| |
The sound was like the tapping on a tin can, but far, far off. Muffled.
Tap-tap-tap
“Fuck,” Selena muttered, pulling sluggishly at her straps, the left one digging painfully into her shoulder.
Everything hurt, her vision blurry, head pounding.
Tap-tap-tap-tap
Oh, dear God.
The shutdown. The bug-out. Abandon ship. Her crewmates!
The Gambier Bay... it was adrift. Dead. Floating somewhere up there.
It came flooding back all at once, as if her brain had finally successfully rebooted itself enough to process the memory of what had just happened.
Feeling around in the near pitch black, she found the light, flicking it on, bathing her in blood-red illumination. The acrid smell of hot metal could clearly be picked up on the air.
The beginnings of panic coiled in her belly.
It’s just the main rocket. There’s no fuel leak. It’s okay. It’s okay.
The emergency lighting wasn’t doing anything to calm her nerves, but she had to keep it together. She mentally took stock of her body, relieved to be able to move all of her extremities. Nothing was bleeding. She hurt like hell, but she’d live.
For a while.
The tiny screen flickered as she punched it up. Her memory of the lifeboats wasn’t rock solid, but she knew the batteries aboard one should be good for a day or so. Enough to power the tiny locator beacon, and keep a modicum of warmth—scavenged initially from residual rocket motor heat—in the lifeboat should it need to be used as a refuge of last resort.
But all it really did was buy time for a rescue.
Tap-tap-tap
“That’s... outside,” she whispered, unsure why the sound of her own voice in the tiny dark space suddenly filled her with such unease.
Finally, the little comm screen lit steadily, the diagram clear on the simple blue background.
Her heart stopped when she realized what it meant.
Oh, no.
The trajectory of the launch and reentry had put her down... in the exact mountain valley they’d been observing.
The pixies.
It really shouldn’t have filled her with such dread, and yet it did.
Watching a ritual sacrifice will do that to a girl.
But was that really all that was? The girl had come back, apparently no worse for the wear.
What was there to be afraid of?
How about what the IFR picked up inside that cave entrance, idiot?
The pod was equipped with a survival pack that would be enough to last several days, but if she’d landed in the middle of the pixie valley... that was going to be the very least of her concerns.
Popping the seal, a deep hiss accompanied the flooding in of warmer, more humid air, a crack of light showing as the blast shield opened slightly.
Tap tap tap
It had to be the engine cooling, or the shell of the pod contracting as it shed the effects of the superheating caused by reentry.
There was really no other way of finding out. She had to get to the survival pack first thing as it had a sidearm included inside, then she’d try to figure out where she was in relation to her other crew. Assuming they’d made it to the surface alive at all.
She might be able to skip the sidearm though, especially if she could get out of the valley and into the dense forest surrounding it. In the event she encountered one of the pixies, it was unlikely she’d need her weapon; the pixies were armed with little more than simple slings and rudimentary bows and arrows, at least from the observation footage they’d reviewed.
Still, she was better safe than sorry.
“Here goes nothing,” she whispered, pushing the shield fully away. The light was blinding as the titanium alloy blast shield thunked to the dirt.
Closing her eyes tightly, unable to stand the brilliant sunlight, she sat up. The pod had fallen on its side, the terminal deceleration rockets apparently failing to keep her lifeboat upright as it impacted the surface.
At least they’d cushioned her landing. Being in one piece was a hell of a lot more important than being upright.
“Klathau ik luin.”
What in God’s name?
Something prodded her, and her eyes flew open. A pale-faced pixie—clearly male with its pronounced brow line and larger jaw—stood over her, its hair dark wild and matted. Some sort of leaf was woven into the locks hanging at his forehead. He was clad in a heavy loincloth and numerous furs. The spear he held, the sharp tip made of a jet black substance that looked very much like obsidian, was inches from her chest.
“Klathau ik luin. Ne!”
On pure instinct, she scrambled out of the lifeboat, springing to her feet. Unfortunately, she realized in a split second that she was on the wrong side of the boat from the survival pack.
And she was most mistaken about not needing her sidearm.
The pixies were lighter and slightly shorter than humans, and she was in decent physical condition. The forest edge towered behind him, the upper boughs shrouded in wispy mist. Perhaps two hundred meters away, she knew she’d be able to gain concealment if she could just make it. It was possible she’d be able to outrun this one, given a head start.
Holding up her hands, she gave him her friendliest smile. “Hey, little guy. I, uh, mean no harm.” She opened her hands, palms out, backing away slowly. “See? No harm. I... I need to get back to my ship though.” Pointing to the sky, she watched if he followed her gesturing.
He glanced up for the briefest of moments, then returned his gaze to her.
Shit.
He was going to be a problem.
“Meeka sur janna min. Ne.”
He advanced upon her, spear jabbing threateningly.
Most definitely a problem.
Knowing surprise was her only real hope, she turned on her heel and dashed in the opposite direction.
Only to be confronted by an entire band of males, spears bristling from their group like the spines of a hedgehog.
Oh, fuck.
Before she could so much as utter a word, something wrapped around her feet, sweeping her legs out from under her and bringing her to the ground, hard. The fall knocked the wind out of her, and she rolled over on her side, wheezing, willing her lungs to draw even a tiny bit of breath.
She kicked out, but her feet were bound tight, her struggles reduced to little more than helpless wriggling.
“Mother... fucker,” she rasped, trying desperately to breathe freely.
Laughter boomed from the group, now gathered all around her, the males chattering away amongst themselves.
She was in very deep trouble.
Then a thick cloth was thrown over her head, and blackness took her down into its infernal depths.