She lowered her hand to her lap, leaned forward, and looked outside. With the angle of the pod, the sea was to her front and left, and the jungle was just visible on the right edge of her vision. Vasil was nowhere to be seen, but she knew he was close by. He’d allowed her back into the pod without objection after their initial…introduction. That seemingly blind trust triggered further suspicions in her mind. Before doing anything else, she’d retrieved the pistol Kane had mentioned. When she’d turned to search out Vasil again, he was gone.
Keeping the weapon within easy reach, she’d opened up the panel to access the console’s wiring and circuitry, checking for any means of coaxing the communications system to work. She just needed a second of functionality to send a signal — a second — but Kane’s assessment of the damage had been right. She couldn’t repair it with her current resources.
Turning her head to the right, she fixed her gaze on the dense jungle vegetation. “He said there are humans here, which means the water should be potable, and there’s likely food out there.”
“You’re making some immense assumptions, Theo.”
“If it’s safe for them, why wouldn’t it be safe for me? Last I checked, I’m human too.”
“Barely,” Kane grumbled. “If there are other humans on this planet, we have no idea what processes they go through to purify their water supply—”
“There are water filtration containers in the storage space, Kane. You could pour raw sewage into one of those, and it’d still give you clean drinking water when it was done.”
“Well, we still have no idea how they obtain their food, no idea if any of the native flora or fauna are safe for your consumption. I can monitor the air and water with my sensors, but I will not be able to do the same with food.”
“So you’re saying you’re only half-useful,” she said with a smirk.
“Yes. I’ve assimilated many of my host’s traits.”
“Ouch. Guess I left myself open for that one.” With a sigh, dropped her feet to the floor. “Guess I better do something productive before I get another scolding.”
After checking that her knife was in place, she clipped the holstered pistol onto her belt. She scanned her surroundings as she climbed out of the pod. The dark clouds had parted an hour or two ago, allowing the bright midday sun to shine upon the golden sand. The temperature had risen, and though it wasn’t unbearable, she wasn’t accustomed to anything outside the dry, carefully controlled seventy degrees Fahrenheit of IDC ships. This heat and humidity would become uncomfortable soon enough.
“If that kraken were still around, I could probably ask him what’s safe,” she said as she walked toward the jungle, boots sinking into the soft sand with each step.
“Where in your survivalist training did they tell you to entrust your wellbeing to alien lifeforms?”
“I didn’t say I trust him. And it’s not like that training prepared me for this.” She swept a hand out in front of her. “I’m a ship mechanic, Kane. That means bare minimum when it comes to training for field operations.”
“It means bare minimum in budget, as well,” he muttered. “If you were a field operative, I would at least have scanners capable of profiling organics to determine their composition and safety. You should’ve aspired for more.”
Theo’s brows lowered, and she scowled. “Are you saying I’m not good enough?”
“I’m saying I’m not good enough to help you as I should be able, Theo. If the IDC had put just a little more money into the hardware they installed in you…”
“Nothing to be done about it now.” She stopped a few paces away from the grass. “I like you as you are. You’re family to me, Kane.”
“Aww, did we just have a moment?”
“They’re bound to happen here and there, especially when you never seem to shut up.”
“Is that not what human family is for?”
Frowning, Theo took in a steadying breath and strode into the vegetation. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Neither would I. The one time I hope to lean on your limited expertise, and you fail me.”
She rolled her eyes as she entered the grass. “You know exactly why I have limited expertise in that field, you jerk. Now let’s focus on the task at hand.”
“Yes, sir.” A small blue orb projected from her left wrist, hovering in the air over it. Kane’s voice emanated from the orb when he spoke again. “I will monitor for signs of life, but my capabilities in that regard are limited. May I suggest you draw your weapon?”
Theo drew the pistol from its holster and continued forward.
