by Smith, S. E.
Lyra blinked. She had always been told that Korthans were, for lack of a better word, stupid. They were savage, incapable of civilized society. But this ship and the Korthan standing before her, a cyborg no less, were the antithesis of those sentiments.
In fact, very little of what he’d done since she woke up that first day indicated he was of lesser intelligence. Just how much were humans being lied to about these beings? They clearly had technologies far more advanced.
Her gaze traveled up his muscled physique. Turned out, she was stranded on a planet with a strapping ship mechanic after all.
A’ryk’s eyebrows knitted, “You look like a predator about to pounce. Or, rather, one that is cornered?”
What? Clearing her throat, she shook her head. “I, no, that is a good idea. I didn’t realize you knew one of my engines survived.”
“There’s a lot about me you don’t realize.”
That much was true. She wasn’t really stranded on this planet after all, assuming she could fly this ship. Looking around again, she was skeptical. If this world was not his true destination, why stay? Why not just fly it himself?
Movement from the floor caught her eye, gaze going wide as hundreds of fiber optic filaments rose around A’ryk. Standing, his feet shoulder width apart, hands out to the side, palms down.
The filaments wove themselves together into a dozen or so cables that spiraled around his calves and forearms, connecting to various points on his body. Blue light pulsed through them.
Lyra lurched when the floor moved. Were they flying? She looked at K’mi, who lay comfortably against the bulkhead. Where was H’tch?
We are flying, K’mi said, looking up, Or hovering. And H’tch is down below, bridging gaps in the fuel cells so we have enough power to get to your ship.
Unable to see out, alarm filled her. This crazy Korthan was going to run them into the cavern walls. “Are you going to open the blast doors?”
A’ryk’s head turned towards her, the irises of his eyes traced in a pin stripe of that same blue light that pulsed through the cables. “What blast doors?”
That itch she couldn’t scratch returned and she swept her hands towards the front of the ship. “The blast doors covering your plexi-steel windshield or viewscreen or whatever you have to see where you’re going.”
Numerous glowing holograms of various shapes and sizes appeared around him. Grabbing a circular one, he tossed it towards her. Flying straight for her face, she flinched, ducking with her eyes closed. Nothing hit her and she didn’t feel a paralyzing zap of energy.
Opening one eye, then the other, her mouth fell open. The disk had stopped mere inches from her face; through it, she could see the glittering ice cavern walls as they hovered. It followed her every way she turned her head. No matter where she looked, up, down, front, aft, side to side, she could see the outside world. “Wow.”
The ship moved through the cavern, towards light appearing at the far end. They shot through, into the crisp blue sky of the frozen world.
“You can breathe.” A’ryk was fully suspended by the optical fiber filament cables, holograms surrounding him in a sphere.
Lyra took in a breath, exhaling shakily. He was crazy if he thought she could fly this ship.
7
True to his word, A’ryk had her engine unassembled and incorporated into his ship in a day’s time.
Lyra couldn’t keep her eyes from wandering. He had cut his hair and shaved his beard, which only made his features more handsome. She could admit that she was attracted to him, but there was something else, something magnetic drawing her in, making her heart flutter. And it had nothing to do with his new clean look.
The temperature wasn’t ever exactly warm on this planet, but it was a relatively windless day and he had stripped down to a short-sleeved shirt, muscles bulging enticingly. The Korthan looked up from a tangle of wires at the ramp of his ship and her eyes darted away, the useless beacons from her ship suddenly becoming very interesting.
Yup, K’mi said beside her. You are going to fly the ship just fine.
As if on cue, the panel A’ryk was working on snapped closed and he stood up with a satisfied grin. “Now for those flying lessons.”
“About that,” Lyra said. “Why don’t you just fly the ship?”
“H’tch and I are staying.” He didn’t exactly growl, but was close.
