Exodus

by Toasha Jiordano

  I send a blast of shadows at him; enough to let him know now’s not the time.

  Despite myself, it’s working. The buzzing electricity that had been jumping down my arms is simmering. It would be just my luck to be stranded on a ship in Stone knows where and get struck down by a heart attack. But, as always, Howie knows what I need, even when I don’t.

  As evidenced by his next transmission, which doesn’t come for a while. He gives me plenty of mental space, hanging out just far enough away to be there but not. Felt but not forced.

  //You gonna help me get out of this pod or what?//

  ###

  //How flexible is it?// I ask, sweat running down the back of my neck.

  We’ve been at it for hours with no break. My knees are killing me as I squat behind the radiant oven. Hoses, nuts, and bolts are scattered in a circle around me. In my frustration, I still laugh at what this would look like if someone happened to walk in on me. Some sort of sacrifice to the slop gods.

  Who knew fashioning a rebreathing machine from Howie’s pod would be difficult?

  //It’s flimsy, but… // Howie sends a mental snapshot of the access panel cover. //It’s metal. I don’t think I want that around my mouth.//

  I physically bite my tongue to keep the snide comment from escaping through my mind. Hours. No break. I remind myself how much harder it must be for him, stuck in that coffin-like pod. I sigh and it echoes around the vast kitchen.

  //What are you wearing?// I ask.

  A demure gasp shoots through our connection. //Why, I never!//

  Instead of responding verbally, I stare into the oven’s side panel and transmit my unamused reflection.

  After a brief laughing spell, which does crack my scowl a nanometer, Howie says, //Too much for what you’re thinking. I threw a wetsuit-looking thing on me and Brooks when the alarms sounded. Don’t know what it does, but I figured it was important.//

  //Probably belonged to the Oceanic crew. Rip your undershirt and make a lining for the mask.//

  //These aliens are gonna think humans are dumb if they see me in full SCUBA gear in a desert.//

  //No, they’ll just think you are.// The oven panels bend easily for me and I attach the clear hosing to both corners. Then I send the image to Howie. //Look on the bright side. You’ll be the first human to hear alien laughter.//

  He sends back a picture of himself with the metal square formed to his mouth and nose. Bright green eyes stare back at me and I’m almost too distracted to hear him say, //If I run into any aliens, they better be the cute fuzzy type.//

  ###

  Four more hours later, we’re ready. Howie sends one last shot of himself in the space wetsuit, posing as suggestively as his pod will allow.

  //You sure?// Frayed nerves take over as the thought of him unsealing that pod all alone and so far away…

  //I’m sure. It’s bright outside. I can see fine. And I have you here with me.//

  I feel, rather than see or hear, him tap on his chip. As if there’s a physical tether between us, reverberating with our bond. Whatever happened to us during the meld, it’s… more… now. Something undeniable. I welcome it now, not letting pride come between us ever again.

  //Alright, stop with all the mush. Gotta get my head in the game.// Howie teases, but I feel the warmth rising in his cheeks. Not quite ‘our’ cheeks like the meld, whatever intense coupling caused me to wake from hibernation.

  No, it’s not that, but… just barely not. This newfound link will take some getting used to.

  //Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you.// His words are comforting, in words only. His tone, and new flash of heat radiating through both our bodies, betrays his ulterior motive.

  //Let’s figure out how to get in the same galaxy as each other first. Then we’ll figure out what you can’t hold against me.// My stupid heart flutters at the thought and Howie chuckles.

  Then he rips the lid off his pod like a bandage.

  I gasp for him, holding my breath, begging him to say something. Years of seconds tick by with nothing, not even a tug at the end of our meld link. Familiar pressure builds in my head, throbbing and drumming my ears. My lungs quiver and I let out a tiny bubble of air to relieve the ache in my chest.

  //It’s hot out here!// Howie finally says, and I immediately feel the intense burning heat on my own body.

  I release the breath along with a slew of choice words in his direction.

