by Elin Wyn
Places like the boarding house had been erected to provide temporary lodging for people looking to get out of Nyheim. From what I had seen, all of the homes were the same. They had been built from whatever materials they could find, including scrap pieces of the Xathi ship, the Vengeance, and anything that was salvageable from Nyheim. The nicer buildings in town had been some of the first ones built and had also made use of the sections of the Aurora that Fen and the Urai had deemed expendable.
This particular boarding house was a mixture of wood and metal. Actually, the main entrance to the boarding house used to be a door from the Vengeance. When I asked the owner, the woman named Finola, about the door, she told me that someone had offered her the door in exchange for a night’s sleep. She didn’t know where they had found it.
Finola was a marvel. She was an older human, and despite having lost her leg, she still worked hard trying to care for the boarding house. She knew it wasn’t the most sanitary of places, and that there were some structural issues, but she also knew it was strong, and she made sure that everyone that needed a place to stay got one.
The next morning, after settling things in my room, I went back to the main room of the boarding house. General Rouhr had asked me to stay on call in case I was needed. But for the time being, I had my time to myself.
I briefly considered going back to the Aurora. But looking around the town, around the boarding house, something stirred in my chest.
Maybe I hadn’t been there to help rebuild the human towns, or help the new settlements. But this place, this one place, I could make a difference.
“Finola,” I said as I came into the main room. She turned in her wheelchair.
“Ah, Mister Karzin. What can I do for you?” she asked. She seemed to be in a good mood, something I struggled at understanding. If I had lost a leg, I knew I would struggle keeping a smile on my face.
“I was wondering if there was anything I could help you with around here. I would hate to take up space without doing something to deserve it.”
“What do you mean? You’re paying for the room, that’s deserving enough,” she answered back.
I shrugged and sat down in a seat next to her. “Not to me. I want to help out, make myself useful to you.”
“That’s very nice. Thank you. If you’re okay with it, I actually do have some things that need to be done.”
“I am at your service, madam. Just point me in a direction and give me orders.” I wasn’t sure what had come over me, but the idea of helping her out made me feel better.
While I was still worried about my family and wanted desperately to find them, helping Finola was a calming substitute.
“Okay, if you insist.” She wheeled her way towards the kitchen, motioning for me to follow. She pushed her way through the door and rolled over towards a small desk she had by the counter. I wondered if I would be able to convince one of the Urai to make Finola a new leg, as part of my payment to her. She grabbed something from the desk and held it out to me. It was a small card.
“What’s this?”
“My ration card. It’s refilled once a week and I need to use it before they run out. If I give you a list, can you get the food?”
I nodded. “Yes, ma’am. Just tell me where to go and I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you. When you’re done with getting the food, I’m also going to need some fresh water, if you don’t mind.” She looked up at me and it looked like she fully expected me to refuse.
“Which one do you want done first?” I asked.
With a small smile, she pointed to the back corner of the kitchen. I saw several water bottles there and a small cart. “If you don’t mind, we’re almost out of water, so if you could do that first, I’d be very grateful.”
“Very well, I’ll take care of it.” I filled the cart with the empty water bottles, and after getting directions from Finola, took the bottles to the small well in town. I had to wait a few minutes as the people in front of me filled their bottles, or buckets, or whatever they had.
Many of them glanced at me and gave me a polite nod, but I could see that some of them were still scared to see me, or angry. I wasn’t able to blame them.
When it was my turn, I filled the bottles and returned to the boarding house, where Finola had me change out the different places where the water bottles were used, then gave me the shopping list. She suggested I take the cart again, and I was glad to take her advice. I would not have been able to take her rations back just on my own.
As there was no functioning market in Somerst, I asked Fen to open a rift for me that took me to Nyheim.
“I do have other responsibilities, Strike Leader Karzin.”
It was always hard to tell with the Urai if the flat tones of their voices were due to the speech pads, or annoyance. “I know, but until you teach me how to operate the rifts by myself…”
“We will see.” Right now, I’d bet on annoyance.
However, she still opened the rift to Nyheim, where I secured Finola’s shopping list. Of course, I purchased some extra rations and overpaid, telling the market keeper to keep the money. I knew it wasn’t a lot of help, but it was something, and it made me feel better.
When I returned to the boarding house, I put the food away where Finola told me to and volunteered to help her with some cleaning and general maintenance on the place. She didn’t hold back. I cleaned several of the rooms, helped her with a repair job to the back door and in the kitchen, and did a little bit of yard work.
She had started a garden but was struggling with getting it going. It was hard for her to work the garden in her wheelchair. She had to get herself out of the chair and crawl through the garden. I was more determined than ever to get her a new leg so she could be more mobile.
It had turned into a long day. After the repairs in the kitchen and the garden work, I had volunteered to get the supplies she needed to patch up her roof, then went up there myself to do the work. It felt good. I hadn’t worked that hard in a long time, and to see Finola’s face at the end of the day when I was finished made everything worth it.
