by Elin Wyn
“Exactly,” she responded.
“What do you think it is then?” I asked.
She shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know. Not yet, anyway.” She turned to study the tunnel walls again for a moment. “But if I can get to the head, maybe snag a quick brain scan, I can try to figure it out.”
I nodded. “Then we should keep moving.”
“Wait,” she said as she looked at me, surprise evident on her face. “You believe me?”
I had to give her a sort of half-shrug. “Not entirely. I still believe that whatever the Puppet Master is, it’s a danger to all of us. However,” I said quickly as she opened her mouth to argue, “I agree that we need to study it in order to know how we’re going to deal with it.”
“We’re not going to ‘deal with it’,” she said, imitating my tone perfectly. “It’s intelligent. It has to be.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because,” she said, “if it weren’t intelligent, both of us would be dead right now. And, if you really think about it…I mean really think about it…only an intelligent creature would have done what it’s done so far.”
“Explain,” I ordered…nicely.
She arched an eyebrow, then proceeded to explain her reasoning. “If it wasn’t intelligent, it would have simply destroyed Duvest, Nyheim, and the other places it attacked.”
She was back to that argument again.
“I mean, please, think it through. Yes, there was a lot of damage,” she admitted. “And a few deaths, but did the vines ever directly kill anyone? Like, purposefully and maliciously kill any of the people that died?”
I shook my head. She had been right. The Puppet Master’s attacks had not been malicious and purposely deadly. As a matter of fact, the deaths in Nyheim were inadvertent results of the dome being built over us.
“Do you see where I’m going with this?” she asked. “It didn’t kill anyone on purpose. I looked at the reports. The people that died in Einhiv were either crushed by parts of falling buildings or because they fell in the holes. In Duvest, it was mostly the same. The only exception was the driver that got scared and drove right into a downed power line.”
That had been a terrible site to investigate. Power had to be shut down to that entire section of town, and even then, the vehicle still had residual electrical energy running through it. The poor driver never stood a chance.
The same could be said in Nyheim. An elderly gentleman had died when the power went down and the machinery helping him breathe shut down. Another was killed when a piece of building fell on his head, snapping his neck and spine.
Still, I wasn’t entirely sold on her theory.
“I can see that you’re not buying it,” she said. If she continued to read my face and mind like this, there would be little to no need for anymore conversation between the two of us. “But none of the deaths were intentional, they were circumstantial, a result of the chain reaction of events from his actions.”
“I do understand your reasoning, and it does fit with your theory,” I said. “My concern is that it has no intention of trying to live with us instead of against us.”
“Then how do you explain how he wrapped the vines around me in order to protect me?” she demanded. “When you pulled out your blaster and shot the vines, it didn’t attack you, did it? No,” she said, answering for me. “It protected me. It thought you were trying to hurt me, so it wrapped vines around me in order to protect me.”
“What about what it did in that little town outside the forest? The one close to what used to be Fraga?” I asked, referring to the attack that happened when Iq’her had followed Stasia and tried to put a stop to her brother’s anti-alien group.
The rumors of that attack had swept through the city.
She threw her arms up in the air. “Not everything follows the pattern, I know. But until we find out more, maybe we can’t figure out what the real pattern is.”
“Okay, okay,” I said, my hands held up to show I was ‘surrendering’ the fight. “I’ll give it, whatever it is, a chance.”
Daphne smiled at me and turned to make her way down the tunnel. We made our way around the hole we had fallen down and restarted our trek through the tunnels.
I wasn’t completely convinced, not yet. Too many things were unknown, and it was better to be safe and prepared.
But I would be on her side, protecting her, no matter what we found.
Whether she liked it or not.
Daphne
“See?” I asked Takar with a smile. I was down on one knee, caressing a small vine as it wrapped itself around my wrist gently. It caressed me back, its tip softly brushing against the open palm of my hand. “It likes me.”
“You don’t know that for sure,” Takar said. “Maybe it’s just testing, seeing if you’re easily eaten.”
I stuck my tongue out at him, but despite his words, he seemed to be impressed with the dynamic I had established with the vines. I wasn’t sure if they actually felt about me in the way a human would like someone, but they seemed to have grown fond of me.
After all, the vines had protected me from Takar when they thought he was going to shoot me, and they always reacted positively whenever I reached out and touched them.
“Yes, I know for a fact that they like me,” I laughed, my eyes never leaving the small vine in front of me. As I got up, it slid back from my wrist, but it remained swaying back and forth, almost like a leaf being tossed by the wind. “I’m not entirely sure what the Puppet Master is, but you have to admit...it recognizes me. And I think I might have established a bond with it.”
“I still don’t understand why that would happen.”
“Me neither,” I admitted. “But it seems like the vines respond to more than just my voice...they respond to my touch, as well. In fact, that might be the best way to communicate with the Puppet Master. Maybe the vines have only attacked people in the cities because everyone reacts violently the moment they see them. People get scared, and that just makes them become defensive.”
