Gamma Rift

by Kalli Lanford

  “And she thinks I’m a slut.”

  “Again, your fault.”

  “Yeah, but unlike you, after you leave this planet, I’ll still be here with your sister thinking I was nothing more than a pathetic practice lay for the prince.”

  “Who cares what my sister thinks? I don’t.” My elbow rapped against the stone wall with our next turn.

  “I do. I’ll still have to see her every day,” she huffed.

  “I’m sorry. My sister threw us off guard. We said what we had to say, so let’s just forget about it.” What was the point? Lestra was pissed off about something that never happened between us in the first place.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  America

  A block of the wall pivoted open, and a chilly blast of air lifted the edge of my blanket as I sat in the corner of my dim cell.

  “America,” a welcomed voice whispered. “How are you feeling? Are you okay? Slaine told me you were sick.” When he spoke, his lower shell lip quivered.

  “Yeah, I’m fine now. It was really weird. I was sick for a few hours, and then it just went away.”

  When I reached to hug him, he caught my hands and held them. “Lestra’s here, too. She doesn’t know, and I don’t want her to suspect anything’s happened between us. It’s just that…” The shell plates above his eyes overlapped.

  “It’s okay, Garran. I understand. I know she wouldn’t approve.” Lestra folded her arms and rocked her head upward to stare at the ceiling, obviously avoiding eye contact with me. “She doesn’t even approve of this, does she—you being here?”

  “No, she doesn’t. Being a palace maid, her opinion shouldn’t matter, but she and I have grown to be friends.” Lestra’s foot tapped against the floor like seconds ticking on a clock. “I, um, have something for you. Clothes. They’re from the servant’s wardrobe. Lestra picked them out.”

  “Then I’m sure they’ll be especially flattering,” I said sarcastically. “As long as they keep me warm when I’m at the Ring of Reverence.”

  “Were not going to the Ring of Reverence. If I take you there, you’ll get sick again.” The soft plates between his eyes wrinkled. “I found out that the cosmic radiation in our galaxy is higher than that of yours. In addition, the molecular structure of our radiation is also different than that of Earth’s. You were sick because you were exposed to too much radiation.”

  “Radiation poisoning,” I said. No wonder I felt like shit. “Two suns.” My throat tightened with the thought of gagging again.

  “Until I took you outside, the thick wall of this cell and the lab had protected you from our suns. The palace wall might not even be thick enough to do so, but in time…” He shook his head, and every muscle in my body become cold and trembled. “I need to get you away from Enestia as soon as possible.” His eyes widened, and the gold flecks in his irises sparkled. “So I’m taking you home tonight.”

  “Oh my God!”

  He set his hand on my shoulder, and its warmth, in contrast to the sudden chill I was experiencing, made my skin prickle.

  “We got lucky. Just this afternoon, my father granted me access to a ship.”

  “So we’re going right now?”

  “Yes. Your absence will be discovered in the morning, but by then, we’ll be in the next galaxy.”

  There was no question I had to leave Enestia, but what about Garran? “But if you take me…your father… He’ll figure out that you’re the one who helped me?”

  “Yes,” he said, looking down at the floor.

  “And what will happen to you when you return?”

  “If I return, I’d lose my inheritance of the throne, along with my title as prince, and my father will probably send me to one of the containment campuses on Regis Seven.”

  “You mean a prison?”

  “Yes, it’s a prison for those who commit treason, those who are disloyal to the throne.” The shell plates where his eyebrows would be tightened.

  “Your father would actually send you to a prison camp?”

  “Yes, and I would go willingly rather than spend the rest of my pre-planned life following in my father’s footsteps and mastering his cruel ways. But that’s not going to happen. I’m not coming back to Enestia—at least not right away.”

  “Where will you go? Do you even have a plan?”

  “I do, but what happens to me and what I’m going to do doesn’t matter. My only concern right now is you.”

