by K. Webster
“Lox, stop! Stop!”
“Get the ship and leave this planet for good. I’ll make it through the storm if I have to.”
He’s much bigger and stronger than me. Even with the ability to breathe normally, I’m no match for him. He tugs me down the corridors until we reach the massive outer doors. There, he shuts us into the airlock and puts on his rebreather. When I fight him, he cold cocks me without a moment’s hesitation and everything goes dark for a few seconds.
Lox is keying in the code to open the outer door when my vision comes back. The mask is secured on my face and he somehow got me wrangled into some oversized zu-gear that feels scratchy against my skin without a minnasuit underneath. It wasn’t the same zu-gear I was wearing before. This one is too long in the arms and legs.
Once the door opens he takes me by the arm again and jerks me down the long descent into the red-dark haze of the tunnels. I can’t help but feel like he’s leading me into the depths of hell. I survived surgery on an alien planet, but will I survive this?
I’ve got to, for Calix.
I give up pleading with Lox. If he even hears me, he doesn’t care. It’s like he’s not present, really. He keeps mentioning Phalix, Calix’s father. The past and the present must have swirled together in his brain.
Maybe it’s the drugs, but as we descend deeper and deeper into the caverns, I don’t succumb to panic. I don’t have a plan, but I know at the first opportunity I’m going to try to escape. He and Calix must have gotten into an altercation during my surgery. I assume they’d given me something to make me heal so quickly. The microbots Calix had mentioned? If so, those things really are something. Later we’ll have time for all the answers. Later, when we’re safe.
We make the trek back much more quickly than I had with Calix because I don’t need to stop to rest every few hours. Too quickly. I’d hoped Calix would find us before we got there, but I haven’t seen or heard a sign. Part of me is afraid Lox killed him, but I shove that fear deep down inside me.
The alcove where we’d smashed the terrainster into the mountain is different than when we left it. Lox must have been busy when we were distracted or while I was unconscious because there are piles of tools and spare parts. Guts of the terrainster spill out from its undercarriage and the cracked windows have been repaired with some sort of epoxy.
He’s going to escape and abandon us here.
I can’t let that happen.
“Phalix won’t desert me again. He thinks he controls me, but we’ll see how he likes spending solars upon solars alone,” Lox is saying as he shoves me in the terrainster and buckles me in. “You wait here and don’t move.”
Everything inside me is telling me to run, to leave before I’m locked for an eternity with this lunatic, but I force myself to wait. If I escape now, he’ll catch me in a second. I may be healed, but I don’t know how much I can push myself so soon after surgery. I have to wait for the perfect moment.
Tears want to escape, but I suck them back. We made it through the storm, through my surgery. We’ll make it through this. I will find Calix and we’ll get through all of this together, even if it means just the two of us alone in this big mountain.
Lox ambles to the other door and boosts himself into the driver’s seat. I can feel the window of escape shrinking with each passing second.
Please. Please let it not work. Let it still be broken.
But the terrainster starts and purrs as smooth as I imagine a baby sabrevipe would.
The gleam in Lox’s eye brightens, but it’s not from the lightning. Mere seconds separate me from never seeing Calix again. I don’t imagine I’d make it back to the facility with Lox alive. I’d rather run in the geostorm naked.
The best time to make a move would be when he’s focused on driving out of the alcove and back into the storm. The radiation lightning flashes so brightly it’s nearly blinding. It would be the perfect distraction. Risky. Terribly risky. Calix will probably kill me later for even thinking of it, but I have to try.
For him.
Lox carefully maneuvers the terrainster and over the sounds of the geostorm, I can hear the terrible sound of metal grinding against metal. There’s still something broken, but Lox doesn’t seem concerned, not that he’s anything to judge by. I can only hope the damn thing won’t explode before I manage to escape.
I begin to count the number of flashes and the length in between them. They’re sporadic, but generally follow the explosions of radiation gasses. When we reach the exit to the alcove, I carefully, slowly unbuckle while Lox is distracted by the uneven terrain.
