by Lea Linnett
His words made her heart clench, like a hand had reached in and started squeezing, and she brought her own hand to clutch at her chest. Images of her father’s home, chock full of her red-headed half-siblings going about their day, filled her mind, but she pushed them away.
“I can’t imagine a world like that,” she said roughly.
Marek glanced up at her, his smile wry. “It is… complicated.”
Silence washed over them. Outside, she heard Peris shuffling, and that gave her an idea.
“What if you showed me?”
The levekk’s eyes flashed, and Bree swallowed, standing her ground. She had to stick to the plan. They’d made their deal, and each given the other something they wanted, but Bree refused to stay trapped in this room under constant guard. She had to get out and see the world he kept telling her about, especially if she wanted to escape.
“Show you?” Marek echoed quietly.
“Yeah. I want to see how your people live, where you work. I want to see how this world of yours works.”
And maybe a few of the exits while we’re at it.
Bree licked her lips nervously as Marek contemplated her. His alien, slitted pupils flickered over her, but she bore the calculating stare. She was determined to find a way out of this place, and besides, she did want to see more of his world. Her mom may have been missing from her life since Bree was a small child, but that didn’t lessen the curiosity she’d instilled in her.
Marek suddenly stood, making her jump, and headed for the door. She watched on in confusion as he swiped his palm against the panel, the door sliding open with a swish.
Then, he turned to her, watching her expectantly.
Bree gaped. “We’re going now?” she asked, and the levekk smirked.
“Yes.”
Holy shit.
She rose from the chair on shaky legs before he could change his mind, but her brain hadn’t quite caught up with her. He was going to take her on a tour? Just like that? That was crazy.
“Do not worry,” Marek said, mistaking her shock for fear.
A large hand gently took her elbow as she passed through the door, sending a shiver up her spine that froze her in place. Their eyes met, and his were so blue she could have drowned in them.
He smiled encouragingly, before saying in that deep, honey-coated voice, “You will be fine, Bree. I will keep you safe.”
Bree swallowed as he swept her from the room.
7
Peris had reluctantly agreed to Marek’s request to show the human around the upstairs corridors, but now her gloomy aura followed close behind them, and Marek did his best to ignore the daggers being glared into his back. The head of security’s distrust in him was nothing unusual, and besides, he had far more interesting things to give his attention to.
He could barely take his eyes off Bree as they traversed the dark metal hallways. She walked confidently at his side, taking in everything they passed and listening attentively when he paused to explain something. Any fear that had been in her eyes was now gone, and Marek admired her courage.
But he couldn’t allow that to distract him from his goal.
It was clear what she was doing. At first, her asking to see more of the mine had surprised him, as had her genuine interest in his people. But as her gaze combed every wall and window and her body took on that familiar, rigid tension, he knew she was searching for an exit.
Even now, she was leveraging him, and he needed to remember to do the same. Walking beside him was a real, flesh-and-blood link to his studies. She was living proof of ancient cultures he’d thought hopelessly lost, proof that his studies had not been a waste.
She was also the key to getting back everything he’d lost. His freedom, his status, his acceptance as levekk, and as a brother.
He couldn’t lose sight of that, no matter how intriguing she might be.
“What are they?” she asked him as they rounded a corner, pointing toward a group of cicarians huddled around an open conduit in one of the hallways. Their translucent wings snapped agitatedly when they noticed her looking, but she didn’t avert her gaze.
“They are cicarians,” he explained, “from the Constellation’s sixth colony.”
“The Constellation. Your people’s empire, right?”
“Yes. It crosses much of this galaxy, and it is our greatest achievement.” He glanced at her. “That is how our Guides tell it.”
“Do you disagree?”
Marek shrugged. “It is a good story, but I lived on CL-6 for much of my life. It is like every colony. There are many cities, many people, many species. There is much opportunity, but also much disappointment.”
“How many colonies are there in this Constellation?”
“Almost forty. After your planet, we spread quickly,” he said, avoiding her eye. Truthfully, the more he had learned about the species that had populated Earth before its Settlement, the more disillusioned he had become with the whole process. Humanity, like many other species, had achieved much before the levekk’s arrival, and now…
“What about the solayans? Did your people colonize their planet, as well?”
“Yes,” he said hesitantly. “Approximately fifty years ago, by this planet’s time. Their planet is now called CL-37.”
“And what do they call Earth?” she asked, peering at him curiously.
His lips formed a thin line. “CL-32.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a deep rumble, and the floor shook beneath them for a few moments before settling. Marek automatically reached for the human’s elbow, meaning to steady her, but she did not need it.
“What is that?” she asked when the walls around them stopped creaking. “I’ve felt it before.”
“It is our machines. Urek ordered us to dig a new branch in the north.”
“Is it dangerous?” At Marek’s questioning look, she added, “Doesn’t it weaken the mountain?”
He chuckled. “No. We support the earth. It cannot sink.”
Bree hummed, sounding unconvinced, but that didn’t stop her questions. “What are you mining for here?”
“Cerithisi. Your people called it magnesium, I think. It powers our hover transports.”
