Authors: Jason Halstead
Captain Sharp, the leader of the small community of humans, spoke up. “Let’s douse this fire and get back up for the night. Prowlers and worse’ll be out soon.”
“What’s a prowler?” Elsa asked.
“They look like a big cat, except they’ve got six legs and mostly hunt at night. Mostly.”
Tarn said. “They come around Treetown looking for scraps. Don’t matter if its garbage or someone stranded on the ground, it’s all fair game to them.”
“Welcome to Vitalis.” Sharp added.
Chapter 2
“We need to make contact,” Elsa insisted at the follow up meeting that had sprung up in Treetown. They were sitting or standing on the primitive decking that had been built around one of the massive trees.
“Maybe we can light a signal fire they can see in space? Send some smoke signals?”
Tarn suggested.
“Nobody likes him much,” Kira said for Elsa’s benefit.
“Hey, you just remembered who saved your ass,” Tarn countered. “Scrawny girl like Kira wouldn’t stand a chance against them screechers.”
“Is that right?” Kira asked with her eyes leveled at his.
He shrugged. “You should’a seen them. Four of ‘em and they were near full grown!”
Elsa rolled her eyes. Kira smirked.
“Ladies?” Sharp said, drawing attention.
“Hey!”
“Tarn, stuff it. We’re looking for solutions here, not criticism”
“We got more to talk about,” another man walked across a bridge and joined the group. A beautiful woman wearing only a long skirt followed him. “If the Terran Coalition is willing to talk to us, they need to know that this planet is independent!”
“Some buoy floating in space isn’t going to convince them of that,” Sharp said. He turned to Elsa for introductions. “This here is Klous and Sasha. It’s his fault we’re all stranded here.”
Klous scowled at the accusation and chose not to deal with it. “The buoy helps,” he insisted. “What we’ve really got going for us is the natives. My son and the other children that have been born.”
“Tarn mentioned something about that while he guided me back here,” Elsa said. “He said you’ve got a lawyer amongst the survivors?”
“Like Terran sharks, it takes a lot to kill them,” Sharp admitted. The last Terran shark had died over a hundred years ago.
“All the other Terran worlds were claimed by the Coalition before they were settled. We found Vitalis.”
“I found it,” Kira interrupted. “And I landed the Mule here.”
“You wouldn’t have found it without us,” Klous pointed out.
“You shot my ship!” Sharp spat out.
Klous shrugged, drawing a scowl from the former captain.
“There’s only a handful of us and a whole lot of Marines they can send to change the way of things here,” Elsa pointed out.
“You realized you’re one of us?” Kira asked.
Elsa jerked. “I…I don’t know. If what you say is true I don’t have a choice.”
“I could use your help, if you’re half as good as Tarn claims,” Kira offered.
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“You can’t just be taking the best talent!” Tarn protested.
“It’s me and Fiona, you’ve got everyone else on your defense force.”
“Wait a minute, defense force?” Elsa asked. She turned to Kira for her follow up question. “What do you do?”
“This place is full of things that want to kill you and eat you, or eat you then kill you. Tarn keeps Treetown safe. We don’t usually have problems with each other, there’s not enough of us. But when tempers flare his people sort things out. He used to be fat, lazy, and a few other things but since we got here Tarn’s been an asset,” Sharp said. Tarn grinned up until the last of Jonathon’s words, then he scowled and refused to look at anyone.
“And you?”
“I do the hunting and the scouting. Nobody’s allowed to go anywhere on this planet by themselves outside of Treetown. Nobody except me and Fiona. You join me and I’ll show you how to survive here.”
“I did all right on my own,” Elsa pointed out.
Kira nodded. “With your FIST armor and weapons, yes. Think you can do the same with a sharp stick or a bow and arrow?”
“This ain’t solving our problems,” Klous interrupted.
“There’s no solving our problems until we hear from the Terran Coalition,” Sharp said.
“Could be another problem if Tarn led the spitters back to us,” Kira said.
“We weren’t followed! Besides, I was carrying her ass most of the way!”
Kira nodded. “Her naked ass. I’m impressed you made it back,” she gave him a sarcastic smile. “Besides, you’re on defense because you’re clumsy and loud. You’re lousy at hiding your tracks and I don’t know if I erased enough of your trail.”
Tarn blew her a kiss.
Sharp clapped his hands softly to get their attention. “Tarn, have your team keep their eyes open. Kira, get Elsa up to speed and find out if the spitters are headed our way. We’ll see about adding on to Treetown for the new folks. Is Eric free?”
Kira nodded. “He will be first thing in the morning.”
“Why not now?”
“He’s going to be busy tonight. All night, unless I wear him out early.”
Elsa’s eyes bulged at the implication of what Kira had in mind for Eric. She hadn’t met the man yet but it was now obvious the two were an item.
Tarn chuckled and added, “You be sure and look me up if he can’t hang with you.”
Kira’s response was a hand gesture that hadn’t changed for centuries.
Chapter 3
Kira walked up to where Elsa was sitting with what remained of her unit. The savage looking woman grinned at her when she couched down beside her. “Great thing about Vitalis isn’t just how fast people heal, but also how quick we can recover.”
“What do you mean?”
“Get yourself a man and you’ll figure it out,” Kira said with a wink. Elsa’s cheeks reddened, she’d made the connection. “Forget the gun, it’s done in. Vitalis doesn’t care for things that don’t come from her.”
“Her? You make it sound like Vitalis is a person.”
Kira looked up at the towering trees around them, then across the shadowed forest around them. “You will to, after a while.”
Elsa snorted.
“Are you ready to come with me? Explaining it won’t do, but when you feel it, you’ll know.”
“Feel what?”
Kira stood and offered her hand to the Marine. “Feel the life.”
