by C. Gockel
“They aren’t coming.”
“What do you mean ‘they aren’t coming’? What happened? Are they injured?”
Alice shook her head. “They’ve gone native. Chosen Issk’ath over us. Over the Keseburg.” Her feet made a slight ringing as she climbed the Wolfinger’s ladder. Al Jahi followed her.
“What are you talking about?” Al Jahi picked up a helmet from the nearby locker and twisted it on. Alice pressed the large button on the wall. The decontamination chemicals splashed them with a sudden hiss and liquid hazed Al Jahi’s helmet.
“The robot shut down, and Rebecca refused to leave it. She said it was cruel and unfair to leave it alone when it was vulnerable,” Alice shouted over the roar of the dryer. “I tried to tell her that it was us or that thing, but she wouldn’t listen. And Spixworth—”
“Spixworth what?”
“He was a coward. He said he wasn’t going to risk it reactivating during takeoff and causing us to crash. He staying in an effort to make the rest of us comply. He said we wouldn’t leave them behind.”
“He’s right,” said Al Jahi.
Alice twisted off her helmet. “This is our chance, Captain. Probably the only one we’re going to get. Our plan to take Issk’ath and hope that the Keseburg’s security can disable it was not a good one. But it was our only one. Now, it isn’t. It won’t stay that way though. We have to move quickly or it’ll be too late. I understand why Rebecca and Nicholas feel as they do, but they’re holding us hostage, just as much as Issk’ath was. Not just us, they’re holding our families hostage. Dia and Noura and Andrei’s son and my parents and Liu’s husband and all the rest. We have to get back to the Keseburg without bringing that thing back to hurt them. We don’t know what it intends, we don’t know what it is actually capable of, and we don’t know what it will take to disable it. Do you really want to chance it?”
Someone rapped on the door. Al Jahi tapped her feed. “One moment, just exiting decontamination,” she said.
An image of Blick gave her the thumbs up. She and Alice pulled off their suits and exited the equipment lock. “What’s your team’s status?” Al Jahi asked as the interior door slid closed.
“Samples are loaded in the cargo lock,” said Blick as he climbed inside. “Titov and Martham are securing the buggy.”
Alice looked at her expectantly. “Everyone else is ready,” she said. “They aren’t coming.”
Al Jahi scrubbed her face. She hadn’t volunteered for this. She hadn’t wanted to make decisions like these. Communications, that was it. A jumble of voices and electrical impulses that worked or it didn’t. And when it didn’t, she knew why. And she knew how to fix it. Better than almost anyone. But this— she wanted to help her kids. She wanted to help Andrei’s kids. She didn’t want to decide if people starved to death on a strange planet. This hadn’t been part of the plan.
The equipment lock opened. Blick, Martham, and Titov piled out around her. “Well, Captain Al Jahi? Us or them?” asked Alice.
“Liu,” called Al Jahi. He appeared in the doorway frantically tapping commands into the feed. “How’s the preflight coming?”
He raked a hand through his hair, the sweat making it stay stuck in odd angles. “Ten minutes.”
Al Jahi nodded. “Then we have ten minutes to reach Emery and Spixworth and talk some sense into them. The rest of you, secure your labs for flight. Leroux and Dr. Cardiff have already secured the infirmary and are available to help. Get it done.”
They dispersed and Al Jahi began attempting to reach her missing people.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Issk’ath’s massive pincers closed around Rebecca’s wrist and yanked her back. She heard a swift whir as Issk’ath’s wings opened and beat against the air, and they hovered over the slumping ramp as several feet dissolved away in a sudden rumble. She dangled, clutching Spixworth’s case out of pure instinct to grab anything. She sucked at the slow air in her suit and squeezed her eyes shut.
“You need to drop the case. You are denser than my people, Emery,” said Issk’ath.
“Sorry,” said Rebecca. She forced her hand open. The lack of a thud made her reluctant to open her eyes. Her body swung forward with sudden movement.
