Meru, page 20
Kaliyu descended as fast as zie dared. The patches of exposed skin from their earlier exercise now burned. Zie refused to let the pain distract zir too much, keeping zir attention on the landing path zie had highlighted from orbit. The passing kilas felt like masans, but zie forced zirself to maintain the correct speed. Zie lacked Vaha’s aeronautical capabilities. Zie had to keep to a precise trajectory to land close enough to zir friend to help.
At last, zir speed slowed, and zie reached the lower atmosphere. The heat of friction gave way to the cool Meruvin air, easing the pain of surface burns. Kaliyu glided the remainder of the way to Vaha, settling on Meru’s ground with only a few running steps with zir hands. Zie slithered over to zir friend, who opened zir eyes.
“I can’t move,” Vaha sent, the emtalk signal weak and garbled.
“Hush,” Kaliyu replied and handed Vaha the water bladder. “Your tail is badly hurt. I’m going to give you some painkillers, then splint it as best I can. I’ve alerted the construct that we might need help lifting you to orbit, but it will take a while for them to arrive. In the meantime, drink up. It’ll take your body a few kilas to electrolyze the water and replenish your hydrogen bladders. If you feel up to it, I’m hoping you can get us off the ground. Once we’re high enough, I can lift you to orbit.”
Vaha nodded and drank while Kaliyu laid the splints along zir tail, then injected the analgesics. Vaha’s phores flashed white with shock and pain a few times, but zie managed to lie still as Kaliyu set zir tail straight. Kaliyu worked as quickly as zie could, wrapping Vaha’s tail with high-temperature fabric. The injury looked worse than it had from orbit. If Vaha had sustained internal damage, they would need to get zir off the surface as quickly as possible. The fluid in a pilot’s body behaved badly outside of microgravity.
As Kaliyu packed up the medical kit, Vaha grabbed zir arm.
“Did you tell Jayanthi what happened to me?” Vaha sent.
“No. Why would I do that? She can’t help us.”
“My incarn—I can’t access it. It might already be dead. She’ll be panicked if she doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” Kaliyu couldn’t believe zir friend’s attitude. Vaha had taken zir infatuation with the human too far. “Forget about her! Focus on getting yourself safely to orbit. If you lose circulation to your tail, you’ll need a full rebirth before you can fly again. Let’s get you taken care of first; then you can worry about your precious incarn.”
Vaha grimaced. Zie tried to haul zirself up on zir arms, zir face contorted with pain, zir phores glowing so white that they shone in the midday sun.
“Let me help you,” Kaliyu said. “Put your arms around my neck.” Zie struggled for a hectas with the awkwardness of managing both zir own bulk and Vaha’s. “Gravity take this planet and everything on it!”
Once Vaha was securely strapped against zir chest, Kaliyu rolled onto zir back, taking care to keep zir wings off the rocky soil. The bladders along Vaha’s flanks ballooned outward.
“Do you think you can do this?” Kaliyu sent.
Vaha nodded, face set in a determined grimace. Air blew against Kaliyu’s tail in a forceful jet. A massive cloud of dust rose around them, and Kaliyu sent a silent apology to the planet for the damage they were causing. As they lifted clear of the canyon, Kaliyu pushed as much hydrogen into zir internal bladders as zie could. Vents would do little with such dense atmosphere around them, but as soon as the air thinned, zie could take over.
Meru’s surface dropped away from them. They arced up into the violet sky, higher and higher, toward the base of the clouds.
Vaha went limp, slumping into Kaliyu’s arms. They began to plummet.
“Vaha, wake up!”
Zie tried shaking zir friend’s body to no avail. Kaliyu spread zir wings, hoping to stall their free fall. If zie expended gas, it would be a waste. Zie would run out of hydrogen and water long before they reached escape velocity. Gravity take this thrice-made planet and the womb that birthed it! Think fast, Kaliyu—what can you do?
