Alien Blood (Diaspora Worlds)

by Melisse Aires

  The river was wide and shallow. Other than avoiding the shore, it was an easy, fast way to travel away from the landing area. There were no rapids or midstream rocks.

  The river stayed smooth for a couple hours and the landscape remained the same, high grass savannas with trees along the river. After a couple hours the landscape rose into rolling hills. The raft started picking up speed.

  Kellac said. “Let's look for a place to land. I don't want to get into rapids on an unknown river in this light.”

  The hills created dark shadows on the river now. Gema heartily agreed with him so they landed at the next small beach, a sandy area surrounded by trees with a sharp slope up to a grassy meadow beyond the tree line. The sun was low now and it would soon be twilight, so the beach was in shade. After the heat of the day, the cool was welcome.

  “It will be chilly tonight,” she said. “Let’s get some firewood.” By the time they were done gathering firewood and had the small tent up and a fire, Gema could not keep the yawns away.

  They ate dry packaged rations and treated water. Nerves made her feel jumpy and she noticed the tent was so small they would be squashed together.

  She wasn’t sure if she feared it or anticipated it. She was attracted to him. She hoped her attraction wouldn’t become an issue. She would reign it in, he would not know.

  “I'll take the first watch. We don't have any weapons. Except my stick. But the fire will help scare away any beasts. We need to keep it burning all night.” Kellac had found a long tree limb while they collected firewood, thick and supple. “It's better than nothing.”

  Gema said goodnight and crawled into the small tent and covered up with her wilderness blanket. This was something she had feared, the night alone with the male competitor. Some female contestants had claimed they were raped. Chala, in the Women's Pen had taught her self-defense. Gema wasn't very skilled at it though because of her balance issue with her bad leg. Still it was better than nothing.

  Kellac seemed decent, though. She didn't think she had anything to fear from him. Still, it was a relief to be alone. She just couldn't relax around him. Hopefully that would change. It couldn't be healthy to be so tense. She dozed off but kept waking, groggy and disoriented.

  “Gema, you have to see this.” Kellac's voice penetrated the small tent and she scrambled out of the tent, heart pounding in near panic.

  “What?”

  Kellac gestured to the sky. The moon had risen, a huge blue moon with traceries of green. Two smaller moons, one sliver, one bronze, were in close proximity to the larger moon.

  “I thought you might enjoy to seeing this. For your records. But also because it is so beautiful.”

  “Oh my. Toph had just one small moon. This is incredible.” She stared at the night sky. “This world is so lovely. Someday immigrants will move here, bring their families.”

  “The moon seemed so close. I wonder if the smaller moons move,” Kellac said

  She took a picture and added it to her com planet info.

  “This data narrows us down to three possible planets. All have multiple moons. One of the planets wasn’t formulated by the Seeders, so it would be easy to discern. The others though, are all Seeded, so have many similarities. This world is so full of life I recognize from my homeworld, and from Toph. Both were Seeder worlds. I don’t think we are on the other one.”

  “I agree. But I am less familiar with Seeder worlds. I am from New Prague, which is primarily a mining world. We live in domes, and much of the food production is done underground. It is too cold. Not a Seeder world and we have to breathe filtered air, due to poisonous spores from the flora.”

  Gema shivered, both at the chill and at the sound of his inhospitable world.

  They sat side by side for a while, watching the night sky.

  “Where is it?”

  “It is on the far edge of sector seven, near the Big Empty.”

  Gema wasn't familiar with the sector arrangement of the PureGen system. “It must be very far away. My family came to Toph from a world in the Terran Alliance.”

  “New Prague has Toph and Selene connections. It was settled by mining conglomerates from the PureGen worlds. New Prague also does manufacturing which would be difficult on the PureGen worlds, since the metals would have to be transported.”

  His world sounded worse and worse.

  “These planets for the Game are all out on the Rim. They found these all in a group, when I was young. Had to test them for safety. The Survivor Show was granted rights to broadcast from the new planets as a way to showcase them for future colonization. It will be expensive to get a colonization packet to come here.” Gema knew she would never live here. Even if she amassed tons of credit, they would be colonized by PureGens. She would have to look elsewhere for a homeland.

  “I've heard of the Big Empty. A prisoner escaped the Women's Penn, and the rumor was she found transport to Yonder.”

  “I've never been there, but ships stop at New Prague from there all the time. New Prague the closest stopping point.”

  They watched the moons in silence until Gema gave a huge yawn.

  Kellac gave a soft laugh. “Back to sleep!”

  She crawled back into the tent and this time she slept soundly.

