Star Crossed

by C. Gockel

  “Adams, Haberville,” asked Luka, “did your gunnin training include wilderness survival skills?”

  Adams snorted. “Just the basics, like don’t drink unpurified water and stay away from predators.” His sweeping wave indicated the crashed ship in the lake and the trees. “It sure as hell didn’t cover anything like this.”

  Haberville just shook her head, then winced and put her fingers to her temples to rub.

  Mairwen sighed. She’d have preferred not to admit any knowledge at all, but they needed her expertise to survive. “I have training. I participated in planet-fall expedition challenges.”

  It was the best excuse she’d been able to come up with to explain her skills. She’d actually been on one once, but only because it gave her access to a target.

  At this rate, she should just issue a press release to the top newsfeeds that she was a legendary death tracker and get it over with.

  16 * Planet: Insche 255C * GDAT 3237.042 *

  LUKA COULDN'T HELP but smile at Mairwen’s cover story as Adams expressed amazement and interest.

  Actually, Luka kept wanting to smile ever since he’d seen Mairwen’s face above him through the nav pod door she’d pried open. It had taken the heart-freezing fear of losing her to realize he was deeply and madly in love with the woman. She was ferociously competent with the extraordinary, and quirkily awkward with the simplest of things, especially human interactions. He had no idea how to make it happen yet, but he wanted her to be a part of his life and wanted to be a part of hers. But first, they had to get off this planet alive.

  “I have to go back to the ship,” she was saying. “We need water containers and edible food, and if we’re lucky, weapons and camp gear.” Something in her tone made him look at her more closely, and he thought he detected uneasiness. Knowing how reserved she was, he probably wouldn’t get a straight answer out of her if he asked directly.

  “Adams,” he said, “how much breathing mix has your suit regenerated?”

  “About ninety minutes’ worth,” Adams said, peering at the display. “Call me Jerzi, by the way. I figure fellow crash survivors should use first names.”

  Luka nodded his acknowledgment. “Call me Luka.”

  “I’m Eve,” said Haberville, then gave Adams a coy look. “We could have been Adams and Eve.” Adams looked puzzled, clearly not understanding the reference. Eve gave an exasperated sigh.

  Luka waited for Mairwen to give them her first name, but she didn’t. Maybe she didn’t care. He smiled at her. “Breathing mix?”

  “Seven hours, forty-one minutes.”

  He nodded. “Mine says six hours plus a little.” He turned back to Jerzi. “If we swap rebreather units, are you up for another swim? Since Morganthur is our survival expert, you and I should become her security detail.”

  He heard her soft snort and gave her an amused smile in reply. He ignored Eve’s peeved frown, which had become her current default expression. She probably had a killer headache.

  “Fine with me,” said Jerzi, and started peeling out of the suit so the rebreather could be removed and replaced. “Too bad we don’t have dive gear. That’d be more fun.”

  Once out of the suit, Jerzi took off down the shore to go relieve himself, claiming he hated the way it felt in the exosuit.

  Luka took the opportunity to ask Mairwen if there was any reason they should wear exosuits on their upcoming trek.

  She looked toward the trees, then back to him and Eve. “No,” she said. “It’ll make you clumsy, and if the temperature controls fail, you’ll overheat too fast. But keep your armor on. Don’t roll up your sleeves, and keep your cuffs and collar tight if you can.” She looked at the forest again. “I want a closer look at the trees.”

  “I’ll come with you,” said Luka. He wasn’t willing to let her out of his sight again so soon.

  He looked at Eve. “Jerzi can help you get your suit off when he comes back.”

  “Good,” she said, massaging her neck and wincing as she eyed the lake. “It’s not safe out here. We need to get to that base.”

  He and Mairwen walked in companionable silence over the hardened sand to the tree line. She was looking intently her surroundings, as if all her extraordinary senses were fully engaged. He imagined no one but other trackers had ever seen her like that. He glanced back to see Jerzi just returning to Haberville’s position on the shore, about fifty meters from where they stood.

