Chapter 13 #2
“Right.” Trac waited by the hatch to the cockpit.
He wouldn’t open it until the ramp were up again.
The bitter cold rushed in and seemed to fill every inch of the bay.
It was interesting that none of the humans attempted to board or even close on the shuttle.
He knew this because he had a view from the front of the shuttle playing on one of his implants.
They were all still milling around and possibly arguing, based on the erratic movements of their arms.
“It would be better,” he said to Riina, “if you stayed here.” It was futile. He knew this, but he had to try.
“Better for whom?”
He blinked. “For me,” he said, before he could stop himself.
Her eyes widened. “For you? How?”
“I worry,” he admitted.
Her expression softened. “I worry, too. So, we’ll both have to be careful.”
“We are always careful,” he pointed out. “And things still happened.”
She grinned. “True. But we’re still here.” She hesitated, as if she wished to say more, but she didn’t. She turned and headed toward the ramp. It took two strides for him to reach—and then pass her. If he couldn’t stop her, then he could shield her.
Riina didn’t know why she felt so encouraged by Tim’s words as they tromped down the ramp and then began to crunch across the ice toward the small, agitated bunch of—humans. She grinned at Tim’s designation. He hadn’t quite embraced his own humanity.
The sky overhead was still dark and ominous, with flickers of light briefly appearing, then disappearing. There was an almost constant rumble underfoot, distant, but omnipresent.
Only the lights from their headgear cut decisively through the darkness.
Her suit registered a serious level of cold, and she wondered how the small band was managing their long trek.
Even a Garradian suit would begin to struggle over the length of time it would take them to reach human habitation once more. Did they have proper gear?
She wondered what they thought as their two points of light approached. When her light reached them, they’d formed into more of a wall of people, with one man—clearly their leader—at the center and facing them with his weapon lifted.
She held up her hands, hoping they could get close enough for the man to see that they were human, too.
Her suit could probably withstand a hit or two, but they’d still hurt. She hated getting shot.
“Don’t come any closer.”
The leader lifted his weapon warningly. Tim stopped and she did, as well, when they were side by side.
The man spoke in Arroxan Prime’s main language, but her suit was able to translate it quickly, thanks to Dr. Walker sharing his updates with them.
“I would like to speak to Dr. Walker,” Riina said. His condition would determine their next actions. If he’d been injured…well, that wouldn’t bode well for future interactions.
“He is fine.”
“Then he can tell me that himself,” Riina said, keeping her voice mild, but firm.
The man turned and gestured. The crowd shifted and Dr. Walker was shoved—not gently—into view.
“Are you well, Dr. Walker?” She spoke in Arroxan Prime. It seemed wise to try to keep tensions from spiraling out of control.
“They haven’t cut me open yet,” he said.
The group murmured and some shifted in place.
“Cut you open?” She tried to keep the surprise out of her voice. She’d seen no sign that they were cannibals.
“Haven’t you ever heard of an alien autopsy?” Dr. Walker asked.
“I have,” Tim said unexpectedly. He glanced at her. “One of Dr. Walker’s people showed me something called The X-Files.”
“We have no plans to cut you open,” the leader said angrily, “though it would be no more than you deserve for deceiving us.”
“I didn’t deceive you,” Dr. Walker protested. “That wasn’t us. Those are us. Totally different.”
“Dr. Walker is speaking the truth,” Riina said. “We are as unsettled by the arrival of the entity as you are. It is outside our experience.”
“I’m sure it will not surprise you to learn that we do not believe you,” the leader said.
“That’s Drun,” Dr. Walker said. “He’s a Fed.”
His tone said that explained everything and perhaps it did to him. For Riina? Not so much.
“Drun Marik,” Drun said huffily. “And I am not a Fed, whatever that is.”
“If you don’t know what it is, how do you know you’re not one?” Dr. Walker’s tone was reasonable, but there was definitely a hint of humor in it.
Drun spluttered for a few seconds, then said, “It does not matter. We came to the rendezvous in peace, and we were met with destruction. We do not know how widespread it is or if any of our people remain alive.”
“We observed concentrations of life signs as we entered your atmosphere,” Tim said. “We are not certain, of course, but it appears as if the entity is targeting what you call the Vorthari.”
