She looked out of the window and gasped in amazement. Being in the cockpit meant that Laila had an unparalleled view of the planet as they landed. From this direction, about half the planet was in darkness, but the other half looked purple and green. Around the green spots of land, the beautiful liquid purple areas swirled and swelled. Having been asleep when they’d reached Minos Kerala, and in the cage when they’d landed on Pombos, this was the first time she’d seen a view like this, and it was breathtaking.
They cruised around the planet, to where a much larger continent emerged, shining green around the purple sea. Laila wondered why the water was purple, but she didn’t want to distract Basil and Flin, so she just enjoyed the view.
The Great Gig swooped low over a beautiful verdant rainforest. The leaves of the treetops, wet from a recent rainstorm, were gleaming in the sun. A giant flying thing, some sort of humongous reptile with leathery wings, swooped past the ship, so close that Laila could see its yellow eyes and fearsome sharp-looking green beak. A green flying creature amongst green trees… Laila thought it was perfectly designed to prey on unsuspecting ground dwellers. It looked so scary, and she was glad she was safe inside the ship. Was that flying reptile a quorak? It certainly looked like it would lay eggs.
“Wow, that looked like a pterodactyl crossed with a wyvern!” Basil said.
“Really? Everyone knows those don’t exist,” Flin replied coolly.
“Says the man who’s fond of training unicorns for competitive dressage!” Basil retorted.
“Was that a quorak?” Laila asked, figuring it was probably safe to talk if they were talking without distracting themselves.
“Definitely not,” Flin said.
“The quorak is enormous,” Basil elaborated. “It might take us a while to track it back to wherever it keeps its eggs, though.”
“How would you know if it was a boy or a girl?” Laila asked.
“We don’t know,” Basil said, not looking up from his instruments. “We don’t really have much of a plan here, we’re just going to wing it.”
“Which is why it is very important that you behave yourself.” Flin took his eyes from the view to fix Laila with a stern look, seeming to know which buttons to press without looking.
“I will! I always behave myself! Are you putting me in the cage again?” Laila asked.
“No, not this time, little princess. If a really big creature attacks the ship or if there’s a stampeding herd, you’d be in too much danger in a cage. We are going to trust you to beh- There! There’s a quorak! Flin, I’m going to bring us down a mile away, so it isn’t alerted to the ship.”
“Gotcha,” Flin said, although Laila couldn’t spot the quorak.
They landed in an area lined with some of the very green trees, and Laila was taken aback by how tall those trees were from up close. Tiny fluffy animals scampered in every direction as the ship touched down.
“Those are the teppalas; we’re going to get a better look at them when we go to the zoo when we return to Minos Kerala,” Basil pointed out.
Flin and Basil pressed lots of switches and the lights on their big console went dark. The men got to their feet and busied themselves getting ready to go out onto the planet surface, leaving Laila uncertain of what to do with herself.
“Okay, baby girl, we’ll be gone a few hours. You keep watch in case anything comes close. If it’s really big and has got pointy teeth, find somewhere to hide. Promise me you won’t leave the ship unless something is attacking it,” Basil said.
“I promise,” Laila said earnestly. “Bye bye, Daddy; bye bye, Flin.”
“Bye bye, sweetheart.” Basil kissed her on the head. Flin merely nodded to her and followed Basil to the airlock.
Chapter Fourteen
For the first hour, Laila busied herself with drawing a nice picture that Basil could stick somewhere, but it was funny how a place where she usually lived for days or months on end without ever getting bored suddenly became the most boring place in the world without the people she cared about. Before the end of the second hour, she was sitting in the cockpit, staring out of the window and watching the adorably tiny fluffy teppalas playing together in a nearby pond, beside some fallen trees and some saplings.
They were unbelievably cute, with round ears, rounder eyes, and acres of fluff. They hopped around, rolling in the water and splashing at one another. Laila knew they weren’t dangerous; nothing that cute could be dangerous. It wouldn’t hurt to get a closer look, she reasoned. After all, Basil and Flin weren’t there, so they would never have to know anything that might worry them.
