Page 10

CHAPTER TEN

Dani

The vrisha was definitely a hoarder.

There was much more she had missed just from her spot by the door. And the vrisha was ecstatic to show her everything she had yet to see. Trinkets, toys, a skull or two, insect shells and wings, some strange tentacle thing all twisted up in a jar. Sometimes he just pointed at things and said words, other times he placed things in her hands to examine for herself. Things they were clearly proud of. She didn’t complain, just watched and listened, sometimes responding with yes or no as they were able to determine at least that in each other’s language. The vrisha would show her something, she would name it in her language, and then they would respond in theirs. They went around the room pointing at and naming things. A lot of the stuff was junk but not everything. They had a few cryo-batteries, a couple of large gems, and a strange orb that showed a map of an unknown galaxy.

“You found all this here?” she said, waving to everything and then pointing to a map of the city.

“ Xa .”

She was beginning to suspect the vrisha had been here a long time. She wondered when they had crashed here and if it had been before the planet had been decommissioned. If that was the case, then she wondered why they hadn’t snuck on a ship and left with everyone else or why they hadn’t tried to fix their ship. She hadn’t seen a single sign of a ship, no parts at all.

Even if she could find a way to ask, she doubted they would tell her. Instead, she kept silent as they showed her one of the slot machines. They pulled the lever, and it landed on several stars in a row, making the machine light up.

“ Sifa xir tisara .” They gestured to the lever.

She pursed her lips, then drifted over to the machine and took hold of the lever, pulling it down. Stars and planets popped on the screen and the machine lit up once more.

“Cute,” she said.

The vrisha pointed to the slot. “ Kissa .”

“Er, no, this is a slot machine. Cute means pretty or appealing.” She pointed to the colorful twinkling lights which they had already established a word for. “Lights are cute.”

The vrisha pointed and repeated her words. “Lights. Cute.”

“Yes.”

The vrisha looked around then pointed at a dead husk of a large insect. “Cute.”

She giggled. “No. Not that.” She searched around then pointed to a cat figurine sitting on top of a metal shelf, with big eyes wearing a little scarf. “Cute.”

The vrisha blinked then pointed at a shiny ring with little gems sitting below the cat. “Cute.”

“Yes. And pretty.”

“Pretttyyy.”

“That’s right.”

“Pretty.” They pointed to a bedazzled watch next to the ring.

“Yes.”

He looked at her and traced a claw across her shoulder. “Pretty,” they purred.

She tried not to flush and failed hard. “You catch on fast, huh?” she mumbled. She faced them better then tapped at her chest. “Dani.”

Their hand went to the center of her chest, two of their claws digging into her suit.

“Dani,” they said. They then touched their own chest and said a word that sounded like “ Krix hiss .”

“Krix hiss?” she said.

“ Krix…issss .”

“Krixis.”

They grunted. They pointed behind her. She followed their hand and saw a sign that said Crysis Labs but there was a slash across the C and the first S, like someone or something had taken a knife to it. So, the words looked like Kryxis.

“Ah, I see.”

Kryxis stalked over to a Marityne poster with the words “Growing together” on the bottom and gestured to a woman engineer in the center. “Dani,” they said.

“Yes, woman. That’s what I am. And you…?” She pointed to the statue of the four-armed man.

“ Xa . Xalvrisha .”

So, they were male. Good to have that clarified at least. Now she really felt bad about seeing them…seeing him as just some kind of creature. She really should have paid more attention in class when they went over his kind.

A sudden crackle broke the silence. Dani checked her garometer and saw it detected a new energy level within the room. A very low-level energy.

“You’ve got something living in here,” she remarked. She hobbled across the room following the detection. Not a bug, too low for even that. She slipped past shelving units and stacked crates until the crackling grew louder. She came upon the body of one of Marityne’s cybernetic metal skeletons. At its feet was a small cylinder glass container.

Dani picked it up and cried out in delight. “You’ve got plant-life!” Like a giddy child, she turned the container in her hands, realizing it was some kind of growth tank, with a little light at the top and droplets of water on the glass. The plant was dark green with red stripes down its leaves. She whirled around and found Kryxis right behind her. He took the tank from her to examine it himself.

“ Itarak ,” he said, tapping on the glass.

