Not Alone - part 4 of 4
In the depths of an uncharted galaxy, a mother and daughter crash-land on a desolate alien planet. Now they must survive…
If you haven’t read part one yet, jump back here.
Part 4
With the articulated mechanisms on my two front legs, I pinched the fabric of the emergency shelter. The vivid orange fabric contrasted with the glossy black of my limbs. My sensors said the shelter’s construction was solid and that it was made of a tough material—hopefully robust enough for what I was about to do. I set a monitor on the shelter’s integrity, set to send an alarm if there was any change.
Hoping Em was asleep and would stay that way, I started dragging the shelter towards the fabrication facility. The shelter fabric should be be indestructible, but I carefully plotted my route anyway, avoiding any sharp edges that might puncture the precious bubble.
Half-way there I sensed movement in the shelter. I stopped.
“Mom?” called a little voice from within the shelter. “Where are you, mom?”
I swallowed. Without a voice, there was nothing I could say to reassure Em.
“Who’s out there? I can see your shadow,” Em said.
I froze—I didn’t know what to do.
After what sounded like a drawn out wrestling match inside, the zippered door opened, and Em crawled out. In the split second it took for her to register that a giant spider stood beside her shelter, I saw the clip to her helmet wasn’t fascinated properly—it wasn’t sealed. Her bubble of breathable air was venting away. I moved sharply towards her.
She screamed, her voice reaching 132 decibels. She turned and sprinted away, in the opposite direction from where the shuttle was being fabricated.
“Shit!”
In an awkward, loping gait, I set off after her. The bright colour of her spacesuit was almost as much of a beacon as her heat signature. My new form moved fast, it didn’t take long to catch up to Em.
When she turned and saw me less than an arm’s length away, she lost her footing. Arms windmilling, she tumbled to the ground. With a single swipe, I secured her helmet. Silent now, she stared at me with wide eyes her lower lip trembling—but at least she wasn’t losing breathable air anymore.
“Are you going to eat me?” she asked between gasps.
I shook my sensor array, hoping she would interpret that as saying no. To give her some space, I moved several paces away. Rising on five legs, I gestured with a leg for her to follow.
Em scrambled back up onto her feet. She wiped the dust of her suit before turning to face me. I was impressed how she looked me straight in the sensor array. “My mom said I am not to go anywhere with strangers.”
Of course I’d told her that—on the space stations we visited there were all sorts of people who’d run off with a little girl. I sighed. Time was running out.
“How long until the shuttle is ready?” I asked, assuming the alien AI would respond.
It will be ready in ten minutes.
“Good.” I focused my optical sensors on Em in her defiant stance. She needed to be in that shuttle. Already her lips were turning blue from the cold.
I lurched forward and grabbed her with my front two legs. She screamed again before thrashing her limbs, but I had a good hold on her.
At a gallop, I headed towards the fabrication facility. As I entered through the same door I’d used before, I stopped. A shuttle identical to the one that crashed sat on the printer. It was perfect—if we had printer technology like this....
I brought my thoughts back to the task at hand—and the wiggling bundle in my arms.
“Let me go!” Em demanded before starting to pummel my sensor array. I admired her spunk.
I walked over to the shuttle’s side door and opened it with my middle right leg. Just as she resorted to pulling at my cables, I shoved Em inside. She scrambled away from me with her lips pulled back in a snarl. I never knew she could be that tough. Because I couldn’t say anything, I just shut the door.
“Can this door be locked?”
Affirmative.
“Then do it.” I paced around the shuttle, inspecting it from all angles. As I did, it dawned on me that I’d never fit inside in my new form. My non-existent heart sank. I wouldn’t be going with her.
The shuttle is complete.
“Is it ready to fly?” I wanted to peek inside the windows and see Em one last time, but I knew that would scare her even more.
Affirmative.
“Can you program it to fly back to our larger ship in orbit?”
Affirmative.
“Then do it. Em needs to get back to her dad.”
As the shuttle’s engines ignited, I swallowed.
Em would soon be on her way back to the ship, but what would happen to me? The fact that I was dead hit me. Em no longer had a mom. I couldn’t even hug her goodbye.
The shuttle lifted a hand’s width off of the printer base and began edging forward towards the door. I walked along beside it, but I couldn’t see inside. Did Em buckle herself in? Was she afraid? Would she forget about me?
As the shuttle rose up into the sky, I made a decision. I surveyed the wreckage of the city, considering the technology I’d already seen, there had to be a way to put what ever made me me into another form and a way for me to rejoin my little girl. I would see Em again.
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