Chapter 42
FORTY-TWO
Bri
Last night was a harsh dose of reality. We aren’t out of the woods yet. I’m getting really tired of this place trying to kill me.
I awkwardly climb out of the half-buried tent and take in the aftermath of the storm. The sky is hazy yet calm. Fine particles float in the air looking for a place to settle. I can’t be sure, but the dunes seem steeper this morning. While we slept, the desert rearranged itself around us.
Daisy is gone. I hope she made it out of here before the storm got bad. It’s a miracle the tent didn’t blow away with us in it. The only thing that kept me from totally losing it was Tai. I stayed tucked into his side the entire night. Occasionally, he ran fingers up and down my arms to comfort me.
“So, what do you think?” I ask Tai, who’s sitting on the sand, facing the sunrise.
“You want the good news or the bad news?” he asks.
“You pick.”
“If we can’t find the Boraei, we are going to be here for a long, long, long, long time,” he says.
We are both tired and beaten down. Hopefully the good news will perk us up.
“And what’s the good news?” I say and tug on the tent, pulling it out of the sand.
“That was the good news.”
If that was the good news, I do not want to know the bad news.
Tai stands and helps me break down the tent while I process our dire situation. There has to be something we aren’t thinking of. Some obvious thing staring us in the face.
“Aren’t you one of those guys?” I ask.
“What guys?”
“Yeah, you know. A handy guy.”
“Handy?” his voice goes up in pitch, and he quirks his head at me.
“Not like that! Handy, as in survival skills. You go into the desert with a roll of tape and a multi-tool and you build a spaceship.”
“I don’t have any tape,” he says, totally missing the point.
“Never mind.” I kick at a rock poking out of the sand, and it moves. That’s no rock. It’s Daisy’s hoof! I jump back, giving her space as she pushes her way up. Daisy emerges grunting and shaking off the extra sand.
“Daisy! You made it! I was so worried, girl!” I wrap my arms around her thick neck and pepper her with kisses, getting a mouthful of sand and fur. I can’t believe she buried herself next to us and didn’t run off.
“You are the best h’axom in the whole universe!” I coo at her in full baby-talk mode.
She gives one last massive shake, flinging sand everywhere. It makes me realize her saddle is gone, along with my pack. It was strapped to her last night when we fell off. All we have left is Tai’s backpack and the dwindling supplies we took from the brethren.
Tai must know what I’m thinking because he comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my shoulders. “We’re going to be okay. We’re both too stubborn to quit.”
I soak in his confident words. He’s right. We got this.
“I’m going to walk.” We both say at the same time and let out a nervous laugh. I guess we are both feeling a little awkward about last night. Or maybe it was the position of our bodies when we woke up this morning. All tangled together.
“Are you sure?” he asks.
“My thighs are raw, and my hips are killing me. I need to walk it off.”
“Want me to go grab a brethren? I’m sure they’d love the opportunity to give you a massage," he says, stifling a laugh.
“Ha, ha. Very funny. Don’t tell me you aren’t sore from riding the last few days.”
“I’m in absolute agony, but I couldn’t very well complain when you were handling it like a champion,” he says, rubbing his neck.
“As long as I don’t lose another hair tie, I should be fine.”
“I’ve got plenty of shirt left if you do.”
My ovaries do a double backflip.
Daisy affectionately rests her trunk on Tai’s shoulder and walks right alongside us. Dammit, why does that have to look so cute?
My legs have been getting used to walking in the sand. Even though it’s hot and the terrain is uneven, it feels better than riding.
“Never thought I’d say this, but I think I’m getting used to it here,” I say.
“I wish I could say the same thing,” Tai says and flexes his elbow. The joint in his bionic arm creaks. There is no keeping the sand out of the tiny cracks. I hope no permanent damage is done.
“Is it acting up again?” I ask.
“Yeah, but not as bad as before.” He wiggles his fingers at me and sighs. “This thing cost me a fortune.”
“They didn’t give it to you when you enlisted?” I ask, trying to piece together the small bits of information I know about him from his past.
“I got a smaller version when I enlisted. I sized up a few times as I bulked up. This one should have been a permanent replacement, but I don’t know how much longer it will last now.”
I really didn’t think about the impact of this place on him when I demanded we stay, so I could force my savior complex on a bunch of dudes who were not interested.
“Tai, I’m sorry…” I say, wanting to acknowledge my part in this.
“Nope. Don’t do that. We started over. Remember?” he says.
“Well, at least let me cover part of the cost when we get home,” I offer. I wish I could buy him a brand-new arm as a thank you for everything he’s done for me.
“You have credits like that laying around somewhere?”
“Eventually. I’ll get back to my research and discover some DNA sequence to reverse the appearance of wrinkles or whatever and sell it to rich people.”
“Is that why you chose genetics?” he asks, squinting into the sun when he looks over at me.
“No, it’s not.” I kick some sand his way at the implication that my motivations are that shallow. “But it can pay the bills until I can do what I really want.”
“And what’s that?”
“Genetics was an interesting subject in school. I thought there might be some good career opportunities there. Which, for the record, I was right about. But once I have enough credits, and pay back my family, I’m going to start a foundation.”
“A foundation?”
“It’s basically a program with money used to support a cause.” j’Tilak, the paradise planet, wouldn’t need something like this, but the rest of the universe could really benefit from it.
“It’s a great idea. There were a lot of kids where I grew up who needed something like that.” His expression softens. “Me included.”
I take a risk and ask, “What was it like? I can tell you’ve tried to downplay it, but it must have been really hard.”
“I’ll tell you, only if you promise to not feel sorry for me,” he says.
“Deal.”
“It was rough. I learned to survive by any means necessary. All of us kids formed a little gang. We came up with all sorts of ways to steal from travelers. We learned pretty quickly not to steal from other residents. So, we went after anyone passing through.”
I don’t say a word, hoping he’ll continue and tell me more.
“A crooked mechanic taught me how to fake an engine failure. We used to find the nicest ship docked on the station. The other kids would follow around the captain and crew while I’d sneak onboard.
When they would return to their ship, it would look like a massive engine failure.
They would go to the mechanic, the only one on the station, to fix it.
Once the payment was received, I’d return and put the part back. ”
I promised him I wouldn’t pity him, so I do my best to keep a neutral face and not think too hard about why he had to resort to scams to survive.
“I eventually got caught, and somehow managed to undock a ship and fly it. I’d never flown anything before. It’s how I crashed on Sabaak the first time.”
And there it is: the full story about how he ended up here. It all makes sense. I can tell he hardly wants to admit the truth to himself, let alone say it out loud to someone else.
“A lot of people on Earth are stuck in shitty jobs, being exploited and treated worse than a bot. It could have been my future if my family hadn’t stepped in.
I want to help people in the same way, give them opportunities.
Help them reach their goals, even if it’s to have an adventure on a distant planet where everything possible goes wrong. ”
Tai stops walking and stares at me, his eyes searching my face. It’s impossible to tell what he’s thinking. He probably thinks I’m ridiculous for thinking I could make a difference in this vast universe that is tipped in the favor of the wealthy and powerful.
“What?” I ask, feeling self-conscious from his stare.
“I had you completely wrong,” he says. “You seem so sure of yourself, like nothing ever scared you. I assumed life had been easy for you.”
I give a small shrug. “Not even close. We didn’t have much growing up. It was hard. But it pushed me. Everything I’ve done came from that.”
Tai turns back and starts walking again, both of us quietly lost in our thoughts.