Page 58 of Crash Landing
“Then they just started pulling you out?”
“When the gek showed up again, yes. They needed the military. More than that, they needed people who understood the gek. Anyone born after the Thinning has barely ever seen them.”
“That’s wild. I can’t even imagine. Was it weird coming out of stasis?”
“It felt like nothing. I didn’t really know my parents or sister. I had no one. And when you wake from stasis, it is like no time has passed at all. It was… nothing.”
I stopped, staring at Saleuk until he realized I wasn’t walking, and turned around.
“That’s horrible,” I said softly. “I’m so sorry.”
The corner of his lip curled up and he shook his head. “Don’t be sorry. I’m one of the lucky ones, remember?”
“Yeah, but I’m still sorry. I’ve seen darkness, but I’ve never been part of a galactic war. The human population isn’t dwindling.”
“No, you’re overpopulated. Your planet is crowded and the wilderness is depleted. Your people frown on touch. On relationships. On reality, even. That is a darkness of its own kind.”
I wasn’t sure why that particular statement hit me so hard, but it did. I watched him, yearning for his touch. Thinking of going back to Earth where I had no one truly on my side save for Thomas, who could never be anything more than a friend, made me sick almost.
What did I have to return to? I was excited to get off of Phesah, but then what? I wasn’t excited to go back to Earth.
We continued in silence a while longer. I was too out of breath to really carry a conversation, but my thoughts were moving just fine. I kept thinking about the things Saleuk said. The past he had long before I was even born. I wanted to cry for him. Even more, I wanted to do simple things. Hug him. Hold his hand. Experience his presence because he’d become an addiction.
Then I thought about that morning when I had Saleuk in my fist, trembling through an orgasm I’d given him. I’d never done that for a man. Not outside a simulation. Replaying the moment in my head made my sex throb and I really didn’t need that while we were hiking. Especially with a ledge coming up ahead of us. It wasn’t a narrow path by any means, but it was narrow enough to see the edge… and the long, long way down into what looked like a quarry.
When the low rumbling sound of distant thunder shook the air, I shrunk in on myself a little. A light rain started, pelting my cheeks with small, cold droplets.
“We’re hiking higher than I thought,” I panted, glancing at the quarry below and then the dark clouds above.
“We’re making good time.”
“Do you think we’ll make it before the eclipse?”
“We will make it with time to spare.”
“I hope we don’t have to wait too long for your men to pick us up. I might go crazy if we have to sleep here another night.”
“If it makes you feel any better, wildlife here sticks to lower elevations. Except for the leka.”
“What’s that?”
“Birds with fleshy wings. But they only fly during the day to absorb light. Then they dive down beneath the clouds again.”
“They wouldn’t eat us, would they?”
“They are barely the size of your head,” he laughed.
“Well, that’s good. Between the bugs and the spider thing, I’ve seen plenty of Phesah’s dangerous wildlife.”
The rain picked up, turning the land into a wet, chilly landscape.
I was soaked again…
More thunder rolled somewhere in the sky, closer that time.
“The tall creature you talked about before,” Saleuk continued, unphased. “It’s a lepoth’pakri. They are very rare. Very docile. My people used to hunt them hundreds of cycles ago until they were nearly extinct. And then they became a protected species. It’s part of the reason that compound existed. To research them and rehabilitate them. Seeing one is a great honor. A good omen.”
“Maybe that’s why we’re alive. Now I wish I could have seen it better, but—”