“We don’t know what the Vorthari are, so we can hardly call it anything,” Drun said and then seemed to realize his statement wasn’t helpful. “But that is not relevant either.”
“I think it’s relevant,” Dr. Walker said. “Lira and I had a very unfriendly interaction with the Vorthari and if that thing up there is after them, then that’s a good thing.”
Dr. Walker wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t entirely correct. Riina sighed. The people of Arroxan Prime could end up as collateral damage if it came to a fight between the Vorthari and the entity.
They needed to find a way to make contact with it. She had known this since their first sighting, but she hadn’t wanted to risk their rescue of Dr. Walker. Now that he was relatively safe, it seemed like a good idea to try to make contact.
Of course, a lot of things had seemed like a good idea during past missions and turned out to be not so good, so she wasn’t in a hurry.
“Your flyer is still working.” A man pointed at it. “How is that possible if you’re not working with what attacked us?”
“We weren’t in your atmosphere when they deployed the EM pulse,” Tim said.
There was another murmur.
“You are from away?” This was a woman’s voice and fear threaded through it.
Riina felt the disconnect between the woman’s tone and her showing up to meet and greet actual aliens. Had she not really believed it was going to happen?
“Yes,” Riina confirmed the obvious. “We are from away, but not the same away as the entity. We’ve never encountered anything like it before.” Or anything like the Vorthari, for that matter.
Tim glanced at her, as if he felt he should speak to her first, but then he turned back to Drun Marik.
“It is a long walk to the nearest habitation. We will give you a lift. And you will release the restraints on Dr. Walker.”
Riina glanced around, wondering if they’d tried to restrain Harold, too. But the robot suddenly eased between the small group.
“It is a good plan,” Harold said.
Riina saw that he had strapped supplies onto his back. She wanted to ask or say something about the fact that they appeared to trust the alien robot, but not the alien man. But it was also not truly relevant.
It was clear that they didn’t want to accept the lift. And also clear that they knew they’d have to.
“We will stand surety for Dr. Walker’s behavior,” Riina said. “And you, Drun Marik, may examine the interior before your people board, if that would help. If it simply what we call a shuttle—a craft designed to shuttle people from one place to another.”
Drun stared at her for a long moment, then looked up. “You have a ship up there somewhere.”
It wasn’t a question, but Riina nodded.
“We have a ship up there,” she agreed.
Now the murmur that ran through the small group sounded different, as if they all wished they could see it. At least, that is what she sensed.
Who were these people? How had they ended up at Dr. Walker’s rendezvous point?
“Come,” Tim said, gesturing to Drun.
But as the man moved forward, so did the little group.
“We want to see, as well,” a woman said.
They rounded the rear of the shuttle in an odd clump, with Harold and Dr. Walker hanging back a little. Well, they’d both seen a shuttle before.
The group made sounds, but nothing that could be interpreted meaningfully.
“You can board, if you’d like,” Riina said. “Take a seat on either side and we’ll show you how to strap in.”
“Strap in?” A different woman sounded alarmed.
“There is much…turbulence in the atmosphere,” Tim said. “It is better not to fly around the shuttle bay. You could be injured”
The rear hatch was closing, increasing the muted alarm of the people. It was a relief that this reduced the amount of chill air flowing in. Riina felt the heat come on and let her faceplate go back.
With some caution, the group began to follow suit, taking tentative breaths.
The door to the cockpit slid back, revealing Lt. Dish in the opening. With some amusement, Riina noted the male spines straightening at the sight of her.
“Can I help?”
“Please,” Riina said. She moved toward the end of the left row and was helping two people get strapped in when it happened.
A seismic disturbance rocked the shuttle. She staggered and felt herself gripped by Tim, her face pressed into his chest.
“Lifting off,” Trac said tersely over the comm. “Hang on if you aren’t strapped in.”
Riina couldn’t see who was and who wasn’t secured. Tim’s arms tightened around her as the shuttle lifted off and accelerated forward.
How did he manage to brace himself? she wondered. She lifted her chin and caught him looking down at her, a look in his eyes that made her heart speed up.
“Riina.” His voice was hoarse.
“Incoming,” Trac called, over the comm and through the still open hatch.
The shuttle banked sharply. And this time it tumbled them—and everyone not secured—to the floor.