by David Aries
And I didn’t mean our android helper.
The tropical forest was no match for Rocket. She didn’t care that the terrain was an uneven mess and the air was so clammy it was hard to call ‘fresh’; she powered on ahead without a care and turned the jungle into the smoothest highway around.
That’s my girl!
She was like some well-needed cheat code. Time was against us, as was geography. The jungle was a massive beast it had taken us weeks to escape via sticking to the perimeter. Even going through the center wouldn’t be a short trip. On foot, that might have been another week down the drain.
With Rocket… not quite.
Day turned to night, which then became another blistering day, before handing itself back to the realm of darkness. Eventually, the sun rose again, and we charged onward before crashing through a row of bushes that brought Rocket skidding to a stop.
We’d done it. Thanks to Rocket’s help, we’d reached the other side of the jungle in just over two days.
And with only a few dozen sabards slaughtered along the way.
However, it wasn’t time to pop the champagne. We may have arrived at one of the cliff edges that gave this fractured planet its twisted charm, but that didn’t mean we’d made it to the swamp.
Our blind aim had been a little off.
“I don’t believe it,” Faris said as she stared at the destination we’d emerged overlooking.
It was a sprawling white wonderland chocked to the brim with snow-covered forests and gray peaks.
Akko gave my body a squeeze. “Is this the place where you two landed?”
“Yep,” I said. “Casella too. It’s also where we met Trez.”
“That must have been a year ago,” Faris said.
“It feels more like a lifetime.”
Who knows, maybe it had been? There was no guarantee days here and those back on earth were the same length. It would probably be weirder if they were. For all I knew, I’d been here years.
“This place sure does bring back memories,” I said. “Remember when we first met? You despised me.”
Faris pouted and whispered, “Don’t remind me…”
“Sorry,” I said, leaning over and giving her a kiss. “It’s just… who ever thought we’d end up as mates back when you were trying to dump me in the freezing cold?”
“You tried to do what?” Akko squawked.
“I never!” Faris snapped. “I-I don’t think… it was a long time ago. Besides, didn’t you keep him prisoner?”
Akko flinched. “T-that was a misunderstanding.”
I chuckled into my hand. “Hey, DD? Were you watching us back when we were here?”
“On occasions,” she said. “Your attempts to build a lift were rather captivating, as was your ascent to this plane.”
“Oh, you saw that?”
“Indeed, I did. You were very heroic. That was actually the incident that brought you to wider attention, before your return from the swamp made you an attraction.”
A chill raced down my spine, and it had nothing to do with the snowscape below. “Since that long ago?”
“I am afraid so, Master Brandon,” DD said, lowering her head. “Please forgive me for partaking. There was little else I could but yearn for a life not my own.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s not like you were doing the filming,” I said as I turned away from her. “We need to make those bastards pay…”
As much as I loved indulging in snow nostalgia, we had a job to do. We took off again, this time following the cliff’s edge in what I was pretty sure was the right direction.
Sure enough, within the hour, the white sheet was replaced by a thick yellow fog only broken up by geysers barfing their way toward orbit.
“Yep, this is the place,” I said.
Even from a distance, I could smell its fumes.
“It looks as pleasant as you described,” Faris replied. “Now how do we find the ship?”
“Patience. For now, we keep going.” Jumping in blindly would do us no good. If we wanted a fighting chance, we had to enter at the right spot. I kept my eyes peeled as we journeyed along the border for a clue I couldn’t afford to miss.
It better still be there.
I doubt anyone cared enough to move it.
Sure enough, my prediction was correct. After another tedious amble, we came across a log trap hanging from a tree.
“This is where I was pushed off,” I told the others. “Which means the ship can’t be far.”
Faris glanced through a pair of binoculars. “I don’t see it…”
“I’m not surprised with how thick this fog is. Given that the ship survived, I bet even the space stations can’t see through this crap.” Something popped into my head. “Wait, why did they include a swamp they can’t see into?”
“I believe it to be an error caused by this region amalgamating poorly with the planet’s climate,” DD explained. “Originally, the fog was nowhere near as dense as it is now.”
“Makes sense. It wouldn’t be their first screw up.” Who leaves a mining robot behind?
It was those errors we were going to use to get our way out of here.
After I’d called The Core and given an update, and told Rocket to wait for us to pick her up, I fixed a rope around the sturdiest tree within reach.
“For you,” Akko said, offering up a giant air bubble.
“It’s been a while,” I replied as I sunk it around my head and became the strangest astronaut earth had ever seen.
Faris didn’t need a bubble; she had an alternate source of air. It was the breathing apparatus that had originally been taken from the shuttle before being left at The Core.
She insisted she preferred lugging it around over a bubble. After all, there was no danger of her horns popping a mask.
With us all geared up, we descended down the slime-covered cliff, arriving at the bottom with a leg-gobbling squelch.
