by Tracy Lauren
“Take a look at those flowers!” Odo declares. “I’d love to get some samples to bring back to the lab.”
“If I decide it’s safe,” I hear Vesi tell him.
“Valens is still alive,” Renzo points out.
“That is a point some like to debate,” I mention over the comm, slipping into their conversation.
“Not funny, Valens. Of course you’re alive,” Kayla says in my defense.
More than once my friends have all had to make that argument on my behalf. Not everyone agrees that androids have the same sentience as beings which are made of flesh and blood. While I am not bothered by what people think, I am moved to emotion when those I am close to come to my defense. Even now, alone on the surface of this world, I can feel a smile tugging at my lips. That is, until I see a burn running the length of the forest floor and my curiosity takes over.
“I have located the path of the object.”
Chapter 5
Valens
I follow the burn to a space between the trees where the grasses are high and so dry from the heat that they crunch as I wade through them. Cut right through the center however is the deep, gouging skid mark the object left in its wake. And it lies before me, still smoking from its high-speed entry into the atmosphere.
Before I go to it, I rotate, doing a quick perimeter check. While I detect no danger, I do see more animals like the large beast who greeted me upon my arrival on this world, but they look past me without interest. My comm has grown quiet and I imagine the faces of my friends, bent over the view screen in their shared awe. My own anticipation thrums inside of me.
“You’re good, Valens, we’re not detecting anything that would pose a threat in your vicinity.”
“And the infestation?”
“There’s been some movement, but it’s still fairly stable in its original location. Threat level remains unchanged.”
“We should be down there,” I hear Renzo hiss.
I give him my assurances. “You’ll get your chance. My investigation is purely preliminary—” But my words fall away as I drop my gaze to the object, finally giving it my attention. The size and shape of this thing…regardless of the fact that it is archaic in its construction, reminds me of an emergency evac pod. One of the small ones for individual use.
I step closer and test the external temperature. It’s still hot, but not too hot for my synthetic skin. Unfortunately, however, smoke begins to billow from one end.
“That looks like it’s going to be a problem,” Renzo notes.
Silently, I agree. Pulling the supply pack from my back, I hurriedly dig through its contents, lest my mystery object be damaged before we can learn from it. I find the fire-resistant blanket at the bottom and toss it over the area where small flames lick at the metal. The material sucks toward the heat, smothering the fire. But it’s a quick fix. I hear popping and hissing sounds coming from all over. I need to see if I can neutralize any more of the malfunctions.
I look down at the face of the thing, where it bows out like a bubble. Upon first inspection I thought it to be more of the same metallic construction. But now I see that it is something like glass—only it has become dingy with age. I wipe at it tentatively, my expectations for a visual low. And even though much of the grime wipes away, the inside of the glass is clouded with condensation. Still, I focus my eyes on the window, looking at it long and hard. I detect a familiar curve and my mind fills in the blanks, calculating the likelihood of a match based on the dimensions of the object.
“There is someone inside.”
Chapter 6
Valens
“Get it open, Valens! That thing is failing fast! Any life support still active is going to crap out any second!” Vesi instructs.
“And if she is not compatible with this atmosphere?” I ask.
“Then you’re the perfect person to haul her ass back to the shuttle so you can synth her required environment!”
“What makes you so sure it’s a she?” Renzo asks from somewhere in the background.
Maybe it was the curve of her face, but something inside me just knew. Dropping to my knees beside the strange pod, I run my hands along its side, finding no hinges. There must be some sort of latch here, a way to slide it open…
I notice a repeating pattern to the metal and I work my fingers beneath raised brackets, using all of my strength to break them loose. The pod hisses once more. I do not know if this is a normal sound, or if the primitive-looking machine is in its death throes. I don’t wait to find out. Instead I fling the lid aside, it crashes to the ground.
A cool mist curls from around the woman’s nude body and I catch a glimpse of fluids quickly draining through clear piping. Various meters quiver and their values decrease at a rapid rate. My gaze falls to the woman’s face. Such a shock fills me that if I relied on breath I would undoubtedly suck in a gasp of air—just as my counterparts in orbit do when they see the woman.
“She’s human,” someone says.
To my shock, her eyes flutter. A movement so sparse, I’m sure I’m the only one who perceived it. But no one misses a thing when her eyes blink open and she focuses in on me. A smile spreads across her face as she reaches out, her hands trailing up my arms. She moves so confidently that I reexamine my databanks for her likeness, wondering if perhaps she knows me from somewhere.
“Now this is a much better dream,” she murmurs as she attempts to pull me toward her. I’m stunned into silence, my head cocked in confusion. Renzo is the only one to shatter the quiet tension.
“Go for it, Valens. Kiss her!” His voice comes in loud and clear on the comm and I can hear the humor in his tone—just before Vesi and Kayla hiss at him to shut his mouth. The woman in the pod seems unaware however. She has more important things to be concerned with at the moment, for her brow draws downward and an unhappy look crosses her face.
