by Leslie Chase
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it again with a snap. He was right — the Dietrich’s had no woodcraft skills, and while Carrington and his sons were good hunters, I doubted they’d stay ahead of the prytheen for long.
That didn’t mean they deserved to die, but how could we save them all?
“The rover,” Malcolm exclaimed. Torran and I both looked at him and he blushed, shrinking away from the alien. My brother didn’t feel as safe in Torran’s presence as I did.
But he didn’t let that stop him. “We assemble the rover. It can carry us all easy, and it’s a lot faster than walking.”
Torran frowned, looking back at me with a question in his eyes. I nodded thoughtfully, afraid to hope. Maybe Malcolm’s idea would work — and if it did, we could save Torran too. He wouldn’t have to stay behind to protect us.
“Every colony pod has a hover vehicle,” I explained. “Ours is still in storage, we’d need to put it together, but once we have it, it’d be so much faster than walking. We can all get away in that, Gurral won’t be able to catch up.”
Torran frowned and I could see a thousand objections in his eyes. Not without reason — the forest was bad terrain for a vehicle and assembling it would take time we might not have. I didn’t wait for him to say it out loud, pushing ahead and trying to think of ways around the problems.
“We’ll need help to get it assembled fast,” I started, ticking off points on my fingers. “That means getting Maria to help, she’s the best engineer with us. And it’ll take time so we need to keep Gurral and his men from finding out about this.”
My gesture took in the bloody mess of the body on the floor. I didn’t want to look at it, but we had to do something. Just ignoring it wasn’t an option.
Torran shook his head. “As soon as one of them comes down here they’ll smell the blood. No matter where we hide the body, they’ll track it down in minutes.”
I frowned, looked around the storeroom, an idea starting to form in my mind. I pulled packs of nanites from the shelves, stuffed as many as possible into a bag.
“Leave that to me,” I said, hoping my half-formed plan would work. “As long as you can get the body out to the fields, I think I can deal with it.”
His lips twitched, and he looked at me. “Even if you can hide the body, that will only buy you a day, two at best. But very well, I shall get him outside. If you’re sure you want to take this risk?”
“Yes,” I said, relief flooding through me. It was a terrible plan, full of things that could go wrong, but if it worked it might just save us all. Even Torran, which mattered more than I thought it would. “Yes, Torran, I do. Thank you.”
He nodded, not looking convinced. “Fine. I will do my best to cover for you. Get the other humans ready to go as quickly as possible, because you will not have long. Probably no more than a day.”
I nodded quickly and threw my arms around him, hugging him tight. “Thank you!”
I wanted to kiss him. Despite his doubts he was willing to try things my way, and that gave us all a chance. Unless I was wrong, of course, in which case I might get us all killed. I tried not to think about that as I hauled down the buckets of powerful cleaning gear from the shelves.
10
Torran
Whatever Lisa’s plan was, I had to hope it was worth the work I put into it. We got to work quickly, Lisa and her brother hauling out the foul-smelling chemicals that humans used to clean and starting to scrub the decking as I pulled down a tarp and wrapped the corpse in it. I taped it shut carefully to make certain no blood would leak: leaving a trail outside would doom us all.
We couldn’t afford to leave any trace of the fight outside the armory, and that meant being thorough as well as fast.
Once he was ready to transport, I looked around. The humans had done good work on the bloody mess the fight had left, and I couldn’t see any sign of it. Smell was another matter, though. Even through the harsh chemical scent of the cleaning products the bitter copper tang of blood was obvious.
“Go over it again,” I growled. The humans looked up, surprised. “I can still tell there was a fight here.”
Lisa chewed on her lip, looking at the tarp-wrapped bundle. “We’ve got to get rid of that first. There’s no point in hiding the blood if Gurral sees the body.”
I frowned but nodded.
“Fine. We’ll deal with it; your brother can keep cleaning.” The human boy looked almost relieved not to have to deal with a corpse and nodded quickly. Lisa didn’t look happy to leave him behind, but nodded, recognizing the necessity. She grabbed her bag and I lifted the corpse, cursing Rarric for his weight.
No one watched the exit, thank the ancestors. The prytheen outside gathered around a fire far from the pod, and I heard laughter and jokes. The camaraderie of a clan forming, the scent of cooking meat, the sounds of companionship. No one paid any attention to the pod itself, giving us a chance to sneak out.
As quietly as possible, we lowered ourselves to the ground and ducked out of sight behind the pod. I put down the body and listened for any sign they’d noticed us.
Nothing. The party went on unchanged.
“Now what?” I asked. Left here the body might go unseen until the morning, but as decay set in nothing would hide its smell.
Lisa stared at the corpse long enough that I began to worry. Did my khara really have a plan? But then she set down her bag and took out the packages she’d picked from the storeroom’s shelves.
Tearing them open one by one, she scattered a fine silvery powder over Rarric’s remains. Once he was thoroughly covered in the stuff she stepped back and took my hand.
“Do you, um, have something you say for the dead?” she asked, frowning. “This is as close to a funeral as he’ll get.”
