Portal Jumpers

by Chloe Garner

  “Aren’t you two special,” he muttered.

  He was right.

  It took three days to finish the reports, filling the first notebook and spilling into a second one. She hid them behind the washer late that last night and sat back down on the couch. The house as only just now beginning to feel warm again, and the threat of snow had turned into several inches overnight the night before. It was too quiet and too still, but it was familiar. She almost hated to abandon it again so quickly.

  The idea of getting off base, though, and out into the universe again was more temptation than she could resist. She was eager to go.

  She sent Jesse a text and went to bed. The company that she’d found to winterize the house would come the next day to drain all of the water out of the pipes, but by the time they were done, she’d already be gone.

  They landed in ocean.

  The water was warm, but it was still mildly-turbulent, salty water, and while they jumped to the top surface of it, it just made the jolt of the jump that much more shocking to then plunge into the water and have to fight for the surface while figuring out what happened.

  “Jesse,” she yelped. “What’s going on?”

  “Don’t panic,” he answered, looking around. She grunted. She wasn’t panicking, she was annoyed. The first thing she’d done after filling her lungs back up with air was go after her shoes. She could swim with them on, but it was exhausting, and there was no reason to. She rolled onto her back and held a large lung-full of of air to keep her afloat and pried her shoes off with her fingers, untying them in the water in front of her and then tying the laces together and slinging them over her shoulder.

  “This is why we do re-con,” she said, pushing herself as high in the water as she could to look for signs of land. The waves were rolling with the breeze, which meant that there was no clue there for a nearby shore.

  “There weren’t any other choices,” Jesse said. “I assume you’re a strong swimmer?”

  “Part of my job,” she answered. “But you have to pick a direction.”

  “The Adena Lampak keep a string of colonies around the equator. They can always find each other, that way.”

  “The what who what why?” she asked, following as he began swimming. His answer was delayed a few seconds.

  “The people who live on this planet consider the equatorial region to be the most desirable for living space. They keep a string of outposts on the exact equator in case any of them get lost.”

  “And how do they know how to find the equator?” she asked.

  “Simple physics,” he answered. She waited, but he didn’t offer any further explanation.

  “So why didn’t you put us on land?” she asked.

  “Whole planet’s covered with ocean,” he answered.

  “It’s what?”

  “Unless you wanted to end up on sea ice, you drop in over water.”

  “Why didn’t you hit one of the structures, then?”

  He turned in the water, treading for a moment.

  “Can I emphasize for a moment just how hard it is to hit a planet halfway across the universe with the degree of accuracy I just have?”

  “We do it,” she said, pushing herself up in the water again. Nothing.

  “With an enormous number of space telescopes and computing power. I’m doing this in my head. And even your people couldn’t hit a sea tower, first try.”

  “I just thought… you know, you being all that much better than us and all…”

  He grunted at her and she grinned, following again.

  The first tower came in sight about an hour later. They swam easily the whole time, using the buoyancy of the water to conserve energy, but Cassie had been beginning to worry about how long they would have to go, and what kind of search pattern Jesse intended to use to find these outposts he spoke of. As she paused, squinting against the sun at the tower rising out of the water ahead of them, she realized that Jesse had led them straight there.

  “Liar,” she muttered.

  “What?” he asked, insulted.

  “You came straight here,” she said. “You knew where you were going the whole time.”

  “Hate to startle you, but we’ve had an escort for the last twenty minutes,” Jesse said. She frowned and looked around. The water was reasonably clear, but like water everywhere, it was difficult to see what wasn’t immediately below her. Something flickered through the water off to one side, and she realized she’d been so preoccupied with watching for any sign of refuge that she hadn’t paid any attention to the water. She scolded herself; of course there was the potential for threats in the water.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The Adena Lampak,” Jesse said. It suddenly occurred to Cassie that a race that lived on a planet entirely covered with water was likely to be aquatic.

  “If they live in the water, why do they build structures?” she asked.

  “Hard to compete for real estate when you don’t breathe air and someone else does,” Jesse said. “You can theorize that they started as air-breathing and built hills to live on, at first. No predators.”

  She saw another shadow go by.

  “And we’re not in danger?” she asked.

  “They get visitors sometimes,” Jesse said. “They don’t tend to be political, outside of the planet, so clunky swimmers like us are mostly just interesting.”

  “Why would people come here?” Cassie asked.

  “They don’t really focus on technology much, but they’re some of the most profound philosophical thinkers I’ve met. Outsiders come to talk.”

  Cassie considered that for a moment, then put her energy back into swimming.

  A couple hundred yards from the structure - a great, sunbleached tower built like scaffolding and covered from above with sheets of material that Cassie couldn’t identify, at the distance - several dozen heads popped above the surface of the water. Their arrangement seemed to make it clear that they weren’t welcome to come any further. They spoke with Jesse for a time, Cassie’s implant doing its best but not making significant progress over the span of the conversation, and then one of the creatures approached her.

  “We’re getting a lift the rest of the way in,” Jesse said. “Hold on by the shoulders.”

