But she had survived nine months before the Dantovonian slave ship pulled her off the broken planet. She’d made it through. That had to stand for something.
Dani ground her tears out with her fists, hiccups replacing her sobs. “Okay, stupid mistake number one million two hundred thousand and three. Time to get back into survival mode.”
She had shelter, so problem number one was solved. Dani opened up containers, seeing what else she had going in her favor. She managed a little cheer when a small refrigerated cooler offered a few meager bits of frozen meat, perhaps enough to sustain her for three or four days if she ate very little.
“Fire. I’ll have to build a fire to cook the meat and boil water.” Water was even more important than food. She hoped when the sun came up she’d find herself near a source.
“What will I do if there’s no water?” she fretted, despair threatening once more. She swallowed it down and punched herself in the thigh for going wimpy again. “Well, just fold up and die then, Danielle. That’s what being impulsive and stupid gets you. It had to happen sooner or later. Damn it, you never think!”
There was nothing left to do until daylight showed up. She prayed it would be soon. She prayed she would find help, that some Earthers remained on the moon and that they were nearby. She prayed to a God she’d never really believed in, because she was well and truly fucked and she knew it.
* * * *
“Uh oh. Looks like debris.” Wynhod’s enjoyment of the hunt sputtered and died as he brought up the vid of their surroundings. The glare of the nearby gas giant reflected off shards of metal. Definitely not natural.
Krijero peered at the rubble floating within their route. He sounded anxious as he looked at the obvious pieces of a ship. “You can’t tell if it’s the shuttle Dani boarded?”
Wynhod’s fingers flew over the panel before him, bringing up analytical readouts. “No, but this is fairly recent and it starts on the flight path. See how fast it’s drifting? And it’s concentrated in almost a straight line to that moon.”
Gelan already worked to change their course. He’d also lost all thrill of the chase, to judge from his grim expression. “What’s the intel on this moon?”
Wynhod brought up yet another vid. He read it out loud to the other two. “Designated LXS-42. It was occupied by Earth during the war because of its proximity to Dantovon. The Earthers used it as a base of operations to harass our people when our ships came through.”
“They abandoned it?”
Wynhod scrolled through the information quickly. “Except for a few buildings, it’s emptied out. It’s thought either the Earther insurgents or Tragooms stripped the base of all equipment.”
Gelan piloted their shuttle after the trail of spinning fragments. “Containment based, or is there an atmosphere?”
“The atmosphere’s good. It’s listed as a potential colony for the Earth refugees who don’t want to come to Kalquor, but it’s too far away for anyone to properly defend them from attack.”
Krijero relaxed a little. “If they made an emergency landing, Dani’s okay for the short term then.”
Wynhod scanned the larger pieces of wreckage that appeared just outside the moon’s gravitational pull. Gelan entered the atmosphere, carefully piloting around the remains. The Dramok’s lips were tight.
Wynhod ignored the sick feeling in his stomach. “Unless that Isetacian was transporting ship parts, I’d guess it was more a crash than a landing. That’s a piece of a booster engine right there.” He pointed the fragment out to his clanmates.
Krijero’s sharp intake of breath filled the cockpit. Wynhod hated telling his Imdiko bad news, but better he hear it now and brace himself for the worst.
A hint of a growl trickled from Gelan’s lips before he spoke. “Let’s go in and hope for the best.”
The thrill of the hunt was most definitely gone.
* * * *
The third time Dani moved the topmost container blocking the door, orange-gray light drifted into the red-tinged cave of the downed shuttle. She thought she’d never seen a more beautiful sight in her life. The dismal bit of illumination was sweeter than any sun-drenched day at the beach.
She rushed to push the other containers aside, eager for daylight. The instant she could, she shoved against the reluctant hatch, pressing it far enough open to let her escape. She stood in the doorway, looking at her surroundings and inhaling the scent of rotted vegetation and the burnt, oily stench of the craft.
The ship had come to rest in a small clearing, surrounded by blue-barked trees with leaves that resembled gray scales. Dani could see the path the shuttle had taken by the sheered tops of the nearby wooded area. The ground beneath the trees looked darker than where the crashed ship lay, as if it was wet. That didn’t bode well for needed fire, though there were plenty of broken branches at hand.
“I’m on high ground. I can bring the branches up, and they’ll dry,” she consoled herself. But she needed boiled water sooner rather than later. The air was muggy, leeching moisture from her. Thirst made her throat click when she tried to swallow.
An iridescent-winged creature that resembled a dragonfly whirred past Dani’s head. She stared after it. It was at least the length of her forearm. Edible, she wondered?
Several more darted through the air, coming close enough to catch easily. Dani wasn’t squeamish at all at the thought of eating them. She’d downed squadrons of insects back on Earth to survive after the war. Her only concern was that the flying beasties might be poisonous.
Her little bit of food wouldn’t last long, and if she didn’t find help soon, she’d have to consider taking the risk. At least she had good shelter in the downed craft. She’d have to remove Reggie’s body though. She couldn’t share the cramped space with a corpse.
First things first: fire and water. She’d look for a water source and dry kindling.
