Wind Runner: The Complete Collection

by Edmund Hughes

  Tapestry watched him for a couple of seconds. She looked concerned and worried. Malcolm wanted to yell at her, to make her understand that he didn’t deserve her sympathy anymore. He was a demon, dangerous, uncontrolled, and out of place.

  He found it odd that he could have such a thought, as a demon. It was one of many oddities he’d noticed about his transformation. As far as Malcolm could tell, he wasn’t suffering any major memory loss. And unless it had happened while he was unconscious in the suit, he hadn’t suffered a breakout episode in the same way many other monsters did.

  Second Wind turned into a sociopath when he became a demon and tried to destroy the world. Why am I not being pulled down that same path?

  Malcolm wondered if it was because of the circumstances, or his personality, or perhaps a combination of both. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he’d lost his abilities, and gone from essentially being a human at baseline directly into demonhood. He was still wondering when Tapestry reached a finger out and poked him in the cheek.

  “Quit doing that,” she said.

  “Doing what?”

  “Thinking so much.” She sighed. “What we need to be doing right now is moving forward. Not getting stuck on the details of our less than perfect situation.”

  They ate their food in silence after that. Malcolm wasn’t sure what time it was, or if that even mattered in space, but he was tired, and so was Tapestry. He hesitated after the meal instead of following her into the crew quarters, wondering if he should find somewhere else to sleep. Tapestry came to confront him at the edge of the connecting hatch.

  “You’re such a boy,” she said.

  Malcolm shook his head.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You don’t even have a clue.” She folded her arms, her eyes appraising him flatly. “Don’t you think I’d be able to tell if there was something fundamentally wrong, or broken in you, now that you’re a… demon?”

  Malcolm felt his face flush at her words.

  “Actually, I don’t think that,” said Malcolm. “And I don’t think it’s fair to assume that just because I’m controlled and collected right now, I’m always going to be!”

  He felt anger rising in his chest, but it wasn’t for her, or even himself. It was vague and open, anger at the world. Anger at fate.

  “And it isn’t about whether I’m broken or not,” said Malcolm. “It’s about what I’m putting you through. And all the ways I can imagine accidentally making you suffer, because of what I am now.”

  Tapestry floated over to him. Her eyes never left his as she moved. Malcolm was suddenly aware of her again. He’d forced himself not to be after coming back in through the airlock, but he could see her now. Her body, her face. He could feel her emotions. He knew that she was going to kiss him.

  And she did. Malcolm let her melt her body into his, and kissed her back. It was such a strange sensation in zero gravity, familiar but new. And along with it came a rush of emotion, none of them new, but all of them stronger than he remembered.

  Is this what Rose felt when she kissed me? Are deeper emotions just part of being a monster?

  If they were, Tapestry was also sharing in them. She had a stunned look in her eyes as their kiss ended. Malcolm realized that one of his hands had drifted to grope at her butt, and the other held her securely by the waist, as though he was planning to rip her jumpsuit to shreds, rather than taking it off her properly.

  Tapestry blushed. Her eyes took on a curious quality, and she reached out to his face with her hands, her fingers tracing along the bumps on his skull.

  “Do they hurt?” she whispered.

  “No,” said Malcolm. “They don’t feel like anything.”

  Tapestry floated up a couple of inches and planted a kiss along his crown. Malcolm took the opportunity to slide the zipper of her jumpsuit down a couple of inches, revealing the cleavage of her breasts.

  He let his lips glide along her neck, and Tapestry let out a soft sigh. They kissed again, passion building as their bodies pulled together, grinding into each other. Malcolm unzipped Tapestry further and discovered that bras weren’t mandatory in space. He ran his thumb over one of her pink nipples. Tapestry shivered, her cheeks turning red.

  A sudden rush of emotion clouded Malcolm’s senses. He kissed Tapestry again, pressing himself hungrily against her. He felt Tapestry opening herself to him, relenting in the face of his hot, sexual aggression. He slid her jumpsuit down further, pulling his own off, along with his boxers.

