Chapter 19
HAL
The feeling of being watched has my eyes opening … only for it to take a tic for my eyes to figure out what I am seeing.
“Dawn?”
“Yup, it’s me in my super suit. This thing is great, and it makes being a stalker so much easier. Do you know you make these cute little purring noises when you’re asleep?”
She stands up, twirling around, holding her arms out, and if you just caught a glimpse of her, you would simply think she was a youngling.
“I look like a mini you. So, unless you are super growly today, let’s go explore.”
“You want to go … out?”
“I’m really beginning to think you are hard of hearing. Feed me, then let’s go see this wintry world of yours. I figured your furry side wouldn’t mind getting out as long as he doesn’t have to play with others.”
Grinning, I pounce after her, and a small screech escapes her lips, since I am sure she did not expect me to be able to move my mass quite so quickly.
Grabbing her around the waist, I turn her, ready to kiss those luscious lips, only to barely stop myself from kissing the clear shield covering her entire face.
“What the frack?” I gently tap at the glass with a claw, only for her to swat at my hand.
“Don’t scratch my super suit! If you want lovins, you need to feed me because my belly is eating me from the inside out, and I have no idea why.
If you hadn’t woken up soon, I was going to start jumping up and down on your bed until you did.
Speaking of bed, do you know I think I have a stalker?
I clearly recall going to sleep in the chair, only to wake up in bed. Did you see anyone?”
“Hmmm, must have slipped right past me.”
“Hugh … some big ass protector you are.”
Her friskiness makes me laugh, and I love the smile that graces her face. Throwing her over my shoulder playfully, I head toward the doorway, only to stop momentarily when she smacks me on the rear.
“You Neanderthal! Put me down … I’m not a sack of potatoes.”
I swing her down into my arms, hugging her close as we make our way toward the dining hall, only for my beast to growl low when he smells other males in the area.
“Stop!”
Instantly, my feet do as she says.
“If I weren’t starving, I would tell you to skip the food and let’s go, but that’s not gonna happen, so can you call someone to bring us something? Because that growl is just getting louder the closer we get to the others.”
Taking a few steps back, my mind clears slightly the further I get from the other males. Heading back toward our quarters, a plan forms in my mind.
“I am going to have an early-rising meal delivered to our rooms, then I will go get my mainland speeder and pick you up outside our dwelling. Is that acceptable?”
“Food and something that sounds fast? I’m in.”
I hit my communicator, ordering what I think she might like, and have just set her down inside my room when I heard the delivery bot come in behind me.
“Wow, what is this little dude? I had no idea you had bots here.”
“We have several different ones available. The cargo bots are just the ones used the most frequently, but SAGE insisted on these smaller ones for use inside the caverns.”
“Room service, and hot springs … things are looking up in the ice world.”
“Eat your ovum’s and let us go. I have an entire world to introduce you to. I would not have dared to take you out before, but this new garment hides your features so well I am not worried any surveillance will pick you up.”
“SAGE reassured me that my super suit would keep the bad guys ignorant.”
I pull out her small chair on the warm side of the membrane while I settle on the other side.
She hits something I cannot see clearly on the side of her hood, and the faceplate retracts.
I cannot help but smile, as she really must be hungry because she is devouring everything I have put on her plate.
While I watch her, I forget about my own meal until she looks up at me.
“You gonna eat?”
“Sorry, Roja, I got distracted.”
The room gets quiet, but not in an uncomfortable way. Even though she started before me, I am done first.
“Go ahead and finish. I am going to go get the cruiser and then meet you outside.” I point to the viewer on her side of the room.
“Can I open it?”
“Everything in these rooms will respond to you.”
“K … I’ll be waiting.”
I stroll out of our main rooms, fighting my inner beast slightly as I swear I am arguing with myself about the fact that we must leave her for only a tic. Thankfully, Oset received my message and is working in the docking bay this early rising and already has my speeder warming up when I come in.
He steps back slightly when I walk into the bay, his beast sensing my owns instability.
“You are ready to go HaL, but the frost is nearly upon us, so I would not linger long in the western region.”
“How is the youngling and Eirwen?”
“Both are doing well, thanks to Troza and her quick thinking. They will be heading home this rising.”
