by C B Williams
“Wei!” he exclaimed, putting into his inflection as much joviality as he could. “This is a surprise.”
“I’m sure it is.”
He thought her eyes flared. For a moment he thought he was staring into the red centers of the crystals he was mining. He blinked and looked again. Her eyes were as dark as coal. Smoldering black coals. He swallowed hard, then shrugged and waited. “I can explain,” he said.
“You have broken our agreement,” she repeated. “That’s all the explanation I need. If you value your life and the lives of your people, you will leave this mine and return to the other mine by tonight.”
“Tonight? That’s not nearly enough time. We can’t possibly get packed up and moved by then.”
She glared at him, and he could swear he saw that strange red glow again.
Impossible.
“By tonight. If you do not leave this place by tonight, you will never leave it.” She turned, paused, and looked back at him. “Return to the blue crystal mine.”
“I can’t. I need to put this mine to bed. It will take at least a week.” He could feel himself actually shaking. Had anyone ever scared him this badly before? And an old woman! How did she do it?
“What is this putting to bed?”
Grale ran a hand over his head. “It’s a thing I do, Wei. Not many others do it, but it just doesn’t feel right to take all this from the earth and not cover it back up.”
She seemed to be listening intently, so he continued. “Look at it,” he swept his hand toward the huge holes his equipment had dug. “It’s a mess. When I leave, I want it to look as if I’ve never been here. Silly, I know. But it’s my way of saying thank you to the planet.” He paused, feeling sheepish and unmanly. “You know, for the crystals.”
She studied him. “I am pleased. It shows respect.”
He felt his face heat, “Yeah, well, don’t tell anybody that’s why I do it. My men think it’s part of the deal you and I cut.”
“You may stay, then. Refill the holes.” She jabbed a gnarled finger at him. “But you may not take another crystal from the ground.”
“No, ma’am,” he answered, thinking about the thousands he’d already mined. “Thank you, ma’am.”
“And when you are done here, you will do the same at the first mine. But you will be punished. I have not decided your punishment. Stay and wait for me at the first mine. You will not be leaving this planet unless I say so. If I say so. Disobey me again, and you will die.” She strode away from him and disappeared out of the force field.
“We’ll see about that,” Grale said to the place where she had been. He felt braver when she wasn’t staring at him. “I didn’t bust my ass to end up living the rest of my days on this backwater. My men, my crystals, and I will be leaving this planet.” He looked around for Jocko, found him, and jogged over there.
Kalea led Genji to a place she discovered as a child, a tiny little cove, perfect for when she wanted to disappear and dream. It was sheltered, private, and to the best of her knowledge, no one else ever visited it.
She had decided long ago this was the place she would make love for the first time, and today, with Genji, would be that time. Here, on this very beach. She turned to look at him, hoping he didn’t see her nervousness. She didn’t want him to know she had no idea what happened next.
She hadn’t let go of his hand even though she looked uncertain. Genji took that as a good sign and reached for her other hand to slowly draw her closer. When they stood eye to eye, he released her hands and put his on her waist.
“You’re very beautiful, Kalea.” He watched her lower her eyes with a shy smile. He ran his hands up her back, under her glorious hair, and gently kissed her mouth. She kissed him back, greedy little mouth, sucking and playing with his tongue.
He wanted to take it slowly so he could cherish, savor each feeling, each sensation, commit it all to memory. But there seemed to be urgency in her. A need. A need which matched his own. She began to undress him, her nimble fingers unfastening his uniform with that urgency he had sensed.
They used her pareo as a blanket. She lay before him, her hair a fan, her gaze filled with…what? Dared he hope for more than friendship? More than a casual exchange of pleasure?
“This gift you give me? This pleasure? I do not take it lightly,” he told her as he gathered her to him and kissed her cheeks and neck, cradled and stoked her young breasts, gently arousing her while he explored her sweet body.