“Oh wait…no it’s not.” She grimaces, her gaze no longer fixed on me. “I think I’m going to be sick.” She struggles to turn in the tight confines of the pod and I worry she might choke on her own bile if she vomits in this position. Quickly, I work to pull her high enough so that she may hold her head over the side of the pod while she’s sick.
The mystery woman gags hard, wracking her small frame. But I do not hear the sound of food waste hitting the ground. All I can hear is her empty choking. It sounds painful.
I recall an evening when Kayla had too much to drink and Vesi thoughtfully rubbed her back the entire time our friend hung her head over the toilet bowl. While I know it is not a medical technique in the strictest sense, I believe it did serve to comfort Kayla in her hour of need. I extend the same comfort to the mystery woman as I visually inspect the interior of the pod.
What is this thing? I wonder. It is not a construction that I recognize. As a matter of fact, it appears primitive and ancient. I wonder how it was even able to function. All these questions will hopefully be answered once the mystery woman is able to recover enough to speak.
I eye a portion of the woman’s pod, noting where the EM waves seem to be emanating from. Beneath it there looks to be a rudimentary data storage system. I lean in to examine how it might be removed.
“Send a transmission to the Salutation,” I tell my team. “Request intercept.”
“Looks like we might have a more pressing situation on our hands, Valens,” Odo warns.
“Oh shit,” Kayla exhales.
“Valens, get the girl and book it to the shuttle—now!”
“Is there a threat?” I ask, needing details to run my own assessment of the situation.
Vesi’s voice comes in sounding frantic. “The infestation—Valens, it’s moving and it’s heading right for you!”
“What percentage?”
“All percentage! One hundred, man! Get the hell out of there, it’s going to swarm you!” Renzo yells. Then suddenly I can hear it, perhaps even before the slow and bulky creatures native to this world do. It’s like the steady beat of rain dr
awing ever nearer.
I look in the direction of the swarm and the sky begins to change color. From a dusty blue, it bleeds to a dangerous red as the first of them dive through the trees. They are birds. And they head straight for the beasts lounging on nearby rocks, engulfing them. Mere seconds pass before the birds whisk away, leaving nothing but bones in their wake.
They seem to be carnivores. And they also seem to be hungry.
They screech as they cut through the sky, closing the distance between us. The sound blends with the shouts of panic coming through on my comm. The situation does not require extensive processing. I need to extract the woman, as well as the ancient pod’s data storage system—an item I don’t dare leave behind. It could contain all the answers to my questions regarding the woman’s origins, questions she might need answers to as well.
With one hand, I rip the metal apart, taking the entire unit along with its mounting. Then, I sling the woman over my shoulder. Her body feels limp. It seems she has lost consciousness. Likely, it is for the best.
“Run!” Renzo shouts. I do not need to be told this. I break into a sprint, accessing strength rarely required on a science vessel, but always at the ready. I push myself to the limit in an effort to outrun the birds that float with such synchrony—they seem to move as one.
No longer cautious about my path, I traverse the distance to my shuttle in a fraction of the time it took me to find the mystery woman. Ahead of me I can already see birds swarming the lackadaisical beast that had been mounting the tree upon my arrival. Soon he is nothing more than bones and the birds push off of him, hungry for more. I launch myself at the open shuttle hatch, cradling the woman as gently as possible, fearful that she might sustain some injury which could impede her recovery from stasis.
With no time to spare, I make it inside and draw the hatch closed. Through the metal hull I can hear the wave of birds hit the pod with enough force to rock the vessel. My next concern is securing the woman.
I unfold a medical transport bed from the wall and carefully drop her down onto the surface, strapping her in. She is indeed completely unconscious and her face is pale and stricken.
“Get out of there now, Valens! Those things are practically a ceiling over the shuttle at this point! I don’t know if they can damage your vessel, but I sure as shit don’t want to find out!” Kayla shouts.
“Engaging engines. Vesi, prepare the medbay.”
“Already there!”
Chapter 7
Andrea
I was just floating…endlessly.
It all started with community college. I hadn’t wanted to go straight to a four-year university, because I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. So I spent four years at a community college instead, until I finally had enough units to transfer to a local state school. Then I spent another three years earning my B.A., majoring in Liberal Arts, because still…after all that time…I didn’t know what I wanted to do.
A year passed after graduation and to everyone’s disappointment, I continued to live with my parents. My car was still the same commuter I bought when I turned 18. A reliable little thing to get me to and from school. All my jobs were unfulfilling and easily replaceable. Sure, I went out with my friends. I dated. But nothing clicked.
It wasn’t until I came across a friend from high school on Facebook that everything changed. I was shocked to see Felicity was living in Portugal and working as an English teacher. I immediately fell in love with the notion and sent her a message.
Felicity told me all about her adventures. This was the third country she had lived in after graduating college at 22. She would work for a couple years, renew her contract, and move to a different country. The company provided dorm-style living for their teachers and on their days off everyone would travel together, exploring the culture. It sounded amazing, practically too good to be true. But it was real. Felicity was doing it. And when she offered to recommend me as an instructor I jumped at the chance.
