by Elin Wyn
“I won’t know until I get around to testing it. It could be anything. We’re actually still trying to figure out how old this planet is, so it could be anything from an ice age to a time when the world was too hot to live on.” She stopped talking and took a closer look at the section she was at.
As I came down next to her, I asked. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “This section here makes no sense to me. See this here?” she asked as she pointed.
I looked, and what I saw was a solid piece of multi-colored rock. It had at least eight different shades of green mixed in with another nine or ten shades of brown.
“This shouldn’t be here. Everything around it is soft in comparison, but this layer is as solid as can be and extremely colorful.”
She took out her pick and hammer, set the pick to the rock, and hit it. The noise that reverberated around the crater was loud. Both Rokul and I were forced to cover our ears, while Annie grimaced through it. We looked back at the rock and there was no indication that she had hit it. “That makes no sense,” she said.
“Any ideas?” I asked her.
She shook her head. “No, nothing. Does this run around the entire crater?”
I flicked on my radio to the team above. “Takar? Sylor? Rokul and I are going to make our way around the crater a few hundred feet. Monitor our lines.”
“Aye, sir,” Sylor answered. I nodded to Rokul and we made our way around the crater in opposite directions. For me, the rock line was the same for the entire hundred-plus feet that I traveled.
“Heading back, Sylor.” He grunted in response as he took up the slack while I headed back to Annie’s position. “Same, the entire way until I stopped.”
“That’s interesting,” she whispered, more to herself than to me. Rokul returned a moment later to report the same. “That makes me wonder. Could there have been a catastrophic, planet-changing event during this time?”
“How long ago do you think this was?” Rokul asked.
“That’s a good question. Let’s see, we’re about five hundred feet down, each layer is between one-and-a-half to seven centimeters thick...” We waited for a minute or two as she tried to do the calculations in her head. “To be honest, I’m not completely sure, because the gravity level is different here than on Earth, not by a lot, but enough to make a difference. I’d say that this could have been anywhere from six hundred to a thousand years ago, but don’t quote me on that. It’s something I need to run by some of my coworkers.” She looked, first at Rokul, then over to me. “Let’s go a little lower, get a few more samples.”
Over the course of the next three hours, we dropped another two hundred feet, gathering samples along the way. The sun had moved, and it was getting to be too dark to see on my side of the crater. I pulled out a light stick and flicked it on, but as I went to attach it to my waist, something hit my hand. I watched as the light stick fell until it was too dark for me to see it anymore.
What in the skrell was that? “Rokul?”
“Sir?”
“Get out a light stick, see if you can see anything.”
“I actually still have light in my section, sir.”
Of all the…I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and calmed myself down. “Then come over here where the light is gone and light up a ketonsin light stick.” Okay, maybe I hadn’t calmed down.
“Yes, sir,” I heard him say quietly. He made his way over to me, lit up a light stick, and, as he went to pass it to me, something knocked it from his hands. “What in the…?” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as something struck him, sending him spinning away from me.
“Rokul!” Then I head Annie scream and saw her being tossed around on her wire. Before I could move, something started hitting me on the legs, then the arms.
We were all yelling, screaming, and grunting as we tried to defend ourselves from our mystery attackers. I lashed out and hit something with my hand that felt slimy and hard. “Get us up!” I yelled into my comm, then Annie’s scream changed the direction of my focus. She was being spun around and batted against the walls relentlessly.
Rokul was already making his way up, his line tight as his brother pulled. I started to make my way to Annie when I was suddenly jerked upwards. “No, no. She’s in trouble! Let me back down,” I ordered.
“Make up your ketonsin mind, please,” Sylor shot back. I made my way over towards Annie, but was tripped along the way and sent into a nauseating spin. I finally got to her, attached my emergency line to her, and detached her from her line just as it broke.
“PULL!” we both yelled. We started to rise, and as I kicked at something trying to wrap around my foot, I looked into Annie’s eyes.
The need to comfort the terror I found there was overwhelming. I pulled her fragile body closer into mine, to protect and shelter her. The movement highlighted the swell of her breasts pressed to my chest.
With her scent, with the feel of her heartbeat, for a moment I forgot the Xathi. I forgot the war. I forgot the satellites.
I forgot everything but her, and simply enjoyed the moment.
I shook my head violently. She was a human, and it was her kind ruining the crew. I wouldn’t let her ruin me.
Annie
I collapsed into my seat on the transport unit. My heart still raced. I looked down at my hands, forcing myself to take slow, steady breaths.
I wasn’t aware of Karzin and the rest of Strike Team Two as they climbed into their seats. It wasn’t until the transport unit was off the ground that everyone started talking.
“Did anyone see what attacked us?” Karzin asked.
“I couldn’t see anything,” Rokul replied. “It was too dark.”
“We couldn’t see anything, either,” Sylor added. “I just saw the ropes start to jerk and swing and knew you had to be pulled up.”
“Thank you,” I said quietly.
Sylor offered me a reassuring smile.
“What could it have been?” Karzin asked me.
I simply shook my head.
