by Erik Hyrkas
Chapter 23. Max
I ran over unmarked and unremarkable fields of vines through the afternoon and into the evening. The ground rose steadily in front of me, and in the distance I could see purple mountains. I pushed on, catching second wind for the umpteenth time even as I found my stride. When the larger of the suns set, I ran on by the blue light of the smaller sun. When I reached the crest of the hill I had been running up for miles, I looked down a deep crag into a valley obscured by dark swirls of fog. The smell of rotten eggs nearly overpowered me. I sighed. Par for the course that my destination should stink.
I considered trying to find an easier way into the valley than falling down a cliff, but it looked like it stretched miles in either direction and I wasn’t assured that it would get easier. Why the hell would anything live down there?
I pulled out my com link. “Miranda?”
A moment passed before she answered. “I’m here.”
“Can you do a scan for life forms around me?”
“Sure thing.”
I started figuring out the best way to climb down. It was a long fall onto a very hard surface. Even I probably couldn’t survive.
“Okay, I see bio signatures within three hundred yards of you. They are either some very large life forms or some densely packed small life forms.”
“Let’s hope they are really small then,” I answered.
“Oh, Max?”
“Yes?”
“I think there might be lava near you. I see some pretty intense heat signatures that look like lava flows.”
“Great.” I tried to see into the mist. Burns were especially difficult to heal because they tended to cauterize blood flow and make the healing process difficult. “Thanks for the heads up. Anything else I should know?”
“Yeah.” She pause. “We’re counting on you.”
“Gotcha. No pressure. Thanks for the bio scan, Miranda. I’ll see you soon.”
“Good luck! Miranda out.”
“Max out.”
I wished that I had my graviton bars with me. I could have used them to climb down to the bottom. Unfortunately, Tyler had confiscated them, and I had no idea where he put them. I climbed most of the way down the cliff face before falling. The sudden stop at the bottom hurt, and I knew I had broken at least a few bones. I lay still on the hard rock until I was healed enough that it was safe to stand. I was starting to think John was right: there was no way my kind could have survived without extreme regeneration capabilities. We are just too damn stupid.
I stood slowly and listened to the hiss of steam. The fog was too thick to see far, and so I began to walk slowly and quietly. Occasionally, a burst of steam would shoot out from a crack in the ground and startle me. Miranda’s warning that life forms were nearby had me on edge.
I came across a type of vine that I hadn’t seen before. Large green melons that smelled like strawberries hung from the vine. I pulled off one of the fruits and eyed it suspiciously. It didn’t make any moves to attack me, and as I was hungry, I broke the melon open. Miranda had warned me about eating anything else down here, but the insides were green like a kiwi and smelled delicious. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… How did that saying go? “Ah, the hell with it.” I took a bite, and it was the best tasting fruit I had ever had. It tasted like strawberries but had the texture of seedless watermelon. It was amazing. I ate the entire melon and didn’t regret a bite.
I pulled three more of the fruit off the vine and put them in my satchel. Then I decided to take one more for the road. I was still hungry but needed to stay focused.
For being some sort of Valley of the Doomed, the place really wasn’t that bad. Sure the steam was a little annoying, but I couldn’t imagine people not coming back at least for the food. Rocks tumbled and clicked a short distance away through the thick fog and echoed in the valley. I could hear a slow intake of air building, and I imagined something large trying to smell me. I stood stock still.
Bam! A massive reptilian head crashed into me. I flew back and landed hard on a pile of rubble. The creature resembled a scaly brown dog with tusks and a beak. The tusks had managed to make holes in my body. I hadn’t had a chance to get past that initial numb stage of shock, but I knew that in a very few moments I would feel the pain. So I broke open the fruit I was holding and started eating it while I lay recovering. If I was going to die, it would not be without a last bite of fruity goodness.
When the dog-reptile pawed the ground like a bull about to charge, I scrambled to my feet. I was doubting things could get worse when I heard a hiss from behind me. I dared a glance over my shoulder and saw a massive hooded snake with spines on its back and green spear-tip shaped markings on its light brown skin. This snake didn’t match the one of my hallucination, but I was pretty sure this was the snake I was looking for. The dog bolted in the opposite direction, and the snake knocked me down giving chase. I cursed both beasts and rose as quickly as the pain would allow, then gathered myself and ran the direction the snake had come from, taking a chance that what I sought was there.
