by Calista Skye
They weren't beaten yet. But now they could feel the heat from the new Fire at their backs.
Now that the two young men were warriors, they were free to talk like men, even to Vrax'ton. They didn't have to wait for him to ask them anything before they could speak.
“Sire,” Eni'ar said, “the Fire will surely engulf us. But Kar'x and I deem that it might be possible to save one of us. Or possibly two.”
“Yes?” Vrax'ton said, not too interested. Newly minted warriors would often come up with harebrained schemes in their joy of having passed the test.
“Sire, hergs have pelt that reflects heat. And there are some animals with fur that can't be made to burn.”
That peaked his interest. “Fur that won't burn?”
“Yes, Sire. The animals appear to be covered in a wooly material, and we observed them playing with the Fire, running in and out of it as if they weren't harmed by the heat. Of course, that was before the Inferno Year started. The fire will be hotter now.”
Vrax'ton had a sharper eye for the creatures here now, and he absentmindedly picked a large, rearing millipede off a branch and flung it into the woods as it sprayed its venom in all directions. “Did you kill any of these beasts?”
“No, Sire. They're small and seemed not to have much meat on them. A novelty for us at the time, nothing more.”
“Of course the hergs have reflective furs,” Kar'x continued. “So our suggestion is to take a number of hergs alive, or at least to kill them in such a way that their mirrored glass fur won't shatter. That will be the outer coat, and it will reflect the heat. Then the lining will be this mysterious, wooly fur that seems to render some animals impervious to the Fire.”
“After all,” Eni'ar took over, “the Fire does not go deep into the soot and ash that is the soil here, and the heat rises up and not down. We would dig a hole, line it with the mysterious fireproof fur, then place you, Sire, and your Mate in it. Then we would cover you with a thick layer of fur and then the mirrored surface pelts on top. Then Kar'x and I would clear the surrounding area of flammable plants in as large a radius as we would be able to before we'd succumb to the fire.”
Vrax'ton contemplated the idea. It was not bad. But it had some holes. “When you observed these animals, did you notice a breeze in the air?”
The young warriors exchanged glances, clearly understanding where he was going with that. “Yes, Sire. Of course. This was close to the Fire. It sucks the air to it in what was more than just a breeze. More like a storm close by as the Fire draws all the air that feeds it.”
“Because the Fire would take some time to cross the location where we were hiding in our hole. And even an alien like Harper needs air to breathe. The Fire would suck all the air up from the soil.”
“This is true, Sire. We have no solution to that problem. The plan bears the marks of desperation.”
Vrax'ton walked on in silence. He had contemplated something similar for a while, but he hadn't known that there were animals here with fur that would not burn. That made this plan more viable. Herg skin did reflect the heat, but at some point it would get so hot that it would melt like glass.
“Have you seen any of these wondrous animals around us? If we have to wait for the Fire to come here before any of them can be taken, then I doubt there will be enough time to hunt them.”
“We have, Sire,” Kar'x said and pointed into a bunch of bushes where Vrax'ton saw movement. “They're not shy at all.”
He peered into the bushes. Until now, he hadn't paid any attention to smaller beings unless they were directly in his path or he suspected that they could hurt Harper. But now that he looked, there was definitely a nest of white little rodent-like animals under the bushes.
Eni'ar dived under the bush and grabbed one of the alien creatures in each hand.
“We call then 'rock eaters',” Kar'x said. “They burrow under the thick layer of ash and appear to eat the bedrock beneath. Very strange behavior.”
Vrax'ton grunted in agreement and took one of the beings that Eni'ar held out to him.
Indeed the fur was strange. It was not hair, but thin fibres in a dense pattern of gentle waves, almost completely white. It was coarse to the touch, but the whole animal was light in the palm of his hand and made no attempt to escape. It looked up at him with three curious eyes, one large in the middle and two smaller on either side of its head.
