by Elin Wyn
No. No. That wasn’t going to happen.
My breath was coming fast. I was nearly hyperventilating.
I had to hurry. I had to hurt the Xathi. I had to get to Leena.
I was in a hallway, Tu’ver’s beacon pulling me forward. I wanted my hammer, I wanted Leena, but the hall was too small for my hammer to be used effectively, and Leena was five levels above me.
A hunter came out of an aperture to my left. I punched it in the face, grabbed it, turned it around, and shot it in its sweet spot on the back of the neck, killing it quickly. I tossed a grenade down the aperture and walked away, the explosion behind me barely making me stumble.
I could hear Vrehx and Karzin yelling out orders and calling out to me, but I kept going. I was going slow, at least by my standards.
I was being careful. There were more dead Xathi than wounds on me, so that meant careful.
“Axtin!”
I ignored Vrehx and kept going. Two more Xathi came down the passageway; I opened fire on both. One dropped quickly, the other ducked back into another passageway.
They were getting smarter. They weren’t relying on brute force and numbers anymore.
I continued and came up to the intersection within a few seconds. I peeked around the corner and nearly lost my head as one of the Xathi’s claws brushed against my scalp.
I felt a sticky wetness down the back of my head and neck and cursed myself for being stupid. I ducked down low and brought my blaster around, firing away. The clip emptied as the Xathi fell on me.
I couldn’t breathe. I had no leverage; my arm was pinned awkwardly. I tried to push, but I got no movement.
Tilting my head up to look down the hall, I could see two hunters coming my way. Then the brothers stepped into view, firing at the hunters and killing them. Dax and Sakev pulled the Xathi off me, and Vrehx pulled me to my feet.
“You done acting like an impulsive fool?”
With a shrug, I said, “Probably not.”
He rolled his eyes and grinned. “At least you’re being honest with me. No more rushing ahead. You’re no good to Leena dead, got that?”
I nodded. He was right. If I was dead, Leena would be alone, and I wasn’t going to leave her alone.
I cared about her too much to leave her alone. “Fine, but we can’t go slow. The slower we go, the more chance she and Tu’ver die.”
“Agreed,” he said. “But we can’t be careless, either. Understand?”
“Understood,” I said with sincerity.
“Good. Brothers, lead the way. Dax, Sakev, bring up the rear. Axtin, reload and let’s go.”
I reloaded my blasters as we went ahead.
It was time to go save my beloved.
23
Leena
One by one, the Xathi left to investigate the noise. Though I had every reason to believe it was Axtin and the others here to rescue us, I couldn’t make myself hope that I’d see him again.
“Do you know where they are?” I asked Tu’ver.
“I could see them on my nav unit right up until they boarded the ship.” He shrugged.
“How come you were able to send a signal and I wasn’t?” Vidia asked, looking at her own completely unresponsive nav unit.
“These markings aren’t just decoration,” Tu’ver said, gesturing to the intricate pattern of circuits fused into his skin suit. “My augmentations are more resistant to whatever the Xathi are using to scramble our tech. This,” he tapped at the baton, “takes its charge from my own bio-electricity. Not as powerful as a full-sized blaster, but it gets the job done.”
“I see,” Vidia said, peering closer at Tu’ver’s implants. “When we survive this, you’ll have to tell me more. It’s fascinating.”
“Gladly.” Tu’ver nodded.
Vidia turned to me. “Let’s work on getting everyone organized so we can make a run for it,” she said.
“What?” I blurted. The idea was absurd, and no one here was in any sort of shape to run through a Xathi ship. “Axtin and the others know where we are. If we move, we could lose them completely.”
“It’s too risky to assume they’ll live long enough to make it to this room,” Vidia argued. “Besides, your friend here said their nav points aren’t going to work inside the ship. They have an idea where we are, at best.”
The thought of Axtin never making it to us, the thought of him dying horribly somewhere on this ship while trying to rescue me, was unbearable.
“Okay.” I nodded. I wasn’t comfortable with this plan by any means, but it looked like it was the best option in a terrible situation.
“I’ll go check the nearby corridors to make sure there are no surprises,” Tu’ver volunteered.
“Everyone!” Vidia shouted.
The survivors’ heads snapped to attention. There were so few of us now. Our numbers were less than half of what they were when we were herded into this torture chamber.
“We’re going to make a run for it. Grab anything that can be used as a weapon. Arm yourselves. If we’re going down, we’re going down fighting. I refuse to die like an animal in a holding pen!”
Her brief speech inspired the weary survivors. Immediately, they set to work, picking apart the sparse room for anything that could be used for defense.
Very little came to hand.
Tu’ver eased out the doorway, then waved for us to follow. I picked up Calixta, careful of her cuts. “We’re going to try to get out of here, but I need you to be quiet, okay?”
She wrapped her thin arms around my neck and clung tightly, silently nodding her agreement.
“Good girl,” I said, giving her a squeeze.
“Leena!” Vidia called my name, waiting by the doorway with a group of survivors. “ I want you and Tu’ver at the front. You’re going to lead us through the ship.”
“What?” I sputtered.
