Everything was going to be fine between us—I would make certain of that no matter what the cost.
Chapter Four
The surface of Svortza 6 was like one big tropical jungle with green and pink and blue and gold leaves as far as the eye could see. I reflected, as we made our way from the base camp we’d established in a small clearing, that it was a good thing Josh and I knew exactly what we were looking for. Otherwise we never would have found it in the verdant wilderness.
“Remember,” he was saying as we tramped through the long, whispering grasses, “it’s a pink-and-green plant with purple trumpet-shaped flowers.”
“I know what to look for,” I reminded him. “I heard the transcript and saw the vid pics too. They said—”
“Look!” Josh was pointing excitedly. I followed the line of his finger and saw the truth plant. It wasn’t exactly the way it had looked in the picture, though—in fact, it was a great deal larger. Its thick vines were as big around as my waist, and I could have made a skirt from a single one of its broad leaves. Mottled green and pink, its branches rose to the top of the forest canopy high above us. The purple flowers, which were indeed shaped like the bell of a trumpet, were huge—half as long as a tall man’s body. Their waxy petals stirred sluggishly in the breeze and dripped with some kind of sticky resin or sap. It made me glad we both had protective goggles and gloves in our packs.
“God—what a monster!” Josh was still looking at the plant eagerly. He took a step toward it, but I hung back. He frowned. “What’s wrong, Cass? Here it is and not a hundred yards from our campsite. This is going to be the easiest mission we’ve ever been on.”
“Yeah, I guess.” Still, I hung back. The huge plant stirred something in me—some primal fear that was hard to explain. I couldn’t help thinking that those huge, waxy blossoms reminded me of the pitcher plant—a carnivorous plant that lured insects inside its flowers with its sticky-sweet sap and then digested them slowly over the course of days or weeks.
“Come on.” Josh gestured to me impatiently. “Let’s get a sample so we can get it back to camp and start running some tests.”
“I don’t know, Josh.” I was still dragging my feet. “I don’t like the way it looks. I don’t think we should—”
“
Stay away…from plant! Is danger!”
The hissing whisper in my ear where my universal translator was implanted surprised me and I jumped, looking around for the source. From the look on Josh’s face, he had heard it too.
“What?” He looked around, frowning. “Who said that? Come out and show yourself.”
“
The plant…the truth plant…is danger,
” the hissing voice continued. Suddenly the dense vegetation to our left rustled and a strange, tall being stepped out of the jungle.
It wasn’t my first time seeing an alien, though sentient life is far rarer in the universe than mankind once believed. But I still stared at this being with awe and fear—I couldn’t help myself.
Besides being three feet taller than Josh, the Svortzian looked like a grasshopper grown to enormous size, with long, skinny limbs and gray-green skin. Huge glittering compound eyes stared down at us from a disturbingly insectile face.
“Get behind me,” Josh said in a low voice. “We don’t know what it wants.”
“
Is not to fear,
” the creature assured us, obviously having heard Josh's remarks. “
Speak—is to understand your mind’s thoughts.
”
I’ve made my views on bugs abundantly clear, so it should come as no surprise that I didn’t like the creature on first sight. Also the thought of it reading my “mind’s thoughts” as the strange alien put it, didn’t make me feel any better. In fact, I was getting really worried.
Josh, however, didn’t seem to share my worry. “Who are you and what do you want?” he asked, putting a hand to the butt of his blaster. He was a man of science and normally very peaceful, but I had seen him use the weapon before—mostly when he felt someone was threatening us and wasn’t going to back off without a fight.
“
The plant,
” the Svortzian repeated. “
Is danger. Is fear. Is desire. Is hurt you. You…must not…touch.
”
Josh frowned. “I’m very sorry to upset you, but we’ve come hundreds of light-years to see this plant. We’re not leaving until I get a small sample, at least, to bring back to my home planet.”
The alien shook its strange head again adamantly. “
Is bad. Is make you do…things you want to do. Is make you hurt.