After a few seconds there was a scrabbling sound and the deep whir of Issk’ath’s wings cut off. “You do not need to iterate over your density,” it said.
Rebecca’s feet scraped across ground and she laughed as she opened her eyes. Issk’ath was slowly lowering its pincer to help her stand.
“Dorothy says you find that humorous. I lack context for this.”
Rebecca laughed harder, bending over her knees, her fingers brushing the loose dirt at the edge of the nest. Issk’ath waited for her to catch her breath. “It wasn’t really that funny,” she said at last, “but we laugh for many reasons. Relief after intense terror being one of those reasons.” She puffed out a shaky breath and unhooked her helmet. The breeze was soft and warm. She wondered, idly if it was mild the whole year or if this area had extreme seasonal fluctuation. Something to ask Issk’ath later. “Thank you, Issk’ath. That could have been very bad.” She took another slow breath, hoping her legs would stop shaking. “Come on, we don’t want them to leave us behind.” She glanced back. “Too bad about Spixworth’s samples.”
“I could retrieve them, if you wish.”
Rebecca considered. She tried the feed again. “Captain Al Jahi, are you there?”
“Emery? Where have you been?”
Issk’ath’s wings snapped open again and the breezy gust they made fluttered Rebecca’s hair as it took off, circling the nest, looking for the fallen samples.
“Didn’t Oxwell and Spixworth tell you? They should have returned by now.”
“Oxwell is back. She says Issk’ath shut down. You and Spixworth need to get back to the Wolfinger before it reactivates. We’re going home while we have the chance. We’ll let the Admiral decide how to handle the robot when we return.”
“Didn’t you hear me? Spixworth isn’t with me. He followed Alice out of the nest. Besides, Issk’ath is with me. The colony it holds wishes to help with our colonization efforts. It will save years of research.”
There was a long silence on the feed. “Captain?”
“Sorry, Emery. Liu and I were— never mind.”
“You were aborting preflight,” said Rebecca flatly. “Were you even going to send someone out to let us know?”
“I’m sorry, Rebecca,” said Al Jahi. “Oxwell was convinced that you’d already made a decision to stay. And I was uncertain how much time we had. Not enough, as it turns out. I had to protect my kids .”
“Stars, Chione, this is supposed to be a research mission. You were considering leaving two healthy, sane people to starve? Do you really think Issk’ath would risk its own existence for some strange idea of vengeance for something that caused it zero actual harm?”
“This wasn’t the plan for me either!” shouted Al Jahi. Rebecca could hear her ragged breathing. “Find Spixworth and get back to the Wolfinger,” she snapped, though a little quieter. “I’ll send Blick and Titov to cover the area between us and the nest. You check the interior. We’re going home. Let someone else decide the entire fate of the human species. I never wanted to.”
“Maybe Dr. Cardiff can help—”
“Shove Cardiff into the void, Emery, she never does anything. Besides, I want to be angry for a while. I deserve that much. We all deserve that much. Get Spixworth and your metal friend and let’s go home.”
“Yes, Captain.” Rebecca turned to look for Issk’ath. It had still not returned. She knelt at the edge of the nest, gingerly testing the soft ground to be sure it wouldn’t collapse beneath her. She peered down into the pit. The smashed remains of the upper ramp lay scattered in the dim light far below. She could just pick out the square edge of the sample case but Issk’ath was not near it.
“Issk’ath?” she called.
There was no answer and it was too dark to see an
y deeper into the nest. She turned away toward the river. “Nick?” she called. He couldn’t be far from the Wolfinger. He’d left just after Alice. She walked toward the rapid, sweeping water. Had something happened? “Captain?” she said, “I’m worried Spixworth might have fallen in the river. He was right behind Oxwell, he ought to have been back by now. Can you get a geolocation on his filament?”
“We’ve been trying, Emery. I haven’t been able to get any response at all.”
“If he— if the worst happened—”
“It should still pull power off the suit supply. We’re not getting anything. The signal must be blocked.”
