Chapter 3
ALISHA
I’m double-checking everything is ready for tomorrow—the last thing I want is cargo sliding around risking damage to the ship or people—when Hrad walks up to the ship. He stands by the open cargo doors, watching me work.
After several minutes, I stop and put my hands on my hips. “Can I help you?”
He didn’t say much in the meeting, but then he didn’t need to argue about what to take.
He’s not a scientist or an engineer; he’s only coming to help Erica with the anthropological observations, and to assist if we find trouble.
Aside from being a banished warrior and single, I don’t know much about him. But I also don’t like being stared at.
“You’re busy; it doesn’t matter.” His voice is rough, as if it doesn’t get used much.
Clearly, it does matter, or he wouldn’t be there.
“I’m doing final checks.” I walk toward the door where he waits. “I’m the pilot, Alisha. We met at the meeting a few days ago.” I go to offer my hand but remember that extending my fingers towards him is considered threatening. Showing my teeth when smiling is also considered rude.
He nods. “Hrad.”
“I remember.” I keep my lips pressed together as I smile and step out of the ship. “Do you have something you want to bring?” Why else would he be here?
He shakes his head. “I wanted to see the ship. I didn’t expect anyone to be here.”
“It’s my ship and my responsibility.” I lean against the hull.
His gaze flicks from the interior of the ship to me and back again.
The late afternoon sunlight catches on the metal stud in his nose, and in the amber of his large eyes.
They are a deep orange, weird and mesmerizing at the same time. “What do you want to know about it?”
Lines form across his forehead, and he’s silent for a few seconds as if considering his answer.
From a human man I might suspect an ulterior motive, but Hrad seems worried.
He is returning to the other continent, and there are tribes who want to kill him because he had the misfortune of being the fourth son. If it were me, I’d be worried too.
“I’m not used to ships that fly,” he rasps. “It’s metal.”
“It is.” I knock on the hull. It’s only then that my brain catches up with the first thing he said.
“You’re used to wooden sailing ships. I can’t imagine crossing the ocean in one of them.
Was that terrifying? There are some big sea creatures in the ocean.
” I’ve seen them when doing scouting trips along the coast…
and that’s the ones that came to the surface.
His lips twitch but don’t quite make it into a smile. “I can swim, but I do not have wings.”
I laugh, then pause. He wasn’t making a joke. “Oh…”
Hrad has never flown before, and he doesn’t understand the technology.
“Come in and I’ll give you a tour of the ship. I can explain a bit about how it flies if you’d like?” I indicate for him to step in.
For a moment, I think he’s about to refuse. If he won’t step into it landed, he’s going to hate flying.
He gives me one firm nod and walks up the ramp.
The beads in his hair rattle as he walks.
Like the others, he has a few braids in his long hair along with beads made of metal and wood and other precious stones, as well as some made of bone.
As he passes me, I realize how tall he is.
I only reach his shoulder. My heartbeat quickens.
We are far enough away from the other ships and people that if he wanted to drag me deeper into the ship, no one would hear and there is nothing I could do to stop him.
Hrad steps into the cargo area and casts his gaze around. “It’s a lot of equipment.”
“The scientists want to take a lot of readings and samples.” They are acting as though there will never be another trip. I am hoping this is the first of many.
He makes a low noise in the back of his throat, which I take for agreement.
“If you follow me, I’ll show you the cabin.” I lead him through the cargo bay to another set of doors. “So if something goes wrong and the back door opens, this set of door seals.”
He frowns. “Why?”
Oh shit, he doesn’t know anything about air travel. “When you’re high enough, the air becomes thin and hard to breathe.”
“The same as high in the mountains?”
“Yeah, the same as up in the mountains. Have you seen these little ships take off and land?”
He makes that noise of agreement. “You fly high like a cloud-seeker.”
“Yes. There are two engines, which I can show you. They get us off the ground and keep us flying.” I walk through the cabin.
“This is where you’ll be sitting, and how you strap in.
There’s a bathroom over there. But the whole trip should only take a few hours.
” We leave at dawn and have the sun at our backs the entire time.
The idea is that it will make it harder for someone to spot us.
There had been debate about traveling at night, but we didn’t want to land only to have to relocate come daylight. At least in daylight we will be able to find a place to stop and set up that’s far enough away that we don’t draw attention.
“Hours?”
At first, I think he doesn’t understand the concept of time, but he has been around the colony long enough to understand.
“It took us almost a month to cross the ocean,” he finishes.