Oh, how he wanted to linger, to discover all those secret and sensitive places, but the urgency was still there in the way she moved against him, in the parting of her legs, in the way she stroked and coaxed him towards her warmth.
He entered her and she gasped. He stared into her widened eyes. Had he been too hasty? Had he hurt her? He paused, but she gripped his buttocks and pulled him deeper as she wrapped those beautiful, strong legs around his waist.
He thrust into her. Pulled out and thrust in again. She was so warm. So willing. So welcoming. She gazed into his eyes and said his name. And in that moment, when she said his name, he felt something he had never felt before.
He felt he had finally found his home.
Later, when their bodies were sated and slick with sweat, he lay on his back and stared at the sunlight filtering through lacy palm fronds. He sighed happily. Kalea right here, in his arms. He stroked her back, drawing lazy circles up her spine as she traced the contours of his face. He looked over at her, caught her secret smile, and returned it. He could look into her eyes for the rest of his life…and suddenly, that was exactly what he wanted to do.
“I love you, Kalea,” he said to those deep dark eyes.
“I love you, too, kind Genji.”
It was that simple.
He sighed and rose up on his elbow to see her better. “You know what I feel when I’m with you?”
She shook her head.
“I feel home. You’re my home, Kalea. Not a place, not a planet, but you.”
She beamed and opened her arms. “Welcome home.”
Chapter 17
The Ancestors’ Starbirds
Pika scrambled over the lava field, his heart pounding. It hadn’t been a dream, his being with the Goddess. She had come again last night.
And since it hadn’t been a dream, She had actually told him! The Goddess had actually told him where to look for The Ancestors’ starbirds! Even better, Longwei had assured him they were buried, not destroyed, and in working order! Both ships in working order. His stomach jumped. There were two of them.
Where he had been digging was close. So close. Had the Goddess not told him, he would have eventually found them on his own. He felt filled with pride. The information from the dances had once again proved true, and he had deciphered their secrets. He, all on his own. The first person in a thousand years to see the dances for what they were, to fully understand the story they told.
And this was the way in. The crushed tube before him. He focused his sharp eyes, scanning up. She told him there was a way into the tube at the top. Hastily, he scrambled up the side, mindful where, in some places, the tube was only a thin shell of lava. Reaching the tube’s crest, he crouched and scanned again. Sure enough, under a ledge was a space large enough for a man to shinny through. He lit his torch and crawled through carefully.
The ceiling was close. It forced him to walk in a half-crouch. After a few hundred feet, the tube expanded and he could stand. He continued in a downward slope, following where the tube snaked deeper into the mountain. His breath quickened at each turn.
Abruptly the tube ended and became a narrow ledge that opened onto a huge cavern. He nearly lost his footing, was forced to skid to a stop to keep from toppling over the edge. He lifted his torch higher and looked down. He was quite high above the ground. A fall would have hurt. He lifted his torch even higher.
The cavern was enormous. The light from his torch wasn’t enough to reach to the other side. Below was blackness, but he thought he saw a glim
mer of reflection. The flicker of his torch mirrored back to him. He closed his eyes, willing them to hurry and adjust to the blackness so he could see. When he opened them, he let out a half-gasp, half-laugh.
Just as the Goddess had said, there lay the two interstellar starships, their enormity nearly beyond his comprehension. He tried to estimate how many villages could fit into them. At least five. Maybe more. His mind reeled. How many Ancestors had actually arrived? Four thousand? Six?
He didn’t know how long he stood there with his torch raised, trying to memorize as many details as the darkness allowed. He wanted to draw them as soon as he could.
His torch spurted and fizzed. He looked up and his spirits sank. It was nearly out. If it went out, he’d be lost in the darkness. Quickly he turned to retrace his steps, already planning on what and who to bring the next time. First and foremost, he’d bring spare torches. Many spare torches.
