by Zara Zenia
She laughed, shocked and delighted by the majesty of them so close to her, and glanced back at the Curator. He wasn't far behind her, staring at her with wide-eyed shock. She just grinned at him and put her head down, running faster. She was almost not even thinking about getting away from him at this point. She just wanted to keep running.
Soon, the herd split, turning to run in another direction, and Jewel realized why as she got closer to what was obviously the wall of the enclosure. Her heart was racing, and she worried she'd be stuck there, but as she approached, a panel opened automatically, as though the ship wanted her to keep going. She didn't question it, running on through it and across the narrow corridor behind it, which she recognized as the gap between two habitat modules.
Her legs burning and her body alive with excitement, she didn't even stop to worry about what might be on the other side before she pushed through the next panel into a new habitat. It was a jungle, so humid the moisture beaded on her helmet. The vegetation was alien and red-tinged, dense and impossible to run through. But Jewel wasn't going to let that stop her.
The crowded trees—or tree-like plants, anyway—grew close together, their branches intertwined like lace. Jewel jumped up to the closest branch and pulled herself up, scrambling up into the canopy. Worked up as she was, her muscles warmed up and her blood pumping like it hadn't since she'd been discharged from the military, climbing was almost too easy. It felt right and wonderful.
"What did you evolve from?" she heard the Curator yelling below her. Hanging by one hand from an upper branch, she looked down at him and laughed.
"Apes!" she yelled down, swinging herself up onto the next branch. "You look more like a jellyfish. How well do jellyfish climb trees?"
"I guess we will find out!" he shouted back, and she grinned as he reached for a branch and started pulling himself up. She got to her feet on the branch she was standing on, caught the branch above it with her hand, and started running again, half climbing, half swinging as she navigated the interwoven branches of the massive trees, startling strange lizard-like birds with brilliantly colored feathers.
As she got closer to the center of the habitat, she saw heavy, long-furred creatures hanging from the limbs like strange orangutans with long, lean snakelike torsos. They decorated the lower branches of a massive central tree, bigger than a redwood, which Jewel slowly realized was, in fact, the only tree in this habitat, its laced limbs splitting into new trunks and rejoining to create an entire forest. She paused for a moment and looked back. The Curator was climbing after her, struggling to keep up but managing, though he looked like he was wearing out.
"You're not going to pass out and fall, are you?" she shouted back. "I don't know how to work your fancy medical supplies, so if you crack your head open you'll probably die."
"I can promise you with absolute certainty," he said between ragged breaths, "that I am far more physically durable than you, which makes your recklessness all the more baffling. I could fall from this height and walk away with bruises. You would probably die of shock before you hit the ground."
"Then I guess I'd better go higher!" Jewel said with a laugh and started climbing again, working her way up the massive central tree. She felt fantastic, more alive than she had in years. When was the last time she'd run this fast, worked this hard, felt her body strain against her? She'd kept working out after her discharge, but it had felt empty and meaningless. This was real. The bark under her hands, her breath burning in her lungs, even Big Blue with all of his teeth and sedative patches following behind her—it was all exactly what she'd needed.
She paused occasionally, watching the Curator climb after her, making sure he was keeping up. She wanted him to keep chasing her. Losing him had stopped being the goal at some point. The chase was more fun than just getting away when she knew there was nowhere to go anyway. Eventually, she broke through the upper canopy and into the sunlight. There was a stiff breeze, and she could feel it through the strange suit, refreshing against her skin. She breathed in, relishing the feeling of accomplishment.
"Hey," she shouted down at the Curator. "Do you have a name?"
"A what?" he shouted back distantly, having fallen behind.
"A name!" she shouted. "Like, an individual label that distinguishes you from the rest of your species. Do the Ra'hom have names?"
"In a manner of speaking," he said, pausing against the trunk to catch his breath. "It is more of a . . . list of accomplishments. No one on the Council has a designation that takes less than an hour to fully declare."