Grabbing her arm, he started up the ramp, his hand sliding down to hers. Tingling, Lyra forgot where they were, only awareness that of his hand grasping hers. He snatched his hand away as if burned. Lyra blinked.
“Let’s get to it,” his retreating voice called down to her.
* * *
When A’ryk reached the top of the ramp, he sidestepped into the corridor out of visual range. Leaning against the wall on his forearm, he took a steadying breath.
Just give in, A’ryk. It doesn’t matter that she’s human, H’tch slinked beside him, rubbing against his legs.
“How is it that you have such impeccable timing?” A’ryk looked at his mogha pointedly.
H’tch didn’t back down. You know I’m right. She’s going to know as soon as she syncs with the ship. All of it. All of you.
Growling, frustration vibrating his bones, A’ryk pushed off the wall and headed to the cockpit. “She’s only going to know what I want her to know.”
Okay, H’tch called after him. All I’m saying is we don’t have to stay; we can go with her. But, okay, since we’re going to be here awhile, I’m going hunting. All these distractions aren’t getting our winter stores replenished.
“Make sure you’re back before dark,” A’ryk countered, unperturbed. Good. Get the meddling mogha out of the way. “Don’t make me come looking for you.”
Swiping his hands in a sweeping arc as he entered the cockpit, the consoles leapt to life, controls, readouts, and galactic info all in working order. He felt good, very good, better than he did since arriving to this world. The thrill of flight, true flight, coursed through his body, through every extension of himself. Blue light pulsed over the consoles.
It was going to be difficult, but this was for the best. No regrets. He’d show the woman how to fly, send her on her way, getting back to life on this world.
* * *
Lyra entered the cockpit, stopping in her tracks, breath caught in her throat. The room was glowing, every console alight with holograms; blue, green, pink, and yellow pin stripes of light traversing anything with an edge. It was breathtaking.
“Wow,” she exhaled when she could breathe again.
A’ryk turned at the sound of her voice and her breath caught again. Blue light raced along his skin, tracing every detail in astounding clarity.
“Where’s K’mi?” he asked.
The Korthan was glowing in the dark and he wanted to know where K’mi was?
“Hunting. H’tch.” It was all she could get out.
“Dammit,” A’ryk said. “He’s doing it on purpose.”
Lyra’s voice finally caught up with her brain. “Doing what on purpose?”
“K’mi is going with you. Now we have to wait until they’re back from the hunt.” He seemed irritated, but there wasn’t any vigor in it.
“You’re allowing her to go with me?”
“I’m not allowing anything. She’s going with you because you’re bonded. To separate her would be the worst sort of punishment.”
Lyra felt joy in her heart that she was keeping K’mi without having to kidnap the mogha, but something in his voice gave her pause. “Well, I’m not going anywhere until I figure out how to fly this thing.” She waved her arms around the room. “Oh, and K’mi said she and H’tch are going to mute their bonds so we can concentrate.”
A’ryk was tapping something on a console to her right and stopped. “Diabolical,” he whispered.
“What?”
“H’tch. Never mind,” A’ryk started moving again.
“They are always up to something,” Lyra agreed.
/> “It gets more interesting the longer you’re bonded to one,” A’ryk laid his palm flat over a glowing triangle on the wall. There was a slight tremble as the ramp retracted, followed by a thud as it sealed closed. “You don’t need the parka.”
Okay. This was happening. She took off her parka. If he wasn’t standing there staring at her, Lyra would have jumped around and punched the air a few times to get herself pumped up.
Oh, screw it. She jumped from side to side, taking several deep breaths as she thrust her fists.
A’ryk worked his mouth. “What are you doing, woman?”
“Let’s do this,” Lyra allowed nervous energy to burn away. “I got this.”
“Are you challenging me?” A’ryk sounded incredulous.
“Depends on the challenge,” Lyra grinned. “To a fight? No. But to learn how to fly this thing faster than anyone you’ve ever seen? Maybe.” She didn’t feel so confident, but it was funny watching the Korthan get flustered.
