Cartlidge: Rise of the Imperfect Flame

by Devon Loos

  Finally we stopped to catch our breath. I looked up at the storm that had stolen our home away from us. A heavy downpour fell unmercilessly from the thick cloud cover, but was somehow too weak to fight off the wall of fire now consuming our camp. I looked back across the field, then towards our new found refuge, and sighed. All that work, ruined. An entire year of building up our camp, and now it was just gone.

  “Alright,” I said. “We can tie the tarp to that tree there for tonight.” Sapphire gave no reply. She stood silent behind me, shivering and soaked. Her towel was wrapped around her as a blanket.

  “I w-was… going to say … I d-didn’t …. get t-to ...dry o-off!” she finally replied. Before I could reply another surge of thunder rang some distance from us.

  “Alright… just hold on.” I quickly turned towards the small tree with the tarp, carefully tied the rest of our salvage on the lowest branch, then bound half of the tarp to another branch with some of the rope. I attached the other half to the ground with two of the four remaining nails. I sighed again. We had just lost all the progress of the past year. Sapphire immediately hid under the makeshift shelter, then reached for her clothes. I remained outside in the rain while she clothed herself. She was leaning against the trunk of the tree when I entered, dry but still shivering. I sat down and began to realize I was shivering as well. We didn’t dare light another fire, so we both held together in a desperate attempt to keep each other warm. It would have been almost peaceful had we not been fighting off bitter cold. The storm lasted for about another hour.

  “You know… It isn’t fair.” I said.

  “What isn’t?”

  “You can keep yourself warm with your tail. I don’t have one.” Admittedly, it was a weak attempt to lighten the mood. She replied with a smile and then playfully waved her tail in my face like some sort of brush.

  “You mean this tail?” she teased.

  “The fur is too long. You should get it cut short. I can help with that if you want.”

  “Don’t you touch my tail!” She turned towards me and grabbed my neck as a playful threat.

  “If you don’t keep it out of my face I may have to!” I was bluffing, but she only huffed and returned to lying silent. I slowly began to fall into the realm of dreams before her small voice woke me.

  “Huh?” I blurted.

  “Hold me?” The voice came from Sapphire, who was avoiding eye contact. After a moment I smiled and wrapped my arms tightly around her. I heard a small joyful sigh followed by the swishing motion of her tail. I smiled and let the peaceful void of sleep embrace me.

  “Be strong Jacob!”

  I woke with a start. A clear sky and warm sun welcomed my return to the land of day. Sapphire twitched at my movement but remained asleep. I carefully freed myself from her grasp while her mind continued to travel through the realm of dreams. I didn’t want to disturb her, so I walked towards the pond. With a determined effort, I calmed myself. An hour of waiting finally rewarded me with my first fish. It was as long as my arm and a shiny royal purple in color with a reddish tint to its scales. Its eyes were bright green. I grinned like a child. “Looks like it’s time for a celebration!” I laughed to myself and walked towards the makeshift tent.

  A few minutes later I had a nice fire going and the fish cooking over it. Preparing the fish always created a sickening smell, but frying it easily made up for that. I continued to grin in my pride. Soon the tent began to stir and Sapphire crawled out like a devious cat, ready to steal someone’s food.

  “Hey! You caught one!” She exclaimed as she stood up.

  “Yeah! As crazy as it sounds, your technique actually worked!”

  “Oh shut up!” We both began to laugh. While the fish was cooking, Sapphire went back into the forest to gather more of the fruit. By the time I finished frying my catch, she returned with her arms filled with all that she could carry. We decided we could save some fruit for later, but the fish had to be eaten immediately. I had no salt to preserve it. Towards the end of the meal Sapphire began to speak.

  “Sho, I found Shom-ing while Pi-ing fruit-” She swallowed the piece of fish in her mouth. “-that looked like lights of some sort.”

  “You mean like a town?” I was shocked. A village could have been a stone’s throw away the whole time.

  “No. More like a ship.” Her expression became serious, and the joyful mood faded away.

  “Which way? We’ll check it out after we finish storing the fruit.” She pointed southwest. She seemed engulfed in thought.

  In an attempt to guess what she was feeling I began to speak. “You know, if it is a ship we might be able to leave.”

  She was silent for a moment before giving a single word in affirmation that she heard me. My mind flashed back to when we were on the Rovanekren ship. They treated her like cargo. Perhaps she was afraid that they, whoever they were, would treat her the same way.

  “Hey, I won’t let them hurt you.” She remained silent. I thought for a moment that it was the wrong thing to say, but then she replied unexpectedly.

  “Promise me?” She looked at me with an almost desperate face. I thought for a moment. This was a promise that was typically impossible to keep. I took a deep breath and spoke.

  “I promise to never let anyone hurt you.” She smiled, came closer, and stole the rest of my food just before running off to the tent. I sighed. “What is it with that girl and food?” I muttered to myself.