“Then he must still be—” Rebecca cut off as she heard a distant hum behind her. She turned toward the nest. Issk’ath’s legs pierced the ground as it landed. The folded figure in his arms glittered with shattered glass. Issk’ath lowered and placed it gently on the ground. Rebecca sprinted back toward them.
Issk’ath stared at her and waited. She sat abruptly beside Spixworth’s body. He was wrong. As if he were a paper doll that had been torn and then glued sloppily back together by a fitful child. The suit had caught most of the blood except for the lacerations from the glass around his head, but his limbs were all acute angles in strange directions.
“I’m sorry, Emery,” said Issk’ath. “He was at the bottom of the nest.”
“Is he— do you have him? Like Dorothy?”
“No Emery. His data was dispersed. I cannot recover it so long after termination.”
She nodded and picked up Spixworth’s hand. “I will go retrieve his samples,” said Issk’ath, rising again from the ground.
“Thank you,” she murmured, not really caring. She sat with him long after Issk’ath had returned. It stood beside them, a sentinel against the dwindling glow of the setting sun. Eventually, she realized she could hear footsteps and looked up.
Blick and Titov had reached them. “Oh,” gasped Blick, kneeling beside her. He squeezed her shoulder and then stripped off his glove. He navigated through the jagged shards of helmet to press a finger against Spixworth’s throat. Rebecca wasn’t certain why he’d bothered. It was obvious that Nicholas was dead. Almost as if something had stolen the real Nick and left a badly made puppet in his place. Titov spoke softly into the feed. Rebecca ignored it.
“What happened?” Blick asked gently. Rebecca shook her head. Blick turned to Issk’ath.
“I am uncertain,” it said, “but I think it likely that he fell from the ramp. Emery and I experienced a significant collapse not far from where he had left his sample case.”
“You sure that’s what happened?” asked Titov, folding his arms over his chest. “Maybe you helped him along.”
“Emery and I had no contact with Spixworth. We did not see him when we left the nest.”
“He left right after Alice. He meant to catch up with her,” said Rebecca. “It must have been an accident. The ramp was uneven. You know that Andrei, you came down with me before.”
Blick was opening the sample case. “Maybe he stopped to get another sample of something and just— slipped,” he said.
Titov sighed and sat across from Rebecca. He moved Spixworth’s other arm into a less unnatural angle. “I know we all realized this mission was risky but… He’s so young. Always reminded me of Peter.” He carefully picked a shard of helmet from Spixworth’s cheek and dropped it over the edge of the nest. He laughed softly. “Kept me up the past few nights he was so excited. About Issk’ath. About the people that were here. I lost my temper last night. He was talking about learning Issk’ath’s language. He wanted to experiment with synthetic pheromones and had some idea about a sort of drum— he couldn’t help himself. Made him sleep in the lab.” He swiped a glove across his face.
“I’m sure he understood,” said Blick.
“I am sorry his data dispersed,” said Issk’ath. “The colony was very eager to speak with him. I believed we would have many seasons to work with him.”
“We should take care of him. And take Emery back.” Blick pulled Rebecca into a hug.
“I’ll go back for the buggy,” said Titov.
“That is unnecessary. By the time you return, the light will be gone. I will take him.” Issk’ath lowered and slid its upper legs beneath Spixworth’s form. Titov looked hesitant, but Rebecca nodded.
“Let’s go home,” said Blick, slinging a comforting arm around each of them. They followed Issk’ath’s slow progress back toward the Wolfinger.
Chapter Thirty-Five
“What should we do with him?” asked Leroux as Issk’ath placed Spixworth on the ground beside the Wolfinger’s ladder. The exterior lights were hard and cruel on the black streaks of blood that had dried on his face.
“We should put him with Dorothy,” said Rebecca.
“No, I’m sorry Emery, but we aren’t delaying the launch any longer,” said Al Jahi. “We’ve lost three people here. We need to inform their families and get a larger crew. Security and officers and a permanent camp. We’ll have to bring him with us.”