  “Why are you nervous about going back to the ship?” he asked quietly.

  She looked away, then down. “I dislike deep water,” she said. Her mild words belied the brief glimpse of fear he saw in her eyes. It was the first time he’d ever seen her afraid, or at least the first time she’d ever let him see it.

  “Then I’ll go...” he started to say, but she cut him off.

  “I’m better suited for it.” She had the quietly stubborn look he’d come to know well.

  He sighed, knowing she wouldn’t let him put himself in danger. She didn’t seem to understand he felt the same way about her, especially since she’d admitted the lake scared her.

  With another quick look to make sure Jerzi and Eve were distracted, Luka closed the distance to Mairwen and cupped her face in his hands. “You are a wonder,” he said softly, then kissed her thoroughly, letting her needy response nourish his soul. He stepped back, though not as far away as he had been. The slightly dazed look and small smile she gave him made him almost light-headed.

  Ultimately, it took three trips back and forth, but Mairwen and Jerzi managed to salvage a fair amount of useful gear and additional weapons, mostly personal hand weapons and one rifle. Each time she was gone, Luka worried, and each time she came back, he found a way to touch her, and once even steal a brief kiss while Jerzi and Eve weren’t looking.

  An hour after sunrise, the temperature had already ramped up to sweaty hot, so they rigged a temporary sled and dragged the gear into the shade of the trees. There, they spread everything out to take inventory and figure out how to make packs of it. Jerzi and Mairwen removed and packed their exosuits, but kept the grey flexin armor, the same as Luka and Eve already had. Although the suits made their packs heavier, they were their only protection from possible future inhospitable conditions. Under her armor, Mairwen wore a black shirt and pants. The color combination reminded Luka of the first time he’d met her, and he was startled to realize it had been only two weeks ago. It seemed like he’d known her for months or longer. How had he fallen in love with her in such a short amount of time?

  If they were going to make it to the installation, their first need was potable water beyond what they’d gleaned from the ship. The lake water was too salty to drink, so Mairwen told them to look for puddles, cupped leaves, and the like. She also had Jerzi find broad-spectrum antibiotics in the medical kit and made them each take a dose.

  “None of us has immunity to anything on this planet,” she explained. “Try not to swallow or inhale anything, or get stung or bitten.”

  Jerzi was amused. “No drinking, no breathing. Got it.”

  Luka grinned when he saw that it took Mairwen a moment to realize she was being teased, and laughed aloud when she raised an eyebrow at him in mild exasperation.

  The xeno kit had three geoposition readers, and Luka used one of them to calibrate the kit’s two compasses, one of which he gave to Mairwen. They’d been able to salvage a few hand lights, but not enough to allow them to walk safely in the dark. They were close enough to the planet’s equator that they should have about twelve or thirteen hours each of light and dark, since the axial tilt was close to Earth standard.

  By tacit agreement, they took turns swapping out the heaviest pack, except for Eve, who still had balance problems. Jerzi refused to let anyone carry his railgun, but he grudgingly let Luka take the ammo case for part of the journey. Away from the lake, the terrain grew rockier and less flat, making the travel hard going in some spots. The trees blocked the worst of the heat, but the high humidity made for hot, th
irsty travel. They’d stopped for a rest after a particularly difficult section in early afternoon, and Eve asked for a meal pack. She’d been gamely keeping up and apologized that she wasn’t in as good physical shape as the rest of them.

  While Jerzi and Haberville dug for meal packs, Mairwen drew Luka aside near a tree a few meters away.

  “I want to scout ahead for the easiest path,” she said quietly. “Give me thirty minutes.”

  “Okay.” He helped her unload her pack so she carried only what she considered essential. When she shouldered the pack and started to leave, he stopped her and turned her to face him.

  “Be careful,” he said, emphasizing each word. He clasped both her hands and brought them together between their bodies. He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I worry about you.”

