Cartlidge: Rise of the Imperfect Flame (11 page)

As the days went on I discovered that Sapphire knew a lot
about Anth culture, despite her strange amnesia. Each day she taught me more
and more. According to her, Anths were the first sentient species to exist,
excluding angels. This was a rather interesting claim, since Rovanekren records
would say differently. They often called themselves “people of life,” much like
how humans often refer to themselves as “man” or “mankind.” They lived in large
individual clans on obscure planets all over the galaxy, and negotiated
resources with each other through bartering and reason. Though peaceful, they
remained isolated and distant from each other, only unifying in times of peril.
From what I remembered from my research, slaver raids were a common example.
The clans were run much like ancient human tribes. The strongest, most
respected male worked as the chief, while the other men and women would gather
resources and maintain the village. This simple lifestyle left little room for
technological advancement, which meant that most Anths spent their entire lives
oblivious to even the most basic forms of electricity and tech, let alone the
sub-atomic fusion energy that powered most ships. I pondered their lifestyle
for some time. They were guaranteed freedom from the burden of safeguarding
their planet’s health, but at the cost of their own. Anths lived an average of
eighty years, but medicine could double
that.
Also,
these Anth tribes are bound to their planet, meaning that should the planet die
on its own, they would all die with it. It is a horrifying fate that humanity
has been battling for centuries.

“Oh, and one more thing!”
Sapphire
took another bite of her fruit. I limited her to five fruits a day, to keep her
from getting sick, with the promise that she would have as much fish as she’d
like. “The guys in most Anth villages wear long kilts with no shirt. And the
women, well, I’m supposed to have much longer sleeves than this.”

“Why?”

“For the guys?
I’m not sure. Pride,
maybe? The bigger is the alpha shark?”

“Sharks don’t usually travel in packs.”

“You sure?
I thought they were the
ones with the ears and tail like mine.”

“Those are wolves!” I laughed. I was surprised she had
bothered to memorize such a thing.

She waved away my correction and continued. “Anyway, I just think
its
weird, though.”

“What do you mean?”

She paused. “How to put it… Anths are very modest, or at
least the women are. Most would condemn me for showing just my arms.” She took
another bite. I looked away as she ate. I wondered if Sapphire knew what the
word “manners” meant.

“Hmmm… There are some humans like that. Roughly a fifth of
the population, I think.”

“With that said,” She finished her meal and stood up, “if
you touch me while I’m sleeping, I’ll carve the word ‘shame’ into your chest.”
She turned and walked off.

“Where are you going?”

“The ship!
We need more supplies,
don’t we?” I rose from my spot, doused the fire, and followed. I estimated that
another three
month’s worth
of supplies
were
hidden in the wreckage of the ship. We had already
picked the surviving crew’s quarters clean, and half of the cargo hall had
collapsed. The other half, however, was still intact. If we managed it
carefully we could make it last for an entire year. I took advantage of the
trip to recharge my armor’s battery. The ship’s engine was gone, but much of
the energy still flowed through the ship. As long as the ship didn’t turn into
a nuclear bomb, I would have enough energy to power my armor for five years. I
also kept a radiation scanner with me during the trips. Luckily, we haven’t
found a leak yet, but I didn’t want to take any chances. We returned to our
camp, carrying a week’s worth of food, medicine, tarps, blankets, lanterns, and
water purifiers.

Sapphire began storing the food while I sorted the other supplies.
The blankets were sent directly to the shelter, while the medicine was put in a
small, watertight container. Sapphire placed the food carefully in the crates
on the ground. The planet’s fauna didn’t seem capable of reaching our camp, so
our only worry was contamination.

“So what’s so important about charging that armor, anyway?”
Sapphire sealed the crate and began climbing the ladder to our shelter.

“Well, the helmet helps me keep track of movement, see in
the dark, improve my aim, provide oxygen if there’s not enough in the air, and
a lot more.” I followed her up the tree and fished the armor out from a fork in
the branches. I then began connecting the armor to the mesh. There were several
thin wires embedded in the suit that ran electricity from the cuirass’s battery
to the armor pieces. “It also plays recordings, including music. I only have a
few songs on here, though.”

