by Day Leitao
Sightera sighed, realizing all eyes were on her. This was it, the moment where she’d find out whether they would all laugh at her or think she was a weirdo. Then, maybe she was, in a way. Larissa hadn’t said much other than being curious about it. Perhaps curiosity was all that it was. “It can save ammunition.”
Zack smiled. “Sounds nice.”
“Is the arrow sharp enough, though?” Cynthia asked.
“It is.” Saytera took one of the arrows and passed it to her.
The girl examined it. “Yeah. People in the bases all scramble and improvise sometimes. It’s usually for food, but that works, too.”
Saytera smiled, even if Kay was holding the girl’s hand. She felt so much herself with her arrows and her hair loose, and it was great to see that nobody had any issue with that. Perhaps it was because she was starting to feel good and confident in her own skin.
Zack was then serious. “Regardless of what you use, make sure you’re armed at all times when surveying the area.”
Kay stretched his arms, then put one behind Cynthia and pulled her close. “Yeah, we get our fair share of giant crabs here. Sometimes sea serpents, too. I killed one the other day.”
Zack nodded. “Yes, that’s one reason. But there’s something else going on. We had a few sentinels disappearing from the bases in the last months.”
Larissa shrugged. “Isn’t it desertion?”
He cocked his head. “Some of it, sure. Not all of it, though. Quite a few seem to have simply vanished, and their colleagues say they were not planning on running away or anything.”
“Would people tell their plans?” Larissa asked.
Zack thought for a moment. “You usually know who’s dissatisfied, who has family to go back to, who has the means to find a new identity and try a living in Citarella, for example. It’s not everyone. Kay here, if he disappeared, would you think he deserted?”
Larissa laughed. “I’d think a siren lured him to the depths of the sea and he got what he deserved.”
Saytera and Cynthia also laughed. Zack was serious. “True. There are dangerous sea creatures. Not sirens, though, fortunately—or unfortunately. A sea serpent could kill you and drag your body. Nobody would ever find you. So sure, that’s one thing. But… there’s something odd happening. Command doesn’t really talk about it, but some suspect Lunar kidnapping.”
Saytera’s heart raced, a cool chill inside her like she’d felt the previous day. “But they can’t reach us, can they? At least not after we blow them to pieces. Isn’t this the whole point of these bases? Making sure the anti-aerial cannons are working?”
Zack shrugged. “I don’t know. It could be somebody inside the planet. Maybe the Lunars have infiltrated us. Maybe it’s somebody—or an organization—who’s being paid to weaken us. The fact is that there have been mysterious disappearances. And again, sure, some might be desertions, some might be sea creatures, but it can’t be all of them.”
That didn’t make sense. “What would they want with people in the shore bases? We don’t even get any central information. What are they going to find out? That we shoot incoming ships? No kidding, genius.”
It was Cynthia that spoke now. “There’s a theory that Lunars still come for food and water. It’s been too long and they haven’t conceded defeat yet.”
“Another planet could be helping them,” Larissa said.
Saytera thought it was unlikely. “Interstellar travel just for water?”
Cynthia shrugged. “All we know is that there have been some disappearances from the shore bases. Command doesn’t want rumors about it, so they consider them all desertions.”
Zack’s face got somber. “And then there’s Somersault. It’s a base way North.”
Saytera was almost afraid to ask. “What happened?”
“They were all killed. Every one of them. The bodies were found a couple days later.”
Saytera felt nauseated.
Larissa voiced her concern. “Shouldn’t they tell us? So that we’re on high alert?”
Zack shrugged. “We are telling you. It’s just not something we want in our records.”
It didn’t make sense. “Why?”
“Who knows the reason?” Zack asked.
Kay got up. “After all this cheerful talk, I think I want to take a walk.” He turned to Cynthia. “Want to come with me?”
She got up. “Sure.”