Nishadas! Quickly, Kaliyu tried the bodym access codes that Vaha had given zir before zir final test. They worked! Zie flexed Vaha’s muscles until zie found the air bladders, and then zie squeezed. It was enough to slow their fall, enough to buy Kaliyu time to understand these new organs and how to work them. Zie flew by intuition, venting down and back, letting the bladders suck in Meru’s atmosphere and thrust it out behind them.
As their speed increased, zie oriented them so Vaha was once more on top. Their bodies lifted up toward the clouds again. Zie hoped that Vaha wouldn’t wake. If they had to fight for control, they might fall again.
They continued their upward trajectory. Kaliyu breathed hard, willing zir body to process water faster. The sky deepened into rich purple, and Vaha’s air jets began to falter. They had reached an altitude where Kaliyu’s vents could function again.
Zie didn’t give in to relief. Not yet, not until I have us safely in orbit. Kaliyu thrust hard with zir vents, rotating so that Vaha’s body was toward the planet and putting them on course to their platform. Their surroundings darkened to indigo, then black. The release from Meru’s well was as liberating as escaping a tight berth. Zie let go of Vaha’s bodym and closed zir vents to rest for a few hectas.
At last, Kaliyu could see their packs and the observation array. Zie adjusted their velocity to match and then carefully guided Vaha’s body into zir berth. Zie placed a hose over zir friend’s mouth and attached a container of medical microconstructs to the other end.
They confirmed zir suspicions: in addition to a concussion, Vaha had sustained serious injuries to zir tail and wing. Zie would need a pilot-size womb to heal zir—larger than the child-size version on the planet—and Meru’s system had none. They had to return to Sol.
Kaliyu could tow Vaha to the RT point. Zie wasn’t sure if zir friend had the mental strength to perform the transit, but if the medical kit had something to make Vaha unconscious, Kaliyu could pull them both through. They would have to abandon the observation post, leaving that human alone on the planet doing the Nivid only knew what.
Or . . . perhaps this is it, the opportunity I’ve been watching and waiting for. The chance to fulfill zir promise to Pushkara. Zie could use this as an excuse to end the surface mission well before the human’s health was proven.
Kaliyu would have to make another landing to pick her up or send the construct to do so if they could wait that long. Zie had a human-support chamber. Zie could load the human into it, though it hadn’t been tested or equipped like Vaha’s. Once in orbit, if necessary, zie could use Vaha’s bodym again, open zir friend’s mouth, and let the human travel back to Sol inside Vaha. If zie released the contaminant, then by the time someone returned the human to Meru, they would discover the breach of protocol. Hamsa’s project would be doomed.
Kaliyu switched zir emtalk channel to the human shelter on Meru’s surface. The system prompted zir to choose a voice. Audio. How quaint. Kaliyu picked one at random and greeted the human.
After a small eternity, she answered. “Hello? Who’s speaking?”
“This is Kaliyu, your observer.”
“Kaliyu . . . Is something wrong? Where’s Vaha?”
She could reason, at least.
“I’m afraid we have a serious situation. Vaha did some aerobatics and ended up with a badly injured tail and wing as well as a concussion.”
“What! How? When?”
Kaliyu ignored her questions. “Zie needs medical attention that we can only get at Sol. I have to tow zir to the transit point, which means that you can’t stay on Meru. The project states that you must remain under observation by an alloy at all times. I’m coming to pick you up.” Zie did a quick estimation. “Be ready in ten kilas. Pack any essentials in the meantime.” By then, the construct would be available to help zir launch.
“Wait! What about Vaha—I mean, zir incarn? And the womb? We can’t leave them here.”
Kaliyu glanced at zir friend. Zie should retrieve the incarn, for Vaha’s sake. “The womb will have to stay. I can’t tow it and carry Vaha at the same time. The incarn, though . . . can you bring it with you? If you do, we can transfer it into Vaha’s body so they’re together.”
“I—I’ll figure out a way. For Vaha’s sake. Can I talk to zir?”
“Zie is unconscious, probably from the pain. You have only ten kilas. Be ready!”
