Far Space (35 page)

“We’ll cut it,” Sue said. Rosh tested the spear’s strength, earning a low moan from the human. He pulled his hand back quickly.

“Leave the amot to Suse,” Myrna said, shooing Rosh further away.

Sue gently checked first one vest pocket then another, careful to not disturb Jennifer any more than was absolutely necessary. Finally, she found what she had been looking for. She had considered trying to use Jennifer’s knife, but thought the sawing action would hurt more than it helped. Instead, she decided to try the multi-tool she had seen Jennifer use on several occasions.

Using her kannai and three-fingered hands on the unfamiliar device, Sue was able to open the tool and after just two tries configured it into a sharp-edge vise. With Myrna and Rosh looking on, Sue positioned the two cutting blades a few centimeters above the ugly gash in Jennifer’s side. “Hold her, please.”

Rosh moved to pin the human’s legs while Myrna did her best to cradle the head while staying out of Sue’s way.

Sue sucked in the coppery-tasting water, pushed the thought that the same taste in the water would have spread far by now, and levered the cutting tool closed. The blades - honed to nano-edged sharpness - bit into the composite material of the spear shaft, severing it cleanly with barely a snap. Sue spun the multi-tool around in her dexterous hand, flipping the blades back and snapping the handle backwards, closing it neatly. “Gather some gna’an. We must staunch the blood loss.”

Myrna jetted back to the Genesis Pool.

Rosh glanced around the glowing inner sanctum. “Why did you bring the human here, Suse? This is beyond their knowledge –only the fine’aia fanaitai are to come here. You were to show the human only the outer parts of the marae.”

Sue did not look up from Jennifer, where she now was applying pressure to the wound. Ignoring Rosh’s question, Sue said, “Help me turn her – there may be a wound in the back as well as to her ha’of.”

Doing as he was asked, Rosh helped Sue balance the human above the floor and turn her. Sue ran a hand under the back side of Jennifer’s vest and
breathing device. When she pulled the appendage free she let out the jet of water she had been holding.

“It did not penetrate fully,” Sue said.

Rosh nodded and ran an appraising eye up and down the human’s body. “Perhaps, her inner cartilage stopped the human hima. These strangers skeletal structure is still a mystery to me.” He looked back to Sue and pressed gently, “Tell me, Suse, why you brought her to this place.”

After a moment of consideration, Sue replied, “Jennifer needed to know of the Son.”

“The Son came for the Soosuri,” Rosh said.

Shocked by her own passion, Sue spun to face her clan leader without letting up on the pressure she was exerting on Jennifer’s wound, and said, “The Son came for everyone! His sacrifice was for all intelligent beings! You must understand this Ra’atiri!”

“Peace, daughter,” Rosh said, raising two tentacles in a show of apology. “Now is not the time for a theological debate.” He looked down at the alien cradled in Sue’s arms and then up to Yu’os doing the same with the Son. His eyes still on the ceiling sculpture, he asked, “And what did she think?”

“Jennifer said she worships as we do,” Sue said softly. “Her own Great Father gave his son to save humans, to give them life, to give them the iho of aniyu life.”

Rosh’s eyes, v-shaped iris’s wide, snapped back to look at Sue, who was staring through the clear plate protecting the human’s face.

“This is…such a thing is not possible,” Rosh said slowly.

A deep keening echoed through the chamber.

Rosh and Sue looked to the entrance just as Myrna burst through, her arms laden with several long strands of the gna’an.

“They’re coming!” Myrna shrieked. “Makaro!”

Rosh jetted to look out the entrance. “Did you see them?”

“Ahe’,” Myrna sobbed. “But, they’re getting closer. Don’t you hear them?”

Sue could tell her old friend was shaken by the hunting cries. She was also impressed at how Myrna settled next to Jennifer and began wrapping the human’s upper body with the leafy gna’an fronds and supple stems despite her
fear. Still, Sue could feel Myrna’s shaking increase every time the older Soo brushed against her.

