by Lili Zander
Do I believe I’m going to transform into a beast? No, of course not. Yet, it is the reason for our exile on this prison planet. For sixty seasons, we’ve been cut off from our families and our home. For sixty seasons, we’ve languished in this jungle world. Here we will remain for the rest of our lives. There is no hope of rescue—no Zorahn pilot possesses the reflexes required to navigate the asteroid belt surrounding this planet without wrecking their ship.
Our lives are simple. Hunt and gather food in the lowlands during the dry season. Retreat to the high cliffs when the rains come. Survive.
Draekon mutation or not, this is now our home.
The silence stretches. “What does it matter?” I say finally, my tone dismissive. “Here we are, and here we will remain.” Spotting my target, I throw my knives with both hands. Two argangana fall.
Nyx brings down two more without speaking. The rest of the herd stampedes.
We stride forward to retrieve our knives and are about to set off in pursuit of the herd once more when Nyx grabs my shoulder. “Arax,” he says, pointing upward, the tone of his voice urgent. “What’s that?”
I look up. Something is dropping from the sky, the air aflame around it. As we watch, it falls faster and then it goes out of view, hidden behind the Na’Lung cliffs.
My heart starts to race.
We’ve been on this planet for sixty seasons; we’ve never seen anything like it. “Is it another exile batch?” Nyx wonders out loud.
I shake my head. “Unlikely.” Though we’ve been here for years, we have yet to see any other signs of habitation. “The scientists are not fools. They will not drop another exile batch so close to us.”
Could that object in the sky be a ship? Could it be a ticket out of this planet? I must know.
“It’s a day’s journey to the far side of the Na’Lung cliffs,” Nyx says. “I’m assuming we’re going to investigate?”
The sun is setting. We have only enough time to mark our kills so that the others can find them, and seek shelter for the night. The lowland jungle is no place to linger after dark; it’s too dangerous.
“Yes,” I reply. “We leave at first light.”
3
Viola
Someone is screaming.
I open my eyes slowly. Everything hurts. When I reach up to touch my forehead, it comes away wet with blood.
“Where am I?” I murmur, trying to remember, then everything comes rushing back to me. The argument between Beirax and Raiht’vi. The ship crashing on something called the Prison Planet.
“That’s a good question, Viola.” Harper’s face looms over mine. “Are you okay?”
Not even a little bit. “I think so.” I try to sit up, and a wave of dizziness overtakes me. “How long have I been out?”
Harper grimaces, dabbing at my cut with a piece of white cloth. It’s a pillowcase from one of the stasis chambers. “As best as I can tell, two hours.” She sounds strained and her hand, as she reaches to help me, trembles.
The fog in my head clears a little. “Is everyone fine?”
“Janet’s dead,” she replies, her eyes filling with tears. “One of the Zorahn men is as well.”
“Shit.” I must be numb with shock because I feel nothing more than a twinge for poor Janet, who had been so concerned about the safety of the stasis pods. “Which Zorahn? Beirax or Mannix?”
“I’m not good at names,” she replies. “The one with brown tattoos.”
“Mannix.” I get up, ignoring the way the room swims around me. I can be sick later. “Who’s screaming?”
“Olivia. She’s broken her leg.” She shudders. “We tried to set it, but it’s a bad break. The bone is sticking out. Sofia’s trying to staunch the bleeding. Paige, Felicity, and Bryce are still in stasis, and I don’t want to open the chambers to find out if they’re okay.”
I grab her shoulder to steady myself and take stock. It’s not a pretty picture. We’re in the main passenger area. There’s a giant hole in the body of the ship, where the wing tore away.The ship must have come to rest on its side because the hole is above my head.
“The air must be breathable,” Harper says quietly. “Otherwise we’d all be dead.”
I hope for all our sakes that she’s right because there’s no way to make this ship airtight. Ignoring the outside for the moment, I transfer my attention back to the ship and immediately wish I hadn’t. Janet’s body is crumpled against one wall, a huge metal spike sticking out of her belly, blood drying all around her, the smell tangy and metallic.