  He just laughs. //I’m fine. But seriously, it’s hot. I want to take this suit off.//

  Through our connection I get a clear impression of him peeling the suit away like a snake shedding its skin. //Wait!// I yell, although… the sight of it clinging to his every curve makes me want to scream ‘keep going!’

  //What?// Unfortunately, Howie stops unzipping.

  //You don’t know about the atmosphere. The whole point of the rebreather —//

  //Fine. I know. It’s just... // A wide smile spreads across his face. //It seems we both want me out of this suit.//

  The heat radiating off my body this time is not from our meld. //Keep talking. I’ll hack your chip and make you unplug.// I cross my arms and send him a blazing hot image of it.

  I feel him examining my image, taking his sweet time, before finally adding, //I like the new hair by the way. It’s you again.//

  I don’t respond, don’t risk broadcasting my thoughts on looking like a girl again. The vision fades and our bond fills with darkness again.

  Howie leaves the zipper alone and proceeds to scan the terrain around him. With our com open, it’s almost like I’m there with him.

  Everything is spattered in red from the dying star above. Deep dark crimson shadows breathe into softer, almost pink swirls of sand atop the hills. It’s breathtaking.

  Twisted burgundy trees sparsely line the horizon. No leaves sprout from the gnarled branches, either burned away by the atmosphere, or… Howie’s in a world of trouble if this is the dead of winter on his planet. He’s already panting after a couple minutes out in the heat.

  It’s hard to measure distance through the meld’s foggy remnants, but the trees look to be a day’s hike away, or more. That’s too far in these conditions, and without water. Howie needs shelter, fast.

  Something moves under his feet, like a fish bumping the bottom of a boat, and the ground comes up fast in my new field of vision.

  //Howie!// Again I'm gasping for air, turning my head this way and that to get the burning sand out of my mouth. It's not there, not really. So why can I taste it? Iron and grit scraping against my teeth.

  //Ugh gross.// Howie pushes himself off the ground, even as the fish bumps continue. Wherever he moves, there's an underground bump.

  //Can you see it?// I'm jumping all over the cafeteria, trying to escape his attackers. For the first time, I'm glad I'm the only one awake.

  //No, I… I think it's more than one. They're everywhere!//

  Our panic feeds off each other. Both heartbeats pound in our ears, just enough out of sync to hear separately, and way too fast. I want to run, in the next second, Howie is, back to the pod. He reaches it in a matter of seconds.

  //My suit is freaking out!// He looks down at his arms and legs, now tucked safely back in their cocoon. The stripes wrapping around his limbs glow bright red and orange, a sharp contrast to the serene pale blue of earlier.

  //Just breathe. I'll see what it means. Breathe.// I tell both of us.

  When his breathing returns to normal he sends me a scan of his surroundings. It pushes past the Oceanic manual I've pulled up in my chip. I try to shove it away, but he nudges it to me again. //Look.//

  There's a rhythm to the bumps. Every few inches a wave of sleek black rises out of the sand, and glides back down. It gives the impression that the earth itself is breathing. Is it earth if he’s not on Earth? It seems we both have the thought at the same time.

  Howie leans closer, and we watch it swim toward us, then out to the dunes, like sharks circling their pre
y. Only, it looks to be one massive creature. It's so synchronized.

  //Electricity.// I say.

  //Huh?//

  //Your suit was losing its charge. When it turns red it's draining.//

  //Great, I got a wonky suit.//

  //Hey, you said that was a compliment! All this time — //

  //Wonk is a compliment. Wonky is… I'm screwed.// He deflates before my eyes.

  //No, you're fine. You're blue again.//

  Howie sighs and inspects his suit more closely. The bands are all bright blue, darker than when he first showed me. His body temperature has returned to normal, also. The pod’s lid is still open. The outside temperature hasn't changed.