Else took her hand and rose, her brow furrowed. Kira smiled. “We’ll meet Fiona out there, she’s due to be back in this morning.”
“What about my team?” Else turned to look at the other four survivors. Jess had risen with her, prepared to accompany her.
“Maybe later. First I’ll show you. We’re all one team here. One unit. Everybody works and everybody helps.”
A cry of laughter caused the Marines to turn and look over the edge of the decking they were on. Far below, playing in an area that had been cleared free of small trees and underbrush, four children were playing. Sasha and another woman were with them.
“I thought you’d only been here three years? I don’t remember any children with the researchers.” Elsa scrutinized the kids playing, the smallest was a toddler, the others were old enough to be in school.
“Heal faster, recover faster, and grow faster,” Kira said. “Kelsey’s the oldest, he’s Klous and Sasha’s son. A year here is a little shorter than a Terran Standard year, but we’ve been keeping track using the TS.”
“He looks like he’s six of seven!”
Kira shrugged. “He’s the first human born on Vitalis. Everything is big here, maybe he’ll end up growing large enough that we’ll have to be careful he doesn’t step on us.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
Jess broke in when Kira only offered a smile. “I’ve checked them out and everything seems normal. No abnormalities with their bones or anything. They might be a little larger than normal but they’re not going to be giants.”
“Oh…still, that’s amazing.”
“This is an amazing place,” Jess confirmed.
Don’t let the beauty fool you,” Kira’s tone turned serious. “Everything out there wants to kill you. Captain Sharp wasn’t joking around.”
“Be careful out there, okay?”
Elsa turned to the medic and nodded. “I seen enough last time to know better than to take it for granted. I’ll be fine.”
Jess turned to Kira. “I’ve heard plenty about you. You’re going to try to scare the shit out of her and save her at the last second. Just make sure you bring her back or you’ll have more to deal with than you think.”
“Is that a threat?” Kira’s face had frozen into a partial smile. Her eyes narrowed as she spoke to the Marine medic.
One of the other Marines looked up from where he’d been tinkering with his FIST armor. “Doc’s just given some friendly advice is all. Maybe this planet is a nasty place but have you ever seen what a squad of pissed off Marines can do?”
“Settle down Strum, I’ll be fine. I’ll even make sure I bring Miss Kira here back in one piece, okay?” Elsa said.
The tension among the marines dropped immediately. A few even offered smiles. Jess offered Elsa an all knowing stare, then shrugged. “All right, have fun ladies.”
“Thanks Mom,” Kira said, rolling her eyes. “Come on, we’ll stop and pick you up some weapons.”
“Oh goody, toys!”
Kira chuckled. “Toys you’ve probably never imagined you’d be forced to use.”
Kira led across three bridges between trees until they came to one that was centrally located. A hollowed out section in the massive trunk served as their armory. It contained numerous spears, axes, and bows. “Stone age weapons?”
Kira chuckled. “We haven’t gotten into any mining yet, sorry.”
“You don’t even have any knives made out of broken ship parts?”
“Where’s your V-bar at?”
Elsa scowled. “Blade snapped last night when I tried to jam it into the tree.”
“V-bar’s supposed to be one of the most rugged and versatile knives in the universe, isn’t it?”
“Okay, I get it! Shit breaks here. What makes this caveman stuff so much better?”
“It comes from Vitalis, it started out stronger.” Kira appraised Elsa then turned and grabbed a bow that leaned against the wall and a sack filled with several arrows. She handed them to the Marine then selected two long pieces of string and handed those to her as well. “Grab a spear and follow me,” she ordered.
Elsa watched her walk out and head back across a bridge. She shook her head and grabbed one of the spears then hurried after Kira. She caught up when the long legged woman was nearly halfway across the second bridge. “Now what?” Elsa asked.
“I needed my gear,” Kira said. She walked into the hollow in the tree she and Eric shared, pushing aside a skin that served as a door. Elsa followed her in without bothering to ask permission.
“Oh! Hi! I thought you’d be working on the new additions,” Kira said. Elsa looked up in surprise and saw a short but otherwise very fit looking man sitting on the primitive bed. He looked up at Kira, then yawned.
“After last night’s workout?” Eric said when his yawn finished. He noticed Elsa behind her and waved. “Sorry, I didn’t expect company.”
Elsa followed his body down and realized he was naked. Not only naked, but it was obvious that not everything was proportional to his height. Kira laughed, drawing a blush from the off balance Marine. “Put that monster away baby, you’ve got a long day ahead of you. I know of four Marines that could probably use some busy work too.”
Eric’s cheeks, when Elsa managed to drag her eyes back up to them, were just as red as she imagined hers were. He reached over and grabbed a pair of shorts sewn out of hide and pulled them on. “Shouldn’t you be off wrestling dinosaurs or something?”
Kira nodded. “I am, but I stopped back by to grab my stuff and change.”
“Change?” Elsa blurted out. After all the shit Kira’d been talking about armor and weapons being useless now she was putting some on?
“Mind if I stay and watch?”
“Only if you don’t mind being late for work and being worn out all over again,” Kira said with a wink.
“The sacrifices I make,” Eric muttered. He stood up and gave Kira a kiss that left Elsa wishing she was somewhere else. When they parted Kira swatted him on the ass on his way out the door.
Before the tarp had swung closed Kira untied her vest and tossed it on a small pile of hide clothing. Elsa watched, not out of interest but because she wanted to call the woman out for making herself sound like such a badass. Kira untied her skirt and added it to the pile, paying no attention to Elsa whatsoever.
Whether Kira was lying or not, she had to admit the woman looked incredible. Her body was similar to Tarn’s – something that belonged on a statue being worshipped by primitive cultures. Everyone she’d seen on Vitalis was in incredible shape but Tarn and Kira were something else entirely.