It was still a working theory, but I had been gently stroking every vine I saw on our trek through the tunnels and I always managed to elicit a positive reaction. Even though I knew I had to be cautious, I was no longer afraid of the Puppet Master. I was merely intrigued by it.
“Do you really think it has a brain?” Takar asked me, still eyeing the vine in front of us with distrust. One sudden movement and I was pretty sure Takar wouldn’t hesitate before reaching for his blaster. He didn’t strike me as being the typical trigger-happy soldier, but something had shifted down here.
“Maybe a nerve center of some kind?”
“Hard to know,” I sighed, resting my hand on the wall for support. My body was growing heavy, and I was still feeling slightly dizzy. Even though I hadn’t broken anything when I fell through that hole, my body was complaining from the fall. “But I don’t think these vines can stand alone. Think of them as the arms and legs of the Puppet Master. They’re just an extension of what he is.”
“If that’s true, then he must be enormous,” he said. “The vines have been attacking—or, sorry, appearing—in different points of the region. From Nyheim to Fraga, we’ve spotted them pretty much everywhere. Do you really think something of that magnitude is possible?”
“I’m not sure,” I nodded, pursing my lips. “But if I’m right and it’s a single creature we’re talking about, then yeah...its size must be impressive…” I trailed off then, my thoughts bouncing off the walls of my skull at random. I was becoming too damn exhausted to even think straight. Leaning back against the wall, I closed my eyes for a second and raked one hand over my face.
“Daphne, are you alright?” Takar asked me, his voice distant and muffled. God, I was feeling so dizzy I wouldn’t be surprised if I simply collapsed. It didn’t help that there was a hole in my stomach. I had had breakfast eight hours ago, sure. But the physical exertion and lack of supplies meant that my body was starting to weaken.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I lied, but I couldn’t stop myself from slumping down to the ground, exhaustion finally taking me over. “I’m just tired.”
“Let’s stop for a while,” he said, and this time I didn’t have a doubt: that was an order, and Takar wouldn’t take no for an answer. “You might’ve hit your head harder than I realized when you fell, Daphne.”
Going down one knee, he carefully placed one hand on my face and forced me to turn my head to the side. Examining me with the flashlight, he took his time as he seemingly felt every single inch of my head. “I see nothing else,” he finally concluded, “but I still think it’s best to rest for a couple of hours.”
“It’s already night up on the surface, isn’t it?” I managed to ask him, and he just nodded patiently. No wonder I was feeling so damn exhausted. I had barely slept on the way to the crater, and Takar and I had never stopped to rest since we had started our trek down into the tunnels.
“I’m going to keep watch, so you can sleep,” he told me, sitting right beside me and draping one arm over my shoulders. I didn’t think it was fair for him to keep watch while I conked out, but I was feeling so tired that I didn’t even have the strength to protest. I just snuggled up against him, laying my head on his chest, and closed my eyes.
I was about to drift off to sleep when my stomach roared, doing it so loudly my eyelids fluttered open in an instant. Goddammit, I was starving. I had left all the food I had brought inside the hovercraft, and I hadn’t had anything to eat in hours. Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a simple snack bar!
“Sorry,” Takar whispered softly. “I don’t have any food with me.”
“It’s not your fault, Takar,” I told him, the warmth of his body seeping into mine. “I should’ve planned this better. You were right. I was a bit of a fool, wasn’t I?”
“Scientists need to be fools.” Gently running one hand through my hair, he laid his lips against my forehead. “Besides, I was the fool in this situation. I should’ve listened to you when you came to the inquiry office. You had ideas, you wanted to contribute...I should’ve taken you more seriously. But I didn’t, and so you felt you had to come here all by yourself.”
“Stop acting like a martyr, will you?” I chuckled, punching his arm. “We’re in this together now. It doesn’t matter whose fault it is...what matters is that we get out of here alive. And with some answers, too.”
“You’re hungry and thirsty and exhausted...and you still haven’t given up on the Puppet Master?”
“What can I say?” I asked him, looking up into his eyes. “I don’t give up that easily. Not on anything.”
“Yes, you definitely don’t—”
He fell silent the moment we heard something move in the darkness, a rustling sound that echoed through the tunnel, and he reached for his blaster almost immediately. He pointed it at the darkness, his finger already on the trigger, when a single vine slithered into view. It rose up until it was level with our eyes, and only then did I realize it was weighed down with fruit.
“Impossible,” Takar muttered, and I just smiled as I picked up the fruits.
“It’s taking care of us,” I whispered, handing Takar one of the fruits. I didn’t know exactly what type of fruit it was, but its surface was red and smooth, almost like a blend between a peach and an apple. When I took a bite out of it, the sweetness made me close my eyes and I moaned softly. “It tastes so freaking good.”
“We should be careful.” Takar eyed the fruit warily. “What if it’s poisoned?”
“Aha!” I mumbled around another bite. “Then you agree that the Puppet Master is intelligent?”
He rolled his eyes, sniffing carefully at the fruit.
“Besides,” I added, “if he wanted to kill us, I’m pretty sure there are about twenty more direct methods. Massive vines, remember?”