  ***

  Kellac took two watches, since he could manage on less sleep than a Natural. Plus, he enjoyed the night, feeding the small fire, the scents of grasses and flowers in the field beyond the beach, the ripple of the river as it rushed by. He’d lived in a dome, but his family had money so he traveled as a child and youth. Once he joined the Allied Military he’d seen many interesting places, though the idea of settling anywhere hadn’t registered. His parents were gone and his brothers were scattered all over the galaxy, with the military. Perhaps someday he and his brothers could have homes in a place this beautiful. They had the compound on New Prague but as luxurious as his home was, it was still under a dome, with no fresh breezes or distant landscapes to appreciate. His parents owned a villa on Terra. Maybe he’d own an estate with wild lands where his brothers could hunt and fish with him, enjoy a campfire. He slept through the middle watch in the tent and then took the early morning watch. Early morning was often the hardest watch for Naturals to remain alert he knew from his command experience. So he took it to be extra vigilant.

  He wanted to protect her. When the beasts had stampeded, all he could think about was saving her. And now he was taking another watch, to protect her. He thought back to his military assignments. He often had women working under his command. PureGen women, strong and athletic, smart… Gema was different. She was softer, not military. He wondered why they’d chosen her for the show. Hopefully not for the drama of seeing a weaker contestant die. But they’d done it in another season. He had a bad feeling about the producer’s motives. He would need to be vigilant.

  Near sunrise the Swarm, the small flying cameras the Viewcast company used to record the show, arrived in all their buzzing, annoying glory.

  ***

  Gema woke up when Kellac called from outside the tent.

  “Here we go. We have company.”

  She was stiff from sleeping on the ground and got out of the tent slowly. Tiny, golden metallic globes swarmed around her, colored lights flashing. “The Viewcast units found us,” she said.

  There were a lot of the small flittering globes, maybe twenty for each of them, buzzing all around, with just as many floating around the periphery. Up on the Viewcast ship, the technicians cut and forwarded their movements and interactions to the happy viewers throughout the PureGen Viewcast region.

  They swallowed one of the tasteless prepared meals, packed up the tent and pushed off. Even though the swarm was now with them, they had agreed to continue down river, away from the drop off site. It was just safer to get away from an area the Game Master had time to booby trap.

  “What do we want in a campsite? Close to the river?” Kellac asked.

  “Yes, but we want trees, too, for firewood.
”

  “I want to avoid the large grasslands with the beasts.”

  “Aurochs,” she corrected. “They are a type of auroch, wild cattle. I entered them into the com.”

  “Good. But we need to remember not to speak out loud about—” He waved at her illegal com and then at the swarm of tiny cameras in his face. “Company.”

  Gema felt stupid. “I can't believe I forgot them.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It'll take time to get used to them.”

  “Yes. They kind of faded into the scenery for me, like insects.” She bit her lip, realizing not being aware of the cameras could lead to embarrassing situations, especially with Kellac, whose brown mane shined with vitality in the sunlight and who’s tan jaw line did not seem to need a shave. Many PureGens were created to have no body hair to remove. “Which is why I brought the...You know.” She tapped her breeches where the paper pad and stylus was hidden.

  Kellac grinned. “I haven’t touched one of those since I was a little child still with a home tutor.”

  “Me either, but when I was small I loved to draw pictures. I didn’t enjoy writing too much though.”

  “You might not be able to read my writing.”

  She laughed. “The swarm will show pictures of me throughout the galaxy, frowning at the palm of my hand.”

  Around midday they found a site, a grass covered hill with a gentle slope, facing the river and the morning sunrise, with a small stream nearby. Stands of leafy trees grew down along the river and on the hills behind them, turning into conifers toward the higher reaches, where the hills began to have rocky outcrops. Gema suspected there might be mountains beyond the hills.

  At the midday meal Gema searched the com for types of shelters they could build. There were several. She showed them to Kellac.

  “I think we should disregard the temporary shelters,” she said.

  “I agree. We want something sturdy, to keep away predators. I think the dugout is the best shelter. Only one wall to defend,” Kellac said.

  Gema agreed. “We could make the front wall of sod.” They spent the afternoon planning out their shelter and then started to dig, using the raft paddles. Again they slept one at a time in the small tent, with the other keeping watch.

  The next morning they received their first visit from the Game Master.

  “Greetings, Contestants!” The Game Master zapped into holographic glory before them. “You are already winning fans throughout the galaxy!”

  “As you know we always begin The Game with the same initial challenge. Get your housing up by this time tomorrow, and we will put a generous five hundred points into each of your Banks!”

  Kellac stepped forward. “Thank you, Game Master. We will attempt to meet your challenge.”

  After a few pleasantries, the Game Master disappeared.

  “I doubt we can get it finished by tomorrow, but I think the extra time spent on it is well worth it.” Kellac said. “We still don’t know what type of predators live around here, and it would be best if we could sleep through a night without taking watches.”

