By the time he was finished, he hoped she’d be up, but she wasn’t, so he went back to her room and hit the query button. “Breakfast,” he called and left and went back to the kitchen.
She didn’t appear for ten more minutes, and when she did, her hair was wet from the shower. He looked at her, and he wondered if she was pregnant. He didn’t even look at her face, he just looked at her stomach.
This was hell. They were on the run from killer aliens, and she was probably pregnant, and she hated him, and he’d lost his ship, and he…
He hadn’t finished his breakfast, but he found he’d lost his appetite.
She sat down and picked around at the stuff on the plate.
“You should eat,” he said.
She looked up at him. “I’m just not hungry.”
“Well, you should keep up your strength,” he said. Because you’re pregnant. But he didn’t say that out loud. He thought about bringing up the night before again, about apologizing, but he didn’t. He thought maybe it would be worse to bring it up again and force her to relive it. Maybe it would be easier for her if he just kept away from her as much as he could. So, he told her that he was going to check on the coupling, and that she didn’t have to come with him. She could just stay up here and relax.
“Will you come back up and tell me if it’s charged?” she said.
No, he’d been planning on doing some other work down there on the ship.
She said she’d come with him. She said maybe she could help.
So, they went together.
They didn’t talk much, except to talk about what they needed to work on.
The coupling was charged, and he was able to put it back in the ship. Once it was in, they could power everything up, but they discovered that the life-support system in the ship wasn’t functioning.
He expected Eve to be despondent, but she just asked if they couldn’t find the vidya’s ship and steal parts from it. He thought that was a capital plan. Luckily, the life-support systems in most ships were enough the same that most parts were interchangeable.
So, the two prepared to go out in the heat and look for the vidya’s ship. They knew that they’d be vulnerable out there, so Gunner grabbed the Thunder-7 with its newly charged battery, and they both took plaspistols. Lugging the Thun-7 through the heat was not fun, especially with the low amount of oxygen in the air, and he almost set it down a few times, thinking he’d just get it on the way back. But every time he thought about it, he imagined another vidya running out towards them and ripping Eve’s throat out. And he wouldn’t be able to do anything, because he was too much of a weakling to carry a heavy gun.
At which point he yelled at her to stay closer to him, because she was getting too far ahead.
Finally, they spotted the Fabis, squatting out in the darkness not far from the base.
They went together to the ship, and Eve handed him tools, held flaps out of the way so that he could work, and was generally helpful while he got out the parts they’d need.
He was glad that stuff they were taking from the ship was little enough that it could fit in his pockets and inside his belt. He didn’t want to have to lug anything else huge back to the ship, and he probably shouldn’t let Eve carry anything too heavy. Well, it probably didn’t matter, not this early in the whole process. He wasn’t even sure that she was pregnant the next day, even if she was. There was some span of time in which there was a fertilized egg that wasn’t implanted or something? He didn’t remember this.
He’d not been able to pay too much attention to Silvi’s pregnancy, because they’d been separate the entire time. He’d been fighting the Xerkabah. She’d been in hiding. He hadn’t even known about the baby until after she and Silvi were both gone. The baby had been a girl. He knew that.
He didn’t like thinking about this shit.
“Hmm,” said Eve from outside the Fabis. “A shooting star. We should wish.”
“What?” he said.
“It’s still coming,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like it. I wonder if it’s—”
He scrambled out of the ship, alarmed. “What? Where?”
She pointed.
He could see it, now, the bright streak in the sky that seemed to be getting brighter and growing bigger and coming right for them. “That’s not a star.”
“No, I guess not,” she said, her voice going soft.
“Eve, run,” he said. “Back to the base.”
She took off right away.
He hoisted the Thun-7 over his shoulder and went after her, as fast as he could.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kerxe could see the humans running as he came in for his landing. He hadn’t expected to be so lucky as to see them right away. He hadn’t even known if they’d be here or not. When he’d slept, he’d hoped for a vision of his future, but nothing had come, so he was coming in here with no knowledge of what might happen. This was a bright spot. He hoped everything continued to go well.
He didn’t bother with landing procedures when he put the ship down. He knew it was bad for the engine, but he was too excited at the sight of the running prey. It spoke to some deep part of his brain, the places that made him vidya, and he reveled in it. He was itching for the chase. So he was out of the ship, leaving it running, and after them the minute he touched down.
The humans had a good head start on him, but he wasn’t worried. He relished the chase, anyway, and didn’t want it over too soon. He didn’t mind toying with prey a bit. That only made it all the more exciting. He ambled over the terrain of the planet, watching them run ahead of him in terror.
The sensation of pursuit was heady. He reveled in it, wanting to savor every second of it.
The humans were heading for the base ahead. He could see that. They were getting closer and closer to the door by the second. The female was ahead, and the male was quite a bit behind her. He had an absurdly large weapon over one shoulder, and it was impeding his ability to move. Kerxe recognized the weapon, and he knew he shouldn’t underestimate it. But he wasn’t frightened.