“Yes, plant. Where did you find it?”

He tapped on the plant again. “Plant. Cute?”

Dani couldn’t help smirking. “This one? Yes, it’s cute.”

“Dani like plant?”

“Dani like plant very much, yes,” she said. “Did you find it growing somewhere? Or was it in the growth tank when you found it?”

Instead of answering her, he offered a hand to her. “ Cisa, xi mak xes .”

Dani glanced down at his hand. Should she trust him now or not?

He hadn’t done anything too suspicious yet. So far, he was playing nice, so maybe she was willing to give him a chance…

Still, she hesitated, unable to forget the time he had grabbed her inside the ship with that same hand, picking her up off her feet. He was acting so different now she really did wonder if security had iced a different vrisha after all and he was a twin.

But no, it had to be him.

Cautiously, she set her hand in his. “Nice,” she said, exhaling slowly.

“Niiccceee,” he hissed. His hand encircled her wrist. “ Cisa, lillak .” Gripping her firmly, he led her away from the skeleton and toward another side of the room. There he slid away a large metal slab to reveal a hidden doorway.

Before she could ask where it went, he was picking her up again and carrying her down the dark passageway. She tensed in his grip, about to protest that she didn’t need to be carried and could walk fine—but remembered that wasn’t true, and he was practically flying down the passage. They passed by several doors until he stopped at one and opened it to reveal a staircase. He took her down until they slipped out another door and into a wide tunnelway. There were little lights along the floor to guide their way, which meant a generator must be running somewhere, which would also explain why Kryxis had power in the building above.

Nothing stirred here thankfully, no bugs or anything, probably because Kryxis scared them off just with his presence alone.

Not far down the tunnel, they climbed up another set of stairs to ground level. Anxiety was beginning to pull at her again. Where was he taking her?

They entered a large chamber with several doorways. Her heart leaped in her throat as she saw a giant version of the metal man in the center. There were also full metal skeletons on display of different species. Human, grex, lygin…and a few others she didn’t recognize. Kryxis slipped past them all without a glance, taking her down a hallway toward a set of double doors.

Her garometer went off. There was something living beyond those doors.

Whatever it was, she really hoped it wasn’t something that was going to make her regret this whole situation.

She shuddered as she got a vision of cages. Shit, what if this was a zoo? What if he was going to add her to some sick collection after all?

As they got closer, she began to struggle. “Kryxis, wait…”

He swung the doors open and took her inside. Before she could get out of his hold, he let her go, setting her on her feet and leaving her in a dark and oddly steamy room.

She blinked, trying to see. “Where the hell are—”

The lights slowly turned on, like night turning to day.

Her eyes widened, a little gasp slipping through her teeth.

By the elder gods.

She stood there gaping at the giant plants around her. Plants of all shapes and colors. Some growing all the way up to the ceiling, others twisting and weaving around the walls. High above the dome’s ceiling, the light made it look like daytime.

It was a conservatory. A thriving one. She even saw those little spider bots crawling around, only these were smaller and they were spraying the plants with water.

She blinked, and Kryxis was there beside her. He brought the growth tank up to her face. “ Itarak .”

Dani took the tank from him, letting out a surprised little laugh. “You’ve…been taking care of all this?”

He gestured to the spiderbots.

Ah, okay. So they were doing most of the work. Just like those in the shipping sector, they had been left to their task despite everyone being gone.

Dani walked over to a towering plant with fanning orange leaves. “Some of these are rare,” she commented. “Agarius Val.” She looked around and noticed they had labels beside each plant. “Margo Leech!” She pointed. “And—is that Tigrus Bluum?” She rushed over to examine the deep blue and black flowers with little pink thorns. “It is,” she gasped. “That’s insane!”

“Insane,” Kryxis repeated. She glanced over at him and saw the confusion in his eyes. She realized she was grinning from ear to ear and straightened.

“Um.” Jeez, how did she explain that? “You know, shocking, like…” She put her hands to her face and opened her mouth and eyes wide in a shocked expression.

He grunted. “ Firas .” His eyes widened like hers, and he bared his teeth in what she could only assume was a vrisha’s shocked expression.

She laughed. “Yes, something like that.”