  And then, his head bumped into the ceiling. Malcolm grimaced and rubbed the point of contact, temporarily distracted from the eroticism of the moment. Tapestry looked like she was holding back laughter.

  “It might be tricky, if we’re both free floating,” she said. Malcolm watched as she pushed off from the ceiling, floating naked through the room and over to one of the tethered sleeping bags. “Care to join me?”

  She slid into the bag, and Malcolm rushed to follow her. It was a tight fit, but that only served to reignite the fire of lust burning inside of him. Tapestry tightened the draw string, locking them both in, and within seconds, Malcolm was sliding the tip of his shaft into her.

  “Oh…” moaned Tapestry. “Oh god!”

  There was a dirty, guilty quality to her voice, as though she couldn’t believe what she was doing. Malcolm understood it on more than one level. She’d sworn herself off him after all the lies and deceit, and she also still held the values of the Champion Authority, her conviction in fighting against demons and sprytes.

  Now a demon is fucking her. And not just any demon.

  Malcolm felt his need urging him forward, but there was more to the encounter than just primal instincts. Tapestry was offering more than just her naked body to him. She was offering him absolution, in a sense. A second chance at proving that he was someone worth believing in.

  The bag held them in place as Malcolm pushed into her, punctuating each rough thrust with a soft kiss. Tapestry barely had room to wrap her legs around him. It was a strange sensation, having her in that position, but not needing to support her weight. It let Malcolm take his time, and focus on what he was doing.

  He let his hands trace over the contours of her breasts, grinding his shaft forward to stimulate her as much as possible. Tapestry was breathing heavily, soft gasps occasionally stealing past her lips. He kissed her neck, inhaling her scent as he enjoyed every inch of her body.

  They were both moving, swaying back and forth in the bag like a wind sock wavering in a breeze. Tapestry was no longer making any attempt to control her moans. Malcolm groped at her breasts and kissed her deeply, pulling back right as they both reached their limits.

  In that moment of shared ecstasy, Tapestry forced him to hold her gaze. He tried to glance away, feeling suddenly ashamed at the way he’d pushed so far forward back into sexual territory. Tapestry cupped her cheek in her hands and made him look at her.

  She has me. For her, I’ll keep myself from ever losing control.

  CHAPTER 26

  Certain aspects of sex in space weren’t glamorous. The interesting positions raised by the possibility of zero gravity were counterbalanced by the annoyance of dealing with the reality of moisture and fluids. Malcolm and Tapestry abandoned the bag they’d been sharing in the ship’s washing machine within the bathroom after discovering that particular reality.

  They slept in separate sleeping bags, though they drifted close by each other. It was the most restful sleep Malcolm had experienced in months.

  Tapestry announced to him the next morning that the ship was nearing position for the Europa landing. She told him that ground control had decided that only one of them should take the lander down, even though the mission had originally planned for two to be inside the small moon craft.

  “I’ll do it,” said Malcolm. “I’ve already experienced being inside a spacesuit once. It just makes more sense.”

  He expected Tapestry to protest, but instead, she
nodded in agreement.

  “I think so too.” She frowned, looking worried. “Just… be careful. The last time you went outside the ship…”

  I came back as a demon.

  “Yeah, I think that can only happen once,” he said, with a smile. “Also, I’m pretty sure I’ve burned through my supply of bad luck for the mission.”

  The only thing they had left to wait on was for the tiny orbital probes Tapestry had released at ground control’s behest to find Savior’s exact location. The moon was large, but small enough for the task to not be quite as daunting as it had originally sounded. Within a couple of hours, Tapestry informed him that they’d found what appeared to be Savior near one of Europa’s equatorial regions.

  “And he’s still alive?” asked Malcolm, voicing the fear that he was sure Tapestry also shared.

  “There’s no way to tell,” said Tapestry. “He’s just a dot on the sensors to the orbital probes.”