The moment Lox pauses at the exit, a loud BOOM rattles the terrainster. This is my chance. I throw open the door and launch myself through it as lightning flashes. It does so only a second after I make my move, allowing Lox to grab hold of my leg. I scream as the terrainster comes to a rocking stop.
“Get back here, mutt!” Lox snarls.
My body crashes into the unforgiving metal frame. I try not to think about what the impact will do to my freshly healed wounds. “Like hell!” I shout back.
I scissor my feet, kicking at his grasp on my ankles. He howls in pain as I grind his wrists against the center console. I may not have on boots like him, but I have motivation and adrenaline on my side. Jerking my foot back, I slam it into his wrist again and again until his grip loosens.
I crash to the ground with a bone-jarring thump as Lox puts the terrainster in park. I cower and scuttle back inside the cave, away from Lox and the storm. He pauses halfway out of the cab, but I don’t understand why until a vicious roar fills the cave.
“LOX!”
Relief and horror fill me in equal measure. “No!” I shout to Calix, who is barreling across the alcove, his face filled with rage. He doesn’t seem to hear me.
“You mad old mort. If you cease your foolish actions now, I will show you mercy. Mercy you did not show my father,” he says to Lox, who kicks dirt at Calix’s feet.
“I’ll do no such thing.”
Before either of us can react, Lox throws his door shut, then reaches across and shuts mine. He revs the engine and spits rocks on his exit from the cave.
There’s a split second where Calix could chase after him. With his exceptional speed, he could have leapt onto the back of the terrainster and fought Lox for control. It was our only hope at returning to the facility. His only hope of being reunited with his faction, but he stands his ground.
Without hesitating, he turns to me and scoops me into his arms. His face nuzzles into my throat. It takes me a moment to realize the shaking I’m feeling isn’t coming from the thunderous booms from the storm, but from Calix himself, who can’t seem to stop quivering in relief. He falls to his knees.
“I thought I lost you,” he says, his voice barely above a whisper.
“I’m okay. I’m right here.”
“He attacked me, then disappeared. I tracked him to the caves and searched, but he knew them too well. I failed you, my lilapetal.”
If I’m Calix’s lilapetal, then he’s my sun. On this strange planet, I only feel safe when bathed in his warmth.
I lift his chin with my finger. “You didn’t fail me. He was crazy, Calix. If you’d found him, there’s no telling what he would have done to you. Hurt you or worse. I don’t know what I would have done if he’d hurt you.”
He shakes his head, refusing to look into my eyes. “Emery, do you not see? I healed you, only to strand you here. Without the terrainster, there is no way back to the facility. We are stranded here. Potentially forever.”
“I’d rather be stranded with you, than anywhere else without you.”
He finally looks up at me. “I promise you I will figure out a way to get us back to safety.”
“No,” I say firmly. “We’ll do it together. I’ve been a drain on you long enough. I’m strong now, I can do my part. We’re a team. We’ll work together or not at all.”
Finally, the tension eases from his face. He grins. “I was wro
ng. You are not a fragile lilapetal, you’re a dizmonyx. Rare and strong.”
14
Calix
Several Months Later
I watch my mate as she tears another bright purple leaf from the cabbus ball into a bowl. I am amused because she insists we eat what she calls “cabbage” at least one meal each solar. Even though I am not particularly fond of the flavor, I eat it because she prepares it. I eat it because it is what she craves. Lox had his Haxinth addiction. Breccan had the sun. My mate loves cabbus leaves. I’m grateful that unlike their unhealthy needs, the cabbus ball leaves are packed with nutrients that mimic that of meat, something she does not get much of at all.
As she continues to peel all the good leaves from the cabbus ball, turning her fingernails the same purple color, I admire her work. She has taken one of the old rooms and converted it into her work space. Many different plants grow in bins lining the walls. I love how she has taken to learn the different plant species of our planet. Plants that grow in the depths of the caves and others that came from seedlings she discovered on one of our many journeys through Sector 1779 searching for useful items.
