by Joe Vasicek
“Interesting,” said Lucca. It was amazing how gorgeous the girl was when she became passionate about something.
“Yeah. See, Jeremiah’s wife is a hacker. She helped us escape by starting up the Ariadne while we got past the guards. When the Hope of Oriana—that is, the colony ship—docks with the pirate’s station, she should be able to get a hard-line connection to their network and take over their defensive systems. With luck, she may even be able to take control of Helena’s flagship!”
“And then?”
“Well, once she’s in control, she’ll lock everything down and vent the oxygen from the sections with the pirates. That will make it easier for the colonists to take them prisoner. And once the pirates have all been captured … I don’t know what we’ll do after that, but that’s the plan.”
“Very interesting. I did not know that this was possible.”
“Trust me, Noemi is good. I’ve never seen anyone like her. She linked all the simulators on the Hope of Oriana together to create a massive shared world—and he did it in just one dayshift. One dayshift! And it feels just as real as this one. I can’t tell it’s a simulation!”
Simulation, Lucca thought silently. He remembered feeling the neural jacks on the back of Mariya’s head when he’d applied the healant. Many outworlders installed a cybernetic brain interface which allowed them to interact with artificial simulations as if they were in some sort of dream. That was one way to endure the long, tedious voyages, especially on starships with living spaces barely larger than their emergency shelter. Of course, such implants were almost unheard of on Tajjur, or anywhere in the Coreward stars for that matter.
“She can do this, then? Seize control of all pirate assets in this system?”
“Yes, but there’s a danger that it might fry her brain. That’s why Jeremiah and I left to go get help. But there’s nothing we can do about that except follow the plan.”
“Interesting plan,” he muttered, stroking his chin. “When will it happen?”
“When the Hope of Oriana arrives at the station, in about a week or so. The instant that they dock, that’s when everything starts.”
“I think I can fix sensors on the Gagarin enough to watch sky for their arrival. They are traveling at sublight speeds, yes?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
Mariya shrugged. “Beats me. Something about Helena not wanting to tip anyone off to their presence in this system.”
So that is where Helena was, Lucca realized. Not out on raid, as Salazar told me.
“Good—very good. See? We have options. Everything comes together in time.”
Mariya frowned. “What do you mean? None of that changes the fact that we’re still stranded here.”
“For now, yes. But not for long.”
The look of intense puzzlement on her face was downright charming. Just wait until you see what I am capable of, Lucca thought to himself. We will show these pirates who is best.
* * * * *
Dinner in the emergency shelter was a simple affair, but Mariya ate with relish. It tasted all the better knowing that they had a plan, or at least the beginnings of one.
“So what are we going to do for the next few days until the Hope of Oriana gets here?” she asked.
Lucca ate a spoonful of the bland synthmeal and shrugged. “Stay low. Make preparations for escape.”
“What sort of preparations?”
“Don’t know. It depends what they will do.”
“Are we going to wait until Noemi and the other colonists defeat the pirates? Do you think we can just wait for them to rescue us?”
“Of course not,” he said, scoffing. “I am sure they will need us. But we must time our escape well, to be of most use to them. Unless, of course, the pirates come after us first. But I do not think that they will.”
“What makes you say that?”
“You have many questions. Where you are from, do all beautiful girls have so many questions as you?”
Blood rushed to Mariya’s cheeks. “Sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean—”
“No, it is good, no problem. I like it.”
She blushed even harder.
“In any case, where did you say you are from? Delta Oriana—it is system in Oriana Cluster, yes?”
“Yeah,” she said. “It’s a little ways out from the main trade routes. But for the last two years, I’ve lived with my family on Alpha Oriana.”
“Why did you move?”
“It’s … kind of a long story.”
“So? We have time. Will you tell me?”
He looked her in the eyes as she spoke, something that few men outside of her family ever did. It didn’t make her uncomfortable, though. His eyes were surprisingly gentle, considering how cavalier he could be.
“Later,” she said a bit awkwardly. “So … what now?”
He finished his food and tossed the bowl casually into the small washer unit. “There is some equipment on my ship that I think we will need. The pirates have not come yet, so I think it is safe.”
He stood up on the foamy shelter floor and pulled his boots out of the locker. Mariya’s heart skipped a beat at the prospect of being alone.
“Wait—you’re going back out there?”
“Of course.”
“Then let me come with you.”
“Why?” he asked, giving her a funny look. “It is safe here, and I am not going far.”
“I don’t care,” she said, rising to her feet. “There’s a lot we don’t know about this place, so we should stick together.” Besides, if something happens and you don’t come back, what am I going to do?
He shrugged. “Okay. Put on boots and mask, and let’s go.”
She glanced down at her blouse and skirt. Something told her that she’d need to dress in something a little heavier, especially with all that jungle. There was no telling what was out there.
“I don’t know,” she said uneasily. “Don’t you have something else I can wear? I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out in the jungle like this.”
“Of course.”
