THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

but he kept answering as fast as he could spit the words out. “My palm print calls up the transender that brought me here. No one can call that one but me during a moon cycle.”
    “What?”
    “Transenders can only travel to and from this Sphere while the red moon is in view overhead. Once the moon sets, the lunar surface energy diminishes to the point that it’s too dangerous to risk coming or going.” Phen continued without needing a nudge. “Human molecules have to be suspended while the unit transcends from one dimension to another. We still have a few flaws that haven’t been worked out yet.”
    Oh, man, why can’t I have an hour with this guy? Tony asked, “What happens if you miss this transender?”
    “You can’t do that to me,” Phen pleaded in a voice pitched high with hysteria. “Transenders are reprogrammed daily. I can’t call up another one once I’ve activated this one. And if the MystiKs find me again they’ll torture then kill me.”
    “Then talk faster. What happens if a MystiK takes a transender without an escort?”  If Tony had something to offer Mathias that his group could use to escape here he might be willing to let him, Rayen and Gabby leave.
    “Not possible,” Phen whined, stomping on Tony’s hope. “The palm screen is programmed not to work for a MystiK. Even if they could call a transender, they’d die of asphyxiation once the transender returned if they didn’t have the daily exit code entered as a secondary security.”
    That’s no use . If he, Gabby and Rayen found a way to the transender that brought them, would a return trip suffocate all of them? But he doubted this guy’d know that answer.
    Phen drew a quick breath. “I’ve got to go in the next thirty seconds. Have to take this one. Let me go...or be responsible for my death.” 
    Decision made. Tony had no reason to cause Phen’s death and he wouldn’t trust Zilya not to kill this guy.
    Getting up, he helped Phen off the ground for the second time today and told him. “You better hope I find a way home. If not, I’m goin’ to be your worst enemy if you come back and hurt any of those kids.”
    Of all the things Tony expected Phen to say, “Thanks,” had not been on the list.
    A whirring noise started again.
    Phen rushed to the transender and put his hands on the side. He swung his head around and yelled, “Same person has to palm the outside of the transender to open it.”
    Freebie intel. Sweet.
    Two of the tall panels covering the exterior slid apart.
    Phen dove inside as the panels snapped shut and the pod started spinning...then poof, it vanished.
    Dusting off as much of the red clay as possible, Tony strode back to the trees to find that flower. When he did, he couldn’t convince himself to stick his hand down into those pink petals. But the longer he studied the plant, the more he became convinced it was one heck of a reproduction.
    Nothing moved. No breathing in and out like the killer flower had done. But now that he thought about it, there had been other big-ass pink flowers around. While hiking through the jungle, Rayen had told him about watching for the flower breathing.
    This one acted dead as a corpse.
    Good camouflage for a TecKnati transender call panel.
    As much as hesitating put him at risk of being discovered, Tony couldn’t go back without knowing for sure that he could find this panel again. When he convinced himself to walk all the way up to the plant, and after he’d left his phone several yards away, he thought he’d beaten his nerves. But his fingers shook like old Mr. Belokov waiting for Sol’s bar to open. When Tony stuck his arm toward the pink petals they might as well have been shark jaws.
    Sweat broke out on his forehead. He leaned over, looking inside the opening that was wide enough for two arms. But he couldn’t see all the way to the bottom of the dark hole.
    Just do it .
    But Phen and these crazy MystiKs were from another world even if Phen had called it Earth.
    Time was of the essence.
    Ah, hell. Tony took one for the team and jabbed his hand down into the hole. His fingers reached tentatively further...more...until he touched a round knob. Okay, good sign. Breathing hard, he pushed the knob.
    Nothing happened.
    Curling his fingers around it, he tried twisting one way then the other.
    That’s when the knob turned and he heard a loud click .
    A holographic screen came alive just out from his left shoulder and that killer female voice announced, “