I hastily turn away from her before I lose the contents of my stomach, but the next sight isn’t prettier. Olivia’s lying on the floor, writhing in pain, and when I see the white bone, my belly churns again.
Ryanna’s leaning against the other wall, holding a wad of cloth against her forehead. May’s sitting next to her, her right arm hanging limply at her side. “I hit the wall pretty hard,” she says when she notices me staring. “And Ryanna cut herself.” She gives me another look. “You’re bleeding again.”
“It’s just a flesh wound,” I reply automatically, dabbing the cut again with the pillowcase, my eyes continuing to scan the room. Harper’s moved back next to Sofia, and the two women are trying to comfort Olivia. I turn my attention away from the weeping redhead and set off in search of the three Zorahn.
I find them in the cockpit. Mannix’s body is twisted at an odd and unnatural angle. Harper’s right; he’s dead.
Raiht’vi’s eyes are closed, and her breathing is labored. Beirax, the cause of all this turmoil, is in even worse shape. His entire torso is torn open, and bright blue blood is everywhere. A hysterical sob wells up in my throat when I register the color of his blood, and my knees start to shake. Alien blood is blue. Who knew?
“Viola.” Harper hears the wild giggle that escapes my lips, and she’s instantly at my side, her hands around my shoulders. “You’re in shock. Pull yourself together.”
I shake my head to clear it, and the room spins around me. Dumb move. Don’t do that again, Vi.
Beirax moans in pain and that sound spurs me to action. “We need a plan,” I say out loud.
“No shit, Sherlock. Any ideas?”
What would happen on Earth if a ship crash-landed? It would disappear from radar, and the alarm would be sounded almost immediately. I can only hope that space travel is the same way, and the Zorahn know we’ve crashed. If they do, how long will it take to send a rescue mission?
I make my way back to the main area. “Anyone know what day it is?” I ask the women there. “On Earth, that is.”
Ryanna looks up. “There was a timer in my stasis pod,” she replies. “It was counting down from ten days.”
“There was?” It’s a good thing I decided to be a botanist, not a detective. I’d barely even noticed that there was a thin mattress pad and a pillow before I’d gone under. I go to check, and sure enough, Ryanna’s right. There is a countdown of some kind, and it’s showing that there are still four days to go.
Wherever we crashed, we’re only four days away from Zoraht.
Help could be coming for us in less than a week.
Hope trickles through me. One week. We just need to survive on this unknown planet for a week, and then it’ll be over. The Zorahn will find us; I’m certain they will. As the emissaries kept telling us, we’re under the personal protection of the High Emperor himself. That’s gotta count for something, right?
Olivia’s cries have died down. Sofia’s sitting on the floor next to her, looking drained. “She’s out.” She nods in the direction of her small doctor’s bag. She’d insisted on bringing it with her, and God, I’m glad she did. “I gave her something for the pain, but the relief is only temporary.”
“You did good,” I say encouragingly. “Help is going to get here in a few days. All we need to do is manage until then. We’re going to be okay.”
The women look up, their faces hopeful, and I feel like there’s a giant spotlight on me. “Here’s what
I know,” I tell them. “Beirax and Raiht’vi were arguing. Beirax pulled a gun on her, and deliberately crashed the ship on this planet.”
Their faces show their shock.
“But,” I add reassuringly, “The Zorahn have all kinds of advanced technology. They’ll find us. Until then, here’s the plan. We need to get the injured people into the stasis pods. That’s our best shot at keeping them alive.”
Sofia looks relieved at my words. “That’s a good idea,” she says. “Beirax’s injuries especially…” Her voice trails off, and she shudders. “I don’t have the slightest idea what to do. I don’t know anything about Zorahn anatomy.”
None of us do. While the Zorahn showed up knowing everything about us, we know startlingly little about them. Until I saw Beirax’s blood, it didn’t even occur to me that it would be a different color.
May pats Sofia on the back with her good arm.
“The rest of us,” I continue, “can do one of two things. We can get back into the pods and wait to be rescued, or we can try to find food and water on this planet.”
