Auric

by Leslie Chase

  “I guess it could be worse, I could be trapped with him instead.” God, that would have been awful. I could just imagine him leering at me, almost hear him make a comment about ‘repopulating the planet.’ I shuddered at the thought. Being stuck with Auric was a lot better by comparison.

  Frustrating as he was, I’d rather be with him than any human I knew. I wondered what that said about me as I drifted off to sleep.

  Mr. Mews woke me, the pathetic little noise he made cutting into my dreams and pulling me back to consciousness. One of the useful tricks of a companion hologram — his ultrasonic alarm was impossible to sleep through.

  A half-remembered dream faded as my eyes opened reluctantly. I couldn’t remember much, only something about a blue-skinned giant pinning me to the bed of leaves, his muscular body pressed to mine.

  I wasn’t happy with Mr. Mews for dragging me out of that dream. Only half awake, I glared at the hologram wondering why he’d woken me. The sky was still dark, unfamiliar constellations shining down on me.

  “What is it?” I hissed, instinctively quiet. I was alone in the camp, and the fire had burned low while I slept. Where was Auric?

  The holographic cat looked out into the darkness and hissed a warning. For a moment I was tempted to pull off the wristband and throw it over the side of the cliff, but something stopped me. Was Mr. Mews really trying to warn me about something?

  A faint sound in the darkness made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. Just the wind? Or an alien predator prowling closer? I wondered if I smelled like a tasty treat to anything that lived here.

  We can eat the animals here, I thought, heart hammering. That means that the local wildlife can eat us, right?

  That was not a pleasant notion, and I wished that Auric was back with me. Without him I was defenseless against whatever was out there hunting me.

  Almost defenseless, anyway. I’d left Mr. Mews’ ultrasound off to save his batteries, but now I wondered if that had been a good idea. No point in saving it and being eaten.

  Only this isn’t Arcadia, I reminded myself. Would the same thing that stopped a predator on Arcadia work on this planet? That seemed a dangerous thing to pin my hopes on. What if it made things worse?

  I looked at the hologram, the tiny translucent cat staring into the darkness. Under the shadow of the trees something big moved towards the camp. I grabbed a fallen branch and lifted it like a club. Not much of a weapon, but the best I could find in a hurry.

  The shadow in the forest moved closer, silent and deadly. The size of a tiger or bigger. I suppressed a whimper — how was I supposed to fight a tiger?

  Should I shout, try to scare it off? Or would that just attract attention? Maybe I should call for Auric, but I had no idea how far away he was. If that drew an attack before he reached me it wouldn’t do any good. Was he even close enough to hear?

  The makeshift club was slippery in my hand as I raised it high and whispered to Mr. Mews. “Predator defenses on, please.”

  The hologram arched his back, hissing a sound that spiraled up out of the range of human hearing. It made me wince for a second and then I couldn’t hear it anymore.

  Whatever was out there could, though. But instead of fleeing in fear as it was supposed to, it roared a challenge and pounced out of the cover of the forest. I stood frozen to the spot, staring at the monster.

  It was huge, catlike, and ferocious. Like a tiger if tigers had a cluster of writhing tentacles around their mouths. Eyes gleamed red in the firelight and the tentacles tasted the air as it stalked forward with deadly grace.

  I hefted my club as threateningly as I could. Drew myself up to my full height — somewhere I’d read that was a good idea to look big. But the alien tiger-thing looked too enraged to care, roaring and pacing towards me. The tentacles around its mouth spread wide, lashing the air, and I backed off quickly. I hoped putting the remains of the fire between me and the monster would keep it away from me.

  It ignored the flames, bounding towards me faster than I could back away. Far from driving the beast off, Mr. Mews’ ultrasound was sending the creature wild with rage. Its eyes were fixed on my wristband, and it let out an angry growl. The sound made me want to drop the club and run, but I knew turning my back would mean my death.

  God damned lowest-bidder contracts, I thought. The ultrasound’s meant to scare predators not piss them off. “Mr. Mews, ultrasound off!”

