by Joe Vasicek
She took a breath without the mask and found that the air in the cave didn’t burn her at all. In fact, it was almost soothing.
“I think so,” she said, coughing some more. She reached for the mask, but Isaac kept it from her.
“We need to conserve as much as we can,” he explained. “The atmosphere on this planet has enough oxygen to be breathable, but that sulfurous haze is dangerously thick. Without oxygen, we can’t go out.”
“How long have you been here?” she asked.
“I landed only seconds after you.”
She rolled onto her side and coughed until her lungs felt clear and the burning stopped. Isaac rubbed her back, helping her to recover her strength.
“What is this place?”
“I don’t know,” he answered. “And unfortunately, we don’t have much in the way of supplies. All I could grab was a medkit, a couple of meal bars, a glowlamp, and the oxygen mask.”
He activated the glowlamp, giving them just enough light to see by. Only then did Reva see that his feet were cut and bleeding, no doubt from the rocky canyon floor.
“Stars,” she said. “Are you all right?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said, wincing a little as he lifted his foot. “There’s some fast-acting healant in the medkit that should work.”
“Here, let me get it for you.”
She opened the box and pulled out a tube of the stuff. After squeezing a generous helping into the palm of her left hand, she applied it liberally to both of his feet. He clenched his teeth and winced, but his face soon relaxed as the healant did its work.
In the moment of relative calm as she tended to his wounds, she had the oddest sensation. Nothing around her really changed at all, but she suddenly felt alive with the realization of her own consciousness. It was as if her whole life up until that moment had been a dream, and she’d suddenly woken from it. An awareness of her surroundings filled her: the smooth, muddy earth; the cool, wet air; the stalactites and stalagmites casting shadows just beyond her field of vision; and Isaac sitting wounded and naked in front of her.
“How does that feel?” she asked.
“Better.”
He carefully crossed his legs and folded his arms over his lap. From the blush in his cheeks, it was clear that he was embarrassed to be naked.
Wait a minute, she thought to herself. Why am I the only one wearing clothes? The collar around her neck began to feel suffocating, her sweat-stained uniform heavy and oppressive. She couldn’t bear wearing them for a moment longer.
“Uh… Reva?”
Her fingers flew across the buttons of her uniform, nearly ripping them out in her haste to undo them. She pulled the blouse over her head and threw it on the ground.
“What are you doing, Reva?”
“Damned clothes,” she muttered. “If you’re not wearing any, then why should I?”
“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. The cold—”
“To hell with it.”
She stood up and dropped her pants, nearly tripping over them as they caught on her boots. Swearing again, she bent over and unclasped them, pulling her feet free. With all of her clothes gone, she lifted her arms and arched her back in a glorious stretch.
After the harrowing events of the last few minutes, it felt tremendously liberating to be back in the nude. The tension and stress began to ease out of her, and in spite of the futility of their situation, she felt more relaxed than she had in a long time.
Strangely, Isaac seemed even more tense than before.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” he said quickly. “Let’s go.”
Reva frowned. “But what about your feet? Don’t you need to—”
“I’ll be fine.”
He stood up and gathered their supplies, walking some distance before waiting for her to catch up.
“Where are we going?” she asked as she hurried after him.
“Who knows? Down, I guess.”
Her gut clenched as she realized that there was nowhere else left for them to go. The outrider was gone, and they were stranded alone on this desolate alien world. Their only hope for rescue was the pirates, but it was far more likely that they would just leave the two of them to die. They had some supplies, but not enough to last more than a few days.
There was a very real chance that this cave would be their tomb.
* * * * *
Isaac’s cheeks burned as he walked hurriedly down the tunnel of the cave. His feet still hurt, but the cuts were mostly shallow and the healant had sealed them up quite well. Besides, the floor was mostly mud and clay, much easier on his feet than the sharp rocks of the canyon outside.
“Hey,” Reva called after him. “Wait up!”
He slowed his pace somewhat but kept moving. Up ahead, the tunnel narrowed.
“I said, wait!”
There was a sharpness in her voice that made him stop in spite of himself. They were far enough from the entrance now that the glowlamp was the only significant light source.
“What’s the matter, Isaac?” Reva asked as she caught up. “Tell me.”
“It’s nothing,” he muttered.
“That’s not true. Why are you acting so strange? We need to stay together.”
He said nothing.
“Isaac? Look at me, Isaac.”
That was exactly the thing that he didn’t want to do. It was bad enough that he was naked, but the two of them? He—
“Isaac!”
He took a deep breath and turned to face her, carefully averting his eyes. Of course, she made no move to cover herself, which made it all the more awkward.
“What?” he asked.
“Are you all right? What’s the matter?”
“It’s nothing,” he repeated. “Now can we keep moving?”
“Is it this?” she asked, motioning to her naked breasts. “Is that what’s bothering you?”
“We should keep moving,” he muttered, turning to stare at the cave wall.
“What’s the matter with you people?” she asked, her voice rising. “The least bit of skin, and everyone gets all weird. Is there really that much body shame in your culture? Or are you all just pervy?”
