Yule Planet

by Angel Martinez

  "I could say the same." Marta leaned in to kiss her, soft and slow. "Go to sleep, Sof. Mmm. Warm."

  The floor lights around the perimeter of the room came on at half intensity in the morning. Sofia stretched, wonderfully warm, comfortable, and replete. Part of her wanted to roll over and snuggle with a human furnace, but Sofia found she was restless. Marta looked too peaceful and too achingly lovely to wake, curled up on her side with one hand tucked under her chin. Carefully, Sofia eased out of bed and fished on the floor for clothes.

  The shuttle base was warm enough that socks, pants, and undershirt were sufficient. Sofia swore softly at the creaky cabin door, but Marta didn't stir as she left the cabin. While she didn't think she'd be the only one up early, she was shocked to find Dieter the sole occupant of the kitchen.

  His eyes half-closed, his shock of red hair a tousled mess, he smiled to himself and hummed softly as he stirred sugar into his coffee. "Oh, hi. Morning." He covered a yawn as he lifted the coffee in salute.

  "Morning. I didn't expect you up. I mean, I thought you'd be exhausted." Oh, yeah. Not awkward at all. Sofia busied her hands with getting coffee to cover her chagrin.

  "I am. Don't tell anyone, though. Would ruin my reputation." Dieter gave a vague wave and collapsed into a chair. "Don't worry about saying the wrong thing. I'll talk about anything. But if you say I'm a carrottop, we're gonna fight."

  In for a credit, in for a full pay cycle. "Do you sleep with all of them?"

  "All the work crews? Hell, no. I only really like a couple crews." Dieter stared into his coffee as if he'd forgotten the question until he shook himself. "All of this crew? No. Only the ones who'll have me. Marta isn't interested in male-type people. Fiero isn't interested in me. And Hecky only if Shara's also involved."

  "She has a thing for Shara, doesn't she?"

  He nodded. "Pretty obvious, right? It works for now, but Shar's afraid of letting the kid too close. Someday, they'll go back to their separate lives."

  "But Petey and—"

  "Ha. Yeah." Dieter grinned into the next sip of coffee. "The triad's different. They've committed to each other. They've made plans about what life will look like after. The ground after being released isn't so stable for everyone."

  "Oh. Sure." Sofia drank, glowing trails of warmth painting their way down her throat. "You resent it ever? Being on the outside of their relationships?"

  Someone else might have been angry at the question. Dieter considered, serious and lost in thought as he tapped the table. "Resent's probably not the right word. I'd be happy if they were here all the time. Alone too long is a bad look for me. But I wouldn't want to tie them to me. Or me to them. I want them all to go have lives they want when they're done here."

  "Will they?" Sofia twirled her cup between her hands. She'd seen enough, heard enough by now that she had suspicions. "Do they have a chance?"

  "Everyone gets a fair chance once their sentence is finished. Don't you know that, Ms. Sofia?" His unconvincing smile slipped into a grimace. "The game's fixed. Petey might have a chance, with his pension and his contract pay, to set up a life for the three of them. The rest? They'll walk out with next to nothing."

  "I want to ask you some things, but if the company has monitoring in all the rooms, I don't want to get you in trouble."

  Dieter let out a bark of laughter. "If Y-Corp's been monitoring the kitchen, we're all already royally fucked."

  "Fair enough. Okay. So I know the crews get paid for the cargo-hauling runs if they make deadlines. But I wonder if you know what comes out of that pay…"

  The discussion was as enlightening as Sofia had hoped. Despite his flair for the dramatic, Dieter kept a wealth of details in his brain that he was more than willing to share. Sofia went from having vague notions to the beginnings of plans.

  Chapter Five

  "Moon will listen if your requests aren't in direct opposition of what she wants," Marta insisted as the chionisaur in question butted her head against Sofia's back.

  "How will I know that?"

  "She won't leave the pack. She'll need a good reason to leave her place in line. And she won't let you guide her into a crevasse or a hidden sinkhole."

  Sofia patted the huge nose absently, aware in some part of her brain that Moon had gone from scary to cute because she had a soft snoot. "She has what? Ground telepathy?"

  "I don't…" Marta shook her head on a soft laugh. "That doesn't even make sense. Chionisaurs have an echolocation organ in their foreheads, like the melon of a beluga."

