Authors: Jessica Miller
"I need to set it in overdrive," he said. "Here's to hoping there’s enough fuel in it."
"Here's to hoping all of these people aren't used as fuel."
Elric gave a chuckle then was serious as he adjusted controls. "We need to go fast, and I mean it."
"This was a long ride when we came."
Elric replied, "That was on the auto-pilot spacecraft. That thing was dinky compared to this. It'll do the same distance ten times faster."
She laughed. "So not long at all."
"Let's see if we can out-maneuver them," he said, seeing two crafts approaching from the flank. He moved a few fingers and laughed.
"We just went into a slip stream. Virtually undetectable."
A shudder went through the craft and he looked around, concerned.
"Apparently that didn't work," he said. "No matter. We'll just slip in and out," he said as he maneuvered the controls. "We can make it work."
They waited to feel any more shudders, but none were felt and it remained quiet.
*****
Lifted
They landed on the same island she had been vacationing on and where she had met Elric. But, now, they weren't on the beach side but in the jungle, hidden from view. Elric landed the bioship, slipping in between trees and plant life under it in a strange, non-uniform pattern. They released all of the passengers and made their way back to the road nearby to walk back to the resort.
"That was easier than I ever dreamed it could be," he said.
"I remember you saying that people needed to be shown order. What changed, Elric?"
"Well, I met you. I realized people didn't need to be told what to do, that they should be able to just do it."
"And you just did it, too," she said, looking up to him. He bent his neck to kiss her and they stayed together for a moment before looking into one another’s eyes.
"So, what now?"
"Well, Elric, I think you should try living on Earth for a while. See if Lezarus really need the bioship."
"And if they do?" he asked.
She smiled. "I might just have to be one of the only humans in space."
He laughed. "You might just have to be," he said before kissing her again.
They felt at peace until hearing a blast sounding through the air. It was a small spacecraft and before they could react, it took them both up in a containment shield.
They were brought up into the ship and watched as a few others were brought up too.
"Ah, so I see we've caught the initial aggressors," said the Lezarus man, waiting for them in the craft. They were in the cage they had found themselves in before, but the crew were guarding it and Elric couldn't reach his hand around to open it.
The man talking to them directed their attention to a small screen that showed Elric and Mallory when they had been in the human containment rooms. It showed him as he pressed the button and queued the release of all of the humans. It was good evidence against them.
"There is a reason we all trust one another not to do such a thing," he told them. "To feed our bioship is the reason for the season! It's why we celebrate and how we live! Without the bioship, we are nothing!"
"But the bioship doesn't need humans!" Elric cried out. "It only eats that because it's what we feed it."
"You think there's any other way?" the man asked.
The man turned and left the containment area, but the guards stayed.
"Elric..." Mallory began, but was quieted by the presence of the guards.
Elric looked at her then reached out his hand and held hers. She squeezed it back and dreaded what was to come next.
*****
New Start
They were locked in the containment pen for the short ride back to the bioship, where they were greeted by Elric's stern looking family as well as an ensemble of what looked like officials.
"The Supreme Chancellor," Elric whispered to her, as they looked at a tall Lezarus woman in the center of the grouping. "Not a good sign."
"I hear you decided to free the harvest," she said, after they had been brought before her.
"Yes, Chancellor."
Mallory could feel her anxiety skyrocketing. Elric stayed calm. He gripped her fingers and she squeezed back. They appeared as a united front. They were not going to let their hard work so far be in vain. Elric stood taller and Mallory was proud of him.
The Chancellor looked them both up and down, assessing them. She sneered through clenched teeth. "I hear you freed humans. We were only able to pick up an insignificant amount compared to what we had for our almighty bioship. Do you think you can get away with this? I'm interested to know."
"No, Chancellor. I do not."
"Oh, yes you can."
Elric looked up astonished, and asked, "What?"
"You will get away with this. As a Lezarus you have the privilege of living another day. We do not keep our own in captivity or jail them. You should know that of our culture by now, no matter how much you seem to despise it."
"I do not, Chancellor."
"Hush," she said. "But, as for your companion, an example will be made."
"A what?" he asked, incredulously.
"I want to make sure everyone knows just how severe a threat humans like this one are."
Mallory was aghast and spoke up, "You can’t do this!"
"You will not be a martyr for some cause, but an example for all of the Lezarus to see what happens when the natural flow is disrupted."
"Then show me where to go," Mallory said, steadfast in her decision. "I would rather go with dignity than kicking and screaming."
"Let us, then." The Chancellor turned to the audience in the hangar. "Let us go to the feeding arena."
They were escorted there in cuffs and stood inside a large circular arena with seats on all sides for the Lezarus, and a funnel in the center, presumably where the people would be served.
The Chancellor stepped onto a podium near the funnel and stated, "This is the one thousand seventieth time we get to celebrate our majestic bioship. Through celebration, we nourish the ship and continue our ineffable tie to it. Without the bioship we would have nothing. No home. No energy. Because of it, we have all of those things. This woman who has defied the bioship's needs will be offered."
When she finished, the arena erupted in booing and angry hissing. Mallory kept her head held high, but was planning any move she could make. She was strong, she knew that. If she could get close enough to engage the Chancellor, she thought she could overtake her.
