by Leslie Chase
It came out more fiercely than I’d intended, but it looked like it did the trick. A little shakily, Malcolm nodded and squared his shoulders. Good, I’d convinced him. Convincing myself was harder.
It wasn’t really an armory, of course, but it was close enough. The secure storeroom around the corner from sickbay held all the guns not in use, as well as fuel stores and nanites. The point was to lock away equipment that might be dangerous rather than specifically to secure the rifles, but it served that purpose anyway.
Tinny laughter greeted us as we crept closer, and I peeked around the corner to see a prytheen guard leaning against the wall, watching something on a stolen holo-player. He had no reason to stay alert: unarmed, no human was a threat to a prytheen warrior, and all the weapons were locked up behind the door he guarded.
Time for my plan. My stupid, desperate plan. I ducked back, pulling Malcolm with me, and whispered in his ear.
“You stay here,” I told him. “I’ll be back in a second, just let me know if the guard moves.”
“What if he comes this way?”
“Run and hide.” Before he asked any more questions, I ducked into the sickbay. The door slid open silently and I stepped inside, glad of the low lighting. Torran lay on his bunk, chest rising and falling so slowly it was hard to see. Just looking at him made me feel safe, despite the fact that I was anything but. Even asleep his presence filled the room, and part of me wanted to stay there with him. Trust in him to protect me from the other prytheen.
But that wouldn’t work. While my instincts insisted Torran would take my side against the other aliens, how could I believe that? He’d been part of the group that attacked us, after all. Stick with the plan, Lisa. Get as far away from the aliens as you can.
I moved as quietly as possible, circling the room to grab the bag I’d dropped earlier.
For a moment I considered stealing more supplies before leaving, but I stopped myself. No need to risk waking him and drawing his attention. He was the only one of the prytheen I’d rather not hurt.
Maybe I should drug him? I picked up a spray-hypo, turning it over and over in my hands, and shook my head. Getting that close to him risked waking him, and then what would I say to explain myself?
Better to avoid taking unnecessary chances. The ones I was planning to take were bad enough. I slipped the hypo into my pocket, slung the bag onto my back, and made my way back to Malcolm’s side. He nodded at me, relaxing, and looked at me as if to say, ‘now what?’
I swallowed nervously. This bit of the plan was crazy, but I had to chance it. I reached into my pocket for the spray-hypo I’d stolen.
It was full of the strongest sedative we had, and the dose dialed up to maximum. I’d used it on Torran early on, keeping him under so he could heal. It should put a healthy prytheen down almost instantly. If only I’d had a chance to test it…
Malcolm tugged at my sleeve and I looked back at him. He shook his head firmly, face pale and eyes wide. Wanting to protect me as much as I wanted to defend him. I smiled sadly, wishing I had another choice.
We could still go back to our beds and forget about the escape. No one would know, we’d done nothing that couldn’t be ignored. Not yet. But as soon as I stepped around the corner, we’d be committed. Escape or death would be our only options.
I felt the temptation. Just give up, go back to bed, and hope we’d survive. With an effort I shrugged it off. If we didn’t go now, we wouldn’t go at all. And sooner or later Myrok or one of the others would kill Malcolm.
No. Now, while I had the guts to do it. I shrugged off Malcolm’s grip, drew myself up, and walked around the corner with all the confidence I could muster. I got three steps before the prytheen looked up at me, eyes narrowing suspiciously. Yeah, no chance that I’d have snuck up on him — even distracted by the comedy show, his alien senses were far too alert for me.
Instead I smiled and nodded, ignoring his growled inquiry and trusting that he’d underestimate me like every alien seemed to. Every one apart from the one I’d shot, at least, and he wasn’t my enemy.
My heart pounded loud enough I thought the alien would hear it, and the spray-hypo felt slippery in my sweaty fingers. The corridor felt so long, and though it only took a few steps to reach him it seemed like an eternity passed.
“What do you want?” he growled, voice deep and annoyed rather than suspicious. Another step, just smiling and nodding, trying to get in arm’s reach. So close now, but not close enough.