And Genji, the Ancestor. He would bring Genji. Kalea liked him, and so did he. Plus the man was a scientist. He would know the ancient starflyers’ tools and other devices. Maybe even teach him to fly one. His heart soared. Oh, to fly a starbird! How he wanted to fly a starbird! See the planet from above. He could hardly grasp the notion.
The torch sputtered again, and he quickened his pace. When he reached the area he had to half-crouch to get thorough, he let out a breath. If the torch went out, the light from the opening would guide him.
The daylight nearly blinded him when he crawled back through the opening. He closed his eyes briefly and thanked the Goddess as he waited for them to adjust. He remembered Her request to tell Her what he discovered. If She came to him that night, he most certainly would.
“Hey, Aiko,” Spider said, “What does this mean?”
Aiko bent over Spider to read his screen and puffed out a breath. “It means, Spider, someone is trying to get a read on our ship.” Her eyebrows shot up. “Someone from below. Out of your seat. Two can play this game.”
Even as they were switching places, Aiko was flicking switches and spinning knobs. A panel slid open to reveal another screen. “So that’s their signal,” she said pointing to an oscillating line. “And here’s ours on this new screen and—” She squinted at the screen. “Wh―? We should be able to make them out. But look there. Our signal disappears. Just vanishes. Take down these coordinates, will you?” She read off a string of numbers that Spider dutifully recorded. “We need to call our teammates,” she said, eyes still on the panel. “They’re not alone down there.”
It was Eloch who answered their call. He heard the call signal coming from Genji’s hut and ran to pick it up. “Spider!” he said. “Didn’t think we had a call scheduled for today.”
Aiko’s face appeared behind Spider’s. “We don’t, but something’s come up. Where’s Genji?”
“Out doing field work. Can I give him a message?”
“You all need to hear this.”
“It’s just me at the moment, I’m afraid. Wren’s teaching Pika how to throw his knife. She should be wrapping it up pretty quick.”
“She’s wrapped it up,” Wren said, coming into the hut. She lifted the coilmats off her neck with one hand and fanned the back of her neck with the other. Since the fabric kept a body at a constant 98.6 degrees, she’d discovered her uniform was much more comfortable tropical wear than the pareo. And less cumbersome. Didn’t help the head, however. “Pika never showed. Heard Eloch talking, and here I am. What’s up?” She wiped her palms on her uniform’s leggings.
“We’re not the only off-worlders on Longwei,” Aiko said. “Someone was trying to ping our ship.”
“What does that mean?” Eloch and Wren asked at the same moment.
“Sorry, someone was scanning our ship, getting a read on us. All ships have an ID signal that responds to a ping from another ship. It’s a mandatory open signal so a passing ship can know whom they’re passing without hailing. Gives all sorts of information. Make and model, captain, destination, that kind of thing.”
“And so there’s another ship in the vicinity?” Eloch asked.
“Yeah. On the ground.”
Wren and Eloch exchanged glances, eyebrows raised.
“We tried to ping back, but the signal disappeared. Very odd. I took the coordinates for Genji to do some recon. But you all should go. And be careful. We don’t know who it is. Could be pirates.”
“Longwei would know,” Eloch said, tapping his lip. “She knows everything that happens upon Her surface. Makes me wonder why She is allowing it.”
“Maybe She’s not allowing it,” Wren said. “Maybe that’s why Aiko got the strange reading. Maybe they’re signaling for help because Longwei is doing something to keep them there.”
Eloch frowned at her. “It’s a possibility. Could be part of Her plan to modernize Her people.”
“When you investigate, we’ll observe from up here,” Aiko said. “But be careful. And take a communication device with you. If you get into trouble, there’s a lot we can do to help from where we are.”
“We’ll collect Genji and get started, then. There’s still plenty of daylight.” Eloch looked at Wren, who shrugged and nodded.
As Eloch ended the transmission, Wren looked round the hut, found a communication device, and pocketed it. “We’ve got our orders,” she told him. “Let’s find Genj.” She sent a mental call to Little Sister, who was hunting for food. “I called in our professional finder,” she said with a grin.
