by Devon Loos
“Hey!” I shouted. No reply. I drew my knife from my belt. I slowly removed the knife and tossed it to the dry land at the edge of the pool.
“Hey,” I said, in a calm tone. “I won’t hurt you. Can you come out?” She did not move. She did reply, however, with something indecipherable in a scared tone. It sounded Rovanekren, but something was different. The dialect sounded old, obsolete, and unrefined.
“I can’t understand you. Can… can you understand me?” I gently called back. I ridiculed myself for asking such a ridiculous question. How could she understand me if she’s using a different dialect? I looked down. If she could not understand modern Rovanekren, how was I supposed to expect her to even comprehend Gaia? I looked up to see a pair of deep blue eyes looking at me from behind the rock. Cautiously she swam out from behind her shelter, revealing only the top of her head above the water. The ocean blue eyes that peered at me from behind the rock belonged to a small Anth, a sentient species famous for their animal-like appearance and their retractable claws. Surrounded by her light brown hair were the signature features of an Anth: a pair of large pointed ears, like that of a fox or a wolf. Aside from the lower half of her nose, which had a charcoal black hue to it, her face was entirely human. While one ear pointed skyward proudly, its counterpart was bent sideways, resembling a water-starved plant. A brown, pale-yellow tipped tail bobbed above and beneath the surface of the water behind the girl. Blue markings covered her face and possibly her body, though I could not tell. The markings on her face resembled those on the statue back on New Rov, except they had a slight, blue glow to them. A small heart-like symbol underneath her collarbone sharply contrasted the blue with its dark red color. She wore a catlike expression of both fear and curiosity. She spoke inarticulately again with a soft voice.
“I still can’t-” I started. Her markings started to glow intensely, surprising of both of us. The glowing then ceased as quickly as it began. She spoke again, but her dialect started to change.
“W-warhevokoak va-are you? What do you want with me?”
“How come I couldn’t understand you earlier?” I replied
“I don’t know… Who are you? What’s going on?” She began to creep back behind the rock.
“Don’t worry. It’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.” I raised my hands to reveal that I was unarmed. “I’m here to help.” She stopped retreating but remained defensive.
“Where am I? Do you know where I am?”
“You’re on a moon in the A81 system. Hey… can I know your name?” I spoke softly, as if speaking to a frightened child. She was clearly my age, but if she were to run, I would likely not be able to catch her. I had to be careful in my approach.
“Um… I can’t … I can’t remember anything!” She began to panic. I slowly moved towards land to prepare for a chase.
“It’s alright. It’s ok. I’ll help you remember.”
The girl thought hard for a moment.
“My name’s Sapphire. That I do remember.” She slowly began to relax, much to my relief. I was not in the mood to run.
“Alright, Sapphire. My name’s Jacob. Jacob Cartlidge.”
She smiled. “Glad to meet you.”
“Likewise. Do you recognize the pod over there?”
“It’s the pod I came here in, I think. But other than that I don’t remember anything.”
“Alright. Well Sapphire, I have a team back that way-” I pointed towards the camp. “-that’ll help you remember, if you come with me that is.” Based on her markings, I figured that she was probably the target we were meant to find, so she would have to come with us either way. However, if she willingly came along it would not only be easier but it would weigh much less on my conscience. She thought for a moment, making a few glances back at her pod.
Finally she spoke. “Do you have any clothes I could have?”
“I have this cloak, but that’s it.” My cloak was saturated from the pond, but I had nothing else except my armor.
“The cloak’s fine.” she quickly replied. She moved behind the rock. “Toss it over.”
I unfastened the cloak from my cuirass, wrapped it into a ball, and threw it over the rock. It flew well, despite being filled with water, and left behind a stream of droplets that had managed to escape into the air. A minute or so later she raised herself onto land and advanced from her hiding spot, wrapped in the slowly drying cloak. The hood, still dripping with water, was drawn over her head. I then moved towards the edge of the pool where I could pull myself out. I nodded and began searching for a way out of the chasm.
“How do we get out?” She asked.
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out.” I looked around. The walls of the chasm were steep, and the stream of water emptied into a cave. There was no telling where it would open up again.
“Can’t you contact your team?”
“The water short circuited my communicator, and I was the only one who actually saw where your pod hit. We’ll be lucky if they find us before morning.” I approached the large rock wall that held us at bay and jumped at it. One by one, all four limbs found themselves a rock or a hole. I began to climb. After about two and a half meters the rock became mud. I soon lost my grip and fell backwards into the pool below. I climbed back out and started over. I reached around three meters before the mud collapsed from under my feet, causing me to slide back to the chasm floor.
“They will find us eventually, right?” Sapphire stood a few meters away from me, holding the cloak tightly around herself.
“They’re a good team, so, yeah. They’ll find us. It will probably take all night though. The chasm’s an easy ambush spot for a predator, so I don’t want to spend the night down here.”
“Wouldn’t an animal mean there’s a way out?”
“Not if it flies.” I gave up on climbing. “Still, I don’t think there’s a way out of here otherwise.”
I looked around until I found a small hole in the base of the wall. I figured that would be the safest spot to spend the night. I felt the walls of the small cave. Damp, but insulated from the coolant filled air outside.