  But what was his current plan? It wasn’t as simple as putting me on a ship and taking me back to Earth. Taking me home would impact him for the rest of his life. As much as I wanted the details, I decided not to push.

  There was something different about him tonight. His eyes were dull and as the dim light of my cell accentuated the shadows cast by one face plate overlapping the next, his shell looked faded, like he was washed out by the sun. Poor Garran was beat down, exhausted with the weight of my fate on his shoulders.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  He smiled. I caught a glimmer of anticipation but also fear in his eyes. “Yes,” he said. “More than anything. I’d rather spend the rest of my life on Regis Seven with you alive and well on planet Earth than continue to be a slave to my father and the crown. I’ve only made two major choices on my own,” Garran continued. “The first—learning how to fly an intergalactic star ship and navigate star systems, which my father still thinks was a waste of my time, and the second—taking you away from here.”

  “Thank you, Garran.” My heart blossomed with his touch, his words, and his kind, unselfish ways.

  Now I was the one being selfish. I didn’t have to go along with his plan. I could refuse to go, tell him I wouldn’t allow him to throw away his life on Enestia for me.

  But I also had my friends to think of, Attie, Logan, and Kevin. People didn’t just disappear without someone held liable. And my mother had no one but me. I could only imagine her grief.

  I was so torn, but I had to have faith. If Garran was resourceful enough to get me home, he was resourceful enough to find a way to save himself from prison— I hoped.

  “But—”

  “No, America,” he said as if he could read my thoughts. He shook his head, and as the plates beneath the hollows of his eyes dropped, I thought I saw tears forming. “You’re going home, and I’m taking you there. My father was responsible, and I must pay for his arrogance.”

  “I understand why you’re doing this, but I still want to know,” I said after a long pause. “If you’re not going back to Enestia, where will you go?”

  Garran sighed, and said almost at a whisper, “To Verla Three, a planet in my galaxy. I can make do there until I can eventually return home. Now please, no more questions. We need to leave as soon as possible.”

  He handed me a black cloth bag, and while I changed, he retreated back into the tunnel where Lestra had been waiting.

  I dumped the bag of clothes on the ground and dug through them. There were no undergarments, only a pair of black leggings, hooded gray tunic, and pair of flat shoes that conformed perfectly to my feet when I slipped them on.

  The tunic was itchy and the fabric paper thin. I wished I had a bra to not only support my Cs but to keep the skin of my breasts from showing through. As awkward as I felt in the strange clothing, anything was better than a blanket, and the soles of my feet were warm for the first time in I didn’t know how many days.

  I entered the wall and grabbed Garran’s hand. He turned to Lestra and spoke, his foreign words first bitter and then strangely sweet against my ears. She rocked slightly to one side like she was soothing a baby in her arms. While focused on Garran, her natural smile elongated until I could see not only her top teeth but a set of pink gums, but when she brought her eyes to meet mine, her smile vanished and her eyes narrowed.

  “What did you say to her?”

  “I thanked her again for bringing me to you. She is taking a great risk in doing so. She broke a family oath and tradition. If anyone f
inds out about it, she will probably be dismissed from her position at the palace and disowned.”

  “Why is she willing to jeopardize so much for me?” I asked.

  “She’s not doing this for you; she’s doing it for me.” Garran shifted his eyes to Lestra and then back to me. “I recently learned that she’s not only my servant, she’s also my protector.”

  Protector? Lestra was half his weight and at least six inches shorter when it came to height. She couldn’t protect him anymore than I could. Maybe there was more going on, but if there was, I didn’t care. I was going home!

  “So, um, how long will it take to get there?” I asked as my heart leaped.

  “About thirty-six Earth hours, but first we have to make it to the ship without getting caught.”

  We entered the wall, the block of stone locking back in place behind us with a thud. Taking the lead, Lestra jogged ahead of us, and Garran and I matched her pace, only slowing when the passage thinned at each turn, and we had to sidestep to make it through.

