Caleb shifted his pack as the terrain grew steeper. “It’s one reason the scientists are here. The geology is unusually dynamic but fairly stable. The planet’s mantle is constantly being expunged and replaced. Though an active volcano under the strict definition, Khione’s never experienced a violent eruption. It simply leaks materials from the mantle into the ecosystem to feed the cycle.”
She smiled to herself. He’d already known the answer and then some.
He caught her inquiring expression. “Daniel—Isabela’s husband—did a stint here a year or so before he died. That’s how I knew about this place.”
“Ah.” She’d finally been able to meet his sister a few weeks earlier when they’d spent several days on Seneca. She’d found Isabela more reserved than her brother, but the woman displayed the same innate charm that made them both easily likeable. Her daughter, on the other hand, had been a whirlwind terror of energy and stream-of-consciousness chatter. Caleb was wonderful with the little girl, however, illuminating yet another facet of his character…one she hadn’t expected.
“Also, the ground cover cannot accurately be called snow. Rather, it is a mineralized crystal containing only 4-6% water.”
At least Valkyrie had begun to drop the endless decimal places during normal conversation, Alex observed wryly as she inhaled the dry, frigid air. The atmosphere was breathable but thin, and despite the nanobot injections they’d taken to increase oxygenation in their bloodstreams they’d need to don the breather masks soon.
Caleb glanced behind them and came to a stop. “Turn around.”
The research station lay two kilometers down the steep incline. The rays from the white sun, glazed the palest of green hues by the pervasive mineral in the air, now blanketed the valley below. They reflected off the ‘snow’ to create rainbow prisms upon every surface and lit the settlement in an effulgent glow. Off to the left the ice fields peeked out from Khione’s profile in flashes of radiance.
“Well this is sublime, and we’re less than halfway up.”
“Yep.” He massaged her neck through the thermal jacket. “I think if—” His voice cut off with a sharp inhale.
Don’t move.
She felt his body tense against her back as first one hand, then the other dropped away.
What is it?
Thirty degrees to our right, eighty meters down the slope. See it?
She honestly didn’t. Normal human eyesight discerned only whiteness decorated by the burnished nickel of scattered boulders. So she opened the full connection to Valkyrie, blinked and saw the scene anew.
The creature stood four meters tall even in its crouched stance. Six slender limbs ending in splayed pads were connected by a translucent membrane. No, ten limbs—the filmy membrane continued on to connect to the four appendages currently on the ground. Each pad was lined in a ring of stunted but barbed talons. Its skull was narrow and gaunt, the skin covering it more chitin than flesh. Two front-facing eyes were fixated on them while the additional two eyes located halfway down the long skull darted around in recessed sockets. The color of weathered flint, the creature blended almost perfectly into the surroundings.
I see it.
Do you trust me?
Implicitly.
As soon as I step away, start moving a LOT. If it leaps toward you—which it will—make a show of drawing your Daemon. If it gets too close, don’t hesitate to shoot it. Ready?
She mentally noted the precise location of the weapon attached to her utility belt, brought along in case of an encounter with the ‘dangerous wildlife.’ An encounter like this one, it seemed.
Ready.
His absence manifested in the increased chill at her back. Her left hand went to her hip. She leapt up and waved one arm in the air as her fingers fumbled with the Daemon’s clasp through the thermal material of her glove. “Hey you! Over here!”
Her pulse pounded with the force of a hurricane in her ears as the creature sprung forward and the clasp came free. Its upper limbs spread out and the dual membranes became pseudo-wings, giving it lift as its lower limbs skimmed across the ground at astonishing speed.
She raised the Daemon and pointed it at the creature’s thick chest. Its elongated jaw split apart to expose razored edges and a spindly, knife-like tongue.
She had no idea where Caleb was, but this beast was ten meters away and closing fast. She fired.