  The creature had no distinguishable gender, from what Cassie could see, and his elongated lower jaw had a protruding row of sharp, needle-shaped teeth. Predator. She hesitated and he turned, taking her hands and helping her to find the ridges to either side of his neck that might have been shoulders. A long ridge ran from the top of his head as far down the center of his back as she could see, and his body moved like elastic, pulling her through the water with enough power to leave a considerable wake. She considered for a moment whether she might hurt him with her fingernails, but his skin was leathery and felt very thick under her hands. The swim into the structure was over nearly as soon as it began.

  A set of spiraled stairs went down to the sea floor maybe ten or fifteen feet below, continuing up along the central pillar of the structure, with periodic floors branching off and forming a wide shadow on the water.

  “Put your shoes on before you go up,” Jesse said, starting up the stairs ahead of her. She watched him go, treading water as many of the Adena Lampak followed Jesse up the stairs. Wide, flat strips of muscle that pushed them up out of the water split to roll up the stairs like a pair of tentacles, and she got her first clear look at their bodies. Blue-gray skin shed water in beading drops, the ridge along their backs terminating just above the split in their - tails? flippers? legs? - and long, flat arms laying in a plane with their backs. In the water, they would take a shape somewhere between eel and humpback whale. On the structure, they were rather short, losing the entire length of their tails to walking, but they were upright and elegantly shaped with long curving lines that de-emphasized shoulders and completely lacked hips.

  Cassie shook herself into action as one of the Adena Lampak stopped to wait for her, pulling
her shoes on awkwardly and dragged herself out of the water like a drowned rat, trying to pull her hair out of her face as her clothes flapped against her. The salt was going to annoy her fragile skin, if the chafing from the cloth didn’t do it first. She understood, though, why Jesse had warned her. The surface of the stairs was formed from a sort of cement, blond sand mixed with something that might have been clay, and the rails were straight cuts of coral. There was no surface here that was safe to touch, especially with wet skin. The Adena Lampak ran their hands over the coral as they went up the stairs, their long fingers rasping over the rough surface. Cassie thought of the Kenzi.

  Cassie rushed to catch up to Jesse, hoping to catch more conversation before anything too important happened.

  The staircase spiraled around the central pillar another two times before it came to the first landing, where a group was gathered, waiting. They spoke among themselves as Cassie went to stand next to Jesse, watching the flat faces of the creatures standing around them as they spoke. She was beginning to catch words, and while they weren’t as upset as the Kenzi had been, they weren’t as calm as Cassie might have expected out of a philosophical race that was used to outsiders showing up. Finally one of them stepped forward.

  “Why have you come?”

  “Intellectual curiosity,” Jesse answered.

  “This is not a good time,” the same one answered, addressing Jesse with what Cassie assumed was a title of some kind.

  “What has happened?” Jesse asked.

  There was a hesitation, and the individual turned aside, looking for some kind of response from the others. There were mixed reactions, positive and negative, and he turned back to face Jesse.

  “We are at war.”

  “What?”

  The Adena Lampak blinked once, but did not speak again.

  “Your people are,” word that meant emphatically, “known for your diplomatic nature,” Jesse said.

  “We are not diplomatic,” the Adena Lampak said. “We are too busy with more important things.”

  “Like being at war?” Jesse asked. The Adena Lampak didn’t look amused. Jesse glanced at Cassie. “You getting this?” he asked. She nodded. He took her hand.

  “Do you remember stories of a Palta diplomat who used to visit you?”

  There was another stir of discussion and Jesse turned his head down to speak to Cassie.

  “They resent offers of help unless you’re considered an equal. Be ready to jump if we need to.”

  She nodded, watching the faces around her with new interest. She could pick out the Adena Lampak who helped her swim in, because he had the protruding teeth; most of the others didn’t. Beyond that, they blended one into another enough that if they’d all moved, she would have never been able to identify the original speaker.

  “We don’t remember a diplomat, but the name Palta has prestige here,” the Adena Lampak said.

  “Let me help you,” Jesse said. “You aren’t suited for negotiation. If the Adena Lampak go to war, it is to the death, and I hate to see your noble race lessened in war.”

  “Your words suggest wisdom, but your tone implies disingenuity.”

  “That’s why I’m a better diplomat than you,” Jesse said.

  This brought a surge of disapproval and Jesse grinned.

  “Let me help you,” he said.

  “I have no authority,” the speaker said. “It is my job to defend the tower, turn back strangers, and fight when called upon.”

  “Then take me to Elsa,” Jesse said. The Adena Lampak around them broke into cries that Cassie’s soul recognized without needing any other cue. That was grief. Jesse dropped her hand. “Elsa has fallen?”

  “She lies on the sea floor, never to be reclaimed,” the leader said, face stern.

  “Never is a very long time,” Jesse said.

  “We will leave her in ruins to remind ourselves of the treachery of the Others.”

  “What happened?” Jesse asked. “How did it start?”

  The Adena Lampak turned his face away.

