by Lesa Corryn
“Uh, we need to leave,” I said, somehow finding words. Is Teshe the father? It can't be. I just couldn't fathom any human being wanting to be close to that man. But there she was by the water's edge, her eyes staring into the distance while my eyes watched her.
“Why do we need to leave so soon?” asked Allouette.
“Blood trail is strong and those creatures will come for us,” I said. “But how far along is she? The crash, the baby could be...”
“Haven't you paid attention? She doesn't give a damn about the child. She got her use from it.” She moved into the tent, Flik following behind her. His steps brisk and his arms ready to bundle up the supplies.
“Got her use?” I wondered out loud, making my way over to Gin, who had now taken a seat by the river.
“When do you think the creatures will get here? How much time do we have?” said Allouette. Somehow despite her physical condition, she emerged with two survival kits packed and ready. Flik soon followed with the others.
“I don't know. Someone scared them off with beam shots,” I said. I glanced down at Gin, whose eyes searched the tree line for something other than Flik's monsters. “Seriously, what are we going to do with her? The pack rations and the blood loss can't be good for a baby.” I paused and looked down at her. Not sure I should say what was on my mind, but now was not the time to be tactful, not when lives were on the line. “If she were to miscarry, she might not care that the baby is lost, but her life would be at risk.” Gin's eyes tensed, but she said nothing.
Allouette emerged from the tent and dropped her arm's load. Finally, we'll get somewhere, I thought.
“Beam shots?” she asked. My face dropped, it seemed the Lieutenant had selective hearing.
“Yes, someone fired at them. For pity's sake, can we talk about this girl for a moment.” My voice rose and my arm tensed. How could she be so cold?
“Fine, Thurman, normally I wouldn't discuss such things with a spy.” I cringed, it felt as if a wound just ripped open and stung in the crisp air. “But, you are my only source of information right now, and in my condition it is more costly for me to find it out for myself than to just appease you.” How thoughtful, I thought. “I grant you, her miscarrying is a concern. A disgrace or not, I can't leave a soldier dying on the field.” No, that was more thoughtful, I mused. “Plus, if my leg isn't treated soon, I'm liable to become extra baggage to our survival group as well. We need to find the Hera. My guess is they were able to make it through the field, but would also have to planet here.”
“How do you plan on finding the ship?” I asked.
“We have a nav tech,” she said simply. Flik had until that time been working on dismantling and packing the tent. At her words, he stopped and gazed between us with wide eyes.
“I know stars, not unknown planets.”
“But you have a sense of direction. Use your primate ancestry and crawl up a tree and figure the best place for them to land.”
“But we not know how big planet is. Hera could be anywhere,” Flik whimpered.
“Then we better get started,” growled Allouette.
“Hey, I get that you're pissed at me because you think I'm a spy,” I said stepping towards her, “which I'm not by the way. But Flik is a good and up standing soldier. And you are asking the impossible so back off.” How could I have ever idolized her?
I drew close, my eyes not leaving hers. I felt my glare lost a little of its effect behind the large wave goggles, but her face didn't laugh at my effort, instead she stared right back.
“As I was saying, we need to find Hera and soon. Now with your news perhaps the concept isn't as ridiculous as it could have been. Others of us are out there, maybe even a med tech.” Those last few words were said differently. Usually Allouette's words, laced into one another, like one long thread, but those she punctuated hard. Gin clearly felt their effect. Behind me the grass rustled. I turned to find Gin back up from the wet shore line.
Teshe. Teshe was a med tech. I wondered if Allouette knew the weight her words had on me too.
“If we can find others,” Allouette continued, “we'll have better luck in finding the Hera.”
“And maybe we'll find Maxwell,” said Gin, her voice just behind my ear.
“Maxwell?” I mumbled.
“Corporal Maxwell Teshe,” growled Allouette. “I believe you are familiar with the name, Thurman.” She gave me a sideways glance before turning her attention to Gin. “Don't get me wrong Gin. We are looking for any med tech. If we happen to find your dearly beloved, all the better for that baby.”
