Nightmares & Dreams: A Science Fantasy Space Western: Eydulan Series Book 2 by Mark Brandon Powell

Warden.”
    Celeste squints, “You came here in a shuttle.”
    “Is that a question?”
    “No. Where is your ship?”
    “Safe.”
    Celeste nods. “How did you get captured?”
    “Got drunk in a bar on Illusion. Not sure who got me. When I woke up I was in that shuttle already on the way here.” Kat says hoping the week of running though that lie in her head comes off as honest.
    “You managed to take out three of our titan class warships, and slip past over two hundred ships to land on a restricted planet.”
    “Again is that a question?”
    “No. The question is how?”
    “I just piloted, my ship did the rest.”
    “Where is it?”
    “Already told you, safe.”
    Celeste nods. “All right, we can do this the hard way if you want. Men take her to basement floor twenty, and place her in solitary confinement.” She looks back to Kat, “You might be more talkative after a couple of days.”
    That was something Kat couldn’t let happen. It would mean lost time and that was something that Hanna might not have, if she was still here in the first place. Kat says, “What!? No, that’s ok. I don’t like solitary. What do you want to know again.”
    Celeste smiles, “I don’t repeat myself.”
    “You want to know where my ship is?”
    “Yes.”
    “I don’t know.”
    “All right, men take her.”
    Kat gets dragged toward the building. She says, “No wait, I seriously don’t know. An AI runs the ship. When I didn’t come back she’s probably looking for me.”
    Celeste hold up her hand, and Kat’s stops getting dragged in. “An AI you said. So you’re the one who took the plans for the Crucible.”
    Kat can’t stop her face from making a surprised look, and Celeste flashes a smile.
    Kat says, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    “I’m sure you don’t.” Celeste pauses for a moment. “Take her to the gen pop on sixteen instead. It’s starting to get hot out here and its almost time for my lunch.”
    The men say nothing, only nod and take Kat into the structure. Her legs get swung out behind her and she is now hovering about three feet off the ground. Kat watches Celeste walk into a room and disappear close to the entrance. Trying to keep her barring she lifts her head to look forward. She is then immediately slapped in the back of the head with the butt of a blaster, and a friendly verbal reminder to keep her head down. From there Kat keeps her head down.
    She’s lead into an elevator, and hears a keypad getting pressed, not knowing if it was actual keys or the sounds of keys being pressed. Magic can be used to mess with technology. At least that’s what she’s heard anyway. The elevator ride wasn’t long, but it was long enough. The way she was floating horizontally made her feel uneasy. There was no real way to defend herself, or even move. It was a position that she didn’t like. That and the fact that her butt was in the air didn’t sit well with her either.
    Whisper says, “It’s ok Kat, I’m right here with you and there is nothing to be scared of.”
    Kat looks at the other guards to see if they heard anything. Not one of them turn their heads toward her.
    She asks inside her head, Can you hear me thinking?
    “Of course I can. I’ve been able to do that for months.”
    Not cool Whisper, even if it is rather handy right now.
    “Yes, well, I preferred not to use this particular form of communication because you normally think of the most boring things. It was fun when you and Gravan were in bed rooting around. It was as good as the novels I like to read.”
    Stay out of my head in my private time.
    “You’re no fun.”
    Once we get out of this prison, I’ll give you something fun.
    “Yes yes, threats to format me and such. Lets just keep your head cool and rescue Hanna. If you think of things too far ahead you might just overheat.”
    Kat thinks of a few things that she would like to say then do to Whisper.
    “Now that isn’t nice at all.”
    Ugh… Now I can’t