Mutual Trust

by Lea Linnett

  “What is this?” she asked quietly.

  Marek’s hand on her elbow tightened. “The upper elevator, used almost exclusively by levekk. It is the quickest way.” He glanced down at her, sensing her trepidation. “Do not worry. It is not a trick.”

  “I didn’t think it was.”

  His gaze softened. “You wondered.”

  Her lips parted in surprise, but Marek just smiled. The door swept open as he approached, and she filed in behind him, determined not to show her doubt any longer. He was trying to help them, and she did trust him. He’d come back for them, after all.

  Noe obviously didn’t share Bree’s confidence, and she stepped into the metal box cautiously, glaring at the black walls as if something might reach out from the darkness and attack.

  Nothing did, and soon enough they groaned to a halt. On the next level, Marek led them more slowly, checking around every corner before they continued on. They had not seen many aliens—levekk or sub-species—during their journey, and the few they had seen were rushing through the corridors, no doubt panicked by the emergency alarm that still blared overhead.

  It finally went silent as they reached a wide corridor with a set of double doors at the other end.

  “They have realized it is a false alarm,” Marek explained, walking faster. “We must hurry.”

  Bree nodded, following the hybrid down the corridor with Noe hot on her heels, but when they pushed through the large double doors, she froze.

  It was huge, a perfect copy of the warehouse-like room Marek had shown her in the mine, complete with the tower-like stations that would receive containers of earth materials from below. The walls were lined with the sleek, black ships—transports, she reminded herself—that would take those materials elsewhere. Some were small enough that she was sure they’d only fit two levekk inside, while others were larger even than her people’s houses, but all were undeniably alien in design. Their black metal glinted in the light from above, their shapes jagged and uneven, more like animals or insects than the compact vehicles her people had once developed before the Invasion. She’d seen them before, of course, but from a distance they looked like crows sweeping through the sky.

  On the ground, towering over her, they looked like monsters.

  “This way,” Marek said, heading straight for a mid-sized vehicle on the opposite wall. He climbed up to the cockpit without hesitation, wrenching the door open while Bree looked around.

  “Where’s Silas?”

  “He could not be here and also set off the alarms,” Marek’s muffled voice floated down from the transport, and Bree felt a lash of disappointment.

  “I wanted to say goodbye.”

  “Just how many friends did you make while you were here?” Noe asked, her eyes on the entrance.

  “Just the two.”

  “He could not be here, but he did leave this.” Marek appeared in the doorway and threw a dark bag down into Bree’s arms. “Provisions.”

  “Food?!” Noe dived in, pulling out what looked like more of the nutrient cakes, only this time they were wrapped in a metallic covering. “I see why you like this Silas.”

  Bree grabbed one too, her stomach aching from the sudden reminder of her hunger, but as she tore open the packet, she looked around in confusion. “How do we get out of here, though? I don’t see an exit.”

  “Ah.” Marek slipped from the transport, landing lightly beside her despite his size in a way that was almost cat-like. “You will like this.”

  He strode to the back of the room, where a small booth sat behind a wall of glass.

  “What’s he doing?” Noe asked around a mouthful of food, looking suspicious again, and Bree rolled her eyes.

  “Getting us out of here.”

  They both jumped as something cracked loudly behind them, and the groan of machinery reached their ears. Bree spun on her heel, searching for the source of the noise, and her jaw dropped at what she found.

  What she’d thought was just a wall at the end of the room was a door, she now realized. It opened slowly, but the air that rushed in through the growing gap whipped through the hangar, bringing a flurry of snowflakes in with it. Outside, night had finally fallen, and it looked impossibly dark against the bright lights of the hangar.

  But as Bree’s eyes adjusted, she saw them: tiny specks of light high in the sky, breaking through the thinning clouds.

  Stars.

  They formed whorls and patterns that were so familiar to her, they brought tears to her eyes. Below them, the snowy mountain swept out into the darkness at a steep incline, and in the distance, she thought she saw a patch of light that could be a city. That was familiar, too, although she had no idea what it was, whether humans lived there or levekk.