”
“What?” Josh shook his head. “I don’t understand.” He moved forward purposefully. “I’m sorry, but I promise this will only take a second. Just let me put on some protective gear and—”
“Wait, Josh!” My heart was suddenly in my mouth. The breeze that had been blowing a moment before had died away to nothing, leaving a deadly calm in its place. Yet, behind him, the monstrous leaves of the truth plant twitched and unfurled and the great, waxy blossoms swayed, as though to some music only they could hear. “Wait,” I repeated, holding out a hand to him. “Listen to him. Don’t touch it.”
“Don’t worry, Cassie.” He gave me his best reassuring smile. “Everything is going to be fine.” He was standing less than a foot from the nearest mottled vine as he spoke but he was looking at me, not the plant.
“Look at it!” I nearly screamed as the vine behind him stirred, this time more purposefully. “Get back from it, Josh. It’s
moving
!”
“Huh?” He turned his head to look and started to step back at the same time, but by then it was already too late. The vine had looped around his waist and lifted him into the air.
I shrieked and ran forward as it dangled my stepbrother over the wide mouth of one of its bell-shaped flowers.
Oh my God, it’s going to eat him! It’s going to gobble him up right here in front of me!
But strangely enough, the plant did nothing of the kind. It simply held Josh in front of the huge purple flower, almost as though the blossom was a camera and it wanted to take his picture. Then, just as I reached him, a spray of thick, resinous droplets exploded from the mouth of the flower, completely covering him in a strange, clear liquid.
I was right beside him at the time, and I got some of the sticky resin on my skin and in my hair, but Josh got the worst of it. He was completely coated in the stuff—so much so that his clothes and hair were drenched and shiny with it. It had an odd, musky smell that made me think of some kind of animal in heat. Josh took a deep breath, and I saw some of it slide into his mouth—then he suddenly went limp in a dead faint.
“Let go! Let him go!” Crying, I kicked and beat at the pinkish vine, trying to get it to release my now unconscious stepbrother. I was certain that the clear resin was the beginning stages of the digesting process—some kind of saliva or venom that would start eating away his flesh at any minute.
But instead of inserting Josh’s limp body into one of its flowers, or mouths, as I had begun to think of them, the plant dropped him at my feet. Then the vine slithered back the way it had come, and all the flowers abruptly closed as though they were blooming in reverse. After that, the entire truth plant seemed to settle with a contented sigh and didn’t move again.
I barely registered all this from the corner of my eye because I was too busy trying to revive Josh to do anything else. “Josh?” I cried, slapping his cheeks. “Josh, please! Oh
please
wake up. Please!”
“
He sleeps now.
” The hissing voice from my universal translator reminded me that there was an alien nearby—a large insect-like alien and now that Josh was unconscious, it might really become a threat.
“Stop right there.” Fumbling, I reached for Josh’s blaster, nearly dropping it because the grip was so slick from the truth plant’s secretions. I pointed it with shaking hands at the huge, grasshopper-like Svortzian. “If you try anything I swear I’ll shoot,” I told him in a trembling voice.
“
Isla is no hurt you, child. Isla no hurt—is help.
” It took a step toward me, holding up four of its six hands in a gesture obviously meant to be peaceful.
I shook my head. “How can I believe you?”
“
Isla tried to warn you. Plant…is danger. Is fear. Is hurt. Is want. Is desire.”
I didn’t know what it was talking about, but it
was
true that he—or was it a she?—had tried to warn us away from touching the toxic plant. I was just sorry that Josh hadn’t listened.
I took a deep breath, trying to control my fear.
We’ve been in tight spots before and always came out of them. This is just another tight spot. I can get us out of it. I have to!
“Okay.” My voice came out a lot shakier than I liked, but at least I was talking and not bawling like an infant. “Okay,” I repeated. “What did it do to him? Will he be all right? How long will he sleep?”
The Svortzian inclined its body toward me. “
Is sleep for tonight. Tomorrow he is wake.
”
“Are you sure?” I looked at my stepbrother hopefully. With the hand not holding the blaster, I wiped as much of the sticky sap off his face as I could. He was still breathing, long, slow breaths as though he was locked in some kind of deep sleep and couldn’t awaken. His pulse was strong though, and so was his heartbeat. Maybe he would be all right after all? God, I hoped so!
“
Is sleep.
