by Gwynn White
"Or we pretend that never happened, and we go on with the grill installation." Cullen reached down for the toolbox. "If you have something I can do to help, let me know."
Emmit looked over at the p-drive, a two-meter-long cylinder that rose to waist height with a glass shielding that would fill with green smoke—live green, like an electric yellow and blue storm—when the drive was activated. The hard-plastic base and the brains of the device—the part that connected with the pilot's brain—had black tubes that ran over the sides and into holes on the top, where they fed the piston-like bursts of magnetic energy into the engine.
"The invitation stands, if you'd rather talk about it later," Cullen said. "I'd hate to have a heart to heart and then all of us die because—" He chuckled. "Sorry. I'm not used to... Torek doesn't need... You'll be okay. Let's get this done, and I promise we can talk later. Okay?"
"Yeah." Emmit had no idea what he'd say, but if Adi was going to be a welt about this, then maybe he would talk to Cullen. He seemed nice enough. "Thanks."
"Sure thing." Cullen took out a small bar wrapped in silver plastic. He tore it open to reveal sticky brown flakes and what smelled like raisins. "Hungry?"
He was a few hours from his normal second and last meal of the day, but he'd worked up more of an appetite than usual. "Yes."
The bar melted in his mouth, delivering sweet juices and thick bites of nourishment.
As he returned to his work on the computer, his mind lifted him into a separate plane, where concerns of Adi and thoughts of life and threats of prison were too far to disturb or harm him.
5
Ocia didn't have to carry Ehli long before she felt too much like a burden to enjoy the respite. She told him to set her down and let her try a brisk walk.
"Okay. We're not far now," he said.
The ground leveled out, and their tunnel connected into a maze of possible pathways, but Ocia chose his steps as though there was only one.
Nassib's footsteps echoed from ten paces back.
"How did Emmit get down here before us?" she asked.
After a few steps, Ocia said, "I gave him a head start."
A new source of light filled a distant space in the cavern. Multiple beams lit bright points at the floor and near the ceiling. Her speed increased. "Is that our ship?"
"It sure is."
She built as much speed as her sore leg would allow. "Come on, Nassib." This is it. We're leaving! "It won't be paradise without you."
If you could call what they had a friendship, you could even say his was the only one she had outside of Ocia and her son's more obvious relationships. The man who had tried to rape her had become a kind of wall to throw rocks off in times of boredom. Over the years, she'd seen his regret over his mistake. She had spent nearly a year hating him every time he walked by, and when he woke her up to come see Ocia, and they'd walk in tumultuous silence. One night, after waking up from a particularly shocking nightmare about her husband's death, and the first of many where Emmit had run into the kitchen after him, just before the bomb rocked her world in light and fire—one night seeing Nassib and his recognition of her pain, his simple gesture of offering a hand to her back as she exited her cell, was the first of many small steps they both took to meet in the middle. Steps they took away from hatred and fear toward a common ground of being alive and wanting to enjoy what they could.
She ran toward the ship, glad that he would make it out, too. He deserved it.
A mound of dark fur rustled and unfolded into an Osuna wolverine, close enough to leap at and devour her.
Ehli jumped back and let out a cry.
The animal shook out its fur and yawned.
When Ehli realized that she didn't have to turn and run for her life—as though it would have made one bit of difference if it decided to chase her—she looked at Ocia. "What's that doing there?"
The wolverine took short steps forward and cocked its head, watching her.
Ocia hid his face, but his laughter made clear the fun he was having at her expense. "It was your son's ride."
"His... what?"
Ocia held up a hand, then directed it palm up to the still docile wolverine. "It's domesticated."
"You think you could've warned me," she said, punching his arm playfully, "before I nearly pissed myself?"
He, and Nassib too, now, continued laughing.
"Mom?"
Ehli spun to see Emmit waving her in from the open hatch at the ship's rear.
"Come on, we're almost ready to go."
He followed her gaze to the wolverine. "He's okay, Mom. Ocia, Nassib, come on. I want to show you something."
Ocia nudged her on. "We'll have plenty of time for you to get even once we're off this planet for good."