The laser struggled to penetrate the tough, bony hide. The impact evoked a shrill, strangely hollow cry, but the beast didn’t fall or even slow. She kept the trigger pressed to send an unrelenting torrent into its chest, albeit to little effect. Her other arm instinctively came up to protect her face and she retreated backward. Talons extended toward her in concert with the horrifying tongue and—
—the creature reared up, sending a limb and the attached wing whizzing by her face. A shimmer flickered to reveal Caleb atop its spine. His arms wrapped around its skull, and with a violent wrench he yanked its head up and sideways. It fought him, thrashing wildly as it tried to escape his grasp and throw him off.
Then the left-most eye locked onto Caleb’s fierce gaze and the flailing ceased. Seconds ticked by as they stared unmoving at one another.
The creature’s jaw looked as if it dipped slightly. He gave it a tight nod in return. In an exaggerated motion he released his hold and swung off its back to land smoothly on his feet beside it.
Its attention veered to her. She had quit firing, not wanting to hit Caleb amidst all the thrashing, but the Daemon remained pointed firmly at its chest.
It took a series of hurried steps to the side until it was able to watch both of them at once. Its head rose into the air and it let loose another shrill cry, then pivoted and glided off down the slope.
“Are you hurt?”
She spun to Caleb as he hurried over. “No, it never touched me.” A frown materialized as she willfully tuned Valkyrie’s excited chatter in her head down to a low hum and wiped blood from a cut on his cheek. “You are, though.”
He grimaced and wrapped his hand around hers. “Only a scratch, right?”
“I suppose. What just happened?”
“A show of dominance. It respects strength.” With a soft exhale he pulled away and slipped his pack off, then dropped it to the ground and began rifling through it. “It’s an intelligent animal. Probably not primate-level intelligence, but clearly smarter than most canines and reptiles.”
“And you learned how to recognize this…spending your summers roaming the Senecan wilderness as a teenager?”
He shrugged mildly and dug deeper into the pack. “Some of it.”
“I didn’t know you brought a cloaking shield.”
“Habit, and one I’m thinking I’m not inclined to give up.” He finally produced two energy bars from the depths of the pack and tossed her one. “Lunch?”
The summit revealed itself in the flood of afternoon sunlight streaming into the broad, shallow caldera. Alex increased the tinting on her goggles and checked the feed to her mask. Even with the supplemental oxygen, her lungs begged for more air, protesting the deepest breaths as inadequate.
The mountainside had served as a bulwark, but now the wind whipped into them with bitter malevolence. Layers of thermal garments designed to capture and amplify the body’s natural heat felt as effective as porous gauze in the face of the onslaught.
She drew her hood in tighter. “Fuck it is cold.”
“You are the master of understatement, baby. But look….”
She glanced over to find him facing the interior of the volcano. The summit displayed a gently sloping concave exterior. Puffs of jade-white steam shot out of holes in the spongy gray material filling the caldera.
“Whatever. Look at this.” She gestured in the opposite direction, for the view beyond the summit was nothing short of magnificent.
The research station where they had begun their trek was a tiny speck far below and to the right. In front of them the terrain swept downward to a frozen plain
stretching to the horizon. Her initial inclination was to liken it to parts of northeastern Alaska, but this was a decidedly alien landscape.
Jagged fissure rifts split the sheets of ice to allow the same jade-tinged steam to escape into the air, unveiling brilliant emerald crystals beneath the surface. Large swaths of the sheets glowed pale green where the ice grew thin and new fissures would soon form. The sun blazed across the landscape, turning the ice iridescent and filling the sky with daytime auroras.
But for the single dot of humanity in the valley below, it was untouched. Untamed. Nature loosed to run free.
An apt description, I do believe. Does the planet feel alive to you?
It certainly looks alive, Valkyrie. But peaceful somehow…or at peace with itself. Hopefully it doesn’t mind us intruding.
She dropped her head onto Caleb’s shoulder. “You take me to the nicest places.”
