I kicked. Thrashed. I threw my head back and crashed my skull against Giram’s helmet. Hot, wet blood trickled down the back of my skull. I struck again. I had to get to Mikki.
“Surnen! Calm the fuck down.” Trax grabbed my face by the chin and squeezed, hard, forcing me to look at him. “Don’t make me shoot your ass.”
“Let me go.”
“No. You are losing your fucking mind. Giram is going to carry you back to shore, and you are going to fucking stay there while I go get our mate.” Trax slammed my helmet back on my head, initiated a pathogen scan and nodded at Giram. “Thanks. Take him back.”
Giram turned and I saw the other guards with Rachel and Maxim, the female gaping at me like I’d lost my damn mind. I had lost more than that. I had nothing without Mikki.
“Surnen? I’m fine. Okay? I’m not going anywhere. We have time to figure this out.” Mikki’s voice was pure sweetness and light, and I broke, slumping in Giram’s hold moments before he dumped me on the sand like a bag of rocks.
I deserved worse.
Trax bent down, taking a knee to look me in the eyes. “Now, tell me what the hell that was about.”
“My mother.”
“You’ve never talked about her or your fathers. Not once in all the years I’ve known you.”
“The past should stay in the past.”
“Perhaps, but not today.”
“I’m so sorry. What happened to your mother?” Mikki said, her voice coming through loud and clear over all our comms.
“My mother was rebellious,” I clarified. “Free-spirited. They were all sickened by a deadly disease they never should have been exposed to—all because my mother had wanted to take home a harmless-looking flower from a newly discovered world. My fathers allowed her to break the rules and hide the plant in her gear. She smuggled it back to our home on Prillon Prime. Turns out, it harbored a deadly virus carried by alien insects hidden in the stems. She was dead within a week. My fathers followed her two days later.”
I heard her gasp.
“All because they broke the rules.”
“And so you decided never to break them,” Trax sighed. “Well, that explains a lot.”
“Protocol saves lives. Rules are rules for a reason.”
“I’m not down here because your dads didn’t follow the rules, Surnen,” Mikki said, her voice calm. “Things happen. Sometimes things completely out of our control. Uh-oh.”
All around me, chimes erupted from every scanner and handheld device.
“Sensors picking up additional energy coming from the machines,” one of the warriors called. His gaze was on the scanner in his hand.
Rachel waved a scanner at her mate. “The machines are what’s bringing this about. It’s not a climate issue. The planet will be bled dry of all water in months at this rate. Maxim, we have to do something.”
Trax looked to me, his rust-colored gaze narrowed. “They’re sucking the life from this planet.”
“Mikki, do you see? You shouldn’t have gone down there,” I snapped. “There’s no protocol for going under the fucking water!”
“I.C. Core Command, this is Governor Maxim of The Colony. Get me Helion. Now!” he snapped.
“Request denied. Location could not be verified. You are not on The Colony,” a benign voice replied.
“I am on Valuri,” Maxim said, going over to Rachel and standing directly beside her, close enough that they touched from shoulder to thigh. I doubted he would leave her side before we were off this planet. “Your data will confirm that. It will also confirm a Hive presence that had been undetected by your commander. Get me Helion now or I will have you working as a prison guard orbiting Everis before the sun sets.”
“Um, guys…” Mikki said. “The suction is picking up. It’s like it switched into high gear.”
Her voice was muffled by the swirl of water, the loud vibration of a machine we hadn’t even known existed until minutes ago.
“We need to get her out of there,” Trax said. “Now!”
“No one can swim but Rachel, and she’s not going out there,” Maxim said, stating the obvious.
“We can use a transport beacon,” I said, considering the simplest solution.
The governor nodded and came over to me, slapped one in my palm.
On The Colony, there were rules and protocols in place for everything. Within the Coalition, warriors survived by rules.
Mikki’s voice came through, even a little muffled. “You guys fight wars in space, but no one learns how to swim? That doesn’t sound very smart to me. Don’t any of the other planets have water on them?”
