Auric

by Leslie Chase

  The communicator crackled and spoke again, this time in Galtrade. Cold, mechanical, calm and formal.

  “You are in violation of Taveshi Imperial space,” the voice said. “Withdraw now or be disabled. This is your only warning.”

  I snarled, blood heating. That wasn’t just a threat to me, but to Tamara as well. And I would not allow anything to happen to her while she was under my protection.

  A glance at the scanners showed no sign of the taveshi ships, though, and the call was automated. There was no one to argue with, no one to fight. I concentrated on Zaren, crosshairs hunting him. Nearly…

  “Warning,” the communicator said again, the accentless Galtrade of the taveshi defense system calm and cold. “Power down your weapons. Do not attempt hostilities or your vessel will be disabled.”

  I squeezed the trigger, firing a bolt of energy that struck the wing of Zaren’s fighter and sent him into a spiral. Out of control, easy prey. I had him.

  And then the taveshi defenses decided enough was enough.

  With a suddenness that shocked me, the raider’s power stores died. Controls dead and shields failed, leaving us defenseless and drifting. I expected to die in that moment, for one of the dozens of ships hunting us to take a killing shot. But no.

  All around us, ships tumbled aimlessly through the void. Whatever weapon the taveshi had used, it had struck us all. As I watched, two fighters collided in eerie silence in front of us. Tamara gasped at the sight.

  “What’s going on?” Her voice was breathless, frightened, and I wanted more than anything to comfort her. But before I could speak, emergency power kicked in and I had my hands full trying to control the raider.

  There wasn’t enough power to escape the pull of the planet below. Gravity had a hold on us again, and on all the other prytheen ships too. We tumbled downward, and it took all my skill to avoid hitting the other ships.

  “Be calm,” I told the human in Galtrade. “I still have flight control.”

  A slight exaggeration. The ship fought me as I tried to angle us for a safe descent into the atmosphere, and a glance at the power gauges showed that the emergency batteries were draining fast. This accursed taveshi weapon might kill us yet.

  Forcefields flickered around some of the raiders as they diverted power to drives and tried to pull up. An understandable mistake but a fatal one: with their power stores drained they had no way to jump to safety. Anyone who didn’t make it down to the planet would die when their air scrubbers failed.

  I angled downward, swearing as I struggled to control the ship. A proper landing was out of the question. I’d settle for a crash that let us survive the impact.

  The air thickened around the ship as we descended, glowing red on the forcefield. I angled us for as shallow an entry as possible, giving us time to slow on the way down to the surface. It was nearly impossible to see where we were going, even the sensors were blind through the flames, so I made my best guess and prayed.

  My focus was complete, it had to be. The ship only responded sluggishly to my commands and it lacked the thrust to leave the atmosphere. Around us, other ships fell, some recovering but others hitting hard. Mountains whipped past below, and then forests.

  No good. Crashing amongst the trees would kill us for sure. I pulled up hard, trying to get a little more height out of the damaged ship. The emergency batteries weren’t meant for this and I was running out of power fast.

  I wonder how many warriors have crashed two ships in a single day, I thought as I struggled to keep above the treetops. Can’t be many. Maybe I’m setting a record?

  There! The forest opened up ahead and I saw a lake. That gave us a chance of survival — a bad place to crash but better than hitting the trees. Fate wouldn’t offer me a better landing site. I aimed for the lake and cut the power, redirecting everything I could to the forcefield that held Tamara in her chair. If I could keep her alive through the crash, I’d count it as a win whether I lived or died.

  That thought filled my mind as the water struck. Then darkness.

  11

  Tamara

  Everything looked wrong and it took a moment to work out why. The ship was on its right side, and water poured in through cracks in the windshield. Cracks that were widening by the second.

  Great. We’re sinking.

  “Auric? Auric, are you okay?” My voice sounded distant, dazed. I must have blacked out for a few seconds as we hit the water, and the impact had left me foggy. I was better off than Auric, though. The alien didn’t answer, hanging in his seat to my left. Unconscious or dead, I couldn’t tell.

