Page 11 of Argurma Warrior (The Argurma Chronicles #1)

K aylar’s vibrissae twitched, the tips twining back toward the female whenever he was not keeping firm control of them. That did not bode well. He did not like that she gave him her designation, either. It created a familiarity with her that he had wished to avoid, especially with the way his systems seemed to be malfunctioning in her presence. She was just a subject that he was tasked with and as such he needed the distance maintained between them. He could not allow the corruption in his system to develop any unhealthy attachments to her.

The moment he did the council would know and descend upon them with a fury that his cousin never would have dreamed of.

At least the female had fallen into silence behind him once they stepped out into the open rather than drawing his attention back to her with her chatter that had followed him through the halls of his ship. Although he could sense her heat signature close behind him, Kaylar glanced back at her to assure himself that she was keeping up without difficulty.

Though the female was flushed and her skin damp with sweat from the heat and humidity of the environment, she was wide eyed wonder as she stared at their lush, green surroundings. Had she not seen such before? Kaylar eyed the greenery, attempting to see the appeal of it. It reminded him a little of the gardens of the family complex except that it lacked any kind of order in its composition. Rather than possessing a sense of pleasing geometric pattern or sequence in numbers of specimens set in complementary fashion, it was a jumble of hues and structures creating all manner of hiding places for predators.

Even the thick clusters of flowers seemed to provide a potential camouflage that made his vibrissae whip warily though the female—Meg—appeared to slow to admire them.

“Increase your rate of speed, female,” he growled. “Our destination is close but there is a sixty-five percent chance of being caught in the open by a predator rapidly closing in if we do not hurry.”

A long, soft sigh met his words, but he heard her footsteps quicken behind him, accompanied by the overly loud crunch of growth beneath her feet. Kaylar grunted in approval even as he winced. He little doubted that Meg was laying down a clear path through the forest with the same vigor with which she was probably attracting every creature within range of hearing with her passage.

The corners of his mouth curved in amusement despite himself. This was no female happy to take shelter beneath his protection as his cousin’s mate appeared to do but she followed instructions as if she were another warrior, even if an ill-trained one, who did not recognize her immense vulnerability. It was a gross miscalculation on her part but he could work with that over a weak female clinging to his side whom he would be forced to protect from every little thing.

His vibrissae shuddered as he firmly returned his focus directly ahead of him. Despite the female resolutely keeping up with him, he had to acknowledge the necessity of getting her safely locked in until repairs could be made. He would be expected to keep the subject in perfect health, that was the only reason that he was taking on such a protective role. He was not his cousin to illogically be protective of a female from a smaller, weaker species.

According to his block scanners, the structure was just beyond the thick trees that obscured his view. No more than a fereth in distance. They would reach it in less than an hour at their current trajectory if she did not become further distracted.

“Is much further?” she whispered, and his vibrissae promptly rose in response to her voice that had nothing to do with their need to remain silent.

Instead, he possessed a desire to lean closer and savor the sound of her voice running over his processors until it thoroughly imbedded into his systems.

“No,” he grumbled. “It is just there, beyond those trees.” He gestured to the thick growth just ahead of them and she made a soft sound of agreement before falling silent once more.

The trees head of them slowly thinned revealing sections of gray walls stained with darker streakers where paint was peeling away from its surface. He slashed at the greenery in front of him with his claws and the fore-spikes along his arms, shredding the dense foliage so that it fell to the ground around his feet as he progressed tirelessly forward, drawing closer to the larger human-made sentinel of the forest. Abruptly, the soft, packed soil of the forest floor changed to hard paving broken with overgrowth and Meg followed him out of the depths of the forest onto path leading up to a large square entrance framed with badly aging yellow paint to which faded lettering barely clung but enough of it that he was able to decipher some of it.

A human laboratory.

Kaylar’s pace slowed and he glanced around, taking the measure of the surroundings. It seemed like a peculiar location for a laboratory. He did not see any other signs of habitation or industry to support it, nor did anything further come up on his block scans. Instead, it appeared to be strangely hidden among old trees that had possibly been maintained in the past to give the location cover by his calculations.

“What is a lab doing way out here?” Meg murmured, giving voice to his own private musings as she came to a stop beside him and peered up at the building.

“This is not customary?” It would be an absurd question for an Argurma lab, but he knew little of human reasoning and customs. Perhaps they jealously hid their centers of research and were even more distrustful than the chief scientists on Argurumal.

Meg shook her head and stepped forward, creeping closer to the structure. “Not that I know of. I’ve seen both labs and research centers, or what is left of them, in Phoenix. We would go in looking for emergency supplies, though there wasn’t much left. They were always out in accessible, well-traveled areas near other large buildings. Nothing hidden by any means as far as I’ve noticed.”

He clicked thoughtfully, processing her words as he initiated his bio scanner around the entrance.

“No potential threat of hostile life forms detected. There is a point zero five percent chance of encountering a life form within the laboratory.” His head cocked. “Acceptable. We will go in,” he decided as he abruptly made way for the entrance, leaving the human to follow after him.

The female—Meg, he reminded himself—made a frustrated little noise as she hurried after him but this time he did not slow until he reached the door. Even though there was little chance of danger, he would be the first to step inside and take surveillance of the interior before the fragile human under his care entered.

The leaves rattled against the building from a sudden breeze, providing an ominously hollow backdrop as his processors identified the change in ozone that indicated the scent of rain on the air that mixed with the hint of a decay and something unpleasantly chemical that he could not identify coming from the building.