“I know, Lieutenant,” she said. She pushed past me and helped Flik finish packing the tent. Allouette continued to stare at me. I thought I saw a slight smirk on her face, but it changed ever so slowly, almost unnoticeably. But, I think she sympathized with me, just a little.
“Yes, Corporal Meikr told me of your relationship with Teshe. Just about as problematic as that foolish girl's.”
“He's...”
“He fathered a child so that Gin's appeal to the recruiting board would have weight. She so desperately wanted him to be on the Hera with her. If her little scheme hadn't resulted in that poor child, he'd still be back at Academy. That's the way it would be if I had my way. Not after all the lives he lost.” The ghostly figures behind the fogged glass, floating from bed to bed, six months ago. The bloody result of the L-47 incident. Teshe was there. And he called me a murderer. I had no words to offer Allouette. However she didn't need them. She just looked over her shoulder as the others gathered our meager survival kits. She stared past them, over their hunched bodies and into the thick forest of gnarled trees. “Bet he wishes he didn't now,” she laughed.
Chapter 9
Branches
The shade of the towering evergreens offered a much needed shelter from the violet sun. Flik, of course, didn't feel a thing, in fact he was more lively than usual. His steps light and long, even with carrying half the weight of the tent. I carried the other half since both of the women were not in a state to do heavy lifting. Fortunately the tent packed into a two handled duffel. Awkward to carry alone, due to its size. Flik grabbed one end, while I grabbed the other with my good arm. But with each step, I felt my skin growing hotter and my feet fumbling along the forest bed. Gin didn't fare much better. Her pale skin glistened with sweat and her hand routinely sought her abdomen, massaging it, her face grimacing. Allouette soon stopped us at a large tree, whose branches umbrellaed our path ahead.
“How far along is she?” I asked. Gin's chest rose and fell with each labored breath, her nostrils flaring, her face as red as her tunic.
“Seven months, her big frame really hides the belly,” said Allouette. She paced in and out of the shade, looking up to the crown of the tree. Her skin was still part human and could be burned by the violet sun. But her arms had some fur, a tawny brown like her hair, with black circles dotting it here and there, which protected them at least a little. As for her head, her thick mane of hair must have been like a helmet against the sun's rays.
“I just thought she was muscular and had some meat to her,” I commented. I stood near the edge of the shade with Allouette. Gin rested at the base of the tree. Whether she was awake or not, I couldn't tell.
“She is muscular,” snarled Allouette, “probably tried to hide the fact that she carries a child. Barely any fat on her and now the baby suffers for it.” I hadn't thought about that. We have been giving her a double helping of rations, more if we could. But without any real fat, real nutrition for the baby to take in. I shuttered to think of it.
“What is taking him so long?” growled Allouette.
“Why are you so high strung?” Poor choice of words I know, but I couldn't help but think of Flik. Sending him up three trees in one day, just didn't seem right.
“Excuse me?” She stopped her pacing. Stopping just at the shade's edge, her face masked in shadow, but the golden brown hair burned bright in the sun.
Too late I was this
far in, I couldn't stop. I learned that from Sergeant Queba. With women like this, you can't just turn back down. I wondered how Queba is doing, I wondered if she fared any better in this wilderness, I wondered if she even made it to the planet. I shuddered at the thought. No, Queba wouldn’t die that easily. She’d fight off space itself if she could.
“Every time I've ever talked to you, you have been yelling or growling at someone. Doesn't it ever get tiring?”
“You've known me for what, maybe three days? Maybe four. It's hard to keep track at this rate. How can you make a judgment about my character?”
“You knew me for a few seconds and you seemed pretty happy to judge mine.”
“Don't know what you're talking about.” The growl in her voice spoke otherwise.
“Does 'spy' ring a bell?” I asked. I stepped forward, my fists clenched. She didn't even flinch. “Still think I'm one? Think I would give them information that would result in me being stuck here on this violet planet?”