He let out a strange sound in response, and it took her a moment to realize it was laughter as well. She wasn’t sure if it was genuine or if he was just mimicking her again, but she didn’t mind.

“This is amazing. The company would have a field day if they got their hands on some of these.” She brushed her hand against the leaves of a carakus plant. “Marityne must have been studying some of these too.” She walked along, taking in all the colors. Something squished under her boot, making her glance down. There were patches of fungi along the ground just like the ones she’d seen before. She crouched to examine them closer. Yes, they were those odd blue ones. The more she looked, in fact, the more she could see them growing everywhere. Along the sides of plants mostly, and even on the walls.

“Strange…”

She rose and a neat idea popped into her head. “Kryxis, do you have any more of these?” She tapped on the glass of the growth tank. “More?” She put up several fingers to try to indicate more than one.

“ Xa.”

She fixed him a devious smirk. “Good. I lost one of my samples to your antics last time. Now, you’re going to help me.”

She was back in the gaming center. And this time she had a couple samples taken from the conservatory including the fungi. Not as many as she would have liked. She would have taken a sample of every single plant in there if she could, but there were only so many tanks Kryxis could find and so many she could carry. She’d lost her pack at the bridge, but Kryxis had her set there too, providing a bag big enough for the samples and for some of the cryo-batteries he’d collected. He had no use for them, and she’d lost all of hers.

If it wasn’t for the storm, she’d be returning to the ship and getting Saul and Tristen out to look for her crew. Her stomach twisted, making her queasy thinking about what they might find. She didn’t want to imagine it. But like hell she was going to leave her crew’s bodies here.

A few times, she thought she was going to break down, seeing them fall into the dark again and again in her mind. But she kept her focus on getting the samples and preparing to leave once the storm was through. She had to keep it together until she found them.

She sat alone now in the hoarder’s den, listening to the wind and every so often the sound of something banging against the building, some debris from the storm. Kryxis had gone to pretoris as he put it. She wasn’t sure what that meant exactly, but he made her understand he would be close by and be back shortly.

While he was gone, she used the gel from the medikit on her knees to soothe them. After, she found a healing compressor for her ankle, wrapping it firmly. By the time the storm was through, she should be able to walk better. At least she hoped.

“Come on…Come on,” she whispered. Sitting on a set of crates with her bad leg resting across, she messed with the communicator on her helmet. She was uncertain how likely it was yet that the ship’s power would be restored, but she had to try getting a hold of someone regardless. So far, there was nothing but static. She messed with the settings again, trying to put the signal out farther than it could usually handle. Someone had to have survived. Or Saul would have wondered why they weren’t back by now and would have tried to reestablish communication. Unfortunately for her, the storm made it even more difficult.

Trying the different channels, she got more of the same, static upon static. She scanned again for another channel, one that went farther out.

There was nothing again at first, until she heard a soft hiss followed by a low groaning sound. Heart fluttering, she adjusted the settings to refine the signal.

“ He—are you—in… ”

Dani tensed. It was so soft, barely audible, but she was certain she heard those words. She sharpened the signal once more.

“Hello—anyone—here.”

She hissed through her teeth. That sounded like…

Tapping on the communicator, she spoke as clearly as she could. “Hello! Can you hear me?”

Silence, then. “ Hello—any—here .”

She repeated her words over, but each time, they never answered, just said the same thing followed by static.

Damn. The signal wasn’t strong enough. Still, she tried for several minutes, but eventually she heard nothing at all. They were gone.

She set the helmet beside her, rubbing at her temples. She couldn’t get a hold of them. But she was certain she recognized Myrell’s voice.

She remembered that she and Garret had made it to the other side of the bridge before the spider mantis had attacked. She wasn’t one hundred percent sure of Garret’s fate, but she knew now Myrell was definitely alive.

And she had to be in the research sector, close to the labs, since that was where they were headed.

She might be stuck there. And who knew what other horrors might be inside.

Setting her hands in her lap, she clenched them into fists. She had to do something.

There was a soft scraping sound coming from beyond one of the doors, like something was lumbering close by. Dani slid off the crate, hand at her stunner, staring at the door.

She jumped as the door was kicked open, finding Kryxis, who dragged something behind them. He halted where she stood and dropped the lower half of some furry creature that looked like a small bear with tusks and a long blue tail at her feet.