“Hover transports…” Suddenly, Bree’s eyes lit up and she placed a hand on his arm. Even through his sleeves, Marek could feel her warmth spreading pleasantly across his scales. “The spaceships!”
He blinked down at her. “This word you use. I saw it in your children’s fiction. It is… not the same.”
“It’s a metal thing that flies,” Bree said, raising one of her dark, fuzzy eyebrows. “Sounds like a spaceship to me. Can I see them?”
Marek hesitated. He glanced back at Peris, whose gaze sharpened even though she could not understand them. “I think that may anger Urek more than we will like.”
“Oh? Doesn’t sound like such a bad thing to me,” Bree said.
“Then you underestimate Urek.”
“He’s all bark, no bite.” When Marek cocked his head, she added, “He pretends to be tough.”
Marek sighed. “You do underestimate him.”
“Come on. Show me.” She raised her chin in challenge, her dark eyes twinkling. “I’ll swap language lessons for driving lessons.”
He forced down a laugh, aware of Peris scowling at them. “For that, Urek will banish me to the snows, and all our lessons will end.”
“And then who would I talk to?” Bree teased. She flashed her white teeth, and although the smile was brief, it transformed her face, taking away the ever-present crease between her brows. Her cheeks had also reddened in that peculiar way humans had, and he found he couldn’t look away. He had studied human anatomy. He knew it was only a quirk of the blood vessels in her face, and yet the sight was enthralling.
He forced his gaze away, almost missing her next words as he fought to calm his beating heart.
“Where does that lead?”
Bree was watching a red-toned pindar wearing the markin
gs of the maintenance crew disappear through a familiar sliding door, which shut tightly behind him. Marek licked his suddenly dry lips, his pulse refusing to slow down. “It leads to the underground,” he said.
“Where the sub-species live?” Her nose wrinkled in distaste, drawing his gaze again. Before, he had thought Bree to be quiet, even reticent, by nature, but now he wondered. So many small expressions passed across her face when she spoke, and somehow he felt lucky to see it. It had been a long time since he’d spoken with a human who was so… alive.
“Yes. But it is a long way beneath the earth.”
After a moment of debate so furious he was able to watch it unfold on her face, the human looked up at him. “I want to see.”
“Bree—”
“Please. I want to see how my people would be living if we hadn’t escaped.” She looked at Peris, biting her full lip, and the action entranced Marek. When she turned back to him, her dark eyes were wide. “Please.”
Just be sure you don’t allow that sympathy to cloud your judgment. Urek’s warning came back to him now as he wrestled with himself, but this wasn’t sympathy, was it? This was an exchange. She got to see what she wanted, while he got to study her reactions. Besides, the risk of her escaping whilst underground was minimal.
“I…” He looked to Peris, whose eyes were narrowed suspiciously now. “I think our guard will not enjoy being amongst the sub-species,” he finally said, his voice softening.
Bree smiled mischievously. “All the more reason to go see, right?”
There was little reason to refuse her, but still Marek hesitated. Urek had so far allowed him to remain upstairs while he worked with the human, sleeping in the small room he had set aside for study. He hadn’t even thought about going below the surface again, and somehow, it felt like a defeat.
Or a threat. Most of his life for the past five years had been spent in the underground, but he did not want Bree to know this. It was freeing, having her believe that he was just as much levekk as his half-brother.
But as the human stared at him, he knew he had no choice. He needed the human’s trust, and this was the easiest way to secure it. So, he schooled his features to something resembling calm and took Bree by the elbow, steering her towards the door.
“Then we will see.”
8
Bree almost regretted asking to see the mine when Marek showed her to the metallic box that would take them there. It was small, and the metal walls were so shiny they multiplied her reflection a million times over. The box was claustrophobic and endless all at once, and Bree pasted herself against one wall as her stomach flipped.
She felt even sicker when Peris filed in behind her and leaned against the opposite wall, her glare spearing Bree from all angles.
By the door, Marek spoke into the activation panel, and seconds later, the entire box jolted. Bree braced as her insides lurched, her stomach feeling as if it had been left a couple feet behind her body, and she realized they were traveling down, somehow.
She jumped when Marek’s large hand found her elbow again, sending a shiver up her spine.
“You are all right?” he rumbled, low enough that Peris couldn’t hear even if she could have understood them. He had seemed more on edge since they’d left the privacy of the observation room, his gaze often trailing to the sour-looking female as she shadowed them. And yet, he didn’t shy away from touching Bree.
She looked up at him with round eyes, her heart thundering, although whether it was from the touch or their surroundings, she wasn’t sure. “I-I’m fine. It’s just—” She cut herself off, pulling her arm away. She couldn’t afford to look weak here. “What is this thing?”
“In your language it is an ‘elevator.’ It is safe,” he assured her, standing close enough to touch but just far enough for her to feel comfortable. His gaze was calculating, studying her every reaction, but still she sensed a whisper of concern in his bearing that surprised her. The scientists in the stories her elders told were always cold and cruel, but Marek…
“Of course you’d say that,” she bit back, swallowing uncomfortably against the pressure in her ears and making them pop.
