Read Beyond the Stars: INEO for Free Online Page A

see how long it would take for someone to complain. You’re right, Gaelan. At this rate, it will take another five hours to obtain the complete scan,” he said in a taunting tone.
    “Damn it, Zaric,” Gaelan scolded. “Can’t you ever be serious?”
    “You’re wasting time,” Urit said with shared frustration.
    Quickly, we all headed towards the building.
    Azil came closer to me. “Sami, remember what we told you … this place can be a little unnerving on your first visit. Keep your head high, shoulders back, direct eye contact with anyone that gets in your way, and show no fear. You have to act like you own the place. It’s the only way not to get pushed around in there,” she coached.
    “And don’t touch anything,” Gaelan added.
    I nodded. “Got it.” Jeez, I felt like their child. Now I couldn’t trust myself.
    Tyden squinted as he looked up at the building. “Where’s that strange door?” he said with aggravation.
    The building’s smooth stone walls had no visible breaks.
    Urit sighed and stepped in front of him. “Oh, please, it’s right here, as plain as day,” he said, shocking me with his metaphor. I must have been corrupting his straight talking ways.
    Tyden groaned. I knew he hated to have his authority undermined. After taking a closer look, I noticed what Urit had seen. There were small engraved markings on the stone.
    “The Katarians wish to enter,” Urit said, taking a closer step to the solid stone wall.
    The wall disappeared before our eyes and was replaced by a huge entrance. The wall was nothing but a hologram. We stepped inside and were greeted by a towering figure wearing a long and raggedy black cloak that dragged on the floor. It looked like the Grim Reaper. Its head was covered in a matching black wrap, showing only a hint of gray skin and glowing red eyes.
    Oh my goodness, talk about freaky. He scared me to death, no pun intended. I got shaky knowing I would have to walk past it to get through the door. I looked around to see if there were more of them inside. There weren’t; only different beings with no resemblance of anything human moving all about. I shouldn’t be here. I was suddenly aware of how far away from home I was. I took a deep breath of the room’s cleaner air to summon my strength. Just breathe. Keep it together, I thought as I clung to Azil’s encouraging words of how they wouldn’t let anything eat me.
    “Step forward—stop—turn—proceed,” the figure said in an electronic voice to each of us. It scanned Tyden from head to toe with a laser beam lasso that shot out from its eyes. I stood in line with the others and nervously awaited my turn. Urit went next, followed by Azil, and then Zaric. Just when I thought it would be my turn, the figure’s tool made a high pitched whirring sound. “Halt for immediate destruction of weapon,” the figure demanded after its beam paused and locked itself at the height of Zaric’s coat pockets.
    Zaric rolled his eyes. “Are you serious?”
    In an instant, the beam made a buzzing sound that was followed by a puff of smoke escaping from the seams of Zaric’s left pocket. It then continued to scan down Zaric’s legs before declaring, “Proceed.”
    “Did you have to vaporize it?” Zaric said in protest, marching away.
    It didn’t answer.
    “What did you bring?” Azil asked him when he got next to her.
    “My retractable cutter. I thought we might need it in the jungle. Damn, I really liked that thing,” he moaned.
    “Do you have to lose everything? You’re lucky it didn’t vaporize you” she teased.
    “Step forward,” it said to me.
    I hesitantly stepped in front of the thing and watched its lasso travel up my body, encircling me with a wide red beam of light. Luckily, it was painless. I waited for it to tell me to go. Instead, it retracted its lasso, lowered its burka covered face, and brought its red eyes inches from mine. I was shocked to discover how real the irises looked. Up until now, I