Primal Dawn

by Ryan Kirk

  Then she spoke, and to Tev’s amazement, he could understand what she was saying. Whatever was in his ear was making his language.

  “Hello, Tev.”

  “Hello, Kindra,” he replied.

  Kindra hesitated, and Tev wondered what she would say next. He was amazed that he was able to understand her.

  She found the question she was looking for. “Where do your people come from?”

  Tev wondered what she was trying to get at. Was she asking for the location of his clan? There was no way he would tell her that. He answered with a question of his own. “Why are you here?”

  Her eyes turned to him, trying to study him but failing to pierce him. “We’re looking for life. Exploring.”

  Her answer made no sense to Tev. Life was everywhere. To look for it, all you had to do was open your eyes. Why would they need to explore for life?

  He asked his next question before she could repeat hers. “Where do you come from?”

  She pointed up. “The sky.”

  If Tev would have, he would have scrambled backwards away from her. Coming from the sky was impossible. It was the home of Lys and the other heroes. It was not for mortals to travel from. He was convinced that Kindra wasn’t a god, but if that was true, why did she say she came from the sky?

  Kindra seized on his confusion to ask him a question in return.

  “Why were you out there?”

  Tev looked her in the eyes, confusion replaced by anger. “To hunt you.”

  Kindra felt as though she was walking around in a constant state of shock, the entire planet trying to tilt and throw her off. It had only been three days since the incident, as they were now calling it, and everything kept shifting underneath her. First had been the challenge of healing Derreck. His wounds had nearly been fatal. The cut Tev had given him had severed an artery, and if not for the exosuit’s medical systems, it would have been a fatal blow. But even that was no comparison to the shot Derreck had taken from Kenan. It had torn his suit up and left hundreds of pieces of shrapnel in his body. Kindra had no idea how Derreck had made it back alive.

  Complications arose once the pod began treatment. The pod detected hemorrhaging in Derreck’s brain. Between that and the repair work the nanos were conducting in his system, Kindra had no choice but to keep him in a coma while they did their work. Kindra would have done anything for his advice, but the pod estimated it would be several days before it would be safe to wake him. If they woke him now, Kindra worried his body wouldn’t be able to take it. Unfortunately, they were on their own.

  The tension between the crew members was palpable. They had faced difficult situations before, but they had never been split apart like this. In the past they had always been able to rely on each other to face challenges. But now, only three of the five of them were left. Kenan was rogue somewhere on the planet, and Derreck was in a forced coma in their medical wing. It made Kindra, third in command, their leader, and she felt lost like a child among the stars.

  The three of them had argued every day. Everything was now in question. Should they stay or lift off? Should they search for Kenan or call him lost? But no question divided them more than what to do with the creature who called himself Tev. It had been an impulsive decision to make Derreck bring him to the ship in the first place, but now that he was here, they were all uncertain about how to proceed.

  Kindra had saved his life. Tev’s injuries, although not fatal by their standards, would have killed him. They had saved him, but to what end?

  The three remaining crew members were sitting around the table, and it felt larger than it ever had before. Kindra rubbed the sleep from her eyes and started the meeting.

  “Okay, I’ll start. I’ve got a bombshell. Tev is human.”

  Stunned silence greeted her announcement. Eleta raised one eyebrow, the most intense question she could raise.

  Kindra shrugged. “I don’t know how. I don’t have any answers. But he’s made of DNA, just like we are, and his DNA matches ours. It looks like there may even be a shared ancestry, but I’ll need to get to the main Fleet archives to find out.”

  “I’ve asked Tev about it, but his culture only has creation myths. There’s nothing concrete I can draw on to explain my findings. But he is just as human as you or I.”

  Alston summed up his feelings succinctly. “That’s a surprise.”

  Kindra nodded.

  “But even if that’s true, does it change our decisions?”

  Kindra didn’t know. It was the same argument they had been having for three days. None of them knew best how to proceed. They hadn’t even decided what they wanted to do with Tev.