“That's weird,” Harper said beside Vrax'ton. She reached her hand out to stroke the animal. “I never noticed those before. Is that asbestos?”
Vrax'ton raised his eyebrows. “You know strange furry creature?”
“No, but that fur looks a lot like a fireproof material we had to learn about before we went into space. It's called asbestos. Totally fireproof. It's extremely useful if you need to shield something from extreme heat, like close to the engines of a rocket. And it can kill you if you breathe it in. Isn't it pretty much a kind of rock in the shape of soft fibers?”
Vrax'ton nodded, impressed. “If Harper say so, Vrax'ton accept. Creature called 'rock eaters'. Possibly convert rock to fireproof fibers in internal process. It is said creatures can run in and out of Fire without damage.”
Harper stroked the back of the creature. “So now all we need is to shear a hundred of them, spin the fur into threads and knit some fireproof sweaters.”
Vrax'ton frowned. “Is long process? And Vrax'ton would deem that he is sweaty enough as it is.”
Harper smiled. “Yeah, sweaters are just garments. Like shirts? They're not made to make you sweat, I think. It's probably a long process. I don't actually know how to do it. But the reason you're holding this is not just that you're taking a zoological interest, right? You think they'll be useful?”
Before Vrax'ton could answer, Eni'ar held the other creature out. “Sire, look! The fur can be peeled off. It's not firmly attached to the skin.” He held a large tuft of rough fur in one hand and the animal in the other. It still had some fur on, but here and there its own pink skin could be seen in bare patches. He let it down to the ground, and the little rock eater shot off into the jungle straight away from the Fire.
“Yes,” Vrax'ton said and felt an a new optimism take hold. Maybe this didn't have to end in total defeat. He impulsively reached out and stroked a stray hair out of Harper's face. “We think they will.”
18
- Harper -
The look he gave her sent shivers down her spine. It was grim and old, somehow, like he had changed into the alien warrior that he really was and centuries of his ancestors was looking at her through his eyes. There was death in it, one way or the other, and it made her hesitate to ask what the plan was. She was sure it would be both unpleasant and desperate. They were down to the wire, and he had just made a desperate decision. She sensed that much.
They started walking again, but now they went much slower. Vrax'ton and Kar'x and Eni'ar now clearly hunted the asbestos-clad little rock eaters. They pounced under bushes and behind trees, peeled the fireproof fur off them and let the little rodents loose. They didn't seem to mind much, and they were clearly easy to hunt. Probably no one had ever done that before, even the hergs. These little things didn't look like they had much meat on them, and chewing through the thick asbestos fur was something that a young herg might try once, then never again.
The three warriors' faces were harder than they had been before, and they collected the asbestos with a grim determination that Harper didn't like. They had clearly given up being rescued, and now they were preparing some kind of plan B.
She still hadn't completely given up the hope that her friends from Gideo Station would come and get her. The instruments in the shuttle were pretty sophisticated, and she couldn't imagine that the tough shuttle pilot Charlotte would balk at trying to come down here, even if the odds were bad and even if it was against regulations.
Whatever. They hadn't come down to get her, and now she was probably about to die in a fire.
Somehow the thought didn't scar
e her that much. They were still doing something, not just sitting still and waiting for death. They were still alive.
One part of her mind was astounded that she wasn't breaking down in terrified tears. Maybe it was the herlee berries. But she hadn't had that many, and not for hours now.
Her eyes always sought Vrax'ton. His strong body and his confident bearing and his breathtaking competence with the axe and with everything he did gave her solace. Surely it was impossible that a man like him would die here? He was too strong, larger than life.
And even here and now, with the Fire encroaching on them and its heat like a constant burn at the back of her head, he turned her on. She had hot sparks going off in her girly bits just from being this close to him, and whenever he would look at her and send her a confident little smirk she would long to just jump him, take that hard cock out of his pants, spear herself on it to the hilt and then ride him to a blissful ecstasy. If the two other warriors hadn't been there, she would have done that. Probably more than once, too.