  “Well, we can at least hope,” said Malcolm. “This is Savior we’re talking about.”

  He thought back to the time he’d spent with the leader of the Champion Authority. Savior had been immune to essentially everything. Malcolm smiled a little as he thought about how that immunity had also seemed to extend to Savior’s public persona, his social and political gaffes never doing more than entertaining anyone who witnessed them.

  Another hour went by before the orbital probes returned with confirmation of Savior’s location, and then it took another two for the ship to orbit around into position. Tapestry busied herself in the cockpit, poring over ground control’s instructions. When it was time, Malcolm heard her voice over the intercom.

  “We have to do it now, Malcolm,” she said. “Get a space suit on and get yourself into the lander.”

  Still as bossy as ever.

  He picked a different suit than the damaged one he’d worn during his spacewalk. Tapestry came into the back of the ship to help him put it on, which he appreciated. Pulling the helmet in place triggered a sudden anxiety in him, fear leftover from what he’d felt while floating aimlessly through the void.

  “You can do this,” said Tapestry. “I’ll still be within quick radio contact. All you need to do is ride the lander down, find Savior, and ride it back up. He should be within sight of wherever you touch down.”

  “Got it.”

  He climbed into the lander, which was attached to the side of the airlock. Tapestry sealed the door behind him using the controls in the cockpit. It was a cramped vessel, with a battery of controls that Malcolm didn’t know the function of and a small, circular viewport that looked out over Europa and Jupiter.

  The view was breath taking, but not just for its beauty. The blackness of space meant something new to him after what he’d been though in his spacewalk. His palms began to sweat, and his heart fluttered with panic. It was the opposite of claustrophobia, a deep, not so irrational fear of being lost to the immensity of open space.

  “Malcolm?” asked Tapestry. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine,” he lied. “Can you see my heart rate?”

  “I can see all your vitals,” she said. “I’m closing the door to the airlock and depressurizing it, as launch procedure dictates. You’ll be detaching shortly.”

  Malcolm nodded, though of course, Tapestry couldn’t see the movement. He barely listened as she went through several other protocols, too distracted by what he could see outside the viewport. It felt as though he was preparing to face his own death.

  Nothing will go wrong this time. I won’t even be in space, just on Europa and in the lander.

  “Are you ready Malcolm?” asked Tapestry, over the speaker in his helmet.

  “More than ready,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  “Alright. Good luck.”

  There was the noise of a lock releasing, and then the lander was moving freely, falling away from the main ship. Messages streamed across one of the screens on the control console to his side. Tapestry had explained to him that most of the landing was automated, so there was very little for him to do when it came to “flying” the lander.

  It fell toward Europa at a swift rate, the moon growing brighter and bigger as he approached its grand visage from space. He hadn’t been on the ship during its launch from Earth, so he’d never gotten a chance to see his own planet like this, a chance to really appreciate the scale of it.

  Europa was huge, a moon, but also a world. The idea of finding a single man on its surface suddenly seemed like a ludicrous task. Malcolm tried to push the thought away, knowing that it was the worst possible time for him to be having such doubts.

  Tiny rockets in the feet of the lander ignited as it began to pick up real speed, slowing his descent. The gravity was less than Earth’s, less than Luna, even, but still enough to make gliding down necessary.

  More details of Europa’s surface began to come into view. It was a massive sheet of ice, with cracks in places, and thermal vents releasing vapor in others. Though the lander was descending toward a flat, open plain, Malcolm still felt fear prickle his neck as he imagined what would happen if he accidentally landed in one of the cracks.

  Scientists had long theorized that underneath Europa’s ice could exist an entire ocean of life. Malcolm was looking for life on top of it, for a single living organism to bring back to Earth. And he desperately hoped that he’d be able to find him.

  CHAPTER 27

  The lander bounced on the ice as it touched down. Malcolm could hear Tapestry’s voice in his ear, though she was muttering to herself more than speaking to him. She read from a checklist, asking him for info on a dozen different stats from the command display before sounding satisfied that the landing had gone off without a hitch.

