by Alana Khan
Barely inside, I back against the inner wall, grab him by the collar of his yellow slicker, and pull his head to kiss me. His gentle hands war with his cirr to touch my cheeks. Although I’m the one who began the kiss, Ar’Tok takes control, his tongue spearing into me, tasting me, as I taste him.
I pull away, grab his horns near his scalp and ask, breathless, “Did you just tell me you love me?”
Without waiting for his answer, I kiss him, exploring his mouth, losing myself in his sweet, spicy vanilla taste. He lifts me up and I spread my legs wide. I wind up with my clit notched against his straining cock, which garners a surprised gasp from me.
“I did,” he says breathlessly when he pulls away far enough to try to make out my features in the dim light. “And as I recall . . .” he nips my bottom lip, pulling it between his teeth. “You said it back.”
His cirr comb through my hair, as if they’re seconding his pleased announcement and thrilled with my response.
“Yes. I believe I did,” I admit, not certain he can see the happy smile stretched across my face. Wiggling, I try to get down, I want my hands free to skim along every plane and angle of his hard body. We have less than fortyty minutes before we catch the grinton and I want to make the most of it.
I’m panting with desire; my blood is pounding in my veins. We kiss for long minutes. I’m not only drowning in the joy of the powerful feelings coursing through my body, but I’m exulting in the knowledge that we’ve both acknowledged our love for each other. This is the happiest day of my life!
He sets me down next to the wall, and before I slide my fingers under his shirt, I glance at my wrist-comm.
“Crap, Ar’Tok! We need to get moving. Now!”
He grabs my hand and begins to pull me to the opening when the rock floor beneath me gives way.
My mind barely has time to register my shock as I fall down a narrow tunnel, feeling every scrape and pull of the jagged rock, then hit with a hard thud.
Ar’Tok
She was in my grip! One moment I had my hands on her and the next she slipped right out from under me and disappeared. The rock was solid under our feet, at least it felt that way. But it must have been thin enough that Star’s slight weight cracked it open. I tried to grip her wrist, but she fell like a heavy rock down the hole.
“Star!” I call, but hear no answer.
Kneeling, I see nothing but the black, tubular walls of a narrow tunnel. A piece of her yellow coat, smaller than the palm of my hand, clings to a jagged piece of the newly-created passageway wall.
I snatch it before it, too, falls, and press it to my mouth as if it was my beloved herself. My wrist-comm says we have five minimas before the last grinton leaves. The little station wasn’t manned. Even if I run, the vehicle will have pulled out of the station before I get there. This mountain will be deserted until the trains start again tomorrow morning.
“Star!” I call again, but hear nothing in response.
My eyes are better accustomed to the light by now. I’m on my hands and knees, peering into the hole. I think I see her! It’s her yellow coat in a crumpled heap, twenty or thirty fiertos down.
I try to use my wrist-comm, but we’ve been out of range since the first grinton stop. I could leave the cave, trying different spots on the mountain to hope for a signal, but that would be a waste of time—time we don’t have.
Since I was old enough to play, I hung like a fresta from the bars at the top of my cell. My upper body strength is prodigious. If my shoulders can fit through this hole, I can shimmy down. Somehow, I’ll figure a way to bring her back up—I have to.
I slide into the hole, press my outer thighs against the jagged rock and lower myself down. The moment when I loosen my grip from the top and am fully underground, I allow myself the fleeting thought that there’s a chance neither Star nor I will ever emerge. Shaking my head to dislodge that thought from my mind, I lower myself through the narrow channel deeper into the chasm.
It also strikes me that it’s not just our lives hanging in the balance. If Star doesn’t meet Ergonn in less than four hoaras, he’ll be gunning for every one of our friends.
Friends. It’s an interesting moment to realize I value the others on the ship as my friends.
I shut all those musings down and focus only on the task at hand.
The tube is narrow. At times, I have to drag my wide shoulders against craggy rock in order to slip downward. Other times I have to bend my arms at the elbow and press outward with all my might to keep from falling.
I hear Star’s agonized groan. Relieved breath leaves me in a loud huff as I realize that was the most beautiful sound I’ve ever heard. It means my Star, no matter how bruised, battered, or broken, is still alive.
“Star. I’m coming. Can you see me?”
I continue inceing downward, cautioning myself with every movement to be careful and take my time so I can rescue my beloved.
“Ar’Tok?”
“You fell, Star. The rock underneath your feet must have been paper thin and opened to a lava tube.”
“You have a rope?”
“I’m shimmying down to get you.”
I’m close enough now that I drop the final six fiertos, landing with a jarring thud a few fiertos from her.
It’s pitch black down here. I can barely see her yellow slicker in the scant light falling through the shaft.
Kneeling next to her, I order myself to see her, to be able to inspect her injuries, but it’s too dark.
