by Tammy Walsh
He pulled his blade back.
I shoved Alice into the escape pod and leaped out of range of Rattigan’s attack as he struck at me with a shrieking, “Hah!”
“After them!” Stryder yelled.
I slammed my fist on the control panel. The doors slid shut, blocking the crew and the Changelings from entering. The crew hacked at the door with their ancient weapons and the Changelings blasted at it with their pistols.
I slammed my fist on the flashing Launch button and the ship expelled us into space.
In the tiny window, Stryder’s expression curled into total rage.
“Computer,” I said. “Deny access to the control files until my return.”
Computer bleeped. “Command accepted.”
It wouldn’t prevent the crew from taking control but it would slow them down. And right now, that was what we needed. Time.
“What’s happening?” Alice said.
I kissed her on the forehead and strapped her into a seat. “Nothing, my love. But you might want to prepare for a bumpy ride.”
The escape pod tumbled end over end as we descended down…
Down…
Down…
Embraced by Tordal’s gravity and hurtled toward its surface.
Alice
The escape pod lurched as the planet’s gravity seized us in its mighty grip. Within seconds, we entered the planet’s atmosphere and fire washed over the windows. A loud roaring ripping sound tore a scream from my throat.
I gripped the armrests in clenched fists and peered over at Nighteko. His eyes were shut and his hands were completely relaxed.
Was he sleeping?
I guessed I should take comfort in the fact that if he wasn’t worried, then I shouldn’t be either.
Metal groaned and screamed. Something snapped. The entire pod shuddered.
Then, in an instant, the fire dissipated and the pod calmed, giving a perfect view of the planet beneath us. Huge swathes of green merged into a soft yellow band and endless oceans of blue.
I couldn’t bring myself to shut my eyes the way Nighteko. If death was coming for me, I wanted to see its approach.
Where would we land? In the green forest? The yellow desert? The blue ocean? It was impossible to tell traveling as fast as we were.
Nighteko opened his eyes. Good. He was still alive. He reached for the console and calmly pressed a single button. Then he shut his eyes again.
Bastard!
How could he be so calm?
The escape pod jerked forward and my harness rattled and pressed into my chest. We slowed down, but not enough for my taste. The view shifted, and now I could only see blue. Endless fields of it in every direction.
“Are you sure—” I managed to say before the pod slammed into the ocean.
I screamed and held my arms over my head in a natural instinctive response to protect myself. It was a pointless exercise. I might as well instruct the ocean to move out of the way.
At the moment of impact, I bolted forward further in my restraints, and they grew so tight they creaked and I thought they might snap.
We had, finally, come to a stop.
Nighteko removed his safety harness and got out of his seat. The pod leaned forward and he scaled up to the top.
“I hope you human females can swim,” he said.
“Swim?” I said.
I released my harness and climbed up the floor to join him. My boot slipped and he snatched my arm before I fell back to the bottom. He raised me with a single arm—he was so strong!—and wrapped an arm around me.
“We need to get out of here before the pressure becomes too great,” he said.
A million questions raced through my mind. Which one to choose first?
“Take a deep breath,” he said, slamming a fist on a big flashing red button.
The hatch opened and water rushed in. I sucked in a huge breath. The water pounded my chest and would have been knocked back for sure if he didn’t have such a firm grip on me.
He lifted me and thrust me out of the capsule and into the ocean. I flailed in the water, not needing to be told to swim toward the surface.
But where was the surface? Down there, everywhere looked the same.
The escape pod plummeted one way, which had to be down, and up there, an enormous white blazing circle that had to be the sun.
I kicked and waved my arms in vague swimming motions, using every swimming lesson I’d ever had. I’d never been the best swimmer, but having your life on the line tended to focus the mind.
My arms flailed and struggled against the water’s resistance. I wasn’t sure I was even moving. Stay calm! I warned myself. Don’t panic! I timed my movements to coincide with one another and ascended toward that ball of light.
My reserves of oxygen were quickly depleting. I wished I had kicked the boots off my feet. I couldn’t do it now. It would waste valuable seconds.
A shadow slid past me. I started. It could be a shark or whatever cousin they had on this planet. But it wasn’t a shark. It was Nighteko.
He grabbed me by the arm and propelled me up, up, up at terrific speed toward the surface with his powerful limbs.
The surface raced to meet us and I kicked my legs to aid him, using up every last morsel of my oxygen reserves.
It was no good. I couldn’t do it. I had to breathe. I couldn’t wait any longer.
I clenched my teeth hard, preventing myself from letting in a single molecule of water. But the desire was too strong.
Just a little further! I told myself.
Just a little further!
No. That was it. I’d hit my limit. I couldn’t do it.
I opened my mouth—
But Nighteko had pressed his lips to mine, clamping his lips firmly to block out any water that might seep inside.
I was hesitant as I opened up my lungs to take a little of his air. I took just a fraction of a mouthful from him and pulled back.
He held onto me and wouldn’t let go, kicking his legs so we floated there, somewhere beneath the surface of a limitless ocean on an alien world.
