by Thadd Evans
Was the Dwate in back of me?
I listened and only heard the wind.
To my left, there were indigo branches. I glanced to the right and noticed ebony boulders. What happened to the creature?
I removed the tablet from my pocket and spoke into it. “Greg, I just found Bemme’s body. I think a Dwate attacked her. Watch your surroundings. I’ll return in a moment.”
After putting my tablet away, I listened.
Silence remained and he didn’t respond. The tablet made a ticking sound, parsing scans. Boulders had blocked my message, making it impossible for his tablet to receive it.
I stood and climbed slowly because my back and legs ached. In my mind’s eye, the Dwate attacked me. I imagined that I would swing at it with my flashlight and miss.
A simple fact popped into my head. It was impossible to win a fight with any dangerous predator. Although SP guidelines wouldn’t allow it, I needed an L21 pistol.
But if I shot an LN robot with it, the other ones would have detected the weapon, and they would kill me.
A question came to mind. Was I quick enough to hit the Dwate? Beneath my boot heels, snow crunched. I was making so much noise that any beast could follow me.
After passing a small barren tree, I heard a soft rustling noise, barely audible, and looked up.
Close by, a small taupe colored bird flew into the fog, and vanished, obscured by the haze. Beyond icicles, wind blew dirt over a barren ledge.
No Dwate.
I imagined the creature biting the back of my leg and continued on while watching the mountainside in my peripheral vision. I said, “Ey.inf.on.” My robotic left eye switched to infrared, adjusting to the darkness. Above my head, in the shadows, rocks blocked my path. I climbed around them.
Now I was starting to get a headache. Using my robotic eye was tiring me out. I said, “Ey.off.onesec.” It shut off.
I picked up a heavy rock, shoved it in my pocket, and continued on as doubts came to mind. Was it massive enough to scare off any beast? No. It would just startle it for a few seconds. But if it was any heavier, I couldn’t hit the creature.
There was another issue. It might attack from the left, right, or directly in front of me. Could I see the Dwate before it reached me?
Because I hadn’t used either arm to hit any beast, I began to feel more unprepared. This was the Dwate’s territory. It was accustomed to searching for food at night.
I imagined the creature ripping my neck open and blood gushing out.
Chapter Eight
When I was closer to our campsite, I spotted tiny dark humanoid silhouettes. Everyone was standing on the ledge, not sitting down.
After climbing around a rock column, I realized that Tia, Greg, Yeliv, Palk, Paley and Yar, were close together, silent, facing me.
To my right, about ten feet away from everyone else, an indigo figure, one that was partially obscured by darkness, raised its arm.
I kept going, trying to get a better look at the figure, and realized it was Bemme.
“You’ve returned,” she announced, a fierce expression on her face, and aimed an L21 pistol at me.
“What…? I blinked, shocked.
“Shut up. I shot Yar once. Stand with the others.” A long crimson tongue came out of Bemme’s mouth and reached below her jaw.
I reached the ledge, took a wafer out of my pocket, and started eating.
“Oww,” I cried out as Bemme shot my neck.
She shouted, “That’s a warning! Eat your meal. When you’re done, rest. Tomorrow, we climb.”
I began eating—a laser beam struck Yeliv.
“Eoowch!”
I pivoted, walked, moving away from Bemme, and sat in my chair.
Palk screamed.
I didn’t turn to look because she might shoot me.
Bemme hollered, “Everyone, go to sleep within an hour! If you don’t wake up early enough, I’ll wake you with my L Twenty-One!”
I ate slowly.
Greg howled in pain.
As my heart beat faster, a nervous reaction, I swallowed.
A noise, boot heels sinking into hardened snow, became louder. Beyond my peripheral vision, someone, perhaps Bemme, was approaching me.
I glanced over my left shoulder, my stomach muscles in a knot, waiting for a laser blast to strike my shoulder.
Yar sat in her chair.
I exhaled, relieved, and offered her more wafers.
She took them silently, a blank expression on her face.
I guessed that if I stood and offered more food to the others, Bemme would shoot someone.