I sighed and nodded. The words should be spoken by an Alpha-Captain or someone close to him, but that was impossible. I’d have to do, and if I wasn’t enough, well, he shouldn’t have gotten himself killed attacking my khara.
“Find peace in your next life, Rarric,” I told him. “Go tell the ancestors you fell in honorable battle.”
That might not be strictly true, but I wouldn’t grudge him the formal words of burial. It cost me nothing, and if it gave his spirit peace then that hurt no one.
Turning to my khara, I nodded to her. She hit a button on her wristband, conjuring her strange hologram interface. The translucent bundle of fluff looked from her to the bundled-up corpse as Lisa issued instructions. Quick, muttered words and fast gestures changed settings on the interface and the virtual mammal stalked around the dead prytheen. Beneath its paws, the silver dust sparkled and hissed, nanites activating and going to work. The corpse began to dissolve as I watched, steaming as it sank in on itself.
Soon there was nothing recognizable left of him, only a pile of organic matter that would serve as fertilizer for new life.
“That was all the nanites we had left,” Lisa said absently. “No more tree stumps getting cleared that way.”
“Let us hope you aren’t here long enough to need any,” I said, guiding her away with a hand on her shoulder. Tired and upset, she didn’t need to see the results of her handiwork on the dead.
“We’d better get you back to your brother,” I said, leading her towards the open door. Now that the body was gone the weight on my shoulders felt lighter, though I knew that was an illusion. Rarric would be missed soon, at morning if not before, and once Gurral realized he was dead things would go very badly very quickly.
Back in the pod we found Malcolm still desperately scrubbing away at the hall. The overpowering chemical smell filled the corridor and I almost gagged on it. I could still detect a hint of blood under the chemical odor despite all his work, and I snarled in frustration. We’d simply have to risk it. I knew to look for it — perhaps others who didn’t would miss the scent.
“Enough,” I told him. “You two had better get going.”
“Not until I’ve dressed those wounds,” Lisa said firmly,
ducking into the sickbay and returning with a can of spray bandages. I looked down and cursed. Of course I could smell blood, Rarric had opened a dozen cuts in my skin.
The icy sensation of the spray was uncomfortable but soon over. Once she’d finished, Lisa gave me a hug and kissed my injuries before hurrying away to her fellows.
I sighed, leaning against the wall where Rarric had stood watch, waiting for his relief to arrive. Frustration filled my bones — I’d rather have been moving, doing something, but I needed to buy time for Lisa and her desperate plan to save us all.
We have one chance in a thousand, no more, I thought. But if my khara wanted to take that gamble I would back her play with all my skill and strength. I’d just have to pray that it was enough.
11
Lisa
Malcolm and I returned to the human barracks as quietly as we’d left. The others still slept, blissfully unaware of the danger we were all in. It felt like a shame to wake them but what choice did we have? They needed to know, deserved to know.
Ignorance might be bliss, but in this case it was also a death sentence.
Moving quickly around the room, we quietly woke each of the other humans. They gathered around us, tired and confused and annoyed, until we were at the center of a grumbling semicircle. The ghostly light of our holograms illuminated the room, lending the meeting a conspiratorial air.
“What the devil do you want with us at this hour,” Mr. Carrington said, consulting his wristband hologram to see the time. “We should be asleep, there’s a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
“More than you realize,” I said. “We’re going to escape.”
A mutter ran around the room and I tried to read the faces of my fellow prisoners. Springing this on them all at once was a huge risk, but there wasn’t time to do it differently.
Maria Dietrich looked shocked but nodded decisively, which took a huge weight off my chest. Her skill as an engineer would be vital to getting the rover ready in time. Alex Dietrich looked less certain, but I knew he’d stick with his wife. Good.
The Carringtons were another story. The three boys looked excited more than anything else, eyes shining at the idea of an adventure. Better than nothing, but it didn’t look like we could trust them to be discreet about it. At least the secret only has to last one day.
Mr. Carrington’s face was like thunder, though. A deep red flush spread over his cheeks and his eyes narrowed as he leaned forward to glare at me. “Don’t be stupid, child. Your foolishness will get us all killed.”
“If we stay here, we’ll all die anyway,” I countered, keeping myself from flinching by sheer stubbornness. I’d seen someone die tonight; Carrington was a lot less frightening than that. “We have to go, and we have to go now. I need your help to make it happen.”
He snorted and shook his head, unimpressed. “Young lady, I know that running off into the forest sounds like an exciting adventure. But we’d be escaping into the deadly terrain of an unknown world without a plan or sufficient supplies. If the prytheen don’t hunt us down, we’ll die on the march.”
“Not if we take the rover,” Malcolm interrupted excitedly. “We’ll be too fast for them to catch us and safe from the wildlife. And we’ll have Torran to scout a path for us.”
Carrington snorted at that, not taking his eyes off me. “Hardly safe, boy. The terrain around here is no friend to vehicles, even if we can get it set up. No, the risk is far too high. We’re safe here, secure and well fed. We stay.”
For a moment I gaped at him. Safer as slaves? Was he really content with a life of drudgery, farming for the prytheen?
