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Literally. Miya might be daydreaming about Therak’s intentions toward her, but the artificial light at the end of the tunnel was not imaginary. They had made it to the exit from this hellhole!
Just one small problem. There was a mega-obstacle in their way.
And what did Therak do? He placed Miya on the ground and charged the megagull head-on. Of course. Contrary to reason, she wasn’t terrified from the sight of the monster he was facing with a blade that looked like a chopstick compared to the teeth in that gaping beak. There was no time to be afraid when she was busy marveling at Therak’s gravity-defying moves as he fought for both their lives.
He was a sight to behold. A feast for her eyes. She could watch him slash and dice with that blade all day, regardless of the fact that her left foot’s big toe and her right foot’s heel hurt like an extraterrestrial bitch.
Of course, her man didn’t need all day to defeat Xera’s apex predator. He knew to go for the few vulnerable spots and never missed his target. One stab in the megagull’s tiny eye and… finito.
Miya cheered. “Take that, you human-shish-kebab-loving freak!”
Therak rushed back to her side and picked her up in his arms. She didn’t need to see in the dark tunnels branching from the well to know more company would come any minute now.
Whatever strength Therak had left, he put it into getting them out of the well in seconds. Because once he used the megagull’s body as a stepping stone followed by a series of telekinesis-boosted jumps, he stumbled the rest of the way to the shuttle. And Miya couldn’t help because she was still… gooey.
For some reason, the universe decided to give them a break. She watched behind them for any monsters in pursuit, but none came. None had managed to break in the storage hall through the barricaded doors either.
What Miya saw in passing was Sakhin’s headless corpse. Was there a saying, ‘Whoever schemes to take another person’s head loses his own’? If not, there should be one. With Sakhin dead like the mercenaries, justice had been fully served for the deaths of the Commander and all but three of his soldiers.
As soon as Miya and Therak boarded the shuttle, he went to swipe his palm over the console as he had seen Miya do, sealing them in. Finally!
Still, Miya visually searched the interior for any surprises that might have sneaked in, while he was cutting away the goo using a tiny laser cutter from the service panel.
“With the risk of jinxing it, I’ll say we’re leaving. For real,” she told him once he had freed her and she had done a quick pre-flight check. They had lost some energy during her maneuvering earlier, but she’d get them off this planet if it were the last thing she’d do.
Therak flashed her a tired smile from the co-pilot seat, diligently strapped in. “Get us out of here, pilot.”
She smiled back and gripped the holowheel. “With pleasure.”
32
Good Riddance
The central section of the roof opened up like a flower as the shuttle drew close to it. They flew out of the storage building as quickly as possible, before something nasty could block the exit from the other side.
The sandstorm met them first, its strength having grown in the time Miya had been underground – around an hour, judging by the nearly-healed state of Therak’s wounds from the fight with Sakhin. If before the visibility had been poor, now the swirling sand had reduced it to nearly zero, and the wind had picked up to the point where it was rocking the heavy shuttle.
Miya snorted as she directed the vessel’s nose upward and gunned the engine. No sandstorm was going to stop her.
“Up we go!”
The floor, the walls, the holowheel – everything shook under the growing force of the wind the higher they went, but Miya kept them on course.
Then a thud sounded. They had hit something solid in passing. A megagull.
The shuttle was thrown off the right trajectory.
“No you don’t.” Miya righted them before they could tilt further, staying as calm as an Earth-grown cucumber.
The next collision with a megagull sent the shuttle spiraling.
“Oh, goodie.” She hated piloting when her head was upside down. It was hard to keep a shuttle on the right course when you felt like puking. Never a nice combination.
Even a worse combination was exiting the atmosphere at the wrong angle. Miya had mere seconds to get the shuttle under control, or the pressure on the hull would become catastrophic.
Twist left, then right, lower the nose, twist left again, don’t puke, keep it steady, gun it and… Out! They were out of the planet’s atmosphere!
“Yes, yes, yes! We did it!” She could finally take her eyes off the console and look at Therak for the first time since takeoff. “We made it off Xera!”