  "A…melon?"

  "Not a literal… Never mind. A chamber that helps them process and interpret sound waves. The little grumbles and grunts they make is them checking the ground. It's also how they hunt."

  "Smarties." Sofia ruffled the feather-fur under Moon's chin. "Aren't you just the smartest, prettiest predator?"

  Snowglider, apparently feeling left out, rumbled from behind Marta and placed as much of his huge head as he could on her shoulder. "Yes, yes, you're the smartest, too," Marta murmured as she stroked his jaw, then graced Sofia with a rare, full smile. "You'll be fine. Moon knows what she's doing. Just hold on tight if you click at her to go faster."

  The weather report had sparked the impromptu chionisaur-riding lesson, a report that had even Dieter frowning. The winds were expected to pick up by midday, bringing a snowstorm with them.

  "You're only going to Six today, right, Shar?" Dieter called across the loading bay. "You should be able to make that easy before it hits."

  Shara tightened the last strap on Sky's cargo sledge and shook her head. "We've lost too much time. We have to head straight for Ten today if we're going to make it."

  "But that's—"

  "Don't tell me my job, flyboy."

  Dieter flung his arms wide. "I would never! But I worry. I'm really worried here."

  With an exasperated growl, Shara stalked across the bay and attacked Dieter with a bone-crushing hug. "We'll be careful. You be careful if you have to go up today."

  "I do. I will," came out in a muffled wheeze.

  "Don't break the poor man, Shar." Tre wandered past with a quick kiss to Dieter's cheek.

  "Mount up!" Shara bellowed as she released her captive. "Lanel, get the doors! Straight a line as we can to Ten!"

  "Straight, like over the bridge?" Hecky squeaked.

  "If it's passable. Let's go! We're wasting daylight!"

  Sofia scrambled up Moon's harness with a couple of slips, since there were now cargo pods and bags attached on either side, in front of, and at the back of the straps. She got there, though, and was just barely last up as the doors rumbled open, Lanel leaped with enviable grace for his seat atop Windsong, and the pack moved out.

  The wind was already growing as they jogged away from the shuttle base. Goggles and face mask firmly on, Sofia turned, barely able to distinguish the flame of Dieter's hair as he waved them goodbye in the doorway. Within ten steps, the blowing snow obliterated him from sight.

  While the chionisaurs kept up a good pace, it became impossible to tell how far they'd gone or how much time had passed. Sofia fought to keep Petey and Hannibal in sight in front of them, urging Moon to hurry with a little hup-hup-hup every time they vanished into the snow. Moon obliged every time with a snort that seemed to say, I won't lose them, silly, while Sky’s and Star's harnesses jingled behind her as they hustled to catch up.

  The snow turned to storm, becoming brutal. Sofia curled in on herself, a lump of swaying misery atop her better-adapted companion.

  Twice the pack stopped, and the line compressed into a huddle of feather-fur with the humans in the center—a safe place to check everyone's status. The chionisaurs hunted in turns during these stops, pouncing on unsuspecting burrowing creatures beneath the snow and devouring them with loud, wet crunches.

  Just as Sofia had decided that this leg of the trip was really a descent into some ancient hell, a call came from up ahead, the words muffled and ripped away by the wind.

  Pet
ey turned in his seat and gestured for her to move up, the pack huddling again. This time, no one dismounted.

  "Bridge up ahead," Shara shouted as she turned Shadow inward to face the circle. "Mart and I will scout it. The bubbies will manage, so long's the bridge is whole."

  As Marta turned Snowglider to lope after Shadow, concern zipped through Sofia. "What kind of bridge?" She did her best to yell over the wind. "Why would it be out?"

  Lanel tried to answer her, but the storm whipped his soft voice away. With her sergeant's bellow, Fiero answered more easily. "Ice bridge! Usually stable, but we have to be sure!"

  Ice…bridge? She couldn't have conceived of one in her wildest nightmares. The pack moved forward at a slower pace, all in a tense bunch, grunting and growling at the landscape. If the chionisaurs were uneasy, this had to be a bad idea. Sofia was on the verge of saying so when a ground-shaking roar came from up ahead, followed by a frantic scream and really-not-comforting clacking and crunching sounds.

