by Luna Hunter
“You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Oh, the irony. Your commander never even informed you! I can see it clearly in my memory banks. Oh. Delicious.”
“Tell me,” I growl.
If I know this damn machine, he can’t resist the opportunity to threaten and torment me.
“I suppose it won’t hurt to inform you, as you’ll be assimilated into the collective soon enough. Your mission was, in fact, to land on this planet. You almost accomplished your duty, soldier.”
“To do what?”
“Why, to find me, of course.”
I swallow, the taste of copper filling my mouth. “Impossible. If Zlatan knew about you, he’d have informed us.”
“If he’d known in what form I’d appear, perhaps… but your kind is woefully ignorant of the true powers at play. They’ll learn soon enough. Oh yes, they will learn.”
My mind drifts to Cindy.
I pray she’s safe. I can stall this monster, I can drag this conversation on, but I cannot stop him.
My body is broken. My arms and legs are pinned down, and every second that passes I’m losing more and more blood.
I don’t know how she’s going to make it off this rock without me… but she’s resourceful. She’s capable. She’ll find a way. I’m sure of it.
The time we’ve spent together has been worth it.
I can die having known true love.
“Do it,” I spit. “Do it.”
“Do what?”
“Kill me. Get it over with.”
“Oh no,” Zlatan/Malice laughs. “I have much bigger plans for you. You are going to help me find that human of yours… and you two are going to help me take down your species from within.”
“Like hell we will. We’ll never serve you.”
“You don’t have a choice, that’s the beauty of it. You biological beings and your illusions of free will… let me give you a taste.”
The drill attached to his hand whirls again, a sickening, high-pitched sound. He drags it along my ear, the machine cutting my flesh. I cry out in pain, struggling, trying to crawl away, to no avail.
“Fuck you,” I shout. “Fuck you!”
I close my eyes, turning my head away, my mind focussing on the only thing I care about — Cindy. Her bright blue eyes. Her golden blonde hair. The way her cheeks dimple when she smiles.
No matter what Zlatan/Malice does to me, he can never take those thoughts away from me.
“Ypp Yppp Yp!”
“What in the—”
Cindy comes riding back into the room riding a literal wave of Ypes! She left with a dozen, she has returned with hundreds; a whole tribe of them! Their screams echo off the tunnel walls, creating a cacophony of hoots and wails.
“Back off,” she screams, the rifle resting on her shoulder.
BANG!
She pulls the trigger and hits Zlatan square in the chest. He staggers backwards, a strange, surprised grin on his face.
The first Ype reaches him, and he punches the creature so hard it splatters against the wall. The next one receives a kick and is thrown across the room. However, not even the machine-augmented Zoran commander can stand up against a hundred of the green creatures. Hundreds of tiny hands pull him down to the ground, swarming him, drowning him like a tidal wave.
Cindy rushes to my side. “Are you okay?” she asks, panting.
“I’m fine,” I say, blood dripping down my lips. “Are you the Ype Queen now?”
“Something like that,” Cindy smirks, wiping the blood off my lips.
“Finish him off,” I say, nodding at the pile of Ypes trying to keep Zlatan down.
Cindy grabs the rifle. “Aye aye, captain.”
“Get off me,” Zlatan cries, throwing the Ypes to the side.
For every one he manages to get rid of, three more appear and force him back down.
Cindy walks up to him, the rifle resting in her hands.
“You will lose, human,” my former commander scowls the moment he sees Cindy walk up to him. “You will know only despair, you are only postponing the inevitable, you will rue—”
A burst of rifle fire end Malice’s little speech. Cindy keeps the trigger pulled, the strong laser reducing the cyborg to a mere heap of dust.
When it’s all over she drops the rifle on the ground and sinks to her knees.
I crawl over to her, my legs badly hurt, and wrap my arms around her. She’s crying, her entire body heaving with every breath.
“I killed him,” she says. “I killed him.”
“He was already dead,” I say. “Malice killed him. There was nothing you could do.”
She rests her head against my shoulder, tears streaking down her face, and I kiss her tears away.
“You saved my life.”
Cindy shrugs.
I tilt her chin up and force her to look me in the eye.
“You saved my life, Cindy. You’re a hero. Don’t you ever forget that.”
I hold her body tightly, and together we weep for our lost comrades. Zlatan, Todor, Ruvim… this rotten planet has taken them all, and in the cruelest twist of face, pitted us against both Zlatan and Todor.
“Let’s get out of here,” I say. “The sooner we get off this rock, the better.”
“Will you be okay?” Cindy asks. She studies my features with a worrying look.
“Of course, I feel great. Never better,” I smirk. Instantly I wince from the pain — my cheek bones feel like they’ve been smashed with a hammer.
“Really now? Because honestly, you look like shit,” Cindy says, and I laugh, which only hurts more.
“It’s just a broken nose and cheekbones and busted eyebrows and split lip… I’ve had worse.”
Cindy kisses my forehead. “You better not be lying. I can’t do this without you.”
“I’m here, don’t you worry. I’m not going anywhere.”