I could breathe again, and Mikki’s scolding actually made me grin. “Prillon Prime has large oceans, mate. But the water is ruled by many deadly predators. We do not swim because we do not go into the water.”
“Don’t you have lakes? Swimming pools?”
I looked at Trax, who shrugged. “I’m going in.”
We stared at the water, whose surface was completely calm even though we could hear the machinery through Mikki’s comms. The beeping through the data scanners confirmed it was anything but placid beneath the surface. I felt helpless. Just as useless as I had when my family had died and I could do nothing to save them.
“I’ll go,” I said, determined. I’d die a slow death if Mikki didn’t make it.
Trax looked around. “No. You’re out of your head. I’ll go.”
“How?” I practically shouted, raising my arms in the air.
While I was fighting down another bout of rising panic, Trax was becoming sharp and focused. This was a situation he recognized, and it had nothing to do with water. There was a problem that needed solving with action. The Hive was the enemy, and he knew battle better than most.
Trax’s gaze narrowed as he faced away from the beach, away from our mate who was slowly—or possibly very quickly—being sucked into some kind of water transport system directly to the Hive.
“Give me the transport beacon.” Mindlessly I held my hand out, and he took it from me and stuck it in a pocket. “I’ll surf.”
What? With those words, he sprinted toward the nearest trees, disappearing into the thick foliage, only to return seconds later with a huge piece of wood. It was about a foot shorter than he was, but sturdy and thick. If he weren’t a Prillon, he might not be able to carry it. It was stripped of bark and branches, rotting in places. A dead tree, slowly rotting back into the ground.
“Are you crazy?” I called as he ran toward the water. “You’re not accustomed to being on land, let alone in water. It’s going to sink and take you with it!”
He didn’t slow down or turn. His feet hit the water, and he tossed the log out in front of him, creating a splash and a huge ripple. It dipped beneath the surface, then bobbed. He looked over his shoulder and shouted, “You’re right. I can’t relate to being on a planet, on real ground. I sure as fuck know nothing about an ocean. I do know about being a mate. She needs our help, and I’m going to give it. No matter what. I might not be able to swim, but I can save our mate. I can.”
He grabbed the end of the log and pulled it back so he was standing beside it, the water level with his waist. He leaned forward so his chest was centered on it, legs and arms on either side, just as we’d seen in the comm videos of Rachel and the surfing competitions from Earth. There were no waves, thank fuck, but Trax had no idea what he was doing. He moved his arms and legs like we’d seen on the vids, and he somehow propelled himself farther out into the water without falling off or sinking.
While he had his helmet on and a full supply of oxygen, if he went under and didn’t find Mikki, there would be no other way to save her. If he couldn’t get the transport beacon to her, she was as good as dead.
11
Trax
* * *
I had no fucking idea what I was doing. I was floating on a log, frantically kicking my legs and moving my arms in something similar to what I’d seen Mikki do in those comm vids. She’d prop
elled herself across the surface gracefully, as if one with the ocean.
I didn’t feel as in sync, but I wasn’t sinking. I was surprisingly buoyant, as if there was no gravity. The log undulated with the movement of the water’s surface, and if I wasn’t concerned about a rescue or that I might drown, it was rather peaceful. A small roll in the surf came and dipped the front of the log, and I took a bunch of water right in my face.
I shut my eyes, afraid, but realized I was protected.
Thank fuck we had to arrive wearing our helmets. Mikki was some thirty feet down, and I had to get off this bobbing tree trunk and get to her. I’d be dead in seconds without the protection—and oxygen—the helmet provided. There was no way the makers of the piece of the Coalition-required uniform thought it would be put to this kind of use. We fought the Hive in space, not beneath the ocean.
“Mate, how are you faring?” I asked, water splashing onto the glass, leaving droplets in my vision.