  “We do not speak of it.”

  “Where does the Url reside?” Jesse asked. “I want to speak with him.”

  The leader turned his back, a small group stepping up to consult with him, then he faced them again.

  “He is a day’s swim from here, for an Adena Lampak unburdened. With the two of you, it is two days. If you are to go to him, you must leave now. The tides will be upon us soon.”

  Jesse looked at Cassie.

  “They don’t mean two days straight, do they?”

  “They can sleep at sea, but more likely they’d stay at other outposts on the way. There are things in the water with teeth.”

  “Now you tell me,” she said. He winked, then turned back.

  “We’re prepared to leave now. We’ll require lodgings at the appropriate intervals, fresh water, and meals.”

  “You aren’t one of the spineless races that requires their meat to be prepared over flame, are you?” the Adena Lampak asked. Jesse cast another look at Cassie and she shrugged. Sushi. About the freshest she’d ever get. She could live with that.

  “Meals suited to the Adena Lampak will suit us,” Jesse said. There was approval at this and the gathering started back toward the stairs. Cassie found herself swept down amid the press of bodies, trying to stay close to Jesse.

  “Keep your shoes on this time,” Jesse called back. “No point taking them off.”

  They hit the water, warm as a bath, and the leader quickly organized a group of Adena Lampak to escort them wherever it was they were going. They dove over the railing into the water and one of them came up in front of Cassie.

  “Hold on,” he said. She put her hands on his shoulders and he reached up, pulling her forearm around his chest.

  “You don’t have the muscle for long distance swimming,” he said. “You’ll wear out long before I do.”

  “Okay,” she said.

  “How often do you breathe?” he asked.

  “Um,” she answered.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Jesse said. “No more. And she’ll need most of her body out of the water to breathe.”

  She glared over at Jesse for underestimating her that badly, but with a grunt that sounded like disapproval, her escort was already off. She barely got her eyes closed before the water hit her face. If she’d been any more surprised, she would have lost her grip on him.

  She hadn’t gotten a proper breath.

  Seconds went by with the rush of water past her and the slick motion of muscle under her arms the only thing to keep her from focusing on how much she missed the air.

  It was different, holding her breath when she was dependent on someone else to let her up for air, and she sternly kept herself from bailing out. She could tell from the pressure on her ears that they weren’t that deep, maybe four or five feet, and from the pressure on the top of her head that they were moving fast. He’d been right, guessing that this was going to tire her.

  Finally, he broke the surface again, and she pushed her head up, unable to use a hand to wipe her face off. She breathed through her mouth, ignoring how much salt water she got in her mouth and down her throat, eyes closed against the brine. She was grateful, now, that Jesse had advocated for her. She took another breath and tucked her head against the Adena Lampak’s back, much better situated this time for the plunge underwater.

  After the third or fourth breath, she got the hang of shaking her head clear of water fast enough to get air in through her nose before they went back under, and the process got to be a bit more comfortable, though she was still blind. A few minutes later, the Adena Lampak rolled in the water and there was a bubbling noise as he breached the surface in a smooth rolling motion, then they were under again.

  Between the downward-facing nose and the water-slick skin, he probably had a lot easier time breathing with just his nose out of the water than she did with her entire chest out.

  She held on.

  Hours later, she cha
nged from one escort to another.

  “I could take you all the way to Manath, but we’ll make better time this way,” he explained. “The tides are coming.”

  She wearily wrapped her arms around the new Adena Lampak and took the quick breath before they were underwater again.

  They stopped at a tower while the sun was still well overhead.

  “What’s going on?” Cassie asked Jesse, treading water and waiting her turn for the stairs.

  “Go on,” he said, pushing her toward the stairway. She crawled up the first few stairs on her hands and knees, the weight of her own body surprising. She forced herself upright and followed the Adena Lampak up to the first landing. They paused for a few minutes while they spoke with the leader there, then they continued up the stairs two more levels, turning off and making their way across a maze of platforms that Cassie’s tired mind only just appreciated for the feats of engineering they represented.

  “Days are much longer here,” Jesse told her. “How are you holding up?”

  She laughed.

  “I’m beat, and I didn’t even do all of the swimming.”

  “Don’t forget the swim in,” he said. “I’ll see if I can get us some better clothes.”

  “What?” she asked.

  “Some of the outposts have supplies for outsiders like us,” he said. She raised her eyebrows, but the small crowd had stopped.

  “We will rest here,” one of them said. “Deenah will go find food.”

  One of them dipped his head and left. The rest of them went to the rails and began pulling things off of them. Jesse followed, and Cassie trailed after him, watching. The railings, formed with much more intricate coral here, were draped with long skins that were secured to the railing at one end. She found that the other end had props on it that matched to holes in the floor.

  “They’re cots,” she said.

  “They’re sea creatures, at heart,” Jesse said. “They’ve never been comfortable sleeping on hard surfaces. It can kill their young.”

  She frowned and looked around the room, indulging her curiosity a bit as she sank gratefully onto the cot.