  “Malcolm?” she called, over the speaker. “Are you ready?”

  “About as ready as I’ll ever be,” he said.

  “Once the lander depressurizes and opens its door, it stays open until you come back with Savior,” she said. “There’s no point in pressurizing it with nobody inside. This will make it easier when it comes time for you to leave, but it also means that the oxygen in your suit is all you have to breathe for the entire search.”

  Malcolm took a calming breath, trying and failing to keep his thoughts away from the last time he’d been in his suit, reliant on a tiny supply of oxygen.

  “Let’s just get this over with,” he said. “This is what needs to be done. I’ll go out there and do it.”

  “Good,” said Tapestry. “Good luck. And… please come back alive. The spaceship is lonely without you.”

  She said the last sentence in a flirtatious tone, and Malcolm had to admit, it helped cheer him up.

  “I will,” he said.

  Tapestry depressurized the lander’s compartment and opened the door leading outside. Malcolm made his way to the edge, where a small, metal staircase had unfolded to make it easier for him to climb down.

  “I feel like I should say something,” said Malcolm. “And I need to make these words count, don’t I? First man on Europa…”

  “Savior was the first man on Europa,” said Tapestry. “Don’t waste time.”

  “You are the queen of wet blankets.”

  He hopped down from the lander, not feeling the need to take the stairs. His stomach lurched as he slowly descended. The sensation was strange, and the light tug of gravity was noticeable, but nowhere near the strength of Earth’s. When he landed, he felt the slick ice beneath his feet.

  “Alright,” said Malcolm. “Where am I headed?”

  “He should be to the northeast,” said Tapestry. “There is a compass built into the heads up display in your helmet.”

  Malcolm grunted his acknowledgement and set off. It made more sense for him to take wide, leaping steps. He briefly pushed his awareness out to see if there was enough of an atmosphere on Europa for him to use his wind manipulation, but the air was just too thin for it to work.

  He was on the side of the moon facing the sun, and
there was plenty of light to see by. Still, Malcolm didn’t see Savior right away, as the cracks in the ice made visibility difficult. He moved slowly, checking in with Tapestry and the compass to make sure he was still on course. He was beginning to think that the probes had been wrong when he finally spotted him.

  The body of a man in his mid-fifties, with salt and pepper hair and a clean-shaven face, lay prone on the ice. Malcolm’s heart sank as he drew closer and noticed the bluish tone to the man’s skin. Savior was dead, and the disappointment Malcolm felt made him question every decision he’d made over the past few days.

  “I found him, Tapestry.” The tone of his voice as he spoke the words said more than the actual words. Tapestry let out a discouraged sigh and said nothing.

  Malcolm drew closer to Savior’s body, part of him denying the truth of what he was seeing. With his powers, Savior should technically have been able to survive Europa’s harsh cold and thin atmosphere indefinitely. Of course, he’d have to use them constantly in order to do it. Malcolm wondered if the strain of attempting such a feat for months on end had grown to be too much for him.

  He frowned, noticing that there were scratches on the ice next to Savior’s body. Scratches that formed letters, and sentences. Some of it had been covered by a thin layer of windblown ice shards, but Malcolm brushed it aside, revealing Savior’s last message to the world.

  “Worst. Vacation. Ever. Send me to a tropical planet next time, preferably one with those tasty drinks with the tiny umbrellas. I did try to hold on, for what it’s worth. It wasn’t the strain that got to me, but the boredom. In the end, the one-person Savior couldn’t save was himself. How ironic.

  Please don’t let the people give up without me. I die in peace only because I have hope that the world is strong enough to go on.

  Dennis “Savior” Mathers”

  The words contained enough of Savior’s quirky sense of humor to make the reality of his death all the more real. Malcolm let out a slow, shaky sigh, wishing that he’d held on for just a little longer. He wondered if maybe Savior deserved some rest, even if he only found it in death.