The only jungles she’d ever seen had been holographic projections — a few in her childhood, mostly from Earth shops that tried to use such images to lure in customers, and again in her IDC basic training. Her instructors had covered several potential biomes in rapid succession but had never gone into much detail for any of them.
This was her first experience in a place like this. Her youth had been concrete, steel, and glass, most of it stained with age and centuries of graffiti. There weren’t many forests left on Old Earth, and slum dwellers like Theo certainly didn’t get to visit them.
The vegetation grew denser as she moved away from the sea, shifting from long, soft grass to thick clumps of broad-leafed plants before leading to trees. She was surrounded by countless shades of green, violet, and brown, occasionally broken by bright flashes of red, yellow, orange, pink, and blue — the petals of strange flowers and growths amidst the foliage. The leaves rustled in the gentle wind flowing off the sea.
The strong scents of vegetation and moist earth overpowered the briny aroma from the beach. Everything smelled so rich, so alive, so unlike the scents to which she was accustomed. The stale, recycled air of most interstellar ships had become so familiar to her that this natural air was almost too much to take in, its ever-shifting scents too complex for her nose.
She ran her fingertips over the velvety surface of a large leaf, collecting the dew drops gathered upon it. Kane bathed her hand in soft light when she lifted it to the floating orb.
“Safe,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean anything about the groundwater, if there is any to be found.”
“I’m sure there is,” she said, rubbing the moisture between her thumb and forefinger. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and she tilted her head to one side, listening. “Are you mapping our route?”
“Do you take me for some sort of amateur, Theodora Velenti?”
Theo grinned and continued forward. “Bare minimum budget and all that.”
“I suppose I left myself open for that one.”
“That you did.”
“We are being stalked,” Kane said through their neural link.
“I know,” she whispered.
“You also know that you do not need to reply to me aloud, Theo. It isn’t exactly discrete for you to be speaking to yourself all the time.”
She clenched her jaw and pressed her lips together. Communicating with Kane in her mind required more concentration than speaking did.
Is it him? she sent through the link.
“I believe so, but I cannot say for certain. He seems to have some sort of camouflage that is obscuring visual identification, and he is out of my scanner’s range.”
We’ll wait and see what he does.
“Is that a wise choice, Theo?”
Just keep watching him. He hasn’t done anything to hurt me yet, but that doesn’t mean he won’t.
Vasil crept through the foliage, wondering how land animals made passing through it silently seem so simple a task. Though he kept the movements of his tentacles slow and deliberate, he couldn’t avoid making some noise. He only hoped it matched the other jungle sounds well enough that Theo wouldn’t notice.
His skin changed along with the surrounding plants, matching their coloration and mimicking their texture, but it seemed to matter little — despite her steady, cautious pace, Theo didn’t look toward him at all. He supposed he
r constant conversation with Kane was a boon for him in this situation; the more they talked, the less likely she was to hear Vasil’s clumsy attempts at stealth.
The uneven ground, littered with rotting leaves and poking sticks, wasn’t kind to the relatively soft undersides of his tentacles. He tasted dirt, vegetation, and countless other flavors he had no desire to explore further through his suction cups. Though he’d accompanied the human, Randall, and several other kraken into the jungle near The Watch on a few occasions to hunt and forage, Vasil had never grown fully used to the feel of the jungle floor.
Theo came to a halt up ahead. Vasil pressed himself against a tree trunk and peered around it to watch her.
She certainly wasn’t from Halora. As though falling out of the sky wasn’t enough proof, everything about her was different from the other humans he’d met thus far. The way she pronounced words was just a touch off, she had a computer embedded inside her body, and her clothing…
The people of The Watch typically wore simple clothes, all hand-made and well-worn, much of it loose and seemingly comfortable. Theo’s clothing resembled the diving suits from the Facility far more closely than anything the humans of Halora wore on a regular basis. Her clothing seemed to be a single piece, made from a material he couldn’t identify. Her torso and thighs were clad in white, while the fabric on her lower legs, arms, and shoulders was black with gray accents. Some sort of metal symbol was pinned on her chest, near the collar of her suit, and there were white numbers printed on each shoulder.