I couldn’t believe it, but he seemed sincere. When I’d come up with this plan, I’d assumed he’d try to take over, but I’d never imagined he’d object to the escape itself. And if he meant it, would he rat the rest of us out? That would be the end of us all. Looking him in the eyes, all I could see was barely suppressed anger.
“I’m going,” I said simply, turning from him to look at the rest of the humans. In the dim lighting it was hard to read their expressions but I pressed on. “Along with anyone who wants to risk coming with me. Freedom is worth taking a chance for, right?”
“Yes.” Alex Dietrich surprised me by being the first to speak up. “We are with you.”
His wife squeezed his hand and I breathed a little easier. At least someone listened to reason.
The Carrington boys looked at their father for leadership, and I prayed that he’d see sense. But he shook his head firmly.
“The rest of you may go to your deaths,” he said, contempt showing in his voice. “I am not so foolish and neither are my sons. We will stay: the prytheen are wise enough not to punish those who remain loyal when the rest of you flee to your doom.”
It was hard to tell in the low light but I didn’t think his sons agreed with his argument. Still, none of them argued. David, the oldest, looked particularly mutinous, but he stayed silent and deferred to his father.
What the hell do I do about that? I asked myself. Let him sentence his family to slavery out of fear?
I sighed. It was their choice, and we couldn’t force them. All of them were adults, and if they were going to listen to their father’s bad advice I couldn’t force them to come.
“You’re all welcome to join us,” I said. “If you want to stay, though, it’s up to you.”
Carrington snorted and shook his head. “We will not commit suicide for your harebrained plans, girl. No, my boys and I will stay here and show the prytheen that some humans can be trusted.”
I hoped he couldn’t read the disgust in my expression. His cowardice would endanger us all but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. As long as he didn’t betray the rest of us, I’d have to accept it.
“We can trust you too, right?” I asked. “You have to promise us you won’t tell Gurral or his men about our plan.”
Carrington’s nose wrinkled as though he’d smelled something nasty, but he nodded, glancing at his boys. They were on the verge of mutiny and even he could see that — staying behind was one thing, turning on his fellow humans was another.
“Of course I won’t,” he said. “You can make your own damned fool mistakes. We won’t say a word about your little plan.”
And as little as I thought of him, he’d never struck me as a liar. A lot of other things, yes, but not that. I breathed a bit easier and hoped he and his family would survive his error.
“Thank you,” I said as sincerely as I could before turning to the others. “We’ll all need to cover for Maria while she puts together the rover tomorrow, so it’ll be hard work. With luck we’ll get on the road tomorrow night and head for the valley settlement.”
“One problem,” Alex said, scratching his head. “Food. We can steal a little, certainly, but the matter processor doesn’t make that much at once and the other rations are long gone.”
“We can go hungry a day or two,” Malcolm said, but Alex didn’t look convinced. Neither was I. We were already hungry and low on energy.
“A day or two is fine,” Alex said, “but what if it takes longer than that? No one knows the route we’re taking, what if it we need a week to reach help?”
Maria laughed. It wasn’t a particularly mirthful sound. “There’s an obvious answer, Alex. We’ve already traveled for months without eating to reach this planet. All we have to do is put ourselves in the stasis tubes again and haul those.”
The look Alex gave his wife wasn’t entirely happy, but he sighed. “Yes. I suppose that will work. Say two drivers taking turns, the rest of us in stasis, that will let us stretch the food supplies a lot further. Fine. Tomorrow we get on the road.”
Everyone nodded, and I hoped it would be that easy. For a start, there wasn’t an actual road, and we were gambling that the crash hadn’t damaged any vital parts of the rover. Then there was the long, dangerous drive to the mountains.
But it didn’t matter. Taking the risk was better than staying here, whatever Carrington t
hought.
12
Torran
Once Lisa and her brother were away, I sighed with relief and turned to tidying the storeroom. It might be clean, but it also had to be neat — no one who visited it could suspect that there had been a fight here.
The cleaning supplies went back on the shelves, and I spaced them out a little hoping that no one would notice the missing nanite packages. I put the rifles back in place then paused, thinking. It would be easier to cross the uncharted forest if I had a rifle to hunt with, and it might help with another problem too.
Rarric’s absence would be missed, and I needed an excuse for his disappearance. Perhaps I could solve two problems at once. Taking one rifle and power pack, I hid them in the sickbay and then replaced the rest on their racks, relocking the bar that secured them in place. That done, I took up position outside the room. I didn’t have to wait long before I heard someone approach.
Tarva turned the corner and stopped in surprise. “Torran? What are you doing here? I’m supposed to relieve Rarric.”
I hid my relief behind a smile. Tarva knew and trusted me more than Gurral’s people did, which made it easier to fool her. I felt a pang of guilt at that and ruthlessly suppressed it.
Lying was the least of the things I’d do to protect my khara.
“Eh, I felt cooped up stuck in the sickbay all the time,” I told her. “I’m fit enough to guard a door, and Rarric was glad to get away early.”
She snorted. “Couldn’t you have waited for my shift to take over?”
I shook my head, trying to look amused. “Sorry I didn’t consult the schedule, Tarva. But I’ll stand your watch too, if you like. You’ll owe me one, though.”