But Marek just smiled. The expression was warm, putting her off guard, so she focused instead on Peris’ cold glare as they descended.
When the elevator finally bottomed out, Bree let out the breath she’d been holding and lunged through the doors as soon as they opened. She placed a hand against the wall as her stomach rolled, but refused to lean against it.
“You are sick?” Marek padded up quietly behind her. “I will take you to the celifaar—ah, infirmary.”
“No, I’m just… not used to it.”
“Maybe we go up and down once more. Your stomach will grow stronger.”
Bree opened her mouth to say that it wasn’t necessary, but paused when she saw the smirk on his lips. He was teasing her again. “Maybe you and her can go up and down a few times while I explore?” she shot back, waving her hand in the direction of the sullen female waiting nearby.
Marek rolled his eyes. “I do not wish to be trapped with her any longer. And you recover quickly. Now, come.” He brushed past her, catching her elbow again with his hand. A voice much like Noe’s told her to pull away from the touch, but she ignored it. Better for him to feel like she was warming up to him, right?
He led them down a short series of corridors that looked much like the ones upstairs, but already Bree could hear the growing buzz of activity. Then, they turned a final corner, and Bree’s eyes bugged.
This was less a corridor and more of a tunnel, its walls curving up in a circular arch above their heads. It was also crowded, packed full with sub-species, but Marek directed her through the chaos with a practiced ease. Bree felt the alien stares catching on her leather clothes and Marek’s hand on her arm, but when they saw Peris, many of them diverted. Bree looked back curiously to find the female struggling to keep up with them, almost as if the sub-species around them were purposefully hampering her progress.
Bree glanced at Marek to find him smirking. “A small rebellion,” he murmured, leaning in close.
“Why don’t they do it to you?” she asked.
He avoided her eye, watching the chaos part before them. “…Maybe because I walk with you.”
She didn’t quite believe that, but was soon distracted by the aliens streaming past them in all shapes, sizes, and colors. “There are so many,” she breathed in awe, and the levekk hummed by her side.
“Even this small mine needs many workers. The cerithisi runs deep, and it is difficult to extract.”
“But… what do all these people do?”
“Many things. Many different things. Some dig, some clean. Some care for the machines while others care for their workmates. The cicarians,” he said, pointing to one of the insect-like aliens that had been bringing her food the past few days, “fill many roles. They are engineers, cooks, organizers, assistants. They are… I do not know the word.”
“Versatile?”
“Yes,” he said, flashing her a smile.
“But not everyone is versatile like that?”
“No. The cicarians joined the Constellation a very long time ago, so they have the levekk’s trust. Others do not. You will not find a solayan or a human in a laboratory.”
That made Bree frown, but then Marek directed her through a wide door into a room that took her breath away.
The balcony they stood on was wide and deep, and the room below was even larger, maybe even as large as the entire Barracks. It was filled with tall, mechanical towers that disappeared into the ceiling, each surrounded by workers pushing large trolleys full of cargo that Bree couldn’t name. The walls were lined with sets of double doors that appeared to lead to more of the mirrored elevators she’d ridden down on, and she wondered if they led deeper into the mine.
Her suspicions were confirmed when one set of doors opened, revealing a pair of solayans dragging a machine twice their size along with them. T
hey directed it to a nearby tower where aliens of another species quickly took over, fitting the machine with tubes and devices and loading it onto a platform.
“What are they doing?” she asked Marek as they reached the railing.
“They prepare the cerithisi for transport. It is dense and heavy, so we heat it, and turn it from solid, to liquid, to gas, so it may be transported in more great quantities.”
“Greater, you mean.”
“Yes.”
When she glanced up at him, he looked pleased again, and Bree hurriedly looked out over the large room, watching the aliens dance around each other. Some, she now recognized as solayans and cicarians. Others she had only caught glimpses of, and some were entirely new to her.
“What are they?” she asked, pointing down at a few of the large, round aliens who had taken over the cerithisi container. They reminded her of the pigs they kept in the village, except these walked on two legs and were far taller and broader than herself.
“They are pindar. Known for their strength. Here, they work in the tunnels and loading bays. In the cities, they are often protectors. Guards. People find them… intimidating.”
Bree looked down at them, unconvinced. “They look… soft.”
“There is much muscle beneath.”
“Huh. What about those, with the golden hair?” She pointed at a cluster of tall, broad aliens with curved tails. They were muscular, and covered with fur that blended in with the long strands framing their faces.
“They are solayans. Females,” he added, when Bree blinked at him in shock.
Her heart stopped when she caught sight of something behind him. “And that?”
The alien’s claws clicked as loudly as a levekk’s on the polished floor, but its steps were light and bird-like by comparison. As it passed, its glossy black skin reflected the lights from above almost blindingly, and its blood red eyes caught on Bree’s terrified gaze before sliding away. She was brought back to earth by Marek’s easy reply.
“She is xylidian,” he said. “We do not have many, but they are intelligent, and excel at organization. Like cicarians.”