by Mark Tufo
“Is that because he’s out of air?” Tallow asked.
“If that’s a joke, it’s kind of funny,” Cedar responded.
“Sure, yeah, that’s what it was.”
“Tallow, stay away from his rib cage—I don’t know what kind of damage he’s already suffered, and we don’t want to make it worse.”
“Hurry,” I whispered.
“Ceed, he’s coming up fast.”
“Slowing now. Easy,” she said more to herself. “Tallow, I’m going to start sending you back. Porter will be coming up on your right; his left arm is out. Grab it and I’ll after-burn you back to the ship. Winter, there’s one more suit. I’ve pulled the tether in with its motor. You need to suit up quickly, attach yourself, and grab them. I’m good; I don’t know if I’m that good. Serrot, Lendor, help her.”
I don’t know when she’d had the opportunity, but the airlock was shut and pressurized by the time we got back there. I was getting turned, pulled and pushed in seemingly a dozen different ways as the suit was fitted on to me.
“Winter, you’ve got about thirty seconds! Lendor, slap the button on the side of her helmet; if it turns green, you and Serrot get out of there!”
“Green!” Lendor shouted excitedly as I heard the hiss of oxygen being injected into the suit. “Come on!” He was pulling on Serrot.
“The tether!” He was fumbling with the buckle.
“Winter, they’re almost here!” Cedar yelled back. “Only have one chance!”
“I got it, I got it!” Serrot shouted as Lendor physically dragged him from the room. I barely waited for the door to shut, nearly trapping his foot before I opened the airlock.
I didn’t think at all as I propelled myself from the relative safety of the ship. I turned in time to see Tallow grab hold of Porter.
“Out of juice, Ceed,” Tallow said, much calmer than I felt.
“Winter, they’re coming your way. Not overly fast, but it might hurt some—just want you to be ready for it.”
“I will not let go. I will not!”
“Put your hands down, Tallow, you’ll push her away!” Cedar shouted.
“I’m sorry, Win.” He was so close I could see him close his eyes as he braced for impact. My left hand slid around in the much too big housing it found itself in, making it completely useless as I tried to grab them through the sleeve of my stiff suit. I had three fingers of my right in position—made sense; three lives hung in the balance, one for each finger. Because if I missed, I was going to untether and chase them through the cosmos.
The impact was much more jarring than I had been expecting, even though I’d been warned. My faceplate immediately fogged up with the amount of air I had expelled. We spun. I closed my right hand; I could not tell if I had made a purchase or not. I hadn’t. My fist was empty and I cried out in anguish. If not for the spin and the tether winding around us, I would have lost them all. It was that close. I wrapped my arms around Tallow in a bear hug.
“I got them! I got you!” I shouted into my headset. Fear and excitement warred within me.
“Reeling you in,” Cedar said. “How’s Porter?”
“Get us in quick,” was all Tallow said.
The trip back seemed to take indeterminable minutes; my arms hurt from how much force I was exerting on them to make sure no one went anywhere. Once we were in the airlock, I heard Serrot shout that fact and the door to space shut behind us. We fell to the floor in a tangle of cable, arms, legs, and spacesuits.
“Help me get his helmet off!” Tallow was scrambling as Serrot, Lendor, and Cedar rushed in. Serrot and Lendor immediately went over to Porter while Cedar helped me get my helmet off. She gave me a quick hug before seeing what she could do.
“He’s not breathing! What do we do?” Tallow was cradling the large Genogerian’s head.
“I know about this thing called mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, though I’ve never tried it. It sounds like you just put your mouth over his and breathe into him.” Serrot said.
“Serrot, his mouth is about ten times the size of yours,” Cedar said as she looked upon Porter’s snout.
“We have to try.” He was pushing his way through to get to Porter.
Cedar wasn’t sure how she felt about the man she loved getting that close to those huge teeth and the damage they could do, if only inadvertently.
Porter’s eyes opened, rolled around for a moment as if they were adrift, one arm came up slowly. “Dormant,” he said with a slur. “Dor…mant. I’m…okay.” Though it didn’t sound like he was okay. The words were drawn out and slow to come.
Within a few minutes, Tallow, myself, and Porter had been moved enough that we were sitting with our backs resting on the walls in the airlock. It had taken a considerable effort with Porter because he was sure he had at least one rib broken.
“I know we’re all reveling in the fact that we somehow made it through this last mess, but, um,” Cedar paused, “we still have damage to the ship that needs to be addressed.”
“The suits need a recharging and I could use a short rest. Then I will get back out there.”
“This time you’ll use the tether.” Cedar gently touched his shoulder before getting ready to head back up front.
“Thank you,” Porter said. “I don’t think anyone else would have had the skill or the mindset to do what you did.”
“You’re welcome, and I’m just that good,” she with a wink.
“Yes, you are,” he replied in seriousness.
I joined my sister up in the front once I got out of the suit and felt more like myself.
“Good work out there,” she said, not looking up from the manual she was reading. Periodically, she would look over to her instruments.
