Page 10 of Uprooted
Elowen
It starts out as a small vibration under my feet. The air gradually thickens as the shaking builds. By the time we are deep into the atmosphere, everything is rattling. I keep my eyes glued shut and let the heavy pressure of the descent push me against my seat.
I hate landing. I have trust issues when it comes to being in a situation where I can easily be engulfed in a giant ball of flame. There are too many things that can go wrong. It would be a shame to blow up into a million pieces right before we reach our destination.
I focus on my breathing and chance a look at Bri once the vibrating stops.
She’s retching into an emesis bag. I should have warned her against eating breakfast this morning.
Andi passed out from the descent, her head hanging awkwardly to the side.
The rest of the crew seems to be handling it pretty well.
We hover for a few minutes while the landing gear extends and I know the worst is over. There is a collective sigh of relief when we gently touch down on solid ground for the first time in six Earth months. Bri already looks better—now that we are on solid ground.
My entire body’s shivering from the adrenaline.
I wish my hands would stop shaking so I can get out of this harness.
j'Tilak is just beyond the hatch and I cannot wait to see it. My legs feel like jelly when I stand up. I grab onto the overhead rail while I find my balance. After months of very little physical activity, they aren’t used to supporting my full weight.
My feet tingle with pins and needles with my first few unstable steps .
The hatch to the lander opens up and I’m blinded by the bright light of two suns. Someone casts a tall shadow in front of me and I can finally see.
It’s a giant blue alien with a yuriOS and a stern look.
“Your transport’s this way,” he grumbles, waving a shining silver prosthetic arm across the base.
“Nice to meet you too,” Bri mutters under her breath as she brushes past me down the ramp. She’s holding onto her used puke bag as she slowly exits. I’m following close behind and bump into her back when she comes to an abrupt stop to take in our new surroundings.
The sudden shift from the quiet of space to the chaotic military base is disorienting. I gasp when two porters zip around us and narrowly miss each other at top speed. Grumpy Pants rolls his eyes at my sharp intake of breath. He’s subject to the names I make up for him until he introduces himself.
We have to jog to catch up to our guide. His long strides coupled with our atrophied leg muscles lengthen the distance between us. Eventually he turns back and realizes we have fallen behind. He impatiently swipes his yuriOS while waiting for us to catch up.
“A souvenir?” he asks, nodding at the bag Bri filled up during the landing.
“Very funny. Where can I dump this?” She holds out the bag, but he’s already walked away. She looks at me. “No, seriously—where can I put this?”
“No clue.”
The same type of spherical porters as we use on Earth glide to a stop in front of our small group.
The doors slide open and I eagerly climb into the closest one, ready to sit down after the short but strenuous walk.
I should have done the recommended exercises on the shuttle over. I’m regretting my decision not to.
Pouty McPoutface climbs in and starts up the porter without a word. Still holding the used bag in her lap, Bri mutters, “Great.”
“Maybe he’s just shy?” I whisper.
“Maybe he’s just a dick,” she says in a loud whisper.
He clears his throat. I dig my elbow into her side. She just needs to keep it together a little longer. Soon we’ll be at the muradome and she can lose her shit in the privacy of her own room .
“Identify yourselves.” He barks an order at us without looking back.
“Elowen Carson and Brisa Mitchell,” I answer for both of us, not giving Bri a chance to make some snarky comment.
A jolt forward throws us back in our seats.
Captain Cranky jerks the porter around anything in our way, not caring to make it a smooth ride for us.
We leave the base and I get a full view of the landscape for the first time.
It’s so beautiful I could cry. If I weren’t seeing it in real life, I would think it was genAI.
It’s so pristine it can’t possibly be real.
The colors— everything looks bright and vibrant.
We head in the direction of the rolling hills in the distance. I turn and watch the huge metal gate close behind us. I settle back into my seat.
No more anticipation. We finally made it.
Bri laughs, “Where are we? Is this real?” She knows exactly where we are, but I know what she means. It’s hard to believe we’re here, and it’s beyond my wildest dreams.
“You’re on j’Tilak,” our driver says.
“That was a rhetorical question,” Bri says and rolls her eyes.
A wide field surrounds the base. I watch the terrain with my face pressed against the plexi, trying to see everything.
All too quickly the porter rises up to ascend a hill and I feel like I’m a roller coaster.
My stomach drops to my feet. From up here the view extends.
In the distance giant trees rise up, their branches fanning out, forming a dark green canopy.
A wide glittering river winds through the valley below.
Golden grass covers the ground like suede with the occasional patch of brown.
We take a sharp turn to the left and speed our way down toward the outcrop of trees. Bri slides across her seat and holds the bag as far away from her as possible as it sloshes from the erratic turns and bumps.
