by Naomi Lucas
“Shelby, who are you talking to?” Collins says from somewhere above us.
Going rigid, my toes curl and I reach for my nail file again. Shelby’s eyes widen, and she tugs me toward the tarps she crawled out from under. “Hide,” she whispers furiously.
I duck with her under the tarps. I thought I could trust Shelby—I know I still can. The knife she gave me saved me. I owe her, but my debt is cleared. There’s nothing left for me here. I rub my chest, feeling heaviness there. She can come with me, or find her own way. She’s more capable than I.
But there’s still Gemma, and Peter to contend with. There are naga males still lurking outside the facility.
I wish they would attack, tear the facility down, and humanity can prevail and defeat the Ketts—that they’d start evacuating the planets in the Ketts’ path instead and fleeing into a different part of the universe to rebuild.
The government will never give up its resources and lands. The upper castes can’t fathom losing their wealth.
I wish I had made a case for those babies.
I wish for a lot of things. They’re all just wishes. Wishes never come true. Gripping my nail file tight, I ready to stab Collins in the throat.
Why did I come here at all?
“I’m just cataloging my finds,” Shelby calls out. “Have Nick and his team made any headway on the data?”
Collins grunts. Rocks shift as he nears and his footsteps get closer. “They’re still deciphering the text, so no. Captain says we’re all working through the night again. He wants an update. We’re having the night meal with him tonight. He wants another test.”
“Another one?” Shelby’s face falls as we hold each other’s gaze. “I don’t want to eat with that fucker,” she snarls. She lowers her voice to me. “I’ll distract him. Go,” she says, pointing to an opening through more pipes behind me.
“What about you?” I whisper. “The sentinels?”
“I’ll be fine.”
Collins sighs deeply and it’s right outside the tarp. “I prepared a test already, so don’t worry. I have it covered. Eating with him on the other hand, I can’t change. If he’s willing to share extra rations with us, we need to take advantage of that. You need to keep your strength up.”
“Tests?” I ask.
“Pregnancy tests,” Shelby says, shooing me to the other side of her tarp tent.
“They’ll find out you lied, Shelby,” I tell her, ducking under the other side. I crouch. “You can’t fake a pregnancy forever.”
She scrubs her face with her hands, and I almost feel bad. Almost.
“I’ll be fine. Go, Daisy, please. I can take care of myself. I have Collins. Get to the ship. Tell them what’s happening. Save us.”
I see Collins' hand as he lifts the tarp. There’s no way she’ll be able to follow me now, and waiting is too risky. My heart falls further.
“I stole some water from John for you,” Collins says, lifting the flap.
“Go,” Shelby begs. With one last look, we turn from each other.
Hearing the tarp drop, I crawl away, finding another way out of the hole. I check to make sure he’s within the tent before I move to the outer walls of the atrium and head back the way I came. The shadows have lengthened and I hurry my steps, dashing down the hallway, deciding I don’t want to be here when night falls.
“Hold,” someone says behind me.
I stop. My hands shake.
“What are you doing in here, and without your uniform… Wait… Officer Daisy? Is… No…”
I turn and face Captain Peter, and our eyes meet in the gloom. There’s a light behind his back that casts his face in shadows.
Hatred bursts through me, hard and fast. “Peter,” I breathe his name through gritted teeth, taking a step toward him. Fury is giving me courage I wouldn’t usually have.
Seeing his shocked face, all I want suddenly is for him to feel what I’ve felt, what Gemma’s felt, what Shelby feels. I want him to know the terror, the hopelessness, and the helplessness he’s made us experience.
“How are you here?” He’s as still as stone, and I hope it’s because he’s afraid. I take another step toward him. I am done being a victim. “Where did you…” He reaches for his gun.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” I warn.
His hand pauses. “Daisy, let’s talk—”
“Talk? You want to fucking talk? Now?”
He shakes his head.