Saytera laughed. “Yay, that makes sense. There’s unknown danger around the bases. Let’s go be vulnerable somewhere.”
Kay shrugged. “We’re both armed.”
“We won’t go far.” Cynthia added.
Perhaps Saytera shouldn’t have said any of that. It sounded as if she was jealous. It was just that it was illogical and reckless.
Zack waved a hand. “We can’t know if we’re more vulnerable far from the bases or near them. Or around a fire, telling people far away that we’re here.”
That was true. “Well, The base is freaking red on top of a cliff. It’s not like it’s hard to find us.”
He nodded. “Exactly. Now let my co-pilot have her share of fun.”
Saytera stared at Larissa, wondering if she’d protest or say anything. “You also think it’s fine.”
The girl shrugged. “They’re sometimes like that.” She then gave Saytera a pointed look. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Zack picked a flute from his pocket. “Would you want me to play a song?”
It wouldn’t be anything even close to the bands in the Storm Islands, but still… Saytera smiled.
When he was about to start, their comms beeped red. Larissa took hers and opened the channel.
“Help!” It was Nara’s voice. “We think someone has entered the base.”
15
Intruders
“Are they still there?” Larissa asked.
“We didn’t find anyone,” Nara’s voice was shaky over the comm. “But someone tried to break into our terminal.”
“We’re coming up.” Larissa turned off the comm, an incredulous look on her face. “How did they even get here?”
Saytera was about to dash towards the base, but then stopped to think. They had to have come by ship or boat. And they were probably going to leave the same way, maybe even with information from their terminals.
“What are you looking at?” Larissa was beside her.
Saytera decided to run to the inner beach. “I’ll go check. I’ll be right back.”
Larissa yelled something but the wind was getting strong again and she didn’t quite catch it as she dashed down the hill towards the calmer beach. Calmer not counting crabs and other creatures. She just wanted to check. It was a hunch, it could be stupid, but she had to know.
A few drops of rain started falling on the sand as she looked at the sea, searching for a sign of a boat. What was she thinking? Well, this place was too far for someone to have come on foot. They must have taken a boat. Or something. And since the other beach had strong waves, this is where they would be—unless—could someone have flown in?
An image came to her mind; the small outer beach. It was just a strip of sand among rocks. Still. A rogue spaceship could land there. Saytera turned around—and bumped into Kay. He probably had gotten the same communication as them.
He asked, “Where are you going?”
“The outer beach. I can go alone. There are no crabs or other sea creatures there.”
He stared at her.
Saytera added, “If there’s a person around here, it could be a place to hide. I’ll just check.”
“Be careful.”
She turned and ran, and was relieved that nobody ran after her or yelled anything. The waves were crashing on the shore like thunder. Wild, unpredictable, untamed. She loved the ocean.
Stars shone in the night sky. So many millions of unknown worlds, unknown to humans, who lived in just a couple dozen systems. Unknown to Saytera, stranded on a planet from where nobody flew in or out. She sighed. Unless peo
ple flew in. They took it for granted that nobody could reach them because their radar said so. Kind of stupid to lean so much on what a machine measured. Terens had landed on Mainland Planet, Yansin had left it. There were other ways to travel, and maybe other ways to travel undetected. Perhaps that was what she was facing here.
Saytera reached the small strip of sand and shivered, thinking for the first time that perhaps if there were intruders, they weren’t from Mainland or Sapphirlune. If that was the case, she should better go back to the base and stay as hidden as possible. But there was nothing on the beach. False hunch. Except… she felt as if there was something at the other end. Having come so far, she’d have to know. Saytera walked by the woods, as quietly as possible. A cool breeze came from the ocean and she shivered.
At the opposite end of the small strip of sand, she found it. It looked as if there was mist or something, but then she walked to it and touched something solid; a hull. Why did it look invisible? Saytera took a better look. Far from invisible, but somehow it was camouflaged against the background. Now that she’d seen it, she could perhaps even spot it from far away. That had to be an intruder ship, which had come from water or space.
