Page 14 of Redeeming Captivity (Human Pets of Talin #7)

Chapter 14

Tarquin

Lena wasn’t only smart and brave, she was also strong. He let her set the pace for their travel, and she never complained or asked to stop. It was only when her steps slowed that he made them stop for a break. They had limited water, so it was hard to make her drink.

He finally convinced her by pointing out that if she succumbed to dehydration he'd have to leave the packs behind to carry her. She’d reluctantly agreed.

It was too bad he was still recovering from yesterday, otherwise he’d carry her. The blow to his head was the one that did the most damage, but there was cumulative damage from other strikes. That coupled with his overexertion carrying Lena through the storm, and then what she had to do to save his life, meant his body was in poor condition.

Throughout their walk, Lena kept looking up at him as if watching for exhaustion. It was sweet that she was so concerned about him—just as much as he worried about her.

He heard a familiar sound getting closer.

“Bot,” he said. They both pulled their blankets and crouched down. The bot flew over them without a pause. When he judged it far enough away, he stood back up, Lena mirroring him.

“How much farther do you think we have to go?” he asked, tucking the blanket back in his belt.

Lena looked at the mountains then the canyon next to them. He could tell she was calculating where they were and how much more ground they had to cover.

She held up three fingers, then shrugged and held up a fourth finger.

“Three or four more kie-fields?” he clarified and she nodded. After the twenty or so kie-fields they walked already, even four more wasn’t that many. Except they were both tired and night was approaching. Although the moons would provide enough light for him to see, it might be harder for Lena.

Walking along the edge of the crevasse made things easier but also more dangerous. They had to be careful not to tread too close to the edge and cause a collapse, but at least they didn’t have to scramble over large stones and boulders.

As they walked, Lena would occasionally stop to pick up a stone and look at it. Most of the stones she tossed back down, but a few made their way into her pack. He was curious what made some of the stones valuable to her. Once they settled in for the night he’d ask.

The first indication that they were close was artificial rubble mixed in with the pebbles and dirt. Soon after finding bits of building and tech they came across the first building.

Moving away from the canyon edge, they left the bags behind to climb up on a boulder big enough to survey the area.

“I can see why they set up here,” Tarquin said, taking in the few buildings left of the town. Unlike most of the rest of the planet, there were few boulders here larger than his head. It would’ve made moving them out of the way to clear land for structures easier.

“I think that was personnel quarters,” he said, pointing at a two-story building. He stared at another building, squinting his eyes a little. “The ancestors might have blessed us. That smaller domed building looks like an old comms unit. It’s an antiquated style, but the roof would detach and curve up to create a dish for sending and receiving messages.”

She looked dubious but he was confident. “This kind of technology is durable and still used on remote stations and outposts because breakdowns are rare. My sister was fascinated by comms systems and studied them a lot as a child. She talked endlessly about them. I might remember enough to operate it. Wait here.”

He jumped down, trying to hide the way he needed to favor his left side. He must’ve taken a bad blow from one of the rocks to that knee to cause this much pain a day later. Or it might have happened when he fell after being knocked out.

Either way, he was wounded and worried about being at his best to help Lena. Hopefully they’d soon be off this cursed planet.

Grabbing the bags, he jumped back up. He tried to hoist both bags onto his shoulder but Lena grabbed her bag and pulled.

“We’re almost there,” he argued. “Let me carry it this last distance.”

Her expression didn’t change and she let go with one hand to point at his left knee. He’d never be able to hide anything from her!

“It’s fine,” he said, but she kept pulling at her bag. He could push the issue but knew better. Lena’s request wasn’t outrageous, so he gave in even though it made him feel guilty.

He should be carrying all the burdens and her.

Pulling on her bag, she gave him a big smile before turning and half sliding, half jumping off the boulder. He followed, and they picked their way to the comms building.

One of the walls was half missing so they didn’t even bother with the closed door. Stepping through the ruined wall, they found mostly rubble. There was a single console still in one piece but it was covered by several large pieces of building material.

Tarquin dropped his bag at Lena’s feet. “Let me clear off the console.”

It took more effort than it should have, but he managed to get the console cleared. The moment he tossed away the last pieces of rubble, Lena rushed up to stare at the console with him.

There was no power, but a few taps activated the limited emergency power source. It would only last a rotation at most, but that would be enough.

“Ancestors be praised!” Tarquin muttered, sounding a relieved rattle.

Lena made a happy sound. “Good! Very good!”

“I’ll need to go up to the roof and deploy the dish manually,” he explained. “Then we’ll be able to receive widely broadcast messages. That means we’ll hear the ship coming to get us.”

“Transmit?”

Tarquin sounded a negative rattle. “Not enough power to do anything active. We can only listen passively.”

After tapping a few more commands, Tarquin left the console to climb onto the roof. Lena tried to come with him but he convinced her to stay on the ground or risk accidentally making him fall.

She made an annoyed, grumbly sound and waited.

