Tessa's POV:

With all of the bending and leaning Soranto was doing as he organized things, I finally flew over to a crate where I could lay down and watch him. He was slowing down, but not quite relaxed enough yet for me to try talking to him.

He eventually sat down on a crate and looked over at me. "We may be trapped in here for a while, but the good news is that nothing can get in here while those heaters are running."

The opening was good enough for me. "That's good." I managed to keep my voice from shaking, and it even sounded friendly.

His head spun towards the door as he tensed. Pausing, he narrowed his eyes in thought, and his eyes drifted slowly back to me in disbelief.

I tilted my head innocently, keeping my voice younger sounding. "What's your plan?" I had a feeling I was making this situation far more awkward than it should have been.

"Tessa?" he tentatively asked, blinking slowly.

I perked my ear tufts and trilled while replying, "Yes, it's me. Mom finally gave me permission to speak with you. She says that Taureen is asking if you know where we are."

"Taureen and... Tasha?" He stared blankly at me, still trying to get over his shock.

"Yes. I can still speak with Mom and Dad. Dirk, too. They don't know where we are, and your wrist comm isn't sending whatever special signal it is supposed to."

"Are Drae and Sipar okay? How is Adeline doing?"

"Drae and Sipar are alive. Sipar is in recovery. Drae is somewhere in a scouting shuttle looking for us. Adeline and Maria have spent a lot of time with Aeria and Taureen. Apparently, Adeline brought over some big gun that Taureen locked in his weapon room the moment she wasn't looking."

That startled a laugh out of him. "I should have known she would drag out the fusion blaster." He recollected himself. "So, all fire lizards can speak telepathically?"

"Tele-what?" In reality, I knew what it meant, but Mom had suggested playing down my intelligence a bit.

"In our minds."

"Yes. If we choose. Most dragonets speak with their chosen handlers once they trust them enough. It varies. Some don't talk much. Dirk says that I'll almost certainly talk your ear off now that I'm allowed to speak with you, which I'm probably doing now."

He rubbed his forehead. "This... makes far too much sense, actually. There were a few things in the handlers' notes. Like when Alec originally named Serena and Tom and they refused to listen to him. Then, just two days later, he changed their names and their progress skyrocketed."

"They really didn't like being called Flaer and Vatar," I said, amusement coloring my voice. With a shake of my head, I got back on track. "Do you know where we are?"

"Not really. Either a moon, planet, or very large asteroid from what I can tell. I managed to get into a cargohold on one of the shuttles before it left, so I couldn't see outside."

After relaying that to Mom, I asked, "Taureen is asking how damaged your wrist comm is. They are occasionally getting your heart reading, but nothing else."

His gaze darted to his wrist comm. "They are actually getting a partial signal? I knew it was picking up nearby signals like your tracker, but I assumed the damage to the transmitters was too great to transmit anything. But if even one transmitter is partially working..."

He took off his wrist comm and began pulling it apart with small tools from his belt pouch. I watched in fascination; I hadn't known it could come apart. It was hard to watch and try to mindlink what I was seeing at the same time. It was also giving me a headache. Mindlinking was meant for words and images – moving images were causing a strain I could feel.

Mom was able to feel how it was affecting me on her end. "Let it go. Images will work."

"Thanks."

Soranto's hands were having a hard time with the extremely tiny parts, but he was managing to do whatever he was trying to do. I mentally nudged him.

"I'm trying to link the locator beacon to the transmitters for the bio signals. In other words, I'm hoping that they can get a signal and find us."

"That would be very good. I don't like the Votaks."

"I'm in full agreement with you. There. That is the best I can do with what I have on hand. I'm assuming from your questions that no one else knows where we are either?"

"No. It sounds like there are a lot of mad Kymari hunting down the Votaks and looking for us. They called in a flock – fleet? – as well."

"Such an attack hasn't happened in a very long time. The fighting groups would be called in to help until the situation is completely resolved."