The best solution would be to blow it up right away. Saytera walked back to the woods and touched her comm to Larissa.
“Where are you?” the girl asked.
Saytera was about to reply, when a strong hand covered her mouth.
She tried to bite or kick it back but the grip on her was too strong.
Her comm was still open. “Saytera?”
Then the hand holding her ripped the comm from her. It was the chance she needed. Saytera stepped away, turned, and had her bow pointed to a guy in front of her. And stared at the barrel of a cracker pistol aimed at her. In the dark, she saw just the black hair of the guy pointing the gun at her.
“Stalemate,” he said. “Except mine’s faster.”
Saytera’s comm was crushed under his foot. And then she looked at his right hand and saw them; rings. The guy was wearing a coat, but it was long so he could well be wearing robes under it. In the faint glimmer of the moon, she saw that his eyes were lined. Teren. But why was he using a pistol?
Another voice startled her. “Drop it.”
A young man pointed a gun at her. He wore pants and a jacket, had shorter, braided hair, dark skin, and didn’t give her that Teren vibe.
Saytera lowered her bow.
The black-haired, Teren-looking guy took a zapper, pointed at her, and pressed the trigger. Nothing happened. A shadow moved behind him. Kay had a cracker pointed towards the intruder.
“Watch out,” Saytera yelled.
It must have been by reflex, because it didn’t make sense for her to defend a Teren. The black haired guy turned and stunned Kay, who fell on the ground. Saytera turned to run. She had to get help, save Kay.
“Stop right where you are,” the black-haired Teren guy said.
Saytera turned and noticed that he had a cracker aimed at Kay’s head. He continued, “If you run, I’ll kill him.”
“You gain nothing from killing him.” Her voice wasn’t as strong as she wished.
“And I lose a lot if I let you go. I’ll have to shoot you, too. Now come back, and everyone lives.”
Saytera hesitated. If she ran, she had a chance. They could try to shoot her, but they could miss. Kay on the other hand was fallen, unconscious. No way he’d be able to defend himself. Shooting him was just a matter of pressing a trigger. As upset as she was at him, she didn’t want him to die. And it was her fault for having alerted the black-haired guy. And the idea of leaving someone to get help brought her horrible memories that she didn’t want to repeat.
There wasn’t much she could do, but she could at least try to negotiate. “Let him go, then.”
The Teren guy shook his head. “We’re two against one. You have no grounds for demands.”
“I saved your life!”
He raised his eyebrows. “Oh. Did you?”
What a jerk. “Let him go and I’ll come with you. If you don’t, maybe I might think you’re going to kill us both. In this case, I have nothing to lose by running.”
The guy with the black hair and long coat was walking towards her, and she realized it would be hard to run once she reached the rocks. Saytera stepped back. “Let him go.”
“Fine. We’ll leave him here. But you come with us.”
“Promise.”
He pointed his zapper at her. “Just shush it, will you?” He pressed the trigger, but nothing happened.
Could it be that she was affecting other people’s pistols? She couldn’t know. Her heart was beating fast, but she didn’t want them to notice how afraid she was and laughed. “Is your equipment always that faulty?”
He pulled the other pistol. “Want to test? You’re trying my patience and my colleague is going to start hurting your friend.”
She took a small step back. “I just want you to promise to leave him.”
“That will be a nope.”
The other guy hit Kay’s head with the back of his pistol.
Saytera was almost shaking. “I should have let him blow your brains out.”
The black haired guy just rolled his eyes. “Yeah. Keep looking back on what could have been. Are you coming or do you want to add regrets to your list?”
Eerily insightful. Saytera sighed. “Coming.”
