by Rinelle Grey
In the few moments it took him to cover the distance, a full on scuffle had broken out between two of the men. Three others watched. Ignoring them, a couple of women were already working together to attach two of them at once to the rope.
“Stop.” Without stopping to think, Kerit jumped between the two men, holding up both his hands. “This won’t help anything. You don’t have time to fight. You need to head to the Resolution. Now.”
“We won’t make it. Not in time.”
“You won’t make it down here either. Not without a broken neck. The longer you stand here arguing, the closer it gets.”
Eyes flew towards the alien. The sun glinted off its armour. Knowing what he was seeing, Kerit could make out the long claws. Images of what those claws could do to these people flashed through his mind, turning his stomach.
At least Folly wasn’t here. She was safe in her ship, wherever she was.
“Go!” he shouted.
The men took one last look at him, then turned and sprinted towards the Resolution.
They were right. They weren’t going to make it. But more would make it that way than this. The alien could only carry off one at a time.
Except it wasn’t going for the people. Its course changed, veering towards the Resolution.
Of course. It had no interest in any of them. It wanted the ship. It wanted out of here.
Kerit abandoned the people climbing down into the cave and began to run towards the Resolution, pulling the radio off his belt as he went. “Close the hatch!”
“But we have people coming in!”
He had to get as many of them in as he could. Once the alien realised it couldn’t get inside the ship, it would turn on the people. “Right, get them on as fast as you can, but be ready to close the hatch next time I say.”
“But, sir? There are so many people coming.”
“And if you don’t close it when I say, you’ll have an alien inside.”
There was a long silence. “Yes, sir.”
Ignoring the ache in his ankle, Kerit continued to run towards the Resolution, even though he knew there was no way he could make it in time. He squinted against the sun, watching the alien speed in the same direction.
His nerves stretched taut as it flew closer and closer. The huddle of people trying to squeeze through the narrow hatch barely seemed to shrink. How could he give the order to close the door when so many of them were still outside?
How could he not? Tyris was inside, and Marlee. Maybe they were parents by now. His mother and father. So many other people.
“Close the hatch.” His voice was breathless, and he slowed to a stop.
He released the button and dropped his arm. Staring at the Resolution, he watched the door shut. People tried to fight their way in, screams rising. But the gap grew smaller and smaller.
People began to turn. The alien flapped its wings, a roar splitting the air. The final gap closed and Kerit breathed a sigh of relief. Those inside the ship were safe.
But those outside weren’t.
The alien roared again and lowered towards the crowd, claws outstretched.
“NO!” Kerit’s voice rang out across the distance.
The alien paused, and turned.
“Gegit.” The word was loud and clear. It remembered him.
The momentary feeling of relief he felt when the alien moved away from the people at the Resolution was short lived. It was coming straight towards him. He tried to remind himself that it hadn’t killed him last time, but the knowledge did little to calm his racing heart. Then, he’d been its only way into the shuttle. Now, it had a whole field full of people.
A whole field full of people he had to protect. His heart pounding in his chest, he forced himself to walk across the sand towards the alien.
“Kugah!” he called out.
“Gegit,” the alien responded again. It began to move towards him. Away from the people who huddled against the side of the ship as if it could somehow protect them.
The Resolution couldn’t protect them. He couldn’t risk opening the doors again—couldn’t risk the lives of the thousands of people who were already safely inside for the hundred who still waited out here.
He had to find another way.
“Gegit!” The alien landed in front of him. It waved a limb back towards the Resolution. “Gegit, gahgip.”
The voice sounded… accusatory. Kerit’s mind sped up. The alien must be annoyed to find he’d been hiding another ship. One bigger and faster. It was probably angry enough to kill him now.
Except… it just stared at him. It was annoyed, yes, but not to the point of being furious. He could work with that.
“Spaceship, yes,” he agreed.
“Gahgip.” The alien waved at the Resolution. Then it pointed up into the sky. It made a mournful moan. “Garooon.”
Kerit was diverted. “Garoon? Is that… your home?”
“Garooon,” the alien said again, pointing more insistently.
“You want to go home,” Kerit said slowly.
The alien’s beady eyes stared at him.
“Of course you do. What else would you want?” He stared up at the sky. Who knew where the alien’s planet was? And chances were the Resolution could never reach there, even if they wanted to. The Colonies had detected no signs of intelligent alien life in all their explorations. Wherever Kugah lived, it was beyond the capabilities of their ship.
“Gahgip.”
“I’m sorry,” Kerit said, wishing there was some way to make it understand. “We can’t go that far.”
“Gahgip,” the alien repeated. This time, it was pointing behind Kerit.
The sound of engines penetrated his fear. He turned, to see Folly’s ship hovering behind him.
Chapter 25
For a moment, as she had blasted across the sand, Folly had felt free. All the doubts she had carried over the years had vanished, and she’d felt at peace. The speed and smoothness of the flight reassured her.
Ahead of her, there was nothing but sand, rocks, and dirt, as far as the eye could see. The whole planet was like this. And now she had the means to leave it all behind. To go wherever she wanted.
This ship was everything she’d dreamed about.