"They got a signal!" Mom exclaimed, making both me and Soranto jump slightly. "You're rather deep inside a moon several star systems away. Various groups are being pulled into a planning group to discuss how to extract Soranto since they can track him now. They are hoping you are with him, but they are making backup plans in case you are separated."

Once Soranto got over the surprise of having Mom talk to him, he frowned. "That could be a problem. We have to get closer to an exit or we are going to have Votaks coming in here for shelter."

"How long are we trapped in this room?"

"Another hour, at least. I managed to download some building layouts onto my wrist comm, so let me take a closer look and see if we can possibly steal one of their shuttles."

He began checking things on his wrist comm, and I flew to his shoulder pad, still relaying everything to Mom, Dad, Taureen, and Aeria. I knew Mom and Dad were relaying a lot of the information to Dirk and various other dragonets.

Soranto paused and pulled a container of fruit out of his belt pouch. "I probably only have enough to last you about a day, but I'm hoping to be out of here by then."

"Thanks!"

I hopped down to his lap and nibbled on the slightly bruised fruit. It was much better than the minnows. Humming my contentment, I savored another piece. After a third piece, I put the lid back on. My fishy dinner may have not been the tastiest, but it was keeping me full. It might be better to save the fruit in case we couldn't escape as quickly as we hoped.

Soranto put a water container down beside me, although he left the fruit where it was. The water was the same pure stuff from the house that slid so smoothly over my tongue.

"Do you realize what the Votaks were doing here?" Soranto quietly asked.

My mind immediately jumped to the computers the Votak and parrot had been working on. Had Soranto copied all of that information? My heart sank.

"Possibly. They talked about some stuff. What do you see?"

He glanced down at my nervous tone. "Most of the fire lizards were not always fire lizards, were they?"

"No," I whispered, my ear tufts drooping. "We have always kept that a secret. No one has even told their handlers."

"That was a very wise plan on their part." He was silent for quite some time, looking through more information.

"They thought it was serious. Is it?" I inquired tentatively.

"Very. Such a process is completely forbidden among all of the races. Even the other Votaks would kill this bunch if they suspected that they were dabbling in such a technology. Those like yourself, who have hatched or been born normally, should be safe enough, but warn your friends not to mention it until all of the originals are gone. If other races somehow got wind of this... it wouldn't be good."

Mom and Dad had been right. At this point, I was kind of glad I wasn't sharing this part of the conversation with them.

"They didn't go through it willingly, and I don't think it can be undone, can it?"

"No, it can't. Judging by what I'm seeing in their database, everything this group currently owns – right down to every computer and backup file – is currently stored here. Other than a crawler and the Captain's assistant, the only other thing on this moon is the Votaks from the trader ship. I honestly think we should blow this place up when we leave so no one has a chance of discovering this knowledge."

My ears perked up. "How can we do that?"

"This place is heated by geothermal and nuclear reactors. As long as we can prevent any of the shuttles and Votaks from leaving, the trail will end here."

"And the dragonets will be safe?" I asked hopefully.

"If they can keep their secret as well as they have been, then yes."

"Do you think the Elders know?"

"Of your true level of intelligence, probably. I don't think they are aware of the blending, though. We don't have the technology to test for it in this star system, and, normally, the Votaks wouldn't ever touch such a thing either. There would be no reason for it to occur to them, and even if it did, they are the ones pushing to protect your species."

"Why do you think they know we're smart?"

"The wording of our communications. It struck me as strange before, but I thought it was because you were still quite young. Now that I know, I am fairly certain that they either strongly suspect or actually know that your race is intelligent."

That triggered a thought. "Do you know how long we'll live?" It was an unknown detail that bothered a number of the dragonets.

"The machine was still doing the calculations when I took a copy of it, but it looks like between one hundred to two hundred years. I'm not sure how accurate their calculations are, though."

He continued working with his wrist comm, leaving me the delightful job of bringing Mom and Dad up to speed. This was going to be a long conversation.