He reached into the locker and tossed her a gray jumpsuit, much like the one he was wearing. It fell open as she caught it, and she saw that it was much too big for her. The mid-section was elastic, though, so she could probably make it work.
She glanced around for a place to change and realized that there was no privacy in the little shelter. Blood rushed to her cheeks a second time, but Lucca slipped on his mask and opened the airlock.
“I will wait for you outside,” he said. Moments later, she was alone.
She dressed quickly, wondering if he was actually waiting for her. Was this his way of making sure she stayed back in the shelter? It wouldn’t surprise her at all if it was.
“Lucca!” she shouted, half to him and half to herself. “I swear, if you’ve gone on without me …” No sound came through the walls, but that hardly meant anything—they were so thick, they might as well be soundproof.
The jumpsuit was a struggle, but by cuffing the pant legs she was able to make it manageable. After fumbling with her mask for a couple of seconds, she slipped it on and stepped through the airlock.
Lucca was leaning against the trunk of a tree, absent-mindedly checking his energy pistol. So he really was waiting for me. The moment he saw her, he put his pistol away and walked over.
“Ready?”
“Yeah,” she said. The respirator masked the relief in her voice, but they could hear each other clearly enough.
“Good. Let’s go.”
The jungle was thick, the ground porous. It was impossible to see more than a few meters through the leafy turquoise plants. Veins of deep blue ran along the stems, turning to a rich, deep green out near the lobes. Each individual leaf was a complex work of art, but taken together they made for an annoying obstacle. Mariya didn’t know how Lucca was able to find his way so confidently through them, but with his laser-bladed knife he cut a path that wasn
’t too difficult for her to follow.
At length, they made it to the clearing. From her vantage point at the edge, she could see that the ship had kicked up a lot of dirt in the crash. The skid marks on the ground stretched all the way to the small lake. Except for the clouds obscuring the sky, it wouldn’t be hard for someone in orbit to find them.
Evidently, Lucca thought the same thing, because he stopped at the edge of the clearing and crouched behind a large fern, his pistol held at the ready. Mariya stayed close behind him.
“Any sign of the pirates?” she asked softly.
He scanned the wide open space in front of them and shook his head. “No, they are not here,” he said, standing up. “If yes, there would be sign of their ship. Instead, there is nothing.”
He walked brazenly out into the clearing, his tools rattling along his belt. Mariya took a deep breath as the vertigo threatened to overwhelm her, but she followed him out, taking one cautious step at a time.
“Can you climb ladder?” he asked.
Her stomach flipped. “I—I don’t think so.”
“Then take this.”
He handed her his energy pistol. It felt strange and unwieldy in her palm, as if a sudden jerk could set it off without warning. She held it at length, clenching it nervously with both hands.
“I need for you to stand watch,” he said. “I will go into ship and toss you down supplies. Understand?”
“I think so,” she said. “What do you want me to watch for?”
He shrugged. “For danger.”
Before she could ask him to clarify, he was already on his way up. He climbed the ladder as easily as if he were walking on a level floor. It made her dizzy to see him go, but she kept a close watch for ‘danger,’ just as he’d asked her to.
The cloud-covered sky had deepened significantly, probably a sign that the system sun was lowering toward the horizon. She could see the outlines of the lower formations among the purple and gray. A breeze picked up, making the leaves rattle and the trunks of the jungle sway.
Something above their heads caught her eye. It looked like a little black speck, circling instead of drifting with the wind. She squinted and saw that there were a lot more of them, perhaps as many as twenty. Most of them were far away, but one came down close enough to make out its shape. It looked like—
Chills shot down her back, and her blood ran cold. “Lucca!” she shouted.
He stopped and looked down at her. “What?” he shouted back.
“Come down! Come down right—”
But she was too late. With terrifying speed, the winged reptilian beast plummeted like a meteor from the sky. It struck Lucca, slamming him against the hull of the ship with an awful thump. The beast had talons as thick as Mariya’s thighs, and its leathery wings were like something from a nightmare. It let out an ear-splitting cry before shoving off and flying away, carrying Lucca in its bloodied claws.
“Lucca!” she screamed. Her hands trembling, she raised the energy pistol.
Chapter 21
Lucca felt the wetness of his own blood before he felt the pain. That was how he knew that he was in serious trouble. Pain was relative and could be controlled, but bleeding was an undeniable sign of injury.
The beast gripped him by the shoulder and around his waist. Its massive claws shredded his jumpsuit and dug into his skin. Its talons were dark and scaly, like a hellish dragon. He tried to struggle, but the beast tightened its grip, making him wince.
With a terrible cry, the beast shoved off from the Gagarin into the sky. Its giant, fleshy wings beat the air, propelling them upward. Locked firmly in the animal’s grasp, Lucca was in no position to fight back.
An energy bolt lanced through the air just a few meters ahead of them. It crackled harmlessly, but made the animal pull up sharply and let out another cry. The second shot came only seconds later, and went even wider than the first. The beast worked furiously with its wings to gain back some of the momentum it had lost.