"Ocia," Nassib called from behind them, "they're here."
Ocia took a levitor pistol from his belt. "Get inside." Then to Emmit: "Is it ready?"
"The startup should be done," Emmit said.
"Go check. They've found us already."
Emmit looked at the wolverine, then back to Ocia. "Is he coming, too?"
"Get in there or none of us'll be leaving."
Emmit spun on his heels and ran deeper into the ship.
Ehli ran past the docile wolverine, still watching her as though she were scared for no reason. As she broke eye contact with the animal and ran up the ramp to the hatch, she spotted a handsome young man—mid-twenties, sharp in feature and muscles, and youthful—walking down the corridor toward the hatch. He was dressed in a blue space pilot suit with a weapons belt, an ozone collar with its helmet unexposed and an armpad that glowed from recent use. Her urgency, or perhaps the frightened look on her face, prompted him into a jog.
He dropped the bottle of water he held in one hand and pulled a levitor pistol from his holster. "What is it?"
"Oh, it—"
"The guards," Ocia said behind her. She hadn't heard him approach.
The young man slowed, then veered left as she went right to get out of his way. He cut back as she cut back, then spun before they collided. "Sorry," he said, turning around to check, she assumed, that she hadn't fallen or otherwise hurt herself.
She raised her hand, smiling. "I'm fine."
He offered a distracted smile, then sidestepped down the ramp alongside Ocia.
"That's Cullen," another young man said beside her.
She startled.
He had a dark purple suit on, with red sensor pads dotted down the sleeves and outer edges of his pants. Esune field ops wore them for various reasons, with each pad individually programmable to transmit radio waves, emit smells to attract or detract certain animals, discharge poison darts, hold razor tipped blades…. He wore it with a child-like sense of pride, but in a body mature enough to make him dangerous. His had an ozone collar, and there was a glowing armpad on his left forearm as well. He offered a hand to the door behind her. "Your son's in there. I'm Torek, but he's your son, so you prob—"
"Yeah, uh, yeah. Thanks." She found the reader on the hatch and it swept open.
Emmit was inside, on the floor, hunched over a computer screen and typing—typing? When did he learn to do that?
Adi, sitting on Emmit's other side, facing the computer, leaned back to see her. "Hi Ms. Orson."
"Hi Adi. Emmit? What're you doing?"
Emmit looked over, saw her, then went back to his typing. "Hi, Mom. I'm sort of sure and... sort of just watching myself. I can explain more when I'm done, if you don't mind."
Adi shared a glance with Ehli that mirrored her unsteady amusement. She curled a finger to beckon him.
He hopped off his stool and strode over. "Yeah, Ms. Orson?"
When he stopped before her, she asked, "What in Titan's left foot is he talking about?"
Adi shrugged, sporting a smile that said he'd rather their conversation remain light, but that to do so might bend it toward lunacy. "I'm not sure if I'm glad to hear that this is as much a surprise for you as it was for me, or if it mak
es me more concerned."
"You guys, I'm fine," Emmit said, typing a blur of strokes as his eyes remained focused on his screen. "I said I'd talk about it when I'm done. If you want to talk about me, can you do it outside on the other side of that closed hatch?"
"Emmit Anders," Ehli started. "Are you asking for the challenge of not mistyping when I cup those ears hard enough to make your brain ring?"
Emmit slowed and twisted a scowl at his mother, as though daring her to try. His fight softened. "I'm the only one who can do this. Do you want to leave this dusty butthole of a planet?"
Ehli raised a pointed finger at her son. "Don't use that language with me."
"I'm sorry." He returned to his typing. "I meant cocoa sprinkles and warm milk of a planet. Yep. Didn't I say that?"
"I'll give you cocoa sprinkles and warm milk," Ehli said, smiling as he did. "Up your nose."
"Uh, would you? That's my favorite place to put milk. It tingles so good. Sometimes I put it in my ears." He cupped both ears. "And I just... shake it around," he said, rocking his head side to side.
