Chapter 18 Varok
VAROK
The cold seeped into my bones, and every breath of freezing air hurt. I might have exaggerated my cold resistance, but Penny didn’t need more reasons to worry. My human mate needed food, so I would catch her something to eat, and that was that.
If my hunt brought me close enough to the spaceport to examine its security first-hand, that was a happy coincidence. Penny would never approve of the risk, but she relied too much on her technology. Her drone was a useful tool, yes, but it would miss things I might spot in person.
As long as the Collectors didn’t catch me sneaking around, of course. If that happened, at least I wouldn’t doom Penny along with myself.
The thought of her warmed me, kept me going.
Alone, the brutal cold might have been the end of me, but I just needed to think of the human’s warm embrace, her glittering green eyes, her crooked little smile.
I refused to fail her and would not give up while she relied on me.
The warmth filling my heart was enough to keep me going, though the hunt wasn’t going as well as I’d hoped.
Hunting on an unknown planet is always challenging.
This planet, slowly freezing into a ball of ice, was worse than most. There were predators, so prey had to be close, but finding them proved impossible.
The hunters themselves were easier to track, and I followed their trails on the assumption that they had to cover the best hunting grounds.
It also increased the odds of running into a pack, but I’d deal with that when it happened.
Maybe there’s good eating on them, I told myself with a silent chuckle.
Unlikely, as predators rarely taste good, but as long as their flesh was edible, I’d do my best to make a meal from it.
The bigger issue was finding one alone. Each time I saw their tracks, they were in groups of at least three.
Tough odds for little reward. I crept through their territory, moving from one ruin to another and keeping out of sight as much as possible. It made for slow going.
The mountaintop spaceport loomed over the city, and the roads rose as I approached it, joining with one another until they became one broad highway, the one on which we’d encountered the forcefield.
I didn’t go that way, though. The Collectors were no fools, and they’d be watching for us.
Instead, I sought a vantage point from which to assess the port’s security.
A ruined skyscraper gave me the height I needed, though I didn’t want to risk going inside.
My best option turned out to be a gigantic pyramid of stone and glass.
It had weathered the years well, and though I didn’t trust the interior, the outer slope was climbable.
The remaining glass creaked under me, and the metal struts supporting it had twisted over the years.
Every step was a risk, and I wondered if I’d overestimated the pyramid’s stability.
No one’s been here for decades. If it hasn’t fallen yet, it won’t collapse under my weight.
Despite the dark gaps where the glass had failed, the wreck of the building held firm as I climbed, and it didn’t take long to haul myself onto the small, flat roof. A frozen machine half-buried in decades-old snow gave me cover from both the wind and the gem-droids. A perfect perch to watch from.
From this angle, the outer spaceport was visible. What I saw wasn’t encouraging. The Collectors’ robots patrolled, sunlight glittering off their crystal bodies, and their patterns seemed designed to lure me in. Whenever I thought I’d spotted a gap, I looked for the trap. It was always there.
Even reaching the port was a challenge. If I used the road, they’d spot me instantly.
The cliffs were better, with rocky outcroppings offering some cover, but the risk remained too high.
One moment of bad luck and the gem-droids would see me on the slope, making me an easy target. I needed a safer route up.
None presented itself. Over the millennia, the Collectors had honed their skills, and their security was excellent.
I scanned the rock, hoping against hope that I’d spot a hidden maintenance access they might have missed.
No luck. I didn’t want to return empty-handed, but unless I stumbled on something to hunt on my way back to the vault, it looked like I’d go back to my human with neither food nor hope to offer.
A thunderous boom shook me loose from that morose thought.
A ship exploding? No, the explosion was too small.
This was a personal-scale boom, bigger than a grenade but not the earth-shaker of a starship’s engine overloading.
A drone’s battery cooking off? I risked raising my head over the wall I sheltered behind, and saw the Collectors’ drones whirling in complex patterns, dodging enemy fire.
As I watched, they swarmed into the port, out of sight.
Another explosion followed, and the distinctive crack of plasma weapons. Someone had attacked the spaceport, leaving the opening I’d hoped to find. This was our chance. Perhaps our only chance—if I moved fast enough. I cursed the distance between me and the vault, dropped my spear, and ran.
Frozen glass crunched and flexed under my boots as I raced downhill, juggling speed and balance. A slip on the icy surface would send me sliding down the pyramid, a fast descent but hardly a safe one. I begrudged every moment wasted, my chances of reaching Penny in time slipping away.
Which is why I fixed my focus on where to put my feet.
If not for that, I’d have noticed that I had company.
Instead, the predator came as a complete surprise, pouncing out of a broken window without warning.
I threw myself aside, twisting out of the way, and claws slashed through the space my torso had occupied a moment earlier.
Powerful jaws snapped shut on thin air, a hair’s breadth from my face.
My narrow escape came at a cost. I came down on a patch of smooth black ice, my feet sliding out from under me, and I landed hard. Before I could recover, I was sliding down the pyramid’s face, bouncing off frozen struts and icy outcroppings as I went.
The creature followed more carefully, its long, sinuous body low to the surface. It moved fast but couldn’t keep up with my fall. Since it avoided getting bruised and battered on its way down, I suspected it got the better end of the bargain.
I kicked clear of the building at the last moment, rolling to absorb my momentum.
The jarring impact hurt, but didn’t injure me, and I sprang to my feet and leaped to meet my pursuer.
That wasn’t in the creature’s script, apparently, and it let out a yelp of surprise, its pitch so high it made my teeth itch.
It tried to stop, scrabbling at the glass, but didn’t have time.
We collided in an ungainly pile, lashing out at each other.
I got the better of the exchange. The creature’s throat opened under my claws, hot blood steaming as it sprayed in an arc around me. With a final snarl, it flopped down and lay still. I backed away, keeping a wary eye on it. A predator can be at its most dangerous when dying.
The throbbing pain in my right side told me it had already gotten some measure of revenge. Deep claw marks sliced into the flesh below my ribs, blood pumping from the wounds at a worrying rate. I clamped a hand over the wound, biting back a hiss.
Each step sent a pulse of agony burning through me, but I refused to let that stop me. If I slowed now, I’d have no chance of reaching Penny in time. Also, I’d probably die. Somehow that seemed less important than getting to the exasperating human female fate had chosen for me.