  The sound of six people hup-hup-hupping in counterpoint might have been hilarious if that scream hadn't been so piercing. The chionisaurs didn't need much urging, stretching out into full, loping gallops with Moon straining to take the front spot, while Sofia clung hard to the harness and tried not to break her teeth as she jolted up and down.

  Please be all right, Marta. Please, please…

  "Glacier crabs!" Fiero bellowed on her right just before Fang let out a bone-rattling roar, the others joining in to sound their shuttle-engine-startup challenges as the pack charged.

  The snow cleared enough to reveal Shadow surrounded by… Sofia shuddered and made herself smaller on Moon's back. Nightmares surrounded Shadow, not like any crabs Sofia had ever seen. Crabs were small and well behaved. They sat on quietly on plates in pools of butter. They were not the size of a single-person transport, they did not scuttle around on far too many white segmented legs, and they did not wave a quartet of ferocious claws that looked like they could snap someone's spine.

  Shadow fought with what appeared to be unbridled glee, ripping limbs from carapaces, crunching on claws, while Shara hung from the side of his harness, slashing at the glacier crabs with a wicked curved blade.

  A hard knot closed around Sofia's heart. Marta and Snowglider weren't there. They weren't anywhere.

  "This would be easier if they let us have blasters!" Fiero let out a piratical cry as she launched herself from Fang's back onto the carapace of one of the attacking crabs. A single blow with a broad-bladed knife where the large back plate joined with what had to be the head, and the crab collapsed, twitching horribly.

  The others stayed sensibly on chionisaur-back, laying about with whatever weapons they had. Sofia had nothing deadlier than her boots and concentrated on keeping her legs up out of the way of snapping claws while Moon ignored the battle and headed straight for…what? Sofia squinted, hands shoved tight under the harness. Cliff. Moon was running at the precipice.

  "Moon, no!" Sofia screamed. "Back, back! Um, un-hup! Damn it! Mooon!"

  Suicide by breathtaking leap wasn't on Moon's mind, though. She stopped near the edge, rocking from foot to foot and keening into the chasm below. A chionisaur-sized skid indentation showed where Marta and Snowglider had gone over the edge.

  "No. Gods…" Sofia blinked back tears that threatened to turn to ice on her lashes as she leaned forward, hiccuping down the beginnings of sobs as she tried to make out anything in the relative darkness below.

  "Hey?" A small, frightened voice rose up from the murk. "Little help?"

  Sofia tried to lean farther, but Moon's big head was in the way. She looked left, right, didn't spot any glacier crabs, and slid down the harness at teeth-rattling speed. Unsure of how close she could get to the edge without it breaking off under her, Sofia kept hold of Moon's front leg and carefully peered over. Something clung to a lip of rock beneath her.

  "Marta?"

  A beautiful, familiar face turned up to answer her. "Get help."

  "I can't." Sofia swallowed hard on the hysteria climbing up her throat. "They're fighting monsters."

  "Damn it. Okay…okay…" Marta's voice was failing, her strength obviously limited. "Take the front part of Moon's harness off. Lower it to me. Stay back from the edge."

  "I'm not an id— Shit!" Sofia backpedaled as a chunk of ice broke off under her foot, Moon rumbling her disapproval.

  No time for panic. No time for shaking. She stripped off her outer mittens and unbuckled Moon's chest harness as fast as she could. Moon wouldn't be able to walk far that way without the cargo-laden back part of the harness destabilizing, but it didn't matter right then. Harness in hand, Sofia pushed on Moon's chest until she backed up a few steps. Lying flat, Sofia wormed up to the edge of the cliff and lowered the straps.

  "Ow!" Marta shot her an exasperated look as the harness clonked her on the head. "You didn't have to lower it buckle-first."

  "Sorry, sorry! Hurry and grab hold or something before you fall."

  With little gasps and whimpers, Marta managed to let go of her shelf with one hand, scrabbling for better footholds, and wrap the end of the harness around one arm. "Do not try to pull me up. Do not, Sofia. Are you listening? You'll fall and we'll both fall."

  "But I could just…" Sofia inched back, trying to take up the slack in the harness, and squeaked when another chunk of ice gave way.

  "Sofia!" Panic filled Marta's eyes, and there was a moment when Sofia felt herself inexorably sliding.