His frown deepened, claws sliding out of his fingers as he drew himself up. I’d pushed this ruse as far as possible, and I needed one more step. Crap.
“Talk, human,” he ordered, and I knew that this was it. My only chance. I tightened my grip on the hypo, took a deep breath. I’d have to risk a lunge and hope I reached him before he saw me coming.
And then, before I could act, Malcolm stepped around the corner behind me. “Sir! Message for you.”
My blood turned to ice water as the prytheen’s eyes snapped up to Malcolm. But something kicked in and I took advantage of his distraction without thinking about it. Stepping forward, I slapped the end of the hypo into the guard’s arm. It activated with a hiss.
The next thing I knew I was bouncing off the wall. My jaw ached, the hypo went flying, and I tasted blood. Everything spun around me, and the alien loomed large over me, hand raised to strike. Oh. He hit me. It didn’t seem important, somehow. I’d done what I’d planned to, and that was what mattered.
Above me, the alien paused. Growled, swayed, and slumped. His eyes unfocused and he muttered something under his breath before sliding down the wall to the floor. I watched, transfixed, as his eyes closed and he started to snore.
“Sis. Sis!” Malcolm shook me out of my shock, and I groaned as he helped me back to my feet. “Come on sis, we have to get out of here.”
I nodded, stumbling past the fallen guard to the armory door. The ache in my jaw got worse as I moved it, but nothing felt broken. I just had to pray I didn’t have a concussion or other lasting injuries, because there was no stopping now.
The door opened at my touch: it was just another storeroom as far as the pod’s computer was concerned, accessible to any colonist above legal age. It logged who came in and out, but that would be obvious by the time anyone thought to check the computers.
I wasn’t worried about what would happen in the morning. Not nearly as much as I worried about someone seeing the unconscious guard in the corridor before we were done gathering supplies.
“Grab a leg,” I told my brother, taking hold of the guard’s ankle. “Let’s get him out of sight.”
Dragging him into the storeroom wasn’t easy, but I felt a little safer once he was out of sight. Turning, I looked at the gun racks. Batteries sat in their charging cradles, and beside them stood the rifles, stored neatly in a row. Two were missing, probably in prytheen hands. A locking bar held the remaining eight in place. That bar was all that stood in our way now.
I pressed my thumb to the lock’s scanner. A beep and a red light. Damn it. Wiping my sweaty hand on my pants I tried again. Another angry beep.
Malcolm’s presence was all that kept me from swearing aloud. A third failed attempt would set off the alarm, and then we’d be dead. I took a deep breath and tried to think.
The answer was obvious. Of course the prytheen had changed the lock so it recognized their fingerprints rather than ours. I cursed under my breath and grabbed the guard by the wrist, heaving his arm up to touch the pad.
For a long, tense moment nothing happened. Then the light went green and the lock popped open. I offered up a silent prayer of thanks, fingers shaking as I reached for the nearest gun.
Behind me, Malcolm yelped and hit the floor with a heavy thump. A hand grabbed at me and I spun away, eyes wide as I looked at the guard. His hate-filled eyes glared at me as he dragged himself to his feet.
Fuck. I’d expected the drug to keep him out for hours, but it had only given me minutes.
“Kill you,” he snarled in Galtrade, words slurred. “Kill you slow.”
“Bite me,” I retorted, fear washed out in a rush of adrenaline. My hands closed on a rifle, and I grabbed a battery pack from the charger.
Drugged or not, he was more than a match for me in hand to hand. With a rifle, though, the odds changed.
I’d shot one prytheen, I could shoot another. I told myself that as I fumbled to load the battery into the weapon, the alien staggering towards me as Malcolm writhed on the floor.
I almost made it. The battery clicked home and the laser hummed to life. But his reflexes were too fast, and before I could bring the barrel around to point at him, he knocked it aside.
With a crack, the laser went off. The flash of light was blinding in the dark room, and even worse for the prytheen with his sensitive eyes. He howled in pain, flinching back and yanking the weapon from my hands.