“Spies give their lives for a cause.” Her voice wavered.
“Psh, don't lie, you realize how stupid that is. Spies by nature are tricky bastards. Wouldn't they want to save their own skins?”
“Their employers would come after them if they jumped ship.”
“Perhaps, but my job would have been done anyways.”
“What?”
“Hera was sucking Venutian gas. We were spaced. My job would have been a success.”
“Your point eludes me.” Again the quake in her voice. You're too smart for that, I thought. That's why I respect you, or at least did respect you.
“The only sensible thing for me to do was jump ship and I could've too. Your leg stands as a testimony to that.” She grimaced and her hand clutched tight around her walking stick. “But I didn't run. If I had, you wouldn't be here.”
Her head turned, her body hunched over the stick, weighing down on the thin branch. Her face escaped the shadow and the sun washed over her, lighting her brown eyes. Her profile was more feline than I expected. Her eyes were large and tilting and her nose arched forward more than a humans. Her jaw was long, stopping just below her small flat nose. But, still in that instant, she felt the most human to me.
“How can I know you are not a spy?” Her voice soft and airy like the breeze through the strawberry field.
“You can't,” I said. I stepped forward again, but this time my hands laid by my sides open and loose. “But you know I'm not.” I stopped, my voice low so that only she could hear me beneath the pine's needled arms. “That's what scares you, because you know you were wrong. You know there is still someone out there to hurt the fleet. But I swore to you I would never endanger the crew of the Hera. And I don't plan on breaking that promise.”
Her head whipped around and her eyes looked at me as if for the first time. “The edelweiss, you were the cadet among the edelweiss. Your arm, I...”
What she was to say I don't know, Flik's eagerness to report interrupted any hopes I had of contacting the human warmth of Allouette. But, after Flik spoke, all that was rendered unimportant.
“Good news, bad news,” said Flik. His little shoulders shook as he breathed in short quick breaths, his hands balled up in front of him. “Town ahead as thought, we close.” He took a deep breath, his throat choking out the words. “Bad thing come, though. Come fast.”
Chapter 10
Footfalls
“The spider monsters?” I asked in vain hope that it was something else.
“Spindly. Gnashing. Fast. Bastards,” said Flik. His words sputtered from his thin pink lips and his Galactic seemed more broken than usual. The fact that he was the only one to face this thing and the only one not recovering from some injury did not elude me.
“Get Gin away from the tree,” I said to Flik. He gave a sharp nod and a quick turn, sprinting over to Gin's exhausted body.
“Lieutenant, you should take her,” I started, but a cluck of Allouette's tongue told me I had overstepped my bounds.
“Don't forget who's the ranking officer here, Thurman,” she said. She took a few uneasy steps towards Gin before turning back to face me. “Corporal Meikr will take care of Gin. You and I will face whatever creature is before us.”
“You have a shattered leg,” I exclaimed.
“And you have a gimp arm,” she snapped back. A time passed. Flik stumbled by us with Gin supported on his back. Her face now a crimson far darker than the burgundy of her tunic. Her hair clung to her moist cheeks and neck.
There was a rustle of the needles above. A call of some native bird. A rush like water in the distance. Then Allouette spoke again. “We have two injured soldiers, and a girl with a failing child. Our resources are slim.”
“But Flik has experience, he's quick, he's unharmed thus far, he's...”
“The most suited to protect our most endangered soldier.” I looked to the ground, my left hand grazed the butt of my gun. I didn't shoot the best with my left, but should my right fail, the consequences would be far worse. Flik now stood with Gin by the survival kits, waiting further instruction. His eyes darted back and forth between the two of us, he dare not ask for help, not sure who to address his words to. The rush of water grew louder.
“We don't have time to discuss this.” She whipped out her pistol and positioned her arm to the far side of the umbrellaed clearing. “Mr. Meikr, pull a panel from the tent and use it as a shield. Thurman ready your pistol. If either of us could climb I'd suggest to take the high ground, but given the circumstances...”
