by Kyndra Hatch
And her heart melted. That’s what he called Hedge in the lab too, even though they were in separate cages across the room from each other—
But how could she argue with that?
Whimpering, C’hase laid his head down over her feet. Glancing down, she did a double take. Were his wispy feathers moving on the ends of his antenna?
“C’hase, are you doing that?”
Doing what? he raised his head.
Leaning over to point at one of the feathers, she felt a slight breeze brush across her hand.
Pulling the torch light out of a side pocket of her cargo pants, she shined it in the hole again, Hedge again squeaking in protest as he threw his body over his pile of treasures.
She didn’t notice it before, but she could feel a breeze across her face this time. Switching off the torch, she could still see a beam of light in the creature’s den. Following it with her eyes, she sucked in a breath and held it when it led to a hole that led to the outside world.
She let the breath out. Clearly, the air was breathable or they’d have noticed by now—
Stars. This answered the question about the outside air.
C’hase scooted along the floor, the feathers on the ends of his antennae tickling her face.
Hedge likes to go outside, he said cheerfully as he stood, tail twirling.
Eyes widening as she turned her head towards the hellhound, she said, C’hase, is there anything else important about Hedge we need to know about?
The mogha sat on his haunches, one of his long fingers raising to scratch at the side of his head. No, I don’t think so.
Standing, she punched the button that would deploy the loading ramp. Nothing happened.
Flip, she’d have to crank it manually. Was she going to have to rewire the whole ship?
As she manually lowered the ramp, she was infused with a sense of awe. She’d never set foot on the soil of any planet, her entire life spent either on a space station or a ship.
A pleasant breeze that carried a sweet smell caressed her face, and she closed her eyes. Taking a deep breath, the sound of the ocean lapping the shoreline provided a sense of calm.
The shore was a sea of orange that moved like a wave over the landscape. Upon closer inspection, there were thousands of individual orange—
Were those flowers?
There were so many blowing in the breeze, the shore appeared to be moving.
The edge of the ocean was as orange as the flowers, turning a beautiful emerald, then deep blue as it stretched towards the horizon.
C’hase bounded down the ramp before it touched the ground, and she rushed to grab him.
“Wait,” she said as he slipped through her fingers. “We don’t know what’s out there.”
Was he carrying that chicken under a front leg?
All but the feathery tips of his antennae disappearing in the orange flowers, he called back, Fun!
Of course. Heading down the ramp, Dani hoped she could keep her mogha alive long enough to get him back to his kind. Unbridled enthusiasm emanated from the pup as she watched the antennae float from one place to the next.
Reaching the bottom of the ramp, the petals of the flowers flapped gently in the slight wind, sound as soothing as the ocean. Maybe she was worried over nothing—
A grove of trees lined the edge of the flowering shore, opposite of the ocean. All leaned at a sharp angle away from the sea. Brow furrowing, she’d seen pictures of trees and they stood straight up. Why were these leaning like that?
Looking down at her booted feet, she dragged her toe across the sand. Having never fully qualified for the Colony Program, she never thought she’d ever be standing on the surface of a planet.
Crashing wasn’t exactly the way she’d hoped to be standing on solid ground.
C’hase popped out of the flowers next to her, still holding the chicken. Dani let out a chuckle until she realized the pup had something in his mouth.
Alarm prickling her skin, Dani smacked the back of his head. “Spit that out! It could be poisonous.”
The hellhound spit out a flower, and Dani threw her hands in air. “Why would you eat one of the flowers?”
Rubbing at his head, C’hase complained, But they are safe to eat.
“How do you know that?” Dani said.
Because Hedge is eating them.
Sure enough, at the edge of the ramp, Hedge was chowing down on a couple of the orange blossoms.
We can eat what he eats, C’hase resumed eating the flower she made him spit out.
“How do you know for sure?” she said next.
The mogha’s head tilted. I just know.