  //I think the suit regulates your temp. When you lost charge, the heat was worse.//

  //So I can't be more than four hours from the pod, ever.//

  //No, not ever. We need to see what's around you first. There could be people right over that ridge. We just have to get there.//

  //I.//

  //Don't be like that. I'll always be with you.//

  He says nothing. I feel him rousing his courage. It wells inside me, calling me to action. I want to run or jump or do… something! Anything but sit here and watch. “Let's go!” I don't know if he chipped it it or if I said it. Maybe both. But before the words are out of our mouth, he's on the ground, sprinting.

  His feet seem to run above the sand, never touching. He can't keep that momentum going long. Soon his feet are touching the sand and dragging below. It doesn't take long before the bumping starts again. The snake-like creature swirls around him, definitely circling.

  Bump bump bump.

  The tree line is too far. The heat is rising again and Howie brings his arm up to his face. Orange. The bands are already changing color. We look down at his legs and they're worse.

  Bump bump bump.

  I'm about to tell Howie to run faster when I see that he didn't wait for my permission. Within seconds he's back in the pod, breathing heavy and slamming a fist into the side panel. //Four hours? That wasn't even four minutes!// he yells, not necessarily at me.

  //You need water.//

  //Tell me about it. I'm still spitting out sand paste.//

  //Share your feed with me, I want to see everything.//

  Before our chips sync, I feel Howie's eyebrows raised in that smirk begin to grow.

  //Seriously?//

  //You said everything.// His syrupy sweet words tickle my ears.

  //Even on your deathbed you’re —// I climb down off the table I’d jumped on to get away from the creatures, and force myself to calm for him. I push sarcasm into my voice and into his mind.

  //Yes. Absolutely. Let's get that on the record right now. Even on my deathbed, with every bone in my body broken yes. That's what I'll be thinking about.//

  //Boys.//

  //Well, you need to learn how we think if you're gonna be one of us.//

  //I'll keep that in mind, but first, show me the terrain.//

  But he doesn't. Like a petulant child, the link is held just out of reach. //I'm waiting.// The sing-song tone makes me laugh despite our dire situations.

  I know what he wants, but two can play at this game. //Deal. Only on your deathbed. If I'm one hundred percent sure you're done for. And if we happen to be in the same galaxy.//

  //Aww, man. Nice guys finish last again.//

  We are both laughing now. //You know I'm a sucker for bad boys. Now send me that feed before your deathbed happens now.//

  //That's not what I heard,// he teases. //When you and lover boy we're going at it you missed me.// The last sentence drags out over the airwaves as the feed finally clicks in place.

  I don't dignify that with a response, and try my damndest not to broadcast my rising temperature.

  //I miss you.// He says it with such… despair, my breath catches in my throat.

  //I'm right here. We are closer than ever now.// I tap my chip and send him the image. //Whatever happened in that crash, when you woke me up, we're one. You will never be alone again.// I lie. I feel it too. The need to reach out and touch someone. Touch him. All the wasted time I spent in fear of intimacy, especially after… what happened in those woods. I should have clung to him, told him everything, made him feel as safe and warm as he made me feel. Always.

  Always.

  I blink back the tears that blur my vision, turning Howie's red desert into a swimming mass.

  //When I get back to you, I will show you how much you mean to me. You and Brooks, both. In… different ways of course.// He falters. //Everything you just said and so much more.// The bright green ring around his deep emerald eyes shimmers with unspeakable emotion. Somehow I feel them more than see them, but in my mind's eye, they're right in front of me. He's right in front of me. Close enough to touch, but not. An apparition.

  Tears burn my eyes again and the image of his terrain swims even more. I cling to the edge of my seat as if it’s him.

  //I don't think it's your connection messing up,// Howie says. His voice is raspy and he clears his throat. //I think it's them. Or it. Whatever's under the sand.//

  The video stream becomes cleaner, more vivid. And the sand is, indeed, swimming… on its own. //It can't be just one.// Howie says, and scans the horizon. Hundreds of undulating lumps rise and fall across the red desert. They're all in rhythm, like before, but not quite in sync. Not that far out.//

  //Hive mind,// I tell him. //Like ants. Only… //

  //Only giant snakes that want to eat me.//

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

  The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!