A jellyfish-like blob of mucous fell from a tree and she swatted it away from her face with her little trowel while it was still in mid-air. It fell on the ground and scurried away on a thousand little insect legs, long antennas suddenly growing out of it and waving wildly as it disappeared in among the trees. Harper sighed. With Vrax'ton and the two others busy hunting rock eaters, she had to fend for herself a little more while they made their way through the jungle. Most of these things were easy to avoid and chase away. They clearly weren't used to humans, so they were a little too direct and obvious in their attacks on her. And she was sure that not all of them were necessarily venomous or that they could hurt her in other ways, but she felt that it was better to be safe than sorry.
She no longer had any idea which time of day it was. The fire lit everything up like day anyway, and the sky was an ominous white that drowned out the sun.
She was tired and worried. And horny. Stars, this planet screwed with her mind.
They came to a little clearing in the woods and Vrax'ton stopped. He talked briefly with Kar'x and Eni'ar, and the two started digging into the ground with their short swords.
Harper frowned. “What's going on?”
Vrax'ton took her head gently between his hands. “Rescue has failed. Now Harper and Vrax'ton must rescue selves, helped by valiant new warriors Eni'ar and Kar'x. Still glorious hope, my Harper.”
He kissed her tenderly on the lips, then turned his back and took his axe from his belt and casually chopped down some thin trees with a single stroke.
Harper was confused. “Are we staying here?”
He cut down more trees in long, powerful strokes with his alien axe. “For a while.”
He didn't seem as if he wanted to talk, but that was okay with Harper. At least they were doing something now, something other than just running aimlessly from the Fire.
“Anything I can do to help?”
The alien warrior briefly turned, and she had never seen him more alien than right at that moment. The light in his eyes shone and his face was set and grim. “Not right now, my Harper. Later there will be. Vrax'ton then will ask something of his Harper that she might not want.”
He turned away once more and marched to the edge of the clearing, then took mighty swings at the trees there.
Well, that didn't sound to promising to Harper. Something she might not want? She would probably agree to most things that sensational man would ever ask or her.
She frowned. It couldn't be anal he meant, could it? If it was, this was a weird time to bring it up.
No, it was something else, of course. It was just that pretty much everything he said and did turned her mind to sex. And if ever there was a guy she'd give her ass to, it was him.
Well, she'd cross that bridge when she came to it.
She looked around the clearing and tapped her trowel against her thigh. It was impossible to know what time of day it was, but she wasn't tired at all. Probably that white and ghostly silent sheet of white fire that filled half the sky had something to do with it. The heat was still bearable, but in just a few hours it would probably get a little much. She noticed that her jumpsuit felt as cool to the touch as ever. It was a high-tech fabric, with nanotech and materials that were so exotic and expensive that only those who went into space were issued them. With this, she could probably handle the fire better than the three warriors in their primitive clothing.
Well, she would do something useful, at least. Using the trowel to push aside insects and suspicious-looking rocks, she went over to a bush she recognized and picked some herlee berries. They hadn't found any running water that didn't smell like a gas station for a long time, but the berries were so ripe with delicious juice that Harper didn't miss it much, either. She picked all the berries she could find and put them in a little heap. That should be enough of them to last them ... well, the rest of their lives, the way things were going.
She popped a couple of them into her mouth and chewed thoughtfully. A day from now she'd probably be dead. Still the despair and panic didn't come. Herlee berries or not, staring a terrible death in the eye from less than a day's distance and not curling up in a ball of fear and panic was pretty weird. Was it the space training, where they were taught to handle bad situations by always looking ahead and staying positive? Probably. And probably the berries had something to do with it. But the main reason was Vrax'ton. Being close to him was like being close to an immovable mountain. Nothing could happen to him-
Her head whipped around. There was movement at the edge of the clearing, between two trees. She clutched the handle of her trowel. If a herg attacked her now, Vrax'ton was too far away to help.