She walked forward to the misty weird thing that now she thought was a spaceship. Maybe Larissa or the others would find her. They had to. As they approached the other guy, he pulled an energy pistol. Somehow Saytera wasn’t that surprised when it didn’t work. So perhaps she could affect other pistols. The black-haired guy held her, and the other guy then took a syringe and stuck it on her neck. Saytera wasn’t sure what was happening, who those people were, and in how much danger she was. As the liquid took effect, though, her fears—and everything else—disappeared.
Marcus was lifting the unconscious guy from the floor.
“What are you doing?” Dess asked.
“We can’t leave him here. He’ll alert other people about us.”
Dess shook his head. “It’s not like he knows how we got here. I doubt he even knows what we look like. Too much trouble to take both.”
Marcus stared at him. “Is it because you promised?”
“I didn’t promise anything.” He was still holding the collapsed girl in his arms. Part of him wanted to leave her. There was something unusual about her, dangerous maybe. No. That had to be an impression. Either way, she’d be sedated until Sapphirlune. No difference. “We’ll take her. She saw a lot.”
He dragged her to the ship, eager to stop having to look at her, then strapped her on the back chair in the inner cabin.
Marcus looked at him. “Why not put her in the back?”
Weird hunch. “Not sure. I think she’s dangerous.”
Marcus just stared. Dess then went back outside, knelt and picked up her bow, wondering how she’d gotten it and why she used it. He shouldn’t be taking anything from a hostage, but he wanted to compare it to the bows he’d read about. It almost looked like a Teren bow. No, perhaps that was imagination. Maybe other people in the shore bases used those. It was information.
Marcus’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “We’d better get out of here soon.”
Dess nodded. “I know.”
He got into the ship and they flew right above the waves then down underwater, where hopefully they wouldn’t be found. They just had to wait for a light enough storm to escape that place without being shot. He held the stick in his hand. At least he’d taken information from the terminal. What idiots, all sitting by the fire and leaving the base practically unattended.
Saytera was jolted awake. More like shaken. Glass, and something dark grey beyond it. Pilot and co-pilot chairs in front of her. Her hands and body in metal enclosures. The ship shook again, and the black hair in the main pilot seat reminded her of her unpleasant encounter. She was being kid
napped, but that was far from the worst; they were flying in the middle of a storm cloud, being shaken like a twig over crashing waves.
“You’re gonna kill us. Are you insane?”
The guy on the co-pilot seat turned, startled. He had brown eyes, dark skin, and braided hair.
The guy on the front didn’t move, but said, “Sedate the hostage.”
The ship was tossed sideways now. Saytera would have been thrown against the window hadn’t she been so tightly bound.
The co-pilot must have had the same idea. “Once we leave this storm.”
Saytera was wondering if they were suicidal or something, when she remembered how storm clouds would show up on the radar. They were using it as camouflage. That was how they reached the planet. Sneaky—if they survived.
If that shaking continued Saytera would puke—but it didn’t. They left the cloud behind and now had the light of their star illuminating the ship. But then Saytera’s insides turned to ice. Who were those guys? If the black-haired guy was indeed a Teren, it would mean that Vivian’s sacrifice had been in vain. So many deaths for nothing. If he wasn’t, and if she was going to be imprisoned and maybe killed, again that sacrifice had been for nothing. Her life had been so short. Whatever destiny she had would be forgotten, unfulfilled.
She stared at the light bathing them as she contemplated the future loss of her freedom, her life. All of that because she hadn’t been cautious enough to bring more people with her. All of that because, by some stupid reflex, she’d warned the dark-haired guy, preventing Kay from killing him. He was expressing his gratitude by taking her away, to who knows where. Not fair. Anger was rising inside her at the unfairness of the situation, at the lack of honor from her captors. They shouldn’t get away with it. And Saytera didn’t want to be taken away from Cliffbound, the one place where she was finding some sort of happiness after so long.
Talking wouldn’t make a difference, but she had to vent, and said, “You’ll regret this.”
The dark-haired guy turned to the co-pilot. “The storm is gone. It’s safe to sedate her now.”