That decided, she went to the airlock and pressed the big red ‘open’ button. She looked at the open door, hesitating in indecision. Was this a good idea?
Then she remembered the anxiety attack earlier.
“If I’m brave, I can prove it by going outside,” Laila said aloud. She nodded to herself; that seemed to make sense, so she stepped into the airlock and then outside.
The air was fresh after the still, stale ship’s air, and Laila took deep breaths. She hesitantly looked around, listening, and decided there was nothing dangerous nearby. Under her sparkly sneakers, the ground was soft. The tiny teppalas were only twenty feet away. Laila took tiny steps toward them, ready to run away if she needed to, but also not wanting to scare them. The adorable critters froze in suspicion when they saw her approaching.
“It’s all right, little guys; I just wanted to say hello,” she said as she inched closer. When she had gotten as close as she dared, she sat on a rock a few feet from their little pond. They decided she wasn’t a threat and went back to playing. Laila was completely delighted to be able to watch these playful cute creatures having fun. She wished she could take an image of this, to show Basil and Flin how sweet the teppalas were, but of course that would prove she’d disobeyed her men. Not getting caught was very important.
A sound like two pieces of metal scraping together came from somewhere in the middle distance. The teppalas all froze. When they heard the noise again, they fled. Laila stood up, unsure whether to return to the ship or stay still. Wasn’t there something about how predators couldn’t see you if you didn’t move? She couldn’t remember where she’d heard that. When the noise came a third time, accompanied by a stomping feeling in the ground, she started back toward the ship. It was only twenty feet away, but it seemed like an impossible distance, as a humongous reptilian monster emerged from the other side of the ship. The monster was sniffing for something with its huge nose.
Its beady yellow eyes saw Laila and ran toward her. The creature was half as tall as the trees. The sharp teeth and thick body gave away the fact that this monster wasn’t something to get close to. Its short stubby arms might just save her, she thought, as she stared, terrified, at the reptile. At that moment, it leaped over the ship, shortening the distance between herself and it.
Laila tried not to scream as she fled toward the nearby trees, and began to climb one. The shape of the huge trees gave little hand and footholds around the thick trunk, and she ascended quickly. As the enormous reptile reached her, it snapped impotently at her feet, grazing one of her sparkly star sneakers. She climbed a bit higher and clung to the tree for dear life, hoping against hope that the reptile couldn’t climb trees with its tiny arms. She screamed as it sprang off the ground toward her again, and she climbed even higher. The tree trunk was much thinner up here, and less stable, swaying to and fro as the angry reptile below ran at the tree and head-butted it. Laila watched as it backed up then ran at the tree again and head-butted it once more. The first time might have been an accident, but now she was sure that the reptile wanted to knock the tree down and eat her. When it hit the tree with its head a third time, the top of the tree swayed so much that Laila lost her footing and screamed uncontrollably, clinging onto the trunk with her hands until she could gain a purchase again.
Why had she disobeyed Basil and Flin? She felt so angry at herself, that she was about to get eaten by
a predatory reptile because she’d been so stupid. This planet wasn’t safe. Why had she been trying to prove to herself that she was brave? Brave people didn’t survive in a world like this.
She took a deep breath as a strange calm washed over her. It was a feeling she’d had once before, when she’d thought Gar-Kon was going to kill her, when he’d caused the red scar on her neck. Now, time seemed to slow down, as she reached above her for one of the spiky fruits that grew on the tree. She dropped it on the reptile’s head and startled it, making it stop attacking her tree while it stared at her.
Feeling like this was all happening to someone else, she picked another prickly fruit and threw it down, clinging to the indentations on the trunk with her other hand.
She lost track of how long she was at the top of the tree, but eventually, she ran out of fruit to throw.
