withdrawing my hands from his pants, but I wouldn’t move away. Even as he rolled off me, I scooted closer, snuggling into his chest. The need to be next to him was stronger than anything.
His bicep under my head, he placed his other arm on me. I took his hand in mine, tracing the curved lines of the hard ridges over his knuckles.
“The feeding must be over, now,” he whispered as the noise outside our room quieted down.
“You raise the centipedes here?”
“Yes, for meat and eggs.” He tipped his head back toward the exit. “They’re fed twice during the day. This was the morning feeding.”
I would’ve never considered eating centipede meat back on Earth. Here, however, things were different. Unknowingly, I must’ve been eating it all along ever since I arrived.
“It should be safe for you to go out soon.”
I held on to his hand tighter. Sooner or later, I knew I’d have to go out, to use the bathroom at least. At the moment, however, I was glad to escape the harsh reality of the outside world for just a little bit longer.
I laced my fingers with his, rubbing the tips over his hard knuckles. “These would do some serious damage in a fight,” I said thinking about the many times he had used his fists to defend me.
“Mmh,” he hummed in response. “Crux used to say that most species have to wear a special brace around their knuckles to match my punch. Errocks are born to fight.”
“Do you believe that’s all you were destined to do?”
“What else is there for me?” he glanced down at me.
“The world is so much bigger than this place. Out there, you can be anything you want to be, Wyck, do anything you wish.”
He shook his head.
“The world outside of the Dark Anomaly doesn’t exist for us, Nadia, just as we don’t exist for it.”
I rose on my elbow to see his face better.
“What if there was a way out of here?” I said, carefully watching his expression. “Would you consider leaving?”
“There is no way out,” he said stubbornly. “Don’t even think about it. Escape ideas will drive you mad. Trying to get away will kill you.”
I searched his face, gauging whether I could really tell him everything.
“We came here intending to leave once our job was done. Our mission’s plan included our departure.”
“How?” He sat up.
I trusted him with my life; I decided to trust him with my one chance at regaining my freedom, too.
“Our return capsule is attached to the ship.”
“And do you think it’ll work?” he asked suspiciously, but I noticed a spark of interest in his eyes. His natural curiosity and the enduring hope of youth challenged his deep-ingrained belief that the Dark Anomaly was inescapable.
“No,” I replied honestly, wishing so badly I could give him more than that. “I tried to use it when that ass...when Nocc attacked me, but something is wrong with the capsule. It didn’t have enough power for the takeoff. I’m not an engineer or a pilot, though. In fact, I have no technical skills beyond those needed to operate the equipment. My purpose on the mission was to film a movie.”
“A movie?” He gaped at me.
Suddenly, my role on our crew seemed as useless and trivial as our entire mission to the Dark Anomaly had proven to be. We didn’t come here to rescue Svetlana, she’d been believed long dead. We didn’t even come for research or to get any specific data for science, certainly not to give any assistance to the sentient beings stranded in this place—we had no idea about their existence. We came only to get information that would sell well back on Earth. My sole purpose was to preserve and present that information in a nicely done, professionally produced package. Nothing more.
“There has been a big interest—public curiosity—on Earth about the Dark Anomaly,” I tried to explain this to Wyck. “Svetlana’s disappearance put an end to the government sponsored in-person exploration of it. However, the private sector managed to outfit an expedition of their own...” I heaved a sigh, thinking about my dead team mates again. “Looking back, it was a stupid idea all along. But I was so excited when I got selected to participate in it.”
“You volunteered to come here?” he asked, his eyes growing bigger with shock.
“I was one of thousands who volunteered.” I nodded. “Simply being selected already felt like an achievement. The promise of a huge reward, of course, didn’t hurt. I had big