“I think it was brave to cross the ocean on a few pieces of wood, powered only by a sheet of cloth.”
His lips move as he processes my words. “We…” He moves his arms back and forth. “We powered the ship.”
“You rowed?” That does not make his voyage sound any better.
He nods. “If you have no engines, what happens?”
“I aim for a soft landing.” At his frown, I continue.
“I can glide us down. If I can’t, there are parachutes under the seats.
You put it on and jump out a door.” I point to the exit in the cabin.
“Then pull the cord and pray.” Though if it came to that, we are all fucked.
“I can fly with only one engine. We will be fine. Come on, I’ll show you the cockpit. ”
He seems reluctant but follows me through another bulkhead. There is an emergency door that seals the cockpit, but I’ve never needed to use it.
“This is where I sit, and fly.” There’s an array of controls.
Nothing like what the colony ship had, and I was never allowed to touch any of them.
All the training I had before landing was in the simulator, but I’d been working on ships and engines for ten years by then.
Some of the other engineers specialized in things like refrigeration or electrical components, or small motors.
Because I tested well for flying, I was put on to ships.
While the main ship was used for parts to build the colony, all the smaller ones are needed—and not just to run supplies to outposts.
I’ve also hauled timber, ore samples from potential mine sites, and dead animals for food.
That was the worst, as I was the one who had to scrub the cargo bay.
“Two seats.” He points to the other one.
“Sometimes someone sits there to keep an eye out, or to mark up a map, or learn to fly.” I haven’t taught anyone yet.
At thirty, I wasn’t the youngest person in the colony; there were some who were only twenty.
But the leaders weren’t rushing to train other pilots.
I guess they figured we could keep flying for another thirty years and teach the next generation.
Food and clothing were the things at the top of the list to stabilize the colony. After that, it was mining so we could make the metal to fix things. But there is only so much we can fix. Eventually, the electronics will fail, and it isn’t as though we can make more microchips or motherboards.
Maybe in thirty years’ time there will be no ships to fly.
Hrad sits in the other seat, hands pressed to his thighs, and draws in a deep breath. “I have no place here and no place there.”
I drop into my seat and turn to face him. “Are you worried you’ll be killed?”
“No. Are you not worried the tribe will find us and catch you?”
I laugh. “I’m not that easy to catch.”
And neither was he. Three months of women flirting and trying to catch his attention and he had ignored them all. I give him another closed-lip smile. “You have avoided being caught.”
His eyes are dark in the dim interior of the ship. “Mostly. I have fought off attackers and killed. I have raided and taken what I need to survive.”
He’s talking about literal survival, and I meant dating.
“Your people do not need me to help them hunt. They prefer to do it their own way.”
“This mission is all about being quiet and unnoticed. Get in, get the samples and observations and get out.”
He inclines his head. “Like stealing eggs from a screamer.”
I’m about to agree but stop. The screamers are big, black things that scream and attack anyone who goes near their nests. That was when some of the women were taken, or rescued, by the warriors. “Didn’t that go badly?”
“Yes. One human can be quiet. Five? No.” He shakes his head.
“What does that mean?”
He considers me for several heartbeats. “That humans don’t know how to be quiet. You talk.” He touches his lip. “I talk.” He touches the bony crest above his ear. Then, keeping his fingers pointed at the floor, he extends his arm toward me. “Touch.”
I frown but cautiously reach for his arm. I don’t touch the dark markings on his skin as I know they conduct electricity. And the kam are how the Honey talk silently. It’s like they have a built-in comms device. His skin is warm to the touch, and I feel something in my fingertips.
Then, his voice is in my head. Honey do not speak aloud when hunting.
All those hunting trips with humans have made him wary, and he expects this mission to fail. “What happens if we are caught?” I whisper.
The women will be able to choose a mate, the men will become brutes, and I will be killed.
I pull my hand away and lean back in my seat. He seems untroubled by that scenario. “Do you want to die?”
His large eyes watch me as if taking in everything. “No. Do you want a mate?”
I can’t tell if he’s asking whether I would be happy with that fate or if I’d ever consider a Honey mate. Given that he has shown no interest in flirting, I decide it’s the former. “I do not want to be forced to choose anyone. Even a human man.”
But I will be forced to do my part for the continuation of the human race.
For a heartbeat, I allow myself to consider what my life might be like if I were captured by a Honey tribe.
Sabine and Mia and the other women were all prepared never to return to the human colony and to make a life with their mates.
I glance at Hrad as he stares out the window as if resigned to his fate.
Fuck that. I refuse to let life happen to me.