Priorities set, Dani slipped back into the ship to find a container worthy of carrying water. She looked at the covered body of her dead companion before starting her search.
“Sorry Reggie. I don’t know the funeral customs of your people. I’ll bury you with as much dignity as I can when I get back. I hope it won’t offend you.”
She located a cylinder with a sealing lid, perfect for storing two gallons of water. She decided once she found a source, she could use it to bring manageable amounts of water back to the ship and fill up one of the larger storage containers.
Hope burning bright with the rising tangerine-stained sun, Dani started down the slope towards the woods. With dry wood and a reflective surface, fire was almost guaranteed. She allowed herself a little smile.
The ground squelched beneath her soft-soled slippers the lower she went. Well, that at least meant water wouldn’t be too hard to find, she reasoned. Her smile grew bigger.
She paused at the tree line and looked at the dense foliage ahead of her. It would be too damned easy to get lost and unable to retrace her steps to the ship. Listening to the strange cries of unknown beasts deep in the woods, Dani knew she needed the protection of the shuttle.
It took only a moment’s consideration before she bent to grasp the hem of her dress, pulling hard to rip a scrap of it away. She felt a kind of mean thrill in doing it, as if getting a measure of revenge on the Kalquorians who’d gotten her into this mess.
Here’s what I think of your ‘gift’, you big Earth-killing jerks.
She snagged the scrap on some brush. Its brilliant emerald color shone like a beacon. Better than breadcrumbs, Dani thought with an even bigger smile than before. If she grinned any harder, the top of her head would fall off.
Dani wandered into the woods, leaving bits of her dress along the way while looking at the straight lengths of broken branches. She could make spears for hunting and protecting herself. Maybe she’d chance across the Earther base that had been here, and there would be help there. She’d at least find abandoned supplies, she was sure.
Things weren’t great, but they
were certainly looking up. She’d survived Armageddon on Earth. She’d outsmarted Kalquorians and escaped Dantovon. She’d survived a crash.
Dani felt good enough to hum a little tune as she traipsed deeper into the woods, mucky ground squelching under her feet with the promise of water somewhere.
* * * *
The instant Gelan saw the crashed ship, his heart plummeted to his stomach. His first instinct told him no way anyone could still be alive in that wreck. But as his clan drew near and he got past the blinding dazzle of the sun reflecting off the bent metal, the Dramok realized it looked worse than it really was. Before it had crashed, the haphazardly constructed vehicle would have already looked like a wreck, like something mentally deficient Tragooms on a drunken spree might have built.
The clan tore the hatch completely away from the craft and squeezed inside. When the covered body revealed itself to be an Isetacian and not Dani, the men sighed in unison.
“No sign of her.” Gelan almost shook with relief. “No blood. If she was hurt, it wasn’t badly.”
Wynhod checked the craft’s registration. “This is definitely the ship witnesses said she boarded.”
Krijero re-covered the dead pilot. “It must be her. The Isetacian didn’t cover his own body.”
“Stupid move to leave shelter.” Gelan shook his head. The Earther’s lack of survival skills was appalling. They had to find her fast. “What kind of predators are there around here?”
Wynhod checked his handheld computer. “Some pretty nasty ones. Big reptiles and mammals that could definitely take an Earther down.”
“We’d better get tracking then.”
They stepped outside. Gelan armed sweat off his forehead. It was only morning, and the temperature was rising quickly. By afternoon, this marshland climate would be uncomfortably stifling. The slight breeze only stirred the fetid air, rendering little relief. The scraping sounds of the scale-like leaves rubbing against each other high in the trees served as a backdrop for the constant drone of large insect-like creatures flitting here and there.
Gelan wondered what Dani thought of her surroundings. She’d probably blundered off in a panic, screaming for help.
Almost immediately, Wynhod’s sharp eyes spied a bright green spot on a silver-hued bush just within the treeline of the surrounding woods.
“What do we have here?” He sped to the splash of color, the other two right behind him. He held up the scrap of fabric for their attention.
Krijero shook his head. “So much for her pretty dress.”
“That’s no accidental tear.” Gelan spied another piece of the dress Dani had looked at with such yearning on Dantovon. His estimation of her coping abilities rose a touch. “She plans to return here. She’s marking her trail.”
Wynhod held the bit of material to his nose, inhaling Dani’s scent. “Do we wait or pursue?”
Gelan grinned, his enjoyment of the situation restored now that he knew his Earther hadn’t been killed. “Oh, hunting is always so much more fun than trapping.”
Wynhod laughed, and even Krijero’s face brightened in a ghost of a smile. “I knew you’d say that.”
* * * *
Dani exulted despite the tortuous thirst driving her crazy. The muggy air sapped all the moisture from her body, leaving her as dry as a desert. Fortunately, she’d found a small stream of moving water in the boggy surroundings and had filled her container. Her well-marked path led her unerringly back to the crashed ship, where she would build a fire, boil the water, and drink until her belly ached and her throat stopped screaming dryness.