Harper’s lips twist into a grimace. “We can’t all go back into the pods, Vi,” she points out quietly. “They can only be shut from the outside. One of us will need to be awake.”
I wanted adventure? Well, here it is. Bright, shiny, and scary as hell.
Ryanna shakes her head. “No way,” she says flatly. “Before anyone gets any stupid ideas, we’re not going to leave one of us out here alone, while the rest of us crawl into the safety of the pods. And Viola, don’t even think about volunteering.”
I close my mouth, and she continues. “We put the injured in stasis, and the four of us,” she points to Harper, Sofia, and me, “all go find food and water. Okay?”
“I’m not badly hurt,” May protests. “I want to come with you.”
Sofia shakes her head immediately. “No,” she says firmly. “We have no idea what kind of terrain we’re going to run into. We don’t know if the planet has any predators. Your forearm is broken. We won’t be able to protect you.”
Predators. Crap. Never thought about that, and it’s not a cheery thought.
“There’s something else.” I try to remember Raiht’vi’s words before he crashed the ship, but the pounding in my head increases. “I overheard the Zorahn talk. I think they exiled some people to this planet? The Draekons, Raiht’vi called them. She was terrified that they were going to tear us all to shreds.”
“Well, that’s reassuring.” Ryanna chews on her lip nervously. Sofia goes pale, and even Harper looks alarmed.
I didn’t mean to freak them out, but I can’t, in good conscience, keep what I heard from them. On an alien planet, knowledge of the dangers out there could be the difference between life and death.
Salvage this situation, Vi. “We can’t do anything until the morning anyway,” I say firmly. “Let’s get the wounded into the stasis pods, and get some rest. Tomorrow’s going to be an eventful day.”
It’s a lot easier said than done to move the injured into the stasis pods. Raiht’vi’s eyes fly open when we try to move her, and she grabs me by the throat. Injured or not, she’s really strong. “We are on the prison planet,” she hisses. “The Draekons are here. Caeron preserve us all.”
I struggle to breathe. Spots swim in front of me. “The Draekons?” I choke out.
Harper and Ryanna grab Raiht’vi’s hand, trying to get her to release me. Raiht’vi pays them no attention. Her eyes lock onto me, as focused as a laser. “Men that can take the shape of a beast. You must beware. The Draekons are dangerous. Not to be trusted.” Her grip finally slackens, and her hand falls away. I drop to the floor, and Sofia hurries up to me. “I’m okay,” I tell her, waving away the petite doctor. “It’s all good.”
I’m lying; it’s not good. Raiht’vi hadn’t flinched when Beirax held a gun to her. She hadn’t panicked when we were crashing. But these Draekons, whoever they are, terrify her.
What have we gotten ourselves into?
“She’s fainted,” Sofia announces, bending over the alien woman. “She doesn’t look good. We need to get her into the stasis unit.”
It takes effort, but we manage it. Beirax is a lot harder. The male alien is built like a truck. It takes all four of us—Harper, Ryanna, Sofia, and me—to move him. By the time we’re done, sweat pours off our faces, and Beirax’s dripping bright blue blood everywhere. “I don’t know what to do,” Sofia whispers, her face pinched with tension as she looks at the injured Zorahn. “I swore an oath…”
“You said it yourself. He’s not human.” My voice comes out too harsh in the quiet, and I soften my tone before I continue. “You don’t know anything about his injuries. You can’t do anything for him.”
“I know.” She’s silent for a long time, then she closes her eyes and whispers a prayer. “Santa María, Madre de Dios, ruega por nosotros pecadores, ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte. Amén.”
Unable to translate, my earpiece says solemnly.
I don’t need the translator to understand the prayer. My college roommate at the University of Wisconsin was Latina and devoutly Catholic. This prayer is etched in the pathways of my brain.
Holy Mary, mother of God,
Pray for us sinners,
Now and at the hour of our death.
Amen.
It takes us a few hours in the morning to set out.
First, we drag the mattresses from the unused stasis pods and try to cover up the gaping hole in the ship. Then we figure out how the stasis pods operate by punching every button in sight and using May as our test subject.