Dubious, she bent over and plucked a flower, studying it. Having the appearance of a cup, she pulled open the petals, revealing a yellow center and plump yellow wavy dots radiating outwards in the middle of each of the five petals. The smell was sweet, the source of the sweet scent on the breeze.
Pulling off one of the petals, she stuck it in her mouth. Flavor similar to the sweetcakes in the station cafeteria delighted her tongue with little bursts of honey as she chewed. Was that what was in the yellow wavy dots?
Look, C’hase said. Even Molly likes it.
Molly?
This is Molly, he said, holding out the chicken as it devoured a petal.
Walking on three legs, his extended fingers weren’t big enough to wrap around the big bird, but were grasping it well enough. Said chicken clucked softly, not minding the ride at all.
Hedge wanted a pet.
C’hase’s pet, a hedgehog-like packrat that collected wires, buttons and circuitry needed to keep a ship in the air, wanted a pet—
“But it’s a chicken,” Dani said, looking over at the space rat, who now had a pile of flowers next to him, eating happily.
Brows raised, shaking her head, Dani held up a flower in front of C’hase’s nose. Both his antennae and his tail went up.
“Okay, C’hase,” she said. “This is what I’m talking about. Is there anything else we need to know about Hedge?
Head tilting completely sideways, he said, I don’t think so.
Dani’s eyes tracked over the landscape, light glinting off the beautiful ocean from a nearby star. This planet was a paradise. There were fish, likely lots of other stuff to eat. She held up the petal. They even had dessert.
Why hadn’t a colony come here? The Human Colony Alliance wouldn’t even need to terraform this planet.
Dani knew from experience that if something were too good to be true, it was. There had to be something wrong.
From a survival standpoint, they weren’t going to have a problem, not with the substantial rations she had on the ship augmenting what they could catch in the wild. But being stuck there wasn’t going to help the moghas.
“YOU’RE PACING AGAIN,” L’iza’s electronic tone cut through his thoughts.
K’vyn couldn’t stop thinking about the blue, orange, and green planet, or the freighter. The nagging feeling, well, nagged. It was with him all the time, fogging his brain and keeping him awake.
“My mogha responded.” He stopped pacing, brow furrowed as he studied a holo-chart that L’iza had hovering over the center console of the cockpit.
Seated behind the console, L’iza’s dark eyebrows raised, her silver eyes reflecting curiosity. Except for the apparitional appearance, the hologram was a perfect imitation of a Korthan female.
“That’s good news,” she said, resting her chin on steepled fingers. “I didn’t think we were close enough to Mogha for you to detect one.”
“I don’t think he’s on Mogha,” K’vyn said. “I think he’s on Paradise.”
“Korthans have a sense of humor,” L’iza snorted, eyes beaming in mirth. “Calling that planet ‘Paradise.’”
K’vyn swiped his hand in front of the holo-chart, terrain of the planet appearing closer as it zoomed in on the location where he believed the freighter crashed.
“You believe your detection of the mogha bond
has something to do with that human freighter.” L’iza could read him well, even without a full bond.
He could not begin to know what the connection could be, but something about that freighter wouldn’t leave him alone. And he didn’t detect the mogha until the freighter arrived—
“I believe we should take a closer look,” he conceded.
The hologram sat straight up, smile in place, readiness to execute evident. “I was hoping you were going to say that.”
Even though it was just a formality, K’vyn sat in the pilot seat. L’iza did all the flying, though in any instance she became incapacitated, he could fly the ship manually.
Used to her controlling all aspects of herself, he didn’t flinch when the seat swiveled around on its own, now facing the hologram at the console.
“What did your mogha say?” she said.
Leaning on his elbow, chin against his fist, he said, “It was a strange response. He said C’hase was his mogha.”
“Well, that is odd.”
“Perhaps C’hase is his name.”