After two circuits of the roof he got the dish up and stable. He could hear the console inside come to life. It was mostly relaying close by traffic and the information from the Ossiso port. He listened for a few submarks and noticed no Talin messages were coming through, only strangely pulsing static. They must be using highly encrypted channels. It couldn’t be because of him, so he concluded they must’ve been using the encryption even before he got here.

Thankfully the signal they needed would be coming from off-world traffic and should come through clearly. All he had to do was listen for the code phrase.

Knowing that she was watching, he stepped carefully to keep from showing any discomfort. Pain radiated up his leg no matter how he moved. He was ready for another analgesic wafer and some food.

“This means we’ll be leaving soon,” he said, staring at the small comms building. “We’ll be home before you know it!”

Lena smiled at him. “You’re home.”

“You are my home also,” he agreed.

Lena

She was exhausted but working hard not to show it. When they saw the building, she’d pushed hard to keep her steps from showing her fatigue. Now that they were here, she was having to dig deep to keep going. All she wanted was to lay down and close her eyes, but she refused to let Tarquin do all the work.

For the first time in her life, a Talin was letting her be an equal. She was loath to give that up.

Walking back to the console, Tarquin tapped a few things then sounded a satisfied rumble. He tapped it a few more times and the console went quiet.

“There’s a phrase we’re waiting for. I programmed the console to alert us when the phrase is transmitted. That way we don’t have to listen to constant communications.”

Lena hadn’t minded the noisy transmissions but didn’t comment. It was a small thing.

“It’ll be interesting to see who picks us up,” he said. “It could be any number of ships. To do this, Holian will need to tap into Lakin’s network. She seems to know everyone!”

Straightening away from the console, he looked around the room, pointing to a spot on the other side of the console. “Let’s clear this corner for the nest.”

She nodded and picked up their bags… or tried to pick up their bags. The one Tarquin carried all day was too heavy to even lift off the ground! It must weigh almost as much as her.

“I’ll get those,” Tarquin said, hurrying over. He wasn’t moving as smoothly as normal. He hadn’t been moving with his normal grace all day. Honestly, she was impressed at how well he was doing. She hadn’t taken any blows to the head yesterday and she was exhausted. Tarquin must be close to empty.

Guilt hit her hard. She was the one who wanted to bring as much as they could carry. She was the reason he’d hauled around a heavy pack all day.

She was thoughtless and selfish!

When Tarquin got to where she was standing with the packs, she grabbed his hand before he could grip one of the straps. She drew him to the only spot without rubble and pressed him to sit down.

“Are you tired?” he asked, folding his legs and dropping to the floor.

“Yes,” she said simply and urged him to lean back against the wall. “Rest.”

“I could work while you rest,” he said, even though he didn’t try to get up. When she lowered herself to the floor, he parted his legs and patted his chest. She leaned against him and closed her eyes, soothed by his rumbles.

“We’ve got another two marks before the sun goes down,” he murmured. “We can take a break for a mark and still have plenty of time to set up a nest for the night.”

She hummed in agreement. It wasn’t long before his body relaxed and she was sure he was asleep. It was only then that she let herself drift off.

When she woke up, Tarquin was still deeply asleep. They were lying on their sides, Tarquin’s back against the wall and his legs at a ninety-degree angle to fit in the rubble free zone. He must’ve shifted sideways in his sleep.

She was nestled against him, her legs drawn up almost to her chest. Moving carefully, she untangled herself from the strange sleeping position they’d ended up in. It was a testament to Tarquin’s exhaustion that he didn’t wake.

Standing up, she stretched then got to work. The area he’d pointed out for the nest wasn’t too bad. The rubble was all small enough for her to shift without help. Once the spot was cleared, she started laying out the bedding.

When she was done, the nest looked almost as good as the one back in their shelter under the boulder. The joy she felt from completing the task made her want to do a little skip, but her aching feet reminded her that her body was tired.

Turning, she saw Tarquin still asleep in his odd position. He looked so sweet all curled up like that but still holding room for her body.

Returning to his bag, she dug around for the medication. After consuming the second half of the wafer from before, she pulled out another full wafer and went to him.

“Wake?” she said, touching his cheek.

His eyes snapped open and focused on her. It was startling to see someone wake up so quickly, and it made her realize she’d never seen a Talin wake up before. Maybe this was how all of them reacted.

“Lena?” he said, sitting up and looking around as if expecting danger. His gaze fell on the nest. “You’ve been busy.”

She hummed and held out a wafer.

“Thank you, this is needed,” he said. Instead of taking the wafer from her, he opened his mouth and leaned his head forward a little. She slipped the wafer between his lips and laid it on his tongue. He closed his lips before she could withdraw her fingers. His tongue was quick to shift the wafer to the side of his mouth and stroke her digits. His hot mouth made her shiver even though she didn’t feel cold.

Taking his time, he drew back until her fingers popped out of his mouth.

“The taste of you might do more for me than the medication,” he murmured. “You’re taking better care of me than I have of you. I’m sorry, I’ll try and do better.”

She didn’t like to hear him say things like that. It was nice to take care of him too. It made her feel important and powerful.

“Partners,” she reminded him.

“Yes,” he agreed with a purr. “We’re partners. You’re absolutely the best partner I could ever have.”