"Well then, what do I call you?" Jewel asked impatiently.
"The shortest form of my designation is K'ezik'aza Koue," he said, except part of Jewel's brain told her what he'd said was actually “Victor of the battle at Tower Hill, Sword of the Usurper, Champion of the Endless Duel, Defeated by the Silence of the Black Desert, Forever Shamed. “
"That was weird," she muttered.
"Telepathic doubling," he explained. "The translator is smart enough to pick up that my designation is meant to be given in its native language, but it still tries to convey contextual meaning."
"Um, so what do I actually call you?" Jewel asked. "I assume you don't want to go by Forever Shamed."
"We do not really use proper nouns except in formal situations—"
"My name is Jewel," Jewel interrupted him.
"Your name is faceted precious stone?"
"Yup. Jewel. And I'm going to call you Kay."
"Why?" he huffed, beginning to climb again.
"So I can say this," Jewel said, grinning as she straightened up to knock aside one of the ceiling panels. "Eat my dust, Kay!"
"No! Stay there, damn it!"
But she was already climbing, laughing, into the space above the habitat module. She crawled quickly, hearing Kay drag himself up after her. She knew he'd catch up to her fast now that they weren't climbing, so she wasted no time in hurrying on to the next module and kicking out the first panel she came to. She dropped into it without looking and regretted it an instant later as she saw the water rushing up toward her.
It was cold as ice and dark as night, and she sank quickly. She could still breathe, the suit protecting her, but it was clear the suit hadn't been made with swimming in mind. She was too heavy, the boot-like feet useless for kicking. She could feel herself sinking as she struggled. There was some kind of strange illumination below her, glowing eerily in the dark like a field of multicolored stars, which unsettled her in a way she couldn't explain.
Then it moved, sliding smoothly past in the way only unfathomably huge sea life could, and her unsettled feeling rocketed up into real terror instantaneously. She made a panicked wail, kicking harder to try and swim against the drag of her suit. Suddenly, something collided with her side, wrapping around her. She was certain for a moment that it was the jaws of something unspeakable until she realized it was dragging her upward. Kay had her in one arm, his legs moving smoothly as a dolphin's tail as he rocketed toward the surface of the water.
He moved as gracefully in the water as though he'd been born there. Carrying her didn't seem to hamper him in the least. But the light covered thing was after them, its long tapered snout full of translucent teeth like slivers of broken glass jammed haphazardly into its gums. It was bigger than Jewel could easily comprehend. It put the orcas she'd seen at sea life shows to shame. In shape, it resembled nothing so much as the mosasaurs in her childhood dinosaur books. She shouted wordlessly, pointing at it, and Kay let her go, turning to face the thing.
He dodged the snaps of the creature's vast jaws easily, darting like an otter without a hint of fear. Jewel almost couldn't understand how he moved so quickly and smoothly in the water. It was the most inhuman thing she'd seen from him so far. His body was built for this in the way hers never could be.
He dodged around to the side of the creature's head and struck three sharp blows to the soft gills on the sides of its neck. She saw it flail and roll away, banking and turning away
from its assailant. Kay wasted no time pursuing it, swimming toward her like a shot, colliding with her and swimming away as quickly as possible. She added her own kicks to his, but they were pathetically ineffective in comparison to the way he moved, slicing through the water with unparalleled ease.
What seemed like only moments later, he was dragging her up onto the sand. She stumbled to her feet, legs wobbly from the long swim, and then collapsed as soon as she reached dry land. He flopped down beside her, breathing heavily.
"Whatever an ape is," he said breathlessly, "it clearly never spent any time in the ocean."
"Well, we can't all be descended from jellyfish," Jewel said, exhausted.
"You realize I do not even know what that word means," he pointed out. "The translator has no equivalent. The telepathic doubling just keeps saying 'evil sentient bag'."
