by C. F. Harris
More warning lights went off as the locals painted us with everything they had.
“Target has reappeared. Engage. Repeat, engage,” the voice from below said. There was a pause, then what was unmistakably a taunt. “Looks like your prefix code was hot lead asshole.”
I smiled. The pilot we were up against was skilled and the one down below was fast enough to not only pick up on my taunting but throw it back at me. I was going to enjoy visiting this world when they were eventually folded into the kingdom.
Assuming I lived long enough for that visit. If they were this good then there was a serious question as to how long that would be.
“Diverting power to antigrav so we can get out of here,” Tkaal said.
“Agreed,” I said.
“Are you serious? You’re going to run from the locals?” Rtukh asked, his voice incredulous.
“Do you want to stick around and let them smash us out of the sky like they promised?” I asked.
“Not at all,” Rtukh said. “I’m merely surprised that you would exercise discretion rather than staying to mess with them some more.”
“We’re not messing with them now,” I said as I gritted my teeth and tried to wrestle the sluggish controls. “Now we’re trying to get out of this with our asses in one piece. This is about to get a lot more interesting than we thought.”
Rtukh shook his head and sighed.
He didn’t say “I told you so,” but the body language was enough to clearly communicate it. I didn’t have time to focus on him being his usual annoying self though. I was far more focused on trying to keep the ship aloft.
More warnings came in as I punched it and moved as quickly as I could over the forested mountain slopes below and away from the base. It wasn’t nearly as fast as I was used to, but it should be more than enough to outrun one of their aircraft.
“They’re firing more projectiles at us,” Tkaal said. “Coming in rapidly. Moving the tracker to the front screen.”
I glanced down at what Tkaal sent up and felt another chill. The machines they were flying in might not be fast enough to chase us down, but the missiles they’d just launched were more than enough. I dodged the first, but the second got dangerously close before exploding.
“More damage,” Dvok said. “We’re going to lose antigrav soon if we don’t do something.”
“Damn it,” I said. “Sahaa is never going to let me hear the end of this if we make it back to the court.”
“If,” Rtukh said.
Again it wasn’t outright saying “I told you so,” but it was close enough that he might as well have spoken the words. His tone certainly said it all.
“I’m setting us down in the forest below. The trees should be enough to obscure us and once we’re on the ground their radar won’t be able to pick us up. Hold onto something. We’re going in hot.”
I put the ship into hover mode and watched as one of the many aircraft pursuing us, the sky had filled with the things rapidly after we were first spotted, flew past buffeting the ship with the fury of its passage.
I hit a button to disable the antigrav and simultaneously watched the altitude indicator plummet along with the ship. I tried to steer for an opening in the trees but quickly realized that they were so dense that it wasn’t going to be easy to find an open spot.
“Are you sure about this?” Rtukh asked
His voice was tense but not overly worried. He’d been flying with me long enough to have faith in my ability even in the middle of a crazy maneuver that had our ship in the clutches of the local gravity well which didn’t happen all that often.
“Pretty sure,” I said. “I haven’t been wrong yet, at least.”
The trees rushed up to meet us and at the last moment I flipped the antigrav engines on. They sputtered and for one terrified moment I thought I might have finally misjudged. I might have sent us to our deaths with one of my crazy gambles. Then they flared to life and we were jerked in our seats as the ship came to a sudden stop without the inertial compensators online to cushion the fall.
“That’s going to leave a mark,” Dvok said from the back.
“Better a few strap bruises than dead,” I said as I brought the ship in for as soft a landing as I could.
It wasn’t very soft at all.
I pulled my straps away and winced. That was going to leave a mark.
“Damage report?” I asked.
“Looks like we’re suffering major damage to the antigrav,” Tkaal said.
“I could have told you that,” Dvok said.
“Yeah, but now that no one’s shooting at us I can do damage control,” Tkaal said. “You patch us up and let me worry about the ship.”
“Cloaking system is completely fried. I’ll have to take a look at it with my own two eyes to see if there’s anything we can do about it,” Dvok said, sounding a little testy. He was rated for ship repair even if his main job was medic.
“Any other good news?” I groused.
“The FTL is offline right now including communications which means we’re stuck on this planet and we can’t send out a distress signal until we fix it,” Tkaal added.
“Is this a bad time to mention that the parts to fix it are a few light years away?” Dvok asked.
“You’re just full of wonderful news, aren’t you?” I said. “Okay then. We’re stuck on a strange alien world where we know the locals are more than a little hostile to alien life. I think you all remember what happened to the advance team that tried landing a little south of here sixty years back as the locals reckon it. We don’t want a repeat of that fiasco in the desert.”
I wheeled my chair around in time to catch Tkaal and Dvok looking down out of respect for the good men we’d lost in that incident. That was under father’s watch, though. Now it looked like I was going to have my own embarrassing crash landing on this world to contend with.
