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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Dani

The day was waning, light fading already. It had started to rain, leaving her stuck inside the ship. She sat in the control room, leaning over a screen, typing in several commands. Morse and the other men had finally restored the power less than an hour ago, much sooner than anticipated. Now she was working to get the system rebooted. Once they were sure everything ran smoothly, they would start preparing for departure.

Not having to transfer everything over to the other ship was a relief at least. The response team agreed to stay until they were ready. And good thing they did because with the rain came new problems. The tunnels were beginning to flood, and so the things lurking within were starting to pop up to the surface. More than a few times, she heard shots fired, and when she glanced up to the window, she saw the men moving in pairs around the circumference of the ships. Her garometer came to life a few times and she’d get new readings. Her heart would flutter every time she heard the crackling, then sink whenever she checked and saw it was lower than fifteen.

She knew he was out there somewhere in the rain, watching. He had to be.

Her eyes drifted away from the screen and up to the window, looking out across the broken buildings. Anxiety pulled at her seeing the men aiming their guns and searching the perimeter. Kryxis had been good at not getting caught. But she was starting to suspect he was hiding because of the many armed men now staked outside. Too many even for him to risk wanting to be caught in a firefight.

She tapped her fingers on the console and sighed. She couldn’t leave this place without seeing him again. She couldn’t…

She stopped tapping and clenched her hand into a fist. After everything she knew, what she knew about him, the idea of Kryxis returning to the tunnels, returning to his den alone—it didn’t sit right with her.

She needed to talk to him, even if she wasn’t sure what she would say at first. She also needed to have a meeting with the crew. She’d be surprised if Myrell hadn’t told them some things about what happened with her and the vrisha. But they didn’t know everything.

The system was restarting for the last time. Soon they would be powering up the engines. She left the console and headed back downstairs.

As she got down to the locker room, she ran into Myrell coming through the door to the outside.

“Rain doesn’t look to be letting up, but it’s not getting worse at least,” she said after slipping off her helmet and shaking her graying hair out of her face. “Also, found this out by a bench.” She took something out of her pocket and handed it to her.

It was the cat figurine from Kryxis’ collection. Her name was etched on the pink scarf. On the back it said, kass. The vrisha word for come .

“Mean anything to you?” Myrell said with a smirk.

Dani quickly pocketed it. “Who have you told?”

She arched a brow. “About what?”

“Don’t play coy. About Kryxis.”

Myrell chuckled. “No one yet. I figured the crew was stressed enough as it is, and it should be you to tell them that your mean-looking friend was still alive and helped us out. Should I grab them?”

Dani glanced at the door behind her. “Soon. I’m going out first.”

Myrell put a hand on her shoulder. “Be careful, yeah?”

“I will.” She zipped up her suit and decided against the helmet as she went to the entrance and stepped out into the rain.

Looking over her shoulder, she saw some of the soldiers standing guard near the front of the ship with their backs turned. She moved across the landing pad and crept past the bench, her hand gripping her holster. Checking around, she moved under the bridge of the tram and slipped out the other end, finding a wide path between the buildings. She slowed when she saw the edge of a pointed tail slip down and alleyway.

“Kryxis!”

She turned down the alley and saw his shadow. She rushed forward to catch up to him.

As she broke out of the alley, she stopped, finding a drainage canal before her. It was beginning to fill with gray water which was slowing running along to a tunnel somewhere down to her left. Slowly she went up to the rail and looked around.

“Kryxis?”

Something poked her shoulder. She turned but nothing was there. Then she whirled around the other way and nearly jumped out of her skin. “Ah!”

Kryxis was there. He grinned at her mischievously.

“Don’t do that!” She pushed his chest playfully. “No scaring, remember?”

He laughed and she couldn’t help joining him. As he moved closer, close enough she could feel his heat, her laughter died. She saw the scratches all over him and let out a hiss of breath.

“They got to you.” Her fingers brushed against one bad scratch across his chest, feeling the indent of the mark along his smooth yet hard skin. “Does it hurt?”

She looked up and felt heat creep up her face from his stare. He took her hand in one of his, holding it to his chest, his skin warming hers. Against her hand she felt it, the beating of his hearts.

She blinked back droplets of rain, her throat tightening. “We’re supposed to leave soon. We have to take the supplies back.”

His hand squeezed hers. “ Fasar, Dani.”

“Fasar?” she repeated.

He tapped her hand against his chest. And in some way then she knew.

Stay.

She let out a shaking breath. That was a crazy idea. Absurd. No way. To stay on this bleak, broken world, having to survive every day against these poor creatures even with him would be too much.

But she couldn’t say no.

She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it when he let go of her hand and backed away. One of his blue hands slipped from behind his back where he had been hiding it, revealing what he was holding.