  And I didn’t know which to hope for. Sure, he’d defended me against the other aliens, but they’d said they came hunting him. Had he brought this disaster on us? Or was he trying to protect us from something that would have happened anyway?

  Thinking about it isn’t going to get me to safety, I told myself as I struggled to get out of the unfamiliar chair. A forcefield held me in place, making every movement an effort, and a bone-deep ache settled into me as I tried to pull free. No luck. The field gripping me would have pinned someone twice my strength.

  There had to be some way to get out. Otherwise I’d drown here, and what the hell kind of safety feature was that? I fumbled at the side of the chair, fingers clumsily searching for a button, a lever, anything that might be a control.

  Sparks flew as the water got into the ship’s systems, and most of the lights went out. Water dripped onto my face. Was it my imagination or were the drops coming faster and faster?

  In the darkness I saw a button glowing dimly on the panel in front of me. The emergency release? I hoped not, because I had no chance of reaching it. The forcefield kept my hands pinned to the arms of the chair.

  A sudden hiss startled me, Mr. Mews announcing his displeasure at the water. I shot him a hard look.

  “I don’t know what you’re complaining about,” I told him sharply. “You’re just a hologram, you can’t drown.”

  Unless water gets into your circuitry, I reminded myself. The wristband that generated the hologram was meant to be waterproof, but I didn’t exactly trust the lowest bidding company that had manufactured it. Mr. Mews stared at me, his translucent form almost invisible in the dark, and then head butted me gently. I blinked. He wasn’t pinned by the forcefield — he didn’t even really exist.

  “Mr. Mews, I need you to do something for me,” I said, slowly and carefully. He looked at me, purring agreement, and I tried to nod towards the glowing button. “Press that for me please?”

  I swallowed my nerves. This wasn’t what the hologram was for, and I didn’t even know if the tiny forcefield could exert enough pressure to press a button. But I had to try. It was that or drown.

  The virtual cat looked at me, then around at the button. Hesitated. Meowed.

  “Come on,” I said, trying to sound encouraging. He didn’t move. “Please?”

  What can I use to bribe a cat that doesn’t exist? I shook my head. Stupid. Thinking about it wrong.

  “You have to press it,” I said, trying to sound firm. “Otherwise I’ll drown. You’re meant to protect me, right?”

  I hoped that applied. He was supposed to look after my emotional wellbeing — asking him to protect me from drowning went a long way beyond that.

  The shimmering hologram looked from me to the alien command console and back. Hesitantly reached out a paw. Paused. I held my breath, not wanting to risk distracting him.

  With decisive motion, the hologram pressed the button. The forcefield holding me to the chair switched off instantly, dropping me into the ice-cold water with a scream.

  My arm bashed into something hard under the surface and pain shot through me. Above me, the cracked glass creaked, and water poured into the cockpit. There wasn’t much time. I picked myself up and splashed to Auric’s side.

  His seat was still above the rising waters, and the forcefield held him there. In the dim light of the instrument panel I couldn’t see any obvious i
njuries. Biting my lip, I gave him a quick once over.

  Still no movement from him, but his chest rose and fell slowly. Not dead, then. I breathed a sigh of relief, letting go of a tension I hadn’t known I was holding in.

  “Okay, good, you’re alive,” I said. “Now wake up! Or do you expect me to carry you out of here?”

  No response. I shook him. Nothing. I hit his arm hard enough to make my hand sting.

  No change.

  The water rose around me, and the cracks in the window widened. Soon the glass would give and the water would crash in. Would I be able to swim to the surface after that? I didn’t know. I couldn’t even tell how deep we were.

  “Please wake up,” I said, pulling at Auric’s arm. It was futile. Okay then, I’d have to handle this myself.

  His chair still held him tight, but I could see the glow of the release button. I stretched over the alien as the water crept up my legs. This close, I could feel his heartbeat, his powerful pulse somehow reassuring even as I struggled to free him from his seat.

