by Andrew Gates
Suddenly Sara realized that Damien was naked too. She placed her hands before her eyes, trying to shield her sights from his groin.
"You better get used to it, Captain. None of us have clothes here," Damien joked.
Sara slowly lowered her hands now as Damien sat down in the sand before her.
"Damien," she said. She stared at him. He was dead, dead as could be. But somehow, here he was.
Suddenly the realization hit her that this was all real. She jumped up from the ground and embraced him before he even knew what was coming. She held her head close to his and felt tears form in her eyes.
"Thank the Lord! Oh, Damien!" Sara cried.
Damien held her tightly.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he said to her.
"I thought you'd died."
"So did I."
Sara pulled away from him and stared into his eyes. She never realized how much she missed the company of others until this moment. This was the most joy she had ever felt in her life.
"I'm so glad to see you. Words can't even describe it!" she said.
"I understand. I never thought I would see you again. Have you been alone all this time?"
Sara nodded her head.
Damien's eyes widened, as if he could hardly believe it.
"Well you're in good company now," he eventually replied with a welcoming grin.
Sara looked past Damien, to the looming creatures at his back. Suddenly her heart beat a bit faster.
"What... what are those?" she asked, pointing.
Damien glanced past his shoulder, then turned to Sara again.
"You haven't seen their kind before?" he asked, as if surprised.
"No."
Damien slowly stood up and motioned to the taller creature with darker skin.
"This is Kho Zozak," he explained. From the tone of his voice, it sounded like none of this was strange to him at all. He motioned to the other one now. "And this is Kal Likus. They are here to help us."
Sara remained seated and stared back at him, not sure how to take this news.
"Sara," Damien continued, seemingly aware that his answer was unsatisfying, "this news may be hard for you to handle, but this species controls the planet now."
Sara blinked in disbelief. It did not seem possible.
"Seriously?"
"Seriously, Captain."
"How... how are you getting along?" she asked.
"Believe it or not, our races have been fighting ever since we came under attack in the Cassidy. But Kal Likus and Kho Zozak are sympathetic toward our people. They have both agreed to help us. Together, we have formed a community. Kal Likus helped us all get here. Kho Zozak only recently joined the group, but I trust him. He left his old life behind to be here. He gave up everything."
"So these creatures are helping you and the other humans?"
"That's right," Damien confirmed.
"Helping you with what?"
Damien lowered his head, paused, then looked at Sara again.
"Helping us to survive," he finally answered. His tone was stern. "This world is dangerous. We are all targets out here."
"Targets?" That word was haunting. "Who would want to kill us?"
"Other Kholvari," Damien replied, "ruors."
"Whats and whats?" Sara needed him to slow down. She could not follow any of this.
"Kholvari, they're like Kho Zozak and Kal Likus."
"The big crab monsters," Sara clarified.
"Right."
"And ruors?"
Damien did not answer this question as quickly. He paused for a moment and took a deep breath.
"The ruors are the reason the Kholvari are so afraid of our kind. They look like us, like humans, but they are anything but human. They're monsters." Those words caused a chill to run up and down her spine. She tried to envision monstrous humanoid creatures.
"Do they really look like us?" she asked.
Damien shrugged.
"I haven't seen them for myself, thank the Lord Beyond Both Seas for that," he answered, "but the Kholvari have told me enough about them."
"Uh... did you say you can talk to the... the... crab people?" Sara could not pronounce the word.
"The Kholvari. Yes, I can."
Well this just keeps getting weirder and weirder.
"How is that possible? Are you like reading their thoughts or something?" she asked, throwing her hands up to the air.
"Actually, it is something like that," Damien replied with a chuckle.
Sara let out a deep sigh of frustration. She did not even want to know more.
"How the heck did you even get here anyway?" she asked, intentionally changing the topic. "I thought you drowned with the Cassidy."
"Still using words like heck, huh? I see your vocabulary hasn't changed one bit," Damien said with a chuckle. "Unfortunately that's a hard question to answer. It's a long story. How about you? What happened to you?"
Sara looked down to the sand and picked up a handful.
"Also a long story," she said as she tossed the sand into the wind.
"Good thing we both have time," Damien replied with a smile on his face.
Sara let out another deep breath. She was about to share her tale, when suddenly one of the other humans standing beneath the trees walked forward, pointing up to the sea above.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that!" she said. The woman trembled.
Sara quickly turned out to face the water. A vehicle, not unlike the ones that used to visit her platform, flew through the air toward their stretch on the beach. It was closing in on them fast.
The other humans immediately retreated to the forest and hid in trees or behind rocks.
"What is it?" Sara wondered.
The large creature called Kho Zozak grunted back.
"He says it’s a Kholvari scout ship," Damien translated. "We need to get back, now!"
Damien grabbed ahold of Sara and pulled her up.
"Why?" she asked as he practically dragged her away.
"Because if they find us, they might not be so kind to us."
"Did we do something to them to make them upset?"
"Yeah," Damien responded with a nod. "We kind of blew up their big spaceship."
"Oh." Sara remembered watching the missile soar through the air and destroy the triangular vessel above. She could never forget that day. Suddenly it all made sense.
