THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

One hour, twenty minutes left to request transender return from Sphere .”
    So this place was a Sphere? More to figure out later. His ticket home was callin’.
    Looking around to assure no one was sneaking up on him, Tony lifted his hand to the screen. The same red line traced around his palm, blinking, then stayed solid red.
    The female voice came on again. “ Request denied .”
    Compatibility bitch!
    Tony knew, now, that this was not the same location where he, Rayen and Gabby had exited the transender. Would this work for Rayen if Tony could find a similar holographic screen near where the three of them had arrived in this place? Rayen’s hand had started the computer freaking out back at the lab. So maybe that’s what was needed here.
    He wouldn’t find out if he didn’t get back to the village and figure out a way to break out the other two in the next eighty minutes. Based on what Phen had said, if they didn’t find their original pod they might not be able to return at all. And they couldn’t get the transender activated unless they found the right panel.
    Damn.
    Blowing out a breath and cracking his knuckles, Tony looked skyward until he had a bead on the moon position that he’d noted on the way here. Using that, he started double-timing it back to the village.
    Now all he had to do was find his way without getting lost. Not get killed or eaten by vines. Not become dinner for some weird-ass animal. Not get stopped or caught by some of the village gang.
    If he managed all that, and survived, he still had to pass through the skin-peeling fog around the village.
    And he’d thought growin’ up in Jersey was rough.
    Tony found a stick that had a velvet-like bark and started thrashing his way back. He kept checking the moon through the speckled leaves and could swear that orb had picked up speed on its downward slide to the horizon.
    Unless the moon was moving around, it should stay on his left all the way back. Simple astronomy.
    Between keeping up with the moon’s movement and trying to find his way back, he started sensing he was lost. His cell phone was stuck on the time displayed when he’d entered this place. Who knew technology could backfire? His best guess was that he’d been walkin’ for about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. That meant he had somewhere around an hour to find Rayen and Gabby, figure a way out of the village and call up the transender.
    And what if I can’t find a freakin’ fake pink flower at our transender site?
    Or if Rayen’s palm wouldn’t activate the holographic screen?
    Or if Rayen hadn’t returned to the village and still wandered around this godforsaken jungle with that crazy warrior and his friends?
    If any of the boys from back home were in his shoes and had his computer skills, they’d just skip the village, find their way back to the right transender location and take their chances with the holographic panel to access the pod.
    But Tony didn’t throw his friends under the bus. No way.
    Rayen might be clueless about technology, but she was turning out to be tough and decent.
    And Gabby had paid for helping him fight the flower vine by getting an infection he hoped hadn’t killed her.
    Tony couldn’t name one person who’d do what either of those two had for him.
    Bottom line, he was going nowhere without Xena and Psycho Babe.
    A wisp of movement caught his eye.
    He shifted right and hunkered down behind a bush with feathery leaves that smelled like Mrs. Wolsinski’s cabbage soup she cooked every Thursday. Easing up to watch, he listened for the crackle of feet snappin’ twigs and branches.
    Of course, these people were like Rayen who could move through a jungle or forest like a shadow.
    There it was.
    One of the pint-size warriors about twelve years old popped into view at a distance. One of those kids with the freaky purple eyes marched calmly through the woods, not sneaking as though they were trying to catch someone.
    Tony could hide from them and try to make his way back, but even if he did find the village he still faced havin’ to get through the fog wall.
    And he was runnin’ out of time.
    So he stood up and moved into a clear area, waving his hands. “Hey, guys. Over here. Glad to see ya.”
    Etoi popped into view between him and the kids. She took one look at him and came flying at him, drawing back her arm to throw her spear.
    “Whoa! Hold it!”  Tony dove to his side. He heard the whistle of the weapon as it just missed his head. He