My one chance and I’d blown it.
8
Torran
Lisa was no stealthier the second time she snuck into the sickbay, and I woke immediately. I smelled her fear, heard it in the quick pulse of her blood, felt it like a pressure against my heart. This time I stayed motionless, resolving to see what she planned before interfering. She didn’t trust me enough to tell me.
Once she left the room, I stood carefully and took stock of my condition. My wound ached but my strength returned, and I stretched this way and that. Yes, I could fight if need be. Hopefully that wouldn’t be necessary, and whatever trouble she’d gotten herself into would not require violence to solve.
But she was my khara. If I had to kill to protect her, to save her, I would. My body burned for her and I would not allow anyone to harm a single hair on her beautiful head.
I moved to the door, ready at last to follow her. As it slid open, a laser shot echoed in the corridor.
I’d never moved so fast. Dashing around the corner, I saw Rarric standing in the door to the armory. One of Gurral’s men, not one I knew well. His fury was plain from the tension in his muscles and a scorch mark showed where a laser blast had struck the floor beside him.
He held a laser rifle one handed, aiming it into the room. And my instincts told me who he threatened. White hot rage flashed through me and I charged without a thought.
Rarric spun at the sound of my approach, pulling the rifle up towards me. Not fast enough — I was too close, and surprise slowed his reactions. Diving forward, I slammed into him, sending the rifle flying as we tumbled to the floor in a struggling mess of limbs.
His claws raked my back and I snarled in pain, clawing his side in turn. Both of us were bloody as we parted, rolling to our feet and facing off in the small space.
“Traitor,” he spat at me, drawing a knife. “I’ll gut you and the humans.”
I didn’t waste words on threats. We were beyond posturing now, and one of us had to die here. If Rarric lived, Lisa would die — and that I wouldn’t allow.
Instead of going for my own blades, I rushed in again, feinting left before ducking right. His knife slashed through where he thought I’d be, and before he got it back between us, I slashed his arm with my claws. The blade went flying, but his counter-punch smashed into my ribs and I winced at the impact.
Have to win this quick, before anyone hears the struggle, I thought, diving in and ignoring the punishing blows he landed as I got close. A sweep to my legs took me off balance, but I turned the fall into a tackle and we tumbled over and over.
This time I didn’t let him separate us. Close in, we tore at each other, and I bit back my pain. No time for that, not now.
He grabbed another knife from his belt, and I grabbed his wrist. Pinning him, just for a moment. Just long enough to draw my own knife and open his throat. Blood sprayed and Rarric spasmed under me. His eyes widened with shock before dimming as the life left them.
I waited until I was sure before letting go, sitting up with a pained growl. New injuries to add to the old. Great. At least none of them were deep, but they stung like hell.
Inside the room, the humans huddled against the far wall. Lisa struggled to load another rifle while her brother stared in wide-eyed shock at the doorway.
“You’re safe now,” I said. An exaggeration, a huge one, but I had to say something.
Lisa’s laser rifle wavered as she trained it on me and I remembered our first meeting. The still-healing wound she’d left in me burned, and my fresh injuries stung as I slowly, carefully, stepped forward.
I could have disarmed her easily. At this range the rifle was a poor choice of weapon, too unwieldy and heavy in her hands. One quick grab and I’d have it.
But I didn’t want to leave her defenseless, and this time she wouldn’t shoot. Another step and the barrel brushed against me, and then she lowered it carefully.
“You are safe,” I repeated. “I will not let anyone hurt you while I have breath in my body.”
Tears welled in her eyes and she sobbed, flinging herself at me. I caught her, ignoring the pain where her arms squeezed my injured torso. A small price to pay to hold my khara, to comfort her in her shock and dismay.
“I thought we were going to die,” she sobbed. I barely made out the words through her tears. “Oh god, they’re going to kill us.”
“They will not,” I promised, hoping that I could keep that oath. “I will slay anyone who tries to hurt you, my khara. You and your brother are safe.”