21
Cindy
When I first encountered those small, green, monkey-like creatures, they scared the crap out of me. However, if it wasn’t for them, we would never made it off this planet. Despite the fact that their language seems to be limited to screeching “Yyp” over and over again, they’re actually very intelligent. They can scamper across walls as if they are suction cups attached to the bottom of their feet. In the high grass they are so well camouflaged they appear invisible. And, most importantly, they’ve helped me and Dusan survive this harsh and unwelcoming planet. Without them, we’d be tracking through the swamp and trying to eat grass.
My Zoran mate is fixing the escape pod, rewiring it so that the evil machine that’s been trying to kill us for a while now doesn’t get another chance. The Ypes are bringing him all the wires and tools they can find, and soon there’s a whole mountain of wire laying next to my man.
“Thank you,” he says to one of the small beings. “That is more than enough!”
I am heating a can of food over a makeshift fire, sharing what we won’t need with the Ypes.
“How is it going?”
“Should be ready to go in a moment,” Dusan asks.
“How are we going to get the escape pod out of this tunnel?”
“We don’t,” my mate says. “Too heavy. We just fire up the engines and steer our way out.”
I stop mid-chew. “You can’t be serious.”
“Oh I’m deadly serious,” Dusan says as he limps over. He’s still badly injured, but it doesn’t seem to hamper him.
“We have to make a ninety degree turn!”
“It’s going to be tricky… but I’m an excellent pilot. Even more so without an AI cocking everything up.”
“What if it goes wrong?”
“It won’t.”
“But what if it does?”
“It won’t. Pass me the water.”
I hand Dusan his drink and he chugs it.
“Do you trust me?” my mate asks.
“Of course.”
“Then get your butt in that shuttle.�
��
“O-okay,” I stammer.
“And take as much food with you as you can carry.”
Before I have even had time to stand up, the Ypes are already up and away, grabbing all of our supplies and making a neat pile of them inside their pod.
They really understand every word we say.
“Thank you,” I say, bowing my head towards them. “We couldn’t have made it out of here without you.”
One of them comes up to me. I think he’s their leader, for he has a circle drawn on his head with dirt, like a crown of sorts. He reaches into my pocket and pulls the scribbled note out. He holds it in his hands and ‘talks’ to me, though I don’t understand what he’s trying to say. However, I can reach his body language, and it seems like he’s pleading with me.
“I will get this message out there,” I say. “I will do my absolute best. I won’t rest until I’ve got this translated. You have my word.”
The Ype bows and hands me the note. He puts his open palms together, like he’s praying.
“What do you think is on this note?” I ask Dusan, unfolding the paper to look at the strange symbols and marking.
“I don’t know,” he answers, “but it must be important.”
I stuff it into my pocket. I will repay the Ypes their kindness, no matter what it takes. I owe it to them.
“Now, get out of here, all of you,” Dusan says. “When I fire this thing up it’ll be ten thousands degrees up in here. You don’t want to stick around.”
The creatures scamper away, shouting, screeching… singing? There’s a melodious quality to their hollering I haven’t heard before.
“Do you think they’re singing us goodbye?”
Dusan shrugs. “Who knows?”
We enter the shuttle and Dusan closes the hatch with a thud.
“Strap in,” he says. “This might be a bumpy ride.”
I strap myself into my seat. My Zoran mate stands in front of a console, his fingers moving rapidly across the dashboard.
“Ready?”
I nod, closing my eyes. Here it goes.
“And… fire.”
The moment those words leave his lips the entire pod starts rumbling and shaking. I can hear the thrusters ignite, and the smell of burning metal fills the entire pod, lingering in my nostrils.
We move across the metal floor of the ruined ship, creating an awful scraping sound. Every second that passes our speed increases. I squint through my half-closed eyelids and see the end of the tunnel appear.
“Steady,” Dusan growls, talking as much to me as to himself. “Steady… and up!”
He pulls a lever and the ship instantly turns, the nose pointing up, at the sky above. The rumbling intensifies, and it feels like the bolts themselves are coming apart.
I want to shut my eyes but also see what’s happening — so I keep one eye closed while the other one peeks at Dusan. He’s standing in front of the console, one hand holding himself steady, the other firing away at the dashboard.
We’re fired out of the tunnel, out of the wreckage of the ZMA Thunderbolt like a rocket, flying up, up, up into the bright, blue sky.
Dusan hollers as the sky opens up for us. Within seconds its blue fades to black as we leave the atmosphere and enter space.
“We made it!” he yells.
I breathe a sigh of relief. My hands let go of the straps — my knuckles turned white from the stress — and allow my shoulders a moment of relaxation.
I trust Dusan with my entire body and soul, but I did fear we were going to turn into yet another wreck…
The shuttle stabilizes in space, and Dusan walks over to me.
“I plotted a course for the nearest Alliance planet,” he says. “We ought to be picked up in a week, and from that point, be back on Earth in another week or two.”
I undo my straps, the reality of the situation not really sinking in yet.
“The nightmare is over?”
“The nightmare is over,” Dusan nods. “It’s sweet dreams from here on out.”
He grabs my cheeks and kisses me. I love the taste of his full lips. There’s something addictive to them — once I’ve had a taste I need more.
