Read Online Catch the Lightning by Catherine Asaro - Free Book Online

ship!”
    I pulled back. “What?”
    “My ship.” He was staring at the television. It showed a blurry shot of what looked like an aircraft, though it was impossible to make out details.
    Althor strode to the table and dropped to his knees, then poked until he found the volume control. A newscaster’s voice filled the room. “…craft found in orbit early this morning. The Anglo-Australian telescope took this picture when observers detected a change,in the scheduled operations of the space shuttle Challenger. The shuttle loaded the craft into its cargo bay and brought it into Yeager Military Flight Test Center in California. An unconfirmed source claims it is a hypersonic test plane with orbital capability that malfunctioned and had to be retrieved.”
    “What the hell?” Althor grabbed at his side, at the waist—and pulled out part of his body.
    I almost screamed. For an instant, I thought he had ripped his own flesh. But the rounded cube he held was solidifying into his transcom. On his right side, above the hip, a membrane was closing over a large socket.
    “Oh, God,” I said. I had almost reached saturation for his strangeness.
    He didn’t hear me. He was jabbing at the transcom, making , lights blink. “I can’t reach my Jag.”
    “You think that plane they found is your ship?”
    He looked at me. “They must know it’s no plane. They probably recognized its extraterrestrial nature right away.” He grimaced. “Gods know what they think. A Jag carries enough artillery to wipe out Los Angeles in a second.”
    “Why would you bring a ship like that here?”
    “I told you. I was going to a party.”
    “You need a warship to cruise a party?”
    “It’s part of me. I can’t just leave it home.”
    “I thought it was hidden.”
    “It is. Was.” He stood up. “It must be damaged worse than my tests detected. Otherwise it could easily have evaded capture by such primitive forces. But how could my diagnostics miss damage that serious? Only if it were deliberately hid—” He stopped and scowled. “It’s probably scared the holy hell out of your military. For all they know, I’m the advance scout of a hostile force.”
    “You haven’t done anything hostile.”
    “I left an armed warcraft spying on your planet.” He shook his ' head. “They have no idea what they’re dealing with.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Worst-case scenario? They tamper too much with it and the ship detonates. Given the weapons and antimatter onboard, it could take a good chunk of California with it.”
    I stared at him. “There must be something it can do.”
    He paced across the room. “I’m hoping it was at least able to disguise itself. It could pass as a planetary shuttle without interstellar capability. Your military probably doesn’t yet realize how advanced it is.”
    “What if you contact the base? Convince them you aren’t hostile.”
    He stopped pacing. “The only way they’ll let me near the Jag is if I cooperate with everything they want.”
    “Can’t you do that?”
    “I would never willingly divulge information to your military or anyone else. Besides, they still wouldn’t let me go. They have no reason to trust me. Why should they?
    I watched him uneasily. “What do you think they’ll do?”
    “Move it to a more secure installation? But that would draw unwanted attention.” He considered. “Right now they’re probably searching for a mother ship. The longer it takes them to figure out no one is looking for me, the better.” He ran his hand through his hair. “If I were in charge at that base, I would make sure we learned everything we could about the Jag, as fast as possible. Capturing the pilot would be a top priority.
    He sat down on the bed, propping his elbows on his knees so he could rest his forehead on his hands. As he closed his eyes, I felt his mind straining. I saw it as a translucent image, water on the ground. It lay deep around us but grew thinner as it extended away, until