Jewel laughed and suddenly couldn't stop, rolling over onto her side as her ribs ached with the intensity of her mirth. As her own laughter came under control, she realized he was laughing as well, the sound strange, a rolling, purring rumble.
"So," he said once they'd both calmed down again. "Are you done running now? Or would you like to climb into the pens of a few more dangerous giant animals first?"
Jewel considered it for a moment, then she rolled onto her stomach, pulling her legs under her to take off, feet sliding in the soft beach sand. She'd barely taken a step before his hand closed around her ankle, dragging her back down onto the ground. He rolled on top of her, pinning her down. He was heavy, his body cool against hers. Her legs were caught between his, and as he pressed against her, the shape of him felt all too familiar. Jewel's breath caught with unexpected excitement.
"I said," he growled, the glass of his helmet clinking against her own, his teeth bared behind it, "are you done?"
Chapter 6
"For now," she agreed because her heart was going too fast to say anything else.
He lingered for a moment, staring down at her, and she felt a strange thrill at the heat of his golden gaze focused on her. His hands, pinning down her wrists, slid slowly down her arms, and for a moment, she thought they would wander elsewhere. But he shifted off her instead, standing and offering her a hand up. She accepted it without comment, wondering what to think about what had just almost happened.
The quality of the wall screens was such that Jewel couldn't tell where the horizon ahead of her became a ship wall. A black, wintery ocean stretched out ahead of her, choppy surface like chipped obsidian, capped with white foam like the light catching on volcanic glass. Twin suns spun in the distant clouded sky, one large and white, the other small and blue. It was stunning to see.
I'm looking at the sky of another planet, Jewel thought. I'm standing on an alien shore. Are you proud of me now, Mom? Your little girl is a goddamn astronaut.
"If I tell you to go back to your habitat, will you run off again?" Kay asked, standing beside her as she looked out at the horizon.
"No," Jewel said with a sigh. "No, I'm done. Although I really don't want to go back there."
"Why do you dislike it so much?" Kay asked. "It is designed to be as much like your home planet as possible."
"It's a cage," Jewel said pointedly. "One I can't leave without your permission. How would you like to be stuck in a box waiting for someone else's permission to do anything?"
His mouth tightened like she'd struck a chord, but he said nothing.
"Besides," she went on. "It may be just like Earth, but that doesn't exactly make it hospitable to a modern human. We need buildings, beds, appliances. We don't just live in empty fields."
Kay frowned thoughtfully.
"I will look into it," he promised. "In the meantime, I think one of the guest quarters could be adjusted to suit you."
He turned and headed for the wall, touching a panel to move it aside. He seemed to have returned to his stiff formality, the wild unguarded glimpse of the real him she'd briefly seen already receding. She followed him out. He touched a wall panel and an alcove opened, revealing a neatly folded set of robes like the ones he usually wore. He pulled them on as he walked, and as he passed through the arch into the main stadium, the black suit melted away, dissolving as though it had never been. Jewel followed him a little more cautiously and shivered as she felt the suit vanish. Her clothes were fortunately still beneath it, albeit wrinkled from being so tightly compressed to her skin for so long. They already weren't in great shape after a couple of days of escape attempts.
Jewel was more prepared when Kay led her onto the air track in the center of the room and didn't fall this time as it caught them up and sped them away, past the rows of habitats and back into the white office-like hallways. When it stopped, Kay kept walking and Jewel followed him.
"Occasionally, academics elect to travel along on one of the Diviner's missions to study the animals and the planets we encounter," Kay said. "In which instance, we house them here."
He stopped in front of a plain door, which he opened to reveal an equally plain white room. It was entirely empty.
"They do not stay often," he added.
Kay stepped into the empty room with a frown, her footsteps echoing.
"I wonder why," she muttered. "I guess there aren't any on board right now?"
"None since I became Curator," Kay replied.
"In fact, I ran all over this ship today," Jewel realized. "I haven't seen anyone but you."
"That is because there is no one else," he answered as though it weren't at all unusual. "I am the only crew member on the Diviner."