Wouldn’t be the only being he knew that used illeism. L’iza was always very clear to Korth and its inhabitants that she was her own ship, no one controlled her but her. Maybe C’hase felt the same way. Bonds weren’t about control, though. He hoped C’hase would give him a chance to show him.
WALKING ALONG THE LENGTH of the rectangular ship, Dani watched the young mogha chase a multi-winged insect, jaws snapping as he tried catching it in his mouth. He finally reached up in the air with his front paws and grabbed it between extended fingers. Antennae twirling as he sniffed and inspected it for a second, he released it, starting the chase all over again.
The warm balm that rested against her heart swelled, but something about it still felt different from C’hase, something more, deeper—
What was this otherness? Even more baffling was the fondness from this otherness towards C’hase. She had enough unanswered questions about her connection with the hellhound, questions she hoped to find answers to when they found Mogha.
Rubbing her chest over her heart, she stopped when she reached the front of the freighter, and the towering mound of dark dirt the ship rested in. Getting the freighter out of the soil would be problematic.
A squeak sounding to her right, she watched as Hedge joined the hellhound in his chase. Could there be a bond between the two like the one she had with the mogha? Were they communicating with their minds?
“C’hase, can Hedge hear you?” she said.
The mogha stopped in his tracks, Hedge devouring the insect in the next instant, an iridescent wing hanging from the little creature’s mouth.
Yea, he can hear me. C’hase was unconcerned Hedge just ate the flying bug, scratching behind his ear with his hind leg.
Dani pursed her lips. “No, I mean, can he hear you like you can hear me? Does he understand you?”
Yea, he understands me. C’hase stood. See, watch—
C’hase held up an extended finger, pointing at the rat.
Hedge, sit, he said, tone commanding.
The creature started digging, dirt flying in all directions.
Watching the space rat, C’hase’s tail twirled. Then he raised his head at Dani, tongue hanging out as he panted, smiling expression proud. See? He understands me.
“But he’s digging. You told him to sit.”
C’hase’s tail stopped twirling and his antennae drooped a bit as they watched Hedge disappear into the ground. Then his antennae rose again. He thinks ‘sit’ means ‘dig.’
Dani laughed as a gust of wind ruffled her hair. Sweeping aside several strands that whipped close to her eyes, something in her periphery caught her attention as her hand swept over her face. She paused, or rather lack of something—
Where did the orange flowers go?
Those that were around the ship and right next to her appeared to have disappeared, green stalks rising out of the dirt, but no flowers at the ends. Gaze sweeping over the shoreline, she gaped as the orange blossoms winked out of existence. Upon closer inspection, she saw that they didn’t disappear, but closed up into green cocoons on the ends of the stalks.
Another gust of wind sent her brown hair whipping around her neck.
C’hase trotted towards her, stopping at her side, antennae set straight back against his head. Alpha, do you hear that?
Dani furrowed her eyebrows, following C’hase’s gaze out over the ocean, straining her ears. Nothing—
She saw it before actually hearing any sound. Waves over the ocean, starting on the horizon, moving towards them at breakneck speed. Then there was sound, a great roar that filled the sky.
Soon, there were waves crashing against the shore, the green stalks of the cocooned flowers bending wildly just as she was hit with a roaring wind that nearly knocked her off her feet.
“Get back on the ship,” she yelled at C’hase, but he seemed to be running in place, the wind so strong he couldn’t project himself forward.
Scooping the mogha up in her arms, Dani leaned into the driving force of air, planting her booted feet in the dirt with each step as she slowly made her way to the loading ramp.
The sound was deafening, unrelenting buffeting against her ears.
Halfway up the ramp, she could no longer move, the wind becoming like an impenetrable wall, hugging C’hase tight as it threatened to rip the creature from her arms. Squeezing her eyes shut, she thought of nothing but rooting to the spot.
There was suddenly a presence within, accompanied with the familiar warmth. The otherness did not speak this time, but she was filled with strength—
Opening her eyes, she took one step. Then another. The strength behind the presence propelling her forward.