A few moments later I found myself in a squishy vine-like mound fifteen feet high. The fog was thick, but it looked like something had piled up dead vines on purpose. I pushed the vines around and looked inside at blue leathery eggs about half the size of chicken eggs nestled in the vines. Then I saw a miniature Spearback crawling out of one of the eggs. Jackpot! Why bother carrying back a hundred poisonous wriggling snakes when I could carry back the eggs? My satchel had three of the melons in it, and so I started filling my pockets with eggs as fast as I could. Because I was wearing cargo pants, I managed to load myself up with roughly sixty eggs before I ran short of space. I was in rather a hurry and wasn’t counting very closely. I pulled out two of the fruits and put in roughly eighty eggs—figuring that it was better to have extra than to not have enough. I avoided any eggs that were moving or showed signs they might be hatching soon. I also avoided the little snakes as they squirmed away. I didn’t want to find out exactly how poisonous they were.
I heard the approaching sound of mother snake as I loaded the last eggs in my satchel, grabbed my fruit, and ran. I expected immediate pursuit, but I glanced over my shoulder as I ran and didn’t see any sign of the snake through the thick mist. Maybe her instincts to protect the nest overpowered her desire for revenge. Then I felt the ground turn soft again. I was climbing another mound covered in little, four-inch vipers. I was never really a snake person, but this was enough to give me a phobia. I imagined their mother was nearby, and I didn’t pause. I jumped off the mound of slithering vipers and kept running. I heard sounds in the fog and knew that any moment might be my last, but I didn’t stop. Eventually, after what seemed like miles, I didn’t encounter more mounds and the steam let up.
The small blue sun had nearly set, and soon outright darkness would be upon me. I pulled out my com link to use its faint light to see my next steps. It wasn’t much of a flashlight, but I wasn’t going to stop moving until I delivered these eggs to the Magnoculous. The ground had turned from solid sheets of rock to broken sand as stars were emerging in the sky on the horizon opposite the sun.
I turned right as I exited the shallow bowl of the valley and ran full tilt. Moments later, I heard my com link beep. I had to tuck one of my fruits under my arm to answer it.
“Max, is everything okay?” Miranda asked.
“Everything is fine. I have the snakes—or the snake eggs. I’m heading back to the Magnoculous now.”
“No, you aren’t,” Miranda said.
“What do you mean?”
I heard muffled laughing. “You are going the wrong way.”
I sighed. “Oh, yeah. You know, I was just performing some evasive maneuvers.”
I thought I heard her snicker again. “Of course. Miranda out.”
I grumbled. “Max out.”
I made an immediate about-face and picked up my pace. The eggs hadn’t felt delicate when I loaded them up, but I hoped they didn’t get s
crambled with all the running. That would be embarrassing—unless they tasted good when they were fried. I felt so hungry at the thought of eggs that I ate one of the delicious melons I was carrying. I really had to try to save one for Miranda.
I made it a few miles over rolling vine-covered hills before I had the other melon eaten. They were so satisfying, making me feel like I had all the energy of a Bar-F—and they tasted good too. I felt like my whole body was getting stronger as I ran faster and faster. My arm that had regenerated now looked strong again, as if I had been lifting weights for months. I felt strong, too, even as I pushed myself harder. In less than an hour, I was back at the psycho-porcupine’s abandoned abode, leaping from rooftop to rooftop as I sprinted over the city. I didn’t notice if she came out as I blew right on through, and I didn’t care.
I kept going right to the stretch of delicious man-eating vine covered hills and traced my path from cairn to cairn by starlight and the glow of my com link. I not only didn’t get tired but felt even stronger. I came to the tangled jungle of vines and found myself leaping from vine trunk to vine trunk with ease, never slowing for a moment.
Then I realized I was being shadowed, the leaves moving in a parallel route to my left. I landed on a bough and stopped to study my pursuer. One of the giant armored bears burst through the vines and landed on the same bough. My adrenaline pumped, and I felt new strength surge through me. I launched myself at the bear. It slashed and bit at me, but I slammed my fist into it with such force that the blow shattered its skull. The beast toppled over dead from the impact.
I looked at my tattered shirt where the beast had slashed me and saw that my body was already healed. I laughed a mad laugh and began running again through the jungle at blinding speeds. The melons were making me stronger than I had ever felt. I could ever remember feeling this good.
At last, I crossed into the clearing before the Magnoculous’ secret entrance, surprising three Wendigo fighting there when I stepped into the starlight. All their quarrels were forgotten when they turned and looked at me. I jumped, tumbled, and spun to maneuver between them, under them, and over them. I felt invincible as I slid into the tunnel within seconds of entering the clearing.
I was greeted by a spear in the ribs, but I groaned as I extracted it and broke it in two. “I’ve returned with your snakes. Tell the Poobah.”
