by Elin Wyn
But underneath, I was still worried. What had the Gorgoxians done to our ally?
Would he ever return?
And if he didn’t, did that mean Ankau itself was in danger?
A soft chime let me know my comm had finally been patched through.
“Are you there already?” the general asked. “I didn’t expect a report for another hour.”
“Have you seen how Teisha flies?” I asked. “But it’s for the best. We have a situation here.”
After a brief report, General Rouhr informed me he’d gather additional information about the camp.
“Stay low, but keep looking for anything unusual,” he ordered.
“That would be everything,” I muttered, but well after he’d signed off.
“Now what?” Teisha looked at me.
“There’s not much the four of us can do about the camp,” I said. “We’re hilariously outnumbered. It’s best to stay out of sight until we hear from General Rouhr again.”
“In that case, I say we get to work on what we came here to do,” she said.
“Let’s go back to the other side of the mountain,” Tu’ver suggested. “We can explore from there without risking detection.”
“Does that mean more grappling?” Mariella sighed.
“Yes, dearest,” Tu’ver answered. “If you’d like, you can attach your harness to mine and cling onto my back.”
“I’d like that, thanks,” Mariella grinned.
“Do you need to ride on my back?” Teisha asked me with a smirk.
“No, but I was going to offer to toss you up the mountain if you prefer?”
“That works for me.”
We laughed as we prepared our equipment for the climb back.
We were about halfway between the camp and the hovercraft when Mariella pointed to something a few yards above us.
“Does that look natural to you?” she asked Teisha, who had to crane her neck to see what Mariella was talking about. Teisha happened to be positioned directly above me on the mountain, blocking my view.
“No, it doesn’t,” she answered.
“Care to clue me in?” I asked.
“There’s an opening in the side of the mountain. It looks carved,” she called down. “I say we climb up.”
“I’ll follow you,” I confirmed.
After a taxing vertical climb, the four of us stood on a narrow ledge hardly big enough to fit all of us.
The opening in question looked like a clumsy archway. It was impossible to tell from here how far it extended into the mountain.
Teisha pulled out a flashlight and shone it into the darkness. The light reflected in the eyes of a few cave-dwelling critters, but nothing looked concerning.
“I’m game if you are,” she said to me.
“Lead the way.”
Teisha
My bravado might have fooled the others, but not Sa'lok. He must’ve known I was trying to put on a brave face, but he didn’t say anything when I ducked into the dark, cramped space.
I hadn’t thought getting caught in that cave-in in the desert messed me up, but apparently, it had.
The idea of going into the mountain made me feel sick to my stomach. No matter how many times I told myself I wasn’t underground, my body and subconscious wouldn’t listen to me.
Going into the mountain like this felt like being underground and that was all that mattered.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Sa'lok asked me in a casual tone.
“Not at all,” I replied lightly.
“We can turn back,” he offered.
“No way!” I protested. “This is obviously something relevant to what we’re looking for. We can’t turn back.”
“It might not be what we’re looking for,” he suggested.
“Are you kidding?” I barked out a laugh. “We find a man-made tunnel bored into the side of the mountain and you want to tell me it might not be what we’re looking for?”
“I know it’s what we’re looking for,” he smirked. “I’m just trying to make you feel better. Is it working?”
I paused. My breath wasn’t coming as rapidly as it had been a moment ago.
“Yes, it is.” I declared.
“Good, then I’ll keep pissing you off until the anxiety ebbs away completely.”
“You’re such a good friend.”
“I know,” he beamed.
His reaction to the word ‘friend’ gave me pause. Surely, we were more than friends now, weren’t we? It was still something we needed to talk about.
I knew now wasn’t the time, but was there ever a good time for a talk like that?
The more I thought about it, the more anxious I was.
Somehow, sorting out my relationship with Sa'lok in official terms was more anxiety-inducing than the notion of being trapped beneath rocks again.
What the hell was wrong with me?
Somewhere above us, a few pebbles came loose from the side of the mountain. The skittering sound that echoed through the tunnel made my heart start racing all over again. I stopped dead in my tracks.
I didn’t want to stop, really.
My panicked shit-heel of a subconscious gave me no choice in the matter.
Sa'lok gently took my hand and led me forward.
“The tunnel is perfectly sound,” he assured me. “We’re still low in the mountain. A little hole in the base won’t bring the whole thing down.”
I could’ve pointed out that the path we were on was slowly inclining, but I didn’t.
Instead, I decided to take comfort in his words and the steady feeling of my hand in his.
“You mentioned that this was man-made a moment ago,” Mariella spoke up. “I’m not sure that’s accurate.”
“You think this is natural?” Sa'lok asked.
“Not at all. I just don’t think humans did it,” she corrected. “Teisha, look at the walls. Can you think of any human tools that could do this?”
“Do what?”
I shone my light on the wall. At first, I didn’t see anything, then I realized that was the point. I didn’t see anything. No tool marks, no tracks in the stone. Nothing to indicate any human terraforming tools I was familiar with.
