by Mara Frost
We’ve walked for quite a while and it’s now mid-day and I have no fucking clue where we’re going. I did a topography scan and decided to guide us towards a large clearing, thinking that it would be easier for one of Maxaya’s shuttles to pick us up, but aside from that we’re really just walking for the sake of walking. And that’s pissing me off.
Vorak better pull through.
Fortunately, the little rest that I had last night was enough to heal a significant portion of my broken rib, so at least I don’t have to deal with the searing pain anymore.
“So…where are we going exactly?” she asks, slightly out of breath, but still in good condition.
“That’s none of your concern.”
She laughs. It’s a hearty sound, as if she’s actually really amused. It’s not an unpleasant sound.
“Of course it’s none of my concern,” she says through an amused smile. “I’m just stranded on this planet with you that’s all.” She sighs as the laughter tapers. “How did I know you were going to say something like that?”
I hack at a particularly stubborn vine. “Perhaps your people have a latent ability to read minds.”
“Some would argue that human women do. We can be a pretty intuitive bunch, especially when it comes to sensing when men are being shady.”
“What is ‘shady’?” I ask, grunting while I completely pulverize a thick vine.
“Oh that’s just when someone is not being entirely honest or forthcoming with information.”
“They sound dishonorable.”
“Yeah, they can be.”
I stop and turn.
“Are you suggesting that I lack honor? That I am ‘shady’?”
At this she chuckles again. I gaze at her critically. What did I say that was so amusing? Why does she laugh? Despite the fact that a small annoying part of me seems to enjoy what laughing does to her face, I don’t enjoy being laughed at.
“I didn’t realize how weird it would be to hear you say ‘shady’.”
Once she realizes that I’m not amused, her smile slowly dissipates and she sighs quietly.
“No, I don’t think you’re ‘shady’. From what I can see, you’re the opposite of ‘shady’. You’re the most forthcoming and brutally honest person I’ve ever met, but you’re also frustrating and overbearing and you keep things to yourself.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “And that’s frustrating.”
Satisfied by her explanation, I turn around and begin walking again. Her words stick with me though. Of course she is curious about where we’re going or what is going to happen. Perhaps I should let her know the situation…
Five micro-cycles later…
“We’re going to die.”
I instantly regret my decision.
“We are not going to die.”
She throws her hands up in the air and blows one of her persistent stray hairs out of her face. It’s a move that is unexpectedly appealing. Although, I could be finding it pleasing because her cheeks are so flushed and her generous breasts are heaving so heavily.
“How are we NOT going to die? You have no idea where we are. You have no idea where we’re going. And you’re hoping that one of Maxaya’s shuttles is going to just magically find us?”
I take a deep breath. “I know where we are and I know where we’re headed. And Maxaya will not ‘magically’ find us. Our bond will naturally allow her to know where we are once she’s within range.”
She growls silently to herself.
“That doesn’t sound wonderfully convincing. You know, if we’re going to die, I fell into a perfectly good ditch back there. I even had food! You could have just left me there and I wouldn’t have to be all Indiana Jones and trekking through a forest right now!”
Don’t tempt me, human. I’ve already found two equally large ditches today. I don’t mention this of course. I’m not a fool and she’s clearly annoyed.
“What is Indee-ahna Chones?”
“Indiana Jones,” she snaps back. “He was an adventurer and researcher who trekked through remote areas to find lost cultural artifacts. He would often risk life and limb and battle evil doers to find precious pieces of history.”
“That makes no sense at all. Why would anyone risk their life for an…artifact? An outdated piece of history that has no bearing on life today? This Indee-ahna Chones is an idiot. His time would be better spent doing more productive things.”
“Yeah, I kind of figured you were going to say something like that,” she replies dryly. “It’s what the artifacts represent - it’s a people’s history. Some argue that you need to know where you’ve been to know where you’re going. It helps to know you’re past so that you can grow as a society. You avoid your past mistakes and learn from them.”
“He is still an idiot, ”I grumble half-heartedly, choosing to ignore the wisdom in her words.
“Just another movie you need to watch.”
I choose to dismiss her words. Again with these “movies” that she always talks about. Perhaps I will look into them once we get off this damn planet.
Cutting at branches and overgrowth, I continue to push us forward. According to the scanner, we should be at the clearing a little before nightfall – which is good. Being in the field is a more desirable position in terms of defense anyway. It’s always more difficult to protect yourself when you can’t see what’s hiding next to you in an overgrown forest.
“You know, this actually isn’t that bad. I mean, the hike uphill is making me work ass muscles that I didn’t even know that I had.”
I stare forward, focused and determined, trying very hard not to visualize her ass, her perfectly round ass that sways in such an enticing way that I have to restrain myself from claiming it. Or punch something because I can’t.
I remain silent.
“Maybe I’m just being too negative, you know? I need to be more –“
She is abruptly cut off when her face slams into my back.
“What the Hell, Gigantor? Did you know you make an amazing wall? Why did you…stop…” her voice trails as her eyes land on what it’s in front of us.