Before we leave, we ransack the ship for anything useful. I find a bag and stuff three spare translators inside. Ryanna does the same. Sofia takes her medical bag, though I hope we don’t run into an occasion where we need to use it. I grab Beirax’s weapon from the cockpit as well, even though I have no idea how to use the horseshoe-shaped object.
I know that I’m on a different world, but it only sinks in when we step outside. We appear to have landed in the middle of an alien jungle. There’s a cluster of tall, green-and-black striped reeds to my right. Each reed is fifteen feet tall and ends in a glowing blue orb. Some kind of fruit, I wonder, and the botanist in me itches to explore further.
Harper’s staring at the sky, which is a pale crimson in color. Two moons loom on the horizon, one large and green, and the other smaller and blue, with rings around it. The only thing this planet has in common with Earth is the sun, which is bright and yellow, just like ours. She looks as overwhelmed as I feel. “Toto,” she says slowly, “we aren’t in Kansas anymore.”
The air is hot and humid. Last night, the spacesuit did a good job of wicking away moisture, but it was built for space, not a tropical alien planet. The humidity seems to have overloaded the nanothingies, and patches of the fabric are now damp.
I slowly turn in a full circle where I stand, trying to decide which way to go. We’re looking for food and water, and we need to avoid the Draekons.
One week. You just have to survive a week in this place.
“The mountain.” I point the direction of a tall pillar-like rock formation that juts out into the sky. “If we reach the top, we’ll be able to see for miles.”
No one has a better idea, so we set off in the direction of the big rock, which resembles a massive cock. On a different day, I’d have giggled about that. Today, we walk in silence in single file. I lead the way, clutching Beirax’s weapon with tight fingers, and Harper brings up the rear.
It’s hard going. We’re walking through a jungle. Pink tree trunks hem us in from every side. The forest floor is covered with a tight carpet of some kind of crunchy grass that breaks when we walk on it. Bushes with neon yellow leaves and bright purple thorns block our path, and we have to detour around them.
“This place looks like Candyland,” Harper says, reaching for one of the yellow leaves.
“Or Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory,” I say, grabbing her hand to stop her
. “Try not to touch anything. We don’t know what’s poisonous.”
“Right. Good thinking. Thanks.” She puts a hand to her head. “The sun is making me woozy.”
“It’s hot as hell,” I agree. “But I’m thinking there has to be a lake or a river somewhere. I mean, look at all this vegetation.” I wave a hand at the lush forest. “Even alien plants need water to grow.”
“Let’s hope you’re right,” Harper says.
The women all look wilted and gloomy. This won’t do. We need to keep our spirits up. “If we don’t find a water source,” I tell them, “we can risk eating some of the vegetation, and try to get water that way.”
“Thanks, Vi,” Ryanna says, her face brightening. I hope I’m not spreading false cheer because one thing is crystal clear. If we can’t find a drinking source soon, we won’t survive.
We walk for three hours, growing thirstier and thirstier with each step we take. “Do you think any of these plants are edible?” Ryanna asks as we pass through a grove of giant trees with pink bark.
“Ask Viola, she’s the botanist,” Sofia puffs, a little out of breath.
“Yeah, on Earth.” I shake my head. “I’m afraid I didn’t take ‘Alien Flora 101’ in school.” Mainly because, up until six months ago, we thought that aliens didn’t exist.
“When we get back to Earth, you can teach it,” Ryanna says.
“Someone’s a positive thinker,” Harper snickers.
“I just don’t want to waste energy on dwelling on all the stuff that can go wrong,” Ryanna snaps back.
“Okay, enough. No fighting,” I announce, thinking of my dad and what he would say in this situation. “We need to have each other’s backs. Together, we can survive.”
Harper golf claps. “Ladies, I give you Viola Lewis,” she says. “Interplanetary motivational speaker.” She smiles to counteract the sarcasm.
“Whatever,” I tell Harper. We have enough problems; we don’t need to bicker. “I think Ryanna’s right. We’re hurt, tired, and hungry, and we’ve crashed on an alien planet. What else can go wrong?”