Alix stood frozen at the entrance of the hollow of the Gargantua tree. She wasn’t exactly sure what was the correct way to approach a pack of wild talozis over a hundred strong. From the dim light that seeped through the other holes of the hollow, Alix could see the talozis staring out at her from every corner. Their black fur made them blend with the inside of the tree so that at the hollow’s darker corners it seemed they were only disembodied, yellow eyes floating in the massive space. Alix’s eyes darted from talozi to talozi, catching on their long twitching tails, or on their crooked hands gripping outcroppings of bark or the leaves that carpeted the bottom of the hollow.

Alix steadied herself with a deep breath. She tried to remember what data she’d seen on the talozi. None of what she’d read or observed on the mainly herbivorous primates had ever led her to believe they were a particularly aggressive or hostile species, or that they were the type to lash out violently against another animal. Then again, she’d once believed that parvolopes were the most docile animals in Kabir’s Crimson Forest, and that the Aexons were primitive and simple-minded. Her track record wasn’t precisely stellar at the moment.

But she couldn’t just stand on this tree branch forever. Alix took a tentative step into the hollow.

“This is a giant group,” Figaro muttered in her ear. “Like half the damn forest.”

“Yep. What do you think the chances are they’ll start swarming like the parvolopes?” Alix muttered back as she took another step.

“Well, if my species data analysis and probability calculations are correct . . . then I’ve got no idea, Boss.”

Alix was fully in the hollow now. The trunk felt steady beneath her feet, lending credibility to her guess that this was the lowest or only hollow in the tree. The hollow itself seemed nearly as wide as the tree. It gave Alix the odd sensation of being in a living amphitheater. The ceiling of the hollow seemed to be about twenty feet high, and the uneven walls were peppered with breaks in the wood that allowed light in. Thin vines stuck to the walls, snaking all the way to the ceiling and hanging heavy with fist-sized, vermillion fruit. There was also another, slightly smaller hole directly across the one Alix had just entered, giving a view of the forest on the other side of the Gargantua.

Several of the talozi chattered, their pitchy vocalizations bouncing off the walls of the hollow. Some clung to the grooves in the hollow walls, others crept closer to Alix on the ground. They blinked slowly. Some tilted their heads as they studied her. One brave one bounded past the others right to Alix. She froze up as the young talozi climbed up her leg and arm, sniffing at her the entire time. She waited for a flash of teeth or an outraged screech.

Instead, the talozi hopped off from her with a nonchalant chirp. Tension seemed to drain from the rest of the talozis, and they swiftly switched from staring Alix down to ignoring her. Mated trios turned to groom each other, mothers swung babies down from their backs to play on the ground, and groups of talozis scaled the walls to pluck off the fruit growing off the vines. Pairs flitted past Alix into and out of the hollow entrance, brushing right past her without a second thought.

It seemed she had officially been deemed “Not A Threat”.

“I’ll be damned, they’ve accepted you as one of their own!” said Figaro. “Maybe you are Tarzan.”

“I am . . . tired.” Alix slumped down to the ground. It took all her strength just to keep her head up.

“Yeesh Boss, you ain’t looking too hot.” Figaro’s eye lenses extended and curved around to examine her face. “You look like the flu and mono had a baby, and then that baby socked you in the face.”

“Thank you, Figaro.”

“And then tuberculosis rolled up and roundhouse kicked you.”

“Ok, I get it.”

“And then the bubonic plague shot you in the knee, just for good measure.” Figaro prodded at the side of her face. “Seriously, you are looking pale as sour cream, and you’re sweating bullets.”

“I do feel kind of hot.” Alix held a hand to her forehead, wincing at the heat against her skin. “I’m not sick, though. I just used up all my damn energy getting us here. The last of the adrenaline’s been squeezed out of my system, Figaro. Doesn’t help that I’m thirsty and hungry.”

Figaro tapped two of his limbs together in agreement. “Good point. You require sustenance.”

“I do indeed.” Alix slumped farther until she was laying supine on the hollow’s floor. “Be a dear and fetch some for me.”

“Hm.” Figaro crawled off her shoulder and over to her right toes. He looked around for a moment, then scurried over to one of the many vines on the walls. He stabbed through one of the vermillion fruits, shish-kabobing it on his front limb. With three others, he peeled off a long strip of bark. He returned to Alix with these delicacies in tow, squishing the fruit against Alix’s mouth.

“Here comes the choo-choo train!”

“Quit that!” Alix turned her head and held up her hand before he could thrust the fruit at her again. “I don’t know about the fruit. Seems a lot riskier than the tree bark.”

“Technically true, and I will admit the bark is probably more nutritionally dense, but you need the fruit to stave off dehydration until we can get to a decent water source,” said Figaro. He waggled the fruit in the air. “I can tell just from the texture, this sucker’s gotta be at least eighty percent water! Plus these guys eat it, so it must be harmless.”

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“Let me see it first.” Alix sat back up in spite of her aching back and took the fruit from Figaro. It had a waxy peel, similar to an orange. A glance around the hollow confirmed that the talozis were indeed eating them without issue, and the fruit didn’t seem to grow in clusters, which was an encouraging sign that they weren’t poisonous. There was no way to be one hundred percent sure the vermillion fruit was safe for her to eat, but Figaro was right. She needed the water.

Alix unpeeled the fruit and bit into it. It wasn’t until that first bite that Alix realized how thirsty she really was, and was hit by a wave of relief as soon as the juice wet her tongue. She devoured the bark strip and the fruit within minutes. Her hunger made the bark taste less bitter and the fruit less sour. She nevertheless promised herself a steaming cup of chamomile tea and a pack of ramen as soon as she made it back to the station. Plus a shower wouldn’t hurt.