After I cleaned myself up a bit, I joined Finola in the common room “So,” I asked, “what do you want me to cook tonight for dinner?”
“Oh, that’s okay. I’m usually the one that gets dinner taken care of,” she answered back.
“I understand, but I wouldn’t mind helping out. I find that I actually like the work, keeps my mind off of other things,” I said with a sad smile.
She put her hand on my arm and gave it a gentle squeeze. “Sometimes, it’s hard for us to remember that you and your friends had your own suffering by the Xathi before here. Did you lose someone?”
I nodded. “I’m still looking for some way to contact my home.”
“I’m assuming that means you haven’t yet, have you?”
I shook my head.
She patted my arm. “I’m sorry. Let’s change the subject back to dinner. I’m not used to people helping much, but I’d really appreciate it if you really do want to help.”
“I can’t think of anything better,” I said to her with a smile. We spent the next hour preparing a very tasty stew, then ate it together in the common area. It was only the two of us, so we talked. Very few subjects were off-limits.
“So where were you living till now?” she asked me.
“I was living on the Aurora,” I replied. “But the general has asked me to stay close.”
“That’s the alien ship?”
I nodded.
“With all the soldiers dispersed, it must have been lonely,” she stated.
“I’ve not given up on searching for a way home. And I refuse to give up. My crewmates may have all given up and decided to cast their lot on this planet, but I refuse to forget my family and my people.”
“I can understand that.”
I stared at her. “You can?”
“I think you need to get over your crew. Sure, they’re probably trying to make the be
st of their bad situation, but if you think you need to do something, then you need to do it. The rest of the people be damned. They’re just being spoilsports because you’re not following them.”
I had to agree with her, they were trying to make the best of a bad situation. I just didn’t want to see it.
“Do you mind if I ask…”
She shrugged. “How I lost my leg? It’s probably not that interesting of a story to a soldier.”
I’d like to hear it, anyhow.”
She sighed and looked off in the distance. “When the Xathi first attacked Fraga, I fought. We all did. Eventually, they bombed our building, and I fell down an open sewer grate. The waters of the sewer just contaminated my wound. I was too weak to get out, not injured enough not to know what was happening.”
“That’s terrible.”
“I nearly died. When people finally found me, my leg had already begun to rot. They had to cut it off in order to save my life.”
I felt horrible for her.
“Don’t you worry about me. I’m a tough old bird. I’ll survive,” she said.
I smiled. “I’m sure you will.”
After we said goodnight to one another, I put in a call to Fen to see about a leg for Finola. After that, I crawled into bed to sleep, happy with my potential surprise.
Early in the morning, a message came in from Rouhr.
There were several holes that had appeared suddenly in Duvest, and no one could give too many details. I was to take Annie there in the morning to investigate.
It was going to be a long day.
But somehow, the thought I’d be spending it with Annie made it slightly more bearable.
Slightly.
Annie
The next morning, it wasn’t Cassie’s rolling or Helix’s sleep talk, but a knock on the door that roused me from sleep.
“What the fuck?” Cassie grumbled.
“Language,” I scolded her as I sat up from my sleeping mat. My back hardly hurt and was only a little stiff. Whatever Dr. Parr had given me had done the trick.
“Who’s knocking at this hour?” my mother called from her room.
“Someone with a death wish,” Cassie replied.
“Thanks for getting the door, Cass,” I said loud enough for my parents to hear.
Cassie shot me a glare then climbed up from her mat. She stomped across the room as if trying to be as disruptive as possible. She used to be so sweet. I spoiled her when she was a baby. I tried to keep my annoyance with her under control. She’d been through a lot and she didn’t know how to cope. She’d figure it out eventually.
“The jolly green giant is at the door,” she called over her shoulder.
“What?” I jumped up and wrapped my blanket around myself. I only wore a tank top and shorts underneath. Cassie opened the door wider to reveal Karzin standing on our doorstep.
“Sorry to wake you,” Karzin said, looking at Cass out of the corner of his eye. His voice didn’t contain a trace of genuine apology. At that moment, he noticed the inside of the house and how small and simple it was. He hid the look of shock that came over his expression, but not before I noticed it. “Annie, something’s happened. General Rouhr is asking for us.”
“General Rouhr?” My mother stepped out of her room, tying her robe over her nightgown. She gasped at the sight of Karzin in the doorway. His shoulders were wider than the door. “The alien who killed all the Xathi?”
“He commands the aliens that killed the Xathi,” Karzin corrected, with a slight smile.
“What does he want with you?” My mother turned her attention from Karzin to me.
“Is it something to do with the crater?” I asked Karzin.
“He didn’t say.” Karzin was still looking around the small room. I tried not to let myself feel embarrassed. There was nothing wrong with where we lived. Lots of people had it worse.
