The Strength of Endurance

by R. L. Blalock

  “Take—” He coughed and spluttered as he tried to draw in air again. “Take them into custody! All of them! By order of the Council of Commanders.”

  “Run!” The words had barely left my mouth when I felt the connection.

  Gunfire echoed across the walls as the soldiers fired. Our side burned as a kinetic round grazed our ribs. The others had already connected as they bolted for the bay doors.

  Except for Reegan. She was sprinting across the bay, desperately trying to get to Azara. Azara had a loop around her long, slender neck. She reared back, breaking the hold the soldiers had on her but exposing her vulnerable belly. Kinetic rounds peppered the soft flesh, and she let out a screech that was equal parts pain and fury.

  As we ran, we gently scooped up Reegan in our mouth. When we neared, Azara’s chest plates opened, black cords just like ours snaking out. The cables plucked Reegan from our mouth, and Azara spun, bolting for the doors.

  Do you think they’ll be all right?

  Black blood oozed from Azara’s belly and dripped down onto the floor as she ran.

  We can’t do anything but wait and see.

  I ground my teeth. We shouldn’t have had to wait and see. We should have been able to get treatment. We shouldn’t have even been shot at.

  A mechanical whine filled the room as the doors began to rumble closed. We followed the others, shielding their retreat with our bodies. A kinetic round slammed into our thigh, causing our leg to slide out from underneath us. No sooner had we stopped tumbling than we jumped back up. The leg burned with every step.

  The doors were almost closed. The bay grew darker with each passing second as the light from the outside was cut off. We pushed ourselves harder. Our claws pushed off the metal floors, propelling us faster.

  Our shoulders brushed the doors as we burst through them and into the daylight. Colonists scattered as Azara leaped into the air. The others were already ahead of us, but they slowed, unsure of what to do.

  In the blink of an eye, I was floating through the air. Not floating—being lifted by the long, black tentacles. They reached back and deposited me on Kuna’s neck. I scrambled to find something to hold on to. Gripping the small horns along his frill, I stood so the others could see me.

  Kuna raced forward despite his injured leg. I could feel the throbbing in my own leg, even though my body was not physically injured.

  Claxons began to blare from the Endurance’s interior. “All personnel. Take cover immediately.”

  I gritted my teeth as we raced on. One by one, I beckoned the others to follow, and they fell in line behind us. Together, we raced alongside the Endurance.

  Where are we going?

  I didn’t have an answer for Kuna. The magnetic barrier cast an opaque shimmer on the rest of the world. We couldn’t just run out into the wild. We were trapped inside.

  We need to find somewhere to hide until we can come up with a plan.

  Kuna let out a manic bark. Where will we hide that they can’t find us?

  The Endurance is big. If we can find another way in, we can hide deep in its corridors until we decide what to do. It’s not like we have a lot of options. We just need to regroup.

  Fair enough.

  I couldn’t help the hopelessness that welled up inside me. We were stuck inside.

  A gash in the Endurance caught my eyes as we ran past it. We slid to a halt and inspected the gap. It would fit some of us, but not all of us.

  Good thing we have these. Kuna reached out, flexing his claws against the metal and leaving gouges.

  I guess you come in handy.

  Handier than you, Kuna snapped back. And I don’t even have hands.

  “Follow us!” I shouted out loud for the others.

  Kuna knelt down, and I slid off his neck, hurrying back as he reared up. Kuna plunged forward. His claws sank into the hard outer hull like butter. Ribbons of metal peeled away as he dragged his claws down.

  Without hesitation, he lunged in again. The progress was slow, just as it had been the first night the Chroin had attacked as they had tried to claw their way through the Endurance. I kept glancing back down the length of the Endurance, waiting for the first specks of the soldiers to appear.

  When I turned back, Kuna had disappeared into the ship. I glanced in after him. He had made more progress than I had expected.

  “Go.” I shooed the others into the hole.