He could not quite help but to liken it to some of the ancient royal tombs of those long dead on Zirix’Ka that bespoke of nothing but history and the heavy presence of death within its void. He had traveled far in his service to the council operating on assigned retrievals, but few things imprinted so firmly on his databases like those tombs and the weight of presence he felt stepping into them, searching for relics that had been deemed top priority.

Kaylar felt that same sensation as he eyed the heavy metal doors in front of him and it sent both an echo of thrill through his processors and a disquiet as if he were facing the possibility of disturbing something that he was not meant to. He shook his head, his vibrissae rattling. He needed to run another diagnostic through his processors. The phantoms of old data intruding on his present served no purpose. It was his own brand of malfunction but a minor one that his handler overlooked despite the weakness it inflicted Kaylar with. Such input triggered emotional responses rather than logical ones and were a bane to his ability to quickly fulfill his duty.

Still, he eyed the heavy metal doors as he approached, his curiosity roused. The doorway was designed so that it sank into the larger frame of the building creating a narrow entryway. It was not an obstacle for a warrior and a lone human, but it was clearly designed to limit how many could approach and enter the building as there was scarcely room for his wide shoulders. The doors themselves looked as if they could take several shots from a blaster cannon and suffer little ill effect and were sealed up tightly. It was not the sort of reinforcements he was accustomed to often seeing planet-side.

The soft patter of Meg’s feet slowed behind him and she drew out a long, soft whistle. “Wow. Is this a lab or Fort Knox?”

His head jerked around with a questioning look, and she smiled apologetically back at him.

“Just an expression. I think Fort Knox was a bank or something. I remember my grandfather saying that. But this place looks like it was meant to withstand a tank. That’s a big, heavily armored vehicle that was used in war,” she clarified with a small smile. “My grandfather believed that they were still in use, as well as jets, to protect resources for the rich and famous. But I don’t think they are around anymore… at least not like he thought them to be. The city I left was a bunker for the wealthy I think, and they didn’t have anything like that.” Her voice trailed off in an indistinct ramble as Kaylar tuned her out and faced the door again.

An entire bunker of humans ready for retrieval was not something he could do anything about while his ship was down and so did not warrant his immediate attention. At the moment, accessing the lab was his only concern. Craning his head back to gaze speculatively up the length of the towering door, he laid a hand along its surface and tapped into the sleeping mainframe of the lab’s systems. Their response was sluggish but verified all that he needed to know. The security locks were unpowered, and the entire mainframe of the lab was dormant and had been for solars. There was a high probability of establishing power if he could get into the main systems room and tap directly into the mainframe, but as it stood now, it barely was responding to the tiny surges of power he applied directly to it.

His vibrissae puffed out with satisfaction. Without power going through the door locks, nothing was keeping him out. He would have a safe place to stash his human.

“Are we going to be able to get in—should we even be trying to?” Meg inquired, the latter part said so softly that he found his gaze drawn back toward her once more to see her gaze up at the towering building with an uncertain look.

Her arms were wrapped around her chest, and she gripped her elbows as if shielding herself, though he could not process what she believed to be protecting herself from. He cocked his head and the motion appeared to draw her attention because her eyes lowered from the door to refocus on him and her cheeks pinkened as she forced her arms to drop to her side.

“I guess Terri didn’t warn you that I can be a bit of a wimp,” she said with a feigned lightness belied by the small lines of stress that creased the corners of her eyes. “And this place looks creepy like something straight out of one my grandfather’s tattered Stephen King horror novels I scared myself reading as a child.” The corners of her mouth lifted. “Always did have too much imagination for my own good.”

He did not let his surprise show at the mention of his cousin’s mate amid that bizarre confession. The probability of encountering a human who knew them was low but logically it registered since Meg did not behave as frightened of him as he assumed she would be. But he did not understand the purpose of the confession—did she know about the shadows that haunted his databases?—nor did he understand the reference to Veral’s mate or why this female believed that she would have communicated anything at all to him.

She waved a hand through the air. “Don’t mind me. I’m just blathering. Obviously, we need to get inside. Can you do it?”

“I can,” he affirmed, turning back toward the door. “Stay behind me.”

“Right. Better safe than sorry. The zombies that boil out can get you instead of me,” she muttered, withdrawing further behind him as he scowled at the door in confusion trying to make sense out of what exactly a zombie was.

Clearly more human nonsense.

With a chuff, he allowed his vibrissae to expand and relax in an attempt to relieve the tension thrumming through him as he placed his other hand on the door and slid both hands along the metal to its edge. He dug his metal-reinforced claws in until they punctured the door with a sharp, metallic, popping sound. His muscles straining, he pulled at the door, its shrill groaning filling his receptors until he clenched his teeth with displeasure. Little by little, the door shifted until it finally gave way and slid free, granting them access. Stale air greeted them with a stronger hint of chemicals that he had detected previously.

Palming his blaster, Kaylar held up one hand, silently signaling Meg to wait as he stepped inside. His nostrils flared at the heavy presence of dust in the air. Nothing appeared to have been disturbed. Lifting the comm on his arm at an angle, he flicked his thumb against the impression along its side, initiating the interior scan. A green light burst from it, running along the walls as it tapped into the hibernating system to supplement the recorded layout of the building. The moment the signal returned, a holographic image popped above his comm and slowly rotated, the floors stacked over each other, each with concise labeling designating the use of the space. All except the lowest floors, which were collectively designated as the research areas of the laboratory.

Dismissing those, he drew up the first-floor schematics for where they were located. Cafeteria. Recreation room. Nothing useful there. He swiped his fingers returning the schematic to its original form and flicked forward the second-floor, expanding it. Residential.

He clicked with approval and closed the hologram.

“This way. I know exactly where to put you.”