Assuming we couldn’t get everything fixed in time to get out of here before it became an incident. Something told me they weren’t going to cart me off to one of their bases south of the giant water masses on this continent if they knew who they had, and it wasn’t going to be a pleasant experience for any of us considering how hostile this world still seemed to be towards the idea of alien life.
“Do you think we can even fix the other systems?” Rtukh asked.
I shrugged and grinned. That was the first order of business in a situation like this. Try to keep morale up so the men didn’t lose hope. It looked like we were in a bad way down here, but I’d been in worse scrapes before.
Sort of. Maybe. If I squinted at the memories just right. Either way it wouldn’t do to act like we were completely fucked even if I was pretty sure we just might be.
“Do you want to live on this primitive world forever?” I asked.
I looked at each of them in turn. None of them looked terribly happy at the idea of being stuck on a world so primitive by our standards that they still thought smart watches were a pretty neat idea.
“Didn’t think so, so let’s get to work. We don’t have the skin tone to match the locals and blend in so that means we need to get to work and get the hell out of here,” I said. “The suits might be able to match skin tone for a short stint, but not long enough to live here.”
“Agreed,” Rtukh said.
“Heartily agreed,” Tkaal and Dvok echoed.
“So let’s get to work. Tkaal I want you to tackle the FTL and communications. If we can’t get everything working I want to make sure we’re going to be able to send a distress call. Dvok, you need to concentrate on getting the antigrav and cloaking back in working order. We’re going to need those if the locals come calling, and something tells me they’re going to be scouring this forest for any sign of us and they’re not going to be friendly if they do catch us.”
“Agreed,” Tkaal said.
“Damn it Jiorj, I’m a do…”
I held up a hand to stop him. “I know, but you’re also rated for repairs so you’re doing
surgery on the ship.”
“And what are you going to be doing?” Rtukh asked, his voice carrying a soft menace.
I took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to like this, but he was also going to have to deal with it.
“I’m going out to scout the area. I want to know where we are and if there are any signs of civilization as they define it on this planet. It wouldn’t do to have some locals come across us and report us to the authorities.”
“You were a fool for ever doing this in the first place,” Rtukh said. “Especially with a Ganzan chasing us.”
Normally I might have been annoyed to the point of doing something about it if he took that tone with me. Especially since he mentioned that damned Ganzan.
Right now though? After taking a nose dive into a forested area on this world and having our craft shot out from under us by local pilots who had far more skill than they had any right to have?
Yeah, in this situation I probably totally deserved that.
“So you’re not going to try and stop me from scouting?” I asked.
“Would it matter if I tried to stop you?” he asked. “You’re going to do what you want to do regardless, so why fight it?”
“I’m glad to see you’re starting to see things my way,” I said.
“I am,” he replied. “But I’ll be coming with you.”
“Not a chance,” I said. “You need to stay here and guard the ship while Tkaal and Dvok are exposed. The locals are going to come calling, and you don’t want to give that Ganzan an opening if he comes around.”
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Rtukh said. “Scanners are still working, correct?”
“They are,” Tkaal confirmed.
“So you would be able to tell if something was coming for you and react appropriately, correct?”
“I suppose,” Tkaal replied.
“Unless that damned Ganzan does try to sneak up on us,” Dvok said.
“The Ganzan isn’t on this world. How many times do I have to tell you we lost him on the last world?” I growled.
“Good,” Rtukh said as though that settled it. Also as though he was ignoring what I said about the Ganzan. “I wouldn’t want the crown prince to hurt himself interacting with the local wildlife. My lifespan would be very short indeed if that happened, even assuming we make it off this planet.”
“Fine,” I said. “You can come along, but you need to be sure you keep up. I’m not waiting around if you’re too slow.”
Rtukh nodded and smiled.
Despite everything I felt good about our situation. Not only was I getting a chance to buzz the locals, but I’d gotten to match skills against pilots who turned out to be better than me flying ancient technology that had no business playing in the same league as my ship. On top of that I got to break out the armor and have fun exploring this strange new world up close and personal.
I was sure Tkaal would be able to patch the ship up even if the nearest replacement parts were a few light years away. Dvok always groused and Tkaal always came through.
Sure the situation wasn’t great, but all in all I was having a fucking great time!
4
Stacy
“I really don’t like the look of those clouds,” Rachel said.
“Come on Rachel,” I said. “It’s not that bad. Those don’t look any worse than thunderstorms back home and that’s nothing.”
“Nothing?” she said, arching an eyebrow. “Weren’t you the one telling me about how those storms could snap trees in two?”
“Those were tornadoes,” I said. “Big difference. Thunderstorms are just cool. You get a little rain and a light show and the sky turns weird colors and…”
“You’re forgetting one thing,” Rachel said as she came to a halt on the trail. I kept going for a few more feet before I realized I’d been left behind and stopped. Snow crunched under my boots but I didn’t feel a bit of the chill surrounding us.
I knew how to pack for warm weather.
“What am I forgetting Rachel?” I asked.