  Tyze was almost too wide still. The massive beast struggled for a moment before he was able to squeeze his powerful shoulders through the opening. The others wiggled in after him, following Kuna into the walls of the ship.

  A few dots moved in the distance. The colonists were finally coming after us. For a moment, I watched them approach. They were still a long way off. We’d be deep within the Endurance by the time they reached the hole.

  How did everything go so wrong? I asked Kuna.

  There was nothing we could have done differently.

  I knew he was right, but I couldn’t shake the nagging feeling that we should have done something differently. Maybe I could have been a better diplomat. I shouldn’t have antagonized Parsons. I should have kept us separated from the others. I should have known.

  Stop it. Kuna interrupted what I had thought were my private feelings. We couldn’t have done anything differently. Both sides have to make an effort. You can’t force the others to accept us.

  I watched the vehicles grow for a few more seconds. Finally, I heaved a sigh and stepped through the hole into the Endurance.

  The wall opened into a gaping hole. Before the crash, the outer hull had been filled with water. The water had absorbed much of the radiation that the Endurance was subjected to in space. Elsewhere on the ship, a plant had cleaned the water for later reuse. Now the walls were empty, the water drifting through space.

  “Where should we go?” Saavi pulled at a lock of vibrant blue hair.

  Letting out a long sigh, I shrugged. “Let’s just get as deep into the ship as we can for now.”

  Without a word, the others continued forward. Claws, hooves, and paws clicked on the metal corridors as we silently pushed on.

  CHAPTER 7

  My mind was anything but silent. Goran’s cries echoed through my skull. His sobbing chuff ringing in my ears. The baleful howl piercing my heart.

  Could we have done anything to save them? Either of them?

  Kuna didn’t answer right away. We couldn’t have predicted that the anti-mag shields would fail. We had no reason not to trust your scientist. We couldn’t have predicted that Ilex would have been so gravely injured…and we had no way of knowing until now what would happen when one of us dies.

  Tears pricked at the corner of my eyes, and I blinked furiously. I didn’t even think…I never would have…

  No one could have known.

  But so many people are dead now. If we had known what would happen, I wouldn’t have taken him into the bay. I wasn’t entirely sure that was true.

  What would you have done differently?

  I didn’t know what I would have done. Could I have let them die to save everyone else? I couldn’t answer, and we fell into silence.

  Eventually, we found ourselves in the wide main corridors. The hallway twisted with the Endurance, making a wall into the floor. The Chroin could stand to their full height as the ceiling soared above our heads.

  “Why don’t we take a break?” I asked.

  Saavi plopped down with a sigh, letting her head fall into her hands. The Chroin stretched out around us. Kuna lay down. Though he looked relaxed, his muscles were tense and ready to pounce at a moment’s notice.

  “What are we going to do now?” Emerson sagged against a wall and slid down to the floor.

  “What can we do?” Deron asked, running a hand over the orange stubble that grew out of his head.

  “We can go back out there and show them who is the better fighting force,” Reegan snarled. Her sunshine-yellow hair whipped around her as she paced. Of all of us, she
still looked the most normal—though her hair was a little too bright to be natural.

  “We can’t do that.” Saavi glared up at her. “Those are our people out there.”

  “Our people?” Reegan snorted. “Our people are right here in this hallway.” She looked around in disgust. “Those people out there—they aren’t our people. They don’t think we are one of them. To them, we are just…aliens.”

  Everyone shuddered at the word.

  We are aliens, Kuna shifted, sitting up to look at me.

  I know. Anti-alien sentiment runs strong with humans. I had to fight the thought myself. I didn’t think of Kuna as alien. He was me, and I was him. We just were. But the truth was, he was an alien.

  I can tell, he cut in dryly.

  Can you blame us? I snapped back. During our first encounter with aliens, we met half a dozen races, all of whom were working together to eradicate us. I can’t say I had fond feelings for aliens until I met you. I still don’t. The admonition was hard. Though I felt justified in my convictions, it felt wrong.

  And now?