It was a tiny plant made from scrap metal hanging by a silver chain. The petals were made of a blue tinted metal with little pieces of copper twisted together like thorns. In the center was a large red gem, glittering in the light.

He offered it to her.

Carefully she took it, letting it rest in her palm. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

He reached out and brushed a finger along the gem. “ Kissa .”

She grinned. “Cute.”

His hand moved to her chin and lifted it, forcing her to meet his gaze.

“ Fasar ,” he demanded again.

She frowned. “I…” She was about to say that she couldn’t. But then a thought shot into her brain, making her clasp the metal plant in her hand.

There was a garden here, still full of life. There were living things here. The fungi could grow which meant other things could too. It could be re-grown, re-terraformed.

Rebuilt.

The words hit her like a smack in the face. That was the whole point of Nexacor. She could talk to the heads, request to establish a base here.

It could work. She could help him. She could stay.

“Kryxis, I—”

A shot rang out, and in that split second, she felt something whoosh passed her ear, and blood splattered against her face, bluish-black blood.

Kryxis let out a roar and something knocked against her chest, sending her flying onto her back. As she tried to move and wipe the blood away, she heard shouts and more shots firing.

No .

“Stop!” she cried, scrambling back to her feet. She turned and saw the man on the building with his long gun aimed down at her. “Don’t fire!” She waved her hands trying to block his aim. He lifted his gun, and she turned back toward Kryxis, but he was gone. Only a trail of blue-black blood remained.

A squad came rushing down the alleyway to surround her, but all she could do was stare at the blood.

“What have you done?”

She refused to let them lead her back. Instead, she marched right up to Saul and Tristan and got in their face.

“Why wasn’t I informed you had men stationed on the rooftops!” she shouted.

“They were there to keep watch over the ships from above,” Saul said calmly.

“Well, your man wasn’t watching the ships, he was watching me, and he—”

“He was protecting you because you decided to break from the safety of the group and put yourself in danger. I ordered them to watch over the team, so he was merely doing his job.”

Dani bit her lip as it trembled. “If he had watched closer, he would have seen I wasn’t in danger!”

“I’m sorry if you think—”

“Oh, don’t fucking say another word!”

“If you don’t calm down, Ms. Alverez, we will be forced to put you on the ship with a guard to watch you until we leave.”

She practically growled at him before turning away, a roaring in her ears as her heart hammered. They shot him. Those bastards.

She marched back to the ship, passing by Tom and Lex as she did.

“Dani, what’s going on?” Tom asked.

“I-I have to go back out,” she said, entering the ship and heading for the supply room.

“What? You can’t. We are going to leave soon.”

She rifled through the shelves for a medikit. “We’re not leaving until I say.” She grabbed one off the shelves and started to head back outside when Myrell got in her way.

“You need to tell them, Dani,” she said.

“Not now—”

“Yes. Now.”

Dani stood her ground. But so did Myrell. The others gathered around her.

“What happened out there, Dani?” Lex asked.

She glared back at Myrell who merely nodded. She glanced around at the others and could see the concern on their faces. She shut her eyes and took a deep breath.

“The vrisha is still alive.”

“You mean the thing that had cooked the ship’s power and scared the shit out of us?” Lex said.

“Yes.”

She watched their expressions turn to shock.

Trying to keep her composure, she told them what had happened after the bridge. And how she was able to get Myrell and Garret back to the safety of the ship with the help of Kryxis.

“I just went to meet him,” she explained, “and he got shot. So, I need to help him. He deserves our help now, you understand?”

They glanced at each other.

“She’s telling the truth,” Myrell said. “He helped us.”

“Interesting that he would turn around like this,” said Tom. “I’ve heard vrisha aren’t usually very friendly.”

“Kryxis is different,” Dani assured.

“Wonder what made him change,” said Lex.

Myrell gave Dani a look which she refused to acknowledge. “It’s hard to say. But he’s alone and hurt. I need to do something.”

“How will you find him?” Lex asked. “You shouldn’t go alone. It’s still dangerous out there.”

Before she could answer, the door to the ship opened and Garret entered. He looked oddly tense, fixing her with a concerned glance. “I heard what happened. Are you—”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

His gaze turned down to the medikit in one hand and the plant necklace Kryxis had made her in the other.

“You can’t leave this ship,” Garret said.

“Like hell I can’t.”

“I’m sorry. But it’s an order from Saul. He told us we are leaving within the hour and that…” He got quiet.

“What is it?”

For a second, there was an almost guilty look in his eyes. “Saul called up to the heads and it’s been confirmed. Once we leave, this city is to be destroyed and the planet marked as unhabitable.”