Seeing how the jungle and snowscape where as I remembered them, it made sense the swamp followed the pattern. The yellow smog, thankfully kept away by Akko’s bubble, sat like some putrid filter over a land that embraced its wildness. Colorful overgrown plants welcomed us to a bubbling, muddy bog where the water was always off-colored. They sheltered glowing crystals that would have been beautiful if I didn’t know their dark secret.
One wrong move and… boom!
“How repulsive,” Faris said, less at the scenery and more the gunk clinging to her armor.
“There’s a reason I don’t miss this place,” Akko said as she dragged herself onto ‘solid’ ground.
Even that was damp mud.
“Let’s not spend any more time here than we have to,” I said. “Let’s try this way. Everyone, stay close.”
It was time to find that ship.
However, as was often the case with anything on this planet, saying was much easier than doing. Last time I’d set off from that spot, I’d been choking on toxins while running for my life.
That made it kind of hard to retrace my steps.
We slogged around the marsh without any clue where the ship might be, accumulating more filth on the lower portions of our armor as well as DD’s stocking clad legs.
After what could have been hours, minutes, or days—the pollution in the air made it impossible to tell—Akko asked, “A-are we lost?”
“We were lost from the moment we set off,” Faris said as she checked her armor’s compass, which worked now the jamming field was gone.
Or should have done. It kept giving an error.
Seems pretty familiar…
I sighed. “Honestly, how hard is it to find a huge monster-filled lake?”
Faris flinched and stopped walking. “A what?!”
“The ship should be submerged in its middle, if I remember correctly.”
She gulped. “Y-you never told me that.”
“I didn’t think it mattered now you can swim.”
“In peaceful shallows! I never practi
ced for these conditions.” Faris’s blood red gaze flickered, as if she was expecting the lake to sneak up on her.
I pulled her close. “It’ll be fine. Don’t forget, me and Akko are here. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
“R-right,” Faris said before pushing me away and clearing her throat. It was like casting a magic spell for restoring her composure. “We need to find it first.”
“Perhaps I could be of assistance?” DD said as she curtsied, lifting the filthy hem of her dress. “If Master Brandon can carry me to a high vantage point, I shall do my best to scan the area.”
“You couldn’t have done that earlier?!” Akko squeaked.
“My most humble apologies, Lady Akko. It has been days since my last recharge; I did not wish to waste my remaining battery without good cause.”
“You’re not about to collapse, are you?” I checked.
“Rest assured, I have more than enough charge to perform a quick scan and remain online for the foreseeable future.”
“Alright then,” I mumbled.
We really didn’t need an unconscious android added to our troubles.
I offered my back to DD, who jumped on without delay. Even through the armor, I couldn’t miss how her softness pressed against me.
“Do my breasts feel soothing, Master Brandon?” DD asked. “Lady Trez has led me to believe they are excellent replicas.”
“Yeah, great,” I said in a bid to get through this conversation as fast as possible.
Less focus on robot titites, more focus on climbing.
A bit of fog didn’t stifle my climbing instincts, nor did the swamp’s strange plantlife. Rather than climbing a tree, what I scaled up was closer to a giant sunflower with plenty of thorny handholds.
DD clung on tight, grinding her surprisingly large chest against my upper back.
“S-so,” I said. “How are you at swimming?”
“There is no need for concern, Master Brandon,” she replied into my ear. “Although I have never swam before, I am well aware how the process works.”
“That’s a super intelligent AI for you, I guess.” And with that, I reached as high as I could go, giving us a line of sight over the rest of the swamp.
Not that I could see a thing with the smog in the way.
“Please tell us you’ve got something,” I said.
“Scanning now, Master Brandon,” she replied, eyes flickering like the static on an old TV.
“How are things, sweetie?!” Akko called from below, having climbed on a small mud hill to get a better view of us.
I didn’t blame her. Even from this short range, there was plenty of clag obscuring the view.
“I’ll tell you in a moment,” I replied. “Be patient.”
“Ohh,” Akko groaned. “We’re never going to find the ship.”
I sighed. “What part of that is being patie—”
Her scream cut through my sentence as she stumbled backward off the mound… or what had appeared to be a mound.
Hills generally don’t have legs.
The creature rose upon them, dislodging its shell from the sludge. Its billed head appeared next, emerging from its hiding place with a cry.
A jolt pierced my heart. I recognized that monster.
It was a damn swamp dragon.
“Akko,” I yelled!
She scrambled back along the floor as the huge reptile turned toward her.
Faris reacted quickly with a blast of fire… without removing her mask. The breath blew-up in her face.
The dragon ignored Faris and remained focused on Akko. It filled its cheeks with poison.
Not happening!
I was already on the move, plummeting from my lofty vantage point toward the monster’s shell. DD clung to my body while I held onto my axe.
It was time to show this brute what happened to those who threatened my mates.
With a snarl, I slammed the dragon’s shell as hard as I could.
The thing exploded into pieces, collapsing on itself like a piece of cardboard trying to stop a bullet. And, naturally, what lurked beneath was no tougher. My axe shredded through, almost ripping the beast in half.
Once I’d checked to make sure my ankles hadn’t shattered on impact—marshland was great for breaking falls—I stared at the brutalized remains of the once fearsome swamp dragon.
