Miners of Djaromir: Matrix

by Leora Gonzales

  “Thanks.” Pressing it against her shin, she eyed the mound beginning to form. “I guess this means another trip to see Tamin and Rodin.”

  The minute the words left her mouth, Rue felt immediate regret.

  “I’m the worst friend ever,” Lucy cried, her face stricken. She tossed her hands in the air. “Seriously, Rue. How have you managed to put up with me this long? Loosey Goosey is a menace!”

  “You’re not a menace,” she said, trying to calm her slightly hysterical friend down before she lost it completely—or somehow caused another injury.

  “Just ask the others!” she wailed, big tears tipping over her eyelids and rolling down her cheeks before Rue could do anything to stop them. “I’m sure they’d agree with me.”

  Rue stayed silent, shaking her head and hoping like hell the truth didn’t show on her face.

  “See! I can see it in your eyes,” Lucy hissed, pointing a finger at her accusingly. “You agree!”

  Rue grabbed the digit that was getting dangerously close to her nose. She figured it best to try to prevent one of Goose’s accidents before it could build speed. The last thing she needed was an eye patch followed by a peg leg, which she’d never admit seemed to be her destiny.

  “I don’t agree. Promise,” she said, even as she crossed her fingers out of Lucy’s sight.

  She totally agreed, but Lucy wasn’t the only one to blame.

  Rue figured if karma had already targeted her for lying to Lucy, why not just pile on as many little white lies as possible? It wasn’t as if she wanted to hurt Lucy’s feelings by agreeing that being her friend was akin to signing up for a real-life version of Final Destination.

  So, here they were.

  Rue nursed another injury that Lucy inadvertently caused as her friend continued to spiral. She wished she could say this was an uncommon occurrence, but unfortunately, it wasn’t. These episodes had played out a couple of times since they’d left Earth.

  “I’m cursed!”

  Rue rolled her eyes, not even bothering to look at her friend who was wallowing in her own misery. She’d learned long ago that trying to calm Lucy down when she got like this was pointless. All Lucy normally needed was a little babysitting, so she didn’t do something stupid, and hugs once her pity party wrapped up.

  “You’re not cursed.” At least, Rue didn’t think she was.

  “Then explain this!” Lucy held out her arms wide, her big brown eyes swimming in sadness. “Explain to me how something always goes wrong and somehow it’s always my fault.”

  “It is not always your fault,” she fibbed to avoid hurting her feelings—because that’s what friends did—without missing a beat.

  She would never admit it out loud, but what Lucy had said was kind of true. That girl just had a habit of somehow being in the middle of things just as they went awry. Generally, nobody was injured. Rue blamed solely herself for that new development in Lucy Goosey’s MO.

  “It is too.” Lucy sniffled. “I’ve heard the others in the common room—”

  “Don’t listen to those bitches,” Rue cut in, knowing the likely ringleader. “Tabitha especially.”

  “It wasn’t just her, but she kinda got them started.” Lucy picked at the hem of her shirt, worrying the edge with her fingers. Her warm amber eyes filled with tears as she looked up at Rue. “I’m trying to be careful. I really am. It just seems that whenever I try harder to my keep shit together, the more it falls apart.”

  Rue sat next to Lucy and pulled her into a tight hug, not letting go for a long while. She couldn’t stand to see her sweet friend in tears.

  “You’re not cursed. I promise. Bad luck? Maybe. Cursed? Not a chance.” Loosening her grip, she gave her friend a small but deliberately hard shake.

  “What was that for?” Lucy asked with a startled look.

  “I was hoping to shake some sense into you.” Rue raised her eyebrow in question. “Did it work?”

  “You’re crazy,” she said with a snort. Pushing herself off the couch with a grunt, Lucy turned and held out her hand. “C’mon now. We might as well get you to the med center. Hopefully, they’ll patch you up quickly and we can grab something to eat.”