She wasn’t sure how to react. Yet, Kryxis seemed to be waiting for some kind of reaction from her. “What is…”

“ Seesh ,” he stated. “ Xi pretoris var rikas, Dani. ”

It took her a moment to understand. “You…hunted this for me?”

“ Xa .” He crouched over the beast, and with little to no hesitation, stabbed it in the gut with his tail and ripped it open. Gripping its throat, he tore the skin clean off with one pull, throwing the bloody fur to one side.

Dani smacked her hand over her mouth, trying not to gag. “Oh, my god.”

Bones crunching, he ripped off a thigh leg and offered it to her. “S eesh .”

This time, she did gag. “Oh, no thank you.” She turned her head away.

He looked disappointed. Dare she say, even dejected.

“ Dani, makari sheesh .” Dani must eat, he was saying.

“Not that. I can’t eat that, no way. First of all, you have to cook it.”

He glared at her, clearly not understanding.

“Cook. Here, look.” She took a small torchlight from one of her suit pockets and clicked it on to show him the fire. She then put the fire under the meat he was holding, the bright orange flames licking against the flesh.

A single fang slipped from his lip. “Ah, burak. ”

“Yes, cook.”

He snuck away. She heard things clattering around until he returned with a large metal bowl and a bottle of some clear liquid. He poured the liquid into the bowl and gestured for her torchlight which she gave to him. Using the flames from the torch he lit the inside of the bowl, and it caught instantly, creating a bowl of fire. He set it down then started to tear pieces of meat from bone, pinching it with his talons as he turned it in the fire.

Several minutes later, the meat was a golden-brown and didn’t smell nearly as bad as she had expected. He offered it to her, and she took it reluctantly.

He watched her as she held it, waiting. Well, it couldn’t hurt to try…could it?

She took a careful bite...and found the meat to be surprisingly tender. But the taste was…

She grimaced as she forced herself to swallow.

Kryxis bared his teeth in that funny grin. He took the rest of the thigh and held it over the fire.

“ Niza riash, veema xi sheesh.” He tore it with his fangs, bone crunching as he ate everything, shaking his head like he was still trying to shake it dead. She stood there in both horror and fascination.

She forced herself to eat one last bite out of politeness but refused any more. Kryxis ate a thigh and a half before setting the rest aside. He came back and petted her head. “ Xia ish esha, lillak .”

She took hold of his wrist and gently took his hand away. “You’re very thoughtful, aren’t you? When you’re being nice.”

“ Ka xia, Dani, Xa .”

Dani fixed him a little smile. She thought over her next words. “Will you do something for me again?”

He tilted his head.

“Will you…help me again?”

“Help,” he repeated.

“You know, like with my arm.” She touched her arm. “Or the tanks.” She pointed to them. “Helped.”

“Xa, adiza .”

“Adiza…again?” She put up her finger. “One more time?”

His eyes shifted from her finger then back to her. He bowed his head. “ Xa, lillak, xi eisha leesh ish. ”

She slipped by him and pointed up to the sign that said Crysis Labs. “I need you to take me to the labs. I need to help one of my crew in the research sector.” She lumbered over to a map of the city by the table and tapped on the research sector. “Take me here?”

Kryxis scratched at the side of his jaw as if thinking. “ Esha nizetra .”

That sounded like a no. She dropped her arm. “No?”

He shook his head and looked around him. He grabbed the sharp end of his tail and waved it at her. “ Nizetra .”

She stared at it. “Dangerous?” she guessed.

He grunted, dropping his tail. “Dangerissss.”

She frowned, biting the inside of her cheek. Of course it was. But what place wasn’t at this point?

Dani approached him, stopping only a foot away. Glancing at his arms, she noticed the blue pair were smaller than his red, with only four large fingers. She took one of them, holding it in hers.

Kryxis tensed suddenly, and she wondered if the blue hands were more sensitive than the others. She ignored his reaction and forced him to look at her. “Please, Kryxis.”

He studied her, hopefully recognizing the desperate look on her face. He reached out with a red hand and brushed a lock of her hair away. “ Izet eisha .”

She shivered a little at his touch. “Is that a yes?”

His lip twitched, and he exhaled as if with a sigh. “ Xa, Dani. Help .”