“Ok. You rest in here and I’ll keep watch.” She looked at the small cave for a moment, then sat down and inched herself in.
“Hey! Wake me up soon! You need some rest too, you know.” I smiled and nodded silently, then sat beside the opening and fiddled with my knife.
[Chapter 11: Betrayal]
I woke with a start. I carefully searched chasm for movement, then scolded myself for falling asleep. I looked back at the sleeping Anth. She was perfectly still, aside from the occasional ear twitch. I considered waking her so that I could rest. No. That was too big of a risk to take. She seemed so timid, fragile almost. I wasn’t sure what she could do against a predator. Then again, Anths were predators themselves. I felt my face with my free hand. The bleeding had long stopped and the cuts were beginning to heal. She was not as weak as she seemed. I figured that even if she couldn’t fight off a typical predator, she could still easily tear my throat out. I was going to stay up all night. I quickly focused on searching the area again. Something seemed different, yet everything looked the same. There was a distant sound. Faint. The noise resembled the buzzing of a fly, yet deeper. I inched towards the opening to warn Sapphire, scanning everywhere I could for movement. I was directly in front of the opening. The buzzing grew louder, louder, then suddenly, a large insect-like creature crashed into the ground in front of me. I flinched and fell into the hole. Gravity dragged my further into the cave for a few seconds until I landed head first into Sapphire’s stomach.
“Ugh! What-?”
“Shh!” I quickly shuffled to my feet. Sapphire followed and we both became deathly silent. After an anxious moment of silence, the creature discovered the cave entrance. It shifted its body and then began digging viciously at the hole with a large mantis-like claw. Gravel filled the air and the roof began to crack. Sapphire froze against the wall while I worked viciously to spark a sur
ge of power. Nothing. I swore and searched for my knife. It was gone. It must have fallen out when I fell. We were trapped. Seconds later the creature stopped digging and repositioned itself. It faced toward us and opened its mandibles to reveal a pair of tentacle-like probes which slithered slowly into the cave. The teeth on each probe were covered in a thick coat of slime. I waited for one to come within reach and kicked it away. It reacted as if offended, then crashed into the wall just centimeters away from me. The second began thrashing around violently. Sapphire began to scream. The first probe began pecking randomly at the rock, closer and closer to my head. A loud ping sounded off outside, and the creature roared out in pain. A second ping followed, and then a third. The creature collapsed, let out a sickening gurgle, then died. We both took a pause and steadied our breathing, then crawled out of our refuge to see what had happened. I checked the body of the creature. The carcass resembled a strange twist of mantis and common housefly. Three bullet holes in the abdomen each oozed a strange liquid.
“What just happened?”
“Bullet holes. Three. Watcher’s Cannon. From… There!” I pointed towards the top of the ridge, where a figure waved at us. It was Zen.
“Hey! Is that you, Jacob?”
“Zen! We need a way out!”
“How’d you get down there in the first place? And who’s that?”
“Just get us out of here!” I laughed, then cheered with joy. Zen threw a large rope down to us. After tying the rope around Sapphire, I attached myself to the rope, and we were slowly pulled from the chasm. We were greeted by the rest of the squad once we reached the top.
“You know Jacob, if you would just learn to stay with your squad, we wouldn’t have rescue you like this.”
“If you guys were faster, I wouldn’t have gotten stuck.”
“You left half your gear.”
“It would have taken too long to go back for it.”
Zen only laughed in reply. Tek had gone to take up a sentry position in a tree and scan the area for more predators.
“So who’s this here? Is this…” He noticed how agitated and nervous Sapphire was. Zen was much better at communicating with people than I was, and quickly assessed the situation. “-the girl we came to rescue?”
“Yeah. She has no memory of how she came to be in that pod, so I said I would help her when we got back.”
“Fair enough.” He turned to Sapphire and bowed. “You’re in good hands, ma’am. We’ll help you get your memory back.” Not once did she look at him. She only looked at me. I wondered if she knew that it was a lie.
We called for the drop ship and began to dismantle our camp. Sapphire remained distant from the rest of the squad, watching them nervously, as if she expected them to turn and attack at any moment. Minutes later the drop ship reached us, thundering to a halt in the center of the clearing. I turned to check on Sapphire, who was standing frozen in place. She screamed something in her unintelligible Rovanekren and began to back away. She seemed transfixed on the ship, horrified, as if she was living a nightmare. She turned to run, only to trip on a root before she could move. I ran over to see if she was hurt.
“I… I don’t know what happened. I remembered… something… but it’s gone.”
“Hey, it’s alright. We’ll get to the Strategy, and then we’ll see if we have anything for your amnesia.” She nodded in reply, but refused when I offered to help her up. As we each boarded, Sapphire became more and more hesitant. Only after forcing us to agree that she would sit closest to the door, and across from me, did she finally decide to enter. Much to my surprise, she gave no hints of flight sickness as we ascended. After a few silent minutes we finally reached our light frigate.
She demanded better clothing immediately after we entered the ship. I departed to my section of the aft crew’s quarters to retrieve something for her to wear, since I was the closest person on the ship to her body size. After she dressed, we met with the captain and his quartermaster.