“You’re forgetting we’re in the middle of the mountains in the middle of winter and that means those dark clouds aren’t a thunderstorm,” she said.
“Don’t you want to get to the resort? We’re going to miss happy hour if we don’t get there soon!” I said. “Kayla’s going to be pissed. We promised. You’re not getting out of this.”
“No way,” Rachel said. “We’re closer to the house than we are to the ski resort and I don’t want to be out here when those clouds hit.”
Rachel turned and looked behind us. Off in the distance I could see the twinkling lights of the cabin in the woods that was really more of a mansion in the woods. It did look inviting, but Kayla’s texts promising cheap drinks and hot guys was drawing me down the forest path that led to the resort.
Not that the promise of hot guys really did all that much for me. Not without a pang of guilt thinking of Travis, at least, but those pangs of guilt were the reason I was looking forward to those cheap drinks.
Maybe I could even convince one of those guys to buy a girl a drink. That didn’t feel too much like cheating, and like Rachel said I did need to move on sometime.
“I don’t care what you say,” I said. “It’s a short walk and I’m not going to worry about some silly storm.”
“That silly storm is looking pretty ominous,” Rachel said. “Come on. Let’s head back and hang out with Tara. When this all blows over we can head out and meet Kayla.”
I looked at the clouds and then down the path to the resort. I’d been looking forward to this ever since we arrived. I wanted to see the ski resort. The kind of resort that set up shop on the side of a mountain surrounded by multi-million dollar mansions where rich people cavorted and the half price drinks were still more expensive than the top shelf stuff back home.
“No way,” I said. “I’m soldiering on. You can meet me there with Tara when you drag her out of that mansion.”
Rachel grinned. “Those cute rich boys Kayla promised wouldn’t have anything to do with this would they?”
She was grinning and trying to sound light, but I could sense the tension behind her words. I felt that tension threatening to overwhelm me. Another reminder of Travis.
Sure I was sort of going to the resort because of a guy, because I wanted to drink until I didn’t have to think about bachelorettes or bachelors and the constant reminder of what I didn’t have in my life any longer, but that’s probably not what Rachel was thinking.
But if it would get her off of my back…
“Sure,” I said. “That’s totally why I’m going. So you run and have fun with Tara and I’m going to go have my fun with Kayla.”
Rachel looked up to the sky one more time then sighed and turned back towards the cabin. “If you say so,” she said. “Try to have some fun. You need it.”
I watched as she disappeared down the trail. Finally she reached a bend in the woods and then she was gone. I kept watching for another moment before letting out a sigh of my own and turning back towards the resort.
At least Tara said the resort was on the other end of this trail. I’d needed a drink before, but I really fucking needed one now. I would’ve reached up to wipe a tear from the corner of my eye, but it wasn’t really possible with my heavy gloves.
“Damn it Stacy,” I said as I continued on, the snow crunching underfoot. “You need to get over this.”
I sometimes wondered how long it was going to take. Most of the time I didn’t think about it at all, but then something would come along and remind me of what was missing in my life. Like a weekend spent with my friends celebrating one of them about to get married.
I shouldn’t have come, but I couldn’t really tell my best friend I wasn’t going to her bachelorette weekend because I was still working through all the issues around Travis.
Oh well. I could wallow in a pity party or I could do what I always did. So I did what I always did. I put one foot in front of the other
and moved forward. I was literally moving forward down the trail, but I also felt like I was moving ahead metaphorically as well.
Sort of. Maybe.
It had to happen sometime.
I tried to enjoy the experience at least. It reminded me of walking through the woods back home, though walking through the woods had never quite been like this. The trees were all newer growth back home, for one. They’d obviously been cut down sometime in the past century to allow a farmer to grow crops and then allowed to grow back.
The trees here were different. Old growth. Everything was bigger and there wasn’t as much underbrush because there wasn’t as much light filtering down from above.
That darkness from the trees all around me coupled with the dark clouds rolling in from the horizon created a really creepy effect that I kind of liked. I felt like I was a little girl again walking through the woods on the other side of the cornfield behind our house, though those woods were a hell of a lot smaller than the sprawling forest I was walking through now.
Something snapped off in the distance. I turned towards the sound and waited, holding my breath just like I always had when I was a little girl wondering what could be out there and knowing there wasn’t anything terribly dangerous in those woods unless you were terrified of foxes or raccoons. Though there were possibly dangerous things out here where the line between civilization and wilderness blurred.
I held my breath just to the point that it got uncomfortable and let it out.
I was jumping at things. Sure it was silent all around me, but that was probably because of the snow blanketing the forest. It deadened the sound and made it feel somehow more silent than silence, if that makes sense.
I started walking again. The steady crunch of snow under my boots was also a comforting reminder of old days when I didn’t have nearly as many worries as I did these days. I lost myself in a fantasy that I was young again walking through the woods and having a little adventure and not a grown woman with all sorts of fucked up issues.