“True,” Takar agreed, then finally took a bite of his own.
We were so hungry that we didn’t say a word to each other as we devoured the fruit, it’s juice easing my parched throat. Afterward, once my stomach was no longer busy devouring itself, I laid my head against Takar’s shoulder and then…
Then it was lights out.
Takar
There had been no point in staying in bed, not with the children trying to be quiet. Their attempts to be silent were essentially an invitation to noise. I patted Daphne on the backside. “It’s time to wake up. The little monsters are probably hungry and about to try to make their own breakfast.”
She moaned, swiped weakly at me, and buried her head in her pillow. I chuckled, leaned over and kissed the back of her neck. “Come on, you know you’ll hate yourself if you sleep in again,” I said as I kissed my way to her ear.
She giggled as I played with her ear. “Stop it,” she laughed as she tried to push me away.
“You really want me to?” I asked coyly.
She rolled over, a look of lust in her eyes. “No.” She reached up and pulled me in for a passionate kiss.
No matter how many years it had been, I never stopped wanting her. Needing her. All the time.
We made love, gently at first. Every time, sliding into Daphne was like coming home. Every slow, deep thrust like finding another part of myself, of my soul.
But as we spiraled into our desires, we began to get rougher. Nastier. Daphne’s body contorted in her pleasure but she gave as good as she got, climbing on top of me on more than one occasion and riding me with wild abandon. We finished and lay back on the bed, exhausted and satisfied. And covered ourselves only a few moments before the children came bounding into the room. They jumped onto the bed as we quickly finished covering ourselves.
“Mommy! Daddy!” they both yelled as they bounced around us, their laughter infectious.
“Ungh, ungh,” I grunted in laughter. “You two better stop bouncing on daddy’s bladder before we have an accident in here.”
They stopped bouncing long enough to look at one another before yelling out together, “TICKLE DADDY!” They both jumped on me, trying to tickle me through the blankets.
Our tickle fight lasted a few minutes before we finally got the children to leave with the promise of breakfast and playtime outside.
I looked at Daphne and marveled at the beauty of her face, and remembered exactly how beautiful her body was, the years together only adding to my adoration.
These were the mornings that I looked forward to, a day meant just for the family, just for Daphne and me and the home we’d made. She joined me in the bathroom as I was brushing my teeth. “Hey, tiger,” she said as she patted me on the butt. I quickly reached behind me and grabbed her, bringing her close to me. She reached her arms around my torso, hugging me close.
“So,” I said with a smile, the toothbrush dangling from my mouth. “What’s on the agenda for today?”
She peeked her head around me and smiled into the mirror. “Well,” she whispered seductively. She ran her hand down my torso, not stopping until she could grab me and tease me a little. “Maybe we can wear the kids out quickly and put them down for a nap, then we can make another one.”
I snorted as I jerked awake. We were still sitting on the tunnel floor, right where we had been, however long ago it was that I’d told Daphne to rest.
I was confused. It must have been a dream, but it was so real, so vivid. I had never had a dream that felt like that, like another life, just waiting for me to close my eyes.
It should have been disturbing.
Yet, it was…comfortable.
The only thing that truly bothered me about the entire episode was that I had fallen asleep. I’m not a big sleeper in the first place, living on an average of three to four hours a night every day since my brother and I joined the military.
So, in order for me to have fallen asleep, I was either drugged or much more tired than I would have thought.
The vines had brought us fruits to eat, almost as if they knew we were hungry and without food. This was going to be yet another thing tha
t Daphne was going to use in her argument that the Puppet Master was an intelligent and powerful being. I sighed and chuckled lightly.
I sort of enjoyed those little arguments, it showed the passion and tenacity within her blood. She was intelligent, that was without a doubt, and she was confident in her thoughts, even if she didn’t have any proof to defend them.
I looked at her, her head still on my shoulder as she slept. She looked so…she looked the same as she had in the dream.
That dream had suggested that we were together, life mates, and that we had been so for years. Long enough to have children that were a few years in age.
She had that same wisp of hair in her face again. She should really figure out a way to deal with that. I reached over and carefully moved the strand back to where it belonged. I ran my fingers through her hair, causing her to rub her head against my shoulder. It felt good to have her against me.
I smiled at her and thought back to the dream. In it, we had two children, one boy and one girl, both with the same colored skin as Daphne, but with my orange hair and a hint of scales. Their muscles were already beginning to show, even though they were only a few years in age. The intelligence and joy in their eyes were unmistakable.
I found myself wanting those children in my world, as part of my life. I felt as if something was missing, as if a body part was missing or not working properly without them here, next to me at this very moment.
I looked at her face, so peaceful in sleep, and remembered what her body looked like in my dream. I let my eyes travel down her body, letting my memory of the dream see through the clothes. There were vines covering her from her navel down to her feet. I instinctively reached down to pull them off and found that they weren’t wrapped around her, merely covering her.
They were keeping her warm.
I swear, I thought to myself, it’s like this thing likes her. Which isn’t terribly shocking, everyone seemed to like her.