She also planned to catch the teeming insects and small wildlife she’d come across. She’d cook them and hope like hell they’d agree with her stomach. The spears she planned to make were also paramount. She’d seen the paw prints of something insanely huge and judging by how deeply they sank into the soft ground, heavy as well.
The prints had been twice the size of her big, galumphing size-ten feet. With telltale claws at the tips of the three toes on each print. Dani knew she was not at the top of the food chain on this marshy moon.
She caught a flash of sunlight on metal through the trees and almost gave a little cheer to have reached the clearing where the downed ship waited. Movement within the trees closed her throat before the sound could leave it.
Dani spotted Gelan’s face for an instant between the curtains of thick foliage. She froze. The Kalquorians were here? Hunting her?
A million thoughts flashed into her head all at once as the small break in the brush revealed Wynhod, then Krijero following in Gelan’s wake. They were so intent on her trail that they didn’t spy her standing there for the split second they had of a clear sightline.
Dani’s brain jabbered wildly. Rescue!Caught!Prisoner!Saved!Run!Beg forgiveness!
As soon as the Kalquorians were out of sight, Dani quietly, carefully stepped away from the path she’d followed, simultaneously heading towards Reggie’s ship while ducking low to avoid being seen by her pursuers. She crouched behind a dense stand of growth, trying to slow the harsh panting her breath had become.
To the jabbering cacophony in her head, she ordered, Shut up and let me think.
Except for a few chirps of panic, the madness abated so she could do just that. Dani listened hard for the oncoming Kalquorians. She thought she heard a soft pair of footfalls, just one man walking through the woods. Had they split up? Had the clan seen her and now attempted to flush her out?
You have to give yourself up to them. You don’t want to be here alone, starving like you did on Earth. For God’s sake, think about those paw prints. There’s big shit out here, things that would find Danielle Watson a delicious snack.
Surrendering was obvious. But her stomach curled in on itself to think of the repercussions she’d face when those huge aliens got their hands on her. She couldn’t even imagine the tortures the brutes would subject her to. They might even do it publicly, in front of their fellow Kalquorians on their planet.
Dani had a vision of the public punishment stage on Dantovon, of recalcitrant slaves cuffed and suspended naked in the air as their owners’ hired disciplinarians lashed them with electrical shock whips. The captured slaves always lost control of their elimination on the first blow, adding to the humiliation.
Dani saw herself there, hanging helplessly while Gelan, Wynhod and Krijero whipped her skin raw, her body jerking with every pulse of electricity. Surrounding the stage would be a sea of Kalquorians, their dark faces alight as they jeered at her screams.
It might be better to die on this horrid moon.
And God knows what they’d do to her before they even reached Kalquor. It was what, a three day journey, even with two wormholes to hurry their passage? Dani’s overactive imagination conjured a dungeon-like brig, in which she’d be manacled to the wall, beaten and tortured and raped the entire time. Trapped like one of the heretics of the Spanish Inquisition on an alien ship…
“Their ship.” Dani clamped her mouth shut against the escaped whisper and listened for that set of footfalls to run towards her.
But all had gone silent, save for the ever-present buzz of the insectile creatures that flew around. While she’d lived horrible thoughts of torture in her mind, her pursuers had apparently passed her by.
A jolt of excitement raced through Dani’s body. She could escape in the Kalquorians’ ship. No doubt they had set down near Reggie’s crashed shuttle. It would be easy to find. All she had to do was circle the clearing until she discovered where they’d landed.
A much better vision than the ones she’d been torturing herself with emerged. In this one, a gleam of metal through the trees alerted her to a streamlined bullet of a Kalquorian shuttle, one so modern it practically flew itself. The Kalquorians would still be following the shreds of her dress, probably not even as far as the sluggish stream she’d gotten water from, when she lifted off for destinations friendly to Earthers.
Thinking about water brought her thirst raging back. Dani
looked at her container of water, her parched throat clicking as she swallowed. And she remembered the conversation at the Joshadan eatery, in which Gelan’s clan shared the story of their hunt with her.
Krijero asked his clanmates, “Did you take your bacteria-inhibitors?”
At the nods from the other two men, Dani asked, “What’s that for?”
Gelan answered. “We carry bottles that filter and purify water, but it can take a little while for it to be potable. Rather than load ourselves down, it’s easier to drink the water we find on the hunt and take medication later that kills off any harmful bacteria we might have ingested. Most responsible people keep a supply of such medication on hand in case they have to make an emergency landing on an unpopulated planet.”
There had been no sign of medicine on Reggie’s ship when she’d investigated the supplies on board. Not a surprise, as he’d not been the most responsible creature; his ship’s condition was a testament to that.
But the Kalquorians no doubt had it on their ship. The ship she was going to take.
Dani drank deeply from her water cache. It was cool and sweet, the best water she’d ever drunk. Just as she had promised herself, she drank it until her stomach strained. Wonderful.
Refreshed at last, Dani slowly stood up, searching her surroundings for the Kalquorians. They were nowhere in sight, and no shouts of discovery rang out. They’d walked by without knowing she’d been mere yards away. She grinned and shook her hips in a little victory dance.
Alien Slave Page 11