  A feeling of pressure left the air, but the tentacle-mouthed tiger didn’t forget about me when the sounds stopped. It darted forward, mighty paw swiping at me, and I jumped back around the remains of the fire. A wild swing with the club achieved nothing, not even connecting with the creature.

  Behind it I heard other roars and howls. The whole forest was alive with movement now. Is that all down to Mr. Mews? Did that sound piss off every animal on the damned planet?

  I didn’t have time to worry about that. The tentacle tiger leaped for me with a deafening roar and my heel hit a rock as I tried to dodge, sending me tumbling backward. That saved my life — the creature’s claws slashed through the space where my face would have been if I hadn’t fallen.

  In desperation, I screamed and swung the club again. This time I connected with a satisfying thunk. The impact vibrated up my arm, nearly shaking the branch out of my hand, and the creature reared back and yowled in pain.

  For a moment I dared to hope it would turn tail and run. Instead it lunged in, striking fast as lightning. I swung at its face again, but it was ready for me and tentacles wrapped around my hand. A sharp, stinging pain flashed through me followed by numbness as I lost all feeling in my right arm.

  Crap. My hand spasmed, the club falling from my numb fingers, and I tried to scramble away from the creature. No chance: it was too fast, on me before I’d gone a step, and I barely managed to avoid a swipe of its claws by tumbling to the ground.

  I tried to rise, but it was already there, venomous tentacles writhing above me as it lowered its awful face to feed. I pulled up my arms, knowing it was futile. But I wasn’t going to wait for my death without trying to fend it off.

  The hologram of Mr. Mews reared up in front of it, roaring with a volume and ferocity I’d never heard before. The creature looked startled, staring at the tiny floating cat, and then grabbed with its tentacles.

  Which passed through Mr. Mews, unable to grip a hologram. The tentacled tiger made a confused noise that would have been adorable if it wasn’t about to kill and eat me. Trying again, it swiped through Mr. Mews, who reared up again, small paws batting at the tentacles as though this was a game.

  Anything that kept the creature at bay was fine by me. But what could I do to take advantage of the distraction? My right hand was useless, and even if I’d been able to grab a rock, I didn’t think I’d be able to do anything with it. Not against this monster.

  All I’d do is get its attention back on me, and that was the last thing I wanted.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to get my feet braced and ready to kick. At least with my boots on the stingers in those tentacles might not be able to get me. It wasn’t much to pin my hopes on, but it was all I had.

  The creature tired of its attempts to fight Mr. Mews and focused past him at me. Hissing, it raised a paw, and I knew it was now or never.

  I kicked it in the mouth with all my strength. It howled, tumbling away, shocked that I’d dared to fight back again. I felt the lash of the tentacles against my boot, but nothing got through and as soon as it was away from me I rolled to my feet.

  It was already bounding towards me. My foolish, vain thought that I could escape it was all for nothing, and I braced myself for death. The beast closed on me in slow motion, tentacles splayed wide and mouth aimed at my face.

  At the last second, something hit it from the side. The impact knocked it off course and it flew past me, hitting the ground, rolling over and over.

  Auric clung to its side, grimly hanging on as the two of them tumbled across the camp. The cre
ature’s claws tore at him, but he paid it no heed. His own claws dug in deep, and the monster roared in pain, tentacles flailing.

  My heart leaped into my mouth and I stood paralyzed, watching him come to my rescue again. The creature was bigger than he was, and perhaps more dangerous, but he hadn’t hesitated to put his life on the line for me.

  So why are you hesitating? A voice inside my head asked. He needs your help too.

  It was true. The creature’s claws had opened deep gashes in Auric’s side, and while the monster was bleeding it didn’t seem to be slowing. The two seemed evenly matched and while I was confident that Auric would win, I didn’t want to think about what condition he’d be in afterward.

  Mr. Mews looked at me from my wrist, extending one virtual paw towards the fire. I tried to shake myself out of my shock and staggered over to the flames. Maybe the hologram had a good idea, and I couldn’t think of anything else to try.