“The two of you know more about Xathi ships than we do,” Vidia reasoned.
“Not by much!” I exclaimed.
“It’s our best option,” Vidia said with a shrug. “I’m going to be the last one out. I’ll cover our tail and help anyone who’s falling behind.”
She quickly moved through the crowd, repeating her plan to each of the survivors and telling them where they should be in the group.
“Any advice?” I asked Tu’ver. I appreciated his steady mannerism, especially since I felt so frayed. I was glad he had been there for Mariella.
“The far wall of this room is curved, suggesting that we are against the hull,” Tu’ver said thoughtfully. “However, Xathi ships don’t follow any sort of traditional ship blueprint, so I can’t say for certain.”
“So we’re flying blind,” I surmised.
“Essentially.” Tu’ver nodded. “Based on the construction of more traditional ships, I would suggest going to the right.”
“Right it is then.” I sighed.
I gave a silent signal to those who had fallen in behind us. Vidia had divided the stronger, healthier survivors into two groups, one in the front with us, the rest guarding the rear with her. The injured held each other up, limping in the middle.
No one spoke as we dashed through the labyrinth of corridors. I turned without thinking. If I thought about which way to go too much, I would end up frozen with indecision.
These people, for whatever reason, believed I was their best chance of getting out of here alive. I just had to keep hoping I would run into Axtin and the others. He would be waiting for me around the next turn, or the one after that.
He was here somewhere. I would find him. Or he would find me.
I realized I was mouthing his name with every step I took. We reached another divide. I dove left, so sure that Axtin was going to be around the bend.
But we were wrong.
At the end of the hallway, shrieking and thrashing with rage as they scuttled toward us, was a Xathi sub-queen and her soldiers, energy whips crackling in the air. Beside me, Tu’ver drew his blaster, ready to fight. Those who we
re behind us lifted their weapons, but I could sense the hesitation in their bodies.
In front of a swarm of massive crystalized bug creatures, a handful of weakened humans with a few makeshift weapons looked like children in a play fight.
The Xathi sub-queen drew up to her full height. She appeared to be intently focused on me. In a way I couldn’t possibly explain, I felt the sheer spite in her gaze.
She knew I was the one who helped Vidia and the others escape. One of the Xathi Axtin killed must’ve seen me before it died.
My mind spun, cycling and circling, assembling data and options until only one thing stood clear.
“Take her!” I shoved Calixta into Tu’ver’s arms and grabbed for his weapon. “Get the others out of here.”
“This is insane!” Tu’ver protested as Calixta wriggled against him, trying to get back to me. “I’m not leaving you here.”
“You have to,” I said, my voice surprisingly level. “You have to tell Mariella what happened. You need to be there for her.” When I no longer am, I added silently. Tu’ver opened his mouth to protest again, but I cut him off.
“The more you stand there and argue, the more likely you won’t leave this ship at all,” I said desperately. “You can’t tell me you don’t have more surprises hidden in all of that,” I waved at his circuitry. “They need you more than me.”
But it was too late. The Xathi sub-queen and her soldiers were upon us.
I fired Tu’ver’s weapon wildly, striking one of the soldiers in the leg. Its crystalized exoskeleton chipped and cracked a little bit, but I didn’t do any real damage.
The sub-queen reared up and used her front legs to shove me to the ground. My head collided with the metal floor hard enough to make me see stars.
I could barely see anything, there was a deafening ringing in my ears. I could only hope that Tu’ver had taken the chance to run.
I did my best, I thought as the spear-like tip of the sub-queen’s leg pieced my arm. I closed my eyes. I didn’t want the last thing I saw to be her face.
I thought of Mariella, Calixta, and Axtin. Maybe my death would bring them together into a strange but good surrogate family. Yeah, that would be good for Calixta.
I believed she would like Mariella. Mariella was always good with children. She’d probably be afraid of Axtin at first, but as soon as she saw his gentle side, I think she’d adore him.
They would be okay.
I released a final breath. I was at peace with this.
Above me, I heard a terrible crack, loud enough to cancel out the ringing in my ears. I opened my eyes. The sub-queen’s head was split down the middle by a perfectly aimed blaster shot.
24
Axtin
The beacon kept moving.
“Srell. Where the blazes is Tu’ver taking them?”
“He might not have had a choice, Vrehx. We need to split up,” Karzin suggested.
“No,” Vrehx commanded. “If we run into a horde of soldiers, we’ll need all the firepower.”
“You make a good point,” he acquiesced. “Which direction then?”
We were standing at an intersection about thirty yards from where we came up. This floor was much more manufactured than the ones below, looking very much like an actual starship than a cave system like the first floor.
Behind us was the elevator. Then to our left, right, and in front were three passageways that all looked the same. The only thing that gave us any kind of hint on where to go was the beacon, which was moving more on the right than on the left.
“Look, the beacon’s somewhere in that direction,” I said as I pointed roughly between the right and forward hall. “Let’s just pick one and go. The longer we sit here, the worse things get.”
“But which passageway?” Vrehx asked aloud.
He had a point. Which one? If we picked the wrong one, it would waste so much time that we couldn’t afford.
