Page 38 of Elanie & the Empath
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “Probably shock. I’ll freak out later, I’m sure.” Rising to my feet, I rubbed my hands together for warmth and tilted my head toward the door. “Hearing any voices? Anyone calling for you?”
“No. Why?” She gripped the armrests. “Do you think they’re out there?”
“It’s possible.” I peeked through the door again. “I don’t see anything right now. No lights, no fire, no signs of life at all. Just a lot of dark, and alotof snow.”
“I’ve never seen snow before.” Her voice was distant, wary. Maybe she was in shock too.
“We should go,” I said, searching the pod for anything we could take with us. “We need to find somewhere to sleep tonight.”
“Why wouldn’t we just sleep here?” She gestured toward the door. “It’s freezing out there.”
I yanked some cargo webbing off the wall. “This is true.”
“And you’re a Portisan,” she reminded me. “You’ll die, Sem. Quickly.”
Giving her a crooked grin, I asked, “If I did, would you miss me?”
“This isn’t a joke.”
I sighed. “You might be right, but I don’t think we have much of a choice.” I searched the overhead compartments one at a time, finding a basic toolkit, an even more basicfirst-aid kit, and a pulse-flare with one measly charge remaining.
“Of course we have a choice,” she insisted. “It is safe-ishin here. And certain death out there.”
Wrapping the cargo webbing around our provisions, I explained, “This pod is a bright, blinking beacon ofcome and get us.And considering how we got here, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say we’ll be better off not being found.” I sank to my knees, deactivating the maglocks on a storage box next to the control panel and throwing open the lid.
I stared inside the box while Elanie moved closer, the warmth from her body sinking into my skin. Craning my neck, I peered up at her. It was impossible, but despite crash landing on an alien planet, she didn’t have a hair out of place aside from a single stray strand that brushed against her neck.
“What are those?” she asked, kneeling beside me while I contemplated the risks versus benefits of brushing that stray strand back into place for her.
“MREs.” I pulled out a handful of foil packages. “Dehydrated meals. Not much, but it’s something.”
“Sem, we need to be realistic. I can withstand extreme cold, but you won’t survive long enough out there to miss a snack, let alone a meal.”
“Hey, I’m heartier than I look.” As I huffed air onto my freezing fingers, I added, “I think.” Digging back into the storage box, I moved an empty case of powdered orange drink to the side and grabbed a package of water purification tablets and some very expired multi-vitamin injectors. Then I gasped.
“What is it?” She lurched back. “Did something bite you?”
“Salvation,” I said, pulling out a set of metal bracelets and a shiny silver pouch. “Salvation bit me.”
“What are those?”
“Thermal generators and a survival blanket.” I gave the silver pouch a great big kiss. “I might not die out there after all.”
Ten minutes later, after scavenging everything of use that we could find in the pod, I wrapped the survival blanket around my shoulders, clamped the thermal generators to my wrists and ankles, and tied our supplies up in the cargo webbing. Hauling the makeshift satchel over my shoulder, I said, “Come on, let’s go before my shock wears off and I realize how completely screwed I am.”
“This is a terrible idea,” Elanie said. She reached for the satchel. “But let me carry this, at least.”
Helping settle the satchel over her shoulder, I prayed silently to the Saints that I wouldn’t end up being something else she’d need to carry.
The wind wasa merciless roar in my ears as ice shards stung my cheeks and neck. The snow was deep and cold and endless. But at least it covered our tracks. I wasn’t sure how long we’d walked, but it felt like an eternity. The low gravity, with no traction, no grip, made for slow going. Each step seemed to suspend me above the ground for a heartbeat before I floated back down. Like I could leap straight up into the stars if I just pushed hard enough.
What would that be like? I wondered. Floating among the stars. It seemed so peaceful up there. Silent. Calm.
Elanie was invincible in front of me, a juggernaut cutting tracks through the massive drifts in her pajamas and barefeet. I wished I still had the survival blanket so I could wrap her up inside it, but the wind ripped it away from me long ago. All I could do now was watch her power on, her pajama legs encrusted with snow, ice crystals clinging to each strand of her hair.
The wind screamed through my shirt, my pants, my bones. I’d lost feeling in my feet, even with the thermal generators. My hands were useless blocks of ice shoved into my pants pockets. I’d never been so cold. Why did my people have to be ectothermic? Why couldn’t I be more like Rax or Morgath, bound by heat-radiating muscle mass and thick green skin? Or maybe like an Argosian, built to withstand the long, brutal winters of their planet? Why was I made for sun and warm breeze and water?
“Just over there.” Her voice barely carried to me through the wind. “There’s a hollow in the mountain. It might be a cave.”