Sapphire sat quietly, and began to play with her tail. “Why
don’t you have communication equipment?”

“Our handheld communicators are more reliable, harder to
break, and easier to use.”

“But apparently not waterproof…”

“Why does it matter? There’s no one to contact out here.”

“You don’t know that! What if a ship flies by?”

“The communicator doesn’t have enough strength in itself to
break the atmosphere. That’s why we need to find that beacon in the ship.”

“Well, let’s go get it then.” Sapphire crawled past me and
jumped to the ground. I grabbed my knife and followed. The sky was terribly
dark for this time of day. A storm was approaching. Thunder could be heard in
the distance. We made it only half the distance before the wind began to fight
against us. Abandoning our quest, we turned back for sanctuary of our shelter.
The wind was soon reinforced with a downpour, and lightning flashed all around
us. We lost our trust in both the shelter and the tree it was in, and instead
huddled amongst the crates, like frightened children. Sapphire threw a large
tarp over the crates and tied it down. I grabbed my armor plating and made sure
it was all tied tightly to the tree. Our new shelter kept out the wind and most
of the rain but did nothing to keep the ground from becoming cold and
saturated. We tried to cover the ground with a tarp at first, but it only
allowed the water to collect. My armor mesh was waterproof and insulated, but
Sapphire was completely exposed, making her vulnerable to hypothermia. The
storm raged for another hour, and Sapphire began to shiver. I was starting to
freeze, myself.

“Was the last storm this bad?”

“No, this one is worse. The last one was pretty bad,
though.” She continued to shiver. Her hair had only just finished drying from
when the storm first started. “Do we have any lanterns?”

“They’re all in the shelter.”

“So we have no way of keeping warm?”

“Well…” I thought about body heat, and when she slept next
to me the first night to keep me warm. I knew she hated sleeping like that, so
I hesitated to bring it up. Sapphire glared at me, as if she had read my mind.

“The ground’s wet.”

“Two of these crates are empty.” I climbed out of the
shelter and began opening the crates. “If we take the lids of these two, and
set them like mattresses,” I pulled them into the shelter. “It should be high
enough to keep us dry. We’ll use one blanket to cover the lids, and the other
to cover ourselves.” I set the lids accordingly.

“Fine.”
She pouted while waiting
for me to finish the makeshift bed. I took the side closest to the crate.
Hesitantly, Sapphire joined me. “Don’t touch me.”

“I won’t, but you have to get closer for this to work.”
Slowly, Sapphire came closer. We were now well within arm’s
reach
of each other. Eye contact became nonexistent. Thankfully the cold began to
recede, and the storm grew peaceful. After
awhile
,
Sapphire curled up into a ball, her knees almost pushing into my stomach. The
rhythmic sound of the rain was hypnotizing. I looked at Sapphire, who was now
sound asleep. The strange little Anth seemed very peaceful when she slept. Her
mouth hung slightly open, and a fang peeked out. I caught myself smiling. I
wondered what the smile was for, and doubted all answers that came to mind.
Eventually the question carried me to sleep.

I slept for a long time. The rain was soothing, the warmth
was pleasant. Slowly I began to realize that it was well past morning. The
storm no longer threatened us with its fury, but had continued through the
night. I opened my eyes to find Sapphire still curled up in her little ball
only now her head now rested against my shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes.
The peaceful look on her face was immediately replaced with one of disgust. She
drove her feet into my stomach with all her strength, forcing me into the wall
of a crate. I curled up in pain while her body extended beyond the lid we slept
on, causing her to tilt head first into the water. Immediately she shot upwards
from the shock of the cold, catapulting droplets of water into the air. Both
her ears stood straight up, as if frozen in place. I looked around our small
shelter. The ground was completely flooded. I crawled out of our flooded
shelter to see what was happening. The whole area was flooding, and the storm
wasn’t showing signs of letting up anytime soon. The knee-deep water flowed
eastward, towards the cliff. It was likely a waterfall twice the size of Niagara
Falls by now. Sapphire exited behind me, her tail wrapped around her so that it
would not sit in the water. I listened for thunder, but only the rain was
audible. Sapphire had already climbed back into the tree, and lit one of the
lanterns.

