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Tark clapped a hand to my shoulder, his expression serious. I expected him to protest once again that someone might see me from the ground, and I’d have to argue that I, one, flew over uninhabited jungle; two, his stealth fabric would match the color of the sky; and three, even if someone did see me, I could be mistaken for a dragon, the large flying reptile indigenous to the planet.
But he grinned, his usual cheerful disposition breaking through. “Go get her.”
“You know I will.”
Once he exited the small airlock and the inner hatch closed, I opened the outer one. Warm wind whistled around me, smelling of spice and plant life, its humidity damp on my skin. It tugged on the wings, even though they were still folded.
Dawn crested the horizon. Brilliant green intercut with slashes of orange raced below as Tark flew us over the Tularian jungle. We were headed toward one of the tourist resorts, flying the nearest we could to the Senator Bila’s compound. I’d glide as close as possible and hike in from there. Getting out with the female would be far trickier, but I’d handle that when the time came.
“Get ready.” Tark’s voice came from the airlock’s speakers. “Now!”
I leaped outward, free-falling for a heart-stopping moment. Greenery rushed up at me in the blur as wind roared past me, stealing my breath. Then I spread my arms and deployed the wings.
Air filled them with a snap that wrenched my shoulders.
I slowed, but not enough. Fighting against wind resistance, I angled the wings upward as much as possible, pushing for lift. I needed to glide for as long as I could. Each minute in the air meant an hour of time saved hiking.
Gravity, however, proved a harsh mistress, unwilling to let me escape her clutches. Wind whooshed past, making it hard to breathe as I continued to half glide, half fall through the sky. My chest and shoulders burned with the strain of working the wings. If the compound stuck to its normal routine, the Hyoo-mon female would be outside in a couple of hours. I wanted to get to her today, so I gritted my teeth and held on, eking out every bit of lift I could.
A flock of small flying lizards burst into the sky as my shadow passed over one of the reva trees—they thought I was a dragon, their main predator.
The bright-green treetops grew closer and closer, and I worried about landing. I’d been aiming for a particular river for a softer splash down. It would also mean I’d gotten fairly close to the compound.
I strained against the wings, pain licking fire across my back as my muscles cramped. But I held on.
A break appeared in the tree canopy ahead. Finally! Thank frek.
My toes brushed across the balls of reva leaves, and I jerked my legs higher. I needed to make it to that frekking river!
Closer. I dropped another foot.
Closer. Trees scraped my legs.
I crashed through the top of a tree, the smaller branches snapping as a flurry of bright-green leaves fountained into the air. The wings caught, snagging, and I retracted them with a sharp spike of shoulder pain.
Then I broke through, hurtling through the air toward the silvered surface of the river below.
The warm water slapped me like a fist, knocking the air from my lungs as I plunged under. The current caught me in its grip, pulling me along. I kicked upward, straining toward the light.
I broke through the surface, gulping in air, and stroked for the river bank before the current could pull me further off course. Both the wings and the survival pack dragged at me, but I’m a stubborn frekker. I kicked harder.
Lungs heaving, I pulled myself onto the sandy riverbank and crawled under the cover of the trees. Then I sank to the ground until I caught my breath.
In a few moments, I pushed up to sitting and unstrapped the wings from my back. Then I took off the pack. Everything inside was perfectly dry, which is more than I could say for myself. Working fast, I stripped. My teal, blue, and purple skin stuck out against the golden tree trunks and orange underbrush. I pulled on dry black pants and a long-sleeved shirt in gold—the most camouflaging color I’d had on the shuttle. After burying my wet clothes, I attached the wings to the pack and strapped it onto my back. They took on the gold of the tree trunks around me, providing camouflage from behind.
Comp in hand, I struck out, keeping as straight of a path as the reva trees would allow. I’d taken survival training for all the known planets, but hadn’t been in the Tularian jungle after a heavy rain. While most of the orange underbrush was harmless, dravar flowers littered the ground, adding another obstacle. The large yellow blooms emitted a sweet, fruity smell to attract insects and the small reptile species filling various ecological niches. Their wide flat petals weren’t strong enough to injure something as large as me, but they could trap a foot and slow me down, and that was time I didn’t want to waste. Also, the potent well of digestive juices waiting in the center of each flower could erode the soles of my boots.
As I hurried on, the tiny blue dot representing me crept across the map on my comp screen. But I’d been lucky to have landed so close to the senator’s compound. In only a couple of hours, I reached the outskirts.
I climbed a tree to hang the wings and pack from a branch, then slunk through the jungle. The dense canopy around the compound hid a lot from the satellite cameras. I had an idea of the timing of the guard patrols from watching them leave and return, but their specific paths once they disappeared underneath the trees remained a mystery.
My rulaa would tingle if any large creature got close—either a Tula or the Hyoo-mon. The special sense organs protected by my horns were a byproduct of evolving on ancient Zaar, which had been filled with predators. They allowed us to sense danger, even when we couldn’t see, hear, or scent it.
Mine started to tingle. I plastered my back to a tree trunk and pulled out my blaster, making sure I’d set it to stun. Stealing the female would be bad enough. I didn’t want to add harming one of the Senator’s staff to the list.
The swish of careless steps cutting through underbrush carried to me, followed by muttered voices. Tula. Just as I’d thought, the guards were sweeping this area ahead of the Hyoo-mon and her two companions.
I edged around the tree to better hide, keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible. I could take out these two lizard aliens, no problem. But who knew what would happen if they didn’t check in? My best shot at rescuing the Hyoo-mon was to keep everyone at the compound ignorant of what was about to happen.
