The Urimine Effect

by Matthew Fortuna

colony named Keido on a planet other than Earth." Yin said, slowly.

  "Yes."

  "And you said-"

  "Yin," Marcus cut in, "The creature has returned."

  There was a growl from the hall just behind Yin and a flicker of matted hair, brought out by the dim light from Terren's lantern. Terren's eyes widened dramatically, and he ripped the bag of synth-cards from the ground, grabbing Yin's arm in the process.

  The creature started toward them, two points of reflected light indicating the location of it's eyes. Marcus kept close to Yin as she was dragged through the tunnels, keeping himself between them and their pursuer, while Terren kept at the front, keeping an eye out for open doors.

  "What is that thing?" Yin gasped as she tried to keep up with Terren.

  "I don't know." He responded, "I was following a noise I'd heard in the tunnels when I ran into you."

  "Doesn't that just mean you heard me saying something?"

  Terren grabbed Yin's forepaw, "In here." He said, leading her into a large, abandoned chamber, closing the door once Marcus was through, and locking it.

  "I don't know, maybe." Terren said, "All I know is I heard something."

  "Why were you down there to begin with."

  "Where?"

  "In the tunnels."

  "Oh." He drifted off before answering.

  "Why were you in the tunnels?" Yin asked again.

  "Why does it matter?" Terren said, "It really isn't important right now."

  Yin shrugged to herself and let it go.

  There was a snuffling sound outside of the door and the screech of metal on bone.

  "Do you think we'll get out of here?" Yin asked.

  "I don't know." Terren responded, "I think it's important to look around though. This is a pretty big room."

  "Sure."

  Yin went off along the right side of the room, her path being illuminated by Marcus's built in light while Terren took the left.

  "Don't you think it's kind of weird that he thinks we're on a different planet?" Yin asked, rooting past a couple of old crates.

  "Yin, it does not occur to me that his thoughts are weird, only that, given the information that we're aboard an unknown vessel with incomprehensible variables and a human who might be as lost as you are, we have no choice but to trust him."

  "I didn't say we shouldn't."

  "Yin, if you wish, I can retrace my flight path from your prior incarceration back to the opening in this ship."

  "That was the opposite of trusting Terren."

  "Terren will play a role in our escape." Marcus said, "I am downloading the last two hours of movement recorded on your synth-card."

  "Why not download everything?"

  "The information is redundant." Marcus responded, "You stopped moving within the two hour time frame, I have the rest of the information leading back to the entrance."

  "That just sounds ridiculously over burdening."

  Yin looked down at small arms box labeled 'stun pistols' sitting next to another stack of old crates.

  "Terren!" She called, "I found something!" She leaned over and pried the lid open, hissing in disappointment when nothing was inside.

  Terren laughed to himself, "Well, atleast I got to see you jimmy-rig the box with those awkward digits of yours." He leaned in closer, wiggling his fingers for emphasis.

  Yin just glared at him and closed the box.

  There was a large thud on the door behind them, followed by an angry roar.

  "Why doesn't it seem logical that a huge monster is roaming around in an abandoned spaceship?" Yin asked.

  "Why doesn't anything seem logical." Terren said. "But I've got better things to do than speculate right now." He went back across the room and sifted through the various crates sitting around, finally reemerging with something in his hand.

  "I found your lost stun pistol." He said, smiling to himself.

  "Why don't you go get lost in a bar?" Yin said, scowling.

  Terren sighed and pointed just next to the door where the monster was trying to get in.

  "What?" Yin asked.

  "I want you to open the door when I say so."

  "WHY?"

  "I'm going to stun the monster when it tries to get in."

  "What if it tries to eat me?"

  "Then I'll just shoot it harder."

  "How can you shoot it harder?"Terren sighed in frustration, "Just do it. I want to get home just as badly as you do."

  Yin mumbled something to herself under her breath and loped across a couple of crates until she was besides the door.

  "When I say so." Terren said, moving behind a crate. He pointed the stun gun up into the air and let off a shot, sending a sharp crack through the room.

  "What are you doing?!" Yin asked.

  "Just checking if it works." Terren said, "Okay, when I count to three, I want you to open the door."

  "Okay." Yin placed a paw along release bar keeping the door locked.

