I jumped up out of my seat. “Laith!”

My first instinct was to stand in front of Jarath.

“Lilliana!” His eyebrows drew together. “What are you doing?”

“Making sure you don’t shoot first and ask questions later.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

“Uh, yes, you would.” I didn’t have to remind him of the Roxette incident. “Jarath is a friend. He helped me after the crash.” I could feel Jarath standing behind me. Could feel the heat from his body. Could hear him shift his weight to the other foot.

Laith stepped into the room, followed by two other members of our team, Darx and Kahzidar. My heart leapt. They were really here. I was getting off this rock.

Laith didn’t lower his weapon and the others had theirs drawn. “We’ve been looking for you. Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“Your medi kit was used. What are your injuries?”

“You found the Viper? Good.” Relief surged through me. “I, um, I hit my head and cut my leg pretty bad.” I turned so he could see the stitching up the leg of my shipsuit and he cringed. “But I’m okay now. The medi kit sorted me out.”

He looked skeptical.

“I’m okay.” I repeated. “Can you put your weapons away? This is Jarath.” I stepped aside so I was only blocking half of their view. “He found me the night of the crash and helped me. I was woozy with the head injury and passed out. He’s had many chances to turn me in to the authorities, but hasn’t done it. He’s looked after me and fed me and I’ve been staying here waiting for you.”

I watched as they lowered their weapons one at a time, but no one put them away. Fair enough. I wouldn’t have either.

The tallest of our group took a step forward. “Hey, Wildcat. Ready to get outta here?”

“Hell, yeah! Where’s the ship, Darx?”

His smile widened. “Not far away. Hallie is on standby.”

My heart pounded as my smile matched his. They were ready to rock and roll. “Good. I’m ready when you are.”

I noticed that Jarath was now standing beside me.

“Hello,” he offered. I was impressed. They towered over him and were heavily armed.

I looked at the others. “Do you guys have translator chips?”

“Yes,” Kahzidar said. He was the science-y one on the team. “The Viper reported two missing, so we stuck some in. They work on him?” He waved a blue hand at Jarath.

“Yeah. I had a hard time getting him to take me to the Viper before we could communicate. It shouldn’t take long for your chips to pick up on their language. He said hello.”

They all acknowledged his greeting.

I looked at Laith. He was getting antsy. He wanted to leave. I could see it in his eyes. I agreed. We should be moving. We could talk about all this once we were out of here.

He met my gaze. “We need to book it.” He frowned. “What were you thinking? How did you end up crashing the Viper?”

Now I just felt stupid. “I wanted to have a closer look and got pelted with a piece of space junk. Hit the engine and made it do a full burn. Straight toward the planet. By the time I got straightened out, it was too late to pull out.”

“That’s it. I know you’re against it, but you’re getting a permanent sub-dermal tracker. I’m not going through this again.”

Kahz spoke up. “We should all get them.”

Laith sighed. “Yeah. We should. But right now, we need to get going.”

I looked at Jarath and my heart plummeted to my stomach. I didn’t want to say goodbye. “I wish you could come with us — just for the ride. Just for a while... We could show you around the universe.”

Laith turned to me. “Are you crazy?”

“Yes. You know it. But he’s been good to me. Fed me and kept me hidden whenever someone came to the house. He deserves to have some fun and learn about the world outside of this small rock.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“We can bring him back in a couple of days.”

I felt a pang in my gut thinking about that, because I’d still have to say goodbye. I was just delaying the inevitable.

Jarath’s frown smoothed itself out. Was he really considering coming with us?

Darx turned toward the front door. “We got company. Someone’s out there.”

I froze. “Hallie?”

“No. She’s got orders to wait till we give her the signal to come get us.”

That wasn’t good.

Darx quietly shut the door and crept to the window. He pulled out a night vision scope and peered through the curtains. “Aliens. Lots of ’em. I’d say they know we’re here. They’re taking up positions around the house.”

“Damn! We shoulda booked it! Now we’re stuck in here!” Laith looked at me with a scowl.

“Hey! Don’t blame me!”

“You’re the one who got yourself stuck here in the first place!”

I opened my mouth to reply, but closed it again. Arguing with him wouldn’t help. We needed a plan.

I turned to Jarath. “I’m assuming they’ve got the house surrounded. Is there another way out of here?”

He gave me a half-smile. “Yes. The previous owner was paranoid that the government were going to take away our rights and invade our farms, so he dug a tunnel.”

“Whoah, seriously?”

“Yes. He was delusional.”