Lisa pulled back, tear-stained face looking up at me. She wasn’t fooled, of course. She knew as well as I did that there would be no forgiveness for killing a member of Gurral’s clan. But still she managed a weak smile.
“You’re a pretty good liar,” she said, squeezing me. “But we’re well and truly fucked, aren’t we?”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. Anyone else who called me a liar would face me in a duel, but not my khara. And she wasn’t wrong: I’d tell whatever lies needed to keep her safe.
Lisa wiped her sleeve across her face, hands trembling gently. Took a deep breath and looked down at Rarric’s corpse. Her face paled again at the sight, looking as though she was about to be sick. I felt it too, my stomach turning — not at the sight of death but at the thought of my khara joining him.
I would fight to defend her against any odds but against Gurral and all his men I would lose. The only chance she had was to get far away while I bought her time with my life.
It would be a death worthy of a warrior, at least. I tried to take comfort in that.
9
Lisa
Looking down at the bloody corpse of the prytheen warrior, I clenched my jaw and tried to control my nausea. If Torran hadn’t appeared at exactly the right moment, it would be me and Malcolm lying dead on the floor.
The store room started to spin around me and I grabbed hold of Torran to steady myself. I can’t faint, not now. I have to be strong enough to get Malcolm out of here.
Torran’s strong body, the warmth of his skin, the strong male scent of him, all of that gave me the strength I needed. I clung to him like a drowning sailor to a life raft. His powerful arms closed around me, holding me with careful strength, and I felt safe for the first time since the crash.
That’s insane, I thought as I held on tight. I’m standing over a dead body, the other aliens will kill me and Malcolm and Torran for this, and now I feel safe?
Reason had nothing to do with it, though. Torran held me tight and safe and secure, and I buried my face against his chest and stifled a sob.
If only I could stay there forever. But I had work to do if we were going to survive this.
“You must go,” he growled, his deep voice vibrating through me. “Quickly, before anyone discovers what has happened.”
“We have to go,” I said, pushing my emotions down into a tight ball in my chest. Later, when I had time, I could have a panic attack. Right now I had to think. “If you stay, they’ll kill you.”
“That is true,” he said as though that didn’t matter at a
ll. “But I will slow them down while you and your brother escape. Go, Lisa. Now.”
I lifted my head from his chest to look up at him, biting my lip. “No. I won’t leave you behind to die for me.”
His frustrated growl filled the small room and he stepped back to look down at me. “Lisa, when Gurral finds out about this he will be furious. You cannot be here when that happens: if you are, he will certainly kill you. Probably the other humans too.”
I blinked at that, taken by surprise. It took a moment to sink in, and I felt a surge of fear that threatened to overwhelm me. “He can’t, he needs them to do the work.”
“He’s already planning on capturing more human slaves,” Torran said, shaking his head. “And he’ll want to make an example of what happens when someone escapes or hurts one of the prytheen. You must leave before he finds out about this.”
I wanted to doubt him, to say that he was wrong and even Gurral wouldn’t be so brutal. Unfortunately I couldn’t. The sheer unwavering certainty in his eyes, the edge in his voice, the urgency… Torran believed this with all his heart. I had to trust him.
Which only made things worse.
“I can’t leave the others to die,” I protested, pacing up and down the tiny room. Too much nervous energy, I had to let it out somehow. “It’s my fault they’ll be killed.”
“No!” Torran interrupted, quiet but sharp. “No, Lisa, it’s Gurral’s responsibility and no one else’s. You aren’t to blame for what he does.”
Kind words, but I didn’t believe them. My actions would get the others killed if I ran now, and I couldn’t let that happen.
“I’ll take them with me.” The words were out of my mouth before I’d thought about them.
Torran let out a sound half way between a groan and a desperate laugh. “A group that size will be hunted down in hours at best. You and Malcolm stand a chance if you cover your tracks and I keep Gurral from following you too quickly. Nine humans fleeing on foot? You’d be lucky to live till dawn.”