"You could say they're fucking pissed at us," Damien elaborated as they entered the forest.
"Watch your language, Damien."
"Sorry, Captain," he replied. They stopped behind a large rock and crouched down. He smiled at her. "Damn, it's good to have you back."
DAMIEN FELT SARA TREMBLE AS they crouched behind the rock. He pushed her down by her shoulders, making sure her entire body was concealed. Her torn tank top was damp and putrid. Damien practically gagged at the smell. He was amazed she was even still wearing it.
When Damien first discovered his former captain on the beach, he thought he had seen a ghost or was experiencing an insane vision. He rubbed his eyes and smacked his face in disbelief. After all, it could not have been real. She was dead. But Likus and Zozak saw her too. That's when Damien knew it wasn't a fantasy.
A thousand questions raced through his mind. How did she survive the Cassidy's destruction? How did she reach the surface? Where had she been for the last few months?
For now, the answers to those questions would have to wait. All that mattered was that she was alive. Damien hoped to keep it that way, though he knew that was easier said than done. He had barely been able to keep himself alive.
As he recalled all too well, his first day on land had been the hardest. When he awoke, Damien’s head stung like it had been ripped apart. He did not know what had caused the pain, whether it was the impact of the escape pod hitting the ground, his brief exposure to the vacuum of space, or simply the shock of standing on solid land for the first time. His vision was blurry, his hands shook, everything hurt.
Through stumbles and crawls, Damien somehow made his way out of the pod and found a clearing within the trees. That grueling moment was still a blur to him. He could hardly recall what had happened, though he remembered puking up a trail of blood somewhere along the way.
Somehow in the mayhem, Xandrie had joined him, beautiful Xandrie.
In all the chaos and confusion, she was the one focal point he could concentrate on. Somehow being near her made everything easier. He could see. He could hear. He could move.
Likus emerged from the pod’s wreckage almost an hour later, damaged and afraid, but alive. The three of them ate whatever they could find, leaves from trees, moss from the ground, they even sucked on blood from their wounds.
Once relatively cognizant, the three of them searched for survivors. The job was not easy one. Pods were scattered across the shoreline like sprinkles tossed onto a cake. Some survivors were still trapped inside. Others wandered freely outside the pods, dazed and confused.
The survivors had never seen the outside world before. For some, the sheer vastness of it all was overwhelming. Damien found people huddled against rocks with their hands before their eyes, others digging holes to sit in, some even remaining in the pods by choice.
One by one, he rallied them together, bringing them to the clearing or recruiting them to join the search party.
He was a leader now. It was up to him to save these people. Otherwise, nobody would.
It took most of the day to rally all the survivors. Once finished, Damien felt so sore he could hardly move. His body was battered and beaten, then pushed to edge.
As day turned to night, the temperature dropped and the great ball of light in the sea above faded from view, casting the world in shadow. Damien huddled with Xandrie for warmth. Their naked bodies pressed against one another.
Xandrie was a real hero. She was there when he needed her. She stood with him every step of the way, helping him to save the others. Together, the two of them were a team.
Damien stared into her eyes and she stared back. There was something magical about her, something he could not explain. He had never felt this way about another person before, so drawn to her, so devoted to her.
Their first night on solid land was the first night they made love. Their bodies, wounded and sore, formed a perfect combination. Damien could no longer feel the pain nor weariness. It was as if it had all disappeared.
The next day, Damien awoke to the smell of cooked meat. Likus had gotten up early to catch some food she called squirrels. He had never tasted anything so perfect in his life.
Now rejuvenated with food, the humans gathered themselves and began forging spears and halving edible balls called coconuts. Damien assigned everyone roles. He put some on watch, some on hunting duty and some to take care of the sick and wounded.
Only a few hours later, the watch was put to the test.
Kho Zozak, the newest member of their community, had arrived. The humans, not knowing how to respond, naturally attacked. Damien had to talk them out of it. They eventually stood down.
Through the translator in his brain, Damien learned that the Kholvari had turned has back on his old world at sea to begin a new journey on the mainland. Zozak immediately pledged his loyalty to the humans. Though others in the group were hesitant to accept him, Damien trusted this Kholvari. Something about the way he spoke seemed genuinely sincere.
Zozak proved himself rather quickly. That day, he gathered more food than any of the others combined. Anyone who had their doubts before were soon converted.
That night, they ate a bountiful feast. Everyone went to sleep satisfied.
Damien and Xandrie stayed up to make love by the firelight. Their bodies, once again, came together perfectly as one. The experience was even more powerful than the last.
It seemed things were finally becoming stable here. A stable life, a stable community.
Only one day later, Sara of the Cassidy X20, the last person Damien would have ever expected, dropped down on the beach.
It was as if fate had come knocking.
Damien was suddenly drawn back to the present as a gust of wind blew against his face. The Kholvari ship hovered over the shore. A roaring engine echoed through the trees. Damien got as low as he could and did his best to hide his breathing. He could hear Likus and Zozak walking down the beach to meet the ship.
Then, in an instant, it all stopped. The wind died down and the engine fell silent.
They've landed.
