“Yes, you can, and you must. There are at least three hundred good people aboard that ship; my people, people that have fought to stay alive despite their circumstances. Guide them to a better world, Metsy. If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me.”
He pleaded so intensely she couldn’t refuse him. She checked the wallscreen. “We don’t have much time left.”
“Then let’s make these last hours count.” He leaned in and pulled her against him, kissing her fiercely. She wrapped her arms around his neck. Nothing was close enough. Her hands roamed over the muscles in his back, untucking his shirt. She felt around his waist, and the curves of his abs underneath his shirt as he kissed her. Each touch explored more about him, making her shiver. How could someone deem him so imperfect? To her, he was flawless.
He ducked, his arm sliding underneath her legs as he picked her up. The universe had aligned for them to have this private moment, and she lost herself in it, feeling free of any obligations or predestination. Nothing existed except the feel of his skin and the scent of their bodies intermingled. This was her paradise.
§
The wallscreen beeped and a monotone voice echoed, “Incoming call.”
Mestasis rose up from her bed, her head groggy from deep sleep. She hadn’t allowed her conscious mind to rest that fully in her entire life; no impulses, no dreams, just blissful darkness. The world came back to her, along with delicious memories. She reached out beside her and ran her hand under cold sheets. James was gone. Emptiness overwhelmed her, spreading through her limbs until she felt cold everywhere.
Scooping up his pillow, she buried her nose in the fabric, smelling his scent. His absence caused a sharp pain in her gut, but she knew if he stayed, it would make it harder for her to leave. He’d made his choice, and now she had to make hers.
The wallscreen beeped again, insistent. Too tired to use her powers to turn the panel on, Mestasis leaned forward, making sure the blanket covered her up.
Abysme’s face stared back at her in shock. Their mindspeak didn’t work well on communication channels, so she spoke with real words instead. “What are you doing in bed? You’re supposed to attend a formal ceremony in thirty minutes. Thadious Legacy’s been asking about you. I almost snuck off the ship and came back to get you. I thought the refugees stormed our apartment and murdered you on the streets, and you’re taking a nap?”
This was it, her time of choice. If she stepped on that ship, there’d be no going back. Mestasis stared at the face she knew so well, the mirror image of her own.
Abysme sighed, letting a rare glimmer of vulnerability show in the hard edges of her features. “I was so worried. I really thought something had happened to you. It made me think about things, and I’m glad you won us this chance, Metsy. I’m glad we’ve made it to a safe place together. I know I’ve never been thankful of what you’ve achieved for us, but I am now. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Abysme was her twin. Her other half. How could she let her down?
Mestasis realized she still hugged James’s pillow. Placing it down beside the wrinkled covers, she ran her hands over the fabric one last time. Taking a deep breath, she swung her legs off the edge and stood up. The world felt rickety under her feet. “I’ll be right there.”
Mammoth hairs flew over his head as Brentwood ducked and rolled under two sets of legs, thick as tree trunks. He had to keep moving to use the commotion to his advantage, giving them no chance to sniff him out. The adrenaline rushing inside him made darting through the herd easy. Even so, one misstep and he’d be one mammoth’s dinner.
He’d already secured the first pole, and he only had two more to go. Hopefully, they wouldn’t knock it over before he got the second one down. He needed at least two conductors to start the energy beam.
Staying on the edge of the valley, he zigzagged to the opposite side. He had to make the perimeter big enough to protect the mining area and the vehicle, giving Tech enough room to work. Too small an area would put all of them in danger once Tech drove the landrover down. He couldn’t tell how far the mammoth hair could stretch. If the mammoths ruined the equipment, the animals might doom the entire crew of the
Expedition
.
An unoccupied spot of land lay exposed up ahead, protected by two mounds of snow; a perfect place for the next pole. Brentwood dashed over and pulled another metal rod from under his arm. The pole sank into the snow and he punched it down deep enough to stand up vertically. He tested the stability with a kick.
Pressing the panel on the top, he activated the second pole. A cylinder-shaped compartment rose up, exposing a ball of light and a thin, red beam cut across the snow, connecting the two poles. Encouraged, Brentwood pumped his fist in the air. If any mammoth tried to cross it, the energy would zap them dead, or at least, in theory. Heart pounding, he scanned the area. Now he had to find a place for the third pole without trapping any mammoths inside.