I continue, “We are way beyond talking, you piece of shit.” I rush forward and tackle him. He falls back into the wall. I hit him over and over with my fists, and he tries to push me away, tries to defend himself. “You son of a bitch!” I scream, aiming for his face, drilling him in the nose. I grab my nail file and slam the tip into his hand, puncturing it. “I will kill you!”
“Stop!” he yells, pushing at me, jerking his hand away, taking my nail file with it. I hit him some more. Enraged, all I want is to hurt him as much as I can for as long as I can. Blood surges through my veins.
“I said stop, damn it!” he roars as I curl my fingers and try clawing his face.
“Stop?” I shout. “You want me to stop? You should’ve thought of that before you left me on a plateau at the mercy of aliens! You should have thought about that when I was nearly killed!”
He struggles to get his gun free from his hip, and I throw my weight over him, grabbing his hand. I don’t see his leg before it’s too late. He kicks me hard in the gut, and I tumble backward with a gasp.
“Stupid bitch,” he growls, yanking his gun from his waistband.
I turn and run as gunfire rings. I hear shouting from Collins and Shelby, and the buzz of the sentinels and drones floods my ears. Peter fires a shot as I duck through a crack in the outer wall. A blast goes off next to my head, sending rubble flying. I stumble. Catching my footing, I sprint across the open field.
Seeing the facility barrier all around me, I’ll never make it to the forest alive.
“Stop her!” Peter shouts.
He gives chase. Shots ring out, and the dirt around my feet explodes.
“Daisy!” Shelby screams. “Run!”
Ducking my head, I pivot for the skiff to my left. Throwing my body against it, I slap my hand on the security panel and pray that it still registers me. When the door slides open, I scramble inside, slamming the door closed behind me. A bullet hits the glass by my head, pinging the inside of the vessel. Peter aims his gun at me as the rest of the team runs out of the transport ship. Several sprint for the skiff.
Turning to the controls, I power them on.
“Come on, come on, come on. Faster,” I beg. The controls light up. Something zips by the window, forcing my eyes up. Several drones are right outside with their turret guns. They shoot at the windows. I swallow back my vomit.
The thrusters come to life and I crank the switches. I push my palm to the central orb. “Take me to The Dreadnaut,” I order, checking that the coordinates to the warship hadn't changed, waiting anxiously for the skiff to connect to the main vessel. Whether it takes me there or not, connecting to it is all I need.
Something hits me to my right, rocking the skiff. The ship falters for a moment, losing its momentum. “Come on!”
“This is The Dreadnaut,” a woman’s voice says through the controls. “You do realize you’re asking for clearance for a planetary transport skiff, right?”
“It’s an emergency,” I snap, pressing my palm hard to the central orb, forcing the vessel up. Gunfire rings in my ears, but the ship hoists into the air. Seeing the forest and the mountains over the barrier, I push my palm forward.
“You do not have clearance, Officer Daisy. I recommend you land,” the woman says. “The skiff will not be able to make such a journey.”
“Do you know what’s happening down here?” I shout. “Captain Peter is trading lives for tech!”
The ship jerks, the sentinels fly out of my path, and I push the thrusters to the max, yanking the controls back. I
see the barrier loom before me.
I’m not going to make it. “Please,” I whisper. “Please.”
At the last moment, the vessel clears the barrier, though a wrenching, screeching noise bursts my ears as the bottom of it scrapes it. I hit the trees, slicing through branches, barely evading the thick trunks.
“Turn back, Officer Daisy. You do not have clearance to use this skiff anymore, nor do you have access to The Dreadnaut. You are being insubordinate.”
Hitting tree after tree, I make it above them, and I sag a little, angling the skiff higher, toward the mountains to the left of the plateau. I see it and the lake for a split second before I turn.
“You don’t understand,” I say, stumbling over my words, sweat pouring down my face. “Captain Peter is bartering the women on his team, even Officer Gemma—”
“I know—”
“—we’re in trouble, we need backup…” I trail off. “You know?”
“I recommend you turn around and land,” the woman says.
I start to shake. “You know?”