She drew breath to yell to him, but then she froze. That thing – that was not a herg.
She took off and ran towards the trees, hoping to get a better view of whatever it was she had seen. Because if it was what she thought it was, then ...
She barged into the jungle and ran as fast as she could, vaulting over bushes and slapping interfering creatures out of her way. Yep, that was definitely not a herg she was chasing.
“Wait!” she shouted. “Hold up!”
And then she couldn't see or hear it anymore. She had lost track in the dense jungle. She formed her hands like a trumpet in front of her mouth and shouted “Heyyy! Come back! It's Haaaarpeeer!”
“Yeah, we know,” said a voice right behind her.
19
- Harper -
That Southern accent- Harper whipped around, and her heart beat so fast it felt like it was banging its way out of her chest. “Charlotte!”
The pilot from Gideo Station came calmly walking towards her from behind a thick tree trunk, giving her a lopsided smile. “That's right. You want to keep it down? This damn rainforest is full of animals that would want nothing more than a hot-ass Earth girl for dinner.”
Harper couldn't stop herself and threw her arms around her friend. “Oh thank the stars! You came to rescue me after all? I'd given up hope!”
Charlotte gently returned the embrace, then looked around. “Were you followed by those alien things?”
Harper stared at her friend. She looked tired, and her jumpsuit had a long tear in it that she had tried to repair with green natural fibers.
For a moment Harper drew a blank. “What alien things?”
Charlotte raised her eyebrows. “The human-like dudes that are digging your grave or something? The ones that look like vikings or barbarians or whatever?”
Harper frowned. Digging her grave? “That's Vrax'ton and his buddies. Alien warriors from Acerex. He's totally saved my ass a whole bunch of times.”
Charlotte wasn't impressed. “Uh-huh. Well, I don't know. All I know is what I saw. You want to come along?”
Harper was confused by Charlotte's subdued demeanor. This rescue didn't feel the way it should. “We have to bring Vrax'ton and Kar'x and Eni'ar, too. They have no other way to get off the planet.”
Charlotte looked arou
nd the forest. “Yeah, I think we should talk about that first. All of us.” The pilot started walking through the jungle. “It's this way.”
Harper hesitated for a while. Would she be able to find Vrax'ton and the others later? Yep, she was pretty sure she would. Just aim for the Fire.
Fine. She had to know what was going on here. She followed Charlotte's yellow back through the jungle. She didn't ask any questions on the way. She wasn't surprised that is was the station's pilot who'd found her. She was not the most talkative girl, and usually preferred doing things to talking about them.
It wasn't far, and after only a few minutes walking she saw one of the sweetest sights of her life – the shuttle from Gideo Station was standing there on the ground on its short, thick legs. If Vrax'ton and his warriors and she had only walked on for a few more minutes, they would have stumbled right on it.
Charlotte marched up to it and gave a whistle that Harper recognized as the same sound that the main computer on Gideo Station gave you when you logged into it – three sharps beeps.
Ava came out from behind the shuttle with a primitive wooden club in her hand, and Lily was suddenly standing behind her with a shovel from the biodome on Gideo. “Hi, Harper. Glad to see you.”
Harper raised her hand in greeting, more confused than ever. Where were the happy smiles she had expected? If anything, the girls seemed defeated and down. And their jumpsuits were torn and even dirty, which Harper would have thought was impossible.
“Glad to see you too, Ava. And you, Lily. So you came after all?”
“Yeah, we did,” the base commander said and came in for a hug. It was a warmer and tighter hug than Charlotte's, but that couldn't surprise anyone. Ava was a stern leader when she had to, but she also had a warm, emotional streak. “We took off as soon as we saw.”
“You saw the signal?”
“Yep. A big, burning H in the jungle right by the fire. Stars, I never heard the computer go berserk like that.”