“Couldn’t let my sister have all the glory for the day. How’s it looking?” I asked after she didn’t respond to my jest.
“I think we stopped any more damage from happening, but we’re still in a bad way. The propulsion system and the power converters are working great; could go on indefinitely, but without the ability to steer, we’re basically bobbing around on the top of a lake. Our only hope, if we can’t get moving, is that someone stumbles across us.”
“What about calling for help?”
“Problem with that is we don’t know who is going hear us and come and check it out.”
“I liked it so much better when the hardest part of my day was figuring out how long I could hold a sword up.”
“Yeah, that’s another thing. I could go for a good old food cart right about now. Porter’s protein bars taste like bark. No, I take that back. I’d rather eat a tree.”
“Can I help with anything?” I asked.
“You can check in on Porter; right now, he’s our only hope, and I don’t think he’s up for it. Wait.” She looked over at me. “That sounded kind of mean. I’m just saying that he’s wounded, and he’s been through an ordeal none of us want to relive.”
“I got what you meant. Plus, if I stop asking you questions, you can read more.”
She smiled; I didn’t need her to answer to know how right I was.
“How you doing?” I asked Porter when I went back.
He was on a cot, drinking generous portions of water. His ribs were bandaged up, thanks to Tallow and Serrot. He was staring off into a void of his own making.
After a moment, he reeled his thoughts in and looked my way. “I thought perhaps that I would face my death with better grace. My forefathers of old were among the greatest my species have ever known; you would think that some of that blood would still run through me.”
“I don’t think you’re fully comprehending what you accomplished out there, Porter. You saved this ship. You saved all of us inside of this ship, and you were willing to do all that knowing it meant sacrificing yourself to do it.”
“I know all of that, Winter, and I would do it that way every single time if need be, but I was scared. Terrified, in fact.”
“First off, any more ‘next times’ and you w
ill be securely cabled to this ship. And secondly, what makes you think that your forefathers, that Drababan, wasn’t afraid? When authors write down the events that happened throughout history, they cannot possibly know the thoughts running through a person’s mind. They can only record the deeds done. How do you believe your actions today would appear from that vantage point?”
I saw the beginning of a smile. “I think it would translate very well,” he said. “I might even look good for a picture…if I didn’t cringe every time I took a breath.”
“Are you going to be up to doing this again?”
“It would not read well in the annals of history if I did not; I wouldn’t want it to say ‘He was too weak to finish the task.’ When the suits are ready, please come and help me up. In the meantime, I think a bit of sleep would do wonders.”
I laid my hand upon his.
“You have a good soul, Winter Talbot, and I take great pride in knowing that my family’s name is once again linked to yours.”
8
Repairs
We worked on a suit for Tallow, pulling it as tight as possible and using something called tape to make it fit better. It was still only going to be used in the event of an emergency, something we all wanted to avoid. Every one of us, including Frost and Ferryn, checked the attachment on the back of Porter’s suit before any of us would let him go out again. He looked slightly embarrassed about the sheer amount of attention we were giving him. I don’t know how I could tell that, as his species’ facial features were much more subtle, different from ours, but I’m convinced that was the case. Unlike the previous jaunt out, where seemingly everything that could go wrong did, this one went exceedingly well, though there were more grunts from Porter as he worked, admirably, through his injury.
Once he and Cedar were convinced the damage had been abated, he told us in no uncertain terms he was going to sleep and if anyone woke him up without good reason, he would not be happy. We left him alone, especially since we were all exhausted as well. Now seemed as good a time as any for everyone to join him in slumber. Everyone, that is, except myself and Cedar, who appeared to never need sleep. Frost joined us, as well.
“I find it amusing that males of all species tend to do half the work and sleep twice as much,” Frost said mirthfully.
We all shared a smile with her at the thought.
“How long you planning on keeping this up, sis? Even you have to rest sometime.”
“As long as it takes for me to get it,” Cedar replied. There was a great length of silence as I looked out at the stars; I may have been drifting back and forth between wakefulness and slumber as I stared out at the hypnotic expanse.
Frost broke the silence. “Tracy Talbot, by all accounts, was one of the greatest Earth pilots.” Frost was studying Cedar.
“Uh-huh,” Cedar said, her nose buried in a manual.
“Although it has been told she crash landed one out of every three ships she flew.”
“Uh-huh,” she answered again, I sat up.
“She also is rumored to have had an interspecies relationship with Drababan, unbeknownst to her husband.”
“Uh-huh…. Wait, what did you say?”
I had to laugh at the confused expression on her face.
“I said that perhaps you should also rest with the others.”
“There’s so much to learn, Frost, and I feel now, more than ever, our time is running out.”
“You have an instinct that is unparalleled. I watched you work as your friends’ lives were in danger.”
“Instinct is one thing, knowing which controls activate what is something I need to know by rote. I lost precious seconds deciphering and debating. There might come a time where I don’t have that luxury.”
“I will stay with you then. It seems strange to me that a creature, any creature, would want to travel the stars.”
“It does? Seems like the most natural thing to me.” Cedar was looking off into the distance, as I had been.