  “How much farther?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. I haven’t gone this way through the walls before. Lestra’s taking us to the other side of the lab where a cruiser’s parked outside.”

  “So we’re going outside?”

  “Yes, we have to, but you’re exposure to Enestia’s radiation will be minimal. The suns are down, and we’ll be free from Enestia’s atmosphere within minutes after takeoff.”

  As we came to a stop two turns later, the toe of my right foot hit the wall, and Garran caught me by the waist mid-stumble while I regained my balance. Lestra spun around, the hair I imagined on her head, flipping over one shoulder. She said something to Garran, and a moment later, her badge illuminated, a swirl of wind whipped through the tunnel walls, and the hidden door started to open.

  “Does yours do that, too?” I said, while the block of wall disengaged and slowly turned. I ran my fingertips across the pattern of jewels on Garran’s brooch, a design that closely mirrored the turns of gold thread on his tunic and of his tattoo.

  “No, mine is not a key to the tunnels. It holds no magic.” The jewels sparkled in the soft light radiating up from the floor. “I should have left it in my quarters.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m not very proud of my heritage right now,” said Garran, his eyes fixed straight ahead as the wall wedged open just enough for Lestra to hook it with her hand.

  A spattering of rain hit the floor at Lestra’s feet as she peered through the opening and whispered to Garran. I laid my hand against the center of Garran’s warm chest. There was no heartbeat to detect, just the expansion of shell with each breath, the air escaping his nostrils making a pleasant sound, a deep, almost inaudible whistle.

  “There’s one guard by the cruiser,” he translated, bringing his lips to my ear.

  I pulled the hood of my tunic onto my head, tucking my hair away until it disappeared into the back of it.

  “Do I look like an Enestian?” I smiled.

  “No, you are too beautiful to be an Enestian,” he answered, adjusting his own hood. In the soft light of the tunnel, he could have been mistaken for a human, though his knight’s eyes glimmered bright blue with dots of fiery yellow.

  “Ready?” asked Garran.

  “Ready,” I answered with a deep, anxious breath.

  Lestra released the door, and it opened completely, teetering in its frame, my vision blurred by a blast of air when I looked over my shoulder as the door released behind us. Garran locked his arm with mine, and we stepped into the gusty night air.

  Rain fell in angled ropes in a barrage of water globules bigger than I’d ever seen, and when I lifted my head to peek at the Enestian landscape, my face stung with the smack of a dozen heavy drops.

  Three buildings loomed before us, all bright white and smooth with domed roofs, their exteriors covered with large sheets of thick material reminding me of an Enestian’s shell. A fringe of magnificent trees towered beyond and above, rows and rows of thick greenery, a tapestry of botanical magic.

  “There’s the ship.” Garran pointed to a black, angular object in the distance. A tall figure stood next to it with his back to the lab. “Don’t worry. I have a plan,” he said, interlacing his fingers with mine.

  We crept toward the ship, my shoes sinking into soft pads of jessom moss that dotted the ground. “But I don’t want the guard to see us yet,” Garran whispered with breath as sweet as the moss itself.

  We approached, the patter of rain drowning the sound of our footsteps. The guard remained still and unsuspecting, but just as Garran was about to announce our presence, another figure emerged from the lab.

  Chapter Thirty

  Garran

  “What are you doing out here?” said Murelle, appearing from a side exit of the lab.

  Not again. Damn her. “None of your business.” I brought America’s hand of skin down to my side and behind my legs to hide it. America lowered her head to hide her face in the folds of her hood. “But I have a better question. What are you doing out here, Murelle?”

  “Spying on you again,” she answered proudly. “You and Lestra are up to something, and it’s not just screwing around. I think it has something to do with our father’s research. Why are you suddenly interested in the lab, and who’s that?” She pointed at America. America’s head was lowered, hidden by shadow and a curtain of heavy rain.

