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I t took Benni and Will no time at all to get suited up in their EMS kits and to be given the necessary items for the mission. It took twenty minutes for them to reach the section of the Athos where the Ohuli craft was tethered.

By that time, Hazel had joined us in the docking bay, Captain Stuedecker at her side. Hazel had a radio in one hand that was linked directly to Benni’s coms unit. All of us had disposable Tyvek jumpsuits on over our clothing.

The radio crackled. “I’m at the vessel,” Benni said. “I see the hatch.”

“Can you open it?” Hazel asked.

“We’re going to try. Hang on, still erecting the pressure tent.” The radio went silent for a few moments, then Benni’s voice came through again. “If we can’t open it, Will thinks he can cut through the hinges and pop the whole thing off that way.”

“As long as you’ve got the tent in place, you have my permission to do whatever’s necessary,” Hazel responded.

“Roger that.”

The tent was actually a self-contained life-support unit that would suction to the side of the vessel, fitting over the hatch and preventing air from escaping the ship. If Zanya and company were inside, we didn’t want to drain the ship of oxygen.

No point in trying to rescue our friends if we were going to take away their ability to breathe.

I took a breath myself, trying to calm down. Every inch of me was on edge, hoping against hope that the missing were not only on the Ohuli ship but also still alive.

Because if they had been taken as some kind of food source for this weird bio-organism … I refused to think about what might have happened to them already. I just couldn’t process it.

A soft thunk reverberated through the hull. It was obvious it had come from the Ohuli craft.

Hazel spoke into the radio. “What was that?”

“Hatch is open. Will’s going in. I’m right behind him.”

Seconds ticked by.

“How is this a spacefaring vessel?” Benni asked, but it sounded like she was talking to Will more than us. “Looks more like the inside of … I don’t know what, but it’s not like any ship I’ve ever seen. Frankly, it’s a little gross. We’re in some kind of common area. I think.”

Hazel got back on the radio. “Any sign of anyone?”

“Nothing yet. We’re looking.”

Hazel nodded at us. “Frank, Mom, get down to that hatch and see if you can guide Benni to you. If there are people on board, we’ll have to take them off via the main hatch.”

“On it,” Frank said. “We’ll knock on it and use the flashlights, since the membrane seems to allow light through it.”

“Benni,” Hazel said. “Frank and my mother are on their way to guide you to the main hatch. Have Will keep looking.”

“Roger,” Benni answered.

We went back down the passageway to the membrane blocking our path. We held our flashlights flush against it and started pounding on the exterior.

I heard the crackle of the radio but couldn’t make out the words, then Hazel yelled to us, “Keep it up. She can hear you.”

We banged our hands harder. A minute passed, maybe two, then light shone through the membrane.

“Benni,” I shouted.

“I’m here,” she shouted back. “Administering the sedation now.”

At least, I thought that was what she said. I looked at my wristband. “Five minutes and counting.”

“ If this works,” Frank said, putting his hand on the membrane. “Which I hope it does.”

The sound of footsteps preceded Hazel and Stuedecker’s arrival. The captain now wore a headlamp.

Hazel had one in her hand but had yet to put it on. She looked at the membrane. “Has the anesthetic been administered?”

I nodded. “Yes. We’re counting down.”

“How long?” she asked.

Frank checked the time. “Three minutes.”

Stuedecker let out a breath. “That’s really skin?”

“Or something like it,” Frank said, stepping back. “Touch it. See for yourself.”

Stuedecker reached out, his hand going flat against the membrane. He pulled back, shaking his head. “Don’t like that at all.”

Hazel touched it, her lip curling. “We should document this. Captain?”

He reached up to his headlamp and pressed the side of it. “Camera rolling. Yours will record, too.”

Hazel put her headlamp on and started the camera. “Is that right?”

Stuedecker nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“That’s five minutes,” Frank said, looking at Hazel.

She nodded and adjusted her headlamp. “Proceed.”

He took out his multipurpose tool, opened the knife, and pressed it to the membrane. “Cutting.”

Hazel clicked the radio. “We’re cutting.”

Frank sliced straight down. There was no response from the vessel. I took that as a good sign.

He sliced again and again, keeping the knife to the same line so that the cut was clean. I’d sort of expected blood, or something, but there wasn’t any. No fluid of any kind. Small favors.

He put the tool away and spread the incision.

Benni peeked out at us. She was still in her EMS suit, of course, but she had the visor back. She helped hold the slit open so we could climb through. As I squeezed in, I was glad for the Tyvek between me and the membrane.

I glanced around, shaking my head at what I saw.

Only the faintest glow of light illuminated the space.

The lines of the interior were barely distinguishable from the organic matter.

We could have been standing in the carcass of some giant creature.

I could feel the soft squishiness of the floor through my boots.

It was not pleasant. “This is worse than the first time we saw it.”

Hazel was pretty unflappable, but the expression on her face spoke volumes. She hadn’t been expecting this.

“This is unreal,” she whispered.

“It looks a lot less like a ship,” Frank said. “That’s for sure. Any sign of human life?”

“Will’s looking,” Benni said.

“I’m here,” Will called out as he walked up behind her. “There are, I guess you could say, rooms along this corridor, but there’s no one in them.”

“What about the storage room at the back?” Frank said.

Will shook his head. “I didn’t see anything like that.”

Hazel touched Frank’s arm. When he looked at her, she nodded. “Lead the way.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Frank started down the corridor. I let Hazel and Stuedecker go next, then Will followed. Benni and I walked together.