  Rue nodded her agreement and took the offered hand, heaving herself up. The truth was that the docs and the med center had come in quite handy. Their medical technologies were nothing less than extraordinary, giving them the ability to heal something as simple as a bruise to something as complex as internal bleeding. She had absolutely no idea how the regen bed worked, but she was more than grateful for its existence.

  Walking hand in hand with her friend to the door, she squeezed Lucy’s fingers.

  “It’s okay. Really,” she reassured, knowing how her friend’s mind worked.

  “It’s just starting to become too much, ya know?” Lucy’s voice cracked a bit at the end.

  Rue nodded. She understood where Lucy was coming from. It had to suck to be the one everyone looked to whenever there was a crash or yelp of pain. It had to suck even harder when those looks were warranted due to the spectacularly bad luck that followed Lucy around like a black cloud. The last thing she wanted was her best friend beating herself up over it.

  “Shit happens.” Rue tugged Lucy to a stop just as they cleared the door. Spotting one of the Phaeton’s assigned as their escort who guarded the volunteers’ quarters, she gave him a nod in greeting.

  “Medical again?” he asked.

  Lucy stiffened immediately, her pained gaze shooting to Rue.

  Despite the glare she sent him, Rue quickly forgave the Phaeton for not knowing the weight that his words carried to her emotionally fragile bestie.

  Wincing away the pain and forcing a smile, she squeezed Lucy’s hand, and was grateful when a squeeze came back. None of this was Lucy’s fault. The blame was all on Rue. Every single bit of it.

  “Yes, please.”

  Chapter Three

  “Veruca?” Tamin’s voice stopped Rue just as she reached the threshold of the med center doors, her shin back to normal.

  What would usually be a quick trip to mend her leg had taken much longer when they had arrived at a busy med center down to only one doctor on duty. Lucy had sat with her for a while, but once they’d realized it was taking much longer than either had anticipated, Rue had given her a nudge to head out alone. Lucy hadn’t necessarily wanted to go to the common room by herself, and truth be told, Rue hadn’t wanted her to either. In fact, she was more than a little anxious to get back to Lucy. The accidents tended to be a bit worse when Rue wasn’t around to run interference between Goose and the other ladies—one of them already on her own personal shit list.

  “Yeah, doc?” Frowning at the serious look on his face, she moved back towards the regen bed she’d only just left. The one he was standing next to as he read over the report scrolling across the bed’s display.

  “I noticed that you’re missing one of your fallop—”

  “Oh that,” she said on a sigh of relief, having worried for a second that he’d seen something new she wasn’t aware of. “Yeah, it was removed a few years ago. Endometriosis.”

  “That was what I thought from the scans,” he said, looking at her curiously. “I’m sorry to be so forward on such a potentially sensitive subject, but I hadn’t realized the Djaromir volunteer program was open to those that may have trouble conceiving…”

  Rue immediately felt prickly at his words. A trickle of unease trailed down her spine at the mention of a possibly childless future. The last thing she needed at the moment was someone pointing out the obvious. Other than the physical pain her periods caused every time they struck, she was more than aware of the long-term implications from the diagnosis.

  “Again, I apologize,” he said, reaching to place a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Andi would ‘kick my ass’ if she were here right now to see how upset I’ve managed to make you.”

  “No, it’s okay,” she said with as much of a smile as she could muster. “As far as the v
olunteer program goes, they had my doc back home send in some paperwork that I guess was good enough to get me here. I’ve been dealing with this for years, and it’s not going to go away anytime soon so—”

  “The machine can handle your condition and stop any further progress—”

  Rue grabbed the hand that was still resting on her shoulder, her shock palpable. There was no way she could have heard that right. “Wait. What?”

  “The regen bed can treat you,” he announced with a patient nod as he wiggled out of her tightening grip. “Regrowing what has been removed is beyond our abilities, but other than that, you won’t have to suffer any longer.”

  “Holy shit.” Rue sank weakly into the chair he quickly pulled up, her mind unable to grasp what he was telling her. “You can fix me?”

  “Well, no,” he said with a frown before it gave way to a smile, “I cannot, but the regen bed can.”