A vidya didn’t feel fright.
Not in the way that other creatures did, anyway. To a vidya, fear was only a minor annoyance, something to be swatted away.
Kerxe went after them, picking up a bit of speed.
The male turned and sighted him. His weapon erupted with a burst of a bright plasma ball.
It was easy enough to evade. The male was far away and the ball wasn’t particularly well aimed.
Even this far away, Kerxe could smell the male’s sweat, hear his elevated heartbeat, his gasping breath. The male was tired. His body wasn’t at peak performance. Kerxe didn’t imagine he’d have too hard a time with the male, given that he could part the male from his weapon, that was.
The male turned and kept running, not attempting another shot.
Kerxe kept coming.
The female had reached the door to the base, and she opened it. She turned to the male and yelled for him.
“Go on,” yelled the male in a hoarse voice. “Go for the ship.”
Hmm, so they had a ship? Well, that was disappointing. Kerxe hadn’t seen anything when he landed, and he’d been hoping to be able to take his time, but a ship meant escape might be imminent, and it meant that he might have to chase them all over space.
A longer chase didn’t sound so bad to him, but a chase in space could never be as pleasurable as a chase on land, with the physicality of it and the scents and sensations.
The male turned again to shoot his weapon.
Kerxe evaded the beam again, and he quickened his pace. While the male was stopped to aim that gun, he wasn’t moving, and Kerxe was closing the distance between them.
The male seemed to realize this. He took off again, running as quickly as he could.
But Kerxe could sense the exhaustion coming off the man. He ran like a man who hadn’t slept recently, who was weighted down and worried as well. Kerxe didn’t have too many emotional
distractions since he had taken up the vidya form, but he remembered them and understood them. He knew exactly what kind of toll that could take on a being. The male wasn’t long for this world.
Kerxe began to fantasize about the way he would kill the male. He didn’t want to do it too fast. He didn’t like it fast. He liked it when they were bleeding and struggling, and the struggle was pumping all the lovely, hot blood everywhere. Kerxe shuddered in delight just thinking about it. He moved even faster, and his long strides meant he was gaining on the male.
The male reached the door to the base.
Kerxe was maybe ten feet behind him.
The male set down his weapon to open the door.
Kerxe broke into a run, seeing his chance.
The door opened.
Kerxe pounced. He collided with the man and they skidded over the entrance to the base, the male face down, Kerxe on top of him.
The male let out a groan.
Kerxe punched his claws into the male’s back, just below his neck. Not too deep. He didn’t want it to go too quick. But he wanted the get the blood flowing. He loved the blood. Human blood had its own special scent and texture.
The male cried out, struggling against him.
Kerxe cocked his head to one side, looking down at the male and basking in the moment. He was quite enjoying himself. The male was separated from his weapon, and he was helpless and ready to be killed. Kerxe could think of all kinds of ways he’d like to tear the male apart. He moved back, off the male, considering.
And the male sprang up. He twisted and dove out the door to grab his weapon.
Kerxe let out a cry of annoyance, slashing his claws against the male, cutting several long stripes of red down the male’s side, over his rib cage.
The male yelled, but he had the weapon now, and he rolled over on his back and brought it up.
Kerxe was nothing but pain. He was enveloped in the bright ball of the weapon and his whole body screamed in agony. By the time he was back to himself, the male had fled.
Kerxe saw him disappear around one of the corners in the hallway. Kerxe picked himself up and went after the man.
The weapon, the weapon. He had to be smarter. It was so easy to get caught up in the thrill of the kill, and that only made him stupid. He had to get rid of that weapon. A weapon like that could kill him.
He approached the bend in the hallway cautiously, worried that the male and his weapon would be on the other side. But when he turned the corner, the male was at the end of the hallway, turning another corner.
Good, he was running away. Kerxe liked it when they ran. He moved with a bit more confidence now. His bravado was returning. His feet pounded down the hallway after the male.
It was getting warmer, he noted. When they had first come into the base, some artificial cooling system had been at work, but it wasn’t on now, in this part of the base. It was no matter to Kerxe. He didn’t mind.
He turned the corner the male had.
There was a doorway ahead of him, open, the door removed, but he couldn’t see what was inside. He hurried forward.
It was a hangar bay, and there was a ship in the center of the room.
The female was sitting in the open door on the side, holding the weapon that the male had been holding. She opened fire on Kerxe.
Kerxe ducked, but the weapon’s ball singed the top of his head. He howled, retreating back through the doorway.
“By the visions,” came the woman’s voice. “You weren’t kidding about the kick.”
“Shoot it again,” came the male’s voice.
“It’s hiding,” she said.
Kerxe barreled forward. He didn’t hide. He was a vidya and he wasn’t afraid.
The female hoisted up the weapon and shot again.
Kerxe hit the floor. He avoided the ball entirely that time, and hurriedly crawled back through the doorway, taking cover. Curse that awful weapon! He seethed in the hallway outside the door, unsure of what to do.
He waited.