“Thank the creators of the universe for crazy people! Where does it lead?”

“To the stables. He thought it would be a quiet getaway.”

“He had that right.”

Darx came back from his position at the window. “Okay, so how are we gonna do this? We need something to distract them while we split.”

“Wait here.” Jarath rushed out of the room and came back wheeling some kind of fake person. “My mother has been tailoring some clothes for me using this mannequin. We could put it near the window and pull back the curtain enough for it to be seen. Maybe that will at least make them think we’re still here.”

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Not much of a distraction, but better than nothing. We didn’t want any movement or loud noises. We didn’t want them to think we were being aggressive.

“That will have to do,” I told him. “Let’s do this!”

We all moved away from the window while Jarath pushed the mannequin into position. He stopped to scoop up the deck of cards from the table and put the pack in his pocket. “Come on. This way.”

He led us to a dark room behind the kitchen that had shelves on the walls and a large trapdoor in the middle of the floor. I flicked on my torch as he opened it up and we descended into the darkness. Jarath pulled the trapdoor shut behind us and I shuddered.

I hated the dark. Yeah, I know it’s pretty dumb when I spend half my time zooming through the blackness of space, but total darkness underneath the ground is different. Very different. It’s oppressive and smothering. And creepy.

I handed my torch to Jarath. “Lead the way.”

He sidestepped everyone and started off down the tunnel. The roof was low and Darx had to hunch forward. The walls were as creepy as I’d imagined with all the tree roots sticking out and cobwebs stretched between them. I guess there’s spiders in some form all over the universe.

We seemed to be walking forever when Jarath announced that we’d made it. I looked past all the bodies in the small space and saw a ladder extending upwards. Jarath extinguished the torch, climbed up, and pushed the trapdoor open. We followed him up and were greeted with the smell of what I assumed was horse manure.

I’d smelled the same odour on the breeze while staying with Jarath and I’d seen the animals grazing in the fields around Jarath’s property. They were powerful, majestic creatures. We had similar animals back home, so I hoped that these were just as easy to ride.

Jarath rushed around in the dark, grabbing riding gear for us. “Do you know how to ride?”

“Yes. We have something similar to your horses on our planet,” I told him.

I could see his smile in the darkness. “Good. Let’s get going.”

He put bridles on five of the horses and gave a quick explanation on how to direct them and we mounted up.

Jarath checked that we were all mounted. “Follow me.”

He led his horse over to the door to the stables and pushed it open. He mounted swiftly and kicked his mount into a fast walk. I wanted to go faster, to put distance between us and the aliens back at the house, but we needed to be quiet.

I looked back and could see the outline of the house in the darkness, with some light shining through some of the windows, but couldn’t see anyone nearby. They were well hidden.

My heartbeat picked up. This was taking too long. The trees were getting closer. They would conceal us. Our hoofbeats were too loud. Someone was bound to hear us.

We kept up our slow pace in silence and I kept shooting glances over my shoulder, expecting to see people running toward us, but there was nothing. No movement. No sounds.

I looked forward again. Nearly there. Only about fifty metres to go.

Suddenly, it wasn’t so quiet anymore. A shout rang out in the night. “Over there!”

We’d been found out.

Jarath looked back at us. “Go!”

He kicked his mount and took off at a fast pace and we followed without hesitation. It took me a while to get used to the movement of the horse and even though we were in danger, I couldn’t stop the feeling of exhilaration as we flew through the darkness.

I could hear Laith calling Hallie to meet up with us. Could still hear shouting, but it was difficult over the noise of the horses' hoofs on the hard ground.

Then I could hear weird popping sounds. What the? Is that their primitive weapons?

As soon as I’d finished that thought, Jarath’s horse stumbled and fell, throwing him onto the ground and screaming in agony. My heart stopped and started back up again and it took a second or two to remember how to stop the horse and turn it around.

Laith looked back. “Lilliana! What are you doing?”

“Jarath fell. I need to help him.”

“But we came here for you! You can’t put yourself at risk!”

“I’m not leaving him!”

Laith gave a groan of frustration and I could hear them turning back as I slid off my horse and raced to Jarath’s side. Please be okay. Please be okay.

My mind played the scene with Alwyn sinking into the mud over and over and it was like a knife in my chest. I couldn’t stand it if I lost someone else I cared about. The knife twisted at the thought.

He moaned and put a hand up to his head and relief flooded my veins.

“Jarath! Are you okay? Are you hurt?”

He mumbled something and I looked him over quickly. “Can you get up? We have to go!”