His hands began to shake as he remembered their meeting in the maintenance closet where he had nearly forced himself on her. He didn’t answer her, but instead picked up the supplies and kept moving.
“Oh, so now you’re going to turn your back on me? That’s just great. I only saved your life.”
“You call this saving my life? We’re going to die here, you know.”
“No thanks to you. What kind of an escape was that?”
He clenched his fists. “It was the best I could do, given the circumstances.”
“Yeah, well, if you had just laid low and not gotten caught, Gulchina would have named me her successor, and I could have freed you.”
“Sorry to ruin your ambitions!”
He stormed off deeper into the cavern, away from the entrance, which was now little more than a distant light. After rounding a corner and ducking beneath a large overhang, it was no longer in view at all.
“Wait up,” Reva called after him. “You’re leaving me in the dark.”
Isaac said nothing, but slowed enough that she could catch up. They walked in uneasy silence for some time, passing through one small cavern to the next.
“I’m sorry,” she said at length. “I shouldn’t have lashed out at you like that. I was just angry, and scared, and frustrated. Aren’t you?”
Isaac sighed. “Whatever.”
“Is there anything I can do to make it better? I didn’t mean to—”
“I honestly don’t care anymore.”
They pressed on, passing stalactites and stalagmites dripping in the cool cave air. It wasn’t quite chilly enough to make him shiver, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the cold got to them before the hunger did. Moving seemed to help, so he pressed on, passing from one small cavern to the next.
“Is that running
water?” she asked.
“Where?”
She pointed down a shallow slope, past some round-tipped rock formations and a series of circular pools.
“There.”
He handed her the glowlamp and stepped carefully, minding his tender feet. She held it aloft and followed close behind him, reaching out to help him through the more difficult parts.
They soon came to a small underground river. Even though it was only knee-deep, it flowed at a good rate from a hole in the far end of the cavern.
“Do you suppose it’s drinkable?” Reva asked, kneeling on the bank.
“I don’t know,” said Isaac. “I—Reva!”
Before he could stop her, she got on her knees and lifted some of the water to her mouth. He watched her uneasily, half-expecting her to keel over from something poisonous. Instead, she reached down eagerly and scooped up another.
“It’s clean,” she said. “Thirsty?”
Isaac had to admit that he could use a good drink. Even if it did kill him, that was a better way to go than freezing or starving to death. He knelt beside her and drank a handful. It tasted slightly bitter, but was otherwise just fine.
“Hang on,” she said, stepping into the water.
After walking downstream of him, she began to wash herself, dousing her hair to use it as a scrub. Though Isaac tried to avert his eyes, he couldn’t help but watch. It didn’t seem to bother her, though. In fact, she didn’t seem to mind him watching her at all. Was that because she trusted him? Or did she honestly have no concept of voyeurism?
“The water’s great,” she said. “You sure you don’t want to take a dip?”
“No, thanks,” he muttered, looking away quickly.
“Suit yourself.”
When she came out, her arms were folded across her chest. At first he thought it was because she didn’t want him to stare, but then he realized that she was shivering.
“So c-c-cold,” she stammered as she sat down next to him. “Can you help?”
He frowned. “Help how?”
“Here—rub my back while I rub my arms. Help me get warm.”
Isaac’s heart leaped in his throat. He opened his mouth to object, but stopped when he realized just dangerous it would be for her if she didn’t get warm again. The cave air got cooler the deeper they went, and hypothermia was a very real danger.
Without a word, he crawled behind her and did as she asked. As he rubbed her back, she rolled her henna-tattooed shoulders, running her arms back and forth across her chest.
“Mmm,” she moaned as she stopped shivering. “Thanks.”
He felt a sudden urge to kiss her. His arms locked up, and he took a deep breath to suppress it.
“Better?” he asked, cold sweat forming on the back of his neck.
“Much better.”
He stopped and pulled back. “We need to be more careful next time. If we don’t, the cold is going to kill us.”
“It’s worth it, though. It feels so good to be clean.”
He rose to his feet before the urge came over him again.
“Let’s keep moving.”
They followed the river beneath another overhang and into a cavern larger than any they’d yet seen. The ceiling rose almost twenty meters above them, the stalactites giving the appearance of a great cathedral. On the far side, a formation like a magnificent stone waterfall ran down from the ceiling, shimmering as if it were made of gold. Stalagmites rose from the muddy stone floor like spikes, while other strange formations took shape in the many eddies formed by the dripping water.
“It’s beautiful,” Reva said softly.
The river flowed down to a series of pools, many of which were steaming. The air in the cavern smelled slightly sulfurous, though not so much as to be unbreathable.
“Are those hot springs?” Isaac asked.
Reva peered forward, and her eyes slowly widened. “Not just springs. It looks like there’s something growing in them!”
She hurried forward, Isaac close behind. Together, they climbed around the rock formations to the steaming pools. As they drew closer, the air became noticeably warmer.
“It is!” she said excitedly, pointing to the wall. “See? Lichen!”
Isaac scraped off some of it with his fingernail. It was surprisingly soft, and came away easily.