He looked for the easiest direction to run, but he’d lingered too long. A hulk of hair charged at him, followed by another and another. Brentwood brought up his laser and fired at the leader.
This is it. Too late for regrets. Good thing I finally told Gemme how I felt.
He couldn’t blast all of them. He’d been firing the whole time and he hadn’t even taken down one.
Squashing his fear, he placed himself directly in front of the laser beam. The charged particles buzzed behind him, reminding him how much power lay at his back. Death waited for him on either side. If he stepped into the beam, he’d die instantly. If he waited for the mammoths, he’d be stomped on or impaled.
Death by electrocution or mammoth tusks.
Hard decision.
Brentwood planted his feet down firmly, dropped the third pole, and squeezed the trigger.
The mammoth hair grasped out like seeking vines, reaching a meter ahead of them, as if their pounding feet wouldn’t reach him soon enough. It made him stomach squirm to think of the hair finding him and crawling down his back.
Wait.
Spittle dripped from the pink mouths as their heads dipped down, revealing their tusks.
Wait.
Now!
He turned, sprinted two steps for momentum, and leaped, spreading his legs out as far as they could stretch. The red laser light came closer and he willed himself higher, hoping the fabric of his pants didn’t droop too far. He should have reset the configurations, narrowing the width and height of the beam.
Sprawling through the air, he cleared the laser with millimeters to spare. He hit the snow and rolled into a crouch just as the first mammoth reached the beam. The massive body jerked as it barreled into the light. The beast cried out, screeching like a pig in the livestock cells aboard the
Expedition
. A second mammoth hit the beam, then a third.
The reek of burnt hair filled the air as they writhed in the electric current. They dropped to the snow, and steam rose off their seared hides. Brentwood stepped around the end of the pole, watching the rest of mammoth horde retreat from the laser light.
“Woohoo! Take that you hairy monsters!” The last of them disappeared over the ridge at the far end of the valley, smaller beasts trailing the wake of the larger ones.
He checked the ridge, and his triumph dropped like the electrocuted mammoths, sinking into his stomach. No one was firing, meaning no one was there. Collecting the third pole, he ran across the snow.
They would never abandon their posts. Something had happened. Anxiety rose like solar flares in his chest as he stuck the third pole down and completed the triangular defense. As the cries of the mammoths receded, silence fell over the valley.
“Gemme, Tech, Luna?” he shouted, and his voice reverberated against the distant mountains.
His world stopped. What if he was the only one that survived? Thinking he put himself in the thick of the danger, he may have left his team exposed. Brentwood’s hands rose to his forehead just as the rumbling of the landrover’s engines ignited, producing the best music he’d ever heard. The vehicle crested the ridge and relief flooded his system.
Thank the Guide they’re saf
e.
He shut off the laser for the bottom of the triangular defense and signaled Tech to drive down the incline. The landrover pulled in the perimeter and he followed, closing the space behind them by reactivating the beam. They may have scared the mammoths off for good, but he wasn’t going to take any chances.
The hatch opened and Tech came out first, hobbling onto the snow. The man looked like he’d gone to hell and back again. Weary eyed and slumping forward, he gave Brentwood a wave. “Nicely done, sir.”
Gemme followed Tech, jumping from the hatch. She ran to him and threw her arms around him, the force pushing back her hood. Her nut-brown hair ticked his chin. She calmed him like nothing else could. He closed his eyes and soaked in the moment. The close contact triggered a longing inside him and visions of a meadow and a log cabin flashed behind his lids. Was he going crazy? Or were they somehow star-destined lovers, married in previous lives? Brentwood shook the foggy memories from his head and gripped her close.
Tech cleared his throat and Brentwood opened his eyes. The older man stood behind them, his eyes dark and hooded in warning. “It’s not time to celebrate.”
Brentwood pulled away from Gemme far enough to look into her face. “Where’s Luna?”
Gemme looked down at his chest. “She’s dead.”
Her words slapped him in the face and he pulled away in guilt. He hadn’t even thought about the biologist in his rush to hold Gemme. What kind of a lieutenant was he? A member of his team had died and here he was thinking of romance. “Dead?”