  “How? When?” she blubbered, overcome by the prospect of having the pain and everything else she endured with her cycle vanish.

  “Now?” he asked, standing up to push some buttons on the strange pod-like structure that she gazed upon with a new reverence. “It may take a few hours, but since you and the others leave for Djaromir tomorrow, I do not see a better time.”

  “Holy shit,” she breathed again, quickly climbing up to lie down on the mattress. Lying back quickly, she tried to calm her excitement at what was about to happen. Then she remembered that Lucy was waiting for her. “Wait! Can you send a message to the friend that came in with me? I was supposed to meet her when I finished up here and don’t want her to be worried.”

  “Of course,” Tamin assured her with a gentle smile. “The previous injuries you were treated for were superficial, meaning your time in the regen bed was limited. Only a few seconds.”

  Rue nodded, unsure where he was going with this.

  “Since this particular cycle is much more complicated, it will take much longer. Luckily, you will be asleep through the healing.”

  “Say what now?” Glancing around nervously, she tried to not let his words wig her out. Her bumps and bruises before had taken less than a minute. She didn’t know if she’d be able to take a nap with how anxious she was.

  “Once the pod closes, a gas will fill the chamber to help you sleep for the duration of your treatment.” He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, giving her a couple encouraging pats. “Do not fret. It will feel as if no time has passed as you are healing.

  “Well, okay.” Rue bit her lip, forcing herself to take deep, even breaths to calm her galloping heart.

  “Do not look so frightened, Veruca. I promise that this experience is completely painless and one you will not regret having done, if my understanding of your condition is accurate.” At her nod of agreement, he gave her a soothing smile. “Be brave for the next few moments. Once it is finished, you should be back in your room just in time for the evening meal.”

  “I’ve got this.” Rue blew out a heavy breath and gave him a grim smile. “Beam me up, Scottie.”

  Tamin chuckled and shook his head at her as his big fingers jabbed at the buttons on the weird space machine she was entrusting with her life.

  As the pod slid closed, encapsulating her in a brightly lit orb, Rue held her breath.

  Then she blew it out quickly and took a deep breath in as she remembered there was a gas on the loose that was supposed to be ushering her to the sandman. The last thought that drifted through her head as she fell asleep was that maybe she wasn’t being punished after all.

  Chapter Four

  The tunnel city of Fyeir…

  Matrix rubbed his left cheek, his fingers dancing over the familiar scar tissue that seemed to tighten in the cold air despite the beard he grew around it. He was grateful that he’d grown out his hair over the past few cycles. The barrier dulled the wind that seemed to have more bite than normal. He was surrounded by nothing but cold air and stone as he made his way from the first gate and towards the city buried deep.

  Using the vehicle gifted to them by the Phaetons, his men had ferried him across the Djaromir wastes, dropping him off at the gates and returning back to his city, Gunninng. What had started out as a small test drive to see what the vehicle could do over rough terrain had quickly become a half-day trip across the planet to drop their warlord off at Fyeir.

  Matrix moved quickly down the corridor, his strides large and even as he made his way to the inner city of Fyeir. He knew Warlord Sparx wouldn’t be thrilled he’d come for a visit, but his comrade’s annoyance at an unannounced visit wasn’t something that would keep him away.

  He was a man on a mission—more or less. At least that’s what he considered it. Not only was it a mission, it was one of great importance. He was here to spy on Sparx, Fyeir, and the female human volunteers due to arrive today.

  Matrix quickened his pace. He hoped to arrive with time to spare before the volunteers arrived. At least enough to inform Sparx of his visit and intentions before the Phaetons landed with their precious cargo.

  His ears caught the sounds of the gate ahead opening, its metal gears grinding as they moved the heavy doors that creaked on rugged hinges. He was relieved. If he wasn’t mistaken, he’d be catching his unsuspecting host, Warlord Sparx, just as Sparx was leaving to retrieve the human volunteers from the landing sight beyond the city’s outer gates. He would have preferred better timing, but at least he’d arrived before they had.