He and Adi broke into a healthy laugh. Emmit pointed at the hatch, still wearing a healthy smile. "Now if you don't mind. Your savior needs his happy thinky time."
Ehli rolled her eyes and turned.
Adi held a fist over his partially-covered grin.
"Come on, Adi. Let's get out of here before his jokes turn thinky time into tinkle time."
Adi snorted out a laugh that caused a yellow booger to bubble and pop before he could swipe it with the back of his hand.
Ehli laughed as she motioned the door to open. "We can get that cleaned up too."
The lights in the ship's corridor had been turned off, including the outside floodlights. The light from Emmit's room bled far enough for her to see their four protectors glance back at her with eyes covered by dark lenses, levitor pistols extended toward the tunnel. Only Ocia kept his stare on her, while the other three returned their focus to possible or approaching threats. "How's it coming in there?" Ocia whispered.
The hatch shut behind her, sealing them in darkness. She felt for Adi's hand, and when she gripped it, brought him with her through the outside hatch. "He's still working," she said, matching Ocia's hushed tone as her sole landed on the rock. "Didn't give me much helpful information."
"Well, I hope he finishes before any of us get shot," Ocia said. "Not much we can do but wait until he's done."
The wolverine's smell of fresh meat and moldy wet fur was thick enough to taste. "If we do intend to keep this animal on our flight, do we have a blanket or something to dampen the smell?"
"We do," Ocia said.
"And I do," Cullen said, "have a cabin. He can stay with me."
Someone spat out a laugh. "Your cabin?" Torek said, laughing. "You gonna let it share your mouthguard too?"
"I would," Cullen said, "but I only have enough reserves for our guests. I didn't think it right to punish them by makin' 'em stuff one of yours in their mouths. I'm actually a little worried yours 'll knock the poor wolverine out before the bubble opens."
"Ha ha. I—"
"As thankful as we are," Ocia began, his tone hushed an octave below theirs, "to have your assistance, if you two wouldn't mind. The goal is to not attract attention, and these walls echo."
"Right," Cullen whispered.
"Here, Ehli," Ocia said. "I have a pair of shades for you, too."
Ehli's lips curled up in a smile as she reached out and connected with the extended night lenses. She and Schaefer'd had their own for night hunting owls, back before everything changed. She fit them on the bridge of her nose as the underground world slid into a plane of edges lit by neon green. Her right hand found the levitor on her hip and she pulled it free, sliding the chamber open with her thumb to expose the gas to the firing pin. "Thanks."
The tunnel leading out from their position glowed with tiny eyes reflecting the green light. She flinched at how many, maybe a thousand, were between their alcove and the end of the tunnel. Beyond the critter company, there were no signs of movement.
A low rumble emitted from the wolverine's throat, quiet enough that Ehli wondered if she felt more than heard it.
Adi gripped the back of her shirt.
A sound like a knife cutting through sand flicked across the ground and swept out from their position as the wolverine and its rumble sprinted into the tunnel.
Ehli tightened her grip on the levitor before remembering Schaefer's training and loosened up, first her hands, and then up from there. She took a deep breath, and squinted to focus her gun sight on the edge of the path's angle forty meters down. The wolverine was almost there. Its speed was almost paralyzing. At least its running the other way.
A figure appeared at the edge of the path, began turning, then coughed, doubling over from the gutshot of the wolverine's snout at full speed. The crack of spine as the man hit the wall behind him echoed as cleanly as Ocia had said. The man might as well have died right next to her.
A green spear of light flashed across Ehli's field of vision, blinding her. Her lenses adjusted on the next levitor shot as she saw the tail end of the wolverine disappear into the conjoining tunnel. A wicked cry of a grown man terrified cut into a darker noise that was not followed by another shot.
Ten disturbing seconds of slurping and cracking bones later, and the wolverine reappeared in the cavern at a walk slowed more by satisfaction than pain.
A beam of light fell onto the ground beside Ehli. She turned and lowered the night lenses from her nose.
Emmit stood in the open hatch. "Mouthguards ready. We're leaving this double snort of warm milk." He nodded up the tunnel. "And Sprinkles is coming. I don't care how bad he smells."
