Page 17 of Infala: The Alien's Bond
All they needed now was to stay that way.
“This way,” Heydar instructed, leading her from the wreck along a narrow strip of relatively passable soil.
Darla followed in a daze, knowing she should be freaking out but having short-circuited her panic response over the last day. One thing was for certain, she was glad she’d switched to her trainers after the party. Had she been abducted in heels, this would have been an utterly miserable experience. More so than it already was, anyway.
They walked for a minute then stopped. Darla turned back and looked at the piece of ship, seeing the alien tech from the outside for the first time where it lay amid the shattered trees and their scattered burgundy leaves.
The compartment was scorched to hell and back, with big chunks melted away. The bottom had blown out the ground where it landed, its thrusters using every last bit of power to stop their descent. As Heydar had said before things had gone utterly tits up, the ship had broken into multiple segments as intended, each designed to keep its cargo intact. That much she could tell from the relatively uniform edges of the section.
How many of the others had managed to land in one piece, and where, for that matter, was anyone’s guess. In any case, being treated as cattle had very likely resulted in their survival. The lack of windows and central location had allowed this piece to survive the attack. It sucked being an abductee, but at least this one thing had gone her way.
“Say what you will about those Raxxians, but they built a pretty solid ship,” she mused, a hint of adrenaline trickling back into her shocked system at the thought of the brutal aliens.
“A terrible race, but yes, they do possess ample skill both in design and construction. Better than most, in fact.”
“Then why did it crash? I’d think they’d be ready for attacks if that’s the case.”
Heydar shook his head. “The Grommix have been fighting the Raxxians a long, long time. They have learned their weaknesses and know how best to exploit them. In this case, they managed to disable the craft by targeting the drive systems and command center while layering focused attacks on crucial linkage systems.”
“How do you know? You were locked in with the rest of us.”
“Because it is what I would have done. That, and the flow of Grommix pulse ram energy flowed into the deeper elements of the ship. Clearly, they forced the shielding to fail and exploited the weak spot to break the connection points. Look there. Do you see the scorch marks?” he asked, pointing with his elongated digit.
Darla looked where he was pointing. “The whole thing is scorched.”
“No, look closer,” he said, leaning in and resting his forearm on her shoulder so her eyes lined up with his pointing finger. The heat of him was distracting, but he achieved his goal. She actuallydidsee what he was talking about now.
“The dented part, where the metal looks pushed in rather than melted off.”
“Precisely.”
“But why so precise? Why not blast away?”
Heydar stood tall and surveyed the area around them once more. “Because this appears to have been a rescue attempt.”
He turned and started walking. Darla hurried to catch up to him.
“Hang on. What do you mean, a rescue attempt?”
“I mean exactly that. The Raxxians are well known for taking prisoners of war. If the Grommix learned the location of one of their officers aboard this vessel, it is quite possible they thought a rescue attempt would be worth the risk.”
Now it was Darla’s turn to look around. Another alien race could very possibly be lurking around out there, and she had no idea if they were friendly. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and all of that, still held true, but what if you were no more than a snack to them?
“Are we safe here?”
“There is no way to tell for certain. I do not know where the other sections touched down. Regardless, I must move from this location quickly. Raxxians may make an attempt to retrieve their cargo, and I would be well served to not be here if they do.”
He began moving at a quick pace, forcing Darla to scramble after him.
“Hey, wait a minute. Where are we going?”
“We?”
“Yes, we. You just saved my life. You’re not seriously going to just leave me behind, are you?”
“You are free now, so pick a path and follow it. As for mine, you will just slow me down.”
“Oh, hell no. I can keep up.”