"Why?" Jewel asked, slightly horrified. "You're out here for months, completely alone?"
"The Diviner is almost fully autonomous," Kay answered. "It charts its own flight plan, collects and analyzes samples and subjects on its own, and manages the habitats according to collected data and a complex self-teaching AI. Only one crew member is necessary. I handle emergencies and breakdowns and manage communication with my home world, and when there are guests on the ship, I educate them about the resident exhibits. Nothing else is required."
"But you're alone," Jewel repeated. "I mean, I don't know what your species is like. Maybe you're not as social as humans. But still, so much time without a single other member of your species to talk to. Don't you get lonely?"
He paused for a moment as though considering it.
"No," he said at last and walked past her to where one of the computer panels was set into the wall. He stared at it for a moment, and Jewel watched over his shoulder as windows and alien text shifted across it, following the movements of his eyes or possibly his thoughts. Suddenly, the text changed to English letters. The words they spelled didn't make much sense and the capitalization and punctuation seemed mostly random.
"Here," Kay said, stepping away. "You can ask the ship for whatever you need through this panel. I have set it to your language. The ship is still learning your species's language groups, so it may not be perfectly accurate yet, but it should understand you if you ask for something. It will attempt to interpret your telepathic intention as it does when we are speaking to each other and also take context from the files on your planet. It should work reasonably well."
"Reasonably well," Jewel repeated doubtfully. "So I just talk to it?"
He nodded, and Jewel stepped closer to the panel with a frown. She cleared her throat.
"Earl Grey, hot," she ordered in her best Patrick Stewart impression. She grinned at Kay sheepishly. "Couldn't resist."
An alcove opened beside the panel, holding a plain white cup. Jewel picked it up cautiously, sniffed the contents, then took a sip.
"This is just hot water," she said with a frown.
"I have no idea what that was supposed to do," Kay replied. "I doubt the computer did either. Perhaps you should start more simply?”
Jewel made a small grumpy noise of disappointment and accepted that there was no one here to appreciate her joke right now anyway.
"How about a bed?" she tried. "Just somethin
g comfortable to sleep on."
She jumped aside, surprised, as the floor rose up in the left-hand corner of the small room and shifted to become a simple twin-size bed. The mattress and the frame seemed fused, a section of the mattress raised in a pillow-like shape.
"Why is it flat?" Kay asked as Jewel went to examine it, pulling back the simple thin blanket.
"It's supposed to be flat," Jewel answered with a frown, touching the mattress, which seemed to be a solid, soft mass rather than anything with springs or foam like she was used to. "Are Ra'hom beds not flat?"
"Of course not," Kay answered. "They are angled. It is more healthy and comfortable to sleep sitting up. How can you sleep lying flat?"
Jewel didn't really have an answer for that. She sat down on the bed experimentally, sinking in more deeply than she expected. Still, it wasn't bad. Definitely better than sleeping on the ground in her habitat.
"Well, this seems pretty comfortable anyway," she said. "So I guess it worked."
"Good," Kay said with a nod. "Well then, since you know how the computer works, I will leave you."
"Wait!" Jewel said, standing up as he turned to leave. "What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit in this room for six months."
"Of course not," Kay said from the door. "I will be back tomorrow to begin your training."
"Training?" Jewel repeated, not liking the sound of that. But the door was already sliding closed behind him and wouldn't open at her touch. He'd locked her in. "No! Come back here, you big blue asshole! This isn't fair!"
But she knew he wasn't coming back. Whatever that moment they'd experienced earlier was, it clearly hadn't affected him that much.
The day rolled past supremely uneventfully. She struggled with the computer some more, trying to make it understand basic concepts like pizza and end tables with inconsistent success. It still didn't seem to grasp the concept of food beyond plain water and fruits and vegetables. But if she described the shape of a piece of furniture in enough detail, the computer could reproduce it pretty decently. She got another blanket, a table, and some chairs.