“Ah, so this was our target? A young Anth? Interesting. You five, take her to the cargo hold. Jacob, follow us.”
“Captain?” Tolenva protested.
“Unfortunately, my ship was never outfitted with any cells for prisoners, so I want you to secure in the cargo hold.”
“Yes, sir.” They turned and dragged Sapphire away. She immediately began to call my name and shout in protest. I found it difficult to ignore the shouts as I walked with the captain.
“So, Mr. Cartlidge, I hear you were the one to find our target?”
“Yes, sir. I saw her pod crash just after sunset and went to go investigate.”
“On your own?”
“Yes sir, but we were attacked by the local fauna when I found her. We wouldn’t have survived if it weren’t for my squad.”
“Interesting. Yes, we noticed the pod coming into orbit, but figured it was debris. Good thing we didn’t use it as target practice eh?” The captain began to laugh.
“Yes, sir.” I replied awkwardly.
“Anyway, tell me about the Anth. Have you figured out why we were sent all this way for such a simple target?”
“Well, I’m not sure, really. She has these markings all over her body that seem to have some sort of hidden power to them. When I first found her, she couldn’t say a word of modern Rovanekren or Gaia, but suddenly her markings began to glow, and she became fluent in both.”
“Curious. I noticed the markings as soon as it came aboard. The one on her left eye is the symbol for life.” We stopped and the captain turned to me. “Well, you and your squad have done well tonight. Once we’re mid-jump I’ll assign your squad to personally guard the target. We’ll figure out what she is once we reach New Rov.”
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
“Could I… perhaps have first watch?”
“Well, I don’t see why not.”
“Thank you, sir.” The captain turned towards a communications panel and warned the crew to prepare for a jump. I walked away, quickly returned to my section, and waited for the ship to jump. The guilt of my deception toward Sapphire made me anxious and I immediately left the crew’s quarters once we were in mid-jump. I was already in the hangar bay when I stopped. What was I doing? I was the one responsible for tricking her to come with us. Why would she want to so much as even look at me? Why… why was I feeling so bad? It was clear that bringing the Anth girl onto the ship was an act of cruelty and there was something about her that made me hate myself for doing so. I sighed. Perhaps I should make my way to the medical bay. Some of the doctors there have doubled as therapists and counselors from time to time. Before I could turn, I noticed the quartermaster leave the cargo hall. Curiosity compelled me to see why. I floated my way into the hallway. It was filled with crates and barrels, all tied down to one wall or another. There were no control panels, since most of the space was needed for either handlebars or cargo space. Just past the cargo hall was the maintenance room for the ship’s jump engine. Moving halfway down the hall, I heard a whimper. I looked down to find Sapphire just below me, tied down with a strap across her waist, and her hands tied together with strange gloves that prevented her from tearing at the strap. She looked up at me.
“Jacob?” Tears formed in her eyes. “Why? I thought you were going to help me!” Her tears began to fly freely, floating upwards in small bubbles towards me.
“I know, I’m sorry… I didn’t know you would be treated… like this.”
“But you knew. You knew something!”
“Yes, I lied. I needed you to come. I had to trick you because… because I was scared you would run away otherwise.”
“I’m sure I would have, if I knew this was what was in store for me.”
“I’m sorry. I’ll make it up, ok?”
“How?”
“... Maybe… If I go talk to the captain, he’ll let you have more freedom around the ship, and then I’ll try to make sure you’re treated properly once we reach New Rov.”
“Promise me?�
�
“What?”
“Promise me that you’ll go do that, and that you’re not just trying to get me to calm down.” I paused, as if to question my already concluded mind.
“I promise.” Surprisingly, she actually began to relax once I spoke.
“Ok, then go.”
A sudden explosion came from the end of the hall. The blast threw me into a large crate. The explosion came from the jump engine. Several crates had been freed in the blast and were now floating randomly through the hallway. One of the supply crates burst open, and a variety of nails, screws, and plates filled the air. An intercom relayed the captain’s voice.
“Attention all crew! We are making an emergency stop mid-jump. I repeat, we are stopping mid-jump! Make your way to the nearest crew’s quarters immediately! If you cannot do so, hold on to the nearest hold with as many points of contact as possible!” The ship quickly began to shake. I grabbed my floating helmet and put it on. It was possible for me to make it to my section in time, but Sapphire was trapped here, and debris was everywhere. I quickly pushed off the opposite wall to reach Sapphire, then grabbed onto the surrounding bars, covering her like a shield. As the shaking worsened, I could feel pieces of metal bouncing off my armor like rain. Occasionally a crate would crash into me, and I would have to push back to prevent from crushing Sapphire. She looked at me with shock the entire time. I waited awkwardly for the final crash. Sapphire finally broke free from her stupor, and gently tried to push me away. The final jolt of the jump sent me flying backwards into the wall. Sapphire’s hands shot to the back of her head. She checked for blood. There was none. Once the ship calmed down, I allowed myself to float back into the center of the room.
“Cartlidge? Jacob, can you hear me?” A small indicator appeared in my visor, with Tolenva’s name at its center.