I took a little more oxygen from him and finally, he let go. He ran a thumb over my mouth and smiled at me.
He was gorgeous even down here, I realized. And all fear and all panic fled my body. I was calm and at ease.
We would get to the surface. He would make sure of it.
He nodded up, at our waterworld ceiling.
I kicked and swam toward that bright shimmering ball of light and glanced back, making sure he was following me. I wouldn’t put it past the fool man to give me every drop of oxygen he possessed.
He was there, right beside me, winding his body the way professional swimmers did, looking more like a dolphin than a humanoid creature.
I burst through the surface and gasped a huge lungful of sweet oxygen. I leaned back and wiped the water from my eyes.
“We can’t stay here,” Nighteko said. “We have to get to shore.”
And with that, he began to swim away.
There was no way I could swim. I was exhausted. I decided to tread water for a while and get my breath back. Just how dangerous could it be?
Nighteko paused and turned back to check on me. “Come on!”
“I can’t!” I panted. “I need to recover!”
“There are some dangerous animals in the water. If we don’t get out soon, we’re going to be something’s lunch.”
I groaned and moved my aching muscles, willing them to get me to shore. My legs lacked coordination and my arms couldn’t complete the movement I needed.
“Work damn you!” I ordered.
I forced my muscles to move. They protested but I didn’t care. It was better to swim in water than in the belly juices of some alien creature.
My muscles burned and I gritted my teeth against the pain. My lungs wheezed around every breath but I kept going. I reached Nighteko and, knowing I would sink if I came to a stop, I kept on going.
He swam alongside
me. One kick of his legs and swipe of his arms equated to two of mine.
With each overarm crawl of my right arm, I thought I saw something. A fin. Several of them, forming a V formation like a flock of birds. And behind it, a reverse-V of another set of fins.
“Uh… Nighteko?” I said, timing my words to coincide with each crawl. “There are… some fins… coming… this way.”
Nighteko moved forward to peer at the creature. “Those aren’t fins. Swim faster!”
Swim faster? He was lucky I was swimming at all!
They sure looked like fins to me… Until the reverse-V formation leaped out of the sea and arched over to snap on top of the first formation. He was right. They weren’t fins.
They were teeth in the jaws of a giant beast.
And it was heading straight for us.
Crap!
My heart thumped so hard and fast it sounded like a drumroll.
And then it doubled.
Across the way, another giant creature snapped its jaws shut like the first.
It doesn’t matter about them, I told myself.
I have to focus on my performance. A man can outrun a horse if he applies the right strategy…
But these things aren’t horses. They’re… I had no idea. Demons sent from the furnace of hell.
I glanced ahead at the shore. It raced up, drawing closer and closer…
But would we reach it soon enough?
“Shit!” Nighteko said.
“What?” I said.
“We’re not going to make it! Dive!”
Dive?
“Dive!” he repeated.
He raised both arms above the surface and shifted his body weight so he dived beneath the surface.
I performed the same motion and followed him beneath the waves. The water stung my eyes but I didn’t care. I peered around for Nighteko but saw him nowhere.
Something grabbed my arm and I expelled precious oxygen.
It was Nighteko.
He wrapped my arms around his neck and then kicked, taking us deeper into the darkness. The pressure built up on my ears before he straightened up and swam forward.
I cast around, looking for the creatures chasing us.
Where are they?
It was terrifying to think they were out there… Somewhere. Unseen. Unheard…
Desperate to consume our flesh.
Then, I saw it.
Five yards to the right. Now it was underwater, I could see how big it really was. Blue whales had nothing on this thing. It had deep grooves along its body like the scars of a fire victim. It had no eyes so far as I could tell, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t see us.
It headed right for us.
I grabbed Nighteko’s hair and yanked, pointing down. We need to head deeper, I was trying to tell him.
He changed direction and took us deeper.
The creature passed no more than a yard above my head. It displaced the water, sending a rolling underwater wave, knocking us off course.
Nighteko kept on swimming and I marveled at how he could hold his breath, swim, and carry me all at the same time.
The guy was a god.
He worked his muscles hard as he began to rise back up again. We breached the surface. I was surprised to find we were on the beach.
“Run!” Nighteko gasped.
“But we’re out of the water,” I said.
“Run!”
We took off up the beach, heading directly away from the shoreline. I had no idea why we were running. The creature was stuck in the water. I hadn’t noticed any legs earlier. I glanced over my shoulder.
Oh.
The creature threw itself bodily from the water, beaching itself. It brought its huge jaws around and snapped at us. I could have leaped forward, hoping the extra inches would give me the distance I needed, but I didn’t. I just kept on running.
There was an enormous crash as the creature’s jaws slammed shut, like banging the door on an empty steel container.
I didn’t stop, didn’t look back, not until Nighteko slumped to the sand on his hands and knees.
The powerful Titan was exhausted.
