Striver’s arm muscles tightened. “Here it comes.”
A snout, big as the front of Eri’s drop ship, parted the trees and two tusks dripped water from either side. It stared at them with raging black eyes, and the hairs on its hide prickled up in a Mohawk.
Eri’s whole arm shook as she tried to hold her laser steady. “Should we shoot?”
“Wait. I don’t want to provoke it.” Striver cocked his arrow.
“It already looks mad as all hell,” Riley whispered beside them.
Stomping the water, the beast exhaled, and puffs of steam rose. It charged, looming over their heads, bigger than an Old Earth bear.
Striver shouted, “Shoot!” He released an arrow and the shaft sank into the beast’s shoulder. Riley fired another one into its snout. Eri fired her laser, but the recoil sent the stream over the beast’s head. The boar kept charging, undeterred.
“Spread out. Run for cover!” Striver grabbed Eri’s arm and pulled her sideways. Riley ran in the opposite direction, disappearing behind a stand of ferns. The beast skidded past them, splashing water on Eri’s back like a tidal wave. It snorted and squealed low and loudly as it circled back.
“In here.” Striver pushed her toward a hole in one of the massive trees. Eri slipped in, cowering with her back against the inside of the trunk. Striver ducked in after her.
The boar’s footsteps pounded in Eri’s gut. Striver put a finger to his mouth and raised his bow toward the opening. The boar’s snout collided into the trunk, sniffing. Drops of snot sprayed on Eri’s chest. She fell backward, dropping her laser. The gun sank into the water at her feet. “Dammit! I hope it’s waterproof!”
Striver shot an arrow into the nostril and the beast roared and pulled back.
“Do you think you got it?” Eri whispered, creeping forward and reaching into the water for her laser.
Striver shrugged, pulling another arrow out of the bag on his back. “You can never be too sure.”
Eri inched forward, stretching her arm out as far as she could. Slimy grasses entangled her fingers and a scaly worm slithered against her arm. She instinctively yanked her hand out of the water. What had Striver said about leechers and their teeth? She couldn’t remember, but now wasn’t the time to think about it. Her laser was her only defense in this wild world.
Don’t think; just reach in and feel around.
The boar roared, the sound coming from only a few meters away. She didn’t have much time.
She jammed her hand back under the water and reached down as far as she could, the water reaching her neck. Swamp reeds splashed in her face, and she spit them out, gulping down brown water. Her fingers brushed a hard, slick surface, and she grabbed onto the barrel of the gun. A hoof scratched at the bark of the tree right above her and Eri screamed. She turned the laser around and fired into the leathery foreleg as it came down. Pieces of bark rained on her face.
Striver yelled and fell toward her. “Eri, watch out.”
Eri pulled the trigger again, and the light seared a black spot on the boar’s leg right above the hoof. The creature wailed in agony, then disappeared back into the jungle.
Striver pulled her toward the inner trunk. He shook as he held her. “That was close. Too close.”
She couldn’t tell if her heart raced from the attack or because his arms enveloped her. “Where’s it going?”
“Hopefully it’s not coming back.” They huddled, waiting for another sound. Eri welcomed his warmth against her bare skin. He smelled like fire smoke and pine, wilderness and fresh air. His chest was hard against her shoulder. She turned her head, her nose brushing the firm line of his chin. She met his gaze, and the intensity brewing in the green flecks drew her in. They breathed together in sync, her lips so close to his. If she was going to die, at least she’d die happy.
Riley screamed as the ground pounded again.
“Stay here; I’m going after him.” Striver pulled away from her and her heart ripped in two.
He disappeared into the jungle and Eri bolted after him.
The boar had cornered Riley against a massive mangrove, the white tusks stuck into a trunk on either side. Pinned against the tree, Riley had no room to release another arrow. He kicked at its toothy mouth with his feet.
Striver fired at the boar’s back, but the animal was too focused on his prey to notice.