The stone wasn’t perfectly smooth, either. Water erosion hadn’t made these tunnels. It was as if someone, or something, had taken a very powerful laser and crudely drawn an archway.
“I see your point,” I said to Mariella. “Humans had nothing to do with this, but someone else sure as hell did.”
“Don’t look at us,” Tu’ver shrugged. “I can’t think of anything we possess that could make these tunnels.”
“And I can’t think of a reason why any of us would want to make a secret mountain tunnel,” Sa'lok added.
“Wait, Tu’ver!” Mariella called sharply. Tu’ver froze.
“What?”
“Swing your headlamp back the other way!”
Tu’ver looked to his right. Mariella sighed.
“Your other other way,” she corrected.
Tu’ver looked directly at the wall. His headlamp illuminated hundreds of lines of impossibly tiny markings.
“Isn’t that the same language from the other sites?” I asked.
“I think it is.” Mariella was practically shaking with excitement. “Hurry, let’s document this.”
“Right, because the etchings in stone might not be around for much longer,” Sa'lok teased.
“We didn’t bring anything to assist translation, did we?” Mariella asked me.
“Everything is still in the hovercraft,” I replied.
“Damn,” she muttered. “At least I have a camera, not that it’ll help us now.”
She pulled out a small black device and captured a few images.
“Maki and Alyssa will be excited to see those pictures,” I offered.
“That’s a nice thought,” Tu’ver said. “An even nicer thought would be knowing what we’re walking into.”
“Did you skip breakfa
st today?” Mariella gave him a hard look. “You’re uncharacteristically grumpy.”
“Is he?” Sa'lok chuckled. “This is how he is normally.”
“He’s right,” Tu’ver nodded. “I’m only nice to you.” He pressed a kiss into Mariella’s cheek, making her giggle.
I glanced at Sa'lok from the corner of my eye. He smiled at me. I was glad for the darkness. It hid the blush creeping up my cheeks.
I don’t know what had gotten into me. The best thing about Sa'lok was that I could tell him anything.
Somehow, though, I couldn’t make myself say that I adored him and wanted to be with him. The risk seemed far too great. How could I want something that could put our friendship at risk? Didn’t that make me a bad friend?
I supposed I became a bad friend the moment I decided to hop into bed with him, not that I regretted it. I needed to stop getting all up in my own head about this.
Sa'lok and I were uncomplicated.
We’d always been that way. Why shouldn’t I just go back to being uncomplicated about things?
That sounded like less of a headache for me.
“What are you thinking about?” Sa'lok asked suddenly.
“What?” I jumped a little at the sound of his voice.
“You’ve got this fierce look on your face,” he said. “I figured you were thinking hard about something and I felt that I should disturb you.”
I laughed.
See? Sa'lok was being uncomplicated and fun, as usual. I should be able to do the same.
“I was thinking about the writing on the wall,” I said. “And that I enjoy holding your hand.”
“The idea of holding my hand made you make that face? I know how your face looks when you’re enjoying something and that was not that face.”
“I swear I enjoy holding your hand,” I protest. “It’s just that I wasn’t sure if it was weird to enjoy holding your hand.”
“That’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever said,” Sa'lok laughed. “And I’ve seen you do some pretty stupid things, so keep that in mind.”
“So, you don’t feel weird?” I asked.
“No,” he shook his head. “I don’t feel weird about enjoying holding your hand. I don’t feel weird that I want to drag you into my bed the moment I have a bed to drag you into. Does that make you feel weird?”
“Yes, but only because we’re having this discussion in a public forum.” I jerked my head in the direction of Mariella and Tu’ver, who were looking at us with equal parts dismay and amusement.
“Fair point. We can pick this discussion up later,” he grinned.
At that moment, both his and Tu’ver’s comms units lit up like a fireworks display.
“That looks important,” I said.
Sa'lok and Tu’ver grabbed their units and opened the communications channels.
“I can’t believe we get signal in here,” Mariella mused.
“Our augmented tech is a natural signal booster,” Sa'lok explained, spreading his hand to show how brightly his circuits glowed. Without thinking, I reached out and traced my finger across his skinsuit.
He smiled at my touch.
“General Rouhr wants us back outside,” Tu’ver said. “He’s mobilized the strike teams. He needs us to navigate them to the camps.”
“The anti-alien campers aren’t going to like that,” I tutted.
“I know,” Sa'lok said. “You and Mariella should stay here, away from the conflict.”
“No way!” I protested.
“Think about it,” Sa'lok urged. “You don’t have any weapons. You’re not trained to use any of mine, even if I had spares. You and Mariella are far more useful here, where you have a better chance of figuring out the significance of the mountain. You handle this, we handle the camp, and we save time in the process.”
I wanted to argue, but I couldn’t.
“Damn your logic,” I muttered. “You’re right. Go fight your battles. Mariella and I will keep working.”
“That’s my lady.” Sa'lok stroked my cheek and I nearly melted into a puddle on the floor.
Before I could second guess myself, I grabbed his shirt and pulled him in for a kiss. His lips pressed against mine. Our mouths fit together perfectly.