  One piece of wood was large enough that the end of it wasn’t on fire. Grabbing it with my good hand, I pulled it from the flames and lunged toward the fight in a desperate swing.

  The flames blinded me and my swing went over both of their heads, but the monster snarled and backed away. Yep, it didn’t like the fire. Okay. I could do this.

  My next swing connected with the creature’s flank, and it howled in outrage. A deadly claw-swipe missed me by inches as Auric dragged the creature back. It turned on him, snarling and snapping at his arm, and I hammered the burning brand down on its paw.

  At last it seemed to have enough, turning and bounding away into the shadows. With its dark coloration it vanished into the night instantly, leaving us panting, bleeding and sore.

  A laugh escaped my lips. Weirdly, I’d never felt so alive.

  “Not funny,” Auric said, panting for breath and picking himself up. The claw wounds on his arms and chest looked painful but not deadly, and the serious expression he wore couldn’t quite hide the exhilaration in his eyes.

  We’d survived another deadly threat together. I laughed louder, tossing the brand back into the fire and sitting down hard. My hand throbbed painfully, whatever venom the creature’s tentacles carried eating away at me. I didn’t care: we were alive and nothing else mattered.

  “You could have died,” Auric rumbled, ignoring his own wounds to look at mine. “Let me handle fighting.”

  I looked at him, unable to keep a straight face. “Seriously? You nearly got yourself killed protecting me, and you think I’d just let you do die?”

  Half of that was in Galtrade, the other half in English, but the message got across. Auric’s mouth twitched as he tried look stern and didn’t quite manage. Slowly enough that I could follow, he told me: “If I die protecting you, that is my choice. I won’t see you hurt.”

  Overprotective he might be, but that wasn’t an idle boast. I’d just seen that he was willing to put his life between me and harm, and it wasn’t easy to argue with him after that.

  I did my best. “And it’s my choice if I want to risk my life for you. If you’d lost that fight, it would have killed me next.”

  Auric shook his head, growling and unconvinced. Had he even understood what I’d tried to say? But at least he didn’t argue. Instead, he grabbed my throbbing right arm and looked at the wounds.

  The tentacles had left dark welts around my forearm, and I could barely feel his touch. But when he squeezed, the pain made me cry out.

  “Sorry,” he said, and I shook my head.

  “You’re trying to help,” I replied. He was silent, looking at my arm in the firelight.

  “No,” he said after a moment, quiet and hard. His anger wasn’t at me, or even the tiger-thing. It had turned inward, at himself. “I should have been here. You could have died.”

  He looked up, his eyes full of pain. I could barely stand to meet his gaze.

  “But I didn’t,” I tried. “You saved me.”

  “Too little,” he said, his emotions vanishing behind a wall of ice again. “Too late. Just like always.”

  14

  Auric

  The good news was that the beast’s venom wasn’t deadly. Its stinging tentacles were paralytic rather than fatal, and I wondered what had caused such a powerful predator to evolve stings like that. Either they hunted something that needed the poison to bring it down, or it was a defense against something higher up the food chain.

  If something hunted those creatures, it would be an interesting challenge, but not one I wanted to meet with Tamara in tow. She’d suffered enough from my failure to protect her as it was.

  Luckily, there didn’t seem to be any permanent damage. Her fingers started to work again quickly, and by the time the sun rose she had control over her whole arm. Though she tried to hide it from me, Tamara was still in pain — but she would recover.

  I hadn’t failed her too badly, thank the blessed ones. Tamara would return to her people in one piece, though the marks the stingers had left around her wrist remained. A reminder to of my failure.

  The hologram cat watched as I examined her, big eyes full of curiosity. Once I’d finished examining Tamara, I turned to him.

  “Thank you,” I said gravely. “You served your mistress well, better than I did.”

  It might be a computer simulation of a cat, but it deserved the acknowledgement. Without this Mr. Mews, Tamara might have died before I reached her.