I rolled onto my back and perched on my elbows as my body fought to replenish its oxygen reserves. The giant creature shifted its enormous body side to side—not toward us, but back, back into the ocean from whence it came.
I slumped back, my head striking the sand.
“What a welcome,” I said.
Nighteko’s fever was back with a vengeance. He’d exhausted himself and the sickness was ready to take advantage.
I made him as comfortable as I could. The sun was warm and already doing a good job of drying our clothes. I gathered up firewood from the fringes of the jungle. I peered into the darkness and the thick vines and trees. Strange and alien sounds whooped and whistled and cawed.
A world of danger. An alien world.
Darkness descended quickly. I was glad I’d thought to gather up the firewood. Setting it ablaze, on the other hand, turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. It always looked so easy in the movies and documentaries I’d seen. I rubbed the sticks together for two hours but it was no good.
Not a single lousy spark.
The sun set and brought a chill in the air. I couldn’t wait any longer. I was cold and starving. I leaned over Nighteko to wake him.
He rolled over and muttered something about his father, about him going somewhere and leaving him behind…
Whatever happened to him in his youth, it couldn’t have been anything good.
I decided not to wake him. After all, I wouldn’t die from not eating for a few hours.
My stomach growled and Nighteko’s eyes shot open. He started awake and reached back for something. He was looking for his blade—the one buried in the wooden frame of his bed. When he didn’t find it, he was awake enough to realize he wasn’t in his quarters anymore.
His head flopped back on the soft sand. “I thought I woke up from a nightmare. But it happened, didn’t it? The Challenge, the escape pod, and the swim?”
“It did,” I said.
Nighteko got to his feet and stretched.
“You beat Horn Tusk,” I said. “The crew should be happy you’re their captain.”
“They preferred to team up with Changelings than be my crew,” Nighteko said. “Not much of a victory.”
“That’s what those creatures were? Changelings?” I’d never seen anything like them my entire life. Except maybe in the X-Men movies. I watched as they morphed from one alien species to another. It gave me goosebumps.
Nighteko took a seat beside me and peered in the direction of the gentle waves. “We got a distress signal and thought it was Vestoil we were saving. It turned out to be Changelings pretending to be Vestroil. Stryder had planned everything—from poisoning me with the Absor to teaming up with the Changelings. I never suspected he was capable of something like that. He was the most loyal member of my crew. Shows you what I know.”
“Your crew organized for them to join us?” I said.
“The Changelings were their Plan B.” He shook his head. “But of all the creatures to ask for aid, the Changelings should be at the bottom of the list. They’re more likely to stab you in the back than help you.”
He spat the word ‘Changeling.’ I sensed there was some dark history between him and those creatures. I didn’t press him on it.
“I’m sorry about your ship,” I said. “I know it was important to you.”
He peered up at the night sky, where his ship was right now. Where he should be. Instead, he was stuck on this planet with me.
“It’s not your fault,” he said. “You’ve never even heard of Changelings before, never mind come in contact with them.”
“You knew what they were before they morphed,” I said. “How?”
“Because their mimicking skills are incredible but not perfect. If they copy someone you know, then look at how they walk and talk. If there’s anything you find strange
, it could be because it’s not them. And if the light catches their eyes at just the right angle, you’ll notice a yellow tint in their irises. By then, it’s usually too late and they’ve already buried their blades in your back.”
“What if they copy someone I don’t know?” I said.
“If you’re unfortunate to be close enough to them, look at their wrists.” He pulled his sleeve back and presented me with his perfectly smooth skin. “At the base of the wrist, you’ll notice a slight ridge of flabby skin. When they copy someone, they copy them in parts. Hands, arms, head, chest, legs, and feet. Most of the time, clothes cover their bodies making the ridges invisible but if their sleeves roll up, you’ll notice that seam of skin.”
“They sound disgusting,” I said.
“They are. But it turns out my crew isn’t much better. I proved I was stronger than the strongest of them and still they wouldn’t follow me.”
I nudged him with my shoulder. “That’s because there’s a streak of honor in you,” I said, borrowing Maisie’s words of wisdom.
“Maybe,” he said. “But it hasn’t done much for me today.”
He glanced at the pile of wood I gathered. “You couldn’t start a fire?”
“I left my matches at home,” I said.
Nighteko took two pieces of firewood, split one almost in half, added a little dry grass to the notch, and then rubbed at it with a stick. Within seconds, a spark leaped into existence and the flames caught. He blew on it gently and added extra wood to it.
“You’re a wizard.” I rubbed my hands together and held them up before the flames. “That’s better. I looked for something to eat earlier but there’s nothing here.”
Nighteko moved for the jungle and snapped off a low-hanging branch. He sliced the twigs off and sharpened the tip to a point. He was done within three minutes.
“Where are you going?” I said. “You’re leaving?”
“Somebody has to get us something to eat,” he said. “If the fire starts to go down, add more wood. I’ll be back soon.”
He stepped into the jungle, the cackles and the screeches and the groans nipping at his heels. In seconds, he was gone.
Snip. Snip snip. Snip.