Tech’s voice was soft as he explained. “One of the mammoths spotted us on the ridge. Smart bastards, I’ll tell you that. It came barreling up and tore into our hideout, causing an avalanche. The ladies went down with the snow, but I landed on the other side by the landrover.”
He shook his head as if to ward out the memory. “I saw it all. The snow trapped Gemme, but Luna was free. Luna panicked and took off toward the landrover. The mammoth saw her and charged with its tusks. I’d been thrown from my laser, and it took me a while to find it.”
Tech ran a hand through his beard. “I tried to distract the beast by firing from the top of the landrover. I got it away from her, but I was too late.”
Still grasping what he had said, Brentwood put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s okay, Tech. It’s not your fault.”
More like my fault.
Brentwood’s mind swam with guilt.
What if Tech had gone down and I stayed?
What if we’d left her in the landrover?
Second-guessing all the decisions he’d made that day, he thought of a thousand ways that may have turned out better. Luna’s death loomed over his head. He rubbed his temples, trying to straighten out his thoughts.
“I talked to her before she died.” Gemme spoke up, breaking him out of his trance. “She was trying to tell me something; something I think she’d recently figured out, or was keeping from us the whole time. I’m not sure.”
“What did she say?”
“A lot was going on. I didn’t catch everything and Luna was hard to understand with all the blood in her throat. She mentioned not letting the Seers get something.”
Brentwood hadn’t trusted the Seers since the crash, since he saw their hidden orb. The Legacys and the Seers went way back, ever since the very first Legacy asked the pair of them to drive the ship. They’d kept secrets from the rest of the crew for centuries. “Not letting the Seers get what?”
“Get out?” Tech offered. “The Seers are pretty old and shouldn’t be wandering around.”
“No.” Gemme shook her head. “Before that I’m pretty sure she said it was about Beta Prime.”
Tech shrugged. “She might have been talking gibberish. I know I couldn’t make much sense if a mammoth’s tusks poked me like a pin cushion.”
“Enough.” Brentwood put up his hand, his gut twisting with Tech’s gruesome description. “We’ll figure it out later. Right now, we need to take care of Luna’s body.”
He thought for a second. “Her family will want to see her body when we get back to the
Expedition
. Let’s wrap her up and have a ceremony right here, say our last words, then get started on setting up the mining drill.”
“Good idea, chief. I’ll get the body.” Tech shuffled back to the landrover.
Brentwood searched in their equipment for her thermal sleeping cocoon. When he saw her blank face dangling from Tech’s arms, his stomach clenched up. She’d died on his watch. He’d have to live with that for the rest of his life. She’d had feelings for him, and all he did was scorn her, push her away. Now he could see every move she made was to get close to him. He’d been so blind. If he’d known Luna’s feelings, he wouldn’t have approved the biologist for the team.
No. You can’t blame yourself for everything.
She’d wanted to be a lieutenant so badly, her family would have found a way to put her on Alpha Blue, even if he’d turned her down. He was the only thing she couldn’t buy with favor, especially now that the matchmaking system had crashed.
“It’s not your fault.” Gemme came up to him as he pulled down Luna’s sleeping cocoon.
“I’m a lieutenant, everything that happens on this mission is my responsibility.”
She put a hand on his arm. “We all feel at fault.”
He looked at her with a steady blue gaze. “You have nothing to feel bad about. She pushed everyone around, and you still helped her at the very end.”
Gemme shrugged. “It’s the least I could have done.”
They laid Luna’s sleeping cocoon on the snow and Gemme helped him slip her body in. Tech hefted her up and placed her in the cargo hold of the landrover. Gemme tucked her blonde hair back gently. “There, it’s done.”
The sky had clouded over during the laser fight, and now a light snow fell, covering the mammoth’s footprints with a dusting of white. Brentwood brushed the flakes off of Luna’s sleeping cocoon. He couldn’t protect her during the fight, but at least he could make sure Alpha Blue tended to her body with care. “She’ll have a formal funeral on the
Expedition
, but I feel like they have so many to deal with because of the crash, now might be a good time to say your good-byes.”