“It’s like a huge fan or vacuum cleaner. There’s no way I can get away from it. I’ve got my feet braced on either side, the main opening is only about three feet wide. It’s sucking in sand and water, plant life. Everything. I’m going to… I can reach a rock. I’ll try and see if I can break it.”
“Don’t move,” I shouted over the sound of the water.
“I got one.” A metallic clang followed by an awful sound came through the comms that made me wince.
“Mate!” Surnen shouted.
“I’m fine, but that didn’t do anything. And I almost lost my hand.”
“Cease at once.”
“Already ceased, mate. Trust me. I don’t want to be eaten alive by an underwater Shop-Vac.”
“What the fuck is a Shop-Vac?”
“I’ll explain later.” Mikki’s laughter kept me moving. She wasn’t hurt. I was getting closer. All I needed was time.
“No change to status, Governor.” Giram’s voice came through loud and clear as I continued to smack at the water and work my way farther from shore. Closer to Mikki.
I sensed her concern now. She was stuck. Not pinned, but a strong pull was holding her on the bottom of the water. A pull that could be tied to a larger machine that fed the vast network that was sucking water from the planet.
“I’m coming, mate,” I said.
“Um… Trax… no. You can’t.”
“Drop there, Trax,” Rachel said. “You’re directly above her.”
I glanced back at shore as another wave rolled over me. My suit was impervious to water, but other than floating in space, I’d never felt so small. Insignificant. A tiny speck of nothing at the mercy of the gods. I gripped the log tightly, knowing it was the only thing keeping me on the surface now. I had to let go. I had to get to Mikki.
I just had to hope that my lack of swimming abilities would actually help me sink right to her.
“Look up, mate,” I said. “I’m dropping to you in three… two… one.”
I rolled off the log, and I sank below the surface instantly. I was heavy and far from buoyant. For the first time in years, I prayed to the gods as the water engulfed me. The world was now a rust color. Fish swam by, skittering away at my actions.
“The water is pulling me down.” It was just as I’d expected. The vacuum created by the machine was taking me right to her.
“I see you getting closer. You’re almost to me.”
“I see you,” I said when she appeared through the reddish haze of the water.
Relief swamped the collars. Mine, Mikki’s. Even Surnen’s.
“I’m straddling the vacuum. If you can, be sure to brace your feet, but not between mine.”
“Got it,” I said, back in control. Mikki was here. She was an underwater expert, but it was my job to get the Hive machine to stop long enough for us to get away.
When I stood before her, I looked down at her face. Fuck, so familiar. So mine. I wanted to grab her in for a hug and never let go. Underwater wasn’t the time or place.
“I’m getting you the fuck out of here, and then I’m going to kiss you,” I told her.
She grinned, her wide smile visible through the glass. “And I’m going to let you.”
“Um, guys, kiss later. Survive now,” Rachel said.
“Surviving would be great,” Surnen said. “Governor, where is I.C.? If I can’t help get Mikki out of there, then I can at least coordinate from land.”
“Helion’s on his way, whatever that means,” the governor practically growled. It didn’t seem like our leader liked the guy.
I looked to Mikki, who was also listening. She had no idea who Helion was. I didn’t either, but I did know I.C.
“I’m glad they’re coming, but once they get here, they’re going to want as much information as we can give them,” Surnen stated. “Rachel, get as many samples as you can. The Fleet will need to know if these Hive machines are having any other effects on the planet. Giram, work with the others. Grid the Hive energy signatures that we are aware of. I doubt they’ve taken enough water to destabilize the planet’s orbit, but get a team on that as well.” I felt Surnen’s control snap back in place. “Trax, get our mate the fuck out of there.”
I winked at Mikki, and she rolled her eyes. The pull from the Hive machine was strong. I could feel it working my leg muscles and expected Mikki to be growing weary. I remembered feeling those sinewy muscles. She was strong. But for how long?
Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the transport beacon, slapped it onto Mikki’s shoulder, although the movement was as if I were pushing through thick breakfast porridge, the water making my hand move slower than normal.