  "One. Two." Terren steadied the gun on his forearm "THREE."

  Yin pushed the bar and pulled on the door, exposing them to the corridor outside, and jumped behind a couple crates off to the side, Marcus floating alongside.

  Nothing happened for a few moments. The scratching had stopped when Terren had fired the gun.

  "I'm going out to see where it went." Terren said, finally.

  Yin just watched, agast, as Terren hopped over the crate he was hiding behind, and went to check out the hallway, stopping at the door.

  "I don't think looking for it is a good idea right now." Yin said.

  "Why not?"

  "I can get back to the entrance I came through if I follow Marcus."

  "Your communications orb knows the way out?"

  "He's not a communications orb, personality wise, but yes, he has access to the route we took to get here."

  Terren thought about this.

  "Can I stop at the coordinates where I found you?" He said.

  "You want to get back home." Yin said, matter of fact.

  "Yes."

  "Marcus," Yin said, "we're going back the way we came. I need you to take the lead."

  "Yes Yin." Marcus said, taking the front, and starting down the right side of the corridor.

  Yin adjusted her satchel and followed, Terren just behind.

  "What if the creature comes back when you're gone?" Yin asked, "You have the stun pistol, how am I going to protect myself?"

  "I don't know, just don't get caught." Terren said, turning his lantern off, and replacing it with his flashlight. He kept it aimed behind, his stun pistol at his side.

  They trudged through at a steady pace, watching out for movement in the shadows.

  Yin thought in silence as their small procession made it's way back. She didn't know much about herself, other that what Marcus and Jerrem told her, and she needed some answers. Otherwise, she might be left in the dark for the rest of her life, if her memory didn't come back.

  Eventually Marcus stopped, turning around, and saying, "Terren, you were first encountered here."

  Terren sighed, again, and held out his hand. Yin shook it.

  "It's been nice talking with you and everything, but I need to go. I have some sewers to scour, and not a lot of time left to do it." He tipped his head and turned down the tunnel, keeping his flashlight on the ground. Yin and Marcus watched him go.

  "It's kind of weird that he should leave just as suddenly as he arrived." Yin said, "I was kind of getting used to him though."

  "Yin, he does not seem like a reliable person to know." Marcus said, "It's in your best interest to move on."

  Yin nodded her head, and began following behind Marcus as he turned back toward the way they'd come.

  The rest of the trip was uneventful, leaving Yin enough time to catch her breath after the trauma of being thrown around by both the monster and the somewhat off handed Terren. When they passed, Yin made a point of not looking at the open door that marked her prior imprisonment, and ke
eping her eyes on the ground ahead, trying to clear her thoughts, and letting go of the fear she felt when the monster had tried to find her.

  Marcus kept tabs on their location, focusing on the path toward the exit. His movements seemed irrational to Yin, who'd been hauled along the same path on the shoulder of the beast, but Marcus's confidence felt reassuring.

  Yin practically melted with relief when she saw the light up ahead, leading away from inside the massive ship, and back into the underground chamber below the crashed airplane. She ran past Marcus and pushed through the door, holding it open for Marcus, who was keeping to his slower pace.

  "I really hope I don't have to go back in there." Yin said. She closed the door and went over to the control panel, switching all settings back to zero, closing the door and resetting the door placement on the hull of the ship.

  "Yin, I have percieved the probability of a guidance system somewhere on the ship if you wish to aknowledge your hunch on the matter of this vessel's origins."

  Yin sighed, "I really don't know."

  "Your opinions may have sway." Marcus consented, "I am only here to help."

  Yin smiled, "Thanks Marcus. I think it's getting late. I need to get back home."

  "Very well." Marcus said.

  Yin nodded her thanks and started back toward the steps leading to the plane. She wanted to explore past the ship, and into the tunnel on the other side, but her gut was telling her to wait it out until she could process today.

  The rest of her trip passed uneventfully, taking her time making it up the rusted stairs, climbing up the seats in the airplane, and finally following Marcus's light down the path in the grasslands, through the crashed ship, and back to her room where she dropped her satchel on the ground and fell back on her bed into the oblivion of exhausted sleep.

  She woke up the next morning, curled up next to something furry. She blinked herself awake, confused by the textures she found pressed up