Damien made out the sound of a hydraulic ramp lowering, followed by the stomping of footsteps across the ramp's metal surface. Once the feet met the sand, the sound became more muted.
Sara trembled next to him. He placed his hand on her shoulder, comfortingly.
"Welcome, travelers!" Kho Zozak said. His voice was loud. Damien wondered if he was projecting on purpose for Damien's sake.
"Thank you for the greeting," another male Kholvari replied. "I am Kho Kquntok. This is Kho Reezad. We are searching for evolved-ones." This speaker was blunt and sounded uninterested in formalities.
"Evolved-ones? Here on the beach?" Zozak did his best to sound surprised, though Damien had heard better acting from a child. Just by listening to the sound of his voice, Damien could tell Zozak was nervous. He hoped these visitors would not notice, though he rather doubted it.
The other Kholvari let out a series of horrific shrieks and roars. Damien found himself covering his ears.
"My name is Kho Zozak and this is Kal Likus," Zozak replied to the shrieking Kholvari.
Zozak can understand him, but I can't, Damien realized. This one must not have a translator chip installed like the others.
"Kal Likus," the first male repeated in a seductive tone. Damien envisioned him eyeing her up as he said this. "It has been planet-cycles since I have seen someone with a shell as light as yours."
The other Kholvari added something that Damien could not understand. He assumed it was nothing but more taunts.
"I am only half-Sorrevhani," Likus said back to them. "My father is Kholvari."
"A half-breed!" the first one exclaimed in excitement. "My, my, you are a rare sort."
Once again, the other Kholvari added some sort of comment.
Damien worried for Likus. She was strong, he knew that well, but Zozak was older and slower. If it came down to it, he doubted the two of them could hold off these strangers by themselves.
"What are they saying?" Sara whispered.
Damien placed his finger over his mouth, signaling for her to stay quiet.
"They're human hunters, but I don't think they know we're here," he whispered back. "They're taunting Likus. Stay quiet. Don't talk."
"Kal Likus is just as much Kholvari as any of us," Zozak said, trying to calm down the visitors. "I do not think you came here to taunt her."
"You are right," the first stranger agreed. "Thank you for reminding me. We came for the evolved-ones."
"Well you best hold your search elsewhere. There need not be reason to look here," Zozak replied, once again, unconvincingly.
"I disagree," the first Kholvari replied. Damien could hear him walk forward. "I detected heat signatures from the ship. I know they are here, unless you two have suddenly managed to tame ruors."
The second one snarled.
"I don't know what you are talking about," Zozak lied.
"Then why are you here? Two Kholvari, so far away from any city, ship or boat. This is a rather strange place to be, don't you think?"
Once again, the other Kholvari chimed in with words Damien could not understand.
"We are admirers of nature, out on a stroll," Zozak said, defensively.
"You are harboring evolved-ones," the stranger shot back.
Damien clenched Sara's shoulders.
"I was wrong," Damien whispered. “They do know we're here."
"What should we do?" Sara asked. She was sweating.
"Stay hidden, for now. Maybe they can talk these guys out
of it," Damien said, though he was starting to doubt it.
"Even if what you say is true," Likus said, joining in, "the Supreme Chieftess wants the evolved-ones unharmed. Her orders are clear."
"The Supreme Chieftess can stow her orders!" the Kholvari spat. "My brother was on that ship when the evolved-ones attacked! I will not sit idle while she lets the vermin live!"
"To defy the Supreme Chieftess is treachery! The hierarchs will have your head!" Zozak retorted. There was a tone of vehement anger in his voice.
The second Kholvari shrieked and roared, even louder this time. The sound was horrifying.
"I know they are here!" the first Kholvari declared. "To harbor their kind is the true meaning of treachery. You have forsaken our people! You care not for the dead!"
"Do not speak to me of the dead, nor of treachery!" Zozak shouted back. "You aim to kill an innocent race! You aim to defy the hierarchs!"
Damien felt his heart beat a bit faster. This seemed to be escalating quickly.
"What is it?" Sara asked, apparently noting his worry.
"Prepare to run. Things might get fucking crazy in the next few minutes," he warned, keeping his voice low.
Sara nodded back. The look in her eyes told him she understood how serious this was.
"Give the evolved-ones to us or we shall destroy you!" the first Kholvari screamed.
"You will not touch them!" Likus replied.
"So you admit they are here! You are traitors!" the stranger shouted.
Suddenly the sound of weapons fire blared through the air. Flashes of light casted shadows throughout the forest. Damien heard a loud thud, as if one Kholvari had tackled another to the ground.
Shit.
"Run!" Damien shouted, knowing there was no sense hiding any longer. He stood up from behind the rock and pointed to the west.
Other humans immediately emerged from their hiding places and sprinted through the foliage.
"There they are!" the Kholvari bellowed.
Damien instinctively turned to face the beach. A half-dressed Kholvari stood near his ship, holding a plasma cannon in one claw and pointing to the forest with the other. The other Kholvari wrestled Zozak to the ground. A spear rested next to them, presumably thrown aside during the scuffle. Meanwhile Likus ran back into the woods. An expression of worry shone across her face.