Eri brought up her laser just as Striver jumped onto the boar’s back and climbed, gripping handfuls of hair. He positioned himself on top of the boar and brought out a small knife. The beast pulled back, freeing its tusks from the tree and reared up, throwing Striver to the ground before he could plunge the knife into its back. Striver rolled over but didn’t have enough time to get back up again before the boar charged him.
Eri’s hand tightened on the laser.
This is it.
Running alongside the boar and screaming her lungs raw, Eri aimed for its black eye and fired. The first shots missed by centimeters, but she kept shooting until the trail of light fired directly into its eye. The beast fell forward and slid against Striver, pushing them both toward the mangrove forest. Her heart shattered.
Oh no. I’ve killed Striver.
She ran through the water to where the beast stilled. Striver’s hand poked from under its snout. She grabbed onto his hand and held it against her chest.
Please, please, please be alive.
“Striver? Striver, wake up!”
There was no response, leaving an empty hole in her gut.
Riley came up on the other side. “Is he okay?”
Eri dropped Striver’s hand and grabbed a tusk, the ivory smooth and slick under her fingertips. The beast didn’t budge. “Help me. We have to lift the head.”
She knelt in the muck and braced her hands under the beast’s snout, feeling the course hair and leathery hide under her fingertips. The stench gagged her throat, and she held her breath to avoid choking.
Riley shouted, “On the count of three, push the snout toward me.”
Eri nodded.
“One.”
“Two,” she chanted with him.
“Three.”
They heaved, pushing the weight up enough to shift the snout to the side. Riley fell back on his butt, splashing into the water.
Striver lay on his back between two massive tree roots arcing up from the muck. His eyes were closed. Thankfully, the roots braced the brunt of the boar’s fall. Eri fell on top of Striver, holding his face in her hands. “Wake up!”
No response. She slapped his cheek. “Wake up, dammit!”
His eyelids fluttered. “Ohhhhhhh, man. I feel like a ton of logs just fell on me.”
Relief flooded her nerves. “Is anything broken?”
He moved his legs and his arms. “I don’t think so. Eri, you saved my life.”
“More like she dropped a huge-ass monster on you to squash you.” Riley got up and wrung out his pants.
“Striver, I’m sorry. There was no other way.”
“You did the right thing.” Striver sat up slowly and hunched over. “It had to be stopped.”
“One thing’s for sure.” Riley walked to the beast and patted its hide.
“What?” Eri helped Striver up and braced him against her until he regained his balance. He clung to her as if she were the last pillar on Refuge.
“We’re going to feast tonight.”
Eri awoke to the flashing light of her locator. Grogginess from a grueling trek and a belly of boar’s meat faded when she saw the sender. Commander Grier hailed her from the
Heritage
.
She wiggled out of her blanket and checked on the others. Striver and Riley lay asleep several meters down the mossy incline—one perk of being a woman was getting more privacy. She didn’t want to accidentally wake them, but ignoring the commander would be toying with disobedience, as stated in section four of the Guide. Eri climbed farther up the ledge to ensure secrecy. She pressed the receiver button.
Commander Grier’s face floated above her arm like a ghost. “Ms. Smith, you haven’t reported to me.”
“I’m sorry, Commander.” Eri felt her face blush with embarrassment. “I don’t have much to tell you. I’m getting to know them, as you said to do.”
Grier’s lips thinned and her features hardened. “I need numbers. How many people live on Haven 6? How many are of fighting age? Do they have an army? What is the extent of their weaponry?”
“I don’t know. I’m on a mission to save the other members of my team.”
Because you won’t do it.
Eri put her hand through her hair and tugged until her curls straightened and fell through her fingers before bouncing back again. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to tell the commander anything. Giving her any more information was betraying her new friends, people who were putting their lives on the line to save her and bring back her team. She’d procrastinated contacting the commander for those very reasons. Everything Eri did felt like a conflict of interest.
“I can’t just ask direct questions without seeming suspicious. I’m supposed to be gaining their trust, aren’t I?”
“My patience wears thin, Ms. Smith. The
Heritage
can’t hover in orbit forever. Our biodomes are overtaxed due to unfertile soil, and the colonists grow anxious to start their new life. I must take action, whether you supply me with information or not.”