  “Damn it, when I thought about being this close to you, I didn’t expect you to be unconscious,” I muttered, trying to distract myself from the growing feeling of doom as the ship sank. Good thing he couldn’t hear me: I’d have rather gnawed my leg off than admit what I’d been thinking about him.

  There! My fingers reached the button and I pushed. The forcefield vanished instantly and Auric’s weight landed on me, sending the two of us crashing back into the icy water. For a moment I panicked, trapped under his weight, and then I squirmed free.

  Now what? We were still trapped in the cockpit of the alien ship. There had to be emergency supplies somewhere — on a human ship there definitely would be, but I had no idea where to look. And I didn’t have time to search, not with the water around my knees and rising fast.

  “We’re going to have to get out of here,” I told Auric’s unconscious form. Took a deep breath, then another. “You saved me, so I’m going to save you, but can you try not to weigh so damned much?”

  I’d never thought that a man could have too much muscle, but then I’d never expected to have to carry one to safety. I’d just have to do my best. I took a deep breath and looked around for a way out.

  Auric’s belt still held the pistol he’d taken. I looked at it, bit my lip, and nodded. Not a great plan, but it would have to do. Fumbling the unfamiliar weight into my hand, I gripped it tight and tried to figure it out.

  That looked like a safety, and that a trigger. Simple enough. I swallowed, hoping I had it figured out.

  I hooked my arms under Auric’s and aimed the gun upward. Took deep breaths, filling my lungs with the air we had left. And pulled the trigger.

  Nothing happened. I flicked the safety the other way and tried again. Nothing. I frowned, looked at it again, gave it a smack. Still nothing. Either the controls were more complicated than they looked or it was out of charge. Either way, I wasn’t going to get any use out of it.

  With a creak, the glass bowed inward, cold water streaming down. The cockpit of a spaceship was built to keep air in, not water out, and as the ship sank deeper, the pressure outside grew.

  “Fine. We’ll just have to chance it.” I don’t know who I was speaking to, the unconscious alien or the hologram cat. Neither answered me.

  I stood directly under the bowing glass, my arms linked around Auric’s chest, holding tight and bracing myself. Breathing deeply, quickly, filling my lungs as much as possible, I waited for the inevitable.

  Crack. The glass failed all at once, and the air around me rushed out in a bubble. I pushed off as hard as I could, letting it carry us out into the lake as the ship fell away into deep water.

  Icy waters closed around us as I kicked for the surface, Auric’s solid bulk pulling me down. Cursing silently, I struggled to keep my cool and swam as hard as I could. The cold sank into me, numbing me, and beneath us I saw the wrecked ship vanish, its few remaining lights blinking out.

  My lungs burned and every muscle ached as I finally broke the surface, gasping for air. It tasted so sweet, so pure. It tasted like life. For a moment all I could do was lie back, holding Auric’s head above the water and sucking in breath after breath.

  Above me, fire streaked across the bright blue sky. It looked like a meteor shower, but I knew it for what it was — debris of the space battle raining down on the planet. Aliens and humans, scattered across the surface. How many lived and how many died? Pointless to guess, especially when it wasn’t yet clear if I’d survived. I needed to make it to shore before my muscles gave out and we both drowned.

  Lowering my gaze, I looked at the nearest land. Luckily for us, the lake we’d landed in wasn’t that big, and the shore was close enough to swim to. On my own it wouldn’t even have been hard. Dragging an unconscious alien warrior made it more of a task, and by the time I reached the rocky beach, I had no strength left.

  The effort of pulling Auric up onto the stones nearly finished me, but I managed to get him above the tide line before I stopped.

  My muscles burned with effort and I sat down beside him, hugging my knees and shivering. It took an effort to resist the urge to lie down and sleep, but if I did that I might never wake up. I needed help, or at least company. Something to give me focus.

  I pressed Mr. Mews’ on switch, and he shimmered into existence, proving that despite everything my wristband actually was waterproof. I smiled at the sight of the hologram scampering on the rocky beach as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

  “I can’t believe how glad I am to see you,” I told the hologram. He was the one thing in my life that hadn’t been yanked away from me in the last hour, the only constant I had left.