“Wait—”
Kaliyu closed the channel. Zie had nothing more to say, and zie needed to make zir own preparations. Zie started a final backup of the planet-side data, then studied their gear. The two packs were large. Zie wouldn’t be able to carry both and Vaha while navigating thamity gradients. Zie filled the extra space in zir pack with the bhojya and water stores from Vaha’s. That way zie could wear the pack on zir back as usual and carry Vaha in front as zie had before.
The backup done, Kaliyu removed the data cube and tucked it into zir belt along with all the others. Zie pulled out the contaminant device from Pushkara. Curtailing the project might be enough, but Kaliyu didn’t want to take any chances. Zie activated it, programmed it to land between the human shelter and Vaha’s womb, and let it go. The passive device would arrive well after zie had picked up the human. The orbital platform’s cameras would witness its arrival, but without a fresh data cube, they wouldn’t store more than a kilas’s worth of data. By the time anyone returned to the site, the device would have dissolved into biowaste, the recorded evidence overwritten.
Kaliyu took a few deep breaths of water and waited for all zir bladders to refill. Zie had expended a lot of hydrogen on the way up. Zie would need more to control zir descent.
Just then, Vaha’s phores broke into a riot of colors.
Kaliyu vented from zir shoulders, slowing zir orbital speed and dropping belly-first toward Meru’s upper atmosphere. Clouds had started to accumulate between zir position and the landing site. Zie overlaid zir vision with radar and tried to understand what zie was seeing.
Something jolted into Kaliyu from behind. Two blue-black arms appeared around zir hips and arrested zir downward trajectory.
“Vaha? What are you doing?” Kaliyu sent via emtalk.
“I won’t let you disrupt this project!”
“Let me go! You’re not thinking straight! You had a concussion. You shouldn’t exert yourself like this.”
They tumbled for a few seconds, then, with a flash of white phores, Vaha launched upward, dragging Kaliyu with zir.
“Stop!” Kaliyu sent. “Don’t hurt yourself over the human!”
“I love her, Kaliyu, and I won’t let you take this from her.”
“You’ve lost your Nivid-loving mind!”
They emerged from Meru’s well. The sky went dark. Stars sprang to life, blurring and streaking as they wrestled. Kaliyu thrashed zir tail, trying to shake Vaha loose without injuring zir friend further. Why was it always the alloys who got hurt by trying to help humans? Vaha didn’t deserve this, just as Kaliyu’s maker hadn’t deserved zir fate—no, zie is still alive!—but if zir friend didn’t stop behaving like a sunstruck newborn, Vaha would force Kaliyu to take stronger action.
Then Kaliyu had a better idea. Zie activated Vaha’s bodym code again. Zie got one good blast from Vaha’s vents before zir friend realized what was going on. They fought for control over Vaha’s body, flying farther and farther from Meru. Pain tore through Kaliyu’s left wing as Vaha wrenched it away from zir back.
“You mudha!” Kaliyu sent, phores blazing.
“I won’t let you pick Jayanthi up.”
Fine, if Vaha were going to play dirty, so would zie. Kaliyu twisted, reached down, and ripped the splint from Vaha’s tail. Vaha’s phores flashed white, and zie sent a blast of gas from zir vents, thrusting them in opposite directions. A few seconds later, Kaliyu slowed zir tumble and oriented zirself. Vaha was a receding blot against the stars, speeding away from Meru. Kaliyu moved in a tangential direction, closer to the planet but not directly toward it. Zie could no longer access zir friend’s bodym.
“Vaha, you thrice-made fool! Come back! I can’t land anymore. You’ve made sure of that.”
“Can’t. Muscles are shredded. Bladders are empty.”
Kaliyu thrust toward zir friend, wincing as it aggravated zir torn wing joint.
“Stay away!” Vaha sent. “I’ll fight you again if you touch me!”
Kaliyu couldn’t see Vaha anymore. Zie was another speck in a field of black and silver. Why did every alloy Kaliyu cared about turn into a human-loving idiot? What spell did those little creatures cast, first upon zir maker and then upon zir best friend?
Fine, drift away, then, you sunstruck mudha! Now we both need medical attention. I’m going back to Sol, with or without you.