Ehli rolled her eyes. On the way up the ramp, she asked. "Sprinkles?"
"It was that or Cocoa... or Dusty B—"
Ehli lifted her hand in a bluff that nonetheless silenced her son.
"Sprinkles it is." Emmit reached back and tapped a box on the wall. Lights came on, slowly illuminating the corridor and the remainder of the ship. "Only two were smart enough to get this far, but Sprinkles's little display was loud enough to alert a handful of others close enough to make this interesting."
"How do you know that?" Ehli asked.
Behind her, Torek popped a button that withdrew the ramp and closed the rear hatch. Ocia, Nassib, Cullen, Adi and even the wolverine were all inside. Sprinkles had a bloody hunk of prison guard cloth deep in the back of his clenched jaw.
Cullen waved them on. "Mouthguards and chairs are this way. I guess the wolverine's covered already, Torek."
Torek shook off the joke, then was all business as he directed Emmit and Ehli to get moving.
Schaefer had taught her about Mericure bubble transportation, the need to wear mouth protection to keep from biting your tongue during the electrostatic discharge of the Mericure ignition, as well as the fascinating connection that such transportation required between memory and unbelievably instantaneous travel.
At the bulge of open space in the middle of the ship, Cullen pointed Ocia's gaze up a ladder to an alcove at the ship's stern. "Jolnes is up there."
"Thanks," Ocia said.
A whining noise rose from the back of the ship and under the floor.
"It's okay," Cullen told her. "That's just the engines and p-drive activating." He swept his hand under a sensor and reached inside a panel in the wall, then pulled out five u-shaped containers. He handed them out, and all popped open the cases and inserted their mouthguards. They followed him to a nearby cabin housing four bunkbeds without sheets. Belts hung loose over the middles. "Dang it. Sorry." He turned back to face them in the hatch. "I thought these were taken care of. I should have checked."
"It's okay," Ehli said. A tickle of static rubbed on her eardrums. Her eyelids twitched a little as the vibration increased.
"Everybody lie down." Cullen extended a hand for Adi to take one of the upper bunks. "The belts are to strap you down to the bunk. D
o you need assistance?"
"Sure," Adi said.
Ehli stuck her hand out. "I'll take care of it. You look like you need to get to the cockpit."
He grinned. "I do. Thank you."
Ehli let Adi get in under the strap, then she tightened it over his waist and looped it inside the buckle and locked it in.
Nassib helped Emmit with the same on the lower bunk. Emmit looked up at his mother with honest, youthful fear. The blue mouthguard stuck out between his stretched lips, almost forming a mock smile.
She patted his cheek. "If this works, I'm real proud of you." She climbed the wooden ladder to reach the second top bunk.
"And if it doesn't?" Emmit mumbled.
"Then I simply love you. But I sure wish you were smarter."
That got a slobbering laugh out of her boy. As she slid her legs under the strap, the vibration from the Mericure activation was thick and resonant enough to feel like a drill connecting both sides of her forehead. Her eyes watered as she locked the buckle and strap. She made up a countdown from twenty to a point when either her eyeballs would pop or brain would shoot out of her ears. Thankfully, the bubble synced at four, the lights blinked, and the pressure gradually faded.
It wouldn't have surprised her if their trip had also taken them back to when she was a thirteen-year-old girl and her father handed her the small box that held a key to the barn where her birthday horse was being kept as a surprise. Her anxiety was just as childlike in anticipation. And just like at that moment, she had no idea what was in store.
6
The bright blue flash from the Mericure bubble dimmed, and Cullen's eyes adjusted to the overcast sky set above the jungle that draped fat green leaves above his ship. Beneath the branches, his line of sight tracked to a high concrete wall that disappeared into the thickest portion of trees. Its width went beyond the scope of his windshield.
Ocia's large-handed clap punctured the silence, and he laughed. "We're here!"
Even that amount of movement would have been too much for Cullen, given how his stomach swam and his head swayed. Two pulls in, like, fifteen minutes would do that to you. If they had to leave again any time soon, he'd be in bad shape.