But if we sat here thinking about it all day, that would be just as bad of a waste. My mind started imagining what they were doing to Leena, or had already done to Leena, and my heart was pounding so hard it started to hurt.
My breathing was hard, my head hurt, my wounds hurt, my wrist was killing me, and all of it made me want to save her even more.
I looked at the beacon. I tried to do a quick calculation in my head, then I took off down the front corridor. I didn’t bother waiting for the others; I just went.
There was just something in my mind, screaming at me to hurry. The others called after me and started to follow, but for some reason, they weren’t able to catch up to me.
Every intersection that I came across, I just somehow knew which direction to take. Something was pulling me. It kept telling me where to go, and I just went.
I heard gunfire and yelling behind me. I looked back and saw the others fighting some Xathi. I knew I should turn back to help, but the pull had become impossible to resist.
I couldn’t turn back. I had to keep moving on.
A green Xathi, a farmer, jumped out at me, chittering at what seemed like a million miles an hour. Then it snapped at me, pushing me back. I pulled out my blaster and shot it.
It fell like a rock, its armor not nearly as thick as a hunter’s or soldier’s. Another farmer jumped out at me, trying to grab me. I shot it, too.
Six more farmers attacked, six more farmers dropped. Without the suits to augment their strength, they were no match for us.
The Xathi that came out of the corridors behind me were cut down quickly by the others. More workers and farmers, their shells much thinner than those of the soldiers. The farmers dropped easily, the workers nearly so.
It should’ve been a concern in my mind. It should’ve been something that worried me, but I kept going.
I was still being pulled, and my only hope was that it was toward Leena. The beacon was getting closer, so I didn’t doubt the sensation.
The corridors twisted and turned, until whatever pulled me to Leena thrummed in my head.
Finally, there were screams.
Human screams.
A sub-queen reared above Leena, deflecting the steady stream of shots Tu’ver fired into her iridescent carapace.
The pull vanished, replaced by rage.
My blaster wasn’t one of Tu’ver’s easily hideable toys. Charging through the crowd of humans scrambling past us in the corridor, I fired.
And the the sub-queen’s head split down the middle.
The Xathi soldiers went into a frenzy.
And the room erupted in chaos and blood.
25
Leena
I sat on a fallen tree long since hollowed out and gently traced my fingers over the moss that covered it. The bioluminescent plant seemed to react to my presence. It glowed brighter at my touch.
All around me, the forest was alight. Plants glowed in the falling dusk. Dim light still fought its way through the canopy overhead, but even as I watched, it started to fade.
Part of me recognized this place. A small voice insisted that I crawl into the log and hide from the creatures that lived in the darkness. But I knew, deep in my heart, that it was wrong.
Because this wasn’t Ankau. This wasn’t a planet crawling with monsters.
There were no carnivorous vines here and no gigantic spiders. Those things were bedtime stories—myths designed to keep children from going too far astray.
This forest had no monsters. This planet had no monsters. I was safe here and always had been.
“I told you it was beautiful.”
I turned to the voice, smiling as Axtin stepped into view.
“You’re right,” I said. “It was worth the trip.”
He sat beside me, stilling my hand as he took it in one of his.
“What was that?” he asked, smiling mischievously, “Srell, Leena, are you saying I was… right?”
I laughed, swatting playfully at his shoulder. “Okay, okay, don’t get used to it.”
“Oh, believe me, I won’
t.”
The comment earned him another swat, but I smiled even wider. “You shouldn’t let them go too far.” I turned back to the forest.
“Ah, you worry too much. They’re just having fun.”
“Still…”
“They know not to wander, Leena. Besides, this gives us a minute alone. When was the last time we had that?”
I tapped my chin, looking up to the side in dramatic thought.
“Hmm, that would be… well, never,” I said teasingly.
He chuckled, pulling me closer to plant a kiss on my neck. Even that had sparks flooding through me. Even after all this time, I was nothing but putty in his hands.
“You see my point then?” he asked, nuzzling against me with a groan.
“I’m starting to.”
Just then, the sound of laughter reached my ears, quickly followed by the rustling of leaves.
“Momma!”
I laughed, perfect timing as usual.
They tore into the clearing, both of them beaming in delight. Their clothes were mussed, and their faces were smudged with dirt.
“Guess what we found!” Zyta demanded, turning to smile at her giggling brother.
“What did you find?” Axtin asked, leaning over in genuine curiosity.
“Show them!” Zyta insisted, nudging her brother forward.
He crossed to us, palms cupped before him and a smile pulling at his lips.
“Look!” He opened his hands the barest inch, gazing down at his discovery in pure wonder. “It’s a firebug!”
I leaned in to look, noting the blue glow emitting from his hands.
Sure enough, there it was. The little creature crawled frantically along his palms, its light shining brighter than I would have thought possible, like a small ember in a forest of living flame.
“It’s amazing,” I said, genuinely meaning it.
“I know,” Zyta said, “and there’s more! They’re all over the place!”
Axtin turned to me, looking every bit as excited as the children. “Care to go for a walk?”
