small cave room, I committed it to memory. It was the place I’d found hope that my decisions hadn’t completely annihilated other people. Of course there were the other people I’d let loose from the pods who ended up God knows where, but at least their trajectories had pointed them into charted space. I could drive myself insane thinking about everyone else. I gave myself permission to take comfort in VELMA’s words of the other day and seeing the evidence in front of my face that for these four other women, their lives were enriched and full of love, and had not been permanently negatively impacted when I’d instigated my revolt.
It was also the place in which I’d detected a note of fervor in Raxthezana’s voice when he talked about me, but I would file that away for later musing.
Our provisions were packed, weapons sharpened, and maps uploaded.
All that remained was to start walking.
But as usual, I’d woken with a primal urge to run, and I felt like I could climb the walls. Bouncing on my heels, I tried to be as innocuous as possible, but Joan noticed.
“You’re agitated,” she said. “Are you okay?”
“It’s the armor,” I said. “Raxthezana told me the shel are acclimating to my body. But I think maybe my body is trying to acclimate to them. I feel like I’m vibrating, for God’s sake.”
“Would calisthenics help?” she offered, and I considered it.
“It could,” I said. “It’s not a horrible idea for all of us to stretch before this trek, but I’m not brave enough to suggest it.”
She laughed. “Can you imagine these hulks doing jumping jacks?”
Trying to hold in my laugh, a horrible snorting sound erupted, and we laughed harder.
Raxthezana approached, and his stern demeanor made it easy to stifle the humor.
“We could run ahead, if you’d like,” he said, his eyes boring into mine.
My heart did a stutter-step, but I nodded.
“See you later,” Joan said, and her joyful smile tugged at me. That was right. I would see her later. We were together, and it was all going to be okay.
Donning our helmets, Raxthezana and I walked ahead of everyone and ducked out the entrance leading to what he had called the “havabuthe,” or “still below” loosely translated.
“The first stretch is suitable for running,” he said as he broke into a steady lope. Unleashed, I let my arms and legs swing into a powerful stride and ate up the distance with ease. One of the robots had advanced and activated bead lights along the passage, so I could charge ahead with decent visibility.
I’d run two hours before I felt like I wouldn’t mind slowing down, so that’s when we stopped for a drink break.
“This is incredible,” I said to him before chugging water. “Will this feeling ebb?”
“It should, but it has been many revolutions since I was an initiate,” he said. “I’m sorry my memory isn’t clearer.”
Shrugging, I tucked my canister into its slot and looked around at the vast space. Shining my helmet light on the ground, I could see a thin layer of moisture. When I swiped it with a gloved finger, I saw the greenish tint. “The cyanobacteria really are everywhere,” I said. Standing, I looked at Raxthezana who waited for me with his steady, black gaze, and I realized the moment I’d been procrastinating had arrived.
“VELMA told me last night that I needed Theraxl DNA to complete the inoculation,” I said. “I felt uncomfortable asking in front of everyone, but I had hoped to get it from you.”
“Of course,” he said and removed his helmet. “How is it best accomplished?”
VELMA told me simple skin contact was sufficient. I just had to reach out and touch him.
“We can shake hands or whatever is easiest,” I said, my voice cracking even though I’d just had a drink. I removed my glove. Peeking out of the corner of my eye, I saw he removed his, as well.
We reached for each other’s hand, and my heart raced worse than it had in the past two hours. His grasp was warm and firm, but then he pulled me closer. I watched in slow motion as he lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back of it, closing his eyes as he did so.
“Touching you is easy,” he said with a small nod. He squeezed my hand and released it. “Letting go, however, is difficult.”
Stricken by his words, I stared at his back when he turned and donned his helmet. I recognized a growing attraction to him in myself but never guessed he might share it. But we were in the middle of an enormous cave system surrounded by danger and headed into more. It wasn’t exactly the time or place to explore a possible relationship. Shaking myself, I replaced my own helmet and glove and caught up to walk by his side.
“Thank you,” I said. “For your DNA. And for everything.”
He nodded but remained silent for several meters.
“I would that we had met under different circumstances,” he said. “The coming perils may outstrip anything we have yet faced. They will require our full attention.”
It was my turn to stay silent, but I felt gratified that maybe his thoughts lay in a similar direction as mine.
“How do you know where we’re going?” I asked.
“Through many interviews of hunters who had gone before and survived,” he said. “I took copious notes and drew maps. Here,” he said, handing me a slim volume. “It is the record.”
Flipping it open, I scanned and flipped pages, occasionally tracing a sketch with my finger while he watched. When I came upon the maps, I studied them closely until I found the path we were on.
“We’re here?” I guessed and pointed.
“Ik,” he said with a grim smile. “The others should catch up soon; I suspect they will have decided to run as well, because the rest of the way is pitted with stumbling blocks.”
Handing the book back to him, my hand brushed his, and I thought I felt a jolt, even though we both wore gloves.
The distant sound of voices penetrated the silence while a pitch-black opening yawned before us, and I knew our time together was at an end.
“I wish we had met under different circumstances, too,” I said.
When he turned to face me, he didn’t say anything at all, but he didn’t need to. Somehow, the silence enveloping us needed no words, and we existed in its cocoon until it was time to emerge.