The third shot sizzled just inches from Lucca’s face. The world began to spin, and he wondered if he’d been hit. But then the animal let out a high pitched screech, and they both began to fall.
He opened his eyes just as the animal released him. The ground was still a good fifteen meters below. Something caught on the pack containing his oxygen tank, tearing it off.
This looks bad, Lucca thought as his face met the ground. There was no second thought.
* * * * *
“Lucca!”
Mariya watched in horror as he hit the ground with a horrible thump and lay perfectly still. Overhead, the nightmarish beast wheeled and crashed into some rocks before recovering enough to take off into the deepening sky.
For an instant, Mariya stood rooted to the spot, unsure what to do. Fear paralyzed her, making her feel utterly helpless. It only lasted a moment or two, though. The instant she snapped out of it, she ran over to him as fast as her legs would carry her.
He’d landed on his stomach, his arms lying limp by his side. His oxygen tank had come loose in the struggle, and his clothes were in bloody shreds, especially at his left shoulder which had taken the brunt of the hit. Besides that, he’d fallen so far that something was bound to be broken.
Don’t be dead, she pleaded inwardly as she carefully turned him over. God of Earth, please don’t let him be dead.
First things first—he had no oxygen mask, so the air he was breathing was poison. She took a deep breath and pulled hers off, placing it over his face. When that didn’t have an effect, she realized it was probably because his lungs were too weak to expel the air he’d already breathed—that, or he really was dead.
Lifting the mask back to her face, she took a deep breath of the sweet oxygen and leaned forward. If he wasn’t breathing, she’d have to do what she could to get that started. She took off the mask and leaned down until her mouth covered his. Her heart pounded in her chest, but she ignored it as she breathed into him, watching until his chest rose appreciably before pulling back. Her own lungs burned for oxygen, but she put the mask over his face and counted to three before lifting it to her own face and taking a desperate breath.
Come on, she thought to herself as she repeated the process. The second time had just as little effect as the first. The third time, though, he began to cough as she covered his face with the mask.
Just at that moment, the sky darkened like a shadow drifting over them. Quicker than thought, Mariya grabbed the pistol and spun around, firing an energy bolt wildly into the sky. A terrifying scream filled her ears, and one of the beasts slammed into the ground so close that the impact made her shudder. It peered at Mariya with its deep yellow eye, its jaws brimming with fearsome teeth, then took off again before she had a chance to react.
Mariya gasped, and her lungs filled with the poisonous air of the planet. It burned her throat and made her head spin. She dropped the pistol and groped desperately as if she were drowning, but thankfully her hands found the oxygen mask before it was too late.
Lucca was coughing a lot harder now, which was good—so long as he was coughing, that meant that he was alive. He was bleeding, though, and if she didn’t do anything to stop that, she feared he might bleed out. His face was pale, and his lips were starting to turn blue. She took another deep breath and gave him the mask, which seemed to help.
A screech over head made her blood ran cold. I have to get us out of here, she realized. We’re not safe in the open. But the jungle was almost twenty meters away, and she didn’t know if Lucca had broken anything in the fall. Besides, he was still bleeding out—
A second screech propelled her from panicked paralysis into action. After pulling up some grass and stuffing it against Lucca’s wound, she grabbed the mask and breathed deeply as she pulled him frantically toward the jungle. One of the beasts dove for them, so she grabbed the pistol and fired at it. The shot went wild, but the beast pulled up at the last second, leaving them alone.
The oxygen, she realized as he began
to cough again. She took a deep breath and gave him the mask, watching the sky with the pistol in hand. Almost fifty of those nightmarish creatures now swarmed overhead, closing in on them. Her heart pounded and her lungs screamed for air, but she let Lucca keep it for another couple seconds before leaning down to take it.
“Hold your breath,” she said, hoping he could hear her. She waited one excruciating second longer before lifting the mask back to her face. An instant later, at least three of the beasts dove for them.
With adrenaline surging through her veins, she raised the pistol and fired. One of the beasts landed not three meters from her and lashed out with its claws, but she sidestepped the blow and shot it squarely between the eyes. It screamed and fell back, stunned or dead—there was no way to tell. The air above her was a mess of fluttering wings, but she fought back the urge to panic and run. Lucca still needed her, after all—and without him, they would both die on this starforsaken world. Standing over him, she let out a desperate cry and fired at everything that moved.
The next few moments happened in a blur, but when it was over, she was alive—she and Lucca were both alive. The beasts flew up in retreat, all but the first one that had attacked her, which stumbled limply along the ground until it collapsed in exhaustion or death. Either way, it didn’t matter. She grabbed Lucca by the back of his shredded jumpsuit and hauled him another few meters.
When he began to cough, she stopped and gave him the mask. The grass had helped the bleeding somewhat. She stuffed some more in the wound, for lack of anything else. He moaned a bit at her touch, but stayed conscious.
“Notches,” he moaned.
“What?” said Mariya. She glanced at the sky before turning back to him, her lungs on fire.
“Three … notches … in the trees. That is … path. Three notches.”