  I gave him a mental shrug. I can’t say that I’m excited to meet new races, but I’m open to the idea that they aren’t all horrific monsters.

  We’re all monsters, Kuna chuckled, resting his head on his paws. We’re all just different kinds of monsters.

  Some of us are just a little more monstrous than others. I waggled my eyebrows at him.

  Kuna snorted indignantly. Speak for yourself, you ugly, hairless mammal.

  You don’t have any hair either.

  “We can’t just let them push us around,” Reegan insisted. “They wanted us made. They wanted us like this. They can’t treat us as lesser because of it.”

  “So what should we do?” Emerson scratched his cheek, trying his best to look nonchalant. “Go back, beat down the bay doors, and rip the rest of the colonists to shreds?”

  Now, there’s a plan, Kuna said.

  “Of course not!” Reegan rounded on him. Beside her, Azara stood taller, stretching out her wings in agitation. Reegan’s head snapped around to Azara for a moment. The beast stood with her wings outstretched, making herself look bigger.

  “Then what? How else do you propose we make them accept us?” Emerson pushed himself off the wall, causing Azara to fluff herself up again.

  Reegan was silent for a long moment as she stared Emerson down. “I don’t know,” she finally ground out.

  “The colonists shouldn’t be our primary concern,” I cut in as the two glowered at each other.

  They both stopped and turned to stare at me. Reegan’s mouth fell open to protest, but I held up a hand to silence her.

  “We can worry about them later. Right now, we need to worry about getting ourselves to safety. We have to find a way to get out of the shield.”

  “Well, these weren’t worth crap.” Deron threw his anti-mag shield on the floor. The tiny device bounced and skittered off into the darkness.

  “Why didn’t they work?” Saavi pulled hers out of her pocket.

  “Maybe they weren’t ever supposed to work in the first place,” Reegan muttered.

  “Or maybe someone tampered with them?” Brinden asked.

  We all fell silent.

  “Would someone really do that?” Saavi asked.

  Reegan rolled her eyes. “Of course, they would. Stars! Parsons tried to kill us when we were first bonded.”

  The new recruits drew back.

  “What?” Deron asked. “Why weren’t we told?”

  “Would you have believed us?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Deron snapped indignantly.

  I crossed my arms and stared at him.

  Deron shifted under my gaze. “Maybe.”

  “No one would have. We would have started an open war with Parsons that would have made it his word against ours. No one would have sided with us.” Not that things had turned out any differently.

  “So what are our options then?” Brinden asked. “We can’t go through the barrier if the shields aren’t working.”

  “The shields are working just fine,” Saavi interrupted. She had her anti-mag shield split in half. Her tongue poked out from between her lips as she fiddled with the inside.

  “Well, they certainly weren’t working earlier,” Reegan snapped.

  “Yes, they were.” Saavi didn’t look up from her tinkering. “They are working just fine. Their output is just where it needs to be. The power supply is solid. Everything is running smoothly. The shields are working just fine—or at least mine is.”

  “Then why didn’t they stop the dome from taking us all out? We were nearly killed. Ilex was killed. Why didn’t they work?” Reegan’s voice raised with every sentence as she worked herself up again.

  “I don’t know for sure, but my guess is someone increased the output on the engines.” Saavi’s voice stayed level despite Reegan’s demands. “If someone increased the output of the engines but not the anti-mag shields, then they wouldn’t have been strong enough to protect us.”

  “Could that have been done on accident?” I asked.

  “No engineer worth their air would have made that mistake.” Saavi shook her head.

  “So it was done on purpose?” Reegan wiped at her eyes.

  Saavi chewed on her lip. “It is possible that the dome was adjusted but they forgot to adjust the settings on the shields.”

  No one forgot, Kuna stated somberly. This wasn’t an accident.

  No, it wasn’t, but we don’t have any proof.

  Too much has happened for it to be a coincidence.

  “We need to shut down the engines.” Every muscle in Reegan’s body was tense.