Except it wasn’t. Somewhere along the line, what she wanted had changed.
Even though she’d tried to shut Kerit out, tried to keep the dreams of a different life at bay, somehow, they’d wormed their way into her heart. No spaceship, no finally proving herself right, filled the hole he’d left.
He was back there, doing what was right. Saving her own people, who she’d deserted. She knew, in her heart, that he wouldn’t be giving up or admitting defeat. Kerit would be fighting for what he believed in, just as he’d always done. Even when it wasn’t his fight, or his cause. He stayed because it was the right thing to do.
Not like her. She’d just run.
She remembered back in the ruined apartment building, when she’d accused him of wanting to run. How she’d boasted that she preferred to get up and do something with her life, not hide from it.
Yet here she was, hiding and running, while he was out there facing it on his own. Chicken’s fearful shivering irritated her, but she couldn’t blame the little skuttle. She was just as afraid of new situations as her pet was. She’d always pretended to herself that she didn’t hide from her problems, that she did something about them.
It was time she faced up to them. Time she did what she knew was right and stopped hiding from what might go wrong. Yes, Kerit might reject her one day. Love might not last. But it certainly wouldn’t if she hid from it.
She swung the nose of the ship around and sped back towards the caves.
The speed had seemed so great when she was leaving, but so slow on the way back. She couldn’t wait to see Kerit’s face when she returned, and she couldn’t wait to apologise to him. She spent the whole journey trying to imagine how the conversation would go. And how it would feel when he kissed her.
When she saw him standing there, alone in the middle of the sand, with the alien in front of him, her heart leapt into her mouth. She was too late. Again. Once again, she’d turned from him when he needed her most.
No, she refused to believe that. She wasn’t going to let him slip through her fingers again. She needed to think.
The alien hadn’t hurt Kerit last time, there was no reason to think it would this time. All she needed was to figure out what it wanted…
The ship. The Resolution.
Of course. It wanted the same thing it had always wanted—a ship to take it home. Just as Kerit had guessed the first time.
And she had one. One that could probably actually get it home too.
She felt like her heart was tearing in two. Her ship, her one last link with her father—or Kerit. How could she ever choose?
A slow smile spread across her face. There was no choice. This ship wasn’t her father. It wasn’t the truth either. It was a piece of metal. A brilliant, amazing piece of technology. But she didn’t need it to know that she was right. Her father had been a brilliant scientist.
And now he’d given her the way to save the man she loved.
Folly set the Thalia Mae carefully on the sand as close behind Kerit as she dared. Taking one last look around the inside, memorising it, she pulled out the pin that held the door closed and stepped out. She patted Chicken’s head. “It’s all going to be okay, Chicken. I know it.”
For some reason, all the fear she’d felt towards the alien melted away as Kerit stared at her, love shining in his eyes. She walked across the sand to take his hand. “Take it,” she said to the alien, waving back towards the ship. “I hope you find your way home.”
The alien stared at her solemnly.
“Folly, you can’t!”
She turned to him with a smile. “It doesn’t matter, Kerit. It’s just a ship. None of it matters as long as I’m here with you.”
“But we need it.” Kerit waved back towards the Resolution. “Everyone on there, all the families with Tyris and Marlee, it’s their best chance at finding a new home. Otherwise, where will we go?”
Folly’s heart dropped. “But… I…”
She looked towards the alien, but it hadn’t moved. It looked towards the Tahlia Mae, then stared at them, its head cocked to one side.
“Gahgip?”
Kerit took a step towards him, still holding Folly’s hand. “Kugah, I know you want to go home, but we need that ship.” His brow furrowed, then cleared. He pointed to him and Folly, then to the Resolution. “We need to find our...” His hand drew a circle that included them, and all the people on the Resolution, “our garoon.”
“Gegit garoon,” the alien said.
Hell, it could actually understand what Kerit was saying. Somehow, they were communicating. Folly stared at Kerit with a new found respect.
He was nodding. “My garoon. Mine and all these people.” He waved his hand to include everyone.
Glancing around, Folly realised everyone was staring at them, wide eyed. No one moved.
The alien seemed to crumple. It looked around, its beady black eyes reflecting all the people watching them. Then it turned back to Kerit. “Gegit garoon.” It waved its hand to the sky. “Gegit garoon.”
Then it turned and began to walk away.
Folly couldn’t believe it. Surely it couldn’t be that easy?
It took another step, then opened its wings to fly.
“Wait!” Kerit called out.
The alien turned. Folly squeezed Kerit’s hand, and a smile started on her face.
“My garoon, and Kugah’s.” Kerit pointed to himself, then to the alien. “We go find our garoon together.”
The radio at Kerit’s belt crackled, and Tyris’s voice came out, loud and clear. “It’s a girl!”
Chapter 26
“I can’t believe you just agreed to take him to his home.” Tyris strode up and down the briefing room, his earlier excitement at being a father gone. He paused every now and then to look at the alien, standing in the middle of the room, unmoving. He ran a hand through his hair. “We have no idea where his home is, or how far away. I have a whole ship full of families who need a home too.”