I do not linger any longer. I settle into the main seat of the cruiser, only engaging the sleds after I clear the shuttle entrance. The rush of frigid air against my face seems to clear my head as I make my way around the compound.
That is when I spot the small figure standing on the balcony.
She waves the moment she sees me, and I swear I can feel my beast relax.
I slide the cruiser to a stop beneath her and motion for her to come to me.
Dawn hesitates when she looks down at me, realizing she is several leagues above the ground.
Then she steps onto the top of the railing, and suddenly she looks fragile, and this distance is too great.
My heart stops.
Before I can say a word, she launches herself into the air. I catch her mid-flight with a grunt, absorbing the impact against my chest.
“Dawn!”
She laughs. Her trust in me is humbling.
I lower her carefully into the seat beside me. It takes a moment to adjust the safety straps to her smaller frame. Then I close the main hatch to keep the wind from cutting through the cabin, making sure she is secure before I pull away. Even for me, negative forty is cold enough to bite.
I take it slowly at first.
We glide over smaller embankments and frozen fields, the cruiser barely making a sound against the packed ice. I keep one eye on Dawn, watching for any sign that the speed or terrain is frightening her.
Instead, she frowns.
Not scared.
Disappointed.
I almost laugh.
“Is there anything or anywhere you would like to see?”
“Where did you live before the compound? And does this thing not go any faster?”
I turn the cruiser sharply. Dawn lets out an excited squeal as I punch the engines.
The cruiser surges forward. Iced-over lake beds and enormous ravines flash past us as we climb one frozen hill and slide down the other.
I point toward different landmarks as we go, explaining what I can, though the thrusters make conversation nearly impossible.
Dawn’s eyes are everywhere.
She looks like she has been waiting her entire life to see something like this.
I come over a sharp embankment and immediately must compensate. The cruiser slides sideways as a herd of mammoths stands directly in our path.
Dawn’s voice rises over the roar of the engines.
“You have woolly mammoths here? EPIC!”
I power down immediately, easing the cruiser to a stop before we spook the matriarch. The herd is enormous. They stand together in the distance, their shaggy coats rippling in the wind as they slowly make their way across the frozen landscape.
I glance at Dawn.
“How do you know what these beasts are?”
“We had them too.” She pauses. “Well, not in my time. I mean, obviously not in my time. But they were in the history books.”
I look back toward the herd.
“It seems the gods spread the seeds of many creatures across the galaxies.”
Dawn watches silently as the mammoths disappear into one of the deeper passes.
“Where are they going?”
I point toward the mountains. “Do you see that ice blanket forming across the mountainside?”
She squints. “Yes.”
“That is what we call the frost.”
I keep my gaze on the distant mountains as a pale sheet of ice slowly spreads across the rock.
“In a matter of rotations, it will lie over every surface, and it will remain there for an entire orbital rotation.”
Her excitement fades as she listens.
“These are the coldest and deadliest moments on Hallister.”
Dawn looks toward the mammoths again.
“The animals can feel it coming,” I continue. “In the air. In the ground. They know before we do.”
“What happens to them?”
“Some hibernate. The Ice Gojira are among them.”
I nod toward the pass where the mammoths disappeared. “The mammoths do something different. They gather in the deepest passes and press together for warmth.”
Dawn’s expression softens.
“The mothers form an outer barrier, and the young are positioned in the middle. They use their own body heat to shield the calves from the worst of the cold.
“How cold does it get?”
I meet her eyes.
“Negative seventy, sometimes worse.”
Her mouth falls open. I turn my attention back toward the mountains.
“And that is when Hallister reminds everyone who truly rules this world. She only tolerates us if she wills it.”
Turning the cruiser back up the hill, I race out of the ravine, the engine growling beneath us. I barely make it a few yards before a deafening bellow erupts behind me. I glance over my shoulder and several of the mammoths are running. Not walking. Not lumbering. Running.
My stomach drops.
Just a tic ago, they had been moving lazily through the snow. Now they are charging uphill with pure panic in their eyes. I crest the hill and slam on the brakes.
My breath catches.
An avalanche.
Not some distant wall of snow creeping down the mountainside. This is a monstrous, living force, swallowing everything in its path. Snow, ice, trees, and enormous chunks of rock are barreling toward us in a deafening wave.
And it’s coming straight for us!
“Hold on!”