Page 8 of Vylit: Glowing for Her
"Central beacon hub," I confirmed, propelling us closer with a powerful thrust of my lower appendages. I’d seen similar beacon traps during war when used against scouts and small special force teams. "Dangerous. Pirates built these to locate mates across sectors among other things."
Maya twisted in my grip, her eyes alight with scientific fervor behind her Breather. "Then we break it. I'm nobody's fucking homing beacon."
Her determination triggered a possessive surge through my glow patterns. The translucent skin along my forearms blazed electric blue, lighting our path as we entered the cave. Water currents whispered ancient warnings against my gills. This place had witnessed many hunts, many captures. The thought of Maya being taken by pirates made my secondary heart chamber seize.
Inside, the cave walls throbbed like a living organism. Thousands of bio-organic transmitters pulsed in hypnotic rhythm, each one sampling Maya's genetic resonance and broadcasting it across known space. Her eyes widened as she took in the technological horror show.
"Holy shit," she breathed, the Breather barely containing her shock. "It's a synthetic coral colony. The entire structure is one massive signal amplifier."
I released her waist, keeping only our hands connected. Her fingers tightened around mine as she drifted toward the central node cluster. My mate was captivated, and her free hand moved to investigate a polyp that throbbed with life.
"Don't touch directly," I warned, pulling her back slightly. "They respond to genetic material. Skin contact will strengthen the signal."
Maya nodded, using a small collection tool from her belt instead. She scraped a sample from one node, bringing it close to her face mask for examination. "These aren't natural. They're engineered,a hybrid of biological material and quantum transmitters."
I accessed the genetic memory of my warrior training. "Mate pirates design them to detect compatibility signatures. Your presence has activated them after dormancy."
"Can we jam it?" She spun toward me, eyes narrowed with determination. "Every signal has a frequency that can be disrupted."
Her adaptability shocked me. Most mates, when first claimed, spent cycles in denial or panic. Yet here she was, analyzing her hunter's tools, planning countermeasures. My admiration flared across my chest in bright gold patterns.
"Possibly." I pointed to the central column where the nodes clustered most densely. The only time I’d encountered them before was on a planet with almost no water. They’d been different structurally. My home planet of Mavtros didn’t have a pirate issue… we it hadn’t. I hadn’t been back since before the war. I returned my attention back to my mate as I tried to work through the issue. "The hub draws power from thermal vents below. If we alter the resonance pattern..."
Maya was already moving, her slender form darting through knee high water with surprising grace for a species not evolved for aquatic environments. She examined the base structure.
"The calcium carbonate matrix has fracture points," she called back, pointing to hairline cracks in the foundation. "If we introduce enough dissonance at these junctures, we might collapse the signal coherence."
I joined her, bringing my superior strength to bear on the weakest section. Together we worked in silent harmony… her identifying structural flaws, me applying precisely calibrated force. The nodes began to flutter erratically as we disrupted their formation.
Maya laughed, a sound of fierce triumph that sent waves of heat through my biolights. "It's working! The signal's destabilizing."
She was right. The pulsing rhythm faltered, nodes flickering like dying stars across the cave walls. The beacon's hum descended in pitch, then scattered into discordant fragments. For a moment, I allowed myself to hope.
Then I felt it… the subtle vibration in the water that preceded disaster. My warrior senses stretched beyond the cave, detecting the unmistakable throb of approaching engines. Multiple vessels, closing fast.
"Too late," I growled, every luminous pattern on my body flashing danger signals. "Pirates. Three ships minimum."
Maya's expression hardened behind her Breather. "How long until they reach us?"
"Minutes. Maybe less." I scanned the cave entrance, calculating. "They've locked onto your signature."
"Can we outrun them?"
The desperation in her voice tore at me. I could outswim most hunters, but not while carrying her, not against ships. And I would never leave her.
"No." The decision crystallized in my mind. I surged toward the cave entrance, dragging her with me. "But I can buy us time."
Before she could protest, I channeled energy into my forelimbs. My biolights concentrated, heating the water around specific points in the cave ceiling. The thermal shock cracked ancient stone. With calculated precision, I struck the weakened structure, sending massive chunks of rock cascading across the entrance.
The cave mouth sealed in a cloud of silt and debris, trapping us inside but blocking immediate access to the pirates. Maya's eyes widened in shock, her body tensing against mine as darkness engulfed us. Only my bioluminescence provided light now, casting her face in ghostly blue.
"What the fuck?" she sputtered. "You just trapped us!"
"Temporarily." I pulled her deeper into the cave, away from the blocked entrance. "My ship can cut through from above once they track our position. This buys us time."
"Time for what?" Her voice sharpened with fear and anger. "To sit here while they figure out how to dig us out?"
Before I could answer, voices filtered through the rock barrier—distorted but clear enough to understand. The translator sticker unhelpfully translated… accurately for once.