Sue looked over at Rosh, who had backed up from the door. His wicked talons were flexed outward, ready to strike. “We need another way back to the feti’i natata,” Sue said.

Rosh considered this for a moment before saying, “The retnon matting.”

“It’s wide open,” Myrna protested as she tied a final knot of the improvised bandage.

“It might work,” Sue said, glancing around the chamber. “But, don’t we have to go back through the marae to get to the amphitheater?”

“There is a doorway beyond that statue.” Rosh said and gestured at the statue Jennifer was leaning against.

Myrna followed Rosh’s direction and found a small doorway behind the worshiping figure. Pushing with all her might, Myrna was able to budge the door a few centimeters. Brilliant, jade-colored light flooded through the small opening. Myrna heaved, pushing with her arms against the wall and the door. It refused to move one more centimeter. “Rosh!”

Rosh quickly moved to Myrna’s aid.

The growl of the hunting cry resonated off the stone walls.

Rosh took up position and tried to force the door open.

Myrna looked around the worshiping statue to the sanctum entrance.

“Help me, Myrna!” Rosh said, a fresh urgency in his voice, “Before it’s too late!”

Together, the two Soosuri were able to force the protesting door open until there was enough room to get the human though.

Sue gently lifted Jennifer higher and carefully angled her awkward parcel around the statue and toward the doorway. She felt the hunter’s presence before she saw it as a disturbance in the current behind her. “Rosh!” Sue pushed Jennifer’s limp form through the water toward the other Soosuri.

Not pausing to watch whether or not her friends were able to catch the human, Sue jetted to the center of the room where she snatched up the broken spear shaft with its razor barb. Armed, she spun to face the door.

“Makaro!” Sue chattered, both identifying the dreaded creature and cursing it with the same word.

The makaro, easily three times as large as Sue, was probing the inside of the doorway with its four thickly muscled arms. Jagged talons scraped against the stone floor and wall. From Sue’s point of view, the rest of the creature was all teeth and gapping maw.

Sue spread her tentacles and clutched the spear shaft tightly. She screamed a war cry, guttural and primal in its challenge.

The makaro growled back, turning its full attention to the soosuri with a challenging, booming cry. Wiggling its snout through the doorway, the creature found it was too large to enter the room. As it shoved and maneuvered to get its bulk through the entryway, the beast made the mistake of taking its full attention from its prey. Distracted for an instant by a fresh concentration of blood sucked into its gills, it’s excited rage made it careless.

Choosing her target carefully, Sue shot across the chamber, the thin shaft slicing through the water ahead of her.

The hunter caught the movement and opened its maw in preparation to catch the impudent prey which had chosen to attack rather than flee, as most did.

Spinning in a flail of arms and body designed to confuse the makaro, Sue stayed just out of its snatches. At that same time, she managed to drive the spear shaft directly into one of the creature’s eyes, driving it deep until it was embedded in the stiff cartilage which made up most of the creatures skeleton.

Howling with pain unlike anything it had experienced in its long life, the makaro thrashed madly, catching Sue with one its wicked claws. It still thrashed even as Sue pulled away and succeeded in driving the shaft deeper into its own body several times as hit the door frame. With a final crash into the lintel, the makaro retreated to the creation pool.

Sue managed to propel herself back to the doorway where Myrna and Rosh were still trying to get Jennifer through without knocking her injured side against the doorjamb.

Myrna turned to look at Sue, her eyes wide with fear. Seeing the gash on Sue’s side, Myrna forgot the human for a moment and rushed over to her friend. Myrna wrapped her arms around Sue, cradling and probing the wound at the same time. Clicking with concern, Myrna said, “Silly brave Suse, what have you done?”

Sue had to concentrate to focus her eyes on Myrna. Painfully, she turned to take in Jennifer, now all the way on the other side of the door, thanks to Rosh’s maneuvering. Sue locked eyes with Myrna. “Save Jennifer. Save my taio.”

