Forty Five
They looked up. The ship was too high and the cloud cover too low but the sound of engines shifting from space drive to atmospheric propulsion was clearly audible. Kara’s heart plummeted.
“They’ve finally come,” she said bleakly. The irony wasn’t lost on her.
She’d spent her first few days on the planet praying for the SDF to find her. Now they had and she was devastated.
Because it meant leaving Vahn.
She turned to the blue alien, trying to keep the anguish from her voice.
“They’ll need to land in a clear area but it won’t take them long to find the camp. You have to go.”
Vahn nodded heavily.
“I’ll head into the hills and wait until your people take off again.”
“I’ll leave the water canisters for you. And you’ll have Rocky for company.”
“I will be fine, kalehsha. Once you alert Vraxos to my location, I will be home soon too. And then we can work towards the day we see each other again.”
Kara’s heart cracked.
“I can’t bear it,” she said, her voice small and lost. “I can’t bear to leave you.”
Vahn crushed her in his arms, inhaling her scent as if he was drowning and she was oxygen.
“We knew this day would come, Kara. We are prepared.”
“I don’t feel prepared.” She let her tears come, not caring that she was soaking his chest. “The thought of not seeing you, not being with you… I can’t do it, Vahn.”
“You must.” He kissed her hair. “We cannot stay here forever, kalehsha . I love you but I know this life isn’t enough for you. You need your people, your friends, your mother…”
“No!” she looked up at him fiercely. “I don’t need any of them. I only need you. Vahn, let’s both hide. Let’s stay here. We can break the stupid beacon, we can stay together. Please don’t make me leave you behind.”
He kissed her then, his mouth searing hers with an intensity borne from despair and sadness. When he let her go, he thought he heard his heart cleaving in two.
“You will go with your people,” he said steadily. “You will thrive. And one day, kalehsha, we will meet again. I know this in my heart because no matter what the odds, we’re destined to be together forever. Until galaxies crumble and stars fade. Now go.”
He gave her a little push. When she didn’t move, he summoned every ounce of will and turned away from her.
“Goodbye Kara,” he said. And began to walk towards the hills.
“Vahn.” He didn’t respond and she fell to her knees, the strength suddenly gone from her legs. “Vahn, please.”
He rounded a corner and was gone.
She dropped her face into her hands and sobbed until the tears ran dry.
It was only when Rocky licked her arm that she found the energy to pull herself to her feet.
Vahn was right. They couldn’t stay here forever, as idyllic as that idea sounded. She had to get back to the real world.
She had to face her mother and persuade her to take the first steps towards making peace with Vraxos. It was the only hope she had of being with Vahn again.
She wiped her nose on her arm and looked down at Rocky.
“Just you and me now. Come on.”
She started for the camp.
Behind her, Vahn kept resolutely moving forward, even though it was the hardest thing he’d ever had to do. It took everything he had to stop himself running back to her and tell her that yes, they should hide until her people had gone and live out their days together.
But that was just a selfish dream. Whatever she might think now, she needed to be among her own kind. She would understand that when she was home.
He marched uphill until his thigh muscles burned and his calves ached. When he heard the roar of the approaching spacecraft, he activated his natural camouflage ability and took cover among the rocks.
They were descending. It wouldn’t be long until their sensors picked up the human life form. And then she would be gone.
The noise of the engines rose to a shrill whine as the thrusters were engaged and he frowned. It sounded like a large vessel. Certainly larger than an ordinary human reconnaissance ship.
Perhaps they’d sent a cruiser? Not unlikely, if that was closest to the planet when the beacon was detected. But it didn’t sound like a cruiser. It sounded like…
A bad feeling came over him. He peered upwards, waiting for the craft to emerge from the cloud cover. As soon as the bottom edge appeared, gleaming like polished titanium, he started to run.
He covered the ground at speed, using his serpetri to help propel him over rocks at breakneck velocity.
“Kara!”
It seemed an age before he reached the camp. An age where his imagination threw up the most horrific scenarios.
When he finally saw her, she had changed back into her SDF uniform and was gathering her belongings. He bellowed her name and she span round.
“Vahn! What…?”
“Kara, stop. Wait.”
“What the hell’s going on? If the SDF see you…”
“It’s not the SDF. Not your people. It is mine. It’s Vraxos.”