“I really do. But next week, I’m thinking a sweltering jungle somewhere, full of serpents and flying insects.”
“So long as it’s warm, I’m in. Though I will point out, a nice, luxurious hot tub overlooking a white, sandy beach is also warm.”
“True. And it has other benefits.”
Her chuckle sounded reedy in the rarefied air. “I’m temporarily too cold to think about other benefits. Shall we?”
“We shall.”
She opened her pack and removed the small glider harness. It consisted primarily of torso-hugging straps attached to a small rectangular module, but when activated the module would unfurl a pair of airfoils. Made of a hyperlight carbon nanofiber, when fully extended and locked open they were strong enough to endure 240 kph winds and a 150 kN impact. Pockets beneath each wing enclosed the hands to provide the wearer a measure of control during the flight, and tensile ankle straps kept their legs from flapping awkwardly and destroying the aerodynamics. But there was no frame, no motor and no brake; the glider was as close to natural wings as humanity had achieved.
They checked the secureness of each other’s harnesses, then she grasped his hand and squeezed. “I love you.”
“Prove it. Fly with me.”
Brandishing a spirited grin, she stepped aside to create space for the six-meter span of the gliders. The wings unfurled at her side; she slid her hands into the pockets and felt the material tighten reassuringly. She nodded.
“3…2…1…Go!”
She took a deep breath and leapt.
The second of free fall ticked by in a thousand transcendent nanoseconds. The rush of vertigo spinning her stomach. The stronger rush of wind forcing its way past her layers of clothing to bite into her skin like needles of ice. The feeling that she could fall forever as frozen land and endless starshine rushed past her vision in a blur.
The rush.
For an instant the force of Valkyrie’s exhilaration had overwhelmed her thoughts—had come dangerously close to overwhelming her actions. She blinked and reasserted her own will into the forefront.
Keep on like that and you’ll let us plummet to our death.
Perhaps I became carried away by the experience.
We need to talk about you and your ‘perhapses’—later.
Alex spread her arms, and with a reassuring jolt the wings locked…and she was soaring.
Now, isn’t this better?
There was no response.
Valkyrie?
I find I am at a loss for words.
Finally.
A shadow grew overhead as Caleb crossed above her. It had been years since she’d used a glider, and she tweaked the wings a couple of times before finding the proper adjustment to gain altitude and draw up beside him.
Cut it a little close there.
I was in the moment.
He shook his head, but thankfully let her off the hook. They veered to the left, leaving Khione behind to sail above the fullness of the plains.
From above, the sunlight roused the emerald ice into sparkling a fiery, brilliant green. Any imperfections in the tundra vanished as it washed out to a pure white. If only the sun on her back held any warmth whatsoever, it would be perfection.
She laughed in delight as an aurora swirled beneath them, its elusive rays seemingly just out of reach.
Her focus on the colorful show, she didn’t notice they had company until she glanced in Caleb’s direction—she instinctively jumped in surprise, which very nearly sent her tumbling through the air. She jerked her arms level and kept them stiff until the wings stopped teetering.
An animal, the same breed as the one that attacked them, flew barely fifteen meters beyond him. It maintained an altitude and speed to match their own.
Jesus!
It’s okay.
Caleb tilted his head in her direction. She looked to her right as two additional creatures banked in to take up positions beside her.
What are they doing?
We’re no longer prey. I think they’re saying ‘hi.’
Here in the air, they projected a far less ferocious and far more graceful manner than one had on the ground. The membranes turned out to serve as true wings, and the extensive connections meant all their limbs were pulled up into the span, giving them an appearance closer to an ocean ray than a many-limbed reptile.
Valkyrie’s voice took on a high-minded tenor in her head. A reminder that danger can often be disguised by beauty, and beauty by danger.
She rolled her eyes. Thanks for the insight, Confucius.
I was talking about you.
Smartass.
Well, yes.