“Where are you hurt, love? How bad are your injuries?”
My hands find her neck, feeling for broken bones—a broken neck would be the worst thing.
“I don’t know. I hurt all over. That’s probably a good thing, at least I’m not paralyzed.”
“Thank the Gods,” I breathe. “I just want you out of here. We’ll figure everything else out when we’re back outside.”
“When are the rescuers coming?” she asks.
“It’s you and me, love. Don’t worry, I’m going to get you out of here.”
Now that I’m here, I realize about twenty flaws in my plan. Let’s face it, there was no plan other than climbing down here. The tunnel was so narrow I barely got through it in places, how am I going to get us both back up there?
I think it through, heave a big sigh, and decide there is no time like the present to start moving.
“I imagine you’re pretty banged up, Star. I can’t fix any of it. Getting you up this lava tube is going to hurt. Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
That’s my Star. The Star who breathed in sync with me during those interminable hours when I was on my way to rescue her. How did I earn her implicit trust? I have no idea, but I hope I’m worthy of it.
After tearing my slicker off, I gently pull off first her backpack, then her slicker, paying close attention to her soft moan when I bend her right arm.
“Think it’s broken?” I ask.
“It hurts a lot, but I don’t think so.”
I picture a sling in my mind, similar to one I saw a female on the train carry her baby in, then recreate the design by tying the two slickers together. Within minimas, I’m standing with Star cuddled against my chest, held tightly by the yellow contraption.
After pulling the straps of her backpack as loose as they go, I help her drink as much water as she wants, then slide my arms through the extended pack straps while it’s still clinging to her back. It’s another binding that will keep her from falling.
When I moved her legs into position, although she was trying to be stoic, she couldn’t contain her squeal of pain. Although there’s no doubt in my mind she broke her leg, there’s nothing I can do but get her up this tube as quickly as possible.
“Hold on!” I jump into the tube and try to get a handhold. My hands don’t gain purchase. I land back on the ground with a hard thud, forcing a grunt from Star. I just increased the difficulty tenfold because even though I can’t see my hands, I can feel blood slicking my palms.
&nb
sp; “Sorry, Love.”
“Quit worrying. I’ll handle the pain, you handle the climb,” she sounds so brave even though I can tell she’s in so much agony that every word costs her.
I say nothing, just leap to grab an outcropping of rock again. I succeed this time, and can now begin the laborious process of pulling both of us upward, one painful, awkward lurch at a time.
As soon as I’m fully enveloped in the tube, I use my legs to assist the process. At times my feet help by finding footholds, at times I press my thighs against the rough rock surface, using them to lever upward. Pressing outward with all my might, my legs alone keep us from falling as my hands reach for higher ground.
We’re two-thirds of the way up when we reach the tightest part of the passage. I haven't heard a peep from her for long minimas. I assume she passed out from the pain, but I see no choice other than to keep laboring upward.
“Star!” I call.
No answer. This is probably for the best; scraping against the unforgiving rock won’t hurt her until she regains consciousness.
I press my back, now unprotected by the slicker, hard against the rock. Every bit of pain my back absorbs as I press with all my might, ensures a bit less pressure my Star will have to endure.
My cirr have a strong grip on her. Some of the thin strands have a stranglehold on her hair, the thicker strands are twined under her arms as if her life depends on it. It does.
My feet edge us upward and my hands grab and pull and finally manage to grip the top of the chute.
Using all my upper body strength, I pull us out of the chute and heave myself on my back, taking care to put no pressure on Star. I allow myself a few modicums to lie here, my breath heaving, and my arm and leg muscles quivering from exertion.
The moment I catch my breath, I ease to my feet and carry her outside to inspect her in the fading light.
Dear Gods! Even though she’s still strapped tightly to me, I can see her right thigh is bent all wrong. Did she just make that journey up thirty fiertos being tugged and pulled and thrown around like a child’s doll? And without a word of complaint? If I didn’t love her before this moment, I surely would now.
“The last grinton has long gone, Star,” I say although I assume she’s still unconscious.
She moans and her eyes flicker open.
“How’s your pain, love?” I peer down at her head on my pec.
“Can you get us down the mountain?” she asks, evading my question.
I check my comm and then hers—still no signal. “Do you think Ergonn will follow through with his threat to kill us all if you don’t show up tonight?”
“You were there,” she whispers through gritted teeth. “What do you think?”
“I’ll get you there. On time.” I vow.
I double-check the ties binding us together, then begin our descent.
Although most of the travelers we saw today took the grinton, there were a few who struck off on cleared paths. I find a trail and increase my pace to a jog even though I know that every footfall makes a concussion, and every concussion must rub bone on bone for Star.
“Should I slow down?” I ask, even as I speed up. Not only am I racing against breaking Ergonn’s edict, I’m racing against the setting sun.