“Careful with that,” Mr. Sourpuss instructs, his eyes briefly landing on her from the rearview mirror.
“I’m trying!” She rechecks the seal on the bag, her frustration simmering near the surface.
“Be nice,” I tell her through a clenched smile.
“We’re guests here.” A lifetime of diplomatic training kicks in.
These first few hours are crucial. My mom’s voice rings in my head.
You can only make a first impression once .
It’s not unheard of for a newcomer to break some cardinal rule and wake up on a prison planet.
It can usually be ironed out after a few weeks, but I get the feeling Bri wouldn’t take kindly to being locked up for any period of time.
She returns the fake smile. “I am.”
The sky turns dark when we get to the tree line. We are now under the shade of the canopy. Wood creaks over the porter’s gyroscopes.
I can hardly believe my eyes when a massive tree pulls a thick root out of the ground and heaves it forward. I smack Bri’s shoulder and point to the massive tree that leaves behind a deep trench in its wake.
“Holy shit!” she says and leans over to see. We’re moving too fast to see the tree make any progress. Broad trunks block our view as we continue on our way. Our driver could have at least slowed down so we could witness this for the first time.
We ride in silence for a while, completely overwhelmed with everything around us.
I’m desperately watching the forest around us, hoping to see more movement, when I notice a very large shadow shift.
A second later a two-legged reptilian creature the size of a small house lets out a roaring bark and jerks its head in our direction.
Three green eyes focus on us, pupils contracting into terrifying slits, tracking our movement.
Its elongated snout is slightly open, displaying rows and rows of razor-sharp teeth.
Its muscles are bunched up under green camouflaged skin, ready to pounce.
Before it can make a move, our porter picks up speed and continues on uninterrupted through the trees.
“What was that?” A shiver creeps down my spine.
“That is a very angry female Allometradon. Did you notice her hatchling?” The driver doesn’t sound very concerned. “We were safe. There is no way she could have gotten to us. These porters are mostly impenetrable.”
Bri and I share a look when it hits us both that he said “mostly.”
“All I saw were teeth. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Bri’s voice is a little shaky. Unease settles into the air as Bri and I silently wonder what else we could encounter on our drive to the pod.
The large white dome comes into view—home sweet home. It’s bigger than any other research facility I’ve ever seen. It’s the size of a small town, rising three or four stories tall. The porter circles the dome and slows as we turn into the cargo bay.
Bri and I step out, her small bag still in hand. Again, she looks around for a place to throw it away. A Tilak with the worst haircut I have ever seen approaches us. He looks self-conscious about his appearance and tries to smooth down the clumps of hair sticking out in every direction.
“I’m sorry, ma’am. You can’t bring that in the pod. All personal items are required to be checked in ahead of time.” Bri rolls her eyes at his comment and holds the bag out away from her body, threatening him with it.
“I don’t want to keep this. I’ve been trying to find a place to dump it since we landed,” she unleashes on the unsuspecting Tilak, her frustration finally boiling over. She desperately looks around for somewhere to put the container.
“Here, I can help you with that,” a deep voice says from behind me. I spin and smack my face directly into a white shirt covering a hard chest. I look up and a friendly blue face smiles down at me.
“There’s a receptacle right here. Just swipe and select this icon,” he says patiently and points to a diamond-shaped outline with a hieroglyph in the center of a machine that’s next to where we’re standing. A small door slides up and Bri drops her bag in and promptly wipes her hands on her pants.
“Thank you,” Bri says with relief.
He’s handsome, like the rest of them, and his helpfulness makes me like him immediately. It was a matter of time before the contents of that bag ended up on the ground, or worse—on me. I’m about to thank him when the Tilak with the terrible haircut steps between us.
“Welcome to MuraDome IV. I’m Bennet. I’ll show you to your rooms.” Bennet, a.k.a. Choppy Haircut Guy, herds Bri and I toward the door leading to the rest of the facility. He catches Bri gawking at him and pats down his hair again.
“I’ve got this one, Bennet,” the Tilak behind us says, the helpful one with the nice smile.
“But… Aro—sir. They’re on my list. Did I do something wrong?” Bennet sounds confused and panicked at the thought.
“I can take it from here,” he says, stepping forward .
“But sir, the list. I don’t—”
“We’re on your list? Lead the way,” Bri says and follows Bennet, cutting off the discussion between him and the one he called Aro. “Can those giant three-eyed Allometr-whatevers get in here?”
“Oh, you met Millie! She won’t bother us here,” Bennet says.
“Good. I have a strict ‘no dragon’ policy,” she says.
I hear a few chuckles behind us as we leave the cargo bay and head towards our rooms.