Chapter 35
GILLIAN
Being brought face to face with the sadness of the Sarkarnii was not what I was expecting to find in this abandoned space ship.
They lost so much. My heart was already aching with my own loss, but to see what they endured, laid out for me like some terrible tableaux, I think it broke me.
And yet Dalox says they survive.
I know about surviving. I cannot even believe it was possible after what happened.
And as for the silence…I know it only too well. It is as if someone has scooped out my heart and laid it to one side, never to beat again.
I am not alone. Not anymore.
“The mapping system will not be here,” Dalox says. “We need to find the bridge.”
I don’t protest as we walk away from the scene of death. I have seen enough now to last me forever.
The passage we follow gets progressively brighter, until all the lights are on.
“It would appear this ship still has power,” Dalox says as he inspects the walls. “Which means there must still be star fuel for the engines.”
He presses his hand against a black square like the one in the flyer, and a hole opens in the wall, revealing a ladder.
“I hate to point this out, but I don’t think you’ll fit.” I stare into the hole.
“These ships were not made for Sarkarnii,” Dalox says.
“They weren’t?”
“No, we took this fleet from another species,” he says, as if this is the most natural thing in the universe. “They owed us.”
“I think they were smaller than you.”
“They were not.” Dalox flashes me a fang. “They had less tail.”
He turns to stare at the dinosaur-like appendage, and after some time, it swirls away into nothing.
“We had better move. I doubt I can hold my shift for long,” he rasps.
“You can’t stop your tail?”
“I cannot stop my tail,” he growls. “The thing has a life of its own and I am not involved.”
I raise my eyebrows as Dalox squeezes himself into the hole and begins his descent.
I get on the first rung of the ladder and follow him.
The light is dim in the tube, with only a prickle of pinpricks to allow me the ability to see the rungs as I go down.
Occasionally my foot slips, but I catch myself because, although I know Dalox will break my fall, given he takes up all of the room below me, I don’t really want to land on his head.
“Our exit,” Dalox calls up. “Five more steps.”
I count down. I will be glad when we get out of this constricting tube and somewhere it will be easier to fight if I need to.
Although this ship only holds the ghosts of the Sarkarnii past, nothing tangible.
I step off the ladder onto solid ground and almost right into Dalox who is waiting for me. He puts his hand under my chin, sweeping his clawed thumb over it. His burning eyes study mine.
“We will find the mapping system and get out of here, my little spark,” he rumbles. “It will take no time at all before we are back in my hidden quarters to mate until we can no longer stand.”
After everything I’ve seen, celebrating life is what I want to do, more than anything.
Dalox leans in and presses a kiss to my lips, the double tips of his tongue gently whisking my mouth. It is a gesture he has only recently learnt, and yet he does it as if he’s done it all his life. I press my hand against his chest, leaning into the kiss.
Because you never know when it might be your last.
When he finally lets me up for air, I find myself towed along the passage, lights blinking on to illuminate our way as we continue through the ship which creaks occasionally, almost as if it is alive.
“Why is it making that sound?” I ask as we turn a corner.
“It’s probably settling. I doubt the ground beneath it is strong enough to support the weight,” Dalox says. “Another reason we chose our part of Vorostor for our base.” He huffs.
Another turn and we reach an open doorway. I find myself hesitating slightly before we enter, in case there is something else I do not wish to see.
But instead it opens up into a wide area very similar to the one on the flyer, only bigger. Here there is evidence of the jungle, however, with green flowing down the walls and creeping across the floor.
Dalox stares around him. “There must be an open vent,” he says, eyes alighting on the ingress of green.
He moves over to the consoles, his ever-present tail back once again, as I walk over to the viewing window, which is mostly covered in vines and vegetation. I wipe at the grime on the window with my jacket sleeve to look out.
We are still high up in the canopy. I can see various creatures moving from branch to branch, but they’re too far away to identify. Mist swirls through as if driven by a wind as it rises over the ship and dissipates.
Below my feet, there is a steady growling rumble, causing the ship to tremble. As I look back at Dalox, the lights start to glow brighter and there are more of them, covering the walls and the flat black tops of the consoles dotted around.
“There is still power.” Dalox grins at me. “And there is the mapping system too,” he adds. “You will be home in no time at all.”
My heart drops to my boots. I should be ecstatic there is a way home.
But now I don’t know if I want to go at all.