This is our home.
For now.
And we make the best of it.
Emery keeps us fed while I keep us safe and healthy. While she “gardens” as she calls it, I ensure Sector 1779 is secure. Most recently, upon worries of Lox deciding to show back up, I installed an alarm. We even have a safe space Emery is to hide in if the alarm goes off.
I admire her for a moment longer. She is no longer frail and weak. My mate no longer wears her zuta-metal bracelet that marks her as a sick, weak being. No, since her surgery, she removed the bracelet and has embraced her new, healthy life. Her hips have widened, her thighs have thickened, and her breasts have swelled. My cock jolts at the thought. Slipping from the room, undetected, I head back to my lab. Now is not the time for making love. We both have jobs to do. The mating can wait until tonight when we are too exhausted to do anything aside from losing ourselves in each other.
Back in my lab that has been set up much like my old one at the facility, I head over to my micro-viewer. I have been testing the toxica properties against what I now call the opasites—the gray parasites I removed from Emery’s lungs. I have studied the biological code of both, pulling out what makes them different and using the toxica against the opasites. Toxica has a biogene within it that the opasites react negatively to. I’ve isolated this biogene and strengthened it with newer microbot technology to create a super biogene. This super biogene kills the opasite immediately. Even Emery has been helpful in this effort to protect us from future opasite infections. She explained what she called immunizations from her planet in great detail. The science makes sense and it is my hope to create a lasting agent that can be injected into both morts and our aliens that will protect from future opasite infections.
After a quick check of the time, I head for the comms system. Without fail, I send out a broadcast every solar at the same time in hopes Breccan and the others can hear my messages. I never receive feedback, but I try each solar nonetheless. I have warned them of Lox, told them of the success of Emery’s surgery, and that we are safe and healthy. I have told them numerous times that until this massive storm that is looking to last an entire revolution moves on, we will most likely be stuck here. There are solars I long to put my nog together with Avrell or Breccan to discuss important issues, but mostly I am satisfied being here uninterrupted with my mate.
“This is Calix, acting commander of Sector 1779. Do you read me?”
Silence.
“All is well in our Sector. I apologize on our failure to bring back the supplies you had requested. While there is certain technology here that could be useful, there is nothing that you do not already have at the facility. Galen, if you are listening, cabbus ball is a great source of nutrition for the females. It is not something us morts usually choose to eat, but it is incredibly palatable for the females. Have Hadrian search the underground wells.” That young mort can barely sit still and since he is Aria’s hand, this duty should go to him. The image of him crawling around on the cave floors is amusing to me. “The ground is soft there and cabbus balls could be growing there. If they are, boil them and sprinkle sodiumchloridus crumbs.” I chuckle. “Trust me when I say Aria will enjoy this.” I let out a sigh and scan my lab. There is always so much to do and work on. “Jareth, if you are listening, I could really use you. Some of the metals around here are old and outdated. I would love to repurpose them but don’t have your skillset. Perhaps you can get Ozias to finally fix the comms system so we can speak.” I pull off my spectacles and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I miss you morts. All of you. Even Draven’s surly self.”
It is true. I would give anything to sit around the table with Breccan at the head and Draven standing nearby, leading our charge of morts. To watch Jareth and Sayer doodle notes back and forth to each other. To listen to Avrell excitedly tell us about a new medical breakthrough. To watch Hadrian bounce up and down in his seat like a mortyoung even though he is bigger than most of us old morts. To marvel over Oz and Theron’s newest tweak to the Mayvina. To sit beside Galen in his always filthy lab coat and discuss plants with him, for once not being put off by the thought of bacteria crawling all over him.
“I must sign off for now. Much work is to be done. I miss you all and hope to see you again one solar soon.”