The female’s voice, a whisper. “How much longer until you get the stuff for the life support on?”
“I’m going as fast as I can, Eve, and I’m bleeding. Do not nag me.” The male wasn’t whispering, but yelling.
Kerxe considered. So, the ship wasn’t functional, then. Yes, that made sense. They must have been raiding Yerthe’s ship when he landed. They were now trying to get the parts on to their ship. Could he use this information?
Well, he needed to strike now.
But that weapon. That awful, awful weapon.
If he wasn’t careful, he’d get himself killed trying to attack them.
No, perhaps it was better to take the matter to space. If they were having trouble getting their ship running, then he had time to get back to his. He hadn’t been off long enough that any damage could have been caused by not sticking to the landing procedures. In fact, it was good, because there’d be no warmup period. He could get to his ship and probe theirs, find their coordinates and go after them. He could even try to attack them in space.
It was the intelligent plan, but it felt wrong.
Here they were, both of them, so close. He could smell them, smell their fear and sweat. He wanted to rush out into that room and tear their flesh.
But he knew if he did, he’d get blasted with that damned weapon.
Still, it took all his effort to move away from them and to go back to his ship.
* * *
“Where is it? Where is it?” Eve was still whispering. It had been too long since the vidya had attacked.
“What?” said Gunner.
She got down from the ship, balancing the heavy Thun-7 on her shoulder as best she could, and carefully made her way across the hangar bay.
“Eve?” called Gunner. “What are you doing?”
Her finger tensed on the trigger, and she edged out into the hallway where the door had been taken off. It was empty. No one was there. She stepped out into the hallway, walked down a few feet to the first corner…
But there was nothing there either.
“Eve!” Gunner’s voice. “Answer me!”
“It’s gone,” she called back. She began backing down the hallway, back to the hangar bay.
Gunner was standing outside the ship. “Don’t run off. Are you crazy?”
“It’s gone.”
“It can’t be gone,” he said.
She looked from the ship to the doorway. “It’s not out there.”
“Get in the ship,” said Gunner.
She hurried over to the ship’s door.
He took the Thun-7 from her and scanned the area, swinging around its barrel.
She climbed aboard, hurrying through the living area to the cockpit.
Gunner came behind her. “It went back to its ship. It heard us talking, and it’s going to follow us.”
“You think?” said Eve.
“We have to cloak our coordinates,” said Gunner.
“Saffron does that,” said Eve.
“Yeah, well, Saffron ain’t here,” said Gunner. He slid into the pilot’s seat and reached above his head to pull down a screen. His fingers glided over it, putting in what he could. “Damn it,” he muttered.
“What?” said Eve.
“Operating system is factory issued and locked down.” He shook his head. “It’d take me twenty minutes to crack it, and then I’d have to load in another system, which we don’t have downloaded.”
“Okay?” Eve was confused.
“You can’t cloak in a factory system,” said Gunner. “Back when this ship was designed, we didn’t know about aliens, and so it was important for all ships to be able to talk to each other so they don’t run into each other in space.”
Eve’s eyes widened. “That can happen?”
“Mostly at spaceports,” said Gunner. “It’s no problem with a good pilot. Don’t worry.” He shook his head. “But we can’t hide ourselves from it. Wherever we’re going, it’ll know, and it can follow.
”
“Or tell the Xerkabah so that they have fleet waiting for us,” said Eve.
“Didn’t think of that,” said Gunner.
“So, we’re screwed?” said Eve.
Gunner rubbed his temples.
“Maybe we could blow up its ship,” said Eve. “Like before.”
“This kind of ship doesn’t come with weapons,” said Gunner. “It’s not a fighting ship. It’s for families to go on vacation in.”
“Oh,” said Eve. “You don’t have to yell.”
He glared at her.
“Look,” she said quietly, “we can’t stay here.”
“No,” he said, “we can’t.” He took a deep breath. “Maybe we can beat it into the sky. If it’s not airborne, it won’t be able to probe us. We take off before it gets moving… maybe we can get away.”
“You really think so?”
He started flipping switches above his head. “It’s our only shot, princess.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Gunner gripped the handhold as the ship shook and accelerated out of the atmosphere on the planet. He didn’t have eyes on the vidya ship, but he could see the Fabis 4 on his instruments, and he knew it was in the air with them. They were just out of range of its weapons, but once they got into space, there was no telling what might happen. He wasn’t sharing any of this with Eve, though, because he was panicked.
They were in deep shit here.
They had two options. Die in this system or go faster than light and die somewhere else. He didn’t like either, but he couldn’t think of a better option.
The ship burst out of the planet’s orbit and into free space.
The ship’s gravity and life support kicked in smoothly, so that was a good thing. The repairs he’d made had worked, even though he’d done them while waiting for a vidya to come in and kill them both. They were still alive, that was something.
What he needed was time to think, and powering up the rescav thrusters and going faster than light was going to be the only way they could get that time. He’d set a course for the other side of the galaxy, and he’d hope against hope that they’d have some brilliant idea while they were traveling.
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