  Something grabbed the back of her coat, hot predator breath on her neck. Moon had her, pulling back, claws dug in hard into the ice. Sofia clutched the harness in both hands and prayed to all the gods she knew—and several she was sure she was making up—that she could hold on, and that her shoulders weren't going to pop out of her sockets.

  Impressive cursing reached her through the wind accompanying Moon's grunting.

  "Moon! Tek! Tek tek tek!"

  Shara's booming voice, which couldn't be defeated by storm or blood pounding in one's ears, reached them. Moon took a slow step back. Another. Another. Sofia clamped her jaw against a scream as the weight increased on her arms. It only lasted a moment as other hands grabbed the harness, larger bodies throwing their weight against gravity's greedy pull, and then Marta was in her arms, shaking and pulling in huge sobbing breaths.

  "What the hell happened?" Fiero barked out.

  "Snowglider was trying to tell us." Shara shook her head. "I just wanted to get to the damn bridge. Was too late when we spotted the fucking crab ambush. Mart, I'm so damn sorry."

  Marta shuddered hard against Sofia's shoulder, mumbling. "Not your fault, Shar. Not your fault."

  "Like hell it isn—"

  A strange rhythmic sound interrupted her. Shhik-thunk, shhik-thunk, shhik-thunk. Hecky edged over to the precipice on her knees and peeked over. "Ha!"

  "What? Heck, what?" Shara snapped.

  "He's coming! He's climbing up. You can't keep a good bubbie down!"

  Snowglider's head crested the cliff's edge with a creaking mutter of complaint. No sooner had he dragged himself back onto safe level ground than Moon nearly trampled Sofia to get to him, warbling her desperate welcome. She butted heads with him, grumbling and growling.

  Not even two steps behind, Marta flung herself out of Sofia's arms to reach them. "Snowy!"

  "Well." Sofia stood, brushing snow off her butt. "I see where I rate."

  Petey patted her shoulder. "Keep in mind that you're not the one they thought was dead."

  "Oh. Right."

  She beat back the selfish part that wanted to resent the attention Snowglider was getting and shuffled over to join them in welcoming him back. Moon was rubbing herself against his side, while Marta checked him over for injuries. It had always been obvious that Moon liked him, but this looked more like a serious crush.

  "You're making a spectacle of yourself," Sofia said as she patted Moon's flank.

  "Eeerrrrrolph," Moon offered, which sounded more than a little rude. />
  "We have to get your harness back together."

  "Rrrrrr."

  Marta came around the combined bulk of chionisaur snuggling and threw her arms around Sofia's neck. "Thank you. I just…thank you."

  They had three or four perfect heartbeats in which they clung to each other, the world hidden by a veil of comfort and relief. Broken by Shara's bellow, of course.

  "Snow all right, Mart?"

  Marta snickered and pulled away to call back, "He's fine. Probably a little bruised and one of the cargo canisters took damage."

  "Better than anyone could hope for. Check harnesses and let's get moving!"

  Only so much time for heartfelt reunions when you're losing the light. But Sofia understood the sense of it. They had to cross a chasm and still get to the next camp. Delay could endanger them all. She tried not to pay too much attention to the carnage around her. Clearly, crab versus bubbie was not a fair contest. Dismembered legs and claws littered the snow, and there was an awful lot of suspicious crunching going on.

  Everyone helped checking over Snowglider's harness and getting Moon's set right again. Hecky retrieved Sofia's mittens from the snow by the cliff's edge with an extra bounce in her step. Then it was back up on the bubbies, who sorted themselves into single file without prompting.

  "All right, people!" Shara called from the front. "Bridge is clear, but take your time. No fucking around out there. Sofia, trust Moon to do what she needs to."

  The wind still howled. The snow still fell in stinging pellets. The unfathomable deep of the chasm made Sofia's stomach turn, and she fought to keep her gaze on Hannibal's slowly moving form in front of them.

  But there were no slips during the crossing—no emergencies, no alarms, nothing momentous—and still Sofia felt that she hadn't merely crossed a canyon. She'd crossed from an ending to a beginning.

  Chapter Six

  Three days later, they reached the tunnels. The resort had no back operational area into which guests could accidentally wander and break the spell of all the careful theming. Laundry, waste management, storage, employee spaces, security, all of that and more existed underground and could be reached either through discreet hidden entrances within the resort or through tunnel passages disguised as rock formations from outside the resort.