While it affixed itself to Mikki’s suit, the light didn’t come on. I pushed the button. Nothing. “Fuck. I think it’s broken.”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Surnen shouted. I knew he was giving a death glare to the governor.
“The energy signature of the Hive device is interfering with transport. The techs cannot get a lock on the beacon’s location.” Maxim’s explanation did not make me happy, but I had Mikki in my arms and we were both alive and breathing. I wasn’t going to give up yet.
“Okay, mate. Any suggestions?” I asked Mikki, keeping my voice calm. I tried to slow my breathing. We weren’t exactly safe, but we could pause for a moment. Think.
She pointed to the sandy sea bottom. I couldn’t miss the pull of everything into the ground. I couldn’t see the machinery that was at work.
Picking up my foot, I stomped down, heard the sound of metal, felt it.
“The rock worked,” she said. “It messed with the gears or whatever it is. If there was something bigger to shove in there, it might stop the suction long enough for us to get away.”
We looked around us. No more rocks, nothing but small plants that leaned inward toward the suction, their roots too sturdy to be pulled in.
“My helmet,” I said. “I can take it off, jam it in there.”
“What? That’s crazy. You need air.”
“Not if it stops and we can swim to the surface.”
“The idea has merit,” Surnen said. “The helmet has a shield rating of nine point seven and can withstand direct fire from an ion cannon.”
“You’re saying jamming it into a Hive machine will not crush it,” I replied.
“Hopefully not. If their intention was to displace water, I doubt the machinery is built that strong.”
“But you won’t have air,” Mikki said. “We can use mine. I can hold my breath longer. I’m used to being caught underwater.”
I shook my head. “Mate. No. It must be my helmet.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I will not risk your life,” I said. I was calm now. My mission resolute. This was what I was meant to do, why I had gone through training, been captured by the Hive, integrated. Sent to The Colony. Became Surnen’s second.
My fate, my destiny had always been to be here and to save Mikki.
“You’ll risk yours?”
“That is
why Prillons mate in pairs. If something happens to one, you still have a mate to protect you. Surnen will choose another second. You will be taken care of, I promise you.”
“You’re fucking insane. No. That is not okay.”
“Mate. Mate.”
I could feel Mikki’s panic, so I grabbed her shoulders. “Feel the pull of the machine. It’s not stopping.”
“We’ll wait it out. It seems to stop and start.”
“For how long? Until we both run out of air? We have no alternative. The transport beacon didn’t work. The energy signature of this machine is blocking the signal. There is no other way out of here.”
“But I’m used to being underwater. You’re not.”
“And that is why I trust you. I might save you, but you will need to save me right back. I have never been in water before, and I don’t know how to swim.”
I grinned at her. It took a moment, but she grinned back. “Funny, not funny?”
“Nothing about this is amusing, I assure you.”
Taking a deep breath, she sighed. “Okay. Here’s how this will work. We’re thirty feet down. Once you take off that helmet, you’re going to have to remain calm and do exactly what I’m about to tell you. Ever held your breath underwater before?”
“No.”
“Well, welcome to Scuba 101.”
“I was worried we had nothing in common,” I admitted, needing her to know in case something went wrong. “That I couldn’t understand the world you came from.”
“You can now?”
“Yes. It is peaceful beneath the water. Quiet. Beautiful. I understand why you would love this.” I looked around at the murky depths of the ocean. “But let us find something in common on land, all right?”
Peace swamped me. Acceptance. I’d never felt anything this powerful before, and it was all coming from her. My mate. “I offer myself as your second. I vow to protect you with my life, to kill for you, to die for you, to do all in my power to see to your happiness.”
“Now is not the time, Trax.” Surnen’s stern reprimand echoed in my helmet—and Mikki’s—but I didn’t care. She needed to know. I was hers, without regrets, for as long as I lived.
Her Cyborg Warriors Page 13