Page 17 of Mates for the Raskarrans #1-6

CHAPTER TWELVE

Liv

T he girls have a lot of questions. I’m not surprised. I’d be freaking the hell out if one of the others said they could magically communicate with an alien in their dreams.

“I don’t know how it works,” I say. “Just that it does, and that I trust him to keep his word. He said his tribe would take us in, that we can go back to their village with them. He said we’ll be safe with his tribe and I believe him.”

“You trust the word of an alien?” One of them says. I scramble for her name, regretting every second I’ve spent aloof and separate from these girls.

“It wasn’t his word, Carrie, so much as how he said it,” I say. “It was unimaginable to him that he or any of his tribe would hurt us. I can’t explain it well - they just think differently to humans.”

“You can read his mind, too?” One of the others pipes up.

I shake my head. “It’s not like that. It’s just like being awake, except you’re asleep and for some reason you can suddenly understand the alien language.”

“What if he’s brainwashed you?” Molly says. She’s the youngest of the group, barely into her late teens. She’s supposed to be eighteen to be in the draw for the Alpha Colony lottery, but if she’s a day over sixteen, I’ll eat my imaginary hat.

“I’m not brainwashed,” I say.

They don’t look convinced.

I cast my eyes round, looking for an ally. But Ellie is gone and Khadija just shrugs as if to say ‘what did you expect?’ Then my eyes land on Grace. She frowns a little, but clears her throat.

“The one treating Lorna had good medical knowledge,” she says.

“He set her break, gave her pain relief, and some sort of paste that reduced the swelling almost instantly. She’s got some colour in her cheeks for the first time in days, and she’s sleeping.

Properly sleeping. He was gentle and careful with her and he’s made her better. I think we should trust them.”

“We have no choice anyway,” Khadija says.

“We stay here, we die, we all know it. We’ve always known it.

At least if we go with them we’ve got half a chance of getting fed.

Maybe they know how to make soap. I’m prepared to do just about anything to get my hands on some soap right now,” she trails off, muttering.

“Do they have soap?” Sam says, hope lighting up her eyes.

“I didn’t think to ask that question, sorry,” I say.

Sam actually laughs, and it eases some of the bristling tension in the other girls.

“Look,” I say. “You do have a choice, of course you do. I’m not going to make anyone do anything they don’t want to do.

If you want to stay here, you can. But you need to know all the facts to make that decision.

Fact number one - we were not going to survive much longer here on our own.

We’ve almost run out of supplies from the escape pod.

Ellie wasn’t having any luck finding more crawlers.

The eggs ran out. I don’t know about you, but I don’t know the first thing about fishing or foraging or hunting.

Even if we’d miraculously managed to survive those big cats attacking us, we’d have died in a few days, anyway.

Fact number two - there are more than just these guys here.

Gregar says there are other tribes in the jungle and that not all of them are good news.

If any others come to investigate the escape pod, we’ve got no guarantee they’d be nice and respectful like these guys have been.

So if you decide to stay here, it’s a roll of the dice whether you starve or another tribe finds you first. Maybe they’re a nice tribe, but then you’re in the same position you’re in now - trying to decide whether you can really trust them. ”

“It’s not just about trusting them or not,” Hannah says. “If we leave here, Mercenia won’t know where to find us.”

I feel a wave of pity for her that she still thinks Mercenia are coming, but as I look round, I see she’s not the only one still nursing that hope. That expectation that Mercenia will do right by them.

“You aren’t sure whether to trust these aliens who saved our lives, but you’re prepared to trust that Mercenia are going to rescue you?”

“They have to,” Carrie says. “They have a responsibility.”

“Sure,” I say. “In a good world where things make sense and people aren’t forced to work themselves into an early grave, living alone for the duration of their short, miserable lives because Mercenia banned friendships, banned relationships, banned marriage, banned babies…”

“Necessary measures for the future health of the planet,” Hannah says. “Everyone has to do their part.”

“Notice how we end up doing a lot of it while the people in the top tiers do almost none?” Khadija mutters.

“That’s just the system,” Hannah says. “It’s how it’s always been…”

But she doesn’t sound convinced about it. I wonder again whether our food was laced with something that kept us compliant, kept us from thinking about how shit it all was.