  - Lewis Carroll

  //We need to get you to those trees somehow.// Laying on my bed, I'm scanning the horizon on Howie’s world while he runs a diagnostics test on his suit. With our stronger link, I have a better understanding of his world. It's Earthlike-enough. There are trees, which we hope means oxygen. Neither of us is willing to risk it just yet. They’re too far off in the distance to be sure they work the same as our trees.

  The same with the cactusy things scattered around the pod. At least they look like cactuses… cacti? We can't agree on that. But they are definitely plants that look like cactuses. I don't care. It's easier to say this way. Tall oblong cactuses with other round cactuses growing out of them. Of course, they're red, like everything else on his planet. We won't know what color they really are until he gets closer. But if they look close enough to Earth cactuses and Earth trees, and Stone I hope they are, then Howie might be okay until I get to him.

  A firm //No,// plays through my mind and Howie's face appears in front of me, blocking everything else in his world and mine from my view. //You aren't coming here.//

  //Move, I'm trying to get a good look at the cactuses.//

  //Cacti.// He glares at me for a moment, then sets his video feed loop back to the cactuses in the distance.

  I can't stop myself from thinking it, even… even if we both know I'm going to Gliese. To Brooks. But after…

  Red hot anger pushes into my chip.

  //Alright, I'll focus,// I concede. Boys.

  //I was a man long before any of this started.// Howie interrupts my loop again to send a new faster scan around the desert. //I've done time.// He pretends to wear it like a badge of honor.

  //Go back.//

  //No!// The veil falls and I feel his terror. What he went through in that place.

  //No, not back there. Back, to where you just showed me.//

  Howie returns me to a live feed. //What is it?// He scans slowly now, enough to almost count the grains of fine powdery sand.

  //I don't know. A shadow, maybe. I'm not sure.//

  //A little one I hope.//

  //It was too fast.//

  Howie takes a deep, rattling breath. //I suppose this is the part where the man would charge forward, brave the unknown.//

  //No, wonk,// I reassure him, and feel his tension lift. //This is the part wher
e a real man takes his time and acts carefully. To make sure he stays in one piece long enough to come back to his family.//

  Instead of taking the bait I just laid up for him with that family comment, he says, //It was a big shadow.//

  Truth is, I don't know. It could have easily been a trick of the low light or the motion of scanning across the dunes. Either way, no sense worrying about it.

  //Yeah,// Howie answers my thoughts, //plenty of other stuff to worry about. Howie-eating snakes and all.// After the snark, he sends the read out from his suit. Fully charged and functioning properly. Time for a plan. Which way to go?

  //The cactuses are closer,// I say for the hundredth time.

  //And in the wrong direction.// comes his usual reply.

  //They probably have water or something similar.//

  //For the people on this planet.//

  And so it goes for longer than I care to admit. Me trying to guide him toward possible water and him wanting to make a mad dash to the trees. Neither feels safe, but which is the less sure death?

  Finally, Howie throws his hands up in surrender. //Only because I'll never hear the end of it. And stop gloating!// He adds, as a wall of ego rises between us before I can catch it. //You better hope that thing is really a cactus and I don't get poisoned, or eaten by that snake thing.//

  //We know for sure it will try to eat you when you go the other way. It already has,// I say, totally pushing it.

  ###

  Those beautiful green eyes stare through me before he climbs out of his pod and steps lightly onto the sand below. This is his new plan, and I don’t like it one bit. Disturb the Howie-eating snakes as little as possible. I wish he wouldn't call them that.

  It seems to be working, though, something I know I’ll never hear the end of now. //How's your suit holding up?// Still, I try to distract him from the terrified thoughts running through his head. It’s enough to drive me to the brink of insanity with him. One of us needs to stay calm, so I chatter.

  He gives me a nod then projects a full screenshot of himself in a bodybuilding stance. //Lookin good.//

  //How old are you?// I ask. The image changes back to the path we've mapped out in front of him.