“Let me get dressed. Wait outside,” I ordered before I ducked into the bathroom. I realized too late that I must’ve sounded rude, barking orders at him like that.
I quickly showered. The water was ice cold. I wouldn’t have time to go to the well this morning. Dad would have to go.
Within five minutes, I showered, dried my hair and tugged on clean clothes. I told my father about the water as I dashed out the door.
“What about breakfast?” Cassie called after me.
“Learn to cook!” I called back.
“You sleep in that front room?” Karzin asked as I followed him to the shuttle depot. I nodded. I really didn’t want to talk about my living situation with him.
“Where are we going?” I asked, effectively changing the subject.
“Duvest,” Karzin replied.
“This shuttle only goes to Nyheim. We’ll have to catch another one from there,” I explained.
“There isn’t a faster way?” Karzin asked.
“Not unless you have your own transport unit,” I replied. Karzin looked at me with a sly grin on his face.
“I have something better.”
He pulled a device out of his pocket and spoke into it.
“You there, Fen?” he asked.
“What do you want?” A computerized voice replied.
“If I send you my location, can you open a rift to get me to Duvest?” he asked.
“Fine,” the voice replied.
“What’s a rift?” I asked.
“It’s what our ship and the Xathi ship fell through,” Karzin explained.
“Why are you opening one?” I stared up at him, wide-eyed.
“Some time ago, some of my associates found an orb that can control rifts on a small scale. We’ve used it hundreds of times to transport refugees. It’s perfectly safe,” Karzin assured me. A few feet in front of us, a vertical band of light appeared out of thin air. It widened until I could see an entirely different landscape on the other side. Several townspeople stopped to stare at the rift.
“After you,” Karzin gestured.
Without knowing what we were doing, I felt my hand reach for his. He wrapped his large hand around mine and I held on tight to his.
I held my breath as I stepped up to the rift as if I was about to dive into a pool of water. I took one step through. It was like my body was trapped in ice. For a moment, I didn’t think I’d be able to move but then my foot came into contact with the ground on the other side of the rift. Just like that, I was through.
Karzin followed right behind me and asked Fen, whatever that was, to close the rift behind him. It flickered away like it was never there.
“I did not like that,” I shivered. Karzin opened his mouth, then thought better of it.
“I was going to say you get used to it but I still haven’t,” he chuckled. “You did well for your first time. I thought you would get stuck.”
“What happens if you get stuck?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Karzin shrugged.
“You’re not reassuring,” I grumbled.
“Do you think we could release our hands now?” Karzin asked, and I could see a faint smile.
I hastily dropped my grip and pulled my hand away. I blushed a bit and looked down at the ground.
I was just about to say something when we were interrupted.
“Hey!” A man ran up to us, looking frantic and bleeding from one dirt-covered arm. “You’re one of those aliens, right? You’re here to help us?”
“We were told of an incident,” Karzin replied. “What’s happened?”
We followed the man farther into the city. I noticed immediately that everything was far too quiet. There were none of the usual sounds associated with a bustling city.
“I don’t know,” the man said. “I think we were attacked. Have the Xathi returned?”
“No,” Karzin assured him. “General Rouhr and his team have been carefully monitoring the planet for Xathi survivors. There are none.”
“Then what did this?” The man brought us to one of the main city squares of Duvest. It looked like a bo
mb had gone off. Windows were shattered and glass covered the cobblestone square. The fountain in the center of the square, which looked like it had been out of operation for some time, was cracked and broken. People were strewn across the square in various states of distress.
There was no sign of what caused such damage, except for about half a dozen perfectly circular craters dispersed throughout the square.
Unlike the crater we’d explored yesterday, the holes weren’t very deep, just enough that if anyone had fallen in, they’d likely die from the impact.
“Karzin.” I put my hand on his shoulder to get his attention then pointed to the craters. “Those look like miniature versions of the one we found out in the desert.”
“Are you comfortable with investigating alone while I help these people?” Karzin asked.
“The craters aren’t going anywhere. Let’s help the people first,” I replied. He gave me a brief smile before turning his attention back to the man.
“How many injured?” he asked.
“At least twenty. Four are dead,” the man explained.
“Are there doctors in the town?” Karzin asked.
“Yes, they’ve already been called,” the man replied.
“You’re hurt, as well,” Karzin noticed, “yet you don’t know what happened?”
“I can’t remember,” the man said.
“What’s your name?”
“Mac.”
“Okay, Mac,” Karzin sighed. “Did you hit your head at any point?”
“I don’t think so,” Mac said. “I feel no pain in my head. Just my arm.” He held out his arm for Karzin to examine. I peered around Karzin to have a look for myself.
“Looks like this was done by a shard of glass,” Karzin said. “Go clean it, then see a doctor for stitches.” The man nodded and stumbled away.
“How does he not remember anything?” I wondered