Huh?
I killed it in a single blow?
That was… hadn’t I almost lost my life against one of these? If I remembered correctly, I only managed to survive by using an exploding crystal.
Sure, having an axe and gravity on my side made a massive difference, but that didn’t mean I had any business landing a one-hit knockout.
I’ve come a long way, huh?
Damn, this zerrin power is too awesome.
“S-sweetie?” Akko said.
Her words were the clip behind the ear I needed. I dragged my axe out of my prey and rushed to her side. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, sweetie,” she said as she held her heaving chest. “J-just a little startled.”
I exhaled. Just in time…
“Beep boop,” DD said, nudging my sides with her legs. “May I suggest you extend that question to Lady Faris as well?”
My heart leapt—Faris!
She held a hand over her maskless mouth as tears stained her soot-covered face.
I rushed over and pushed my bubble against her, giving us both access to the same miniature air reserve. “Are you hurt?” I asked, not even a centimeter separating the tips of our noses.
“I’m… fine,” she said between coughs and deep oxygen-devouring breaths. Her ruby gaze flicked away, more interested in the corner of my jaw than my eyes. “I forgot fire was off limits…”
I smiled and rubbed my thumb over her cheek, cleaning up the black mess staining her hot complexion. “Try not to make a habit of it.”
An extra dose of warm singed my fingers.
“What happened with the scan?” Faris said in one of her own classic attempts to change subjects.
I winced and replied, “I think I might have ruin—”
“I have good news, Lady Faris,” DD said. “I have detected an object within the vicinity I suspect may be our target.”
“What?!” I said, almost falling she took me that hard off guard.
DD replied with an innocent smile. “If you would like, I shall show you the way, post-haste.”
With the vile swamp oozing all around us, it was hard to think of anything I wanted more.
Chapter 19
As soon as Faris managed to get her fortunately undamaged breathing apparatus back up and working, we set off with DD taking the lead. It didn’t take more than a couple of minutes for us to weave through the overgrown labyrinth and emerge on the shore of a lake just as vile as its surrounding environment.
Akko pointed ahead. “Look!”
It was hard not to. There was no missing the metal spire sprouting from the lake’s center, rising into the sky.
“It’s really a ship,” Faris said.
“Just as promised,” I replied.
“Down to the last detail. It’s definitely a Grade-4.”
Yeah, there was no doubt this ship was bigger than The Glorious. Standing before it made me feel a fool for forgetting how gargantuan it was. Then again, my first impression of it came when I was choking to death on fumes. That’s not exactly the best state for remembering small details.
I tried calling The Core to give everyone the good news, but all I got back was static.
“Never mind,” I said. “For now, let’s focus on getting inside.”
Faris gulped. “You mean… going in there?”
I grabbed her hand. “Don’t worry, I’m with you. We’ll go together.”
She nodded with the aura of a delicate child hanging around her… while squeezing with enough force to make my bones creak.
“The entrance should be… this way,” Akko said, leading us into the lake’s murky depths.
It was like swimming through a giant diluted bowl of cream soup filled with monstrous chunks too hideous to exist in clear water.
If I had to guess its actual flavor… I’d go with ‘toxic waste spill’.
The bubble stopped me from finding out for sure while my night vision did its job and punched through the darkness, keeping track of Akko. She was moving at a steady pace I could have matched if one of my hands hadn’t been busy.
It guided Faris’s movements, keeping her moving ahead.
“That’s it, you’re doing it,” I said.
With each stroke, the fear sapped from Faris’s expression. Her stature grew bolder as her lips curled into a proud smile.
I knew she had this.
“How are you coping, DD?” I asked, glancing back.
She was… further back than I’d expected, utilizing a technique best known as an ‘awkward’ doggy paddle.
“I must confess I am finding this exercise more difficult than I thought I would,” DD said.
“Take your time,” I replied. There was plenty of nasty stuff within my extended view, but nothing I was scared to face.
Akko stopped dead and swiveled around. “But, sweetie! If we take too long, the… ‘you-know-what’ might find us.”
“If it’s still here. Remember, it’s been a year. For all we know, it’s succumbed to old age and—”
A distant roar cut through the lake.
My goosebumps stood to attention.
You’ve got to be kidding me…
From the lake’s deepest depths emerged a gaping tooth-filled mouth attached to a serpentine monster that looked like it ate Grade-3 cruisers for breakfast.
“Leviathan!” Akko squealed.
Our old friend raced toward me and Faris, maw ready to swallow us whole.
I pulled my herix lover behind me and readied my ax—
Akko hit the leviathan like a cannonball, propelling both herself and the giant beast away from us.
“Sweetie,” my very own Lady of the Lake said as she stopped her runaway momentum meters away from us. “I’ll keep it busy. Hurry to the ship!” Before waiting for a reply, she launched another attack.
My heart pulsed. Of course, my instinct was to rush to her side… but if there was anybody I could trust with this, it was Akko.
And she knew that too. After all, this was her call.