  After about ten minutes or so, I finished storing the fruit in the basket at the top of the tree. First, I put all the pieces of my armor on, quickly realizing I would have to get re-accustomed to the extra weight. I packed a small bag with one of the larger fruits and tied it to my belt. Finally, I reached for the rifle and checked the counter on the magazine. “Seven rounds.” I sighed and slung the rifle onto my back. Hopefully Sapphire’s supposed ship was crewed by rescuers and not one of the other possibilities. Clawtrodons, slavers, pirates, or perhaps some other hostile species I skipped over in my studies. I exited the tent as I thought of other possible scenarios. It was almost midday now and Sapphire seemed much more eager to examine the mystery ship than before. By the time I left the tent she had already made her way across the field towards her sighting. I tried to run over, but I wasn’t quite reacquainted with my old equipment, which stubbornly refused to allow me to move faster than a slow jog. Frustrated and impatient, Sapphire moved out of sight towards the ship.

  “Hey! Wait-” I began to shout. We were getting too close. It was necessary to remain quiet. I began to get nervous. She was probably within eyesight of them by now. “She’s smarter than that,” I reassured myself. Finally managing to reach the top of the hill where Sapphire once stood, I began to scan the area. The ship (which turned out to be a drop ship) was definitely visible from here, and about ten or so Rovanekrens hovered around it milling about while another barked commands. “Well that narrows down the possibilities at least.” I muttered to myself.

  Sapphire motioned from a nearby bush, beckoning me to join her hiding spot. I could tell that she was furious it had taken so long to reach her. I silently darted over to the miniature tree she was using as a camouflage.

  “Do you think they're here to find us?” She whispered

  “I’m not sure. They could be pirates for all we know.” I replied.

  “Hey, isn’t that the homing beacon from the crash?” Sapphire pointed to an object towards the rear of the drop ship. She was right. They must have moved it over here. I cursed myself for not disabling it yesterday, but then thanked myself for leaving it some distance away from our camp.

  “Yeah… it is.”

  “Doesn’t that mean they’re looking for us?”

  “Or, they could be salvagers.” Salvagers were usually harmless treasure hunters who searched the galaxy for crashed ships to plunder for usable parts and cargo. Normally they were not as worrisome as pirates or slavers, but there have been cases when Salvagers would take prisoners of a recently crashed ship fo
r ransom, or worse, merchandise for slavers. I looked at Sapphire. Her life gem would make her priceless and I didn’t have enough rounds in my rifle if it came down to a firefight. If all else failed, I would have to rely on my powers to defend us both.

  “How will we be able to tell?”

  I remained silent for a moment. “Well as long as they don’t fly off we can watch them a while longer until-”

  “Hands up both of you!” A voice barked. I froze in place. We were caught. My mind went into a fight or flight mentality and my heart began to race. From the footsteps there were three or four, obviously all armed. I couldn’t turn to my left because my attacker may end up shooting Sapphire on accident. If I turned to my right I would be slower and I may get shot myself. I’d just have to pray that the round hit my armor.

  “Are you two deaf? I said hands up!” My eyes shifted to my right. Sapphire had a look of horror on her face and was just as frozen as I was. Slowly, I raised my arms and mentally prepared myself. Three. Two. One. I swung my body as hard as I could towards our attacker. Three shots rang out. My right arm struck the rifle. I felt the force of a hammer hit my back twice but I kept going. Armor, I reassured myself. I grabbed onto the barrel of the rifle with my right hand, his arm with my left, and tore the rifle away while using my legs to trip up his. Spinning away, I secured, positioned, and aimed the rifle where it would be most lethal. I didn’t look but was sure the others had their rifles pointed at me.

  A voice spoke. “Wait... Cartlidge? Is that you?” The voice came from out of my sight line. I couldn’t see who it was, nor did I dare turn to see.

  “Guys! Stand down! Jacob! It’s me, Walker! Just lower the rifle…” As the adrenaline wore off, I slowly yet cautiously complied. Only now did I realize that the soldiers were not speaking in Rovanekren. I handed the rifle back to our would-be captor and muttered an apology.

  “It’s alright sir. We didn’t realize who you were.” The soldier replied as he rose. I could hear the thinly hidden frustration in his voice. Sapphire still remained on the ground but she managed to free herself from her frozen state. I turned to face Walker, who now bore the look of a commander, from the design of his armor.

  “We found the beacon from your ship,” he began to explain, “while observing Clawtrodon territory. Most assumed your ship had been destroyed by Clawtrodons a year ago, but they wanted to be sure. They sent my team to check. When we first saw you, we thought you were scouts for the Clawtrodons. We should’ve known better though, you guys are terrible at hiding.”

  Sapphire sent me a look that almost screamed, “I told you so!”

  “Did you find any other survivors?” I asked. I was sure I knew the answer already but I asked anyway. He shook his head silently. I wasn’t surprised, but I still felt disappointed.

  Walker broke the silence. “What were you sent out here to get anyway?”