“We have to bring the food up there,
then
tie the crates to the tree!” I shouted over the roar of the water.

“Then you do it! I’m done with water!” She replied. I shook
my head and began carrying the packaged food up in small amounts. Anything wet
was thrown out. The remaining food was placed in smaller containers and wedged
between branches and the trunk. I used our remaining rope to tie the larger
crates to the base of the tree, forming a crude, makeshift dock. Finally I
climbed into the tree, exhausted. Sapphire sat in the corner, silently glaring
at me while she wrapped her arms around her legs.

“We’re not going to be able to scavenge much in this storm.”
I rested against the trunk and removed my helmet. “We’ll have to work with what
we have, and try to fish if
its
necessary.” Sapphire continued to stare at me.

“Look, I didn’t touch you. You’re the one who used me as a
pillow.” I argued. Sapphire only huffed in reply,
then
turned so that I was out of her line of sight. I gave up and began working on
organizing our supplies. As the day drew on, the rain continued steadily,
preventing us from working productively. The water rose another three feet then
tapered off. We were trapped in our tree, with no high ground to escape to.
Sapphire remained care free, with the exception of her intolerable boredom.

“Would you like to hear the song I have on here?” I pointed
to my equipped helmet.

Sapphire sat upright. “Sure, why not?” She crawled towards
the ladder and descended to our new dock, allowing me to remove my armor mesh
in peace. I quickly did so, clothed myself, and set the armor out so that the
helmet could be audible. Sapphire climbed up just as the song started. It was
my favorite one; slow, yet emotional. Sapphire was disinterested at first, but
quickly became transfixed on the song. She listened intently to the words, and
their meaning. Memories of the last time I heard this song darted across my
mind. I listened to it while driving to the theatre. I smiled. It was almost
funny, how such a simple decision led me to this moment. I wondered where I
would be if the power had not gone out, and I continued playing my video game.
The song burst into a fast paced bridge to the final chorus. Sapphire twitched
slightly in reaction. The song then settled down again, before finally ending.

“Well?”

“
Mmmm
, I like it.”

“It’s a good song, isn’t it?”

“It’s ok, but really I just can’t remember the last time I
even listened to music.” She laughed. It was surprising how much she enjoyed
the song. While I prepared our next meal, Sapphire asked me to replay the song.
The helmet sang out over and over well into the night. I grew tired of the
song, yet Sapphire insisted that it continue. She never even bothered to listen
to any of the others. I let it play three more times before I finally had
enough and turned the system off. Sapphire protested, forcing me to lie about
the battery dying. She reluctantly accepted the excuse,
then
curled up to fall asleep. I lied down to rest as well, but the song echoed in
my mind, keeping me awake for some time.

A few more days passed by. It has been a month now, I think,
since we crashed. Time has become difficult to measure in this eternal storm as
day and night were indistinguishable from each other. Nothing changed during
the storm. We could only keep track of time by the dwindling of our food.
Sapphire slept often, while I spent most of my time on the dock, observing the
world we were trapped on. I wondered, as I examined the plant’s resiliency to
the water. I saw the amphibious creatures taking full advantage of the storm,
exploring new areas, searching for pockets where the water would eventually
settle. I marveled at the similarities and differences between this world and
my own. This thought reminded me of home. I found memories of a life that now
seemed alien to me. I could not even remember what direction I wanted to take
my life. Now, however, it seemed as if life had chosen for me.

The sound of splashing water wrenched me free from my
thoughts. Something was thrashing about just off my dock. The water calmed and
the location of the thrashing turned red with blood. The upper half of an
animal bobbed above the surface for a few seconds, before it was pulled back
under. Something began to circle the tree. It was serpent-like, yet the creature
swam forward gracefully by alternating dozens of small fins. The serpent
continued to circle the tree, appearing only for a moment before diving beneath
the water again. I crawled towards the trunk of the tree,
then
turned to find that the creature was nowhere to be found.