Once Upon a Star

by Anthea Sharp

  My hands formed fists until my fingertips bit my palms. I’d heard all of this before. And yet hearing it from that wolverine hurt.

  Graham wasn’t done. “Can you imagine what I would’ve traded to get the time I lost back? I’ve lost years to the Horde. Years I could’ve used to put fifty million light years between an indentured life and freedom. I could stand here and say I’m not bitter.” He laughed a bit. “I am. But I’m also ready to be free and move on.”

  My chest grew tight as if his words hit me harder than fists. I didn’t want to cry in front of him, let alone anyone else. Runts couldn’t cry. We were already seen as weak, and crying gave the bigger pigs every reason to push us out of the way. But there was a tenderness and a sincerity in what Graham said. Why did he have to make me feel this way? Why him of all people? He was nothing more than a wolverine. I wrinkled my snout and found the fury to replace the sorrow.

  He was closer now, and my fist found his chest. He didn’t recoil, merely standing there.

  “Get away from me,” I bit out.

  “No.”

  My lip trembled, and I strained to breathe. “I will get out of here.”

  “I know you can, Cressida.”

  We stared at each other again. Then Graham drew me into his arms. It was completely unexpected and my breath caught.

  What was he doing?

  His large hand gently pressed the side of my head to his chest while the other ran along my back. The struggle in my stomach eased. I should’ve kept hitting him. He earned it with that stunt with the fire and again as he uncovered a scar I’d long kept hidden. Yet I settled into the warmth of his arms. My racing heart slowed to keep pace with his relaxed, even breaths. I closed my eyes as a feeling I’d forgotten returned: absolute relief. No one had ever given me that gift since I was younger. Once I grew up, I became Cressida Van Der Snout, a runt better off ascending the ranks in a flight school than marrying an officer and settling down to start a family.

  I wasn’t worthy of affection.

  Still, someone held me right now and offered me everything I thought I didn’t deserve.

  Graham

  * * *

  I’ve made many strange decisions. Most left me in peril. I once tried to escape that Valencian work camp in the middle of a brisk winter’s night. Covered in welts and bruises from a recent beating, I squeezed through an opening in the sleeping quarter walls. For half the night, I roamed the thick forest. The barren trees’ long limbs reached for me as if to pull me back where I belonged. That night I was so hungry, cold, and scared.

  But not as scared as I was now holding Cressida.

  Back on Valencia, I knew I’d be captured again. It was inevitable. Right now, I had a choice. For the next ten hours, I was trapped with her, and I chose to cross the line and find out if she’d cross it with me.

  Cressida trembled against my hands. Was she cold or did she feel something else? This peculiar sensation—a flutter of lavender moths in my stomach—grew until I closed my eyes and took her in: the way her ears relaxed against the top of her head, the lingering floral scent of her hair coursing through my nostrils.

  A rational voice at the back of my head whispered, “What are you doing?”

  “Something I need to do right now,” was my reply.

  I clutched her a bit tighter.

  “You’re good at this,” she whispered so low I barely heard her.

  “I’m out of practice.” I leaned down until my nose brushed against the top of her head. “What about you?”

  “Too long…and you?”

  “Honestly, in a few days, I was hoping to hold someone.”

  She backed up a little. Had I said the wrong thing?

  “Is she on Ryx?” she asked. “Your woman?”

  “No. The ladies aren’t interested in my charms alone.”

  “Ah, so you’re charming now?”

  “Of course. That’s all I’ve got since I don’t have credits or ancestral land for my offspring.”

  She didn’t say anything for a bit and my mind swam with what was happening. We had nowhere to go and we’d both crossed a line with no destination except the unknown.

  Time passed. Not sure how much. A few more quiet hours. She’d dozed off so I sat and gathered her into my lap. She rested her head against my chest and even snored a bit. Her snout twitched with each deep breath.

  She was rather cute when she let down her guard.

  When she stirred later, I was ready to let her go. Instead of pushing me away, she spoke. “It’s crazy how you can seemingly have everything and yet still have nothing.”

  I wanted to agree with her, but kept quiet.

  She continued. “I have twelve siblings, but only one will inherit the Van Der Snout holdings.”

  “Your brother Banks? The big guy?”

  “Oh, Banks isn’t that big. Now Chester…” She spread her arms wide. “He eats my weight in food.” Her words held a hint of a smile.

  She went on to describe the elaborate Van Der Snout family dinners—which had all the pomp and circumstance of a state dinner—but the gluttony of a ravenous army. All the while she grinned through each detail.

  Then a faint click broke her reverie. The sound banged louder and louder, the comfort that settled in my bones fading. One of her brothers must’ve discovered the manual release switch for the door. It had to be Banks.

  As soon as the sealed door eased open, Cressida pushed away from me. I let her go without a word. The way she avoided my gaze said it all, and her rejection was just as painful. She’d needed me as much as I needed her, and still, she let me go.

  Banks stormed into the room. He glanced between us. Did he notice how she tried to look at everything else except me? But then he stared at Cressida’s boots with slumped shoulders.

