by Erik Hyrkas
Chapter 21. Max
If you are ever tempted to walk into a desert when you are uncertain of your mental state, don’t. Lie down and take a nap. You’ll thank me for that advice. Of course, that isn’t what I did. I followed the cairns right into the endless sea of sand.
The deserts on Earth are dry and hot enough with one sun, but a desert on a planet with two suns is intolerable. My skin ached and was in a constant state of repair, and I was thirstier than I had ever been in my life. I knew that soon my skin would be unable to repair itself if I didn’t get some fluids in me even as I followed the cairns further into the desert, deeper into an unknown land where there seemed no possibility of water.
In fact, there weren’t any signs of life, only vast stretches of rocks and sand. Finally, I saw a patch of green amid the gray and black and ran toward it. I thought that, if there were plants, there would be water, and I desperately needed water now.
I was right. A pond lay in the middle of the small patch of green. I ran to it and knelt. The water felt cool and tasted earthy and delicious. I drank and splashed water on my face and in my hair. I was so relieved to find water that I didn’t hear the subtle shifting of sand behind me until it was right next to me.
I rolled to one side as giant fangs slashed the air where I had been lying a second before. The mother of all snakes extended her hood above me and bared her fangs. She had pure black eyes, like other creatures I had seen on this planet, and tan stripes on an otherwise white body. The line of spines on her back confirmed that she was the mother of the snakes I was looking for. She hissed at me and I crouched, ready to leap to the side.
Her strike was lightning fast, and I tried to jump to the side, but her fangs sank deep into my leg. Fire erupted through my body and my muscles cramped. My vision went blurry and darkened. I don’t know how long I was out, but when I managed to open my eyes, I wasn’t in the desert facing mama snake but wrapped in a thick layer of vines. I struggled against the strands, and they constricted tighter. I lay still for a moment, letting the vines loosen just a little as my muscles went slack. Then I managed to reach the sharp rock in my pocket and started slashing through the vines, gashing my own skin in several places in my haste, but I didn’t care. I just had to get free. The vines retreated from my ferocity.
I stood and looked around. I was still in the rolling hills where I had taken my first bite of the vines. Apparently, they bit back. Then I wondered if I was hallucinating this too. How does one know if they are awake or asleep?
I pulled out my com link. No hologram appeared when I called the ship. “Miranda?”
“What’s your status, Max?” she asked.
“I might be hallucinating. I need you to prove that you are real.”
“Why would you be hallucinating?” she asked.
“I ate a bad vine,” I said.
“I believe that.” The com link was silent for a moment. “Max, I want you to look at your hand. Are you holding a com link or a rock?”
“Look at which hand? I’m holding a com link in one and a rock in the other.”
“Look at the com link. Is there anything about it that looks suspicious or wrong?” she asked.
I looked at the com link, which looked like any com link I had ever seen. There wasn’t anything suspicious about it. “It seems normal,” I responded.
“How about the rock? Do you remember picking it up? Do you know why you have it?”
“The Magnoculous gave it to me. I am holding it because I needed to cut free of the vines.”
“Look around. Does it look the way it did a few moments before?”
I looked around, and I still saw the rolling hills covered in vines. “Yes.”
“Well, I don’t think you are hallucinating. You need to finish your mission. We need to get back to Earth. You probably shouldn’t eat anything else you find on this planet.”
The hallucination Miranda had tried to get me to sleep. This Miranda wanted me to get my job done. That was enough for me. “Yes, ma’am. Max out.”
“Miranda out.”
I began to jog toward the next cairn, which was on top of a hill not far away. I didn’t know how much time I had lost, but I wasn’t going to lose any more. When I reached the top, I saw a deep valley filled with crumbling low stone buildings, fountains, and roads. Vines had taken over parts of the city, but I could still imagine the place in its former glory.
A crumbling aqueduct entered the valley from the far side. I scanned the city for massive snakes but didn’t see any. But nothing is ever straightforward in this damned job, I told myself. The Magnoculous had said that the snakes might be near the city, not in it. I looked at the aqueduct again and saw a sparkle of water even from this distance. I was dreadfully thirsty and decided that I would make a quick pit stop before continuing my search.
The city was bigger than I first thought, and I had to run through the entire town to reach the point where the aqueduct was still carrying water. Despite being abandoned, I could imagine little porcupines carrying out their days on those paved streets. Maybe there was a grocery store somewhere amongst these buildings that sold fungus and psychedelic vines. Maybe one of the buildings used to be a shop that sold really sharp rocks. One thing that struck me was the silence. I heard no animals, and the wind was still. This really was a ghost town.
When I reached the far end of what had once been a Magnoculous city, I found a spot where water was trickling from the stone and drank for a long time. I couldn’t remember ever being this thirsty before. I stopped drinking when I heard the crunch of gravel behind me. I couldn’t see anything, and so I listened, but now the only thing I could hear was the gentle trickle of water from the aqueduct.
I walked quietly toward the nearest building. I heard another soft crunch from inside. I pulled out my sharp rock, a pathetic option but the only one I had. Whatever was lurking inside wasn’t large. The building’s door was only four feet tall, and I crouched down and peered inside the doorway.
A figure sprang at me. Training and instinct kicked in and I tumbled backward, using my legs to toss my assailant overhead. I came up on my feet and stared down at my little attacker, a gray and brown Magnoculous.
I dropped my sharp rock and held up my hands. “Wait! I won’t hurt you.”
“I will gut you,” the little female said in crude Intergalactic Common. She held her own sharp rock warily in front of her but made no motion to attack.
“I’m here because your kin from underground sent me,” I said soothingly.
“I have no kin underground!”
“They live about…”
“They are cowards. They are dead to me.”
“Why don’t you just put your…um…weapon down and we’ll talk,” I suggested. “I really don’t want to hurt you.”
She looked defiant. “So, you think you could hurt me then?”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m only saying that I’m not your enemy. I’m just looking to bring some baby snakes back to the other Magnoculous so they can come back out here.”
That seemed to give her pause. She studied me. “They intend to return?”
“They want to,” I said. “They believe they can’t though unless they have the snakes.”
“They fear the Wendigo.” She spat.
“You don’t?” I asked.
“The Wendigo haven’t been here in many years. They are a myth.”
“Oh, I’d bet… In fact, I have bet my left arm they aren’t a myth,” I said. “They’re still out there, about a day’s travel from here.” I pointed to where I had come from.
“Did you lead them here?” She suddenly sounded afraid. Maybe she wasn’t convinced the Wendigo were only a myth after all.
“I think I would have seen them if they were following me.”
“Legends say they are clever. They might have let you come here to see if you led them to more food.”
“Much of my journey was over terrain where I could see for miles in all dir
ections, and I didn’t see any following me.”
She started running away, and I followed her. She glanced back at me. “Stay away from me. They’ll follow your scent!” She sniffed me. “You smell like a Magnoculous. They will hunger for you.”
“Can’t you just tell me where to find the snakes?” I pleaded.
She stopped and looked back. “We have not seen Spearbacks in generations, but maybe you should look in the Valley of the Lost.” She pointed toward the aqueduct. “It is a day’s journey that direction.”
“Why there?”
“Because it is the one place my kind would never go.”
She turned and ran off into the maze of buildings. I was suddenly angry. “Why is everybody on this planet crazy?” I shouted after her. Maybe they were all eating the stupid vines because there didn’t seem to be any other food on this stupid planet.
I didn’t bother looking for the little psycho doom bringer. I turned the way she had pointed and started to jog again. It might take her little legs a day, but I was going to find the Valley of Doom and Gloom tonight.
