//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: Return to Sender // by Starscribe //------------------------------// The first leg of Felicity’s voyage happened in almost total silence. That wasn’t terribly unusual for the plant-aliens when they were working, and it was a habit even she herself had often fallen into. A task brought focus, and anything that took her focus away from her task was something her mind seemed to resist. They drove for hours through a dark, sunless sea. Predators passed by outside, many glowing with eerie yellow flickers of not-sun. That light was meant to attract the attention of plants, making them turn or open to take in the light. It was all the reaction their predators needed.  But inside the skimmer, they were entirely safe. This alien ocean had evolved no gigantic predatory herbivores. They did come in whale sizes, but these strained only the smallest plants from the water, and moved far too slow to threaten the skimmer. Morning came, and still they swam on in silence. Felicity gave her full attention to Harmony’s instructions, occasionally adjusting their course. This was far better than her swim—she could actually feel their destination getting closer. At the rate they could sail, it was probably only another two days away. The peace did not last. Delta didn’t turn towards her, or make any other physical sign. But her scent changed, and then she was checking the controls. “We’ve traveled a very long way, sapling. Where is this grove we’ve gone to visit? The others will be terrified for us. Well, terrified for you. A few will probably be glad that I managed to get myself lost.” “Do not tell her, Harmony ordered. We don’t fully understand what abilities they have. If she calls for help before we arrive, we could be caught. Worse, if she can relay the crash’s location to the starship, they could be destroyed without giving us a way off-planet. Your magical organ will never generate enough power to teleport through a gravity well. We must find transport, or be trapped here indefinitely.” “Two more days,” she said. “About that long. The visibility down here is way worse than in the sky, and that’s where I’ve done most of my flying. This is all very new to me.” “Because you’re from the sky,” Delta said. Her tone was friendly, rather than the “I think you’re insane” way she’d been during their confrontation. Felicity tightened her grip on the controls, just in case. If this came to a fight, one of them would get hurt needlessly. “Tell me more about the ones we’re going to help. Why do they need you?” I don’t even know if they do. But I need them. “I am their captain,” she said. “We came from very far to meet you. But we were attacked. Something was in the sky, something that tried to kill us. I fell here, and I think some of them fell also.” “Sapling is captain,” Delta said, her voice bubbling with amusement. “You smell so confident. But I can see you have no rings. The sapling has lived not even two centuries, not even a name. Are all captains so youthful where you come from?” She shrugged. Of course Delta didn’t react to that, and she had to be more explicit. “I am not as young as I seem. Where I am from, we live many lifetimes, and receive a new body each time. I am not a nameless sapling. I am Felicity.” “How did you even say that name?” Delta asked. “Seriously. Fell-tree-is-tea.” She laughed silently in response. “You can say ‘tea’? Just call me that, I suppose. Why would you even have a word for that, you people live underwater. You wouldn’t drink tea.” “Tea,” Delta said. “I do not know what the word means. It’s very old, I think it is a surface plant from a far land? The jungles above the water are harsh and cruel to all, even us. It may be a word of war.” “Tea then. But whatever the word, I’m not here for war. I came to meet you—or to let my scientists meet you. I’m not a scientist, so I don’t even know the right questions to ask. But if you do not wish to know us, then we can leave. There is no reason to fight.” Delta said nothing to that, and returned to silent contemplation. Some time passed, and Felicity sailed onward, troubled by nothing other than a faint grinding sound from the engine every few minutes.  It was after one of these that Delta finally spoke. “We need to stop,” she said. “Unless you want to swim the rest of the way. That sound… something is wrong.” She considered for a few seconds. Could this be a trick, maybe something was nearby that Delta planned to use to wrest back control of the skimmer? But no, there was nothing around them but deep blue ocean. The water here was so deep that she couldn’t even see the bottom. There were no boxes here for the motionless sleepers, though of course they wouldn’t be able to rise up and help fight even if there had been. “I will stop,” she said slowly. “But I cannot give up. I would rather die than abandon those who depend on me.” “Why would you die?” Delta asked, confused. “Whenever I think I understand you, Tea. You say the strangest things. It is the middle of the day in full sunlight. A sapling like you could live through a dozen eclipses.” Felicity stopped the engines. As they slowed, she could hear that unhappy noise getting louder, like bits of metal rubbing together. Then they stopped, and the noise faded to silence. Water lapped up against the sides of the skimmer’s floats. “Repair kit is behind your seat. Let’s see the engine.” Felicity took it in one tentacle, but hesitated at the doorway. She’d been living in Effervescent Meridian for long enough that she’d barely even thought about the open ocean. There were mouths here, waiting to bite and tear. But she meant what she said about being willing to die. She brought the kit with her up towards the top of the craft. “The case comes off like this. Follow my lead.” “You know