“We haven’t got all day,” Tu’ver called, already halfway back to the opening in the side of the mountain.
“See you soon,” Sa'lok winked. I watched him walk away until the darkness swallowed him up.
Sa'lok
“There’s something strange about this mountain,” Tu’ver muttered as we carefully slid down the mountain face. It was a delicate balance of moving swiftly while avoiding drawing unwanted attention from the camp.
Not tumbling down the mountain ass over face was also a priority as far as I was concerned.
“There are a lot of strange things about this mountain,” I replied. “Take your pick.”
“Have you noticed all the outcroppings?” he asked.
“Sure,” I shrugged, not understanding his point.
“I get the sense that they aren’t the product of erosion or landslides,” he continued. “They’re too conveniently placed.”
“I don’t know about that.” I was only half listening. Most of my concentration went toward keeping both feet on the mountainside.
“Oh, really?” Tu’ver challenged. “Take a look.”
He pointed straight up the side of the mountain. Once I secured my footing, I looked up, as well. From below, the outcroppings didn’t look random at all. In fact, they reminded me of balconies for apartments, though not evenly distributed.
“I see what you mean,” I said.
“I wonder if this mountain was a place of residence,” he continued. “The temple Amira and Dax explored showed no signs of anyone living there, but this mountain feels different.”
“The women are still exploring,” I reminded him. “Perhaps they’ll have discovered something when we rejoin them.”
“Hopefully that’ll be sooner rather than later,” Tu’ver grunted as he hauled himself over a sizable slab of rock. I followed suit.
Together, we lay on our bellies and pulled ourselves to the edge of another outcropping.
“You’re right,” I nodded. “These flat outcroppings are incredibly convenient. I wonder if the past residents were into sunbathing.”
“Don’t let your circuits overheat,” Tu’ver warned me.
He took out his sniper rifle, peered through the scope, and grunted with distaste.
“What?” I asked.
“They’re better armed than I originally realized,” he said. “I assumed they’d salvaged whatever weapons they could from fallen soldiers or stole from human armories.”
“They didn’t?”
“From the looks of it, someone in that camp has access to custom weapons and plenty of them. The tech isn’t entirely human, either.”
“What are you suggesting?” I asked.
“Either the anti-alien groups have found another temple to raid or they have a beneficiary.”
Skrell.
I immediately thought of the madwoman Teisha and I had faced in the Puppet Master’s cavern.
Maybe her little group wasn’t the exception to the rule anymore.
“We assumed a human host farm was out here,” I recalled. “Perhaps the Gorgos are involved in the sudden appearance of an encampment that, somehow, managed to escape our detection.”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“What if somehow they’re passing technical knowledge to their hosts?”
“Aren’t you a ray of sunshine,” he grumbled.
Before I could dwell on the possibility for too long, the strike team aerial units appeared over the tree line. To no one’s surprise, the camp’s sentry sounded the alarm. Within seconds, a thunderous blast echoed off the mountainside.
“Was that what I think it was?” I asked.
“A cannon? Yes, it was,” Tu’ver confirmed. “I don’t know how they got such heavy weap
ons out here.”
I grabbed my comms unit and signaled the strike team leaders.
“All units be advised,” I spoke briskly into the mouthpiece. “The camp is heavily armed. Expect anti-aircraft weaponry. Details on weapons and ammunition currently unknown.”
Each unit acknowledged my message. I wished I could give them more information. Unfortunately, I’d only heard the weapon. I hadn’t seen it or what it launched.
“Looks like the strike teams are landing,” Tu’ver pointed out.
What?
Why?
Sure enough, the aerial units were settling down somewhere within the forest.
I fumbled for my comms unit.
“Status report,” I demanded, even though I didn’t have the authority to demand anything.
“They’re forcing us to go in on foot,” someone replied. It might’ve been Karzin or Sk’lar. Everyone sounded the same on the comms unit. “The anti-aircraft cannons are set up in too tight of a pattern. They’ve got someone at the trigger with a sharp eye. If we come in for a strafing run, chances are too high they’ll take us out instead.”
My fist tightened on the comm. “It’s not a good choice at all.”
“It’s the best one we have right now.”
“What’s the plan of attack?” I hoped there was something brilliant planned.
“Attack,” someone else said.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I snapped.
“We’re coming in with hardly any briefing.” I was certain that was Vrehx’s voice.
Only he was able to sound bored and annoyed at the same time. “We have to play to our strengths and this is the least bad of all the options. Everyone out here does pretty well at hand-to-hand. And it’s not like we’re facing the Xathi.”
“Skrell,” I hissed.
“Language, soldier,” Vrehx snapped, but I was no longer listening.
“I have to get down there,” I said. “They’re outnumbered.”
“Go,” Tu’ver urged. “I’ll watch your back.” He patted his sniper rifle as if it were a beloved pet.
“Don’t shoot me by mistake,” I muttered as I launched myself out of our rocky cover.
“If I shoot you, it won’t be a mistake,” Tu’ver called after me.