The guard led me to the throne room. I ignored ceremony and walked up to the throne. “Grand Poobah, I have your snakes.”
“Why do you call me Poobah?” he asked.
“What would you prefer that I call you?”
He looked thoughtful before he answered, “Call me Mike.”
“Okay, Mike. I have your snakes.” I reached into my pockets and began gently extracting eggs. Unfortunately, some had hatched. I quickly pulled off my pants and leapt back as four-inch snakes started emerging from my pockets. I saw my towel sticking out of my back pocket, so I quick yanked it away and wrapped it around my neck for safekeeping. I then took off the satchel and gently tipped it out. More snakes erupted, and the last melon rolled out. The Magnoculous stepped back. “I thought you guys would be happy to see the snakes.”
“We are very happy,” Mike answered, “until we saw the forbidden fruit you brought with you.”
“Oh.” I picked it up, careful to avoid the slithering snakes. “Well, it tastes delicious.”
“You ate one?”
“More like four or five.”
Mike covered his eyes with his hands. “It would seem that you won’t need the Tritium after all.”
“Of course I do,” I protested. “I’m sorry if I offended you by eating your sacred fruit. I didn’t know it was forbidden.”
“You won’t need the Tritium. The forbidden fruit isn’t sacred. It’s poisonous.”
“For crying out loud! Is anything on this planet edible!”
“You will be dead in less than a day.”
“Well, I still need the Tritium to get my friends back home. They’re counting on me. I’ve brought back more than a hundred of these snakes. Are you going to honor your end of the bargain?”
Mike nodded. “Take what you need. With the Spearback Vipers you have brought, we may regain our lands someday soon.”
“Thanks. If somebody can show me to the main entrance where I left the canister I need to fill, I’ll just get what I need and be on my merry way.”
“I will take you myself.” He then turned to the other Magnoculous and spoke in a curious clicking language. Quickly they gathered up the snakes and whisked them away.
Mike led me to where I had left the exoskeleton, and I quickly darted through the waterfall, grabbed the canister, and swam back to him. He then led me down many corridors and up multiple flights of stairs until we reached a room with a giant pool of green glowing tritiated water. “Take your fill and go.”
I filled the canister quickly and called Miranda, letting her know I was ready for a pickup. She said she was on her way.
“Thanks for everything,” I told Mike. The pool didn’t seem depleted at all, and I felt better knowing that I wasn’t leaving them in the dark.
He patted me on the arm. “Thank you for helping my people. It saddens me that you had to die to help us.”
I smiled at him. “I might die tomorrow, but right now, I feel good. You don’t mind if I take this last fruit with me, do you?”
“Please, take it. We wouldn’t want it to go to seed here.”
“Thanks!”
I ate the melon and then picked up the now full one-ton canister and carried it to the waterfall. I walked through the water, actually across the bottom of the pond because the water was over my head, to the other side. I set the canister on the shore and then climbed out. It all felt so easy with this amazing strength.
I saw nuclear fission flashes through the doorway and heard the high-pitched whir of engines. As I dashed out with the canister in my arms, the bay door opened and I leaped in. When I landed, the ship sank a half foot. I forgot that I was carrying a ton.
John looked at me with an expression of curiosity as the door shut behind me. The ship was rising even as the door closed.
“You said you had the tritiated water, but you did not use the exoskeleton. We must have misunderstood you.”
I patted the canister. “It’s all in here. Where do you want it?”
He grabbed the canister to move it and then frowned when he could not budge it. “Bring it to the engine room.”
He led the way, and I carried the canister as easily as a bag of groceries.
“Set it here,” he said.
I put the canister in the place he indicated and he hooked it up. He pushed some glowing buttons on a panel. There was a whooshing sound and then he disconnected it and moved the now empty canister himself. “Good work,” he said.
By the time we reached the cockpit, we were already orbiting the planet.
“We are ready to depart,” John said.
Miranda looked at me and then back to the instrument panel, but her gaze came back to me immediately. “They warned me you were different, but nobody told me you work without pants.” She looked at me more closely. “There really isn’t much left of your shirt, either.”
“Think of it as a perk,” I said.
“Luckily, I can enjoy the little things in life,” she said with a nod toward my unrobed lower half.
“Little?” I might have argued with her, but at that moment a wrenching pain gripped my stomach. I doubled over and fell to my knees.
“Max? What’s happening?” she asked.
I felt John check my pulse. “He must be sick or injured.”
“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” she murmured.
“Strawberry melons,” I whispered.
“You’re only hungry?” she asked. She sounded relieved.
I groaned. “Poisonous melons.”