The creatures accompanied them for another several seconds before dipping lower and slowing. As she checked behind her to confirm they were departing, she noticed dark streaks of discoloration and an open wound on the chest of the one that had first joined Caleb.
It was the same one they had confronted on the ascent. I’ll be damned.
She murmured a quiet gasp of wonder and exhaled against the wind. With the next breath in she allowed the sensations to consume her fully. This freedom, this embracing of the wild unknown and meeting it on its own terms…this was her life. Now, this would be their life.
She acknowledged the quiet voice in the recesses of her mind, the one whispering it was all a lie—all a contrived creation by its masters beyond the portal—and put it aside for later. Its refrain had become a common one, but it could wait a while longer.
Far in the distance the terrain began to darken into the rocky, uneven crags they had flown past on the way to the village.
We should start descending.
Agreed.
As one their wings dipped, and the icy expanse rose to greet them.
The sensation of motion, of velocity, returned as the ground sped by, and it occurred to her she was moving rather fast and the ground looked rather hard and unforgiving. She rotated her shoulders to create drag on the wings—too much, her altitude dropped precipitously. She decreased the angle. Better.
Down there.
They aimed for a wide area of unbroken ice. When the surface was two meters below and her speed had slowed sufficiently, she drew her arms in and disengaged the wings’ locks. Her feet hit the ground at a run; then abruptly she was tumbling head over heels. After many bruising revolutions she lurched to a stop lying on her back. Yep, definitely hard and unforgiving.
A heavy thud signaled Caleb’s arrival to her left.
“Owwww….”
She was laughing, raggedly and in mild exhaustion, as he crawled over and collapsed beside her. When she decided she was capable of movement she tugged her mask off and shifted to rest on his torso. Then she shoved his own mask off and kissed him zealously, high on adrenaline and oxygen and adoration.
He tried to wrap his arms around her, which led to their unfurled wings getting tangled in one another, which led to a more fulsome state of entanglement. Which worked out fine.
She giggled against his lips. “That was spectacular.”
“It was. Should cure our restlessness for at least a w
eek.”
“Maybe even two…” her eyes gleamed in only partially feigned playfulness “…but what then? What’s next? Dare that supernova to erupt on us?”
He regarded her intently. “You know what’s next. The sooner you say it, the sooner we can get started.”
Her protest lodged in her throat. Of course she knew. She’d known for weeks; part of her had known from the moment she sent the Metigen fleet slinking home.
“We’re going back through the portal.”
“Damn right we’re going back through the portal.”
“I mean, what are all those other universes? Are they like ours? Why were they created? What game are the Metigens playing? What are they—”
His mouth smothered hers to halt her rambling, and it was some time later when they came up for air.
She crossed her arms on his sternum and propped her chin up. “We should probably get married before we go. I doubt they’ll have the necessary bureaucracy on the other side.”
“Excellent point.” He had managed to untangle his left arm and reached up to softly caress her cheek. “We should. Let me check my calendar…two Fridays from today looks free.”
“Does it now. Okay, February 2nd it is.”
“I like this plan. And I suspect there are a few other things we’ll need to take care of before we leave.”
“A few.” Her mind was already racing around the implications. Valkyrie was the biggest source of complications, but she’d also need to find a way to obtain the new engine and…his chest rumbled beneath her as he started chuckling. “What?”
“You’re as happy as a kid on Christmas morning right now, aren’t you?”
“Unh!” She punched him lightly in the shoulder and rolled off onto the ice. It was late afternoon in the daylight cycle, and the auroras flitted with increasing luminance above them.
“So, um, how do we get back to the Siyane?”
“We walk.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I am.” He wrangled his pack off and repositioned it to serve as a pillow. “I contacted Dr. Becnel as soon as we landed and humbly requested a pickup, noting we weren’t technically on Khione any longer. Somebody will be along in a vehicle. Eventually.”
Aurora Rising: The Complete Collection Page 131