  “Yes, though the points would be nice.” Gema sighed.

  “We could get a lean-to up in a day, but it wouldn’t be as safe as a dugout. I opt for safety. We have time to collect points,” Kellac said.

  Part of her wanted to slap up a flimsy shelter, for the points, but she knew they had to think about safety. Easy points would have been nice to have, though.

  The swarm of cameras buzzed around them constantly, Gema even sat on one. “I hope that picture doesn’t go around the galaxy,” she muttered.

  Kellac thought it was hilarious and laughed so hard he fell to the ground, which drew the swarm right into his face.

  They soon became adept at brushing the swarm away from their faces without thinking.

  Gema worked to the point of exhaustion, but Kellac did the bulk of the digging. The dugout went back into the hill with a portion of the roof open which would have to be covered with sod piled on tree limbs.

  At the end of their challenge time the Game Master arrived.

  “It is time to inspect your shelter!”

  Their shelter was half done, basically a hole in the hillside partially roofed with saplings. They needed to finish laying the saplings, then dig sod to spread over them. More sod would form the front wall and doorway. It would take days to get it finished.

  “This is very disappointing,” the Game Master said “I’m afraid I’m going to have to go to our audience and see what they think of this effort.”

  The Game Master disappeared, off to interview the masses for thoughts on the first challenge.

  Gema sat down on the ground near the dugout. “I feel bad, Kellac. If I had worked harder…”

  Kellac lifted one of her hands and looked at the blisters from digging all day. “You worked hard enough. Our shelter is important for survival. We need a place where we can sleep in safety, or rest if we get sick or injured.”

  His simple touch on her hands made her swallow hard as a shiver of pleasure slid through her nervous system in a tingling rush. She wanted to clasp his hand tighter to her own, keep him in place, touching her.

  I’m an idiot. A man starved idiot.

  “It is just the first challenge. We have many weeks to amass points.”

  She nodded again, unable to speak. His kindness made her throat ache with the desire to cry. She was afraid she would burst into tears, which she didn’t want to do for an audience—or him.

  In some ways, kindness was as dangerous as wickedness. She didn’t want to care about him. Not in a man-woman way, which would only end in heartache. Still, she was drawn to him. Deep inside Gema knew her secret dream to of find a love like her parents had… the dream had gotten her into trouble before. It couldn’t happen with a PureGen man. She needed to remember who she was, what she was. She’d learned her life lesson, it didn’t need to be repeated.

  “Let’s go wash up in the stream. The cold water will take the burn out of our hands,” Kellac said.

  “Yes,” she croaked through her tight throat, and she rushed toward the water.

  They splashed in the icy water, soon throwing handfuls of water at each other and laughing away the tension.

  And that was just one more thing to admire about him.

  They went to bed together for the first time as the sun was setting, with a fire blazing in front of the open dugout wall, the raft anchored over them for a roof. Gema was very conscience of Kellac just an arm’s length away. Her body seemed to have a mind of its own and was sensitive to every breath he took, every movement, on some type of charged alert even though she was achy everywhere and tired down to her bones. But the skin on the side of her nearest where he rested seemed to tingle, as if reaching for him.

  I’m glad he is a decent man… but it would be easier if he wasn’t so perfect to look at. Bad combination… great character… handsome… PureGen…

  Trouble. At least for a woman like me.

  The next day they argued about the roof. Kellac thought they could manage with the raft for a roof, Gema was sure they couldn’t.

  “If it storms and rains it will collapse into the dugout. And we won’t be able to fix it well in the rain.”

  “But won’t the sod just get a muddy and heavy? And we could pitch the raft so rain runs off.”

  “We could pitch the sod, too. And we might want the raft for some reason. So we need lots of saplings to hold the sod. The roots of the grasses will grow together and keep it strong.”

  She found the small pad and drew a picture, keeping the pad inside her bag away from the swarm. Marching over to Kellac she shoved the picture into his hand and waited.

  He looked at the drawing awhile. “You are correct. Your way is far more permanent. And it might wise to keep the raft intact.”

  His capitulation just made her care for him more. She was doomed.

  Chapter Two

  The dugout was a small but serviceable shelter, with a s
od and tree branch roof and a sod front wall. The sapling door didn’t have hinges, but could slide into place and be fastened shut from the inside, providing safety from animals.

  Inside, the ceiling was high enough for Kellac to stand. There were two beds formed from meadow grass and a place for their belongings. Some distance from the dugout was their food cache, hanging high in a tree.

  It would do. They could sleep through the night with a small fire in the pit outside the door, and be safe. Taking turns on watch was tiring even for him after a number of days. He looked forward to resting on the pile of grass through a whole night.