Guilt plagued Eri like a disease. Aquaria and her parents counted on what she did on Haven 6. Her people waited up there, and here she was, exchanging ghost stories and romancing their leader. “I’ll try to do better, Commander. I promise.”
“Project Delta Slip is top priority. Don’t expect me to tell you again.”
The image flickered out. Eri sat under the moonlight, gazing at the massive mother ship through open patches in the jungle canopy. What was she going to do?
She breathed in deeply, calming her prickly nerves.
Rescue Litus and Mars first, and then think about how to handle the commander.
If only she could speak with Aquaria. She’d know what to do.
“Eri, what are you doing up?”
She whipped her head around. Striver stood behind her, framed in moonlight. How long had he been standing there? The shadows on his face concealed any emotion.
“My commander hailed me. I had to check in with my status.”
“In the middle of the night?”
“There is no day or night for her. She’s a brain in a box.”
He sat down beside her and shook his head as if rejumbling her words would allow them to make more sense. “What?”
“She’s from the generation that left Old Earth. She’s got to be at least five hundred and seventy years old. When her body started to fail, they connected her brain to the mainframe.”
“Wow, and you chose the little girl ghost story as the scariest one?”
Eri laughed, the tension easing. “I guess growing up with something like that, you take it for granted.”
“Let me tell you, that’s not a common thing here on Refuge.”
“Neither is living your life on a colony ship, but my ancestors did it for generations, and here I am today.”
She shivered outside her sleeping blanket and he put his arm around her. “Yes, here you are.” The silence thickened. Did he think her arrival was a gift or a curse? Judging from all the problems she gave him, probably the latter.
Striver squeezed her shoulders and released her. He stood up, offering his hand. “Come on, let’s get you back to sleep. Tomorrow’s another long hike into the mountains.”
Eri took his hand, glad he didn’t ask what the commander had said. She didn’t know if she could lie to him. As he led her back to her blanket, she wondered if she should just come clean and tell him the truth.
“Striver?”
He bent down and tucked the blanket around her, making sure the edges were sealed so snakes and insects didn’t crawl in. His face hovered over hers. “Yes.”
If she told him, would he still help her rescue her friends? Would he cast her out? She felt like she’d swallowed a rock and it stuck in her throat. She wasn’t ready to say good-bye. “Thank you for everything.”
“Thank
me
? You saved my life, remember? Every swamp boar from here to the mountains fears you now.”
Eri smiled. “Thank you for helping me rescue my team.”
Striver’s face crinkled. “I’m going for the weapons also, remember? We can’t have such technology in the Lawless’s hands.”
“You say technology as if it’s a dirty word, but it’s what saved your life today.”
“Technology can be dangerous. It brought about the fall of Old Earth.”
“Yes, but it can be helpful when used the right way.”
“That’s the key.” Striver put up a finger. “Who’s to say what the
right way
is? Some people can’t be trusted. When faced with power, they lose sight of their own humanity.”
Eri thought about his words. The idea of Lawless men with uncontrollable power scared her, but she still wasn’t able to shun her own world and their ways. “I still believe people can harness power and do the right thing.”
“Then you’re an optimist.” Striker gazed at her. “I wish I had such faith. Good night, Eri.”
“Good night.” Eri smiled, hiding her trembling lips under the blanket. She watched as Striver walked down the incline and settled under his own blanket. It took all of her self-discipline not to follow him.
…
Striver tossed under his blanket until his face stared up at the mother ship in the sky. He traced the outline of the hull with his finger. He liked Eri, and he wanted to believe she and her people came to coexist. Something about her conversations with her commander stuck a thorn in his side, though. What did they mean by ‘Project Delta Slip’? And why all the secrecy?
At first he’d wondered why the commander herself hadn’t come to establish contact, but after talking to Eri and hearing about how she was confined to the ship, at least that made sense.
What was the commander doing up there? Planning an attack? If so, how did that affect his relationship with Eri? Would they be enemies? Could he convince her to stay on his side?
No, that would be selfish.
If it came to war, Eri would have to choose for herself where she belonged. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that.