how to make field repairs?” she asked. “I thought that was maintenance’s job.” Delta laughed. “I can’t call for maintenance if I’m fifty kilometers from home and a hurricane is coming, can I?” They worked in relative silence for the next few minutes. That nervous voice in the back of Felicity’s mind never quite fell silent—she couldn’t be sure if Delta weren’t just sabotaging the engine as she went, stranding them here. Maybe they weren’t out of range of some exotic form of detection, and she just wanted to keep her here? But nothing she did seemed terribly destructive. They just removed things from around the engine, which wasn’t all that different from many turbine designs Felicity had seen. Seen, but never known anything about. She wasn’t an engineer. So far as she knew, her past life hadn’t been either. Fixing broken weapons, maybe. Decrypting signals. Not broken engines. Too bad Escape Gear isn’t here with us. Could she change into a plant alien?    Finally they had the machine fully exposed. Delta set down her tools. There were several of each in the old box, since each person could use many at once. “How far did you say we were going?” “Two days,” Felicity answered. “Maybe a little further.” She sighed. “We need to straighten this fin here. But you can see the red on this mechanism, that’s corrosion. This skimmer was already on the edge of being retired. I do not know if it will get us the whole way. We should turn around. You can tell the others of your mission, and borrow a better vehicle.” Felicity shook her head—or would’ve, if she had one. It meant nothing to the plants either way. “I am not turning around. If we are successful, my friends can repair your skimmer, and send you home safe. “Send us home safe,” Delta corrected. “I am not leaving Effervescent Meridian with you and returning alone. I cannot imagine the shame.” I told you I’m from another world. How can you not realize I’m never going back? But she wasn’t going to have that conversation with her now. “Right. You said we need to bend this fin?” “Right here.” Delta pointed. “I’ll help. Get the pliers. Not too fast, or we’ll snap it off early. Without this, the engine will come apart in minutes.” They fell silent again as work took Felicity’s concentration. There was no reason to rush. It didn’t snap, and soon they were putting the pieces of the engine back into place. Instead of clicking together like a perfect puzzle, Felicity had to force the metal shell back together. But she was stronger than she looked, and could wrap her whole body around something if she had to. Finally, the engine was back together. Not a moment too soon. Shapes were moving towards them from multiple directions, big silvery fish with their downward-facing mouths and long, entangling spines. Vorashi, some of the most dangerous and feared predators. Apparently they could pick whole communities clean in days, before a response arrived. “Time to go!” Delta called, clambering back inside. They wrestled for a few seconds with an uncooperative door, while several more vorashi circled around the skimmer. A few took probing bites at patches of moss and deep green around the frame. The skimmer rocked gently from side to side with each press, particularly as they nudged up against the glass. Felicity settled back into the controls. The engine groaned, then revved to life. They smacked up into one of the large vorashi, which slid sideways off the cockpit. But they were moving, without the occasional scraping sound. It wasn’t the happy humming sound of the newer boats, but she hadn’t stolen one of those. I shouldn’t have worried about minimizing damage now. What if it costs me the mission? It was too late to go back. If she turned the skimmer around, she didn’t think for a second that the plants of Effervescent Meridian would ever let her near escape again. It was just like what Delta said. She was the first sapling—losing her was far worse than any machine. “They’re following us,” Delta said, pulling back from the glass. “I’ve never seen them do that before. Vorashi don’t even grow, they can’t do indirect reasoning! They should’ve tried to eat the plastic, then given up.” You’re in for a shock when we get to our destination. Felicity held a tentacle up to the rear glass. It wasn’t the same as looking with a single eye was for a human or a pony—she had dozens, and each one was weak and cloudy, only resolving into clear images when many viewpoints were put together. Which was why Delta had pressed most of her body up against the window to look.  Still, a few shadowy blobs following them was enough to confirm Delta was right. “We’ll wear them out before we get there, right? I’d hate to have to stop for another repair with those things outside.” “I don’t know.” Delta slumped into her seat. Maybe it was an intentional gesture, or maybe just the way plants felt overwhelmed. Either way, her body seemed to diffuse, spreading into an even mat of leaves without any suggestion of limbs underneath. “I’ve never been so far from help. We’re alone, Tea. I hope this mission of yours is worth it.” “It is,” she said emphatically. “We might be alone, but we’re not helpless. I have magic, if it comes to that. I could kill a few fish if I have to.” “Do not share more information with the native,” Harmony said. “Your desire to form friendships is a maladaptive instinct in this circumstance. You are not sheltered on Equus, Felicity. Trust cannot be guaranteed. We base our understanding of this alien on assumptions. There is no reason to assume a malfunctioning construction device like their species can even comprehend the same range of emotional responses. You do not understand their culture, or their values.” “Maybe not. But trust isn’t something I can explain to you, Harmony. I feel it. I know Delta is going to help us.”