Caretaker

by Josi Russell

  The crowd was tense and excited. Ethan found himself on his feet, leaning toward the screen. He knew what would appear there, but something in him hoped against it.

  Traxoram continued. “I make a disclaimer, however. Though there is great potential to study the offspring, we have very little knowledge of how they develop, and there is no guarantee that either of the creatures will survive genetic manipulation. The state holds no responsibility for the mortality of either specimen. Your money will not be returned, regardless of the outcome of your testing. But the potential is so fantastic that I myself will be bidding on this lot.”

  Ethan dropped Kaia’s hand and walked directly to the screen, close enough to touch it had it been solid. Still, it flickered emptily.

  The crowd was on its feet, each member ready to be the first to bid on this fantastic specimen.

  “We will begin the bidding at 9 million.” Traxoram thundered. “Ten!” He pointed to a flash in the back of the room. “Twelve!” As the bidding reached twenty million, the bids started to wane. Traxoram spoke between bids, whipping the crowd back into their earlier frenzy. “With this single specimen you could surpass every other competitor and win the throne!” He gave a sign and the screen jumped to life.

  Ethan’s eyes widened and a hoarse shout came from his throat. In front of him, innocent and vulnerable, floated an image of Aria, her pink skin perfect as ever, her mouth turned up in a slight smile, as if she were having a good dream. The sight of her overcame Ethan. He reached for the screen, and as the sound of the bids climbed in the air around him, he struck the image. The screen danced but remained.

  Traxoram had not seemed to notice. His voice called over the sea of Alorans, “A pregnant specimen! A female with young! Even if they don’t survive, autopsy evidence could give you all the secrets to advancement!”

  At this, Ethan whirled on him. A murderous rage flashed inside Ethan. “You monster!” As the words left his lips, he felt a burst of energy leave his body as well, a shockwave that grew from his anger. It hit the screen, shorting out the image. It knocked Kaia down and threw Traxoram and his guards backwards.

  The hall broke into chaos as the intensity of the wave grew, knocking Alorans down and shorting out whatever light sources hung in the heights of the hall. The huge room was plunged into darkness. Ethan was the only one standing, and he felt his own power as fury coursed through him. He strode in a flash to Kaia, scooped her up, and, sensing an exit to his right, ran through it, barely slowed by her weight.

  As he fled, he heard the shouts of confusion and fear behind him. He ran up a slope and emerged into the glow of the red Aloran suns setting. As the fury began to ebb from him, his fear returned. He ran headlong through the city, trying to get as far as possible and trying to escape the images behind him. It was a long time before the energy completely drained from his body and he slipped between two huge clear buildings, collapsing to the rough rock street.

  Chapter 25

  Kaia was awake and trembling as he sat her down beside him. She cringed away from him for a moment and then seemed to lose what little strength she had, slouching against him again. They huddled together in the darkness of the alleyway. Kaia’s bruised face shone purple and black in the night, and Ethan traced his fingers gently across the wounds from the shockwave.

  “I’m so sorry,” he whispered into her hair.

  “What was that?”

  “I don’t know. I—I didn’t mean to.”

  “Ethan,” she was sobbing now, “how are we going to get back to the ship?”

  “We’ll think of something. We’ll think of a way. At least now we have a chance. We had no hope of anything as long as we were their prisoners, but now . . . maybe there’s a way. We’ve got to get out of sight. Then we’ll think of something.”

  The dankness of the alleyway was smothering. No fresh breeze was blowing here. He listened to Kaia’s ragged breathing and then heard something else. Scratching. He turned to see a little creature like the one in the cottage earlier. It was making its way down the alley toward them, carefully. He didn’t give it much thought as he tried to come up with a way to get out of this, but the creature kept coming. It approached him directly, and stopped, as before, about a foot away from him.

  He raised a weary hand toward it.

  The little animal reached out and touched his finger. Ethan caught his breath as the contact sent a thousand new sensations into his mind. He was overwhelmed with hunger—intense, painful—and fear. Instinctively, he sent back a promise that he would not harm the creature, and the little being caught hold of his fingers with both of its hands and pulled its trembling body into his palm.

  Kaia, watching, reached a weak hand forward and stroked the scales on the little animal’s back. “What are you afraid of?” she asked.

  A voice, strong for the creature’s size, came into Ethan’s mind. “The same thing you are.”

  “What are you?” Ethan asked aloud.

  Again, the little creature communicated telepathically. “I am Tesuu, of the Zumiin race. I was taken from my planet and brought here by the same beasts I saw you with this morning.”

  “How long have you been here?”

  Tesuu slumped. “It feels like millennia.”

  “Do you live in the cottage?”

  “I live wherever I can find sustenance. When those like you were here before, I stole from their tables and stored up enough for a long time, but I ran out days ago. When I smelled your food today, I had to come.”

  Ethan’s eyes were wide. “There were others like us? Humans?”

  Kaia nudged him. “The people they stole from Minea. Remember? On the transmission? Flynn said his men just disappeared.”

  The weight of that pressed on Ethan’s chest. “Are they still here?” he asked Tesuu.