“We won the lottery!” Carrie says. “Mercenia promised us something better. Our new homes on Alpha Colony. Are you telling me you don’t think they would be better than living in this jungle?”

I have lots of thoughts and feelings about Alpha Colony, but voicing them now doesn’t seem wise.

“It doesn’t matter whether it would have been better than this or not,” I say. “You’re never going to get there. You have to let go of it. Decide for the life that you can have here. On this planet. It’s the only one you have now.”

Silence follows. Some of them look like they’re seriously thinking about this. Some of them look like they’re still in denial.

“When do we leave?” Khadija asks.

“Not today. Lorna needs her rest before we can move her. We’re going to review the situation in the morning.

Weigh up whether it’s riskier to move her or to stay.

I’d like to give Lorna a chance to recover for as long as possible, but there’s always the chance of another tribe arriving.

And Ellie. We need to give her a chance to come back. ”

“That other alien chased after her,” Molly says. “Perhaps he’s kidnapped her. Perhaps he has her trapped up a tree somewhere.”

She doesn’t say it like she’s concerned it might be true - more like it would be an exciting plot twist if it was.

“He chased after her because it’s not safe out in the jungle,” I say, and though it’s true, it tastes like a lie.

Do I tell them about the whole dreamspace mate thing?

None of them have mentioned about dreaming of the raskarrans before they arrived and Gregar said it was only Anghar out of his tribe who had also had the dreams.

No, I decide. One thing at a time. They’ve already had to process so much.

“We can’t be stuck here for the rest of our lives,” Carrie says, fear and hurt making her voice tremble like a child’s. She stares at the tree line like all manner of monsters hide behind it. And maybe they do. All I know is that I’m much less scared of that possibility now than I was this morning.

“I think we are,” I say. “But I also think it might not be so bad. Sure, the wildlife is a little terrifying, but the air is fresh, it’s not laden with toxic chemicals.

You won’t have to work until you drop in some horrible job.

We can learn new skills to make us useful to the tribe.

Something we enjoy doing. Maybe even something we love. ”

“What, gutting animals?” Hannah says, disgust twisting her features.

“I was doing that on Earth anyway,” Sam says with a shrug. “They’re not bothering us. They’ve kept their distance, not even tried to push their luck.”

“And they won’t,” I say.

“You don’t know that,” Carrie says.

She’s bristling. I’ll lose her if I try to push too hard.

“No, I don’t know that for certain,” I say.

“But one thing I do know for certain is that I’m really, really tired of sleeping on a parachute.

They have tents. Back at their village, they might even have houses.

They have no idea what the escape pod is, so I doubt somewhat it’s going to be an advanced kind of civilisation, but our civilisation back home was advanced, and none of us were living the good life there. ”

I look round at each of them in turn. Khadija made her mind up ages ago - she won’t be hanging around for Mercenia.

Grace, persuaded by Shemza’s medical ability, is also decided.

Lorna is unconscious for now, but I’m fairly sure she’ll be happy to go, that Grace will convince her if she isn’t.

Sam doesn’t look certain, but she watches the aliens with curiosity rather than fear.

Molly looks unconcerned - I think she will go wherever the majority goes.

I only hope that’s with me. Carrie and Hannah are clearly still in denial about Mercenia, sitting close together, gripping each other’s hands.

Which leaves - I struggle for their names - Rachel, the girl who was sleeping with her boss, and Mattie.

Neither of them look like they have their minds made up one way or the other.

“I know it’s a lot,” I say. “I know that. But alone, the odds are stacked against us. At least with the aliens we have a fighting chance.”

“Easy for you,” Carrie says, resentment ringing in her voice. “You can speak to them.”

“I can speak to one,” I correct. “And yeah, that does make it easier. Because I saw the look on his face when I asked if any of you girls were in danger of being raped by his men. Saw the horror in his eyes at the very suggestion. That definitely does make it a bit easier.”

“You asked him that?” Khadija says.

“Of course I did.”

“Funny, I didn’t think you much gave a fuck about any of the rest of us.”

Coming from Khadija, this stings worse. Because I’ve always liked her. Always considered her a friend. The others… yeah, I deserve it where they’re concerned. But Khadija…