Luckily for Mallory, the woman came forward and raised Mallory's cuffed hands.
She then escorted her to the brim of the funnel and shouted, "For the ship, we do this!"
Mallory butted her in the head and lowered her cuffed hands to the woman's temple. She pushed with all of her might and the Chancellor did, in fact, fall into the funnel. Mallory was smiling as she was tackled by a guard. The guard and her plummeted down the funnel and into an abyss. It was dark and dingy and the landing was wet and moist. The Chancellor's screams reverberated within it.
"No!" she screamed. "Not me. No way is this possible! I'm Lezarus, not me!"
"Now you know how humans feel!" Mallory yelled, before being hit in the head.
She woke several minutes later to Elric's face, etched in concern.
His eyes pierced into hers. "How you doing?" he asked.
"Elric?" She reached up and rubbed her head. There was no lump but she was still dazed.
"I jumped in after you. I would never let you go through this alone."
She smiled groggily at him.
"You two," screamed the Chancellor, "are done for! Guard!"
But the guard had no time to react as there was a great movement and the four of them were not able to see more clearly. The mouth of the whale-like space creature opened and the four of them could see an approaching moon. The whale skimmed the surface and all four of them were forced to tumble out of its mouth onto the ashy white ground. They looked around and saw homes, and crops, and trees. It looked more like a planet than a moon.
"But we didn't go through its atmosphere," said the guard. "How are we here?"
A person ran up to them and said, "Hey!"
Elric turned to the man. "Who are you?"
"We've never seen Lezarus on Kirble. You must have accidentally fallen in."
"Precisely, but who are you?"
"A tribute of yours. You had me given to the space whale years ago and I've been living on Kirble, this habitable moon, ever since."
"How?"
"It has its own small atmosphere."
"But how is this possible?" Elric asked.
The man replied, "Well, everybody that the whale is given gets dropped off here, it seems. It doesn't eat anybody."
"What a waste of resources!" said the Chancellor.
The man nodded, "You're telling me."
"But, if you're here," Elric said, "that means that the space whale eats something else."
"Tiny molecules of burnt up star dust, we figure. It doesn't like big stuff like humans."
"I see," Elric said. "I was right."
"Then I'll never get back to Earth?" Mallory asked.
"Not true. Some people get back every few months by way of the stellar community. This is a trading post for noni fruit from the-"
Mallory cut him off, "Island of Maui."
"Exactly. Someone had one in their pocket and we were able to start a harvest of our own, Madame Chancellor."
"So you can leave as soon as a spacecraft comes through our parts. Should be a month or two from now."
"That is insane. Living here among humans. I will not do it!"
The guard told her, "It looks like we have no choice."
"It looks like we do!" she said, then grabbed his arm and strutted away from the encampments and noni orchards they were near.
Mallory and Elric watched them go.
"You're not like other Lezarus, are you?" asked the man.
"No, I'm Elric."
"Rob," said the man, then looked to Mallory.
She held out her hand. "Mallory, nice to meet you."
"And you," he said to her. "Let me show you to an extra bedroom or two."
They looked at one another and smiled, saying together, "One, please."
*****
Settled
When they were in the bedroom, Elric put his hands over his face and sat down on the bed. "Well this is a relief. I’m sorry I pulled you into such a mess."
She shook her head and smiled at him. "No. No you didn't. I would go through it all again for the chance to meet you Elric."
Elric sighed. She could hear the regret in his tone. "You were almost a tribute sweetheart."
She hugged him. "But I wasn't!"
Elric replied haughtily, "But you could have been!"
"But I wasn’t," she said. She was going to win this argument and he would change his tune before they did anything else. "And that's what's important. And now, we have a way back home."
He smiled. "Perhaps."
"Elric," she said, putting her finger to his chin and turning his head to look at her, "You are worth all of it."
"Are you happy to have met me?"
"As happy as I was when we first kissed in the water, and we both felt for the first time in our lives, what love is like. It was magical, and it still is. This is the biggest adventure I've ever had, just like you promised." She smiled and kissed him on the nose and softly against his lips.
"I said it could either be a disaster or an adventure," he told her.
"But it was both!" She laughed.
He nodded his head in agreement and smiled at her. "It was both."
The two of them looked at one another, then she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him, pressing her face into his shoulder. He put an arm on hers, then twisted his torso so that he was facing her and could hug her back.
"Thank you," he said.
"Thank you," she said back, and she pecked him again on the lips. He kissed her back and they lay down together.
"You know," he said, after kissing her again. "I could get quite used to adventures with you. I have the choice of going back to the Lezarus or being with you on Earth."
She told him, "I like the latter option."
He asked, "You do?"
"Oh, yes."
"You..." he trailed off, then gained confidence and said, "You said something about love, didn't you?"
"Yes," Mallory said, looking directly at him. "I've never loved someone like you before, so it's all very confusing."
"Someone like me?"
"You're a Lezarus man, Elric."
"I sometimes forget we're different species."
Mallory nodded, smiling, "I do, too."
She put her head forward and kissed him on his nose, then leaned in to kiss his mouth. She felt his lips part and she slid her tongue softly and slowly into Elric’s mouth. He groaned as their tongues touched.