  The Zumiin looked up at him sorrowfully. “I’m sorry. They are not.”

  “What happened to them?”

  “The same thing that happened to my kind. Many were taken to the labs. Of those who returned to the dwellings, some died immediately. Others grew to old age and turned to dust within days. There are none of your kind left.”

  “You survived,” Ethan said. “Are there more of your kind still here?”

  At that the little creature trembled violently and put his head in his hands. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead his head popped up and his disc-like ears twitched. A surge of horror came from him, and he leapt from Ethan’s hand and raced down the alley. Ethan felt his terror as he retreated. At that moment, Ethan heard footsteps coming—the heavy steps of the Alorans. He willed himself to stand and pulled Kaia to her feet.

  “If they see us, it’s all over. They’ll take us back. They won’t fall for the same mistake again; we’ll be shackled all the time and they’ll do what they want with us. We’ve got to get out of sight.” Ethan scanned the clear buildings around them. None of them would offer enough protection. His eyes fell on the rough rock streets.

  Something caught his attention and he turned to see Tesuu standing in the alley. The little creature pointed at the ground below him, gesturing emphatically, and then raced toward the wall and disappeared.

  “I think he’s trying to tell us something,” Ethan said. He focused on the rocks below him and felt a resonance, like a faraway gong. “This is crazy, but I think that there’s an . . . emptiness down there. A chamber or something.”

  Kaia looked at the street. “Ethan, it’s solid rock. How can you—It—You’re right . . . something is under there.” Her eyes were wide as she looked at him. “How can we know that?”

  He shrugged, dropping to his knees and moving his hands frantically across the stones, trying to feel any that were loose. The ground was solid.

  Suddenly, a light appeared down the street, floating in front of the small band of Alorans headed toward them.

  He jumped to his feet. “They’ll be on us in a second.”

  “Can you . . . knock them down again?”

 
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. And I don’t know what it would do to you, anyway.”

  “What will we do?”

  “We’re going to have to fight. Here, take the energy pistol.” He slipped it from his vest and handed it to her. “I’m going to see if I can get through this street.” Ethan pulled at the rocks as he saw Kaia leveling the pistol at the approaching Alorans.

  “Now’s the time to use that, Kaia! Fire fast.”

  “Where?”she asked desperately. “Do they have hearts?”

  “I don’t know. Fire at their heads. That seems the most likely weakness.”

  “Should I—”

  Before she could finish, five Alorans came around the corner, leering.

  “Here you are,” said the first. Ethan recognized him as one of Traxoram’s guards.

  Kaia opened fire. The energy beams struck the creatures on their faces and heads. They flinched back, raising their arms, but the beams glanced off their heavy armor plating and ricocheted through the clear walls of the building beside them. The energy beams bounced through the buildings like rainbows off a spinning prism, scattering into harmless diffusion somewhere beyond the walls.

  Kaia kept firing, but the Alorans overcame their initial confusion and began to laugh.

  “Such primitive weaponry,” said the big guard. Ethan flinched as he felt the shackles overtake him. As Kaia sank to the ground, the barrel of the pistol dropped to the ground in front of them, concentrating the beam on the stone street. In a flash, the stones vaporized, leaving a crater about four feet wide yawning between the two groups. Ethan saw below the chamber he’d envisioned there, with tunnels running off on either side of it.

  The Alorans looked surprised, glancing from the hole to the pistol and back. Ethan felt another surge of energy, born this time of fear, and with great effort, he threw an arm out, grasped Kaia around the waist, and fell forward into the crater. As they hit the ground, he rolled into the nearest of the tunnels, just out of sight of the Alorans.

  Kaia was on her feet before he was, grabbing his hand and pulling him up and along the tunnel. He was exhausted, but they had broken the shackles. As he followed Kaia, he looked back over his shoulder and saw a huge Aloran arm reaching down through the hole, attempting to rip it larger.

  He and Kaia ran on. The tunnels were black, but the strange sense of direction that had accompanied him in the darkened auction hall returned, and they navigated as if they knew where they were going. Soon the sounds of the digging Alorans faded behind them, and they slowed to a walk to catch their breath.

  “Why didn’t they transport down to get us?” Ethan wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know. Maybe the planet’s rock is impenetrable.”

  “I thought they could control matter.”

  “Maybe not the planet itself. I don’t know.”

  Kaia slowed again, and Ethan slipped his arm around her. He meant to seem comforting, but the truth was that he was quickly losing strength.

  She put her arm around his waist and let him lean on her. “Do you . . .” She hesitated. “. . . feel it?”

  Ethan nodded. The sense of which way to go had grown into a yearning, a physical need to continue down certain tunnels. It was as if someone were calling them, a siren song that they could not ignore.

  It lead them through the dark tunnels, across the uneven floor. The longer they walked, the more they found themselves stopping to lean against the cool rough walls to rest. They were on their last limping steps when they looked ahead to see a shimmering wall of light. Hesitantly, they walked toward it, clinging to each other.