“If there’s life down here,” Reva said, “then maybe we can find some way to survive.”
“Are you kidding?” said Isaac, frowning at her. “What are we supposed to eat? Lichen?”
“It’s better than starving to death. And if we manage to survive long enough, maybe we can figure out how to get off this planet.”
I doubt it, Isaac thought silently. Still, there was a chance she was right.
He turned his attention to the hot springs. The largest pools were just shallow enough to sit down in and have the water come just above his lap. He knelt down beside one and tested the water. It was comfortably warm.
“Looks like we found a way to keep from freezing to death,” said Reva. She eased herself into the pool across from him. “Aren’t you going to come in?”
“Uh, sure,” said Isaac. He lowered himself into the pool, the water rising midway up his chest. It felt surprisingly good.
He glanced at Reva, who sat with her arms spread out across the back of the ridge. The pool was a little shallower on her end, so that her breasts were completely exposed. They were larger and rounder than he remembered. If anything, the henna only accentuated her curves.
“You all right?” she asked, giving him a puzzled look.
“Yeah,” said Isaac, feeling an erection coming on. Thank goodness the water was deep enough to hide that.
Reva sighed. “If only Gulchina hadn’t left Wolf in charge the way she did. I can’t tell whether she didn’t know he was a threat or she did and left him in charge anyway as another test.”
“Wait, Gulchina isn’t on the Temujin?”
“No. She left in an outrider to rendezvous with the rest of the fleet. Something about a ship called the Starfire.”
Isaac frowned. “The Gaian Imperial flagship?”
“I don’t know. But she wants to use this planet as a base for expansion into the Outer Reaches, as well as a staging area for raids on the Outworlds.”
“What planet is this? Where are we?”
“A system they call ‘Star’s End,’” Reva answered him. “I don’t think it’s on any of the charts. Gulchina said it lay beyond the farthest Outworld colony.”
Isaac’s stomach fell. “Beyond the Outworlds?”
“Yeah. But don’t worry,” Reva assured him. “If we can hold out until Gulchina comes back, we can activate the distress beacon and let her know we’re still alive. I don’t think she’ll leave us here to die like the others would.”
“Are you sure she won’t rescue us just to have us tortured and executed? She’s not exactly merciful, you know.”
“I know, but it’s still our best chance. If we can…”
Her voice trailed off. Isaac frowned.
“If we can what?”
“Hold on,” she said, peering past him. “I thought I saw something.”
Isaac turned and looked in the direction she was staring. The sharply pointed stalagmites stretched out past the edge of the light like giant teeth, casting long, ominous shadows in all directions.
“What did you see?”
“I don’t know. Some kind of movement. Here, turn off the glowlamp.”
“What?”
“Turn it off, just for a minute or two. Maybe it will come back.”
The last thing Isaac wanted to do was turn off the light in the middle of an alien cave. Still, he did as Reva asked.
At first, he could see nothing but darkness. The quiet hissing of the steam in the hot springs mingled with the gurgling of the small cave river. As he listened more intently, however, he could hear the stalactites dripping as well. All these noises reverberated off the unseen cavern walls, as if they
were in an alien temple.
Then he saw it: a dim blue light, like a distant nebula in a starless sky. He blinked and rubbed his eyes.
“Do you see it?” Reva whispered.
“Yeah. What is it?”
“I don’t know.”
As his eyes slowly adjusted, he saw another one, and another. They seemed to be clustered along the floor, where the lichen was thickest. As he watched, one of them moved from one cluster to another.
“It’s moving,” he said, chills running down his spine. “We shouldn’t—”
“Shh!”
He turned and saw a cluster of lights not an arm’s breadth away from him. They glowed brightly enough that he could make out Reva’s silhouette by the light. Both of them sat as still as statues, hardly daring to breathe.
More lights appeared, gliding slowly to the edge of the pool. Some of them pulsated, while others waned and faded. As more of them came close, however, their collective light grew increasingly bright.
“It’s so beautiful,” Reva said softly. She reached out to touch the nearest light with her hand.
“Reva, no!”
He was too late. Half the alien lights scattered at his shout, but the one that Reva had touched ran onto her hand and darted into her chest. She gasped and fell back.
“Reva!”
Her eyes were closed, and her body had gone limp. Isaac held onto her to prevent her from drowning in the shallow pool. The eerie blue light in the cavern gave her tattoos a strange appearance, as if they were all that was left of her.
The lights were gathering again, this time around him. He shouted and tried to splash them away, but there was nowhere to go—he was surrounded. He tried to stand up, but one caught him in the ankle. A cold, electric chill shot up his leg, making for his heart. He collapsed on the bank and promptly passed out.
Reva’s eyes opened, and her heart fluttered as if she’d woken up from a long sleep. She groaned and sat up, only to find Isaac lying on his stomach by the side of the pool. The lights were beginning to disperse, so she fumbled for the glowlamp and turned it on.
“Isaac? Are you all right?”
Isaac groaned and rolled over. He opened his eyes and saw Reva leaning over him, while at the same time seeing himself lying in the mud. His arms stiffened, and he slipped back into the pool.