The reptile resumed head-butting the tree, and Laila knew her number was up. If she jumped from this height, she’d just make herself an easier target for the reptile. Nobody knew where she was, and they would never know what happened to her. Staring her own death in the eyes, she was surprised that she didn’t feel upset. She definitely didn’t want to die, but there wasn’t anything she could do about it, so she conceded that this was all that could happen. It was inevitable, she thought, but the last couple of months had been more than worth it.
As the tree began to tilt to one side, Laila hoped with all her might that Flin and Basil would just leave and move on. They didn’t need to spend more time on this dangerous planet looking for her. This was clearly the price she was going to pay for falling in love with two men and trying to be happy. Laila knew nothing good ever happened to her without something monumentally bad happening afterwards.
As the tree began to fall under her, she took a deep breath, then she let go, resigned to her fate, and slid down the now-diagonal tree trunk as if it were a giant slide. The reptile opened its huge mouth. Before she reached the bottom, she saw the reptile turn and flee. She tumbled when her foot caught in one of the holes in the trunk, and she landed on the ground on her knees. Looking up, she saw Basil staring down at her. He looked furious.
“Follow. Now,” he said. Laila hurried to her feet and followed him as he marched back to the ship. Inside, he went straight to the cockpit.
“Sit.” He pointed at the copilot’s chair. Laila obeyed immediately. She knew she was in the most trouble anyone could possibly be in. Most of all, while she was fearful of what Basil might do, she couldn’t get over how lucky her escape had been. For now, she was alive, in the face of impossible circumstance, and she wanted nothing more than to giggle and cheer and bounce around with joy.
A little giggle escaped, then she realized she was supposed to be serious right now, so she covered her mouth with her hands and looked hesitantly at Basil. He still looked furious.
“You have no idea how much trouble you are in, young lady. That reptilian predator was a young male quorak,” he said, but Laila was feeling brave. That angry reptile was a quorak?
“Look, if you’re going to make my life not worth living, just put me off the ship here and I’ll take my chances with the quoraks; at least it’ll be over quickly,” she said. Where were these words coming from? It was too hard to figure out, so she didn’t try.
Basil said the one thing that could possibly bring Laila crashing down.
“Flin is out there alone right now, distracting that quorak, because you broke your promise and left the ship.”
Laila inhaled sharply, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. Now she saw her behavior for what it really was. Flin was still on the planet surface! How could this be happening? It was all because of her, she thought, but she had never wanted anything bad to happen to either of her men.
“Oh, no! This is all my fault. We have to rescue him! You can’t leave without him, I won’t let you!”
“Shut up. I’m not leaving, I’m finding him. The ship’s faster than that quorak.” Basil said sharply, and Laila had never heard him speak like that before. It hurt her heart that she had caused this. The ship rose into the air and surged forward. Through the main window, Laila soon saw the huge quorak; Flin seemed to have been outrunning it with his superhuman speed, but he was slowing now, probably tired, and the quorak was gaining ground.
“Go and open the cargo ramp, right now,” Basil said. Laila fled to the cargo bay and pushed the button. The floor of the cargo bay descended in a controlled fashion, turning from a flat floor into a diagonal ramp for ease of loading. The ship flew close to the ground and slowed. Laila craned her head from where she stood at the top of the cargo bay’s steps to see if there was any sign of Flin. All of a sudden, he sprinted up the ramp and flung himself on the steps.
“Close it! Close it!” he screamed. She pressed the button again, and the cargo bay’s floor seemed to take forever to raise again. A loud thud rang through the cargo bay as something hit it from the outside, then the sound of metal being torn apart by something strong. Breathlessly, Flin got to his feet and ascended the stairs. Laila stared at him in terror. His clothes were torn and he was cut and bleeding in places, but he held the egg in both hands. It was all her fault, and she was afraid.
“Please, Flin, I’m so sorry, I—” she began, but he just swept past her on his way out of the cargo bay.