  Unable to make a final decision, the dropship sat where it had landed. They all went about their daily routines, ensconced safely in the ship. Kindra checked on her patients a couple of times a day, each time trying to have more of a conversation with Tev. The more they spoke, the better the translators were able to translate. But as fascinating as Tev was, Kindra felt like she kept running up against a wall. All the evidence suggested a larger story, but if there was one, Tev didn’t know it.

  Eleta changed the subject. “There’s something else you need to know. I’ve got news about Kenan.”

  Immediately, Kindra thought that perhaps Kenan had died. A part of her grieved. Although she didn’t always like Kenan, he was a part of the crew, a part of their family. But more than that, she was relieved, and felt guilty for her relief.

  Her thoughts were interrupted by Eleta. “Last night, he tried to make some more permanent modifications to his exosuit. In doing so, he accidentally turned on his communications array again. It was only on for about five minutes before he discovered it and disabled it again, but in that time, we got tracking data, visual logs, and suit data. It wasn’t everything, but it was also too much.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Eleta grimaced. “The first thing I did was look over his exosuit specs. I couldn’t help it, but we’ve never put an exosuit through an experience like this before. Everything looked nominal at first, until I noticed this.”

  Eleta pulled up the stats from the exosuit, but Kindra didn’t have any idea what she was looking at. Eleta seemed to think there was something important there, though. She kept looking at Kindra as though she should be amazed.

  “I’m sorry, Eleta, but I don’t know what I’m looking at.”

  Eleta shook her head, as though she was frustrated by a leader who didn’t know what was happening.

  “Look over here. This is his ammo readout.” She pointed towards a section of the screen. “And here is his ammo readout from the last moment he was in contact with us.” She pointed towards another section, and Kindra saw what Eleta was getting at. Kenan’s ammo was lower than when he had left them. Significantly.

  Kindra sat down. “You know what he’s done?”

  Eleta nodded. “I won’t make you watch it, but he’s been tracking the natives. He’s found at least two encampments and has slaughtered them at each.”

  Kindra’s world shifted, and she held onto the armrests of her seat as if she would fall out of the chair if she didn’t. What had already happened had been horrible enough, but Kindra had started to wrap her mind around it. This was something else. This was inexcusable.

  She sat there, completely lost, anger building inside her. They had done wrong. Before, the decision had been a straightforward one. Either stay or leave. But now their choice had even greater consequences. The only person on the ship who had any reasonable chance of helping them out was in a forced coma. To bring him back could kill him, but perhaps it was necessary.

  Alston spoke. “I realize this may sound cold, but what does it matter? Fleet sent us out here to explore, and we have a little time left before the Destiny comes back to pick us up. There’s nothing we can do about Kenan. None of us are trained in combat, and he’s in an exosuit. I say, we keep going. We get all the information we can and leave when it’s time. It’s all we can do.”

&
nbsp; Kindra wanted to slap Alston. She understood where he was coming from, but he wasn’t right. Kenan was out there murdering innocents. Something had to be done to stop him.

  They argued, but they came to no decision, and Kindra didn’t have any ideas she was comfortable ordering others to follow. They adjourned, no further decisions made. Kindra found herself walking towards medical, not even aware that was her destination until she was outside the door.

  Perhaps she hoped Derreck would have some answers for her, that his very presence might help her.

  Kindra stepped through the door, her presence turning up the lights, and she looked at the scene before her. Tev, as she expected, was awake and watching her carefully. Derreck was unconscious on the table next to him. She barely nodded to Tev, unable to face him after knowing what her people had done to his. She walked over to Derreck and held his hand in her own, wondering what he would do in this situation.

  Of course, if it had been him, they never would have had this problem in the first place. Derreck demanded respect, and Kenan would do anything he said. But with Derreck gone, the crew had collapsed like a house of cards in an earthquake. It was up to her now, and she wasn’t ready.

