watched as his breathing steadied.
I shook Hothar. "C'mon, buddy, wake up. Trouble's heading our way."
He jackknifed into a sitting position. His eyes darted around crazily. "Zarek was in my head!"
"Yeah, I know. It's pretty damn scary."
"I do not want him to ever do that again."
"Me either, but we've got a bigger problem."
He blinked in confusion. "We're on the space station?"
"Yes, and we need to hide. A bunch of Tai-Kok are about to pay us a visit."
Hothar scrambled to his feet. "I can sense them. They are angry about something."
"Well, we did blow up Malik's base and took away their source of all that yummy human flesh."
With a shudder, he asked, "Is that terrible hunger coming from them?"
"Unfortunately, they're always very hungry." I stuffed the grotesque images of their attack on Phoenix and Paul's death deep inside my mind. I didn't want the Overlord paying a return visit, and quickly scanned the space station.
The bar was crammed with a multitude of life-forms. There were a few psychics in the bunch, but none of them were powerful enough to be a threat.
Several dozen fire ants waltzed across my mind. Zarek was 100 percent correct. There were too many for me to fight.
I picked up a robe and examined it for wildlife. My nose wrinkled in disgust. Whooeee! The stench rivaled my eau de dead skunk perfume. Whoever Zarek had borrowed it from hadn't bathed in a very long time.
My radar went on red alert. Crap. Those monsters were heading right for us. I pulled out two handy-dandy bio jammers and gave one to Hothar. "The Tai-Koks are tracking us."
He cocked his head in surprise. "I know where to teleport us." He pulled his robe on and triggered his jammer.
"Good. Let's go." I slid the robe on and stepped into his arms.
Hothar's face scrunched in concentration, and poof. We were standing in a dark corner of the bar.
I gaped in astonishment at the motley collection of aliens. Tentacles, claws, paws, and hands were wrapped around a variety of drinking containers. Some kind of funky music that sounded like cats being strangled vied with the boisterous shouts, wild laughter, and the jabber of a dozen languages.
My stomach roiled at the sensory assault of stinky patrons, stale booze, and the aroma of rancid cooking oil.
A female Hus Ping scurried around the battered tables delivering food and drinks. The poor thing's huge breasts were covered with bite marks, and what looked like semen dripped from the molting fur on her crotch. Ick.
The male Hus Ping tending the bar resembled a five-hundred-pound teddy bear with really big teeth. Skulls of some long-dead creatures smiled a hideous welcome above a cracked mirror.
We sat down at an empty table. An order screen popped to life. Well, I'll be damned. Thanks to my merge with Voss, I could actually read it. Hmmm. Think I'd pass on the Death's Hammer or whatever Kipto Piss was, and stick with something simple like beer. Their version of beer was called Datol, and Voss liked it a lot. "Are you old enough for Datol?"