Kaliyu made zir way back to the platform, taking care not to aggravate zir injury. Every part of zir felt bruised and beaten, but Vaha’s words hurt more than anything. Kaliyu grabbed zir pack. If Vaha thought leaving the human alone on the planet would be good for her or the project, zie was sorely mistaken. Kaliyu canceled the lift request to the construct. Let the human try to survive on her own. Zie had neither the ability nor the mandate to carry her back to Sol. That was Vaha’s job. Kaliyu powered down the observation platform. The human wouldn’t survive long without data support.
Zie pulled on zir pack, wincing as the strap pressed into zir torn wing. With one last glance in Vaha’s direction, zie vented away from the thrice-made planet and started the journey back to Sol.
THYAKTHAVYA—ABANDONED
Jayanthi paced outside the tent. Ten kilas, Kaliyu had said. That translated to 150 minutes. Her timepiece said nearly three hours had elapsed since their conversation. What was taking so long? Had Vaha’s condition worsened? She’d packed in a rush, shoving her underclothes and toiletry items into her travel bag, not bothering with food or medicine. Vaha’s pack in orbit would have plenty of both. She’d also wrestled Vaha’s incarn into the vestibule and somehow managed to get zir into an enviro-suit. Dressing a comatose person was no easy task. She kept glancing at the sky, expecting to see Kaliyu descend. She couldn’t recall what zie looked like, but zir body couldn’t be that different from Vaha’s.
Clouds had gathered all afternoon and now obscured the sun. A major storm was brewing. It wouldn’t peak for another Meruvin day, but light rain was expected anytime, and the temperature had begun to fall. Would Kaliyu have trouble flying in that? Was that why zie hadn’t arrived?
After another five minutes of wandering in circles, she gave up and went inside. Vaha’s incarn lay unmoving in the vestibule, zir violet eyes hidden behind closed lids. She stripped off her enviro-suit and passed into the main tent.
“Hello? Kaliyu? Vaha? Are you there?” Any of the tent’s microphones would pick up and transmit her voice.
No one responded.
She slow-blinked and thought-retrieved the status of the campsite’s communications. The antenna reported good power and medium signal strength. Was there a problem in space? Had a solar storm damaged their equipment? Had Vaha’s situation deteriorated? The conversation with Kaliyu had been frustrating, and zie had cut her off before she finished asking all her questions. Zir voice lacked Vaha’s tonality, much like Vaha’s had when zie first started speaking to her, but to her ears Kaliyu’s words had held no sympathy, no trace of friendliness. She supposed that was to be expected from an alloy. Or she could be interpreting zir speech wrong. After all, zie was Vaha’s best friend. Who doesn’t like humans, she reminded herself.
Whatever the reason, she could do nothing but wait. The alloys were in charge of this mission. She was only a test subject. After her night atop the cliffs, she had promised Vaha that she wouldn’t do anything reckless, which meant waiting for Kaliyu to land or contact her with further instructions.
She turned the heat back on inside the tent. With the sun hidden behind clouds, the shelter had cooled off quickly. Then she went to bring Vaha’s incarn in. Zir body would get cold in the unheated vestibule, especially as night fell and the outside temperature dropped.
With a sigh, she unzipped Vaha’s enviro-suit. Zir skin was cool to the touch as she scooped zir torso out of the upper half. As she laid zir gently back down, she realized she couldn’t see zir chest move. She held her finger near zir nose. Nothing.
Dread crept into her stomach and settled there like a rock.
“Vaha,” she said, shaking zir shoulder, her instincts lagging the part of her brain that knew the truth. “Vaha! Wake up!”
She placed an ear on zir chest, over zir heart.
Silence.
The trembling began in her arms and spread to her entire body. This can’t be happening. Zie can’t be dead. Zie can’t! She clamped a hand over her mouth to hold in the scream that threatened to escape and stumbled backward into the main room of the tent.
“Kaliyu, please answer me! What’s happening? Vaha’s incarn—I think zie’s dead. Is Vaha dead? Kaliyu!”
No response.