Which are dozens of armed men. More specifically, dozens of armed men who are pointing spear-like weapons at us. Dani steps in closer and presses her body against mine and latches onto my back.
“Wh-who are they?”
Without making any quick movements and without taking my eyes off the spear directly in front of me, I say, “I don’t know. They must be the local inhabitants.”
While still shielding her body with mine, she peeks over my shoulder and whispers, “What do they want?”
I fight the urge to say a smartass remark – mostly regarding her famous “female intuition”. Instead, I opt with something more reasonable.
“I do not know.”
And I don’t, but if I had to hazard a guess, based on their eager eyes, I would say either a good fight or something more sinister. I’m going to keep that thought to myself though. No reason to upset her sooner than necessary.
“Maybe we should just talk to them? Let them know that we mean no harm?”
“I’m not sure if that will help,” I reply back lowly. “Or make a difference.”
They apparently don’t approve of the conversation that we’re having. The alien men in front of us start to growl and thrust their spears towards us angrily. The human quickly hiccups back a cry as her mouth snaps shut. I calmly look at the armed men and gauge them quietly.
They’re not large, but they’re not small either. And they’re certainly not small enough that I would be able to take them all on single-handedly. They’re muscular and they carry themselves like warriors, it would be stupid to try to engage in battle with them. Something would likely happen to the little human while I was occupied fighting them.
I eye them more critically, trying to assess our new visitors. They’re almost completely naked and appear to be hairless and very pale in color, almost pure white, and they have a ridge above their nose
that seems to go all the way to the back of their head. But, aside from these small differences, they actually look very similar to Dani.
This might explain why they’re staring at her so intently – which I find to be very…irksome. She notices this as well.
“Uhm…what’s their deal?” She grabs my arms and squeezes nervously. A sudden intense feeling washes over me as I fight the urge to bring out my blaster and annihilate them all. Instead, I just stand there and eye them as they slowly surround us.
“They’re just curious about us.”
“Then why are they looking at me like a new toy and you like rotten meat?”
The warriors have us almost completely surrounded at this point. I shift slightly and shoot a lethal gaze at one of the men who seems to be getting a little too close and a little too curious with Dani. The little alien man recoils slightly and bares his pointy teeth and snarls like a rabid animal.
Excellent. They’re crazy bastards. It’s a shame that I can’t engage in battle with them right now. It would have undoubtedly been a spirited fight.
“What the fuck!?” Dani yelps as she attempts to crawl up my back. I think under different circumstances I might have liked that, but right now it’s just making it more difficult to have a clear visual of everyone.
As the group circles around us, they slowly begin to step in closer and closer. Her grip on me tightens as my own body begins to tense. The impulse to reach for my weapon is almost overwhelming. My hands twitch and feel like they’re on fire. Instead, I do what I apparently do well. I growl. Loud.
And this gets a reaction.
“Stop! Don’t do that!! Your growling is the equivalent of punching someone in the face. It’s terrifying. Stop doing that!”
As far as I’m concerned she is speaking nonsense. I don’t care. The little bastards are getting closer. It’s bad enough that I can’t rip all their heads off right now. It’s damn near impossible to not growl my displeasure.
And despite my strong impulse to grab one of the little men and whip him around and around in a circle until all of the little bastards are knocked out, I have to stand down for her safety. This is frustrating as fuck.
“No.” I continue to growl.
“Well, they don’t look too-“
“Dumb blue giant! You shut up!”
This makes her stop short and pause for a second.
“Were they talking to…uhm…you?”
I say nothing. That barely audible nonsense could not have been directed towards me. Besides, this planet is too remote and these creatures surely can’t speak any of the known languages.
Regardless, without realizing it, I growl louder.
“Dum-dum blue man! Shut up or you get stabbed!”
At this my own eyes widen. I hear Dani hiccup back a cry and cover her mouth. I glance down at her briefly and I see the same surprise on her face, but with a hint of something else. I’m not sure what, but it looks suspiciously like surprised amusement.
I cock an eyebrow at her in annoyance and then look back at the angry little jungle man who apparently isn’t above name-calling. He points his weapon towards me as I take a step forward.
“Dakhar what are you doing!” I hear Dani whisper frantically behind me. I ignore her. A little man with a pointy stick just insulted me – men have died for far less. And I’m not going to be nearly as tolerant with these annoying jungle men as I am with her when it comes to people making remarks about my “blueness”.
The entire group of men starts to move defensively around us and make nervous noises. I ignore them and continue to walk towards the man that I assume is their leader. He does nothing. He doesn’t move, he doesn’t say anything, he just matches my stare as I approach him.
I loom over him by a head, but this doesn’t seem to faze him. He carries himself in such a way that exudes confidence and a sureness that suggests he’s seen many battles and isn’t afraid to face one more no matter how unlikely the odds are. I respect this. It might be foolish on his part when facing the likes of me, but I still respect it.