The hideous cry of the wounded makaro had faded to an occasional screech but was suddenly answered by more fresh cries.

Myrna turned her head as a new chorus picked up the hunting cry. “More of them, Great Yu’os, Suse, there are more.”

Sue heard her friend but it sounded as if Myrna was far away in murky water. Her vision blurred as she felt Myrna pulling her through the hidden door. Suddenly, the water all around her was a brilliant jade color, its brightness shocking after the dim glow of the inner sanctum. Sue let her eye covers drift closed; satisfied she must be on the way to meet Yu’os, to finally and enjoy the iho of life in the presence of the Son.

Jennifer awoke to the sound of distorted screams reverberating through her skull. Opening her eyes proved difficult and required greater concentration than normally was needed for the simple act. Finally, fighting against the bright, aquamarine light, Jennifer forced her eyes to open in a squint and found herself in the middle of a nightmare.

Two Soosuri were whirling, their long arms moving like striking snakes, their defensive spines deployed and being put to savage use. The center of their attention was a monstrous creature with a huge mouth full of teeth and four huge arms. As the attacking beast used it claws, trying to snag the Soo, Jennifer realized the Soo were Rosh and Myrna

Giving in to her first instinct, Jennifer attempted to swim away from the creature which was obviously intent on eating them all. Hot knife blades cut up through her shoulder and chest and plunged down her legs. The searing pain caused Jennifer to scream inside her face mask. Her vision turned red and she had to choke down the vomit rising in her throat. Her renewed screaming
cut out the battle cries issuing from the three sea creatures locked in a life and death battle just a few meters away.

Jennifer took in the makeshift bandage around her chest and sides. The memory of Tom spearing her in the worship chamber came rushing back.

“Sue…”

Her movements circumscribed by intense pain, Jennifer turned her head enough to see Sue floating nearby. Even from a distance she could see the nasty gash along Sue’s lower abdomen.

“No!” Jennifer screamed, the shock of seeing her injured friend drowned out her own pain.

Fighting against the waves of nausea, Jennifer used her left arm to pull herself over the sandy sea floor.

A deafening screech brought her attention back to the struggle between Soosuri and monster now raging directly above her head. Both Rosh and Myrna, looking much worse for wear, were trying to keep the creature away – slashing and jabbing with their twenty centimeter spines and snapping their sharp beaks at whatever part of the beast they could reach.

The creature saw the injured human and lunged for her.

Jennifer pulled out her dive knife and arched back under the creature’s onslaught. Ignoring the pain piercing her side, she jammed the blade into the beast’s belly, slitting it open from one end to the other as it sailed past.

The attacker died with a horrifying bellow.

When Jennifer was able to open her eyes again, she saw the other two Soo swimming through the swirl of blood and offal drifting away from the sinking enemy. They joined Jennifer at Sue’s side.

“We must go!” the translator spoke in Jennifer’s ears. The device was familiar enough with the two other Soosuri to recognize the speaker as Rosh and gave him a correspondingly masculine voice.

“We will not be able to fight another makaro if they come,” Myrna said, her gills fluttered rapidly.

“What’s wrong with, Sue?” Jennifer asked, watching the two Soo as they scanned the distance as far as visibility allowed.

After the translator clicked and burbled its version of Jennifer’s question, Myrna looked over into Jennifer’s eyes and said, “Suse attacked another makaro.”

“She gave us time to save you,” Rosh said, as he wrapped his arms around Jennifer and pulled her up. Together they jetted around a jumble of coral.

Jennifer gritted her teeth as Rosh’s grip dug into her side. Myrna was doing her best to pull Sue beside them. Jennifer thought she was about to lose her fragile grip on consciousness when a horrendous thundering cry passed over her and the Soosuri.

“We are too late,” Rosh said, kicking in more speed despite his statement.

Looking past her feet as best she could, Jennifer caught sight of six dark shapes emerging from the distant haze.

“Makaro,” Rosh said, pouring on what little additional speed he could muster..