  The cat meowed back at me. I doubted it understood a word I’d said, but that didn’t matter. Reaching out carefully, I brushed its little head, feeling the forcefield push back at me gently. The little purring noise it gave off made me feel a bit better, and I managed to smile.

  Tamara was smiling too, watching with amused patience as I spoke with her hologram. I pulled my hand back and took a deep breath. Time to focus on practical matters — we had a long way to go today, and hadn’t gotten much rest.

  Before we set out, I found a couple of long straight branches and broke them off. Without tools it wasn’t easy to shape the ends into points, but I did my best with my claws. Holding the tips into our small fire hardened them.

  Crude spears were better than going unarmed.

  Tamara tried to speak to me a few more times, but what was there to say? She might not blame me for this mess but I knew better. The sooner I got her back to her own kind the better — then she’d be safe and I’d be beyond the temptation I felt.

  She might be my mate, my khara, the female fate intended for me. That didn’t make me worthy of her, and I would not let myself fall into the trap of thinking I was.

  Setting out towards the source of the smoke we’d seen the day before, I kept a careful eye on the foliage around us. Now that we knew there were predators who would attack us we had to be doubly careful, and I would take no chances with Tamara’s safety.

  While my attention was on the forest, Tamara turned hers to her wristband, speaking in hushed tones to Mr. Mews. The third time she caught me glancing at her, she shrugged and tried to explain.

  “You can make these,” she said lifting the spear I’d given her. “I am an engineer. Perhaps I can fix the sound.”

  I hid my doubts. Perhaps she’d be able to adjust the ultrasound to make it useful, perhaps not, but it seemed unlikely she would make things worse. At least it gave her something to concentrate on doing, which was valuable on its own.

  Without a subject to test her changes on, it was a moot point. Nothing emerged from the undergrowth to threaten us and we continued through the eerie quiet of the forest. Most of the morning passed in silence as we marched through the woods until we reached a small stream. I stepped over it, only to hear Tamara stop at the bank and sit down.

  “Come. We cannot wait,” I said, looking back at her. She looked up at me, rebellious, and didn’t move.

  “I need to drink, Auric,” she said slowly, as though to a child. “Maybe you can go days without water, but a human can’t.”

  I growled at that but relented. If her species needed more water than a pryth
een warrior, then I couldn’t argue with biology. I simply had to hope that the water was safe to drink, and any microbes that lived there wouldn’t bother a human.

  Tamara cupped her hands in the swift-running water and brought it up to her mouth, sipping and sighing happily. If she knew the risks of drinking unpurified water, she didn’t let them bother her. I couldn’t help smiling. Despite all the danger that she’d been through, despite the brushes with death, she still found joy in this simple pleasure. And her joy lit up my heart.

  Instinct took me a step closer before I could control myself, and I sank into a crouch opposite her. There was no sign of danger, and her happy smile was infectious. The planet might be dangerous, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t take these moments of calm joy for ourselves. Rather, it was a reason to savor what pleasures we found — each one might be our last.

  Tamara drank her fill and then turned that beautiful smile on me. The sight made me feel alive, and I couldn’t help returning her expression.

  “See, I knew you could be happy,” she said with a laugh. I grimaced, but she had a point. For a second I’d forgotten my pain in the simple pleasure of her company. Stranded on a planet that had tried to kill her, Tamara still found cheer and courage. I could do no less.

  Perhaps being stranded here wouldn’t be too bad?

  The closer we came to our destination, the easier the trail became to follow. Where the ship had entered the forest, trees lay uprooted and scattered along the path of the crash. Unlike us, this pilot hadn’t been able to find a safe place to land. Parts of the ship lay scattered amongst the trees, damaged enough that I couldn’t tell if we were following a Silver Band raider or one of the human colony pods.

  There goes any hope of flying out of here, I thought as I looked at damage. Glancing at Tamara, I saw her face fall as she reached the same conclusion. Injured from the fight, the walk hadn’t been kind to her. She leaned on her spear as we travelled, and both of us had been hoping to find a useable vehicle at our journey’s end.