“Thank you for doing this,” I said.

“No need for thanks,” she said. “Anything for Zanya.”

I nodded, feeling the same way.

“We need light,” Hazel called out as we reached them.

We all lifted our beams in Frank’s direction.

There was no door that I could see.

“For lack of a better description, it’s grown over,” Frank said. “How long is that anesthesia good for?”

“Two to three hours,” Hazel answered. “But that’s a barely educated guess. We really have no idea. Whatever you need to do, do it.”

“Understood,” Frank said. “We need to cut through this. There’s a storage area on the other side, and I believe next to that is a compartment that could be the main body of the creature. Somewhere in there is where we should find our people.”

“Then cut,” Hazel said. “The Ohuli might be an endangered race, but there are other lives at stake here, and life is precious, regardless of how rare or commonplace it is.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

This time, Frank had help from Stuedecker while the rest of us kept our lights aimed at the place where the door should have been. They cut a flap, and sure enough, just as Frank and I had seen before, there was indeed a room beyond.

We all went through. The room still had shelves, which remained loaded with supplies, but two things were different. The interior wall was slightly bowed and pulsating, and piled against it was a bunch of tarps in a big mound.

A pungent, musky odor filled the space.

“This is bizarre,” Hazel said.

“I don’t remember those being there.” On a hunch, I went over to the tarps and pulled one off. Zanya, bound and gagged, stared back at me, eyes wide with fear until she realized who she was looking at.

“Zanya!” Then I saw her arm. A tendril extended from the wall and wrapped around her arm from elbow to shoulder, almost like the tentacle of an octopus.

“Hang on.” I had the stun stick in my pocket. I dropped my flashlight, grabbed it, shoved it against the tendril, and pushed the button. The tendril seemed to retract but didn’t detach.

Zanya tried to cry for help, her words muffled by the cloth in her mouth.

I cranked up the power and zapped the tendril again, hoping I wasn’t hurting Zanya. This time it loosened enough for me to get her free.

“I’ve got you.” I pulled her away from the wall and got the gag out first, then untied her. Frank and the rest were already yanking off the remaining tarps, revealing Sten and the other missing people. More tendrils imprisoned them, but they all looked like they were still alive.

With the sounds of electricity and bursts of blue light going off around us, I got Zanya completely free.

She grabbed onto me, crying. “Els, Els, I thought we were dead. I thought—” Sobs drowned out her words.

Red marks spiraled up her arm where the tendril had been, and blood oozed from several wounds.

The radio crackled as Hazel made a call. “Lieutenant Exmore, come in.”

“This is Exmore.”

“Apprehend our four Ohuli guests and take them to the brig immediately. Take as many officers with you as you need. And send a med team to Docking Bay 1.”

“Ma’am, are you sure we?—”

“Now, Lieutenant. Or would you like to join the Ohuli in the brig on a charge of insubordination?”

“No, ma’am.”

I helped Zanya to her feet and got my arm around her. I gave Hazel a quick look. “I’m getting her out of here.”

“Go,” Hazel said. “We’ll be right behind you.”

Zanya clung to me. I walked her out of the storage area and down the corridor. “I’m so sorry, Ellis.” Her voice was raw and thin. Tears streaked her face.

“You have nothing to apologize for,” I said. “You were under the influence of some powerful forces. It’s all over now.” I felt like crying, too, with relief mostly but also because my friend had been put through such a nightmare.

“I think—” Zanya paused to clear her throat and looked back at the passageway we’d just come through. “I think they were going to feed us to the ship. That it had already started to devour us. It’s alive . How is that even possible?”

“Let’s get you out of here, then we’ll talk about it, okay?”

“Yeah.” She nodded weakly. “Yeah.” She looked pale, and dark circles bruised her eyes.

I got her to the hatch and saw something I didn’t like. The slit Frank had cut seemed to be closing. Healing .

I kept my mouth shut and pulled it apart as best I could so that Zanya could get through. I went after her and helped her through the passage. I didn’t leave her until she was in the docking bay and in the care of the first medic who arrived.

I went back into the passageway and found Frank helping Sten. Sten’s eyes were rolling back into his head, and he leaned heavily on Frank. I caught his gaze. “The ship is waking up. Healing itself.”

He nodded. “I saw. The others should be right behind me.”

I let him go and made my way into the ship again to see if I could help. Hazel was in the common area. “We need to hurry,” I told her. “I think the anesthesia is wearing off.”

Her eyes widened slightly, but she nodded in understanding. “Quicker, people. Stuedecker, let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Between the five of us, we rushed the rest of the abductees out. The craft was moving beneath our feet now, shuddering in bursts. A low, keening sound vibrated from deep in the vessel’s interior.

I was so glad to be out.

Once we were all in the docking bay again and the hostages were being seen to by the medics, Hazel gave commands to the guards on duty. “No one gets onto that ship. No one. It is dangerous and unstable.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they both responded in unison.

The abductees were taken to sick bay, some under their own power, two on stretchers. One of those was Sten.

I touched Frank’s hand as he watched the medics leave. “He’ll be all right, don’t you think?”

“I hope so. Seems like the creature was already starting to absorb what it needed. He may never be the same.”

I laced my fingers through his. “But he’ll be alive.”

Frank’s smile was quick. I didn’t mind that he couldn’t manage more. I understood.

Today had been unlike anything I’d ever experienced before in my life.