“You want more?” Figaro asked her.

“God, yes please.” Alix wiped her mouth as Figaro hurried to the closest wall and plucked another fruit for her.

Figaro held it out for her to take. “You’re still looking kind of grim. I don’t think we’re going anywhere for the rest of the day.”

Alix shook her head, which made it spin. She winced. “I just need an hour.”

“In another three, it’ll be night anyway. We might as well stay put now that we’ve found some decent shelter. You need to sleep, pronto.”

“What I need is to get back to the station!” Alix tore at her fruit’s peel with trembling fingers. “Damn it.”

“Listen here, Bucko, I may be a very capable robot but these tiny arms ain’t gonna be able to drag your unconscious form all the way back there if you pass out on me!” Figaro stomped one of his limbs against the ground. “First things first, you have to keep your dumb ass alive and functioning!”

Alix sighed heavily, then shrugged. “Fine.”

As Figaro scurried off to forage some more dinner for her, Alix set her unpeeled fruit down. She unzipped her pocket and pulled out both the Aexon map and the bioluminescent wing fragment she’d been carrying. The light was too dim to read by in the hollow. She held the wing fragment up to the map, casting it in a faint green glow. She searched the tiny, inked drawings for anything resembling a Gargantua tree. She zeroed in on one tree that was drawn slightly larger than the few surrounding it, but she couldn’t be sure whether it was a depiction of the Gargantua or whether she just wanted to believe it was. She hoped it was. It wasn’t too far off from where they’d marked the station, if she was right. Just a few more days away. All Alix and Figaro needed to do was survive the forest for that long.

***

After downing some more fruit and tree bark, Alix curled up in a corner of the hollow and passed out with Figaro’s promise that he’d keep an eye out for trouble. She managed a few hours of fitful sleep, plagued by the same dream reeling in her head.

Always, Alix found herself back at her dad’s farm in Kansas. Always, she heard Dad calling for her to come home. There was always someone beside her to repeat the same warnings, to remind her of her own helplessness, of the dangers in the shadows, of the hunters tracking her down. Red means danger, they would tell her. The familiar woods of Kansas would begin to bleed red from every leaf and blade of grass, her companion would open their mouth to reveal insectoid horrors, and slowly Dad’s voice would turn into something else . . .

The last one had Alix wake up in a cold sweat. Her heart thundered in her chest as she looked around. The darkness of night had settled over the Gargantua tree, cut through by the starlight outside the two main holes of the hollow. It took Alix another moment to realize that she was currently being cuddled by about a dozen talozis or so. Their sleeping forms were curled up at her sides, feet, legs, and even in the crook of her neck, soft fur tickling her skin. The sensation calmed her slightly. It reminded her of the sheepdog she’d had as a kid, who would hop up onto her bed in the middle of the night and curl up at her side.

Of course, it would be a mistake to conflate the two. Unlike her old sheepdog, these talozis were wild, inherently unpredictable. Much like the rest of Deimos X.

Alix let her gaze shift to the hollow entrance nearby, where she and Figaro had first arrived. The little robot was perched on the edge, eye lenses extended as he scanned the night. She watched him rather than call him over. It was cute to watch Figaro absorbed and taking in the sights. And anyhow, she didn’t want to wake her sleeping companions.

Alix closed her eyes after a moment and tried to lull herself back to sleep. No dice. She felt now entirely awake and alert, as though her every nerve had been tuned to her surroundings. She could hear the talozis’ heartbeats as clearly as the beating of drums. With just the starlight seeping into the hollow, she could see every nook and cranny in the walls. She could feel every shift in the air.

So Alix knew immediately when another creature entered the hollow.

Alix’s heart skipped a beat as she turned her head toward the other hole in the hollow. A lone talozi was crouched there, his back to her, staring out at the sky and the forest beyond. The only one awake in the tree, other than Alix. She couldn’t say what else it was that made him feel out of place, only that as soon as she laid eyes on him, she had the deep sense that something about him was very, very strange.

Alix sat up slightly to get a better look. As soon as she did, the talozi at the entrance turned and stared her dead in the eyes. His pupils were so dilated that his eyes were nearly entirely black. His tiny fingers twitched and trembled, and the skin around his eyes was abnormally pale. Pale, green foam dripped from his mouth.

The defective talozi took one step in her direction, then another. A wave of terror crushed Alix, glued her to her spot as he slowly edged closer to her. He reached a spindly hand toward her. Another second of this and Alix might have snapped, might have screamed, might have tackled the creature in a mad rush and fled the Gargantua tree entirely.

Instead, the moment was cut short by the echoing of howls in the distance.

Both Alix and the talozi immediately turned their heads toward the other entrance that Figaro was guarding. The robot seemed blissfully unaware of the howls, but they rang as loud to Alix as if the beasts were howling inches from her ear. The talozi let out a panicked shriek and darted back out the entrance he’d come. He scrambled onto the rough bark and climbed out of sight.

Alix got to her feet in a flash, ignoring the surprised chattering of the talozis who awoke as a result. The howling was even louder now, even more desperate, and every cell in Alix’s body was suddenly screaming run.

Alix ran up and snatched Figaro from his spot.

“Hey! What’s the big idea?” he snapped as she put him on her shoulder. She rushed for the hole on the other side of the hollow.

“They’re after us. We’re running.”

“What? Who’s after us? What are you talking about?”

Alix didn’t answer. She paused at the hole and looked out into the distance. She thought she could just barely see the little silver rectangle that was the station. Behind her, the howls grew louder.

“We’re running,” she said again to Figaro as she stepped out into the night. “And we’re not stopping until we get to the station.”