  The wall was made of the clearest water. Small waves undulated through it. It looked cool and refreshing, and Ethan suddenly realized how long it had been since he’d eaten anything. He reached forward, brushing the surface of the wall with his fingertips. They came away shining with droplets. He reached his hand into the coolness of the lighted wall and drew back a handful of clean water.

  Cautiously, he sipped from his cupped palm. The water was tasteless and cool.

  Kaia took a sip as well.

  He stepped toward the wall and looked up through its undulating surface. Above them, he saw what appeared to be the edge of a lake. Small, soft-looking plants and large red trees grew there.

  He pointed up. “We’re out of the city.”

  She nodded. “I want to go up there.”

  “Me too. How do you think we should . . .?” He trailed off, looking up doubtfully.

  Kaia shook back her short hair. “It’s water,” she said with forced bravery. “We’ll swim.” Ethan watched as she walked forward, holding his hand until the last second when she stepped through the wall of water and started swimming up. She smiled back at him, blowing bubbles out of her mouth as she kicked and rose.

  Amazed and afraid, he stuck an arm into the wall. Squeezing his eyes shut, he plunged in the rest of the way. The cool water engulfed him. When he opened his eyes, the light above him was dazzling. He saw Kaia’s kicking figure and swam hard to follow her. They quickly broke the surface. He spun in the water and saw that the other three sides were lakeshore covered with what looked like red grass and trees. Kaia was already swimming toward the nearest shore, and he followed her again.

  The heat from the Aloran suns warmed them as they pulled their weary bodies out of the water and lay on the soft grass. It occurred to Ethan that they’d traveled through the tunnels all night. He lay on his back, gazing up at the sky, and listened to Kaia’s sleepy breathing a few feet away.

  Chapter 26

  Gentle, musical voices reached into Ethan’s consciousness. They were approaching from behind him and speaking Xardn, a clear, crisp form that put his own pronunciation to shame. He stayed still.

  “Their bodies are depleted.”

  “They lie so vulnerably here. Perhaps they have not yet met the Others.”

  “I sense great fear in them. I think they have met the Others.” That voice sounded very wise, somehow.

  His fear easing, Ethan turned his head. The creatures hovering over him were beautiful, translucent, and shining. There were four of them. All were somewhat iridescent, but different overriding tints made them distinguishable from one another. Their faces were not human, but kind; not familiar, but safe. They peered at Ethan, and he was moved to speak to them.

  “Hello,” he said in Xardn, as if he had known them forever.

  They smiled at his attempt. “Where have you come from?” a bright, clear blue creature asked in a chiming voice.

  He pointed to the lake. “We swam up . . . from a tunnel.”

  They nodded to each other knowingly. “You have met the Others.”

  “The Alorans?” Ethan suddenly remembered Aria and the baby. He sat up frantically. “We’ve got to get back! We’ve got to save them!”

  The new creatures were still looking benevolently down on him. “Those you met were not the only Alorans. We, too, are Alorans.”

  Ethan didn’t care about semantics. He scrambled to his feet. “My family! They have my family! They are planning to experiment on them! I have to get back!” He looked over at Kaia, who still lay sleeping on the shore.

  The new Alorans followed his gaze. “She is worn down. She must rest and replenish. You, too, have no hope of facing the Others without gaining strength.”

  Ethan felt himself stagger as he walked toward the lake. He stopped, looking over the vast expanse of water. They were right. And Kaia needed attention. Her bruising was still prominent, and he could only imagine how much pain she must be in. His own body ached, and his thoughts were foggy.

  He turned back toward the creatures of light. “Can you—will you—help us?”

  The four smiled in response. One drifted toward him, its shimmering form the pale blue color of wildflowers. “I am Sybillan,” said the creature in a voice that reminded Ethan of church bells chiming. “She is Lassaya, he, Alzzendro, and she, Misselda.” Each bowed briefly in response.

  The Xardn Sybillan u
sed was somewhat formal, and he pronounced it with a gentle twang, an accent that Ethan had never heard hypothesized. He tried to mimic it as he said, “I’m pleased to meet you.” He took a deep breath. “I am Ethan Bryant. She,” he pointed to Kaia, “is Kaia Reagan.”

  Slowly, Ethan felt himself being transported, but this time he was travelling through a tunnel of light. He felt Kaia’s presence and that of the creatures. The experience was much more pleasant than the last time he had been unwillingly dragged along. He felt himself rematerialize and wondered if it was his imagination that he felt refreshed.

  They were in a small, transparent cottage. The smokiness of the city was replaced by absolutely clear walls, glittering with various subtle colors, like a prism. The room felt somehow very cozy, and the furniture was familiar to Ethan. Wide couches and a tall armchair invited him. He realized that this was his father’s study, just as he had last seen it. He sunk into the armchair and noticed Kaia on one of the couches, still sleeping. Ethan found a table beside his armchair piled with food.

  Lassaya’s pale orange form drifted closer to him. “You will forgive us for drawing these things from your memories. We have very little need of such items, so we’ve crafted them for your comfort here. Please. Nourish yourself.”

  Ethan drank a hot, clear liquid that tasted like hot chocolate, then offered some to Lassaya. She raised a transparent hand to decline. “You don’t eat?” he asked.