by Ryan Kirk
There was one way to end this quickly. Tev stepped in towards the cat, an action that went against every gram of self-preservation he had. He angled towards the injured side of the cat, easily dodging the half-hearted swipe from the animal. Tev brought his blade up and across the neck of the animal, and a few moments later it was sprawled on the ground.
Tev knew the animal was dead, so he didn’t waste any time getting to Kindra. He rushed to her as she attempted to sit up, and she fell back into his arms. His eyes ran over her quickly. She had lost a decent amount of blood, which explained her inability to stand again. Otherwise none of her injuries seemed fatal. If he could clean and dress her wounds, she should be fine.
His eyes met hers, and she saw the fear in her quick, darting eye movements. He laid her down gently, keeping her injured side elevated and out of the dirt. “It’s going to be okay, Kindra. I’ll be back in a moment to fix you up.”
With that, he sprinted into the woods, looking for the materials he would need.
Tev returned in only a few minutes. Fortunately, the area they were in was well-covered with vegetation, and those plants which were difficult to find were a constant companion in his bag. He cleaned her cuts with water, finding that only one on her arm was deep enough to be of concern. He considered trying to stitch the wound closed, but decided against it. Tomorrow they could return to camp and to the Vigilance, where they had much better ways of treating injuries. He would clean and bandage it.
Kindra was a much better patient than Tev was. She sat through his ministrations without complaint. He tried to be as gentle as possible, but his hands weren’t often called on to heal. He was convinced she was still in shock. From the moment he had warned her to the moment of the attack had only been a few minutes. She’d just barely avoided severe injury.
“How are you?”
Kindra was shaking, her eyes unfocused. She didn’t respond.
Tev unpacked her tent from her backpack. The setup was simple, and he had watched her put it together several times before. He unrolled her sleeping bag and escorted her into the tent. Inside, she continued to shiver, and Tev sat down beside her and wrapped his arms around her. Awkwardly, he pulled the sleeping bag around them in an attempt to warm Kindra up.
They sat together as the sun went down, Kindra’s shock slowly wearing off. The moon was bright in the sky, penetrating even the thick foliage of the forest, allowing both of them to see within the tent.
Eventually she turned around and faced him. “Thank you.”
Tev simply nodded. “You’re welcome.”
He wasn’t expecting her to kiss him. He wasn’t expecting to return her affection. But he did. Slowly, she pushed him down to the ground, and he didn’t resist.
Four
The journey back to the camp and the Vigilance’s landing pad took them two days. They were slowed down a little by Kindra’s wounds, but more by the fact that Tev had to lug an enormous dead animal behind him. Their progress was slow, but Kindra didn’t mind. She needed time to think through the events of that evening.
Tev’s attitude was both convenient and frustrating, and Kindra was reminded again that she was dealing with someone whose upbringing couldn’t have been more different from her own. He didn’t make mountains out of molehills. They had spent the night together, and that was that. He didn’t treat her any differently in the morning. He didn’t avoid eye contact or act ashamed, nor did he pressure her into anything again. In all respects, it almost seemed as though the night hadn’t happened.
At first, Kindra thought she should be offended, but that reaction seemed inappropriate. Eventually, the scientist in her surfaced, and she started asking questions.
“Tev, how does marriage work in your clan?”
The hunter laughed, a feat somewhat impressive considering he had been dragging a large cat’s corpse for several kilometers. “It’s complicated, and many clans have different customs.”
Kindra didn’t press. The two of them played this game of question and answer often enough that she knew he was simply organizing his thoughts.
“Marriage generally happens between the clans, to keep new blood flowing in. Occasionally the elders will approve of a marriage within the clan, but most often marriages strengthen ties between neighboring clans. It is far more difficult to fight with another clan when you have such ties.”
“But what about love and desire?”
“They play a role. No one is ever forced to marry against their will. Xan and Neera are an excellent example. There is no doubt there was desire present, but their bond is important to the two clans they come from. Their marriage is an ideal example.”
Kindra couldn’t stop herself before the question came out. “But what about you and Neera?”
Tev turned his head around and gave her a sad smile. “I have loved Neera almost my entire life, and I believe she loves me, too. When I was younger, I desired to marry her, but it was always unlikely. My love for her remains unchanged.”
Tev must have seen the confusion on her face, and realized the heart of her question for the first time.
“Yes, we have been together, but it was not condemned. A child would be frowned on outside of a marriage agreement, but it would still be raised as one of the clan’s own.”
The more Tev tried to explain, the more confused Kindra became. Tev frowned as he thought of another way to describe his culture.
“There is a difference between your culture and mine. In yours, the individual is all-important. In mine, there is more of a balance. The needs and desires of the individual must be balanced by the needs of the community. Nowhere is that more visible than in marriage.”
Kindra sighed, regretting she had asked the question in the first place. She needed to be much more direct. “What about us?”
Tev stopped and turned around completely to face her. “I care for you. If you are asking about marriage, I would have to think about it, and we would certainly need to consult with the elders of my clan.”