  “We have a problem,” he reported.

  “What problem?” She escaped the room—or should I say she ran away from me—and forced Banks and me to follow.

  “While I was trying to figure out how to help you get out, Spence disappeared.”

  She groaned, her pink cheeks paling. “That tricky little robot ran the numbers again. Wasn’t he supposed to wait for us to return?”

  “What happened?” I asked them.

  Banks’ gruff voice had a dark edge. “To Spence everything is black and white. We fulfill our objective if he sacrifices himself and reboots the fusion reactor.”

  Chapter 5

  Graham

  * * *

  Banks and I returned to Engineering Bay Six. We snagged a few suits. He didn’t ask about the fire or how his sister got trapped inside. For all I knew, if we made it out of this situation alive, I had a beating coming.

  High temperature suits in hand, we met up with Cressida right outside of the long hallway leading to the fusion facility. The space was a compact portion of the ship, merely a room or two, but the shielding around the reactor only suppressed so much heat. Compared to the chill in Engineering Bay Six, this area was downright toasty.

  I’d never stood this close before. Cleaning staff didn’t toss out the trash or dust between the atom-squashing equipment. Even with all my training, my mind was blown. Beyond those four gates there was a machine that controlled the fusion of helium-3. If I could get close enough, I might be able to touch the beating heart of a star.

  If I was into that kind of thing.

  I glanced at Cressida while she donned her suit. Our gazes met, but just as quickly she glanced away. She already had sweat across her brow, and the skin along her neck glistened.

  An idea came to mind.

  “Why don’t we send one of the carts from the cargo hold in there?” I asked. “Some have cranes.”

  “The melting point for the cargo unit isn’t high enough,” Banks replied with a frown. “Without shielding it will melt.”

  It wasn’t my idea that had him frowning though. His suit went up to his chest and stopped there. Hadn’t he grabbed the extra large? Looked like he wasn’t coming al
ong.

  Cressida and I hurried to set out. Pretty soon, we’d be getting a couple hits from Ryx’s defense systems. To depart or land on Ryx, you had to get past four Breach Resistant Iridium Clusters walls. Each BRIC wall was a set of orbiting laser cannons made of iridium, one of the hardest substances found on Ryx. It’d be impossible for us to waltz in there.

  We raced down the hall. Only a single light illuminated each doorway. Beyond the first gate the conditions weren’t too bad. I began to sweat past the second. At the third door, I sure as Namara’s Hell felt it. A painful bite crept up through my shielded boots into the soles of my feet. Beside me, Cressida had definitely slowed. Her breath fogged over her visor. She took my hand so I could pull her along. Through the suit’s comm, I could hear her breathing too fast.

  “We’re not going to make it,” she said no more than a few steps from the fourth gate. “How are we holding up, Banks?”

  “Our shields are at fifteen percent,” he said.

  The ground rumbled under our feet, but it wasn’t from a hit. This was different. Every surface around us vibrated.

  Over the comm, Banks said, “Spence has rebooted the system. Get out of there. The temperature is already rising!”

  “He did it!” She clapped her hands. “Has he left yet?”

  But the fourth gate didn’t open.

  “Spence, do you read?” Cressida asked. “Don’t ignore me.”

  There was only static on the line.

  Sweat ran into my eyes while we waited. I shuffled if only to keep moving. We couldn’t stay here for much longer. Even worse, the ship was powering up the Horde’s planet killer. A concentrated beam from this ship would decimate anything in its path.

  Cressida made her way to the fourth gate but stumbled. I caught up with her. Through her visor, I could see her bloodshot eyes. Her hair clung to her scalp from sweat. She’d pass out before too long.

  “Turn back,” I barked.

  “I have to save him.”

  I drew her back toward the third gate. She was too weak to fight me. “I’ll get him.”

  “What? Why would you do that?”

  “Because it’s the right thing to do.” I paused, knowing I’d made the right choice. “Trust in me.”

  Before she could protest, I pushed her through the third gate and made sure the door closed after her.

  Time to get to work.

  Graham

  * * *

  The hottest summer on Valencia had nothing on the warmth past the fourth gate. My fur did little to keep me insulated from the scorching waves. I gritted my teeth and plodded into the fusion lab. All the while, I told myself this jaunt would be far shorter than my longest stretch working in a mine. One step a time, Graham.

  The whole room sparkled from heat-absorbing tiles on the walls. There wasn’t much equipment in here, only the six-foot tall fusion reactor in the center and a console at the far end of the room. Spence was slumped over the console.

  Namara, please let the robot pig be alive.

  “Hey, Spence,” I called. My voice was raspy. “It’s Graham.”

  I took a wide berth around the reactor and walked along the wall. I edged closer and closer. Almost there.

  “Don’t move. I’ll come get you.” He had to be alive. That stubborn pig-bot made it this far after losing his body.

