Alien Freak - Calista Skye Page 0,24

water. Air temperature a fifth of the way from freezing to boiling water.”

“So noted,” IruBex says.

I push Averie over to the hunter. “Take her.”

11

- Averie -

Zaroc’s enemies are long, flat-bodied centipedes with heads like flies. They stand about as tall as me and hold ugly-looking weapons in their many thin limbs.

Zaroc pushes me, but I hesitate for a moment between him and them. They don’t look too friendly.

But I think I can guess how to use that thing in my hand.

I walk over to their leader, my legs pretty shaky. “Will you take me home to Earth?”

“That’s the idea,” the centipede says. “Now, Zaroc, you see we are serious. Come peacefully.”

I never thought it was possible for such a huge, powerful male as Zaroc to look defeated. But he’s bleeding from countless cuts, his body is covered in purple bruises, and his red scales are less bright and shiny than before.

He looks up and around as if breathing the air of freedom one last time. Then he takes one step towards us.

I flick on the weapon in my hand and ram the plasma blade into the torso of the centipede leader. A terrible, high-pitched scream emanates from the creature as its whole body rolls up and back on itself.

“Run, Zaroc!” I yell. “Get inside the ship!”

He reacts like a reptile, even faster than I thought possible. But he doesn’t go for the ship – he comes for me.

He scoops me up in his arms, sprints for our ship, barks a command, and dives in the hatch that opens a split second before we get there.

Zaroc dumps me on the floor inside, the hatch closes, and he runs to the elevator squares. I follow, rubbing my butt.

Before I can get to my seat, I’m thrown to the floor as the ship takes off, straight upwards and out of the foliage like a jack-in-the-box. Then we’re racing for space, Zaroc fighting the controls and muttering intense words that can only be curses or prayers.

It slowly gets darker around us as we pass out of the atmosphere and the stars become visible.

“That was crazy,” I exclaim, finally able to pick myself off the floor and plop down in the seat. “Why are they hunting you?”

Zaroc pulls a lever, and a swirling, colorful pattern fills the windshield. He leans back heavily in his seat and closes his eyes, breathing fast. “They have their reasons.”

I look at him closely. There’s a blue-black puddle on the floor under him. “Okay, is there a medical kit on board? You’re about to bleed to death.”

“There should be,” he growls. “I haven’t found it.”

I get out of my seat and immediately spot a promising-looking box under the control console.

Opening it, I identify some things I recognize as well as a lot of objects that I don’t. But it will do.

I walk over to Zaroc and start wiping the blood off his scales, cleaning the wounds as well as I can. “That plant thing was terrible. Is it really just one plant?”

“That’s what is said,” Zaroc says, closing his eyes. “The Fentrat very famous. And deadly.”

“But we got away. Barely.”

“Barely,” he agrees.

“And those centipedes – what are their reasons for hunting you?”

He slowly takes the metal box out of his pocket and places it on the console. “Grandmother,” he says in Interspeech, “I think about to pass out. Can you instruct Averie at how save my life? And answer her questions, please.”

“I shall,” the box says with its aged, female voice. “Hello, Averie. I’m Zaroc’s grandmother. You can call me Koyanara. Can you please turn my casing so the little eye faces Zaroc? Yes, like that. Thank you. Ah. Yes, he’s obviously had a full day. Can you show me the medical kit? Hmmm. Not exactly state-of-the-art. Take that green pack and rip it open. Good. Now hold it to his chest with the flat part in and don’t be alarmed. It works by itself.”

I follow Koyanara’s instructions and hold the green patch against his scales. Immediately it melts to a fluid and runs all over him in a thin, oily layer, up and down his body.

“Wonderful,” Koyanara says. “Now take one of the white cylinders – no, the other side… yes. Put the tapered end to his upper arm and press the other end.”

The cylinder gives off a sharp hiss, and I can feel the recoil. I clearly injected him with something.

“Good. Now take one of the yellow ones and do the same thing on the other arm.”

I do