My parents were so impressed when I got my passport. Neither of them had ever travelled and they were in awe of my bravery. I researched everything I could about Portugal—the culture, the landmarks, and especially the food. Every night at the dinner table my parents would test me on conversational Portuguese. The countdown to my flight grew nearer and I couldn’t remember ever being so excited about something.
Last thing I do remember was heading to the doctor’s office to get my travel vaccines.
But when my eyes blinked open it felt like I had been sleeping for a long while. Hell, it felt like I was still sleeping. Especially since there was a handsome man hovering over me. Everything about him was from a dream. His skin and hair were monochromatic gray, his eyes the same piercing and metallic color. Looking closely at him I could see the little bit of skin separating his eyelashes from his eyes appeared to be deep purple in color, and when I dropped my gaze to his lips, parted in surprise, I could see the hint of more of that delicious purple inside. It didn’t strike me as odd, because anything is possible in a dream. In fact, it struck me as entirely appealing. Even more enticing was the way he looked at me—it was with gentle concern and a little bit of surprise, as if he could hardly believe I was there with him. Maybe this was how Sleeping Beauty felt when she woke up to see her prince?
I wanted him to lean in and kiss me. But nausea hit like a baseball bat to the head and my body began to convulse, terror gripped me and my vision faded to black.
After that there were flashes of things I couldn’t understand. Bright lights being shined in my eyes, strange voices, heavily laced with worry. I began to wonder if something went wrong. Maybe I had a reaction to one of the vaccines. Maybe I never made it to the clinic and was in a car accident instead. But if I were recovering in the E.R. I would have heard my mom’s voice. I would have heard my dad’s. Instead nothing felt familiar and the next time my eyes blinked open reality shook me to my very core.
Chapter 8
Andrea
For a second I thought I was looking at a ghost. The woman’s complexion was a pale white I had never seen before. Not white like my-ancestors-were-from-Denmark white, but white like a Crayola crayon. Only it shimmered when light reflected off what appeared to be delicate scales. She had spikes running down her jaw and when I skittered back in my bed I noticed more along her forearms. She looked vaguely reptilian to me, with something like gills spread across her cheek bones.
I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t think. I just started screaming. Through the haze of my terror I could hear her shouting. She summoned help in the form of a dinosaur-man. And slowly they inched toward me, their arms stretched out, reaching for me.
I fell from the bed, searching for escape. That’s when I saw the needle in the woman’s hand. I grabbed a metal tray table and scrambled to my feet, chucking it in her direction. The dinosaur-man caught it before it hit her, but medical tools still clattered and clanged as they hit the floor.
Then, more people began to spill into the room. These ones all looked human. But they were all strangers to me—my kidnappers perhaps, menacing and evil. My eyes landed on a scalpel lying on the ground and I dove for it, holding it out in front of me—my only defense.
My screams died away as I held everyone at bay. Only now did my brain begin to process sounds. Everyone was talking at once, telling me to put the knife down.
Fuck that. My hands were shaking and my heart was beating so hard I feared it would tear right out of my chest. There was no way I was going to put my knife down.
Still, I was surrounded, trapped in some kind of medical facility with monsters wielding syringes. I saw no way out. This standoff was going to come to a close and I was going to be on the losing end.
All the noise faded away, though, when he walked into the room. His was a face I recognized. I didn’t know who he was exactly, but I had looked into his eyes and had seen the genuine concern there. He cared about what happened to me. He was my only ally. A sob of relief wretched itself from deep i
nside my core as I dove for him. He didn’t hesitate to pull me into his arms, protectively shielding me from the others.
Never in my life had I experienced such confusion and terror and, rather uncharacteristically of me, I devolved into tears—hiding my face against the man’s strong chest. Moments passed and he let me cry. Eventually I felt him carefully extract the scalpel from my waning grip. I heard him set it aside. Then I heard him ask the others to leave.
“May we have a few moments alone?”
“Are you sure that’s safe?” A woman spoke.
“I’m with Valens on this one, Vesi. Let’s give our guest some time to adjust before debriefing. Clear the room.”
“Thank you, Captain,” the man embracing me said.
Valens. His name is Valens.
I still didn’t look up, but I heard the footsteps of the others slowly filing out. And I could sense when they were gone. Valens let a comforting hand caress my back a few times before leading me to the medical table. He held my hands as we both took a seat on the edge.
“I remember you,” I say, not knowing what else to comment on.
“I was the one who found you.”
“Your name, it’s Valens?”
“It is. What shall I call you?”
“I’m Andrea.” With one hand I wipe the tears from my face, but I keep the other locked on Valens. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to mind, because I can’t stand the thought of letting him go right now. Somehow this man has become my lifeline, the only thing in this insane situation that is keeping me grounded.
“I know you’re scared, Andrea, but you are safe here.”
“What’s going on?”