Kindra raised her hands, forcing herself not to backpedal. “No, no, no. Nothing like that. We don’t need to talk about marriage.”
A look of relief passed over Tev’s face. His focus was on other matters at the moment. He turned back to the path and continued walking, leaving Kindra lost in her own thoughts.
Tev’s attitude was refreshing, if perhaps difficult to accept. She was unused to relationships being so simple. His declaration of care was straightforward, his open honesty a distinct change of pace from the dance of relationships she was familiar with.
That night they slept in separate tents, and Tev didn’t seem upset or disturbed by the fact at all. The next morning it rained, but they made it back to camp by mid-afternoon. Vigilance had already returned from its brief stint in space.
Tev’s return was greeted with some fanfare. The upside to being attacked by the cat was that Tev had brought back game greater than any of the other hunters had expected. Not only was Tev’s position solidified, their respect grew for him in an instant. He tried to be modest, but Kindra saw the flush of pride the adulation gave him.
Despite his hero’s welcome, Tev escorted her to the Vigilance right away. Both of them wanted to ensure her wounds weren’t more serious than they appeared. They left the camp, Tev promising to return for evening festivities.
Fortunately, a few minutes in the medical bay was all the time Kindra needed. Tev had washed her wounds well and had prevented infection. Kindra’s cuts were healed in minutes, Tev watching in fascination.
When the healing was finished, Kindra noticed Tev looking around. She forgot sometimes this was where Tev had first met her. He had been gravely wounded, but they had healed him, setting off a chain of events no one expected.
“We’ve come a long way since we first met, haven’t we?”
Tev ran his hand over one of the medical pods. “Yes, we really have.”
His voice was soft, as though he was lost in his memories. After a few moments, h
e shook his head, coming back to the present. “I should return to camp. Will you be fine?”
Kindra patted her arm, recently healed. “Good as new. Go back and enjoy your celebration. You’ve earned it. And Tev?”
“Yes?”
“Thanks for taking me hunting.”
Tev grinned, an infectious smile. “It was a pleasure. You’d make a great hunter.”
With that, he was out the door and out of the ship, leaving Kindra alone to reflect on the past few days.
Kindra’s first order of business was to find Derreck and report. She gave a fairly full accounting of her adventure, leaving out the personal details. He enjoyed her story, but he had even more exciting news for her.
“We picked up the emergency beacon without any problem, and Destiny jumped away as soon as we were outside of its jump field. On a whim, I asked Eleta to look into what was stored on the beacon, and we made a discovery. The beacon is full of information for Fleet, including private logs from Absalon himself. I’ve had Eleta hack them.” Derreck looked incredibly pleased with himself, like a child who had figured out what his birthday gift was before he received it.
“How is that even possible? Why didn’t we just do that while we were docked on Destiny?”
“Eleta knows the details, but from what I gather, the encryption protocols are different. On Destiny, the files were secured by the AI, which Eleta didn’t think she could get past. The encryption here is much more straightforward, and with the help of Vigilance’s AI, she thinks she can crack it in a day or two, and we can figure out what Absalon’s been hiding from us.”
If the plan worked, they would be able to clear up the remaining confusion they had about their journey. Throughout the trip and the conflict with the Hellbringer, it had always seemed like both jumpship captains, Absalon and Nicks, had information that they didn’t. Kindra, for the first time in her life, was doubting Fleet; and the knowledge contained in the beacon would go a long way towards either easing or confirming her doubts.
Eleta discovered the information in short order, and the next day the four remaining crew of the Vigilance gathered around the mess hall table as their systems engineer shared what she discovered. They ate as they talked, and Kindra almost had to laugh at how much their discipline had slipped in the past few months. Derreck usually forbade eating during meetings.
Eleta said, “So, as all of us know, Mala lead a dropship mission to another planet as we were exploring this one. Originally, it was thought the other planet was an even better candidate for intelligent life based on signals coming from the planet’s surface. They didn’t find a civilization, but they did find the remains of one. We didn’t know exactly what they found until now.”
Eleta was enjoying herself, holding the knowledge over everyone until they were on the edges of their seats.
“Mala and her team had to leave before they were able to make any substantial discoveries. However, they found possibilities that, if true, could change our entire civilization.”
Derreck was getting frustrated by Eleta’s gentle teasing.
“Get to the point already.”
Eleta laughed. “Fine. Although they didn’t find anything specific, they found indications of two technologies that could reshape our lives. The first is a new type of AI, potentially superior to our own. The neurological modeling is completely different than what we use, but if it works, it would both be faster and lighter in terms of resources than our own AIs. That technology gives rise to the second possibility hinted at in some of the archives: new equations for jump technology.”
Alston spoke, “What does it mean?”
Eleta shrugged. “There’s really no knowing. Mala and her team had to leave before they could dig too deeply. All Fleet has are hints that these technologies exist. Perhaps we’re looking at incremental improvements, or maybe we’re looking at leaps beyond what we can fathom. What I wonder about is what the civilization that left this technology behind is like now. We’re looking at discoveries that are at least a thousand years old.”