As my eyes grew accustomed to the dark, the vertical stripes on Yar’s face stood out more. For an unknown reason, she peered at me, smiling faintly.
I ate more wafers, not sure what to say.
Palk cried out, “Eeeeeaw!”
I took a deep breath, frustrated. It was impossible to help him.
The sound of approaching footsteps grew louder. Bemme, a Dwate corpse in hand, a pistol in the other, sat on a rock, close to me. In one quick motion, she pointed the gun at my face.
Although I wanted to rush her, it was a bad idea. If Bemme’s pistol was set at high power, she could kill me with one blast to the forehead before I was close enough to take the gun away.
There was another complication. Although I was quicker than many humanoids, I couldn’t reach her without slipping because of the slick hardened snow. Bemme had the advantage and she knew it.
Bemme raised one hand, opening her mouth wider than any human’s could. As she muttered incoherently, her eyeballs, one-inch diameter body parts that were partially covered by skin, lifted several inches out of her eye sockets.
Each eyeball was attached to a four-inch long tendril, a pink body part that was connected to the back wall of her eye socket. Gradually, each optical organ peered down at the carcass as both tendrils lowered. She bit into the animal and started chewing.
Soon her cheeks were bulging while blood dripped off her jaw. Bemme raised her head back until her face was aimed straight up. Then she swallowed and lumps moved down her throat.
Within moments, Bemme gulped down several mouthfuls, her L21 never wavering, the barrel still aimed at my face.
Feeling curious, I glanced down at her bulging stomach, a repulsive sight. Wondering what she would do next, I peeked at her face. At the same time, her eyes retracted into the sockets.
“Yar!” Bemme tossed a backpack.
Yar caught it with both hands.
“Do?” A laser beam hit my neck. I winced, but said nothing.
“Yar, you will carry that for me. I’ll be in the back.” Bemme spit bones onto the ground. “If I catch anybody sending text messages to each other, I’ll blast them.”
After we passed another curve, I noticed that the trail was broader.
Needing to scan the rest of the trail, I removed the device from my pocket.
The screen appeared. Next to the edge, Greg’s recent text message enlarged. Jason, I’d like to take the L21 away from Bemme, but she would kill me if I even looked at her.
There is another problem. This trail is so narrow, it’s hard to turn around and rush her. One wrong step and you fall over the edge.
Although I wanted to respond to his message, I didn’t. I shoved the tablet in my pocket, upset.
It occurred to me that if I hesitated for too long, Bemme would shoot me or demand to look at my tablet because she assumed that we were sending text or voicemail messages to each other, conspiring against her.
Bemme shouted, “Let’s camp here!”
Yeliv said, “I’m tired.”
Bemme pointed at us. “By the way, don’t look at me unless I’m next to you. If I catch anyone watching me, I’ll shoot you.”
I took the compressed sleeping bag off my belt and flung it down. As it expanded, Yar handed me several wafers. I ate them. Then both of us crawled inside our bags.
I wanted to sneak up on Bemme while she was asleep t
o take the pistol. But I hadn’t looked at Bemme within the last few hours. I didn’t know where her bag was. If she heard me before I found it, she would kill me.
The sound of howling wind woke me up from a restless sleep. I stuck my head out of the bag. Then I noticed dimly lit rocks, and poorly illuminated long white shapes, snow covered bags. I couldn’t tell which one was hers.
I looked down. According to my digital watch, half an hour had gone by since I dozed off.
In my imagination, shadows moved across Bemme’s severed head. What had I actually seen when I found the remains of her body? She must have placed a tablet on a rock and it projected a 3 D hologram onto the snow. Although I hadn’t seen a tablet create one, there wasn’t any other logical explanation.
I felt pessimistic. We wouldn’t reach Solo and get the COV10 disk. Bemme was going to murder all of us in a few days.
“My tablet hasn’t received any topographic maps from ST7 since we left the ship. It’s hard to tell if this trail goes all the way to Solo.”
Jason-664
Chapter Nine
Outside my sleeping bag, the sound of approaching footsteps became louder. Schrench, scrench.