  Mostly, she wanted to leave. She wanted to be done with this planet. If they took off, it wasn’t her problem anymore. They could rendezvous with the jumper and Fleet could take care of Kenan. She could find a nice small planet to go hide on.

  But her conscience wouldn’t let her. Like a petulant child, it kept screaming for her attention, reminding her it was her responsibility to make a decision. If she did nothing, the disaster would only get worse. Without any way of getting in touch of Kenan, she couldn’t imagine him taking any other path than the one he was already walking.

  But she also couldn’t think of any way to stop him. They had one damaged general-purpose exosuit, and no one who was capable of doing anything with it. All of them were checked out on it, but none of them were great pilots. Kenan was, and if he was as unstable as he seemed, the exosuit wouldn’t provide them more than a few seconds of protection.

  Lost in her own thoughts, Kindra didn’t say goodbye to Tev. She wandered out of medical, realizing she was far too tired to make any decision.

  She called Eleta, letting her know that she needed to lie down for a while. Her mind was tired and running in circles. Eleta acknowledged, and Kindra told her she’d be awake in three hours. Kindra stumbled over to her bunk and lay down, her mind running through the same old problems. Sleep overcame her in a few moments, and for a while she was at peace.

  When she sat bolt upright in her bunk, only two hours had passed. The idea was burned deep into her memory. As her heart calmed down, Kindra thought about what she was considering. It was the worst idea she had ever had, but it might also be her smartest. If it worked. She turned on her comms, hesitating before calling Eleta.

  “Eleta? How soon can you have the exosuit repaired?”

  Tev wasn’t sure what was happening, but he would have needed to be blind to miss that something was wrong. Kindra had been in and out of the medical bay constantly, and every time, her face was a mask of preoccupation. Their conversations, once important to her, were now over. She couldn’t even meet his gaze. He would try to start a conversation, but she wouldn’t respond, just doing whatever needed doing and then leaving again. When she came in with her eyes set on him, he knew a decision had been reached.

  In her hands was a piece of what they called metal, shaped in a way Tev couldn’t comprehend. But behind her came another person, the first time Tev had met anyone else from the crew. He had known Kindra wasn’t alone, but she had never allowed anyone else into the bay with her. The woman looked similar to Kindra, and she held something black in her hand that she pointed at Tev.

  Kindra introduced Eleta. “Tev, I have a problem, and maybe you can help me with it. But I need to try something first. I’m going to release some of your restraints, but I don’t want you to do anything. Eleta has a weapon that will stop you if you do. Do you understand?”

  Every muscle in Tev’s body tensed up. If they removed some of his restraints, perhaps he’d have the chance to escape. But he watched as Eleta pointed the black thing in her hand at him, and he had an uncomfortable reminder of the battle where he’d been injured. These people possessed weapons he didn’t understand. From the way she held herself, he didn’t think Eleta was any more of a warrior than Kindra, but it probably wouldn’t matter. Unless he was certain, he wouldn’t make a move. He nodded, and Kindra stepped up and started removing his restraints. She took off everything above his waist, leaving the straps across his thighs and ankles. Even if he tried anything, he’d have to loosen those first, using valuable time he wouldn’t have.

  Kindra pointed to the metal thing she had brought into the room with her. “Tev, this is what we call a simulator. We put it over our heads.” She took a moment to pause and demonstrate what she meant. Tev saw that the device covered her eyes and ears. She took it off.

  “This lets us dream we are in different places. I want to put it on you, and I want to have you try some things. Then maybe you can help us. Is that okay with you?”

  Tev didn’t see how he had much choice, and besides, he was curious. He nodded.

  Kindra approached and placed the simulator over his head. As he expected, his world went black and silent. Then he heard Kindra’s voice. It wasn’t coming from outside, as he had expected. Instead, it came from right next to his ear. It spooked him at first, but he wouldn’t allow himself to show fear, not here.