“No one flies this ship but me,” A’ryk crossed his arms.
Lyra stopped bouncing. “Then what the hell are we doing this for?”
“And you,” he dropped his arms.
“You are a really confusing man, you know that?”
Approaching her, he said, “This isn’t like any other ship.”
“That much is obvious,” Lyra’s head rolled with her eyes. “I don’t really think I will be a quick learner. I was just trying to pump myself up.”
Moving slowly, he seemed to be hesitating. “Will you allow me to show you?”
Why did it suddenly feel like flying this ship was an intimate endeavor?
Stopping in front of her, close enough she became acutely aware of his breath on her forehead, Lyra felt her body respond to him in the best way. She’d be fooling herself if she tried to ignore it, been fooling herself this whole time. Was A’ryk even aware of her as anything other than human?
Lyra looked everywhere but at him. Sweeping his right arm out, he said, “Over here.”
Suddenly and intensely aware of herself, Lyra had to force her arms not to hug her shoulders. Guiding her to the spot he stood when he flew, he stepped up behind her, just as close as before.
When she felt his hands under her forearms, gently pulling her arms out to her sides in the same pose he demonstrated when he flew, her heart stopped. When those hands traced from her forearms to her wrists to her hands, grasping them to turn her palms towards the floor, her lungs stopped working.
“Breathe,” he said, a whisper of air tickling her ear.
She let out the breath she’d been holding, fiber optic filaments rising from the floor, combining into cables of light as they did before. Apprehension seized her, followed by a faint trace of anxiety that was not her own.
“Relax,” A’ryk said, moving closer.
Lyra was under the distinct impression he wasn’t just talking to her. She glanced over her shoulder at him, his eyes alight with the same blue glow as the fiber optics. They darted down and met hers.
His entire body was close enough to rest against her, feet alongside hers, heat of his legs barely a quarter of an inch behind. Her mind drifted, following that heat upwards, finding no sign that he was aroused. Disappointment surprising her, she looked straight forward again.
As his arms outstretched beside hers, she could feel his chest against her back as he breathed. As close as he was, he was not touching her except for that slight brush.
Two tendrils of light wound around her feet, ankles and calves, and she looked down, realizing they wound around both of them, bringing them together so that they were now touching. He rested the palms of his hands on the tops of hers as the cables wound their arms together.
Everywhere the cables touched, she felt a tingle of energy. Something she could not explain pulsed through her body. It was as if the ship was learning her. Then it was in her mind, a presence that reminded her of K’mi when the mogha communicated. Only this was different. Warm. Intimate. It felt like-
“A’ryk?” she said.
The presence vanished.
“Think about where you want the ship to go,” A’ryk said, no indication there was any presence at all.
“I can’t see,” she said. Right. Flying the ship. That’s what was happening here. Was that what was happening here?
Suddenly, she could see everything; the sky, the horizon, the ground beneath her feet, as if she wasn’t even in the ship at all. They could have just as easily been standing like this outside. She wasn’t looking through a window created by the holo-disk like before. Wait a minute—
She dug her toe in the snow. Holy shit. She was standing outside. She looked behind her and A’ryk wasn’t there. Yet, she could still feel his warmth.
Panicking, she called out, “A’ryk!”
I’m right here, his voice was in her mind. You’re still in the ship. Just think about where you want to go.
“You mean, just walk forward and it will go forward?”
It will go forward, but it won’t fly. Think about where you want to fly, A’ryk paused as he tried to find the words to describe what to do. Realizing she knew what he was thinking, Lyra gasped.
Think of it as if you are the ship. The ship is your body, he said.
The ship is my body.
Yes, and like your body, you see and feel everything around you as if you aren’t inside of it, but you are it.
Stars, he heard her. He heard her thought.
Fly the ship, Lyra, he said, impatience winding its way into her mind.