The more he looked at her clothing, the more certain he was that he’d seen something like it before, but he couldn’t make the connection.
She suddenly bent forward, giving him a full view of her curved backside. Vasil’s claws sank into the bark. Desire blazed through him as he stared at her, and his cock stirred. Startled, he dropped a hand to press over his slit. He hadn’t felt arousal — hadn’t felt much of anything — since before he’d been taken prisoner by the human hunters two years ago.
Why now? Why her?
He clenched his teeth as, unbidden, his eyes roamed down her legs and up to her backside again. He’d not mated with anyone in a long while, but he knew the anatomy of human females allowed positions that were impossible when two kraken came together. How would those positions change the experience? How would she feel?
His claws dug deeper into the wood as he willed his body to calm.
This is not the time. There are more pressing matters to attend.
But he couldn’t deny the significance of what he felt. His desire for Theo had sparked the moment he’d seen her face through the window; even without the benefit of color, her beauty had struck him with all the power of the storm that had been raging around him. It would have been so easy to abandon her to her fate. To save himself and return to his responsibilities. Even now, it should’ve been a simple thing.
And yet…he wanted her.
I do not know her. How can I want her?
His only answer was his continuing desire for Theo, burning low in his belly.
She rose and tossed aside a flower she had picked. She said something Vasil couldn’t quite hear before resuming her walk.
Keeping his jaw clenched, he carefully tugged his claws out of the bark, eased out from behind the tree, and followed her. His attention continually fell to her legs and backside as the material of her clothing stretched and molded over her curves, yet his arousal neither increased nor diminished — it simply lingered like a predator awaiting the right moment to strike its prey. The play of muscle as humans walked had always been intriguing to him, but there was much more to this. He couldn’t look away from her.
He imagined she’d turn the gun on him and shoot if she’d known he was staring; there was a clear hardness in her. Vasil guessed she’d been shaped by unpleasant experiences in her past — she’d drawn strength from hardship.
Why hadn’t he?
Theo slowed several times to examine various plants; fortunately, she made no move to eat any of them, allowing him to remain hidden.
Stalking her through the jungle is not likely to build trust between us…
She was wary of him, and she was armed — a dangerous combination — but she wasn’t safe wandering alone. Watching over her from a distance was the best he could do until they developed some mutual trust. It was just as things had always been — Vasil observed other people from a distance, uncertain of how to get any closer.
How would Jax, Arkon, Dracchus, or even Kronus have handled this situation? Randall would’ve been able to talk his way through it, but Randall had the added advantage of being human. Based on Theo’s initial reaction, she’d never heard of a kraken before, much less seen one. She would’ve responded much better to encountering a human when she emerged from the pod.
Of course, if Vasil were human, he wouldn’t have been able to save her as he had…
He thrust aside those pointless wonderings and focused instead on the situation at hand. He was here to keep an eye on Theo, to ensure she wasn’t harmed. That goal was difficult enough without unnecessary distractions.
Ignoring the smells and tastes his suction cups continually picked up, he shifted his focus to sight and sound. Theo continued to study the plants she passed, but Vasil had yet to see anything he knew was safe for human consumption.
She stopped and tilted her head, staring up at something in front of her — something blocked from Vasil’s view by a thick tree trunk.
“That’s one weird looking plant,” Theo said.
“Indeed,” her computer replied.
Vasil moved forward slowly, veering off her path to position himself for a better view. He unintentionally held his breath as he did so, cringing at every crunching of leaf, at every creaking branch.
“Are these things collecting dew?” Theo asked.
“No. I cannot identify its composition, but it seems to be some sort of nectar or sap.”
Theo stepped closer and extended a hand just as the target of her focus came into Vasil’s view.
