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I shine it into the entryway of each cave in turn, trying to gauge how big the space beyond the entrance is, looking for any eyes reflecting the light back at me. The first one I check is far too small, but the second has a wider entryway that I can easily get through and opens into a much bigger space. I push my bag in ahead of me, then crawl in.
Inside, I sit up. Wind my torch a couple more times to keep the light shining, then lean back against the cave wall, dragging my bag onto my lap. Earlier, while waiting for the alien hostiles to fall asleep, I did a proper inventory of the contents. It’s my habit to be prepared for anything, but with my memory as patchy as it is, I wasn’t sure what I would find. Fortunately, my past self hasn’t deviated from my usual habits, and the bag has a blanket, some MREs, a canteen, matches, among other useful things. I take out the blanket, using it to pad the floor beneath me, then grab one of the MREs.
It’s the usual Mercenia fair - freeze dried, vacu-sealed, don’t bother with a use by date because it’s so laden with preservatives it will probably outlast the human race. I have four, which I can probably stretch to see me through a week if I find nothing else edible out here. But there’s a whole fucking rainforest to explore. There has to be something growing that I can eat.
I put the MRE to one side, survey the supplies before me. Try to formulate a plan.
One, eat. I don’t know how long it’s been since I last ate something, so I have to eat now. I can’t afford to grow weak before I get a proper chance to explore. Forage.
Two, defences. My tiny knife is hardly sufficient for defending me against a medium-sized insect, but I could use it to carve a branch to a sharp point. It would be a start.
Three, rest. My body feels like it weighs a ton all of a sudden, my eyelids drooping. The blanket under me is hardly good padding, but I’ve never felt a more inviting bed.
Change of plans, I think as I lie down, burrowing against the scratchy fabric, my eyes impossible to keep open.
One, rest.
Two… all that other stuff.
Vaguely, I register that it’s not sensible to just go to sleep without those defences I was thinking about. Anything could stumble upon me while I’m out. But instead of worrying about that, trying to fight the tiredness that sweeps over me, my mind just keeps swirling back to that moment in the corridor with the alien hostile.
The gentle way he raised a hand towards me.
Definitely gentle.
His eyes growing wide as he looked at me.
“Linasha,” he said.
I wonder what it means.
CHAPTERFOUR
Maldek
My head throbs painfully as a hand grips my shoulder, shaking me awake. My gaze lands on Razhan’s concerned face, though it takes a moment for my eyes to focus fully. My thoughts swim through my foggy headspace, sluggish, but the memories slotting into place are like a sharp, cold rainfall on my back, bringing me to full alertness in a beat of my heartspace.
My linasha. Awake. Freed from thepod.
I bolt to my feet but dizziness washes over me, and Razhan’s hands close round my arms, bracing me, keeping me upright.
“Easy, brother,” he says. “Delfom’s scouting outside now, but the hut is clear. You’re in no danger.”
“Danger?” Confusion fills my headspace, but as the dizziness recedes, my thoughts grow clearer and I realise how this must look to my brothers. “I was not attacked by a raskarran.”
Razhan frowns. “So you tripped and fell and cracked your head on this?”
He lifts the weapon my linasha used against me. It is the leg of one of the tables from the hut’s eating area, I think. She must have hidden herself away, planned her exit, waiting until such a time that we were all sleeping before making her escape. But readied herself a weapon in case someone went wandering.
Clever. Brave, also. My heartspace thrills at this new knowledge of her character.
“It was a female,” I say, moving past him to the passage down to thepodroom.
I know what I saw. I know what I felt when she struck me. But it seems so impossible that I have to see it. I have to see the place where she once slept emptied.
“A female?” Razhan calls, before hurrying after me. “Maldek, you’re making little sense. Slow yourself, take a moment to recover your wits.”
He grabs me by the arm, pulling me back. Frustration rises in my heartspace, but this is not fair. He is a good male, only looking out for me as a good brother should.