“We don’t have a lifecycler. We can’t take him with us. Even Stratton is a risk,” said Alice.
“It’s only a forty-eight-hour flight.”
“His body may have picked up microbes from the nest. Many would have died with him, but probably not all. With these lacerations, there’s no way the decontamination procedure would kill everything. We can’t just leave him exposed in the ship.”
“You could give him to the Eaters,” said Issk’ath.
“Eaters?” asked Al Jahi.
“They are like your dermestids. It is what my people did with their terminated loved ones. They consume organic material and created new earth for the nests.”
“Do they still exist? I thought your people have been gone for years.”
“The People were not the only ones who brought their dead to the Eaters.”
Al Jahi shook her head. “We don’t have time for some lengthy trip or we would bury him beside Dorothy.”
“You do not need to take him anywhere. The Eaters are everywhere under the open sky. You would need only to remove any artificial casings from his body and expose him to the air. Traditionally, the People would return in several days to take the offering of soil left in the body’s place, but no one will disturb it if you wish to return later for it.”
“Food for other life. Be part of something bigger than just the agri deck. Nick would have liked that,” murmured Blick.
“It really could be Spixworth’s Steppe,” said Rebecca with a sad smile.
“Ok,” said Al Jahi. “Yes. We’ll leave him for the Eaters. I think— I think he would have appreciated some privacy. Would you get him ready Blick? Titov?” They nodded. “We saved the others’ filaments for their families. Maybe we should take his for his dad.” Al Jahi’s voice broke. Rebecca’s eyes stung. She turned away.
“We’ll have to incinerate the suit,” said Alice, “to be certain we aren’t bringing anything back.”
“I understand,” said Blick.
Leroux began climbing the ladder. Rebecca took a last look at the strange, open world around her. She couldn’t picture her father or sister out here. The nights were so dark without the artificial lights of the Keseburg and filled with sounds that made her spine ache with terror. The daylight made strange, uncomfortable hues over everything and the touch of long grasses had given her chills in the beginning, even through her suit. And though those were small fears, things that could be defeated gradually, real dangers remained. A swift powerful river, a giant, crumbling sinkhole, thousands of uncategorized plants and animals. Not to mention the multiple microbes Alice had already found in the soil and water. None of them appeared dangerous at first testing, but where there was one, there were more.
“I never thought we’d really find it in our lifetime. I never thought we’d be the ones,” said Blick softly as they waited for Al Jahi to reach the top of the ladder.
“It’s not right to do this to them. I
t’s not right to force them out of everything they’ve known and make them scrape a hard, unhappy life out of a strange rock,” answered Rebecca, a sudden, tired tear escaping her.
“What’s our alternative?”
“We go on, as we always have. We forget about this place, go back to space, where it’s safe. Where everything works and nothing unexpected gets in. Where it’s just unending serenity of stars and daily work.”
“You mean you want us to pretend this never happened? We should lie about what we found?” asked Blick. “Nick died for this place. And Dorothy and Stratton.”
“You remember when we learned about the religious wars back on earth?” asked Rebecca.
“Sure, that was practically all of history class.”
Titov knelt to remove Spixworth’s shoes beside them. “Imagine if one of them, the Earthlings, imagine if one of them found the god of their belief structure. Actually met it, and was allowed to come back. If that person came back and could answer every question, every conflicting piece of information. You think the Earthlings would have stopped their wars? You think they’d just take that person’s word for it and lay aside their differences and follow that person’s version of divinity?”
Blick shrugged. “I’d like to believe they would, but I guess it doesn’t seem likely.”
“This planet, this is our god. It’s our entire purpose, it has been for a millennium and a half. If we go back and tell them that, tell them everything we’ve seen, you think people are going to just agree to come here, to be done with their quest? No. It’s going to be war. Look how resistant we were in the beginning to even come out of the ship. Look at Dorothy. There was nothing wrong with her, except sheer panic. The stress killed her.”