  Matrix smiled as he waited for his friend and fellow warlord to approach. Then he turned to greet the Djaromir who accompanied the departing warlord.

  “What are you doing here?” Sparx asked, his expression stunned as he looked Matrix over.

  “It’s good to see you too,” he drawled sarcastically, tossing back the hood that covered his head and part of his face.

  “Sorry, ‘Trix.” Sparx hit him on the back a few times in greeting. “It is always good to see you. I’m just unsure what brought you to Fyeir.”

  “The females that have been chosen for Gunninng are not set to arrive for another month, so I thought I would come over and see how things work in Fyeir,” he explained with a shrug of his broad shoulders. It didn’t upset him any longer that they hadn’t been chosen as the first city to be graced with women. Especially after realizing he could use Sparx and his city as an example of what to do—or what not to do. “We’ve followed Juniper’s instructions as best we could in regard to the women’s quarters, but I am unsure if that is enough. I want to see how you and your miners handle their arrival.”

  “To learn from our mistakes?” Sparx asked dryly.

  “There has to be a benefit of going last. Plus, I wanted to use the bus and time a run between our cities.” He looked over at Sparx’s second-in-command. “How have you been, Colby?”

  “I’ve been well, sir,” he answered, standing straight at attention.

  “And your wound from the byorin?” Matrix asked, referring to the injury Colby had taken on their last group hunt. He knew from experience how hard it was to heal from a tusk wound, especially with the risk of infection. Wounds much smaller had killed stronger men.

  “Healed and no lasting problems, sir.” Colby stretched his arm out to demonstrate. “Other than a scar, I have full range of motion back.”

  “Good.” Nodding at the young man, Matrix turned his attention to Sparx once again. “Do you want company back to the gate? I wouldn’t mind the walk after being cooped up in that vehicle for the entire morning, and there are some things we should discuss.”

  “That sounds good.” Sparx turned to Colby. “Head back to the city and make sure the rooms are perfect for when we arrive. Have the kitchen warm mead and bring it to the first gate as a welcoming drink for the women to help chase the chill away.”

  “Yes, sir.” After handing over the cards he’d been charged with delivering, Colby gave them a short bow and jogged back the way they’d come.

  “What’s going on?” Sparx asked, cutting right to the po
int.

  “Listen,” Matrix began as they fell into step in the direction of the gates. “I don’t know about you, but Gunninng is less than pleased with the agreement that K’hor signed on behalf of Djaromir.”

  “Our displeasure with the terms he negotiated does nothing more than waste our time and energy.”

  “Only ten women per Earth month, Sparx? You agree that is a reasonable number when our race totals in the thousands of males searching for mates?” Matrix couldn’t believe his friend would agree with or even think that small number was acceptable.

  Sparx placed a steady hand on Matrix’s shoulder at the sound of anger that could be heard plainly in his voice. “Calm, ‘Trix. While I agree the number is nowhere near the amount I wanted it to be, it is still ten more females than we had before. Djaromir is so desperate at this point that I cannot see being ungrateful for those chances.”

  Matrix shook his head, tired of hearing the argument that they should be grateful for the women Earth was sending them. Why was everyone acting as if Djaromir hadn’t held up their end of the bargain, which was far more generous to Earth than it was to them?

  “They’re offering us scraps for the amount of ore we’ve already shipped to their planet,” he grumbled, knowing the worth of what they had sent should have bought them more women.

  Sparx rubbed a hand down his face and gave him a grim look.

  Matrix returned it with one of his own, his frustration overwhelming. The pressure of providing his city with a way to continue to survive had been riding him hard since he’d first picked up the mantle of Warlord of Gunninng.

  “Patience, ‘Trix,” Sparx said as Matrix growled in frustration at their current arrangement.

  “I hate being told to be patient,” he snapped, his boots stomping as they began to walk again.

  “How does Gunninng fare?” Sparx asked as they approached the second gate, breaking the silence. Moving to the levers on the side of the cavern, he began to trigger the weights that would swing the gate open for them to continue on.