“I don’t know. It could’ve been debris falling off the crater walls. We were in the dark. It’s possible we were jumping at shadows, so to speak,” I said.
“I don’t think so,” Karzin insisted. “Those strikes were deliberate. There was no noise before the first strike, either. If it was debris, we would’ve heard it clattering down.”
“I guess you’d know better than I would,” I admitted. “My specialty is rocks. Rocks don’t usually attack people.”
“Usually?” Karzin chuckled softly.
I tried to laugh back, but the action caused my muscles to spasm painfully.
“Are you all right?” Karzin asked quickly.
“Whatever it was struck me in the back,” I said.
“Let me have a look,” Karzin offered. Something about our misadventure had flipped a switch with him. With us.
As I shrugged off my jacket, I thought about the way he’d looked at me as I clung to him. As annoyed as I was with him before we went into the crater, I was glad he was here now. The strength that had emanated from him was nearly enough to make me lose my grip on reality.
Now that I was in just my tank top, I turned my back to him. I felt his fingers lightly graze my shoulders and the less tender areas of my back. I felt goosebumps rise on my arms. I hadn’t felt this sensation in years, but I recognized it as the beginnings of attraction.
It’s the adrenaline, nothing more, I scolded myself as Karzin examined me.
“You already have a nasty bruise forming,” he said. “You’re going to be feeling that for a while.”
“I could’ve told you that.” I echoed his joke from earlier.
“Very funny,” he chuckled. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine,” I insisted. “Just in pain.”
Karzin withdrew his hands and I tugged my jacket back on.
“I know a fantastic doctor,” Karzin said brightly. The others lifted their he
ads, as if they knew exactly who Karzin was talking about. “She’ll see you if she knows you’re with us. You don’t even have to make an appointment.”
“I appreciate the thought, but I can’t pay for a doctor right now,” I said.
“Who said anything about paying?” Karzin looked confused. “Dr. Parr is paid by General Rouhr. Anyone who works for him gets free access to her services. You officially work for him now.”
“I don’t think I do,” I shook my head.
“You’re going to be until we get to the bottom of whatever is in that crater,” Karzin argued. “I’m taking you to see Dr. Parr.”
I felt that it was pointless to argue, and my back really did hurt.
“Okay,” I agreed.
“Glad to see you can be reasonable, Andromeda,” Karzin smirked.
I rolled my eyes. “At least one of us can.”
When we reached Nyheim, Karzin helped me out of the carrier. I winced when my feet came into contact with the ground. Pain shot through my entire body.
“We’ll take it slow,” Karzin assured me. He asked the members of his strike team to ensure my equipment was unloaded and returned to the proper place. I hadn’t even thought of that.
At first, I tried to walk on my own, but sitting still in the transport unit had actually made my back feel so much worse. When we first climbed out of the crater, I’d felt like I could manage. Now, every step was agony.
“Do you need me to carry you?” Karzin offered. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.
“I’m fine,” I winced.
“No, you’re not. At least give me your arm. Put some weight on me.” Karzin offered his arm. I wove mine through his and leaned on him. My palm rested on the part of his skin that was green. My fingers draped over one of the purple bands that wrapped around his arms.
I let my mind rest on how different his skin felt. It was harder. And the texture was slightly different where his stripes were. So unlike the fragile skin I wore as a human. His was built to withstand assault. He was built for battle.
After a few steps, he looked down at me and smiled.
“You can put more weight on me than that you know. I can take it.”
“I’m putting half my weight on you as it is,” I replied.
Karzin blinked in surprise.
“If that’s true, then it’s amazing how a strong wind hasn’t blown you away yet,” he chuckled.
“You realize you’re the abnormal one here, right?” I laughed. “I’m barely shorter than average. You, on the other hand, tower over almost everyone.”
“Then it’s amazing how your entire population hasn’t blown away on a strong gust of wind,” he amended.
I shook my head.
“Don’t make me laugh,” I warned him. “It hurts to laugh. Can you go back to being a pain in the ass?”
“I’m never a pain in the ass,” he said facetiously. His face grew grim. “However, I can apologize to you for not doing my job.”
“What?” I looked up at him, confused.
“General Rouhr asked me to keep you safe. I didn’t do that,” he explained.
“I’m alive, aren’t I? I think you met the basic requirement of the job.”
“One doesn’t become a strike team leader by meeting the basic requirements,” he mumbled.
“Are strike team leaders supposed to anticipate attacks from unseen forces?” I asked.
“Yes, actually,” Karzin said.
Oh.
I wasn’t sure what to say next. We walked in silence until we reached a pristine white medical office. Karzin walked right through the waiting room. No one was inclined to stop him. He took me to a room at the end of the hall filled with six hospital beds and a woman who looked a little too young to be a doctor.
“Evie, I brought you a present,” Karzin called.
The woman looked up from her clipboard and stared at Karzin like she’d seen a ghost.
“I didn’t know you were back,” she smiled.
“I’m not. Not really,” Karzin said awkwardly. Silence hung between them for a moment before he turned his attention to me. “This is Annie. She was injured on an assignment. I told her you’d fix her up.”