Derreck focused them on the problem at hand. “More importantly, if Fleet has this information, the rebellion does as well. Maybe Tev’s planet wasn’t the goal. Maybe they were always aiming for the second planet.”
Kindra stood up and stretched her muscles. Her arm still itched from where the cut had been healed. “The only way to know for sure is to ask Captain Nicks, and who knows if he’d even tell us the truth. Does this change anything we do?”
Everyone shook their heads. Whatever was happening light-years away, their goal was still the same: Prepare Tev’s people to deal with outside influences. Knowing what Fleet was hiding was useful, but the secrets they uncovered didn’t change anything. At least, that was what Kindra hoped.
Kindra pressed her palms against her forehead, trying to push out the cobwebs that gathered in her mind. More than a week had passed since the Destiny left and she had gone on her adventure with Tev, and the memories were still as fresh as the moment they had happened. Whenever she closed her eyes she saw the cat jumping at her. Other times memories of Tev replayed themselves. Between the competing dreams she had difficulty sleeping at night, and when she did sleep, it was a shallow, restless slumber.
The problem was made worse because she felt as though she had little to do. In one respect, that idea was false. Every day she was running experiments that brought in a lifetime’s worth of data. There were mysteries and enigmas to be solved, enough to keep the entire field of exobiology occupied for decades.
But she had a hard time focusing on that aspect of her mission. Their real mission, as she saw it, was to prepare Tev’s people for the arrival of either Fleet settlement or the rebellion. In regard to that mission, she had less to do than anyone else. She dealt with injuries as she could, but Derreck and Tev focused on training while Alston and Eleta attempted to build new exosuits using the equipment on the Vigilance and the wealth of materials from the planet.
Kindra sat up in her bunk. Sleep wasn’t going to happen tonight, so there was no point in staying here. She might as well get some work done. Kindra padded softly down to the biology station and sat at her terminal. There was something in the back of her mind that was bothering her, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.
She leaned back in her chair, letting her mind go blank. Experience had taught her that trying to force her intuition to the surface would only end in failure. By letting go, she could see more clearly.
Something about the attack was bothering her, a detail out of place in this alien world. One moment her mind was empty, the next the picture was clear as day. Her heart raced as she pulled up some files on her terminal. She couldn’t remember the name of what she was looking for, but she was quickly able to narrow down her search until she found it.
Kindra almost fell out of her chair. Her first instinct was to rush to Derreck and tell him what she thought, but she calmed herself. She needed more than images. DNA would confirm her hunch.
On the screen was an image of a large cat, a species of leopard from Old Earth. The animal that had attacked them wasn’t the same, but it was eerily similar. Not only did this planet have humans, but it also had other creatures similar to Old Earth! She dug a little deeper, and found that the leopard species pictured had gone extinct before humans had even left the solar system.
Kindra didn’t have any explanations, but the itch in her mind finally subsided. She would get to the bottom of the mystery of this planet if she could.
On a whim, Kindra went up to the observation deck to look at the stars. It was the one activity that always calmed her mind enough to go to sleep. More than once she had fallen asleep on the observation deck.
The night was cloudless, and the image was crystal clear. Kindra hadn’t grown up on a planet as populous as Haven, but she had grown up in habitations where the sky was rarely seen. The simple act of watching the stars grounded her, gave her a perspective she didn’t otherwise have. She saw them all the time out
in space, but seeing them through atmosphere was different. The stars twinkled and came alive.
Suddenly, in the corner of her vision, a bright sphere of light exploded, covering a small portion of the sky for a few seconds. Kindra blinked as her vision adjusted and information started flying across her neurodisplay.
The Destiny was back, and it was under attack.
Five
Tev had been sound asleep when the explosion lit the sky, but he heard of it in short order. He was roused from his slumber by the commotion in the camp. Everyone was awake and looking up at the stars with an air of expectation.
No one would ever accuse the hunters of lacking courage, but the hunters were human, and they feared the almost-magical powers of Kindra and her people. The power to light up the night sky and turn it to day, even for a moment, was so far beyond the abilities of even the best hunter as to be unfathomable. Though they interacted with the technology daily, Tev was reminded that the exosuits were just a small slice of the new world bearing down on the clans.
Tev tapped the small earbud that was an almost-permanent fixture in his ear these days. It opened a channel directly to the Vigilance. Within a moment, he had Kindra’s voice in his ear, a welcome reassurance.
“Destiny was attacked by Hellbringer, which was patrolling the other system we explored when we came to visit last. They launched nuclear weapons at Destiny again, and she jumped away just in time. Unfortunately, one of the nukes got caught in the jump field and exploded at the completion of the jump. We’re still getting damage reports in. The Destiny is battered, but from what we’re hearing, the ship will be okay.”
“Has there been any sign of the Hellbringer following?”
“None yet, and we’re keeping our sensors running all the time.”