I helped him to his feet. “My horse...”

I could see the outline of the poor beast in the darkness. Its chest wasn’t moving. “I think he’s gone.”

Jarath made a choked sound in his throat. “He was one of my best...”

“We have to go. I’m sorry. They’re coming.” I could hear more shouting. I thought I heard someone say something about them taking us alive.

Jarath seemed to come to his senses and he stumbled to the horse and managed to get up. I jumped up in front of him and took the reins. “Hold onto me. Let’s go!”

We wasted no more time. “Laith! Where’s Hallie?”

“She’s close!”

“Tell her to hurry!”

I was leading the group through the trees, but had no idea where we were going.

A minute or two later, I turned to my brother. “Laith?”

He grinned back. “Any second now...”

I felt a small echo of relief, but we weren’t out of there yet.

“Okay, stop! Now!” Laith shouted.

We all pulled up on the reins and dismounted.

“Jarath. Get down! Quickly!” I called.

Jarath looked down at me. “What are you doing? They’ll catch up to us!”

I smiled at him. “Just trust me. Get down here.”

He dismounted and walked over to where we were standing.

I stepped away from him. “Now, stand still and don’t touch anyone. Hallie is going to pick us up. We need to stay separate or things will end in disaster.”

His eyes widened at that, but then I felt the familiar tingle of the transporter beam. It consumed my vision till I could no longer see. Next minute, we were in the transporter room aboard Laith’s ship.

Hallie’s voice came over the com system loud and clear. “Everyone aboard?”

Laith didn’t hesitate. “Yes. Book it!”

I felt a slight pull as the ship ascended toward the stars and I let out a giggle. We’d done it. We were going home.

I turned to Jarath. “Are you hurt?”

He grimaced, but I didn’t think it was from any pain he felt. It was the horse. I knew it. He said he was okay, but showed me his scraped knee and elbow. I guess that could be classed as ‘okay’. They were minor injuries.

I smiled. “We can fix that.”

I heard a groan and spun around. Kahz was holding his side and blood oozed between his fingers.

I darted forward. “Kahz! Are you okay?”

“Of course I’m not okay. I’ve been shot!”

“You know what I mean.”

Laith stepped in front of Kahz. “Report.”

Kahz stood a little straighter. “There seems to be an entry point and an exit point, so I doubt there’s anything in there. Just can’t stop the bleeding with only my hands.”

“Good. Let’s get you fixed up.”

Laith made him lie down on a nearby bench and I pulled a medi kit from its station on the wall. It was tense, but soon we had the bleeding under control and he’d been given the works with all the healing sprays.

I sighed as Laith applied a bandage. Kahz would be okay.

Jarath stood beside me. “Your medicines are amazing. Your friend most likely would have died back on my planet.”

Laith walked up to us. “What are we gonna do with him?”

I looked up at Laith. “‘Him’ is standing right here. And we can’t take him back now. He’ll be in all sorts of trouble.” I turned back to Jarath. “We’ll try to come back soon so you can get a message to your family so they know you’re okay and so someone can look after the farm, but you’ll have to stay with us for a while. At least until things calm down. We’ll work something out.” The smile fell away from my face. “I’m sorry. I’ve messed up your whole life.”

“Are you kidding? I mean, I’ll admit I’m worried about the farm, but I’m probably the first of my kind to ever go to space.”

I smirked. “You’re probably just as crazy as I am.”

“The Creators help us,” Laith moaned.

The door to the transporter room swished open and Hallie strode in. “We’ve left orbit and we’re on autopilot– Whoah! Is this the alien? He’s... He’s so pale...”

“Yeah. They’re all like that. Weird, huh?”

“Yep. But not in a bad way.”

Darx walked over to us. “Are you finished?”

Hallie smirked. “Are you jealous?”

“Not at all.”

I smiled. Of course he was. He had a thing for Hallie.

While I listened to their banter, I looked over at Jarath. He’d just spotted the monitor that showed the stars outside the ship and the look on his face was priceless. Maybe he’d enjoy his trip to outer space after all.

I didn’t know what would happen between us, but almost losing him had changed something in me. I thought it would push me away from him because of what had happened to Alwyn, but I felt closer somehow. There was something there that I didn’t want to lose. He made me feel things I hadn’t felt in a long time. Awakened something in my heart. I wanted to explore it further.

I didn’t know if we could be together as a couple, but I wanted to see where things would lead.

Laith would tell me I’m crazy, but maybe… just maybe… he’s right.

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The End

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