  “We can’t do that. The rest of the colonists won’t have any defense against the wild.” Brinden jumped up.

  “Well that’s not our problem,” Reegan shot back.

  “We cannot leave them to certain death,” Saavi agreed.

  “If we stay here, they will kill us. We have a right to protect ourselves. We have a right to fight back.”

  “If we take down the shield, we could doom the human race,” Emerson ground out. “I will not have that on my conscience.”

  “So what do we do?” Reegan asked, taking a step back from the group toward Azara. “Sit here and wait to die. We don’t have any food. We don’t even have any water. We aren’t going to survive long like this. I don’t want to die.”

  “We aren’t going to die,” I said.

  “Then what are we going to do?” Reegan demanded.

  Do you hear that? Kuna asked, but I heard nothing.

  “Saavi, could you reprogram the shields for a higher output?” I asked.

  She had quietly continued to tinker with her device. “I can.”

  The others straightened up.

  “But I have no idea what the dome is putting out, so I have no way to match it. I could just crank the shields up as high as they will go, but there is a chance that they would fry us if I did that.”

  The hope drained away.

  “Could we could get to the engine room and find out how much it’s putting out?” Brinden asked.

  “If Parsons has half a brain, he’ll have men guarding it. He’ll know we need it to get out.” I let out a long sigh, dragging my hands across my face.

  “So what do we do?” Emerson posed the question again.

  You are being noisy! Kuna cut in. Stop and listen.

  I heaved another sigh. What am I listening for?

  Shhh!

  Clang…clang…clang.

  “Quiet!” I hissed at the others, and they immediately fell silent.

  What is it? I asked Kuna.

  Clang…clang.

  How should I know? Kuna tilted his head as he listened to the sound.

  “It’s not footsteps,” I said finally. If it had been footsteps, there would have been more than just the single sound.

  “It’s probably just something loose knocking around.” Deron shrugged.

  Clang…
clang…clang.

  “No.” I shook my head. “It’s too rhythmic to be random.” My footsteps didn’t make a sound as I started down the hall toward the noise. Kuna rose to follow me, and even the clacking of his claws was subdued.

  “Laure!” Brinden shouted after me.

  I waved my hand dismissively.

  Clang…clang…clang.

  The sound was getting fainter, but we were moving in the right direction. It was just getting quieter. A set of large sliding doors barred our path, and I stopped short in front of them.

  Bridge. The placard hung above the door, and my breath caught in my throat.

  Clang…clang.

  The sounds were barely more than tapping. I would never have heard them from anywhere else. No one else could have possibly heard the tapping from outside the ship.

  “Help me open these.” I grabbed one door as Brinden grabbed another. They slid open, screeching a protest as they did. Inside, the loose contents shifted, spilling out at our feet. Milky, unseeing eyes stared up at us. Saavi let out a gasping shriek and spun away.

  “Stars.” I stepped back, covering my mouth and nose against the smell.

  Commander Sims stared up at us. His neck was bent unnaturally. Blood had dried on his lips. The brown stood out more starkly against his waxy, pale skin.

  Well, he certainly hasn’t been making any noise for a while.

  My mind reeled against the brash comment. Show a little respect. My voice wasn’t angry. Without this man, we would all be dead.

  Clang.

  The sound whispered from somewhere on the darkened bridge.

  I blew out a long breath as I looked up into the tilted room. The couplings had come loose, and the entire room sat on a dangerous slant. Debris was piled up along the wall. Everything that had been loose had fallen there, including bodies. I pulled on some of the wreckage, testing how much weight it would hold.

  “You aren’t seriously going in there, are you?” Emerson asked.

  “Why not?” I glanced back at him. “We’ve come this far. Don’t you want to find out what it is?” It couldn’t possibly be a person. Maybe it was just some loose debris, but I had to know.

  “What do you think it’s going to be?” He gestured to Sims’s broken body. “This is all you’re going to find in there. Do you honestly think anyone could have survived the crash and being stuck in here without food or water with stars only know what kind of injuries?”