  “I know.” She gave him a small smile. “It’s nice.” She raised their joined hands up and kissed his knuckles before letting go and vanishing into the trees.

  Her tender gesture was such a little thing, but coming from her, it meant a lot.

  He turned back to Jerzi and Eve, glad that only Jerzi had noticed Mairwen’s affection. He didn’t want a renewal of Eve’s hostility, which he suspected was owed somewhat to her suspicion that his impartiality was compromised.

  Mairwen dropped into half-tracker mode and ghosted through the trees, looking for a tall one to climb. The canopy overhead was high and rainforest-like, but it was eerily silent at ground level. She saw mosses, and the leaves of the low-growing ferns and shrubs looked simple, though her botany training had only focused on identifying useful poisonous plants. She also heard the low buzz of insects, though she had yet to see any, and the distant sounds of tumbling water suggested a stream or river to the northeast. The humidity level suggested they should prepare for rain.

  She selected a likely tree at the top of an incline. She attached the climbing spurs they’d salvaged to her boots and wrists, adjusted her pack, and started up the tree. The wood where she’d gouged it started leaking a sticky, pungently acidic sap, and soon clouds of tiny flies hovered around the drips and the residue on her spurs. Fortunately, the flies weren’t interested in her sweat or eye moisture, but their numbers made them a nuisance. They also weren’t the right frequency for the buzz she’d been hearing, so she was deliberately cautious about moving leaves and vine tendrils as she climbed, not wanting to disturb a hidden insect nest.

  When she’d gone as high as she could without chancing broken limbs, either the tree’s or hers, she let time come to normal speed and surveyed the terrain. The wind at that height was hot, humid, and gusty. The canopy went on for kilometers in every direction except back toward the lake. About three hundred meters to the east, she saw a winged creature with a long tail zoom up and back down, too fast and too far away for her to make out any details. It was the first non-insect animal life she’d seen.

  There was a distinct lack of diversity at the canopy level, where she would have expected the greatest variety. It was like an unfinished interactive exhibit meant to look like a rainforest.

  To the northwest, toward the installation, she saw several hillocks of trees, but nothing that suggested an insurmountable obstacle. They’d have to deal with any rivers as they came to them. The greyish clouds to the north looked billowy and dense, and considering the surprisingly strong wind was southward, the clouds were probably bringing rain. She thought Luka would have liked the view, then realized she didn’t know if he liked heights. There was still a lot she didn’t know about him.

  Enough sight-seeing, she told herself, and climbed back down the tree. She used some damp moss to wipe the sap off the climbing spurs before putting them in her pack. She was grateful that the canopy protected the ground level from the wind, although she would have liked more sunlight. Her muscles were sore from exertion and her bruises hurt, and she felt itchy under the clothes and armor, light as they were.

  She made herself drink several swallows of water, then slipped back into half-tracker mode and ran northwest as far as she figured they’d be able to get that day and looked for places to rest for the night. She’d only had to backtrack a couple of times to find the easiest routes. Sleeping off the ground was best, if they could rig the tarps into hammocks and none of them were restless sleepers. She used her wrist knife to test a tree with rougher bark and discovered it didn’t leak sap when pierced, which was good to know.

  On her way back, following her own scent to retrace her route, she made a point to note the locations of high ground, in case the rains were sufficiently intense to flood the swales.

  About twenty trees before she got to the clearing where she’d left Luka and the others, she shifted herself into realtime. She could feel the burn from her metabolism and knew she’d have to eat soon and sleep that evening, or risk collapse later. She made shuffling noises with her feet so they’d know she was coming, and hopefully not shoot her.

  Luka appeared almost immediately to meet her halfway and hand her a protein drink, which she gratefully accepted. His smile at seeing her made her heart skip. She was still feeling profound relief that he’d survived. She busied her hands with the drink pouch to keep herself from reaching for him. If she started, she’d never stop.

  “Did you have a nice walk in the park?” he asked with a teasing smile. His hands were balled in his pockets as he walked, as if he had to fight the same temptation she did.