” The alien nodded again. “
You have…place to stay? Away from plants? Is safer.”
“Yes, we do.” I thought longingly of our campsite, just a short thousand yards away. It might as well be a million, though. I couldn’t carry Josh’s deadweight—couldn’t even lift him. I supposed I might be able to drag him or possibly make some kind of sled out of branches and vines and roll him onto it—
As these thoughts were running through my brain, the Svortzian bent with abnormal speed and scooped Josh’s limp form into his arms.
“Stop!” I held the blaster on it, cursing myself for getting distracted.
“
Is all right.
” The creature made a soothing gesture with two of its hands. “
Isla take for you. Where is…you stay?
”
“Our camp?” I looked at the Svortzian uneasily. Should I reveal the location of our campground to him? On the other hand, what choice did I have? I pointed back the way we had come. “That way.”
“
Good. Is come, child.
” The alien set off with a weird, swaying gait that rocked both him and the precious cargo he carried from side to side. His legs were so long I had to hurry to catch up, and I kept thinking that he was going to tilt all the way over and fall to one side or the other.
But that didn’t happen. Somehow we made it back in one piece, and I watched with a mixture of suspicion and gratitude as the creature lowered Josh to the ground.
“Thank you,” I said at last, putting down the blaster when it stepped back. “I…I never could have gotten him back by myself.”
“
Is well.
” The alien nodded, but I thought its tone was sad. Then it looked at me, its head cocked to one side, and its shiny compound eyes glittering in the sunlight. “
You come. Is to leave other here and come with Isla.
”
“What? No!” I took a protective stance over Josh’s supine form. “I’m staying here.”
“
Is danger, child.
” The Svortzian looked at me earnestly and now I thought I could see fear in its alien eyes. “
Is hurt you.
”
“If you’re saying Josh would hurt me, you’re wrong,” I said steadily. “Dead wrong. He would never do that.
Never.
”
“
Is not him…to worry of,
” the creature hissed sorrowfully. “
Is not him…is…inside him.
”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m sorry. I do appreciate your warning about the plant, and I wish Josh would have listened. But it’s too late now and all I can do is stay with him.”
“
Is danger,
” the alien hissed unhappily. “
Is danger.
”
“I’m sure there is,” I said, frowning. “And I’m not leaving Josh out unprotected and all alone.”
At last the Svortzian seemed to understand that it couldn’t change my mind. “
Very well…
” It shook its head, the sun glinting off its faceted eyes. “
Isla…is sad. But is not to stop you.”
“Good,” I said, feeling relieved. “Thank you for understanding that.”
“
Is you…no understand. But is to know soon enough, child…soon enough.”
Letting out a hissing sigh, it retreated into the jungle, leaving me alone with my unconscious stepbrother.
Chapter Five
As the Svortzian had said, Josh didn’t wake up all that day or during the night. I did the best I could for him, cleaning away the sticky sap from his hands and face and somehow managing to strip off the rest of his clothes before the stuff could dry and make them set on him like wet cement. I blushed to see him naked because I couldn’t help remembering the shower incident, but I covered his midsection with a towel and tried to ignore my embarrassing memories.
I slept beside him that night, on a sleeping blanket out in the open because I couldn’t get him into our tent. I held the blaster clutched tight in one hand and kept jerking awake at every little sound, even though I had set the camp perimeters and knew we should be safe within them. Finally, long after what passed for midnight on Svortza 6, I drifted into an uneasy slumber.
I was awakened by a low growl in my ear. Fearing the worst, I jerked awake and grabbed for the blaster—it was gone. But to my relief, the growling sound was only Josh. He was awake and crouching beside me with a strange look in his intense blue eyes.
“Josh?” I frowned at him uncertainly. From the look of him, he’d already been up for a while. He must have taken a bath in the nearby stream because the sticky stuff the truth plant had sprayed him with was washed away and his black hair was still wet.
Looking to one side, I saw that he had started making breakfast as well. The ingredients to make blueberry pancakes were all laid out, and the portable griddle was heating. It was just the thoughtful kind of thing my stepbrother was always doing—he loved giving me little gifts and surprises when I least expected them.