“I’d be happy to.” She took my free arm and Karzin released me.
“I’m going to report what happened to General Rouhr,” he told me. “I’ll see you later.”
“See you,” I said. I watched him leave the room before turning to the woman.
“I’m Dr. Parr.” She guided me to the nearest bed, monitoring how I walked. “Call me Evie. I used to patch Karzin and the other strike teams up all the time. What happened?”
“We went out to where the pieces of the Xathi ship fell back down to the planet’s surface,” I began. “I’m a geologist. General Rouhr sent me to investigate serious tremors my equipment picked up. When we got out there, there was a huge crater. While we were rappelling into it, something attacked us.” I removed my jacket and showed her my bruise.
“Whatever it was, it was strong,” she murmured. “Do you remember anything about it?”
“Nothing,” I sighed. “I never saw it. It struck so fast. I didn’t even realize I was hurt until Karzin got me out of the crater. I thought it might’ve been debris from the crater wall, but Karzin insists it was a deliberate attack. I hate to admit it, but I’m inclined to agree with him. It felt alive.”
As I spoke, Evie cleaned and sanitized my back. There were a few small cuts in addition to the bruising.
“What did the impact feel like?” She filled a syringe with clear liquid. “You’re going to feel a little pinch,” she warned.
“It felt like I got the wind knocked out of me. And it stung.” I winced as the needle impaled the flesh of my arm. Within a few moments, a warm tingly sensation spread throughout my body. The sharp pains gave away to a dull, throbbing sensation that wasn’t painful, just odd.
“There are a few scrapes on your back. It looks like you’re having a minor reaction to whatever you came into contact with,” she explained.
“I swear, I have no idea what it could be,” I repeated.
Evie placed a gentle hand on my shoulder and smiled reassuringly.
“I believe you. Unfortunately, I have no idea what it could be, either.” She grabbed a datapad and plugged in a few notes. “I’m going to give you something for the pain. I don’t detect any breaks or fractures, but the bruising is deep. You’re going to need a painkiller if you want to function like a normal human being.”
“Yes, I need to function like a normal human,” I laughed.
“If you want to look deeper into what was in that crater, I might be able to point you in the right direction,” Evie offered. “I’m sending you home with instructions for how to take care of yourself while your body recovers. I’m also going to include the contact information for a friend of mine. Her name is Jeneva. She’s the one to talk to about weird stuff happening on the planet. She lived in the jungle alone for over a decade before the Xathi invasion. She’s seen stuff no one else has ever seen before.”
“Jeneva,” I repeated. Why did the name sound so familiar? “Wait, I heard General Rouhr mention her name. She’s married to one of the aliens, isn’t she?”
“That’s right,” Evie said brightly. “Definitely give her a call if you’re feeling up to it.”
“I will.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
Evie sent me off with a bottle of pills and a list of instructions. As I left her clinic, feeling pain in every step, I wished I’d asked Karzin to wait for me.
Karzin
I left Annie in Evie’s capable hands and made my way to the general’s office. Evie’s clinic was only a few buildings away, so it wasn’t much of a walk. Tobias was there to greet me again.
“Karzin!” his voice rang through the halls at a pitch that should have threatened the windows. “I see that you’ve come back from your mission. It’s so good to see you healthy and in one piece, sir.”
“
Is the general in?” I asked. I ignored the rest of his overenthusiastic exuberance, or at least I tried to.
“Of course, of course. I’ll take you to him,” he practically sang out as he stepped away from his desk.
I held up my hands to stop him. “No, no, it is all right. I know where his office is. I think I can make it there on my own.”
His face never changed. He must have been the most positive, peppy person in the history of humankind. “Oh, I know that, sir. But I enjoy the walk and it’s my job. Besides,” he said in a painfully higher pitch, then his voice dropped to a nearly impossible bass compared to what his voice was before. “It’s my job.”
With my mind still reeling from the surprising vocal antics, I followed him in silence to the general’s office. When Tobias opened the door, his smile and pep were back, as was the cheerfully high pitch to his voice. “Here you go. He’s already expecting you.”
As I walked past him, he smiled at me, then closed the door behind me. I looked at the general, who was looking at paperwork on his desk. “That Tobias is an interesting fellow,” I said quietly.
The general looked up, slight confusion, then recognition, lighting his face. “That he is, but you have to love his upbeat personality.”
“‘Upbeat’ is nowhere near the word for him. Have you heard him when he’s not upbeat?”
“Ahh, you’re talking about his real voice,” he said with a knowing nod. “He lost everyone and everything in the attack. He was hiding in a hole as the Xathi killed his family, so I think he’s trying to be overly exuberant as a way to cope.”
He motioned for me to sit. I took the seat he indicated. I waited until he'd cleaned up the paperwork he was looking at, stacking it neatly at the corner of his desk, an extravagant desk by the general’s standards aboard the Vengeance.
He saw me looking at the desk and looked embarrassed. “It was one of the few desks that survived the initial attack here in Nyheim and Vidia wanted me to have something a little more posh. I know it’s not my style, but it is nice. She says it’s important for making an impression.”