“The world we walk on…there is water, there is food; air to breathe and room to play. A mate to have kits; what greater thing is there? Here is only cold, merciless, death…alone.”
“To explore, Frost, to see what lies beyond the borders of what you know. To discover new worlds and the treasures they might possess. Curiosity. To see new things, learn new things.”
“It was the Progerians that first left their homeworld; the only treasure they encountered were the Stryvers. That has not worked out well, for any involved. Curiosity is sometimes better left undisturbed.”
“On that point, I might have to yield. It can’t all be bad though, right?” Cedar was thoughtful.
“There may be some good; it brought our two species together and for that, I am thankful.”
“You say ‘our species,’ but I know you’re not including the people on the Iron Sides. Do you know what happened?” I asked. Would we finally get some answers to what was going on?
“Some, not all. For my kind were only there for the beginning of what is called The Happening. The man Mad Jack, who is considered a hero of the war, he did something that had never been done before. He used Stryver brain matter and injected it into himself.”
“To what purpose?” Cedar was aghast. So was I, though I think she displayed it better. Her hands were up by her mouth and her eyes wide. Maybe I was just too tired for the spectacle.
“It is said that this procedure increased his brain power and allowed him access to all manner of knowledge previously unreachable.”
“So, did he do something? Did he wreck the world?” Cedar asked.
“It was his actions, in part, that helped save the world or what remained. No, it was others that are credited with the destruction. There was no lack of villains and enemies desiring to achieve power through his work. Michael argued against it, he said that Mad Jack was a special case and that others ought not to tamper with something that was not truly understood.”
“Why are people always so willing to do bad things?” Cedar asked.
“It didn’t start that way. At first, it was believed if there was one that could help, why not two or ten? Just think how quickly they could bring an end to the conflict. And seemingly, this was working, in the beginning, anyway. Quickly though, as these people grew in power, they wished to expand their sphere of influence. To display their dominance, not only over the enemy, but all creatures, including Man.”
“That’s The Happening?” I asked.
“It is not specifically one event; it was a culmination. Many will argue that it started the moment Mad Jack, or Peter Pender, became tainted with the influence from the Stryver’s; that from that moment on, events were predestined to travel down that particular road. Others will argue it was the moment President Talbot declared war on the Others.”
“The Others? They’re the ones on the Iron Sides? So they won the war?”
“Like most things, it is not that simple. Many wrongly blame Michael for the continuation and escalation of the war. So many races of beings were exhausted of fighting, even the Stryvers, we had all lost so much that it became not so much killing your enemy as just trying to survive. Humans were winning; they had the Genogerians on their side and had strong-armed the Progerians to their will. All that was left to deal with were the Stryvers. They were doing everything in their power to hide in the remotest parts of the universe, to either die in peace or lick their wounds and regroup before striking out again. Peace was what most wanted but were least likely to get. The Others were not content to sit back and allow those that had wronged Humanity to go unpunished. Michael was attempting to stop them; the only way was to strike them down before they could do any more harm. He pulled the battle away from Earth, where we were told it raged for decades, and we do not know much about what happened from that point forward. Just that the earth was mostly forgotten by everyone.”
“I don’t understand, then. How are the Others aligned now with the Genogerians and Progerians?” I asked.
“These may be questions for Porter when he is up for it,” Frost said. “I am going to take my leave.”
“Good sleeping,” I told her. “How you doing, sis?”
“Confused, I guess. There’s so much going on and we know so little. A part of me wants to go home, to find a nice valley to live out our lives. Live the way we were supposed to, the way we fought for. You know?”
“I do,” I told her honestly.
“That doesn’t seem like it’s going to be our lot in life.”
“It doesn’t.”
“You’ve got to stop hogging the conversation. I can’t even get a word in edgewise.”
She smiled softly. “It’s Michael. They somehow had the ability to comb through their future, and for a reason we don’t know and right now can’t fathom, they chose to get us off that ship. Why not get us out of the Pickets, or save us from the mountain top where we lost so many good people? Or ten thousand other scenarios before we were born or after our deaths? Stop the Others from even experimenting with the Stryver blood…wouldn’t that have solved everything?”
“They had their reasons.”
She seemed much less concerned with the whys of it than I did, and it was driving me crazy. “That’s it? They had their reasons?”
“Winter, you know as much as I do. How can I possibly offer an explanation? If they took us from the Pickets, maybe we don’t learn to fight like we did. To hone our skills. They save you from the mountaintop, then I don’t learn how to fly a shuttle. There’re a thousand what-ifs; unlike us, they had the fortune to be able to view events before they happened. We don’t have that luxury.”
“Don’t start making sense now.”
She placed her hands up in placation.
“Would have been nice if they gave us some pointers, though, right? A little clue as to what might happen,” I lamented.
“Not me. I don’t want to know.”
“What?” I asked her incredulously. “If you had the ability to know what the future held, you wouldn’t want to know?”
“You really think any of us would have left that library if we knew we were going to encounter six-hundred-pound spiders?”
