4. Bambi
BAMBI
Bikar and the others have been on the new ship for a while now, and I can tell the rest of the group is getting impatient.
The rest of the Ruks came outside to see what all the fuss is about, and now everyone is standing around waiting for an update.
Once I realized that nothing dangerous was going to happen, I went back to my spot under the trees and started working on more baskets.
Might as well stay busy since there isn’t really anything else to do on this rock.
Well...
There isn’t if you’re not shacked up with a male of some sort.
Lord, the sounds that echo down the rock hallways inside the compound are enough to drive you bonkers and make you think the girls are dying.
That is, until you see their glowing faces the next morning while you hide in your breakfast. Shaking my head, I focus back on my basket while creeping on the conversation that Shagar is having with Lurtza and Myev a short distance away from the main group.
The scouts arrived about a half hour ago and pulled Shagar, Bikar’s mam, to the side.
The other girls call her mam, at her insistence, but they’re all happily mated to her sons.
Heather and I… aren’t. It’s made it slightly awkward for me since Shagar desperately wants to get to know me, but since I hold the memory of my mother dear to my heart…
I’ve been less than receptive to her overtures.
Much to Shagar’s dismay.
Heather isn’t destined for one of her sons and gently but politely told Shagar that she had a wonderful mother she left behind, and that was the end of that.
Shagar’s body language has completely shifted from relaxed to taut as a bowstring the longer Myev and Lurtza talk.
It’s throwing some major red flags that anyone with a brain can see.
Both of the younger females are visibly unnerved, and this, timed with the arrival of an unknown ship, has everyone on edge.
Heather walks over to me, leaving Ruby, Rowan, and Gwen’s huddle. Her arms are wrapped around her middle as she glances worriedly to where the Ruk females are whispering. “That doesn’t bode well, does it?”
Shaking my head, I reply, “No. No, it doesn’t. They had to have found something bad because both of them are scared, even though they’re trying to hide it.”
She cuts a sharp glance at me. “You read that too?”
“Oh yeah, when you grew up like I did, you learn to read body language early on.”
Heather chooses not to comment on my caustic statement, and I’m grateful for it.
We all have things about our pasts that we don’t want to talk about.
The fact I grew up on a cultist compound in the middle of nowhere, USA, isn’t anyone’s business but mine.
Just like the fact that Heather’s face was plastered on so many newspapers, magazines, and TV channels that even I know who she used to be.
That’s her business alone, unless she chooses to share it.
Which she hasn’t.
We continue to watch as Shagar nods, and both Ruk females retreat inside the rock compound without another word.
Her head drops before she takes a deep breath and lifts her chin, her eyes landing on Heather and me.
She offers us a reassuring smile before hurrying over to the new ship and disappearing inside its depths.
“Well, that sure as shit didn’t make me feel any better. How about you?”
Heather’s sarcasm is wicked, and the snicker escapes before I can stop it. “Uh, no. No, it didn’t.”
BIKAR
“My sons!”
Mam’s voice echoes down the halls of the shuttle; the concern in her raspy tone immediately drawing my attention away from where I have been exploring.
Speaking is not as painful for her as it is for Murgul, but she still does not raise her voice unless absolutely necessary.
Tapping into the shuttle, I pinpoint that she is still in the entrance of the small cargo bay, and ping my brothers to rendezvous with me there.
Tics later, all of us arrive to find her hurriedly pacing back and forth with a furrowed brow. Slavic, ever one to take charge, approaches her and gently grabs her hands to still their restless wringing. “Mam, tell us what has upset you so.”
Inhaling sharply, she gazes at all of us before blurting out, “Myev and Lurtza have returned from a routine scouting mission, and what they have observed has frightened both of them to their core.”
Einar frowns thoughtfully before he speaks. “Both of those females are formidable and have seen battle. What could have rattled them so much on a simple reconnaissance mission?”
Ruarc chimes in next. “I agree. Bikar,” he gestures over at me, “did in-depth data scans of this planet when we arrived to search for you. Nothing abnormal appeared on any reports.”
Nodding in agreement, I verbally confirm Ruarc’s comment. “Ruarc is correct. I performed every possible scan on Deapra before we landed. There is no way I missed something that could be that concerning.”
Mam shakes her head sadly. “That is just it, my sons. There is no way that this malady would have shown up on any scan you ran.”
Silence falls over our group. There is only one thing in the Void that can mask itself from every type of bio-life scan, and that is because it literally becomes part of the planet…
even as it consumes all that it touches.
Mam waits a tic and allows the realization to hit all of us before she grates out. “Deapra is infected with The Scourge.”