“If you do not turn back now, I will take away your access to fly and the skiff will no longer respond to you. It will fall.”
“You know!?” I scream.
I focus on the mountains ahead of me, the sprawling forest.
“Turn back, Officer Daisy. Do not make me take away your access. The skiff is expensive.”
The skiff is expensive. I want to laugh and sob.
Tears brim my eyes. I think of Peter and Gemma, and Zaku. The last couple of weeks flit through my mind. Zaku. I’d been happy. With him. Despite everything.
He cared for me. Me, of all people.
“Officer Daisy, I won’t ask again. This is my final warning.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry.” Sorry about Zaku, sorry that I couldn’t save Shelby, sorry that I didn’t get a chance to end Peter.
I hear a sigh and then everything goes silent. A thunderous noise builds from there, hollowing out my ears. I close my eyes and take a ragged breath.
She did it. She really fucking did it, taking away my access.
Something hits the skiff, knocking the vessel sideways. Pushing my hand to the orb, the ship doesn’t right itself. I wipe them off with the back of my hands, nose-diving for the mountain.
I’m sorry.
Twenty-Seven
A New Pain
Zaku
I hold Daisy close, as close as I can without hurting her any more than she is. Days, I searched for her. Days, I thought I lost her, terrified I would never see her again. Now I have her in my arms, and I’ve never been in more pain.
She screams.
And screams and screams. Her body is burned—black and red—her clothes are charred, and her hair is nothing more than singed, smoking wisps around a swollen and mottled face.
I want to hold her close and take away her pain, except each time I move, she whimpers. Her screams fill my ears, and I beg for her to lose consciousness again. It’s only when she’s unconscious that I can breathe, that I can think straight. She’s not cognizant of the pain when her mind is blank.
I barely acknowledge the others traveling with me. I do not want them near her, I do not want to share her, but the other female, Gemma, insists on staying by Daisy’s side. She is with Vruksha, as I suspected she would be—even I noticed how he fixated on her coloring. He has pined for his lost family for many years, and the other female’s coloring is similar to that of the Pit Viper. He can be near Daisy, as he only has eyes for his claimed one.
But Azsote, the blasted Boomslang, is with us as well. He’s the one who found Daisy, pulling her burning body from the wreckage of the ship she was in, and for that, he can live. For now.
He did not steal her while he had the chance. Instead, he sought me and brought me to Daisy’s side. He told me Daisy said my name as he carried her out of the flames. Azsote wanted to honor her dying wish.
Her dying wish...
She will not die!
I will not let my queen leave me, not again! I will atone. I have to atone. I have made so many mistakes that I don’t know where to begin. Making sure she lives and is comfortable is a start. Because if she dies… A shudder goes through me. If Daisy dies, there is nothing left for me to live for. I’ve been alone for so long before her, and I can’t go back to that.
Azsote and the others are not the only ones who saw Daisy’s ship fall from the sky. There are nagas in the shadows of the forest, lurking about. I need to keep her from them as much as I need to keep her alive.
Azsote and Vruksha bare their fangs at the others, saving me from the task of handling her broken form and guarding her as well. I am indebted to them.
Daisy shakes and screams, and I grit my teeth.
The trek back to my den is grueling, and it’s not until Daisy goes unconscious and stays that way—when I fear she will give in and let go—that we finally reach my home.
Only the medical pod can save her. Gemma, the other female, insists it’s our only option. It’s either try the pod, or make Daisy as comfortable as possible until she succumbs to her wounds, or until infection takes hold and kills her.
Still, I can’t let her go, and it takes the others forcing Daisy out of my arms and holding me down on the floor before Daisy is placed in the machine. With Vruksha gripping my arms and Azsote on top of me, Gemma—with Vruksha’s tail for help—settles Daisy in the machine. Gemma scrambles around it, figuring it out.
I roar.