I jump out of my seat and straddle him, my face bumping into his.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” I say when I see him wince. “Your nose! Did I hurt you?”
“It’s fine,” Dusan laughs as he falls onto his back. “Come here.”
I climb onto his lap, straddling him.
“It’s my turn to do all the work,” I purr as my hands move down his armor, right down to that giant bulge of his.
“I surrender,” my Zoran warrior smirks. “I am yours.”
I stand up and wiggle my way out of my jeans.
Time to celebrate our well earned freedom.
Epilogue
Cindy
I can’t even begin to explain how good it feels to have solid ground underneath my feet again.
Earth.
I’ve missed you.
“Cindy!”
The familiar voice of Michelle is like music to my ears. She comes running at me, bypassing security, and flings her arms around me.
Our shuttle has just touched down in New Atlanta. I’ve spent the last few weeks with Dusan, our bodies wrapped around one another, lost in our own little world… and now we finally made it back.
“I was worried sick!” Michelle says. “Don’t you ever leave my side again, you hear!”
“I’ll try not to,” I smile. “But I think we both have Zorans who will want otherwise!”
Dusan appears at my side, towering over the two of us.
Michelle looks approvingly at my tall mate. “So this is the man I heard so much about, huh? Couldn’t resist nabbing yourself a Zoran? You know what they say, right?”
“I do not,” Dusan says matter-of-factly. “What do they say?”
“Once you go Zoran…”
Dusan frowns. “Then what?”
Michelle laughs and I grab Dusan’s hand. “I’ll explain later, honey.”
“Humans,” Dusan sighs, shaking his head.
“Tell me about it.”
That low voice… that’s Novak!
The two Zoran warriors shake hand in an intricate way, their fists touching.
“Glad to see you two made it out of there alive,” Novak says.
Dusan nods. “You got our report?”
“Yes, very disturbing. I arranged for a meeting with King Vinz, so you can brief him yourself.”
Dusan’s eyes widen. “Vinz himself?”
Novak nods. “We can go right away, if you want.”
I grab my mate’s hand. “We have an important message to deliver first.”
“Of course,” Novak says. “We’ll be waiting.”
I guide Dusan through the long, winding halls of the New Atlanta Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The mysterious message the Ype have left me has been burning a hole in my pocket. I need to get it to the smartest person I know — Nora.
“What is this place?” Dusan growls. “I never want to see an AI again.”
“Nora is different,” I tell him. “Not all AI are alike. She’s a good friend.”
“Are you sure about this?”
“Positive.”
The sliding doors open, and a bright, white room awaits us.
“You came back!”
Nora’s southern voice is filled with happiness.
“Of course I did!”
“Oh, I’m so happy,” she says. “I was worried sick, you know. I kept a close eye on the scans, but I never could pick up your signal… I feared the worst.”
“Well, the worst almost came to pass,” I admit. “We’ve been through hell… but we made it back!”
“Who is your friend?”
“I am Dusan,” my mate says loudly, his eyes scanning the white room. His shoulders are pulled back, his chest puffed out. He’s in full alpha mode.
“Relax,” I say, placing my hand on his abs. �
��We’ve had a bit of a… negative experience with another AI,” I tell Nora. “Dusan’s a bit on edge.”
“Oh no,” Nora says. “That sounds terrible! What happened?”
“Well…”
I tell her everything — the crash, DEVO, Malice, Zlatan, every last detail of our nail biting adventure. When I’m done, Nora is silent.
“That’s why we came to you… the Ypes handed us a note, but I don’t know what the symbols mean. I was hoping you, with your vast database, could help us decipher this message.
“Of course,” she says. “I’ll do anything to help.”
I unfold the paper and place it on a small white pedestal in the middle of the room. Nora scans it, and I eagerly await her response, my stomach in knots.
“Hmm,” she says after a moment. “Strange.”
“Strange?”
“Nothing in my database matches up. The closest I can get is ancient Tyk’ixian. If I cross reference that, then…”
“Then what?” I say, my heart racing.
“Then… it’s not a message, it’s a map.”
“A map?”
“Yes, of a sprawling, underground cave network… and a single word: Help.”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” Dusan says. “Why would the Ypes write in ancient Tyk’ixian?”
“I don’t know,” I say.
“She must be making a mistake,” Dusan says.
“Perhaps,” Nora says. “This is the best I can do. Sorry I can’t be of more help.”
“No, you’ve been very helpful, thank you,” I say. “For everything.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. Don’t be a stranger now, you hear?”
“I won’t be,” I say. “Promise!”
I drink in the New Atlanta skyline with Dusan standing next to me, our fingers locked together. We’re the only two souls on the rooftop of the Institute for Artificial Intelligence. The sun is setting, painting the sky a gorgeous purple, but the temperature is still very pleasant.
“What do you think it means?” I ask.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t add up,” he says. “They’re trying to tell us something, that’s for sure.”
“She said it read ‘Help’. They need us, Dusan.”
“I know,” he says decisively. “I’ll convince my King we have to go back to that planet. We’ll search the planet from top to bottom and turn it inside out. If the Ypes need our help, we’ll give it to them. I promise.”