Page 10 of Dark's Savior

"What for?" Nar asked.

"Just...personal reasons. I'll tell Xilya to meet me somewhere and get what I need from her. Then I'll be back. Be sure to have the tracer ready. Once I have what I need, we start searching and drilling again.

Nar made a little noise. "It is, don't worry. You just take care of yourself, heh? Don't lose yourself again."

Lose himself again. No, they couldn't have that. Ryziel closed his eyes and remembered moments on Nihl.

"Don't worry," he said and left the console. It wasn't the first time, and, as he thought of the girl again, he feared it wouldn't be the last.

Chapter Four

Aly sat within the crevice of a rock, crouching over her small sketchbook, carefully shading and outlining the beginnings of a face and upper body. There was very little light coming down, per usual—just a dull grayish-blue tint that barely pricked the darkness. She angled the light around her neck downward to see her creation more clearly. The face wasn't perfect, and she wasn't sure she had his horns right. She wasn't even sure if they were horns. Maybe antenna? The eyes were off also, but it wasn't like she could possibly remember every detail in the dark, though she tried.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember more clearly. His face was angular, with large eyes and a wide mouth. Like Marzin, the one who had found them, the nillium all seemed to have cat-like features. Though, she wouldn't necessarily say they resembled cats (not like the lygin, who looked exactly like cats, whiskers and all), just that they had a sort of animalistic appearance. Piercing cat-like eyes, sharp teeth, pointed ears, and straight, flat-ish noses. The strange horns that were straight as rods and grew from each side of their heads like a crown were indeed not cat-like, however. The horns reminded her of the kind she'd seen on a dragon in one of her childhood picture books.

They didn't have tails that she had seen, but their bodies were tall, long, and lanky, yet muscular and agile. Besides the color, she couldn't guess what their skin was like, whether it was soft, or smooth, or rough, though it certainly seemed tougher than a human’s. And their hair seemed thicker, like a mane that went along the center of their head and down their neck.

Like a cat. Or a dragon.

Yes, that's it—cat-dragons. A new species.

Aly opened her eyes, shook her head, and snickered. She made a few more marks in her drawing, shading around the bright eyes. It was funny how she had been amazed by Marzin when she first saw him, as well, but, for whatever reason, she hadn't thought to draw him. With this new nillium (whom she secretly nicknamed Blue because she didn't know his actual name), she had a strong urge to do so. While Marzin came off cold, stiff, and as personable as a rock, Blue was a fresh mystery; alluring, dark, and different.

A low, distant howling started down in one of the far caverns below. Aly closed her sketchbook and pocketed it in the small pouch on her belt. Several more howls joined the first, and, when Aly looked over the edge, she saw a few bodies crawling along the side of the cave face opposite her. Ugly creatures with mangy fur on their backs and small beady red eyes, resembling something between a fox and a monkey, with flat pointed ears and curved tails. They shrieked and hissed at each other, clambering over rocks. They had extremely long, sharp claws that helped them climb. Aly called them howlers.

She had drawn a few of them in her sketchbook. She had portraits of each person and alien creature she had encountered. She and her team had lost all their devices when they had been raided by the tradeship, their ISpads lost or destroyed, so there was no way to take pictures or document like they were supposed to. The others hadn't bothered to continue with the mission once the ship had been destroyed and they were taken as prisoners. The only thing the team worried about now was getting home.

Aly couldn't blame them, of course, but she still felt the need to have something to show for all their troubles. And, honestly, she greatly enjoyed drawing the others.

The howlers disappeared back into a cave opening as a low fog began to seep its way down into the earth. Aly looked up and could see nothing above save for the faded blots of lights. She should get back to work. Surely there were a few bots needing fixing. But all she could do was sit there and think about Blue.

She really needed to see him again so she could get a more accurate portrait.

A few floaters began to descend, as if pushed by the thick fog. One hit a low moving fan vent and sparked, then fell to the ground before her. Aly sighed and forced herself to her feet. She picked it up and sat back down with this strange mechanical jellyfish now in her lap. A wire was hanging out, and she moved to push it back in place. Her slender fingers worked gingerly to unknot the few string lights that had gotten tangled, and, using her mender, she fixed yet another hole on its head, something that seemed to happen often.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed a few miners watching her, one grex and a couple of krull, their feathers puffed as they chittered quietly, their talons pointing toward her. There were only a few groups around, mostly keeping to themselves, drilling and scraping into the rock around them. The ones who watched her did so out of curiosity, but they never came near nor did they ever speak. She tried once to initiate a conversation, but they weren’t interested. All they did was watch.

The floater tried to float away, but Aly caught it firmly and worked at another knot in its strings. It felt strange to be the one gawked at. To be the outsider. Funny how things could change so quickly. Now she understood how the other aliens must have felt being studied on the bases back home. The gyda were their first known contact, and they had taken it pretty well. But others...not so much. At least, if they somehow made it out of this dark underworld and back home, they could tell everyone how it felt being on the other side.

Of course, having to tell the foundation (and inevitably the government) that there was an advanced civilization whose domain reached several dozen known solar systems, unlike the handful humans oversaw, might open a very bad can of worms. WAR flashed pretty heavily in her head at the thought. It was something the team had barely discussed. Should they tell the others? Even if their whole mission was about finding advanced civilizations in the first place? Well, yes, except they hadn't actually been prepared for one of this magnitude. They had been looking in the realm of planet or planets, not...a portion of a galaxy.

Aly fixed the last knot then gently let the floater go. It went off to join the others, flashing its blue light.

She watched it go for a moment then turned her head and caught the eyes of one of the krull. Its hawk-eyes shifted to her hands and it gibbered something to its partner before turning away. Aly looked down at her hands also. They were dirty and full of calluses. She had gloves, but she used them sparingly. She always worked better without them, her slender fingers making it easier to work on tinier fixes that needed a more delicate touch.

She supposed it was why she had been assigned to be a mechanic for both the mission and now on Lethe Maws. She was good with her hands.

And really, she liked it. Though she preferred having a pencil or paintbrush in her hand instead of a screwdriver or mender.

The groups began to disperse, and Aly got a ping on her techband letting her know a fix was needed a few levels down in one of the lower, smaller sectors. She brought up her map and the holographic screen showed the location. She picked herself up and made for one of the narrow tunnels carved into the rock face. She passed through, making sure to not bump into others, then crossed a section bridge over to an elevator car. She took the elevator down, and it got noticeably darker.

When she exited the car, she found a large group of miners huddled in a circle, their heads bent as if looking down at something. A few others crouched before them, and Aly saw the medic symbol on the backs of their suits. As the crowd parted, Aly got a good glimpse of a body. As she moved closer, she saw it was a tylian, its gray shell now looking noticeably whiter. Its eyes—usually brownish-black—were now filmed over. It looked mauled. One of its feelers was gone.

The medics were taking samples and touching around as the crowd spoke in whispers. Aly heard some of the words.

"He was found in a lift coming up from the lower levels...he shouldn't have gone down," a lygin spoke.

"What do you think got him?" asked another.

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