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I told her what was happening outside our pod. Soon, all the pieces of the vessel had been knocked away, the ones large enough to see anyhow.
“But the mothership,” Sam fretted. “That’s infested now, too. Ror’k and Yam’r disconnected the controls to the thrusters, and Jask’l and I took care of the weapons, but still… We don’t know what could happen.” Her voice took on a panicky note. “Oh god! What if it sends one of the remaining pods down at us!”
I didn’t have time to answer because the pod started to shake from the force of re-entry. She gasped, and her fingers tightened on my forearms.
“I got you.” I leaned her back against my body. The headrest on the seat protected my neck from large movements, but shedidn’t have a similar support, so I cradled her head and neck gently with my hands. One of her hands moved to claw at my thigh while the other held Pip’s box.
The window glowed with light as the exterior coating ignited. The heat shield protected us to an extent, but the pod still got uncomfortably hot, and I worried Sam’s human body would be too weak to survive the re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere.
“Sam?” I waited for her reply.
“I’m okay.”
“Good.”
“Don’t… Don’t leave me.”
“I won’t,” I promised, even though I had no idea where she thought I’d go. We were both stuck here together. “I’m right here.”
She made a soft whimpering sound.
The next minutes dragged by excruciatingly slowly, but eventually, we were inside Earth’s atmosphere. Her hair no longer floated up into my face; gravity had returned. I suddenly felt extremely heavy, even though I’d only been weightless for a short time.
The last images I had of the mothership as we were propelled away played over and over in my head. Losing a mothership was an enormous setback, an unfathomable loss. It had never happened before.
A sudden jolt of the pod had my head banging against the side of my headrest. Similarly, Sam’s head knocked hard into my palm. If my hand hadn’t been there, it would have been enough to give her serious whiplash—or worse.
“Krux!”
“What the f—”
The window, which had shown only the open sky before, was now covered by a flyer’s claw. Unable to grab hold of the pod’s smooth outer surface, it was angrily pushing it around.
Sam let out a scream, then muffled it with her own hand. Her fear filled the pod.
“Do not fear, Sam. The pod is constructed to withstand tampering from the scourge. They can’t get in.”
These ones, though, were willing to try. They batted us around in the air. Each time they did so, the pod recalculated the safest route down to the planet.
“Flyers are a good sign,” I said.
“How can they possibly be a good sign?” Sam asked, trembling.
“Because it means we are above land and not water. I do not know how long this pod would float on your Pacific Ocean.”
“Oh god, I didn’t even think of that. Okay, you’re right; flyers are better than landing in the middle of the sea and waiting for help to arrive, but only just slightly. The pod doesn’t just automatically open when we land, does it? What if we land next to the nest?”
“It shouldn’t. The pod is programmed to find the safest spot to land and avoid nests if possible. You can see it recalculating on the screen.”
She looked down just as another flyer attacked our pod, making her head slam back against my chest again with a thud.
“Oww! What the hell are you made of? Tungsten?”
“Flesh and bone.” Amused, I held her forehead more firmly. “I’ll let you touch the rest of me later to confirm.” I imagined her running her hands over my muscles, caressing every hill and valley to be sure I was indeed made of flesh and bone and very,verycompatible with her.
But first, I had to get her to safety. This pod wasn’t safe anymore, especially since we were so close to the ground now. I knew that because I saw a flash of the tops of pointy trees, the peculiar ones with needles instead of leaves. I also saw the white snow-covered ground below. With the flyers badgering it, I doubted the pod could perform its landing maneuver properly.
We were going to crash.