  It didn’t matter. Because snowflakes were melting on her face, and she was so close to getting out of this place that she could taste it.

  “Not long now,” Marek whispered from close behind, as if he’d read her mind. His hand found her back, and she leaned into him, unable to wrench her gaze from the impenetrable darkness. “Bree, I…”

  “So, are you going to teach me how to fly this thing?” Noe interrupted, zipping up the bag of provisions. They turned to find her watching Marek with a neutral expression, her lips set in a firm line.

  Bree’s brow furrowed. “Noe, what are you talking about?”

  But Marek was nodding graciously. “I am willing to fly you, but if you wish, I can show you how to take off and land, and set an automatic course as far north as you need. I do not need to know any details.”

  Bree looked from one to the other, her eyes widening in horror. “Wait, that’s not—”

  “Sounds good to me.” Noe sent her an apologetic look. “I can’t let him come with us, Bree.”

  “It’s not your decision to make!”

  Her friend’s blond eyebrows tented. “It will be in Luis’ eyes. I’m a gunner, now. I’m responsible for our people’s safety, and keeping them away from our home is part of that.”

  “Are you kidding me?!”

  “Bree, it is all right,” Marek said softly, taking her by the shoulder. “I expected this.”

  “But you…”

  “I will be fine.”

  Except, Bree didn’t believe that for a second. She’d seen the life he lived. She understood now how Urek looked at him. A familiar fear shot through her. What would Urek do, if he knew Marek had helped them escape?

  “It’s this, or I knock him out and leave him in the snow,” Noe said harshly, and Bree would have started towards her in a rage if Marek’s strong hand wasn’t holding her back.

  “Do not be angry with your friend,” he implored her. “It is the best thing for your people.”

  He kissed her forehead, quelling her protest, and Bree watched in silent dismay as Marek climbed back into the cockpit, extending a hand to help Noe up behind him.

  Bree didn’t get another chance to argue.

  Suddenly, a shout sounded from behind them as the double doors banged open, and she whirled around to find Urek and Peris entering with their entire team of levekk security right behind them.

  “Veira!” someone yelled, and Marek barked something in his own language that sounded like one of Peris’ curses. He started to haul Noe up into the cockpit, but as he did so, a series of shots rang out.

  It happened so fast that Bree barely saw it. Bolts of energy, colorless and yet somehow burning, sliced through the air, searing into the dark metal of the transport. Marek tried to hold onto Noe, but one of the bolts hit him in the shoulder, and he let go, grunting with pain. Noe slipped from his grasp but caught herself on a piece of the transport’s jagged hull, and then she ducked in low as more shots echoed around the hangar.

  “Sasaira ve!” Urek bellowed, and the room went still. He walked closer at a leisurely pace, a smile cracking his hard features. “Salak vanirasila, Marek? Yakkasik kokrahni.”

  Marek clutched his shoulder, his jaw tight as he glared down at his brother. �
�Teraan masek kokra sukiira,” he spat, and Urek’s face fell.

  “Lara, salak vanirasara.”

  Marek’s eyes widened, and Bree’s heart sank. “Marek, what’s going on?”

  He turned to her, that look of guilt in his eye again as he grasped his wounded shoulder. “I am sorry.”

  She didn’t get a chance to ask what he meant as the levekk guards surrounded her. They grasped her by the arms, pulling her away from the transport as more of them grabbed Noe and Marek. A small trail of smoke followed Marek down, and she fought against her captors’ hold, needing to know that he was all right.

  They dragged her from the room ahead of the others despite her struggling. She caught sight of Urek’s face as she passed, his alien features contorted in a look of triumph that made her skin crawl, and then she was in the corridor, Noe’s angry yelling echoing off the walls.

  But above that, Bree heard the grinding of metal. The hangar door was closing as slowly as it had opened, and yet it was still too fast. It grated shut behind her, and once again, Bree felt her freedom being locked away, along with the stars, the night air, and the whistle of the wind.

