Harper appeared at the top of the hill. He looked around him and asked "What just happened?"
"Guess." Janet replied.
"I don't think I wanna know."
"Good 'cause I don't feel like explaining right now." Janet turned to Tyr. "We'd better get out of here. There might be more of them coming."
Tyr agreed but Harper asked, "How did they find us so quickly in the first place?"
Janet shrugged. "I don't know maybe they guessed?" Tyr and Janet turned and started walking towards the forest. Harper followed. Something metallic shone in the sunlight and caught Harpers attention. He walked over and picked it up. It was a control of some kind. It was small and rectangular. There was a screen near the top and a dial beside it. There was some other buttons below the screen. "Hey guys. I found something!", he yelled and ran after them.
"What?" Janet asked when he caught up with them.
"It's some kind of control device. I need some time to figure out what it's for." He said and twisted the dial to the right. Nothing happened. He hit one of the buttons and the screen lit up. "Now we're getting somewhere." He twisted the dial to the right.
Almost instantly Janet clutched her head, fell to her knees. Tyr knelt down beside her and put his hand on her shoulder. Harper twisted the dial back and Janet leaned against Tyr breathing heavily. "Damn that hurt." she said. "It.. it felt like.. like my head was gonna explode or something."
Harper stared at her. He had a hunch and he hated to have to do it but he acted on it. He twisted the dial up. Janet grabbed her head again tears of pain coming into her eyes. Harper quickly turned the dial back and looked at the screen. There was a red dot flashing.
"Uh...Janet..."
"What Harper?" she asked.
"This thing is a tracking device. It's how they found us so fast. They attached some kind of signal to one of us and my guess is you."
A look of shocked realization came over Janet's face. "You mean this cut on my head? They put something in my head?!"
Harper nodded. "'Fraid so. I dunno what it'll do to you but it's probably the cause of all those headaches of yours."
"Let's see that." Harper handed the device to her.
"The dial there controls the frequency of the signal. The higher the frequency the stronger your headaches. It must interfere with your brain pathways or something... I dunno Trance is the medical person."
"That's why there was no guards. They knew I couldn't go anywhere without them knowing it. Our plan of sneaking back and stealing a ship is pointless. We're sitting ducks now."
"Not necessarily." Harper said thoughtfully looking at the device in Janet's hands.
********************
"Exiting slipstream in..5...4...3...2...1." Dylan said and turned to Beka. "Prepare the Maru. We're going to get them."
Trance entered Command. "I'm coming too."
"Trance..."
"You might need me. Someone could be really hurt." Trance said to Dylan. He sighed and said "Alright."
Trance smiled.
*******************
"Hurry boy." Tyr said impatiently.
"I'm moving as fast as I can, oh Paranoid-One." Harper said from underneath a computer console. They were in a ship in the Hangar. Harper was trying to get the ship to obey their commands. The door opened and Janet came in breathing heavily. Sweat covered her forehead. "Whew! They'll be a while!" She said.
"How long?" Tyr asked. Janet shrugged. "I put it up a tree deep in the woods. Imagine their reaction when they come to the spot where it says I am and I'm not there!" She said with a cheeky smile.
She sat in the pilots chair and closed her eyes thinking about the last few hours. Harper had managed to convert the tracking device he had found into one that gave out a signal that matched the one in her head. He and Tyr had sneaked into the Hangar and Harper was hot-wiring the ship. She had headed into the woods and hid the device and then returned to the Hangar. Security wasn't very tight around the village. Coyote Pride were obviously very confident. Far too confident for their own good.
"Got it!" Harper said triumphantly. "It's all ours!"
Janet opened her eyes and took the controls. She keyed in the access code to open the Hangar door, hoping Coyote Pride hadn't had time to change it. It worked and the doors opened. Janet smiled and moved the ship out of the Hangar and up into the stars.
