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we’ll be shipped off to their
capital not long after that. No doubt to the professors, who’ll do
experiments on us.”
    She scowled. “Okay. Find out what sort of
ship I’m supposed to fly.
     
     
     
     

Chapter
Six
     
     
     
    Morgan rolled off the bunk wishing she’d had
a little more sleep. Nerves buzzed like a swarm of wasps in her
stomach. Routine; she had to make it all look routine. She dressed
in the prison fatigues they’d given her, bright red pants and
shirt, and hoped Sayvu would be able to pull this off. She’d give a
lot just to be able to wear some decent clothes.
    Her escort arrived to take her to the exit
from the detention block. She waited, gaze fixed on the floor,
inside the closed door. It wouldn’t be opened until Sayvu appeared.
Footfalls approached from within the prison, heavy boots and a
softer tread. Jones plus escort. She didn’t even look at him.
    A click and the clatter of turning wheels as
the doors slid apart. Sayvu waited outside, erect and unsmiling.
“Come.”
    Morgan and Jones followed her, their two
troopers a few steps behind. They all crowded into a transit car
and went up two levels. From there, they walked down a wide
corridor and into a warehouse.
    “Lieutenant, why…” one of the guards said.
The words trailed away. He started to lift his hand to his neck,
where a needle-thin dart protruded. His eyes rolled back and he
collapsed to the floor beside his colleague.
    A man wearing a grey uniform stepped forward,
grasped one of the fallen troopers’ shoulders and dragged him away
between the rows of shelving. Sayvu did the same with the second
man. Morgan glanced around her. Food supplies. Stacks and stacks of
non-perishables, piled to the roof.
    The man reappeared. She noticed the rank
insignia on his sleeve, three squares and a star. A senior NCO.
    “Quickly. Get in here.” He gestured at one of
three rectangular containers, its lid tilted back, on a tray
attached to a supply vehicle.
    She clambered up. It stank of rotting
organics and a layer of black gunge coated the base. Yuck.
    “Hurry,” urged the NCO. “It’s only for a
short time.”
    Morgan pulled a face. Well, it made sense,
she supposed. Who’d willingly investigate waste matter being
shipped planetside? She lowered herself onto the damp mess and sat,
knees to her chest while he sealed down the top. The stench filled
her lungs; she suppressed the gag reflex. It wouldn’t be for long.
She hoped. If this didn’t work… But then, why shouldn’t it? The
fleet was in orbit around a planet. A supply run between planet and
ship—quite normal.
    The container lurched and swayed. A short
ride, a halt. Muffled voices. She adjusted her audio-receptors so
she could hear.
    “Waste material transfer. Would you care to
check?” That was the senior NCO.
    “Uh, no, Sergeant. I’ll take your word.” And
that would be the person at the gate.
    The container lurched again. She wriggled her
buttocks. There wasn’t much worse than damp pants. The muck was
cold, too.
    She nearly squealed when the box suddenly
rose into the air. A loader, that’s all. Settle down .
    Noises outside. The lid swung back. She
looked up into Sayvu’s face and breathed a sigh of relief. As she
clambered out into a cargo hold, the same senior NCO she’d seen
before clamped the other two containers to fixtures on the
deck.
    A female body wearing only underclothes lay
against a bulkhead, bound hand and foot and gagged, clearly
unconscious.
    “The pilot,” Sayvu said. “She has been
drugged. Here is her flight suit."
    Morgan peeled off the stinking red prison
clothes and pulled on the black coverall while the NCO finished his
job. “Good luck,” he said to Sayvu. He disappeared through the
hatch back to the hangar bay.
    Jones beamed at her, grinning from ear to
ear. “Great. We’re out of here.” He snaffled Sayvu and gave her a
brief hug.
    “Save your breath. We’ve got to get out of
the hangar first,” Morgan said. “You two