  23

  Marek’s shoulder ached, and he couldn’t chase the smell of burning flesh from his nose. It was not a bad injury—he had suffered worse during accidents down in the mines—but he still opted to go quietly when Urek ordered him down from the transport. He knew they were outnumbered, and he didn’t want to risk Bree’s safety by fighting back just yet.

  The humans were not so subdued.

  “Get the fuck off me!” Noe screamed as they dragged her through the halls. She kicked at the two levekk who held her, but they had learned their lesson, keeping well clear of her flailing limbs. At the front of the procession, Bree wrenched against her captors’ hands every so often, but it seemed to be more of an attempt to look back at her companions and ensure they weren’t being harmed.

  Marek tensed when the guards pulled them towards the main elevator—towards the mine. Did they intend to put them to work? For Marek, that almost made sense as a punishment, but for the humans?

  Urek had disappeared, so he tried to catch Peris’ eye in the mirrored walls of the elevator as they descended. She ignored him, the self-satisfied smirk on her face making her thoughts abundantly clear. She’d won.

  But he hadn’t given up yet. He’d get Bree out of here, somehow.

  Downstairs, the sub-species were starting work again after the alarm interrupted them, and they stared at the procession as they passed. He did not see much sympathy, only detached curiosity, and no one dared speak up for them.

  Soon, Marek and the humans were directed into a large room that he didn’t recognize. It was obviously a lab—separated into two halves by a forcefield generator just like the observation room upstairs that he and Bree had been using—but this was like no lab he had seen before. One half of the room held a lone workstation and chair, its walls and floor encased in sheets of old metal turned gray by a thick layer of dust. The other half was little more than a hole dug from the dark brown earth. Its walls, floor, and ceiling were made up of hard-packed dirt, which was held back by dozens of black metal struts that laced over them, much like the webs of Earth’s spiders.

  All three of them were shoved into the earthen half of the room, and Marek caught Bree as she stumbled over the small lip of the forcefield generator. By the time he turned, the forcefield had sprung to life, and they were separated from their levekk captors by a wall of whirling atoms.

  Peris looked pleased as she inspected their prison. “Enjoy your new home. Urek thought you might use this little wake-up call to reconsider your recent choices. And to maybe decide what side of this forcefield you’d like to be on going forward. But take your time,” she added, flashing a cruel grin. “I’d like to see you at least agonize over it a little.”

  Marek didn’t reply, which seemed to put a dent in her amusement. She soon left, and much to his surprise, she took all the guards with her. The metallic observation room, its workstation dull with dust and disuse, was left empty.

  “What did she say?” Bree asked, still enclosed in his arms, and her eyebrows rose as he briefly translated. “So they’re just going to wait us out? Wait for one of us to crack and tell them what they want to hear?”

  “So it seems. But this… is unlike Urek.”

  “How so?” Noe asked, her voice hoarse from screaming.

  Marek blew out a sharp breath, rubbing his hand up Bree’s arm unconsciously. “This feels strange. Ill-thought out. Starving you as punishment, I understand. But if he wishes for information, why does he lock us away together? Why does he let us talk and plan with no guards? Especially me,” he added. “It would be better to isolate me. To threaten me so you will talk.”

  Bree’s fingers suddenly tightened in his suit. “Don’t.”

  “He’d torture you? Isn’t he your brother?” Noe asked.

  Marek exhaled slowly. “A few weeks ago, I did not think he would. But Urek seems obsessed with finding your people. I feel as if I do not know him, anymore.”

  “Was he always this much of an asshole?”

  “Unfortunately, yes,” he said, the corner of his mouth turning up as Noe snorted.

  “Great. So how do we get out of this thing?” She walked over to the forcefield, brazenly reaching out towards it and studying her hand after it bounced off harmlessly. “Can we cut it?”

  “It repels particles on the atomic level. You can try, but you will not succeed.”

  “Don’t tell me what I can’t do.”