“Flik can climb, dammit,” I growled, though I drew out my gun with obedience.
“No time to argue, they come!”
The rush of a river had grown to the roar of a coming wave. The whip of branches and leaves as their bodies tore into the clearing, crackled like a raging fire.
A sizzle sounded to my right and the accompanying shot landed on the foremost creature's pincer. It recoiled and dug its pincer along the ground, still surging forward. I shot again and again. Grazing the leg of one, landing a hit on the eye of another. More sizzles as we launched our feeble attack against the raging wave of armored creatures.
Flik began shooting from behind us. The shots slowed them but they persisted, their anger driving them forward. I looked to call to Allouette, to hear another brilliant tactic, but could not peel my eyes from the oncoming foes.
“Thurman save your charges,” she shouted, “Meikr continue to provide backup, but don't waste all the charge. Keep some to protect Gin.”
“Are you crazy?” I replied. Yelling over the rumble of footfalls and the high pitched chatter that grew as the creatures drew near. I was not sure she heard me, but a smile spread across her face.
“Wait for them to draw close, then hit the ground,” she called.
I barely heard her, the creatures were only a breath away. The gaping mouth between the furred pincers moved open and shut, expelling a rank stench that curled in my nose and made my eyes water. My legs itched to move, to sprint the other way. My arm ached.
“Drop now!”
My feet fell from beneath me and I pressed my back against the ground. The creatures continued forward, stepping over us, their spear like feet inches away from my head. Their vision didn't appear to be great and they slowed just enough.
“Now shoot!”
I shoved the pistol straight into the coarse belly hair of the monster and set off the charge. It yelled at a frequency I couldn't well hear, but the effect shot pain through my head like a dagger. From the wound dripped a thick yellow blood onto my arm and the smell ripped through my nostrils. The creature stumbled and fell before another. The incoming monster was not quick enough to react and stabbed its companion with its sharp pointed foot. I thrust my arm out and shot the other in the side, it too fell, screeching the same blood curdling call. The pain reached my arm and the muscles reverberated with the ringing in my ears.
It was to my fortune though. My left hand could not help but reach over and grab my
right, my body flinging its whole weight over to stop my arm's convulsions. As a result, I rolled over just missing a stabbing footfall.
Then, a call, a cry, human words. Someone was screaming. I looked to my right. Allouette clawed at the ground trying to pull herself away. A pile of spider bodies fell on top of each other, engulfing her. Another creature was coming. She reached to shoot, but her gun was empty. She hurled the pistol at the beast, but it didn't slow. Her good leg trapped beneath a fallen body, she couldn't escape the coming spears of the monster's feet. She reached out to me, her eyes wide and glazed. Her mouth dropping and her face childlike, so small beneath her wave of hair. I tried to reach out, but my closest hand laid limp at my side. I rolled to reach her with my left hand, but it was too late. The foot pierced her shoulder. Her face broke, her mouth gaping, a scream I couldn't hear escaped her red lips. Then she fainted. I raised my arm and shot the creature in the side just as it pulled its foot from within Allouette.
Another piercing, mind ripping scream and the forest fell silent.
Chapter 11
Child
“Another life.” Her words were not accusatory or vindictive, not pitying or patronizing. They were just words. Flat and cool in the thick summer air.
“What life?” I fought to rise, but I stayed buried amid the sand, water washing past my ears.
“Another, does it hurt?” An inquisitive flutter of words, her eyes searched me though I couldn’t see them. The water rose, soaking my tunic, making it heavy against my chest.
“Yanda, could you lift me up? The water is cold.” The cliff towered above me. Did I fall, I wondered. Blossom petals rained from the lavender sky as a wind pulls them from the meadow. They're falling.
“I told you. I'm not Yanda.” Her voice rang with laughter, though it barely broke a whisper. She does not reach to help me up. “She's gone, you know?”