Laila sat down on the gantry at the top of the steps and just stared at the floor, lost in thoughts. It all came down to her; she had broken a promise and not only put herself in danger (which she didn’t really care much about), but also Flin and Basil. What had she been thinking when she left the ship? She had only wanted to show herself that she was brave, by seeing the teppalas up close. The teppalas were so sweet, she had no idea that huge reptilian predators were lurking nearby, or that they’d notice her so fast. Her real bravery had been there all along, keeping her going all this time. She hadn’t needed to prove it existed. How had she been so stupid?
Lost in her mental self-flagellation, she didn’t know how long she sat there, but she’d been ruminating over the same things, around and around, trapped in the endless thought carousel, until Flin returned to the cargo bay.
“Please come to the cockpit at once,” he said, then turned and left again. Laila got to her feet and went after him, but his strides were so much larger than hers, and by the time she arrived at the cockpit, the door had closed.
Should she just go in? Her guilt and fear had put her straight back on tenterhooks again, and she was scared of doing anything else wrong, so she made herself knock on the door gently.
“Enter,” Flin’s voice said. Taking a deep breath, she opened the door and went in to face the music.
Flin was sitting in the copilot’s seat while Basil was in his usual spot. Laila stood just inside the door. Wanting to hide her face from the intense gaze of Basil’s lilac eyes and Flin’s pink ones, she began to nervously chew her hair. She steeled herself for getting yelled at.
“Why did you leave the ship, Laila?” Basil asked quietly, and in that moment, Laila began to cry.
“Stop it,” Flin said sharply.
“I can’t help it. I’m so sorry. It’s just… I feel so stupid. I only wanted to see the teppalas up close,” she sobbed. “I really am sorry.”
“You wanted to see teppalas,” Basil stated flatly. He seemed unable to say anything further.
“You put yourself in danger for a very frivolous reason, Laila,” Flin said.
“I know, I’m sorry,” she cried more.
“Basil had promised you that he would take you to the zoo when we got back to Minos Kerala,” Flin observed.
“I know.” The tears just kept tipping over her lower lash line and pouring down her face. “I’m sorry,” she added.
“We are both very angry with you right now, but Basil has more grievance than I. We both risked our lives to save yours, but you made a promise to Basil and you broke it. How do you think he feels?”
“Angry,” Laila said—Flin had just told her they we
re both angry.
“Disappointed, as well,” Basil spoke, and Laila found it was worse than when Flin had spoken for both of them. Basil looked so betrayed, and she knew it was all her fault. She screwed her eyes up as the tears continued to fall.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“What a pointless reason to nearly kill three people,” Flin remarked.
“Since we both put our lives in danger to rescue you, and since you so seriously defied our explicit instructions, including going back on a promise you made, we think it’s only fair if we both punish you separately,” Basil said.
“Your other option is that we will drop you off on the nearest habitable planet and go our separate ways,” Flin said. “Choose carefully. Our punishment will not be light or short, nor will it be pleasant.”
This was clearly going to be bad. What was the worst thing they could do? Laila tried to think. She remembered how, when she was six, she’d been forced to watch when her favorite—and only—toy, a soft brown bear, had been thrown on the fire, because she’d been caught playing when she was supposed to be cleaning the kitchen. She hoped against hope that Basil and Flin wouldn’t do anything like that to her special Mr. Unicorn. If they were going to punish her, they had to punish her, not Mr. Unicorn. Leaving the ship and going to live on a planet, alone, was unthinkable, though, and she knew she had to go through with whatever they thought was a fitting punishment. Laila couldn’t stand the idea of losing the relationship she had formed with these two wonderful men. How had she jeopardized it so freely?
“I want to stay. I probably have no right to ask anything of either of you right now, and if you want to leave me somewhere, I will understand, but more than anything in the universe, I want to stay with you both. Please. Do whatever you have to, but please don’t make me leave—or Mr. Unicorn,” Laila said, still crying.
Her Daddy and Her Master Page 21