  I paused for a moment while I chose my words carefully then glanced at Sapphire. “She has ...important intel.” I decided against telling them about the life-gem , not knowing how they would react.

  “Well, it’s been a year since you guys went off the radar, is the intel still any good?”

  “It is, but it’s classified stuff.”

  I began to worry that he would see through my poorly woven lie, but after a moment of tormenting silence he shrugged his shoulders and began to walk towards the drop ship. We followed after them. Without breaking step, Walker shouted something that signaled for the others to return. Within minutes, the whole drop ship was filled with soldiers. I remained a few moments longer however to look upon the area that had been by home for the past year one last time. I was forced here in a tragedy, but the place brought Sapphire and I together, and it seemed to have grown on me because of it. When I looked at the world now, I realized how beautiful it really was. Sapphire’s voice freed me from my daydream. She was calling for me to board the drop ship. Apparently Walker had told her of the food on the ship and she desperately wanted to try some. I darted over and strapped myself in the seat that she had saved for me. Soon we were off. And just like that, we were free of the wild planet we had once called home and now bound to return to the affairs of an eternal war.

  [Chapter 19: Standing in the Shadow of Death]

  Shortly after reaching the orbiting ship, The Shadow, I quickly found the captain of the ship and asked for communication with the Rovanekren council. The captain’s Gaia name was Mar, and he was relatively short for a Rovanekren. In fact, he was only a few inches above my height. I made no comment about it since I figured he might take offense. Mar also had shorter than average hair and sported a goatee, which was rare for Rovanekrens. I pondered whether or not he did this to deliberately set himself apart from his fellow Rovanekrens. His voice was rather deep and commanding. After explaining our situation, captain Mar agreed rather quickly to let us use the long range communications system, however he demanded that he remained present. I couldn’t think of an argument, so I reluctantly agreed. He told one of the engineers to keep the ship in orbit, then we walked towards the comm room.

  The long range communications system didn’t use holographic equipment, at least on our side, to my surprise. Instead, the system was a small room that worked similarly to the background systems of a training room. The walls acted as giant visual screens and the floor and ceiling acted as scanners to create what I assumed was a holographic image of the three of us. Suddenly the room replicated into a circular addition filled with what I assumed were Kings, Queens, senators, and other officials. The room became deathly silent until one of the officials spoke.

  “Captain? Why are you contacting us? You know this channel is for high value communications only.” He spoke Gaia perfectly, unlike most Rovanekrens.

  The captain cleared his throat. “Yes sir, this is important. We found survivors of the frigate RSF 2027. It was lost a year ago.”

  “Ah yes,” he spoke shortly after bringing up a small hologram of the ship, along with a small list. I figured the list was one of the crew members. “I don’t see an Anth as part of the crew. Tell me miss, what is your name?”

  Sapphire was silent, already withdrawn into her mental shell. I spoke up. “Her name is Sapphire. The ship was sent to find an unknown item acting on priest-based intel. As it turned out, she was the target. This woman contains a life-gem within her upper torso, just in front of her heart.” I pointed to the area on my own body. The officials, Queens and Kings immediately began to whisper in shock amongst each other. “When we found her, she had landed on the target moon in a large stasis pod covered in ancient Rovanekren writing. Shortly before leaving, someone sabotaged our ship’s jump engine, forcing us to stop mid-jump for repairs. I believe the culprit was the new quartermaster who had just transferred for the mission. I saw him enter the J.E. room just before the engine exploded. A lifeboat launched from the ship just after a pair of Clawtrodon heavy frigates jumped in and destroyed the ship. She and I were the only survivors of the attack. We spent a year on an uncharted planet before one of Captain Mar’s teams found us.” The officials did not speak to us for a while. I worried that perhaps I had said too much. Finally one spoke.

  “Cartlidge, is it? You seem to be the only crew member who was human.”

  “Y-Yes sir.”

  “Well Jacob, we thank you for your efforts to bring us this woman. We will make sure you are greatly compensated for you hard work this past year, and, if you so wish, you will be able to retire from the Rovanekren military.”

  I knew what they were implying and immediately spoke up. “I want to be Sapphire’s guard!” I almost shouted it, and immediately felt uncomfortable about the sudden demand. “... at least until the gem is removed.” I added. They remained silent for a moment, until one of the female senators spoke.

  “Cartlidge,” she paused, “surgically removing the gem is almost impossible. If we attempt it the gem will lash out and it will likely kill your companion. It’s likely that she will have it for the rest of her
life.”

  I froze at the revelation, but quickly recovered. “I will gladly remain by her side for the rest of my life!” Silence prevailed again. I could feel everyone’s eyes upon me, including Sapphire’s. What I said was true though. I loved her and I promised her that I would protect her. I was determined to hold to that promise. The senator began to speak again, but a king interrupted her.

  “Son, do you know how significant a life gem is? Do you really? The discovery of a life gem always indicates impending turmoil. You will never find peace, and you will face enemies so powerful you cannot even comprehend it!”