Reaching the top of the ramp, she grabbed the crank, C’hase holding on for dear life.
Ramp closing with a groaning thud, she stared at the bulkhead as the sound of metal creaked and cracked.
C’hase leapt from her arms, sniffing along the edges of the bulkhead until he found Hedge, who was soon perched upon the mogha’s head, little snout sniffing at the air around them.
Molly pecked at the metal floor beside them.
Combing out her windswept hair with her fingers, Dani pulled it back into a tight messy bun. “Well, now we know why the trees are leaning.”
A loud piercing whistle in the bulkhead made her jump with a yelp. Stars, what was that?
Peering at the source of the sound, she realized there was a breach in the hull, the force of the wind blowing through the small crack making a whistle. Another one sounded on the other side of the cargo hold, her head snapping around.
Stomach dropping, there was no way she could launch this freighter into space.
Molly squawked loudly, feathers floating as she flapped her useless wings, running to the crates where her comrades warbled and cackled.
The wind moaned throughout the evening, metal flexing and popping as the freighter shook, echoing in the confines of the cargo bay.
Unable to sleep, Dani walked along the bulkhead with a solder gun, following the whistles, shoring up each crack.
C’hase lay in the crates with the chickens, paws over his ears, wincing as each whistle sounded off.
I’m sorry, Little One, Dani thought to him. We will get these repaired soon.
There wasn’t enough solder for the entire ship, but she’d try to get the noisiest ones.
I hope so, he said with a whimper.
That’s when Dani noticed something else about him. Was there orange in his gray fur?
Roar on the other side of the bulkhead dying down as fast as it began, the walls stopped shaking, flexing metal ceasing. Dani exchanged a glance with C’hase.
Is it over? he said.
Dani wound the crank and the ramp began lowering. Daylight poured in and she caught a glimpse of the ocean, calm and tranquil, not a single ripple across the smooth surface. But the most shocking sight was all the flowers had returned, the shoreline the same
sea of orange it was when she first set eyes on the surface of this planet, flowing lazily in a slight breeze as if nothing had transpired the night before.
Turning, her heart seized—
There, in the pen with the chickens, C’hase chewed happily on a large bone.
“C’hase,” she yelled. “You can’t eat the chickens!”
She was at the pens in an instant, looking in the crates, moving aside straw, rapidly counting out loud. She had no idea how she could complete her delivery run, but she did not want to have to explain to the customer about any missing chickens. Maybe a rescue party was coming, but she was already in enough trouble.
One chicken was missing—
This isn’t a chicken bone, C’hase gnawed on the end of the bone.
“What kind of bone is it?”
Hedge gave it to me, C’hase said, voice managing to sound as if his mouth were full even though they communicated through their minds.
“Where is Molly?”
Said chicken suddenly trotted through the opening at the ramp. Relief was short-lived as a commotion on the ramp followed, the sound of something dragging accompanied by twittering squeaks.
Hedge’s tubular ears appeared over the edge of the ramp right before his little triangular face popped up. Disappearing again, the sound of something scraped along the metal just as the body of a scaley six-legged lizard beast the size of a full-grown hellhound flopped onto the deck.
Hedge pushed it from behind before running around to drag it along with his giant claws, feather-tipped tail twirling just like C’hase’s antennae did.
Dani’s eyes widened. “How did he get that?”
Bone forgotten, C’hase jumped up, trotting to sniff all aspects of this new corpse.
Hedge likes to hunt, he said with his usual child-like enthusiasm.
Stars—
A great shadow fell over the entryway, brow furrowing as Dani’s gaze tracked it down the ramp. What now?
Loud screech piercing her ears in the next second, Dani’s head snapped towards the sky, the bright sun spotting her vision. Eyes squeezing shut, she raised a hand to block the light just as several gusts of wind ruffled through her hair.