Page 22 of The Program

It towered over me, it’s prone form staggering in its size. It must have been more than five of me stacked on top of each other even lying down.

Ignoring the little voice in the back of my head that told me touching it was a bad idea, especially with Libby waiting for me down below, I reached out a hand and gently placed my fingertips against its dry, wrinkly skin and waited for a reaction.

And waited.

And waited some more.

Nothing. No reaction. No movement. Zilch.

I pressed against it a little harder to test for any post-mortem reflexes, then when that received no results I hit it as hard as I dared. This thing was deader than dead.

It was also way too large to move by myself, but I wasn’t going to be asking the girls for help. It was still too risky with those fangs and claws getting in the way. In fact… I wondered if perhaps it was those very things that had kept other creatures from calling this cave home. It had clearly been dead for a long,longtime, so it would have made sense for something else to occupy such an ideal shelter.

I decided to test it out at a later date, because I was running out of time. Even from here I could see the sunlight peering in through the entrance, feebly attempting to illuminate the darkness. It managed to highlight even more shadowed areas that my senses were able to discern were offshoots of the cave, probably and entire underground system within the mountain. I didn’t know what else we would find in those tunnels, but at least here we would be safe for the time being.

Satisfied with my discovery, I ran from the cave and climbed back down the mountainside as quickly as I could, reaching Libby in record time with a broad smile on my face. She seemed relieved and also taken aback by my good mood. It had been way too long since I’d last felt comfortable enough to let my emotions shine through so brilliantly, but her wide-eyed wonder brought into perspective how little I had allowed myself to externally express my feelings. That would need to change now. Itcouldchange now.

Things were looking up.

‘We need to gather some materials to create a barrier. There’s a very large, very dead and very deadly creature in there, but I think it might be warding off other wildlife from entering the cave. If we block off access to it I think we can stay in there safely.’

Her brows rose high on her forehead, hiding behind her scruffy hair. We would need to create some combs or something. Grooming was going to be a necessity to ward off illnesses, especially when we weren’t sure how much the nanites protected them after being reprogrammed to accept the pregnancies.

‘We have a place to stay?’ she asked, tentative hope making her voice small.

I beamed even bigger at her, showing off all my teeth. She took a step back as if wary of me, unused to seeing such an expression on me. I didn’t take offense, but I decided to start grinning at her more often. Exposure therapy.

‘We have a place to stay.’

The sun was brighter here, and it shone down through the leaves in streams of light. ‘I think you should gather what you need to block off whatever’s up there while I go back for the others. Save time. I think those two might have gone into active labour sometime in the night.’

I didn’t like the idea of separating, but I grudgingly agreed. The sound of their groans of pain echoed inside my head like a persistent reminder that we were running out of time.

‘You go straight there and come straight back, you hear me? Be safe. I’ll get things set up as quick as I can. We’ll need a pulley system to get them up there, I think.’

‘I’ll keep my senses open and mark the trees the way you showed me. I promise I’ll be safe,’ she said, then gave me a lingering hug before picking her way back through the underbrush.

‘Hey, Libs?’

‘Yeah?’ she asked, turning back to face me.

‘If anything happens, just make sureyouget back to me, okay?’

Her answering smile was entirely placating. ‘I promise. I’ll shout if I need you.’

‘Love you.’

‘Love you too, you goob.’

I snorted a laugh at her teasing, but my mirth quickly died down as I watched the forest encompass her retreating form.

Well, better hop to it.

I started gathering wood and vines, piling them beneath the ledge for easier access. I would start with the pulley system to make it easier to carry things up, including the women when they arrived. I could continue building a fence to block off the creature whenever I had the time, but the women took priority for now.

As I whacked away branches while I searched for materials, I found myself moving deeper into the underbrush until I reached another clearing. I froze, my jaw hitting the floor when I saw just what had created the clearing in the first place. It wasn’t really a clearing, but the aftermath of a crash.

Right there, primed for the taking, was a downed space craft.

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