  By the time I reached him, I could barely see out of my visor. My vision was spotty and my nausea rose. The very thought of puking in my suit kept my food down. Poor Spence’s feet had melted into the floor. I felt along his torso. There had to be a manual release to separate the brain cavity from the body. I searched—but then something strange happened. The lights along his torso dimly lit a path to a spot on his side. As I pressed the area, a tiny door opened with a snap. The ship shook again and knocked me off-kilter, but I kept working. My diligence paid off. With another click, Spence’s upper torso disconnected from his legs.

  The torso lights flashed green.

  “You’re welcome,” I breathed. “Let’s get you to safety.”

  Cressida

  * * *

  The cool air on my skin was welcomed, but fear tore through my stomach and raced down my spine. Shouldn’t I be pleased? My brothers were alive and soon the Wolverine Horde home world would burn like never before.

  So why did I collapse onto the bridge captain’s seat with a deep regret swelling in my chest?

  The ship shuddered again. I should’ve monitored the shields and prepared OUCH for firing, yet all I heard was Graham’s voice. I saw his face in the back of my mind.

  “You’re wasting a good thing,” he’d said to me.

  He thought I was worthy.

  He thought the same of Spence, too. My precious, little brother.

  “Trust in me,” he’d said before he made me leave.

  I cringed as I finally looked at the viewport. A camera in the fusion facility showed Graham carrying my brother’s torso. He shuffled, with his back bent, as if he labored with each step across the room. He cradled Spence’s brain cavity in his strong arms.

  My breath faltered. They’re gonna make it.

  Then my gaze flicked to the console before me. A new button flashed bright green: launch.

  If I pressed that button I’d cancel any goodwill Graham bestowed on me.

  “Banks?” I asked.

  He turned to me. “The weapon is primed and ready.”

  My hands shook, but my voice was steady. “Deactivate it.”

  “What?”

  “We’re done here,” I said simply.

  “Why?” His face fell, and I accepted his disappointment.

  “I’m tired of wasting a good thing.”

  I waited for him to grow angry. Maybe he’d even push me out of the way and press the button himself. Instead, he looked at Spence and Graham as they escaped through the fourth gate and his shoulders eased.

  “What’s our new course?” he asked quietly.

  “Just turn around.”

  Then I left the bridge.

  Graham

  * * *

  I came to in the sick bay a few days later. Cressida was fast asleep in the seat next to my berth. She was snoring again.

  I chuckled.

  If she kept this up, I’d have to find some earplugs.

  She startled awake and looked at me with a grimace. “How long have you been awake? Why didn’t you wake me?”

  “It was more fun watching you.” My limbs felt heavy, but I wasn’t in bad shape. Not far from us, Spence’s brain receptacle lay on another bed. It was good to see he’d made it.

  She yawned and stretched. The shy smile she gave me made me want to sit up and draw her closer.

  A silence fell around us and lasted for several minutes before she spoke again. “There’s something I need to say.”

  I nodded.

  “Back in Engineering Bay Six, I pushed you away.” She glanced at her hands in her lap. “I more or less made assumptions I shouldn’t have.” She seemed to be searching for what seemed obvious.

  “And?” I prodded.

  “I never considered liking a wolverine, much less wanting to be with one. I guess I’m trying to say I was scared, but I’m here now to see where things go if you want me.”

  My heart soared. I tried not to smile but I had a feeling I was grinning like a fool.

  Her face reddened.

  “So where are we?” I asked to change the subject.

  She relaxed and offered me some water. “Far away from everyone.”

  “Why?” I expected her to chart a course back to the Swine Federation.

  “Because in the wrong hands, this ship can be used to kill pigs or wolverines. There’ll be no more killing.” She shrugged. “I’m tired, too.”

  “Okay, then. So what do you want to do?” I asked.

  She slid along my body and joined me on the berth. I sighed. She lay on top of the covers, but her warmth seeped into me. With one hand, she played with the fur along my cheek. Each
stroke filled me with utter bliss.

  “I’m not sure,” she replied. “But I’m wanted dead or alive by the Wolverine Horde.”

  “Me too. I missed my sign off for my cleaning detail.”

  “Ah, dereliction of duty.” She laughed. “You are a quite the rascal.”

  “Yup.”

  “Looks like we’ll have to find our own ancestral lands.”

  “And what if we can’t find anything?”

  Her right eyebrow rose and her snout quivered mischievously. “Oh, we will. I have the most brilliant plan.”

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Normally I write about werewolves and other creatures of the night, but I couldn’t resist writing a re-telling of the tale of Three Little Pigs. I’ve always connected with the power of redemption and the path to its discovery. We all have the power to cast aside our doubts and do the right thing. If you enjoyed reading this tale, be sure to please join my mailing list. There are more adventures to come in the future.

  ~ Shawntelle

  * * *

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  The Cyrano Solution: A Gaian Consortium Story - Christine Pope

  Author’s Note: For those who have read the other Gaian Consortium books, this standalone story takes place roughly around the same time as Breath of Life, Book 2 in the series.

  * * *

  Alexa Bischoff had known this day would probably come, but somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d stubbornly held on to the notion that maybe the fateful event would never occur after all, that maybe her biological father would relent, and she’d finally have the freedom she’d wished for and been denied for all her twenty-one years.