Not caring who it was, I examined my watch. According to it, five and one half hours had gone by, but I hadn’t slept soundly. I flexed my cold toes and ate a wafer.
I climbed out and glanced at Palk and Paley. Close behind them, Bemme glared at me.
I walked and handed wafers to everyone.
Laser light, a blast from Bemme’s weapon, hit my right hand—I winced.
“Let’s go,” she ordered.
I picked up my bag. It deflated. I attached it to my sleeve. After the helmet rose out of my collar and the face mask closed, I started up the trail as bone-chilling gusts hit my back. I began shivering, my body, feet and legs numb from the cold.
The steep trail narrowed and curved left. Not far beyond a rock, fog moved over the trail, obscuring it. Now it was impossible to tell if the rest of the trail curved right or left.
I glanced to the right. Halfway across the Bae Dy, I noticed a hole in the mist. Inside the hole, on the opposite side of the gorge, there was only a cliff face, no trails anywhere.
I hiked on. After stepping over branches, I raised my tablet. According to the screen, we had climbed a thousand, five hundred and eleven feet since we left ST7.
I went to the left. Because the trail was narrow, I grabbed chest high rocks, maintaining my balance. Then, I glanced over my left shoulder.
Behind me, not far away, Yar shoved her hand inside a crevice. The wind blew harder and pushed Yar several inches. She held on and the gust didn’t knock her off the mountain.
I turned and kept going.
Far behind me, Bemme yelled, “Hike faster,”
Palk screamed.
I flinched.
Although I wanted to help him, it was impossible. As my frustration grew stronger, I kept going.
A couple of hours later in the late morning, I went around a bend and noticed that the trail was somewhat narrower. I turned, grabbed Yar’s hand and looked down.
Her boot heels were close the edge. She pushed her toes deeper into the ice, creating a more secure foothold. After taking a deep breath, gathering her courage, she stepped over dirt.
After letting go of her hand, I did an about face, and came upon huge icicles. As the wind howled, I started breaking them off. Without warning, several pounds of snow fell on my shoulders, knocking me sideways! I grabbed an icicle, regained my balance, and kept going.
Just before noon, I glanced down the trail.
Beyond nearby crevices, Greg grabbed Tia’s outstretched glove, and she inched her way around a boulder. After noticing Bemme, I pivoted, and continued on.
Palk bellowed, “Ieeeee!” At the same time, his voice faded.
I winced, refusing to look in the direction of where he had been. There were so many things that could’ve happened to him, each too terrible to think about. An accident would’ve been easier to digest, but Bemme could have just as easily shot him. Whatever the case, I couldn’t bring myself to find out.
Bemme shouted, “Don’t slow down or I’ll kill all of you and eat your kidneys.”
I listened, waiting for someone to complain.
No one said anything.
I clenched my fist, angry. A thought occurred to me. Taking the gun away from Bemme was impossible because no one could get close enough to her to do it.
My tablet clicked four times, indicating that a recent scan of the trail, one that was 60 feet beyond this bend, was available. I removed the tablet from my sleeve—the screen appeared. Next to it, an eleven-foot long segment of our route, a location that was directly in front of me, enlarged. Unfortunately, the rest of the trail, the portion that was just beyond the eleven foot long one, snaked to the left, making it impossible to see because it was hidden by this mountain.
Normally, the tablet grouped the current scans, ones directly in front of me, and used those to map the rest of this cliff. However, in this case, it couldn’t because the rocks, metamorphic formations that I could see, were eroded in chaotic patterns, a combination of flat and curved facets, shapes that confused the tablet’s software.
As I massaged my cold ankle,a laser hit my leg. I flinched.
“Jason, hurry up!”
I continued on—burning-hot pain, the after effects of the laser blast, raced up my leg.
Within a few hours, Yar and I entered a thirty-foot diameter hollow, a location that would protect us from the wind. I peeked upward, wondering if there was a rock overhang, a formation that would protect us from falling snow. There were only steep walls, no overhang.