With the help of a sniffer, it was very easy to find anything and anyone. Little Sister brought them to a clearing where Genji was conducting his plant-converting-into-healing-cream experiments. He was with Kalea, who appeared to be helping him.
Eloch glanced down at the sniffer by his side and silently thanked Little Sister, who happily returned to her hunt.
As they approached the pair, Wren nudged Eloch and nodded toward them. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever heard Genji laugh like that before. I like seeing him happy. He deserves it.”
“He does,” Eloch agreed, “However, we’ll be moving on, and a choice will have to be made.”
Wren sighed. “I wish you weren’t so realistic. Yes, a choice will be made. And it will probably be very sad when it happens. But for now they’re happy, and I’m glad.” She glanced over at him, followed his gaze to the volcano plume. “Do you think Longwei will ever meet with you?”
“Eventually. I’d rather it be sooner than later.”
“Do you think I interfered when I had my conversation with Her in Her old woman guise?”
He glanced at her. “Why second-guess yourself? At the time you felt you were doing the right thing.”
“I was only explaining how bad things were on Spur before you woke Her. I know this is your quest, Eloch. I don’t mean to interfere.”
“I know, Wren.” He laced his fingers with hers. “There can be a number of reasons why Longwei has been silent.” He brought her hand to his lips. “I think the waiting is beginning to wear on us, making us tense. I’m worried. I’m worried about who else is on this planet. I want to know why Longwei allowed it. And I’m worried about what Entean is sensing. I can’t understand what She means.”
“It’s not easy to understand when the information is coming to you via Spur via Flick via a transmission with poor reception.”
“I wish there was some way I could communicate with Her directly. I was thinking of asking Longwei if she could do something.”
“Longwei? Why?”
“Look what She did with Spur’s colonists. The modifications She made, toughening their skin, turning some into dragons. I thought perhaps She could do something for me. Entean’s plant thrives within me. There should be a way we could communicate. There has to be.”
Wren squeezed his hand. “How much of who-you-are are you willing to sacrifice, Eloch?” she asked him quietly. “I think you’re willing to sacrifice a lot. And that terrifies me. What will become of us?”
“I’ll always love you, Wren.”
Eloch stopped and pulled her into his arms. “I would hope it would be me.”
She rubbed her cheek on his chest. “So do I, Eloch, so do I.”
He released her. “Let’s go get Genji.”
“These are the coordinates?” Genji asked when Eloch shared them. They had returned to Genji’s hut to collect his instruments. “You’re sure?”
“Yes,” Eloch answered, “Why?”
“Because I recognize them. They’re the location of one the anomalies I’d noticed.”
“What kind of anomalies?” Wren asked with a frown.
“Longwei’s ley lines were skewed in two different locations. I thought it interesting and was going to analyze it further when I had the time.” He glanced up at Wren and reddened slightly, “I’ve been busy recreating my healing ointment using local flora and fauna.”
Wren nodded solemnly and bit the inside of her cheek to keep a grin from escaping. “Well, do you have time now? Aiko wants us to check it out.”
He nodded. “Let me collect my equipment.”
“I’ve already grabbed the communication device to appease Aiko.”
“We’d better ask permission from someone, or at least tell someone where we’re going,” he added, Wren’s attempt at humor clearly sailing right over his head.
“Good idea, who?”
“Me,” Pika said. “I’m sorry,” he said when they all jumped. “I was waiting to have a word with Genji and couldn’t help overhearing. I would like to come with you and observe.”
Wren glanced at Eloch, who nodded. “We could use a guide,” he told him.
“Where are we going?” Pika asked.
Genji motioned Pika over and held out the instrument in his hand. “This is a global positioning unit, a GPU. I’ve plugged the coordinates into this device and it will lead us to where we want to go. It’s not far, about ten miles north of here.