I click off the comms system and let out a heavy sigh. When two small hands grip my shoulders, I do not jolt in surprise but instead lean back. Emery is a miracle worker with her hands. She has a way of kneading my knotted muscles back into a relaxed state.
“You know where those hands always lead us,” I say in warning.
She laughs. “Maybe that was the plan all along.”
We have been stranded here for many micro-revolutions, or months as Emery calls them, and we have fallen into a bit of a routine. Some solars, though, Emery mixes it up and things get a little filthy.
I do not even shudder anymore.
Once, I took her against the floor in her plant room as her dirty fingernails clawed at me. It was quick and crazed, but I had loved every second of it. Not once did I fret over microorganisms.
She swivels me in my chair until I am facing her. My gaze skims over her beautiful features. Eyes so blue. A pert nose. Always rosy cheeks and the poutiest lips ever. I love how with time, her cheeks are no longer hollow and her skin is never blue.
Tugging her to me, I pull her into my lap so she straddles me. I am always hard and ready to go in her presence. This solar is no different. My cock aches and throbs where she sits on it.
“Any luck on the comms?” she asks, her finger pushing my hair from my eyes. Since we have taken up residence here, I have not cut it. I thought about it, but Emery seems to play with it more the longer it gets. I am quite fond of the relaxing way it feels to have her fingers scratching along my scalp. Pretty soon, I will have hair to my shoulders like Theron.
“No luck,” I tell her, my hands finding her fleshy bottom and squeezing. “How are the plants?”
Her blue eyes light up. It is times like these I really do wish we were back at the facility. Galen could teach her so much. Often, she has sat on the comms asking questions to him. No responses ever.
“The cabbage is great. I put some on the stove for supper. And I’ve been trying a little cross breeding between two of the fruits.” She bites on her bottom lip in a shy way. “I don’t know if it will work, but it’s just a test.”
I am proud of how well she has acclimated to this planet, to this Sector, to me. We are home to her. “As long as it does not include any grenus root, I think we are good.”
Not long after Lox left, I eradicated the Sector of the root. It is too dangerous. And when hunting within the caves for useful plants and such, I pointed out to Emery the unsafe plants, including the grenus root.
“We have had enough crazy for one lifetime,” she says with a smile. “I w
ouldn’t touch that with a ten-foot pole.”
I do not know what a ten-foot pole is exactly, but she loves to say those words when referencing things she does not want any part of.
“How long until supper?” I ask as my palms roam to my favorite part of her. Her stomach.
She chuckles. “Soon, for Hope’s sake. She’s hungry.”
We do not have a wegloscan at Sector 1779 to detect pregnancy and the sex, but there is no doubting that Emery is carrying my mortyoung. Not even two micro-revolutions of our being here, she began to present symptoms. Illness in the mornings. Tenderness to her breasts. And she was no longer cycling. She was so sure while I remained hesitant to hope. Then, she started to grow. Lately, I can feel tiny nudges.
Hope.
All we had was hope. All we need is Hope.
“What if it is a boy?” I ask, loving to tease her. She is so certain it is a girl.
Her smile drops a little and tears shine in her eyes. “I thought we could name him Hophalix.”
My own heart stutters in my chest. “Hope and Phalix.”
She nods. “It was hope that got us here and your father’s notes that made Hope possible.”
Without his notes, I would’ve never been able to surgically remove those opasites from her lungs. My mind grows foggy as I think about the early solars here. When I spent countless hours watching the opasites under the micro-viewer. They were living organisms. Parasites of some sort. Their age determined that they were not old. My best guess is she picked them up on the prison ship—most likely inhaled when she took her medicine or possibly ingested them. These notes, too, have been sent through the comms system to the facility.
“Anything new to add to the book?” she asks as she slides out of my lap and walks over to my desk. She thumbs through my notes with interest.
Our book has documented everything we have studied and learned here at Sector 1779. All information we have relayed back to the facility. I am not sure they have heard a word of it, but if they have not, these notes will be here for the next mort who comes along long after we are gone.