Far behind me, Bemme screamed, “We’ll camp here for the night!”
Yar and I tossed our bags to the ground.
Yeliv turned, a weary expression on his face. “Greg, can you help me program my sleeping bag? Last night, the thermostat didn’t function properly. I was cold.”
“No problem.”
Far behind Yeliv and Paley, Bemme stepped off the trail—shot Greg.
“Ooow!”
Bemme hollered, “You’re too slow. Each person should set up their own camping gear.”
After giving everyone but Yar a box of prepackaged food, I climbed toward the upper end of the hollow. At the same time, I removed the folded up seat from my sleeve. It opened. I threw it down, and sat next to her.
Yar paused.
I gave her a food container. We ate.
Chapter Ten
We finished our meal. Yar removed a tablet from her pocket. A screen came out of the side of the device and started floating. Close to the top of the screen, one that glided toward Yar’s face, text brightened. Mii, on. Yu on. Way oh.
I rubbed my chin. “What does that statement mean?”
“It’s a Niil poem called Onily. I’ll read it.
“Umber swept away
“Yes Menot
“Embers speak
“Yes Massi.”
I glanced at her. “I don’t understand it.”
“It’s a rough English translation. Eighty thousand years ago, an asteroid hit Onily, a moon that orbits my home planet, Dusik. Within a month, from the North Pole to the South Pole, Dusik’s tides changed. Menot, an Embers Congressional member, said that like the tides, the Niil needed to change, remain open to new ideas. Otoq, a colleague, agreed with Menot.”
I nodded. “It’s an interesting poem.”
“Yes. However, there are some drawbacks. Although Menot, a great poet manipulated his Heta waves, infrared light, by breathing in specific rhythms, it’s difficult to translate them into English, Qoowo, Aito, Turon, or any other language.
“There is another concern. Some Heta waves smell like the ocean. When you sniff others, the odor reminds you of a forest.”
I raised one eyebrow. “Translating Niil into English is tough.”
“Definitely.
“Several years ago, my brother, Ro, told
me about a journey through the Ydnn Forest. Halfway through the story, his Heta waves, a group of patterns, morphed until they resembled leaves. The patterns smelled like cedar.” Yar paused.
“I don’t understand, but it sounds interesting.”
“Someday, you might grasp what his poem is saying.”
Chapter Eleven
Next morning, Yar and I climbed out of our bags. I whispered, “You’re carrying too much stuff.”
Yar murmured, making a barely audience clicking sound, and handed me several containers.
I shoved them onto my chest-mounted backpack, then peeked over my shoulder. All the bags were covered by snow. There had been a blizzard last night. Where was Bemme?
A sleeping bag moved. She stuck her head out of it—shot Yar’s knee.
“Iina,” she howled in pain and rubbed it.
Bemme ranted, “Let’s go, you lazy bastards!”
Another beam hit Yar’s lower leg—she fell to her knees. A beam struck her shoulder, and she collapsed, too numb to stand.
“Hurry up!”
I grabbed Yar’s outstretched hand and pulled her up while snow fell off her chest. As Yar hiked, I glanced over my shoulder.
Not far away, Bemme lifted a bloody paw, a Dwate body part, shoved it into her mouth, and began chewing. As red liquid oozed over her lips, she aimed the L21 directly at my chest.
I pivoted and continued on.
Within an hour, Yar stepped over ice-covered rocks, and her boot heels sank into hard snow.
Somewhere behind me, Greg screamed, “Owwwww!”
I didn’t look at him because of Bemme.
As we rounded another bend, the trail became more uneven.
“Hike faster!”
We passed another cliff. I removed the tablet from a chest pocket. A screen materialized. In its corner, text scrolled. The current altitude is 23,122 feet.
“You’re a bunch of lazy asses!”
A laser hit a crevice, one that was inches from my head. I flinched.
Beyond an icicle, Yar, a terrified expression on her face, stumbled. “My leg hurts. I can’t go any faster.”
I stepped over dirt and pulled Yar to her feet. Then I climbed.