Watching the glass of the pod shield Daisy’s body from me and fill with smoke, nearly destroys me. But then the smoke clears and I see her again. The arms within the pod go to work and I’m released. Moving to her side, I beg to the skies for her to live. The house robots have maintained this machine as they have everything else in this wretched place. It should work. I will bring this place to the ground if it doesn’t.
You are strong. Stronger than me.
The tension in Daisy’s body goes away after the machine pokes her with needles. I fist my hands, waiting for her to wake up and see me. Instead, she doesn’t wake at all.
What if she never wakes?
“Zaku?” the other female says my name. I snarl in response. I do not want to be bothered. After a few minutes, she says it again.
“What?” I snap.
“She’s going to be asleep for a while. You should get some rest.”
I hiss, low and annoyed.
“Leave him,” Vruksha says. “He will do as he pleases.”
Hours go by. Time stands still. I don’t move, gazing at Daisy, unable to look away. I’m afraid if I do, she’ll vanish. The day comes and goes, and so does the night. The house robots try to feed me and I ignore them, unable to stomach food, unable to do anything except wait. It’s not until much later that I catch Azsote enter my home without being stopped, that it occurs to me others are here with me.
Seeing him through the open door of the room I’m in, he drags in a deer carcass, hauling it to the kitchen. Once there, he and Vruksha strip its hide off.
Confused, I study them for a while.
I don’t like that they’re here. I like it less that Daisy hasn’t woken up. I turn to the female sleeping in a chair across from me. She hasn’t moved from Daisy’s side either.
Daisy is alive because of her.
I recall her taking charge by the crash site when I couldn’t. I owe the other female for forcing me to face what I did not want to.
My eyes fall upon her bandaged feet, her shoddy clothes, and I leave quietly so I do not wake her, coming back with an armful of garments and some footwear from the closet below. I place the offering by the female’s side. A gift for her help.
I eat the meat the robots bring me in silence, studying my guests, lulled by the constant beeping of the machine. It has been many years since I tolerated a guest. Clenching my hands, I keep my body still so I do not strike out.
There have been many changes in my life this season.
I hiss in warning. No one tells me what to do.
She is unbothered by it, standing to check Daisy’s vitals. “I’ll be with her. I’ll make sure nothing happens,” she says. “I need her to live.”
I slide my tail over the pod’s glass. “Why?”
“Because this should have never happened. I should have been able to stop it, and Peter can’t win.” The female looks at me. “I care about her. If she dies, then I’ve failed.”
The female’s eyes hood, and she licks her lips. She curls her fingers on the glass beside my tail, keeping my gaze. “We both have failed if she diesss,” I say. “Do you understand?”
“I do.”
I nod. “If she dies, you will have failed me as well, Gemma.”
Her brow furrows briefly, then smooths out. “I understand.”
“Do not let the others near her,” I add, tilting my head at Vruksha and Azsote. “I do not trust them.”
“I won’t.”
With that, I settle down beside Daisy, pushing the rest of my tail over the pod. I close my eyes.
I wake to hushed voices sometime later. Female voices. I pull my addled mind out of the slumber it desperately needs when Daisy cries out.
The next second, I’m up and over her, gazing into her eyes. Or eye. The other is swollen shut. We stare at each other. There’s so much I want to say, except my mouth doesn’t open. Nothing comes out. She is not the Daisy I knew. She is different. There’s pain in her that wasn’t there before, and it’s not physical pain. It’s more than that, and I fear it’s because of me.
“My queen,” I say. “Forgive me.”
Twenty-Eight
A Frightening Face
Daisy
The days blur. The pain ebbs and flows.
It’s because of the pain that I know I’m alive. I wait for death to take me. I pray it does, I hurt so much.
Most of the time I feel nothing, stuck up with needles and tubes. I never thought I’d live, and each time I wake, the pain reminds me that I’m still alive. That I’m going to survive. It hurts, knowing I won’t have an easy out. That whatever the medical pod is doing to me is working. When I woke the first time, it was to glass covering me, and Gemma’s face. I finger the thin sheet draped over me, glad I can’t see underneath it.