  Marek rolled his eyes and turned back to Bree, who was inspecting the rip in the arm of his suit. The bolt had glanced across the cap of his shoulder, burning through scales and muscle, but it was still only a flesh wound. He would recover.

  “There’s no blood,” she whispered, her brows drawn together in confusion.

  “Our weapons do not use bullets like your ancient guns,” he explained. “They use highly concentrated particles, which sear the flesh and halt blood loss.”

  “Oh.” Her fingers skated along the edges of the rip. “I’m glad it only got your arm, then.”

  “And I am glad that you survived Urek’s attempt at starving you.” He touched her face, drawing her gaze. “I am so sorry I failed you. And that I left you alone for so long, I—”

  “Marek, don’t. You did the best you could. That’s all I wanted.”

  “It was not enough,” he growled, frustrated. “I do not know how Urek learned of our plan. It makes no sense.”

  “But it’s done. We can’t do anything about it.” Her hand moved to his back, gripping him tightly. “I’m just happy that we’re all here. Together,” she added, sending a short glare Noe’s way.

  His thumb brushed her cheek, and the soft skin turned warm. “Do not be angry with her. I understand her fears. And we will try again. I will not stop until both of you are safe with your people again.”

  “Marek…” Her voice turned thin, and she ducked her head as more tears shone in her eyes.

  “Do not hide yourself,” he whispered, taking her head in his hands. She sighed into him when he kissed her, tugging him closer as if it had been weeks since they’d seen or held one another. For a moment, they were back in Marek’s office, warm and safe, and he could convince himself that he had a place in the world where he fit.

  “Crisse, can you two not?”

  They broke apart, breathing heavily, and he cut a glare at the human, finding his expression mirrored. Noe was looking directly at him, distrust clear on her face as she crossed her arms.

  “Keep that up and I’ll tell Urek whatever he wants. At least then I might get a private room.”

  Bree sighed. “Noe…”

  “I get it! I mean, I don’t get it, but whatever.” The human blew out a sharp breath, looking uncertain for the first time since Marek had met her. “I just… I can’t see that. Please.”

  “I am sorry,” he said, clearing his throat. “I do not wis
h to discomfort you.”

  Noe’s eyes narrowed. “Sure.”

  “Let’s focus on getting out of here,” Bree said, color high on her cheeks. “The forcefield’s a no, but maybe we can find a weakness somewhere else.”

  “You wish to dig your way out of here?” Marek fought back an appreciative smile and failed when she returned the expression.

  “Better than sitting around fighting each other, right?”

  “Or watching you two eat each other’s faces,” said Noe.

  “After all the times you brought men back to our room without warning me?” Bree sniped, walking to the back wall and tugging experimentally at a metal strut. “You owe me.”

  The other human scoffed and muttered, “At least I brought home humans.”

  The words were different, but the sentiment was the same, and Marek let the barbs wash over him. He stepped away from the humans and towards another section of wall. It would do no good to come between her and her friend.

  It was his people’s fault they were in danger, which meant it was his fault, so he would get them both home safe. It didn’t matter that Noe didn’t like him. It only mattered that Bree liked her.

  So he set about checking each of the walls for weaknesses, trying to deduce their location within the map of the mines in his head. The area they had been marched through was unfamiliar to him, obviously old and not often used anymore. With the earthen construction, it was possible this was one of the first parts of the mine ever to be dug, a temporary area with less meticulous construction than the rest of the underground. If that was the case, it might be possible to burrow through to one of the adjacent rooms…

  But hours later, they still hadn’t found a good place to dig. Despite how old it was, the room was solidly built, and the struts that laced the walls were reinforced so well that even Marek couldn’t remove them.

  Noe gave up the search first, collapsing onto the dirt floor with a dramatic groan. Bree sat cross-legged, facing a spot on the wall where the dirt was lighter, almost as if it had been scooped out and shoved back in again. The struts were concentrated here, compensating for the weakness, and Marek tapped one of them as he sat down beside her.