“No. Keep going,” she urges.
I hear voices up ahead, and see two males traveling the path. They look well up to the task of the hike with proper footwear, coats, and backpacks.
“Help!” I call to them.
They’re reptilian. Most reptilian races aren't known for their compassion and altruism, but these two respond immediately to my call.
“Ho!” they say.
“My female fell thirty fiertos. I believe she has a broken leg. We must get down quickly. Can you call our friends to meet us at the bottom of the mountain?” I slow to a walk, and they follow me as I keep going.
“Halt!” The elder says. He has gray whiskers sprouting in odd places from his jowls. “Stop.” He opens his backpack, pulls out a thin silver warming blanket, and wraps it gently around Star.
“Thanks,” she whispers.
He tips a water flask to her lips, then offers, “I have painkillers.”
“Yes.” I say as Star says, “No.”
“Ergonn needs you there at 1900, it doesn’t matter if you’re out of it. As long as you’re there you fulfilled his demand. If he has to wait a few hoaras for you to be sober enough to do your work, so be it,” I tell her
“Okay.” She nods.
“Tell me what these are,” I say. “Our doctor will need to know.”
“Here,” he tosses me the bottle of pills. “Tell me how to comm your friends. We’ll run ahead of you, comm’ing every few minimas until we get a signal and reach them. They’ll be waiting for you at the trailhead.”
“I don’t know how to thank you,” I call after them as they run down the path ahead of us.
There are narrow rocky patches where I’m forced to slow to a walk, and a few spots where I have to traverse with hands and feet clinging to precarious ledges all the while trying to protect the precious female secured to my chest. But we continue downward.
I have a bad moment where I wonder if those two reptilians lied to us and aren’t going to call our friends at all, but my comm lights up a minima later with a message from Zar, On our way. Dr. Drayke and Nova are with us. He’ll patch Star up in the hover and we’ll get you to Ergonn’s on time. Stay safe.
It’s dark now, luckily I can make my way by Paragon’s two moons. Both are slivers of light, but between the two of them, I can see the path, which has now widened. We’re almost down the mountain on a much flatter incline than the course we took to begin our journey. When I glance over my shoulder toward the top of Kimanji, I can’t believe I came so far carrying Star.
I hear voices up ahead and identify Zar, Dax, and Shadow. Dr. Drayke is talking, too.
“You’re going to be alright,” I tell Star, but she’s out. Hopefully the pain meds the reptilians gave us are giving her some peace.
The two reptilians are at the hover, waiting, I guess, for us to arrive safely.
“I can’t thank you enough,” I call to them when I’m a hundred fiertos away. “Can I give you credits?”
“No. Thanks. Go in peace.”
How many messages do I need to receive today to realize that people of all races and in all places have the ability to be kind? This is a revelation.
The doc and Nova are racing a hover-stretcher toward us, and a moment later Star’s on it. As soon as we’re in the hover-ambulance, Shadow lifts off and Dr. Drayke gets to work. I don’t ask how my comrades commandeered this vehicle; I’m just glad they did.
Before I’m aware of what’s happening, the meticulous blue doc has cut the fabric of Star’s thick pants from ankle to waistband and is inspecting her worst injury.
“Dear Gods!” I say, the words barely croaking through my parched lips.
“Nova,” Dr. Drayke says, “get Ar’Tok some water to drink, wash his wounds, then swab them with antiseptic, then cover anything that needs it with plas-film.”
“No,” I insist. “Just focus on Star.”
“Up until two minimas ago, you were in charge, Ar’Tok. You were her rescuer and protector. Two hoaras from now you’ll resume those duties. Right now I am absolutely in charge. Am I clear?”
“Yes,” I say reluctantly, knowing he’s right.
“A femur fracture is painful. It’s the biggest bone in the body and will take some time to heal. It will not kill her. Do you understand? Your female will be fine. Got it? Leave this to me and Nova.”
Even though Nova is working on my body, my full attention is focused on what the doc is doing to Star.
I glance down to see my clothes are shredded, my skin is littered with scrapes, and bloody gouges. I’m sure my back is even worse, and as I suspected, my palms are cut to ribbons. It means nothing. I’m too concerned about my female.
“Dax!” Dr. Drayke calls to
the huge male in the front seat. “I need you back here.”
I crane my head to see what’s happening on Star’s stretcher, but Drayke’s large frame blocks my view.
“Nova, how is he?” the doc asks.
“Battered and bruised. I had the medbot do a scan, no internal injuries of any kind.”
“Good. Dax, here are your instructions. Nova is coming over here to help me. You are to keep that male on his stretcher. If he tries to sit up, I want you to do anything up to and including an uppercut to his jaw to keep him horizontal. Am I clear?”