  “I’m going to put a picture in front of you.” Tev could tell she was struggling to find language he could understand. It was a challenge that had raised its head repeatedly during their conversations. “You might think it is real, but it isn’t. Just remember that.”

  It was all the warning Tev had before his world changed. Suddenly he was back in the woods of his planet, the land and terrain he knew so well. He turned his head from side to side, and as he did, his perspective changed. With his hands he could feel the table beneath him, but all around him he could see the forest. He could even hear the sounds of it in his ears. His mind realized it wasn’t real, but he couldn’t help but be impressed by how beautiful it was.

  He spoke for the first time. “This is amazing, Kindra.”

  There was a hint of relief in her voice. “Good. Now, I’m going to change something. I am going to put armor on you, like the armor that Derreck wore. If you look down, you’ll see it.”

  Tev did, and sure enough, he could see the armor covering his chest, arms, and legs.

  “Okay, Tev, now it’s time for the test. This might be hard, but I want you to dream you are moving. You can move however you want.”

  It seemed a strange command, but Tev decided to try it. He pictured himself walking forward, and after a few stumbles, it seemed as though he was moving forward. He could make a few steps, but then he’d think about how he was strapped to the table, and he’d fall over. After a few minutes of trying, Kindra recognized the problem.

  “Tev, is it okay if I give you some medicine? It will numb your body, so you can focus on the test.”

  Tev, fascinated and curious, nodded. He didn’t think through Kindra’s words. But slowly the rest of his sensations faded away, and all that was left was the dream world. Once Tev couldn’t feel his real limbs any more, imagining the movements became much easier. After about ten minutes of getting used to the world, he was running and jumping and climbing, just as he would if he was actually outside.

  Kindra’s voice interrupted Tev’s play. There was something in her voice, but he couldn’t quite place it. Maybe relief, maybe something else. “Tev, right now, I’ve been letting the dream act as though it was your real body. I’m going to change it now so your body moves like it would if it was wearing the armor. You’re going to feel very different, but I want to see if you can move around in it.”

  Tev’s curiosity was on fire. He wanted more. This experience was whol
ly unlike anything he had ever done before. He was eager for a new challenge. He stood still for a moment while Kindra changed his dream world. Then he tried moving again.

  As Kindra had promised, the feeling was very different. Tev couldn’t move as easily as he thought he should, and his balance seemed off, just a little. But he continued to focus, and soon walking felt just as natural as it ever had. Then it was time to press things harder. Tev started to jog, then to run. His stride, normally short and quick, was more powerful than ever, and once he mastered his balance, he sped through the forest faster than he could have imagined possible. He fell a few times, but there was no pain. He just stood himself up and kept moving.

  Tev ran, the idea of movement freeing and liberating. He had always loved running through the woods, but this was something new, more powerful than before. A ravine opened up in front of him, and in a moment of recklessness he leapt across, imagining himself rolling as he cleared a space he never would have been able to leap on his own. He ran and ran, more free than he had ever been before.

  Kindra’s voice whispered into his ear and he slowed down. “Tev, there’s just one last test. Raise your right arm and imagine releasing the string on your bow.”

  Tev did as she asked, knowing already what was supposed to happen. The tree in front of him exploded, collapsing as its trunk was torn in half.

  “I’ve added an animal to the dream. Can you hunt it?”

  Tev’s heart started to race, but after years of practice, he calmed his breath. Sure enough, there were tracks nearby, easy for him to follow. It was the first time he noticed a hint of artifice in the world he was in. No animal he knew would leave such an obvious trail. When he found the animal, it was a boar.

  Tev smiled and watched as the boar made to run. He knew he could have raised his arm and shot it, but he wanted to test himself. He chased after it, his speed and endurance superior to the animal’s. He ran it down, but unlike a real boar, this one never got tired. It kept running, and Tev kept up with it, finally leaping above it and using the weapon in his right arm to shoot it. He landed smoothly, a fierce fire and excitement burning through his body. This power, this experience, was something he never wanted to give up.