His hearts stopped.
The plant in front of Theo was familiar to Vasil — it had been purposefully pointed out to him during his first journey into the jungle. Its long, thick stalk jutted from a clump of assorted vegetation that concealed the oversized, layered leaves at its base. Thorns as long as Vasil’s hand protruded from the sides of the stalk, seemingly harmless while they were still.
Standing on her toes, Theo studied one of the four nectar-coated tendrils dangling from the end of the stalk.
The humans had a name for these plants, simple but apt — snatcher.
“Did that just…move a little?” she asked as the tendrils withdrew slightly.
“It could be a reflexive reaction triggered by environ—”
“Back away!” Vasil roared, darting forward. Vegetation — living and dead — crunched and snapped in his path.
“What the—?” Theo turned, taking a single step toward Vasil as she raised her gun toward him, gripping it in both hands.
That step was the only thing that saved her. The snatcher lashed forward with startling speed, slicing through the space Theo had occupied a moment before. Its thorns bent inward, piercing the foliage on the jungle floor. The air displaced by its movement caused Theo’s pale golden hair to sway gently.
Vasil was staring down the barrel of Theo’s gun, and her finger was on the trigger, but she knew the snatcher had taken a swipe at her. Whether she’d heard it, felt it, or Kane had alerted her did not matter. She spun on her heel and stumbled backward. The plant righted itself, twisting toward her for another strike.
Vasil pushed himself harder, ignoring the bite of branches and rocks on his tentacles. He’d left too much distance between them. He’d been too cautious in their interactions, and she was going to pay for it.
“Kane, what the fuck is—”
Vasil slammed into Theo, cutting off her words. She grunted as she hit the ground. He caught himself with hands and t
entacles, preventing his body from crushing hers. For a moment, her scent — metal and flowers — washed over him, and her warmth eased into his skin.
Then she drove her elbow into his sternum.
He released a grunt of his own as some of the air burst from his lungs. The blow had been solid and well-aimed, but Vasil had faced worse from some of the creatures he’d hunted — and from other kraken. He wouldn’t allow himself to be fazed by the pain.
A fresh jolt of agony sought to test his resolve a heartbeat later; piercing pressure in two tentacles. The snatcher’s thorns had caught him.
Theo struggled beneath him. “Get off me!”
He caught her wrists in his hands before she could hit him again. Fortunately, she seemed to have lost hold of her gun. That gave Vasil a little more time to act, but not much — she undoubtedly knew now that she couldn’t physically overcome him, and she’d seek her weapon at the first opportunity.
The snatcher tugged on his wounded tentacles. He twisted slightly to look behind. The plant was exerting pressure to drag him closer.
Any further delay by Vasil and it would’ve been Theo impaled by the thorns.
The pain in his tentacles had dulled to a distant tingling that spread slowly upward, sapping his sense of feeling as it traveled. He wasn’t sure of how far it would spread, wasn’t sure how strong its final effects would be, wasn’t sure how long he had to act.
But he knew without a doubt it would’ve killed Theo.
Something within Vasil shattered. Fire sparked and blazed out of the break to roil through his veins and surge into his muscles. The snatcher would’ve taken her before Vasil had ever had a chance to have her, and he had only himself to blame. With the decision to act left solely upon his shoulders, his shortcomings had nearly cost Theo her life.
Conscious thought fled as a red haze descended over Vasil’s vision.
He released his hold on Theo, pushed himself up, and swung around to face the snatcher. He grasped its stalk with hands and tentacles, avoiding the thorns only because they remained closed, and tugged upwards. The resistance from the base of the plant was strong but brief. Amidst wildly shaking foliage and clods of moist jungle dirt, the snatcher’s base — a clump of massive, tapering leaves — emerged from the vegetation. Countless dirt-caked roots, resembling the legs of some bottom-feeding scavenger, writhed in the air — reaching for the ground, reaching for Vasil.
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