“You said that we could use the technology from Folly’s dad’s ship to find a new home. Why not in the direction of his home?” Kerit argued.
Folly squeezed his hand, and he was reassured by her support. She understood why he’d done it, even if no one else seemed to.
He’d thought everyone would run and hide when he’d brought the alien back into the Resolution. Instead, they were all crowded into the room, almost seeming to take it in turns to squeeze in to catch a glimpse of the strange black creature. They left a wide circle around him though. No one wanted to get too close.
“We don’t even know if it will work or not yet. Nerris is still examining it. What if it won’t? What will it do then?”
“It will work,” Folly said flatly. “I know it will.”
Kerit squeezed her hand, but addressed Tyris. “Kugah will understand. We can only do what we can do.”
His brother paused his pacing to stare at the alien again. “How do you know? Are you sure it even understood you in the first place?”
“Look, I can’t explain it to you any other way. I know it’s hard to take in, but we were communicating. We understood each other.”
His assertions weren’t helped any by Kugah’s sudden reticence to speak. The alien hadn’t made a sound since it had followed him into the Resolution. Was he suddenly shy or something?
Folly spoke up for him though. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes. I was sure that the creature was just out to eat us, but I swear, it was talking to Kerit and understanding what he said.”
Tyris heaved a sigh, and his shoulders slumped. “Well, I wish you’d asked me before you made an agreement for the whole ship. I’m supposed to be keeping everyone here safe, and I’m beginning to wonder how I’m going to manage that.”
Anger rose in Kerit. “I was trying to give you a chance to be here with your wife to witness the birth of your daughter! And anyway, it all happened so suddenly I didn’t have a chance to ask you what you thought. I just had to do what seemed right to me at the time.”
Aleck, Folly’s brother, stepped forwards in the crowd. “He was so brave. We all thought that alien was going to tear everyone to pieces, and he just stood there and called out to it! I mean, it was all flying and screaming, but he didn’t bat an eyelid. He just called it by name.
“You should be grateful he was there to do what he did. I’m not sure anyone else could have done it. Even you.”
There was silence in the room at Aleck’s speech. Then someone at the back of the room started clapping. The sound rang out loudly in the silence. Then someone else joined in, and before he knew it, the whole room was clapping.
Kerit’s face felt like it was on fire. He had no idea if they were clapping for him, or for Aleck’s speech, but it was embarrassing anyway.
He shook his head. “I just did what I had to do. It wasn’t anything special. I’m sure if Tyris had been there, he would have done something too. Probably something better.”
His brother stared at him. Then he looked around at the crowd, who had fallen silent to hear him. His gaze came to rest on Kugah who stared back, unblinking. Then he turned back to Kerit and cleared his throat.
Tyris gave a laugh. “Probably not. I might have tried to fight him, and I don’t think that would have been as successful. I’m sorry, Kerit. Everyone’s right. You did an amazing thing back there. It was very brave.”
Kerit’s imagination immediately filled in the probable outcome of that act. He winced. Even if Tyris had lived through the experience, it wouldn’t have been a good one.
Then it hit him. He’d done something better than his brother. And what’s more, people around the room agreed with him. A weight he hadn’t even known he was carrying slipped f
rom his shoulders.
The lightness he felt helped him say with genuine belief, “You would have made it work somehow.” He felt no jealousy. Just a sudden appreciation that while he wasn’t like his brother, he was equally capable.
Tyris stepped forwards and hugged him, slapping him on the back. “Well, I think you did a great job. Thanks for looking after things while I couldn’t.”
That reminded Kerit. “How’s Marlee?”
Tyris’s face broke into a big smile. “She and our daughter are doing fine. They’re resting now, but I’m sure Marlee won’t mind if you and Folly call in to see her. In fact, I’m sure she’d insist on it.”
“We will,” Kerit promised.
“And I should be heading back to join them, but first…” he turned to Folly’s mum. “There’s no hurry now that the ali… Kugah is our friend, but do you want to go ahead with the terraforming?”
Her brow furrowed, and she looked around at the other people from the caves. “I don’t know. It would be good to reverse the damage done by the meteor impact, but there is still a risk to wildlife in the caves…”
“It’s not just the caves,” Folly admitted. “When we were exploring the ruins of Tadig, Kerit and I saw a bird over the ocean.”
That caused a stir. Folly’s mother turned to confer with a few other biologists, and then turned back. “That changes things. If life is returning to the rest of the planet, I don’t think we can risk…”
She broke off as the alien moved. He ignored everyone as they moved away from him in a wave, instead walking to the front of the room where Kerit’s mum’s diagrams were still on the whiteboard.
“What’s he doing?” someone whispered.
Kerit watched as Kugah wiped one of the hexagons with his hand, and then picked up the pen, staring at it for a moment, before painstakingly re-drawing the shape.
It must have been slightly different, because his mum gasped and stepped forwards. “I didn’t even think… yes, that changes everything.” Completely unafraid, she took the pen from Kugah, who stared at her unblinkingly, and drew a few lines and scribbles off the shape. “Like this?” she asked. Luckily, she didn’t seem to need an answer because Kugah didn’t make a sound.