  Besides that, he had practical uses. He functioned as a communicator and a database, and he had his ultrasound to drive off predators. Okay, that was meant for use on Arcadia and I had no idea if it would work on this planet. And it would use up his batteries quickly if I tried to use it all the time.

  “Can you contact anyone, Mr. Mews?” I wasn’t surprised when he shook his head. The armband’s radio only had a short range, intended for connecting to the Wandering Star’s systems rather than contacting someone across a planet. “Worth a try. Tell me if you pick up any signals.”

  Mr. Mews nodded, then scampered off up the beach. I looked up at the nearby forest. Alien trees loomed, purplish leaves rustling in the wind, and I wondered what kind of wildlife was watching us. Had our crash-landing frightened off everything out there, or were predators deciding if we looked like lunch?

  It didn’t matter. I was in no state to fight off anything that came at us, so why worry about it? The only precaution I could take was telling Mr. Mews to turn on his ultrasound and hoping that worked.

  Getting into shelter amongst the trees would be a lot better than resting beside the lake, exposed to the elements. But there was no way that I was going to drag the alien warrior any further. Frankly I was surprised I’d managed to move him this far, and it had used up all my reserves.

  I need to rest, I thought. Just for a little bit. But if I stopped now, I’d freeze. My clothes were waterlogged with the lake’s icy water and my teeth chattered from the cold.

  There was nothing for it. We’d have to huddle for warmth. The thought caused a strange fluttering in my stomach as I pulled off the outer layers of my uniform and wrung the water from them. The sun would dry them while I rested.

  I looked down at the unconscious alien warrior who’d saved me but whose people had caused all this pain. It was impossible to decide what I felt about him, but we needed each other’s warmth if we were going to survive.

  At least, that’s what I told myself as I lay down against him.

  For warmth, that’s all, I told myself. But I couldn’t deny that the press of Auric’s muscular body felt good in other ways too. Perhaps it was the near brush with death, but my body responded to him and a blush spread across me as I snuggled close.

  Darkness closed about m
e almost instantly, and my last thought was a half-dream moment in which I felt Auric holding me. I smiled happily at that, and slipped away into a dreamless slumber.

  When I woke, I felt warm and comfortable. For a moment I wondered if it had all been a dream and I was still aboard the Wandering Star, but no. My cabin didn’t have a cool breeze blowing through it, the bed might be uncomfortable, but it didn’t feel like lying on rocks, and there shouldn’t be the sound of waves.

  Crap. That wasn’t a dream. I’m stranded on an alien planet with…

  My thoughts trailed off as I remembered Auric, the feel of his body against mine.

  I forced my eyes open and sat up in a shower of leaves. Auric had left but he’d left me covered up in a surprisingly snug nest. I flushed bright red at the thought of him waking to find me clinging to him, only wearing my underwear.

  The thought sent a tingle running through me, a mix of shame and excitement. I pushed those thoughts aside and scrambled to my feet, looking around.

  Now that I’d rested I could appreciate my surroundings more. The sun stood high in the sky and the lake glittered, beautiful and strange. While the trees above me were like nothing I’d seen before, they were at least recognizably trees. Their leaves were an odd shade of purple and the trunks grew in strange shapes, like clawed hands grasping for the sky.

  Life existed here. Hopefully that meant that we would be able to survive.

  Don’t get ahead of yourself, I thought. There might not be anything to eat here, or the water might be poisonous, or anything. There was a reason life in the Exploration Service was a way to fame and fortune — the adventurers looking for potential colony worlds faced a lot of danger.

  We colonists only settled on safe worlds, ones that had been explored and checked. Arcadia, for example. Not wherever we’d crashed.

  I looked around for any sign of life. Nothing. Had the crash scared off all the local wildlife, or was there none to frighten away? Or was something I couldn’t see or hear creeping up on me? I shivered despite the warmth of the sunlight, wrapping my arms around myself and wishing I had some kind of weapon.