“But I’m not a ship. I can’t fly; I can only walk.”
Right now, you are a ship. Forget that you are anything but a spacefaring vessel that wants nothing more than to fly into space.
She looked at the sky and then jumped in the air. Coming back down on her feet, she tried again. Nothing.
Will this help? A miniature replica of the ship appeared next to her. As she jumped, it moved up and down with her, bouncing comically on the ground.
She stopped and stared at it. “It would help if I could get in it, maybe even have a pilot’s seat with controls.”
You are in it, A’ryk said.
Suddenly, she was back in the ship, A’ryk standing behind her, cables of light still binding them together.
“Maybe you aren’t ready for that kind of spatial orientation,” he said with a flick of his chin, voice no longer in her mind. A holo-disk appeared in front of them and she could see the outside world as if looking through a viewscreen.
“Okay, I’m done. This ship is too complicated,” Lyra tried putting her arms down, but A’ryk gripped her hands. A calming warmth radiated from them.
“Again, think about where you want the ship to fly. It wants to fly,” he said. “If it helps orient your mind, move your hand forward to go forward.”
A’ryk was talking crazy. She wasn’t stuck on a planet with a savage turned strapping ship mechanic. She was stuck with a crazy alien and his weird impossible-to-fly ship. But, fine. Moving her right hand forward, the ship lurched towards the frozen mountains she could see through the holo-disk.
A thrill zipped through her and she pushed her hand farther forward, A’ryk following the motion by default, the mountains getting bigger as they sped towards them. When the mountains loomed high above, she moved her hand right and the ship obeyed.
“Use both hands,” A’ryk said, lifting her left arm and rolling it outwards. The ship tilted sideways to the left as it threaded between two mountain tops.
Oh, I get it. The movements of her hands were making her think of what she wanted the ship to do, responding to those thoughts. A confirming sentiment radiated from A’ryk.
“Not ready to think of myself as the ship, though,” she said.
Feeling the rise and fall of his chest, A’ryk chuckled. “You are the ship.”
Thrusting both arms out front, Lyra rotated them in wide alternating circles. The ship responded with several spiraling barrel rolls. Flying was
always exhilarating, but this was more. She could practically feel the wind in her hair. A delighted laugh escaped, A’ryk grinning from ear to ear.
Leveling their arms out to the side, Lyra maneuvered the ship to straight and level flight. “How do you know diagnostics; fuel levels, power, stuff like that.”
“What do you want to know?” A’ryk asked.
“Fuel level.”
A square hologram appeared to their left. The characters scrawled across it were Korthan, but she could read them. Several bar graphs moved up and down as fuel was optimized.
“How fast I’m going?”
A round hologram appeared, this one with a dial showing increasing speed in a clockwise direction, also in Korthan, but also readable. As she thought of what else she wanted to know about the ship, even the environment surrounding it, holograms of all shapes and sizes, each pertaining to a separate diagnostic, appeared around her, until she was in a sphere of colorful shapes.
It was a lot of information, but she found she could process it all just by thinking. She knew everything the ship did and if she needed to pinpoint something, the related hologram would become prominent in her mind’s eye.
“You are fully synchronized with the ship. You are the ship; the ship is you.” A’ryk leaned down, his muscled chest pressing against her back, lips brushing her ear as he whispered, “Fly.”
Hand curling into a fist, Lyra punched the air straight above them. The ship skyrocketed upwards. Up and up, through clouds and past glowing auroras, until they broke away from the planet’s atmosphere, surrounded by bright shining stars.
The feeling of absolute liberation emanating from A’ryk was astounding. Lyra lowered her arms, turning to look at him, warring emotions that were and weren’t her own swirling through her. He caught her left cheek with his right hand, gently pulling her into an embrace as his forehead met hers.
She felt like she was on the precipice of understanding something. Understanding everything. And she realized, without doubt, that she wanted to be part of it all. “What is this ship?” she breathed.