“Did you just say something to me, little man?” I growl. But that doesn’t mean that I’m going to show any of that respect to him right now.
“Blue man and female in Tah-doori land.”
I look around casually.
“I see no signs that says Tah-doori on it,” I reply evenly. I feel Dani give me a quiet nudge from behind, undoubtedly trying to tell me to not start trouble.
The little man hisses and exposes his sharp jagged teeth.
“You are on Tah-doori land! Must pay price!”
This piques my interest a bit. A price? This should get interesting. In situations like these, the “prices” tend to be either disproportionately steep or too odd to actually achieve - like collecting a single feather from a rare exotic animal that only resides in the fire pits of a dying star. And usually said rare exotic animal in question doesn’t even have feathers.
The leader glances over my shoulder once and then glances back at me and then back to my shoulder.
Damn. This isn’t going to end well.
“Her!” the little warrior yells excitedly while pointing his spear at Dani.
Fuck. Well, there you go.
“Want her! Price for entering land is female!”
At this Dani steps out from behind me with the look of anger and indignation that I have come to expect and have grown accustomed to. Without realizing it, I brace myself for whatever it is that she’s about to say or do. It will undoubtedly force me to have to engage in battle.
“Excuse me? Did you just say that the price for us entering your land was ‘me’? ME? You’re trying to bargain for me, you little twerp?!” she snaps at him. “Don’t think that just because you’re all National Geographic and missed out on braces as a kid that I’m going to let you treat me like a toll fare on the turnpike!”
She then looks at me and then looks at all the warriors surrounding us and then throws her arms up in exasperation.
“What is it with you people!? Seriously! What is your problem! All of you should be ashamed of yourselves – every last one of you!”
The angry human takes a step towards the leader. I make a move to pull her back, but she flinches and swats my hand away. The leader notices this and his eyes widen slightly. I only shrug. Whatever, she’s doing her thing.
“You! Do you have a mother? A woman who birthed you and reared you?”
Taken slightly aback by the question, the little man stiffened slightly, as if on the defensive now.
“Ah! I see that being protective of one’s mother is a universal thing. Well? A mother? Did you have one?”
The leader blinks awkwardly several times as the entire group of men suddenly lower their voices to hush tones.
“Yes.”
“Ah! You did! And did she care for you? Shelter you? Take care of you when you were young? When you were sick? When you were sad?”
“No.”
“See! So, why do you – wait, what? She didn’t?”
I reach for her again. “What are you doing?” I ask through gritted teeth, but she ignores me entirely.
We’re fucked.
“My mother birthed me and then cycled onto her next stage.”
“Cycled? Cycled onto her next stage? What does that mean?” She looks around the group, but no one answers.
“Her gaiah was extinguished,” the little man replies.
“Her what…?”
I clear my throat and interrupt her before anything else is said. I’m not sure how she managed to take a hostile situation and turn it into a very awkward one, but I need to intervene before she puts her foot in her mouth.
“I believe she died,” I say lowly as I take a step forward and speak into her ear.
Her face changes instantly. Miraculously, the obstinate look on her face melts away almost immediately and is replaced with a much softer look, a look of pity and sadness.
“Oh…! She died? I’m so sorry�
�”
The war leader stands straighter and looks tense, but to my surprise he doesn’t look angrier. He just looks uncomfortable. We ALL do. Everyone except for Dani.
Dani then does something that makes me want to either slap my head in pure disbelief or throw my head back in laughter. I’m really not sure which to do right now. I watch as she steps closer to the war leader until she’s only a few feet away, her stance welcoming and…almost warm.
Her eyes full of sympathy, she says, “That’s so sad. I’m so sorry. How did it happen?”
The man shifts uncomfortably and then looks around at his men, who all have confused looks on their face, as if they’re unsure of what is going on. You and me both, I think grumpily. Still tense and ready for any quick movements from the leader, I watch on cautiously.
“Her gaiah extinguished after my first breath.”
“Oh no…she died giving birth to you?”
“No. A wooly xer’tak ate her after giving birth to me,” he replies, his back stiff.
At this, even I stop and stare at the little war leader in surprise. That’s pretty rough.
“Uhh…” Dani looks around uncomfortably, completely caught off guard by the little man telling her that his mother was eaten right after she gave birth to him. If I wasn’t directly involved in this situation, I would almost find this amusing.
“I-I’m so…uhm…sorry,” she says, her voice a little unsure, but still sounding sincere and full of emotion. “What’s your name?”
The question seems to catch the leader off guard, but he replies, “Roktari.”
“What are you doing?” I whisper again sharply.
“I don’t know! Trying to not get dead!” she bites back lowly before continuing with the warrior. “Roktari, I’m so sorry. I lost my mother at a young age as well.” She pauses for a moment and then hesitantly reaches out her hand and gives the alien man a consoling pat. I struggle to not slap my hands over my eyes.
What the fuck?! What is she doing? I take a step forward quickly and all the surrounding men immediately take an aggressive step forward with me, implying that where I’m standing is where they want me.