  “Yes.” She smiled because he was there and smelled so nice, so familiar. “We can make good progress until dark, if Haberville remains mobile.”

  “She will. She wants to get to the base as much as any of us.” He companionably nudged her shoulder with his as they walked. “Jerzi plans to ask you all about exploration marathons.”

  She gave him an exasperated look. Luka laughed and put a companionable arm around her shoulders for a quick squeeze. “Just tell him you were young and frisky, and you didn’t compete.”

  “Frisky?” Her dubious tone made him laugh even louder.

  There was a disconcerting sameness to the terrain, reinforcing the impression it was like traveling through an unfinished exhibit. They made good progress, stopping when it looked like Haberville was in need of a rest. Each time, Jerzi determinedly collected samples of the plants using the xeno kit’s equipment, and enlisted the others to help. Haberville cooperated grudgingly, complaining it was a waste of time.

  “Could be,” said Jerzi, as he sealed a packet filled with a sample of reddish moss and stored it in the kit. “But if we make it out of here, I want something to show for it besides a ‘lived to tell the tale’ story for my great grandchildren. Whoever killed our ship, whoever thought letting a freaking hybrid planet live was a good idea, needs to pay.”

  Mairwen hadn’t given much thought to the politics or ethics of human galactic expansion. As she walked, she considered Jerzi’s underlying premise that safety could only be found on Earth-like worlds, even if it required finding viable alien worlds and either remaking them in Earth's image or killing them. She wasn’t so sure it was right. It felt too much like what the CPS had done to her.

  The threatened rains finally came late in the afternoon, but they weren’t heavy enough to require stopping and waiting them out. The tree canopy filtered the rain into fine mist, making it like walking in a wet sauna. Their clothes were sopping with sweat and steam.

  When they at last got to the hill Mairwen had found earlier, she called a halt and explained her notion of rigging the tarps they carried to the trees so they and their supplies would be high enough off the ground to avoid floods and any possible predators. None of them had seen recognizable signs of any large mammals or reptiles, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any.

  She let Jerzi and Luka plan where tarps and ropes would go, and she and Jerzi did the climbing to secure them. Even though she tried to be slower than Jerzi and made a few deliberate mistakes, Jerzi was enthusiastic in his praise of her skill, and even Haberville looked grudgingly impressed. Mairwen would have much pref
erred to be ignored, although she admitted to herself that she enjoyed seeing the admiration on Luka’s face.

  Her joints were starting to ache, meaning she needed food and rest soon, or she’d be no use to anyone. She was increasingly stiff and sore from her earlier exertions with the pod doors and getting out of the ruined ship. She must have let it show, because Luka made her sit on a high tree root and eat a self-heating meal pack while he and Jerzi finished the setup. Jerzi handed out meal packs to himself, Luka, and Haberville, and Mairwen accepted a second one.

  Too soon, the comfortable, companionable silence was interrupted.

  “This reminds me of my first cohab, Moswin,” said Haberville. “He loved to hike, the farther from the comforts of civilization, the better. Which was still better than my second cohab, who never saw a mountain he didn’t want to climb. A few years after we terminated our agreement, he got himself killed on one.”

  “Sorry to hear that,” murmured Jerzi.

  “Don’t be. He was mostly a jerk.” She smiled wistfully. “But nova-hot in bed.”

  She smoothed a stray lock of hair off her face. Her perfect fire-opal fingernails and the woven strands of bright blue and shiny gold in her hair looked incongruous with the dirt and grime on the rest of her.

  “Now Heike, my third, was a city boy, through and through. Intergalactic banker, liked the finer things, and spoke about twenty languages. I’d still be with him, except he wanted me home all the time. It’s kind of hard to pilot a ship from your living room.” She rolled her eyes. “Plus, he wanted to get married.”

  Jerzi sighed. “I’d like to be married, but it’s… complicated.”

  “Marriages are always complicated. It’s an outdated concept. Cohab agreements are much easier to get in and out of.”