  “It’s none of your concern. Go back to bed, Murelle, and take that stupid bird with you!”

  A squawk came next. Murelle gave her bird’s shell a stroke, and it settled down, sidestepping on her shoulder to wedge under her tunic hood and get closer to her neck.

  “Actually, I don’t have anything better to do, so why don’t you just go ahead and explain yourself to me,” she answered, her foot tapping against a patch of spongy moss.

  Murelle’s face flashed purple in the outdoor lights as their beams expanded from the corners of the lab and stretched to illuminate our path to the cruiser. Wearing shell powder at one in the morning? What was she up to?

  “Get out of my way!” I said under my breath, knocking her shoulder with mine as I passed.

  “You are in such a hurry to go where?” Murelle ran up behind me, and her bird gave another ear-breaking call.

  Now there were two obstacles facing America, me, and our freedom: Murelle, and the stationed guard, who finally turned in our direction but oddly remained at his post. Even if Lestra and I could trick the guard into letting us take the ship as planned, Murelle would put a stop to it by calling our father.

  “So,” continued Murelle, racing up behind us. “What are you doing out here, palace maid? My brother won’t answer me, but you better explain yourself to me right now.”

  Lestra’s response was to keep walking briskly and drop her head.

  “I think I’ll just call our father right now and let him know where you’re at, big brother.” In a cruel tease, she motioned like she was going to activate her communication cuff. She had me. Wrestling her to the ground and deactivating her cuff wasn’t an option—at least not with the guard only yards away.

  “Well, you got me, Murelle. I have no choice but to finally tell you what we’re up to, and maybe if there’s a bit of sympathy in your heart, a little speck somewhere hidden deep within, you’ll walk away from here quietly and go back to bed without telling anyone that you saw us tonight.”

  The shell around her mouth twisted, and her foot tapping stopped. With my left hand, I put my fingers under America’s chin and gently lifted her head, revealing a face of skin that shone light blue through the artificial light and heavy rain. America smiled, looking up from under her eyelashes.

  “Who is that?” asked America, blinking away the rain spattering toward her face.

  “Princess Murelle.”

  “She’s beautiful,” said America.

  Murelle’s lightly glittered face, a pale purple, matched the trail of jewels epoxied to the top of her hand, gems that spark
led despite the rain as she gathered the fabric of her hood under her chin and held it there.

  “Your sister,” America continued. “So she speaks…”

  “Yes,” I said.

  The clouds shifted and the rain quickly petered to a light sprinkle that was refreshing rather than annoying. America pulled her hood back just enough for her entire face to show.

  “Hello, my name is America.”

  “She’s a…” Murelle choked in English.

  “A human. She’s our father’s last abduction. I need to take her back to Earth where she belongs. I’m taking the cruiser.”

  Murelle took a step toward America and reached out her hand. “Skin,” she said.

  “Yes, skin instead of shell,” said America. Her soft lips curved to a smile, and Murelle’s hard lips turned upward in a grin of wonder and curiosity.

  “Other than that, she is no different than you, me, or any other Enestian, for that matter,” I said.

  Murelle brought her index finger to America’s cheek, but when her finger met its mark, Murelle flinched and withdrew.

  “Don’t be afraid of me,” said America.

  “She’s no longer under quarantine. Father has already examined her twice,” I added. “And that’s why I need to take her from here. The next time he will”—I gulped—“she will not survive the next time.”

  America took Murelle’s hand, and Bell jumped from Murelle’s shoulder to America’s and buried herself in the folds of America’s hood.

  “Bell,” said Murelle. “She never does that. She doesn’t like anyone except…”

  “Bell, what a cute name,” said America. She stroked Bell’s layers of shells. “They are like the scales on a fish.” The skin between her eyes wrinkled as she studied Murelle’s pet.

  And at that moment, Bell caressed its wet head under America’s jaw, nuzzling her beak against America’s neck.