Sticks and Stones

Chapter Five

Chapter FiveMariko's captors hauled her through a corridor that seemed to be lined with fur and teeth. Beyond the transparent walls on either side, wild-eyed Vox swarmed and yowled, literally climbing over each other for a glimpse of the doomed offender.

Above, Vox teemed over the arching roof, gaping down at her with murderous expressions. Mariko was certain that if the polymer surface gave way and they fell upon her, she would quickly be torn to shreds in a flurry of claws.

She wondered if they would devour her.

As she slid along the floor, pulled by the wrists, her arms ached…but her mouth hurt worse. The thick gag seemed to squeeze tighter all the time, pinching so hard that it felt as if every nerve in her lips was on fire.

Worse, by sealing her mouth, the gag cut off an airway when she needed it most. Subjected to one of the most horrifying experiences of her life, undergoing extraordinary exertions, Mariko hyperventilated…and the more her breathing accelerated, the more she needed to inhale through her mouth. Desperately sucking at the impenetrable gag, she thought she was going to suffocate.

The horde of Vox outside the corridor clattered their claws against the walls and ceiling, rapping out a rhythmic death knell. Mariko could hear the creatures chattering and screeching and chanting the one word that she knew too well.

"Ruhala!"

Mariko listened and watched…and then, even that morbid distraction was gone.

Her captors ceased their progress and released one of her wrists. Twisting around, Mariko saw the creatures open a domed hatch in the floor, revealing a circular, dark opening.

With no more care than they might afford a sack of garbage, the Vox hoisted her up and dumped her headfirst into the hole.

She dropped into a cramped, spherical pocket that was barely big enough to hold her. Even curled up into a ball, she had hardly enough room to breathe.

Then, the hatch slammed shut above her, and she was plunged into absolute blackness and silence. She strained her eyes but couldn't find a trace of light; the only sound she could hear was the pounding of her heart and the fast rasping of her breath.

It was then that her composure finally cracked all the way. Hopeless and alone in what could turn out to be her personal death chamber, she allowed tears to flood her eyes and run freely down her face.

Earlier that day, drinking in the magnificent sights of the planet Vox, she had been infinitely happy that she'd left Earth. Now, sobbing behind the painful gag, she wished only that she had never strayed from her homeworld.

When she had first set foot on the Exogenesis, Mariko had known that her new adventure might be the death of her. There had been times, confronted with strange dangers and harrowing close calls, when the possibility of an untimely demise had loomed large in her thoughts.

But she had never been so convinced that the end was near.

And she had never expected that she would have no one to blame but herself. Just by being onboard Exogenesis, she had exposed herself to countless unforeseen and uncontrollable threats, any of which could easily have taken her life. Without warning, she could have been snuffed out by an alien microbe or an engine core breach or a meteorite penetrating her environmental suit.

How could she have known that her true enemy would be herself?

And how could she have known that she, a linguist, would die because of a word?

Mazeesh.

Thinking back, she still couldn't figure out how she'd gotten it wrong. The pieces had all fit together – her own comprehension, the output of the translator device, Nalo's reaction to her response. He had said that the city was the most beautiful in the world, that it had the most mazeesh; in reply, she had said that it was the most beautiful city that she had seen on any world, and she had likewise used the word mazeesh.

He had thanked her for the compliment. Why then did the same word trigger a riot and a death sentence when she had repeated it to the other Vox?

The way things were going, Mariko didn't think she would ever know.

Her tiny cell was starting to heat up.

At first, she thought it might be her own body heat, accumulating in the cramped confines. Then, as the temperature continued to rise, she decided that another explanation was more likely.

The Vox weren't coming back to retrieve her. She would not be carted off to die by injection or electrocution or some other gruesome means.

She would never see daylight or breathe fresh air again, however briefly. She was in an oven, and the heat would cook her alive.

As the temperature climbed, sweat trickled over her body, soaking her uniform. Breathing became increasingly difficult, especially with the unyielding gag sealing her mouth shut.

She squirmed in the tight space as the smooth, curved surface beneath her became unbearably hot. Reaching up, she found that the hatch was slightly cooler, and she twisted around to press her back against it, wedging her feet under her.

As she looked down, she saw the surface around her boots emit a reddish glow.

And the temperature continued to rise. Before long, every inch of the pocket's internal surface was painfully hot to the touch, even the hatch. Wrapping her arms around her knees, Mariko clenched into a tight fist, shrinking as much as she could away from the scalding walls.

Tears and sweat poured down her face, sizzling when they dripped onto the glowing floor. Her feet roasted as the heat radiated through the soles of her boots, which felt as if they were on the verge of melting.

Still, the temperature climbed. The reddish glow brightened and intensified, consuming the lower half of the cell and spreading higher.

The air grew so hot, it hurt to breathe. Mariko felt dizzy and drowsy, but the sleepy feeling was welcome. The best thing she could do, she thought, was to drift off and miss the last few broiling moments of her life.

When she nodded off for what she knew would be the final time, it was with a mix of resignation and relief. She was young and didn't welcome death, but she was prepared to accept the consequences of her mistake.

And she thought that Captain Swift and the Exogenesis deserved a better communications officer, anyway.

She shut her eyes, and the bright red glow yielded to blackness.

Then, something gave way underneath her, and she fell.

Mariko dropped hard onto a solid surface, and her eyes snapped open. She felt dirt beneath her but could see nothing beyond a blinding beam of light that blazed in her face.

Wiping sweat from her eyes with the back of a hand, she squinted into the beam. It bobbed around, so she could tell it came from a handheld light source…but she couldn't see who was holding it.

Then, the beam swung away from her and back to illuminate the shadowy figure behind it.

It was Nalo.

Mariko was too dazed to do more than sit on the ground and stare at him. She was having trouble adjusting to the fact that she was still alive, let alone seeing a familiar face.

When the brown-furred Vox played the light around their surroundings, Mariko saw that they were in a pocket hollowed out under the cell. It was a small space with a low ceiling, so willowy Nalo had to kneel and duck his head.

As he had done earlier, Nalo spoke slowly and without clicks or buzzes for Mariko's benefit. "Sorry about the heat," he said, waving a bulky device slung from his shoulder. The device had a long barrel that ended in a glowing red bulb, and Mariko guessed that it had been used to melt open the cell. "Better than being dead."

Weakly, Mariko nodded.

"We need to go now," said the Vox. "Follow me."

Then, with the long-barreled device slung over his back and the flashlight stuck between his teeth, he dropped to all fours. Whipping around, he shone the light on the entrance to a tunnel, just big enough for Mariko to crawl through.

With a flick of his tail, the otter-like being disappeared into the entrance.

Mariko waited for a moment before getting onto her hands and knees and crawling after him. For all she knew, she was going from the frying pan into the fire.

But at least this way she would live a little longer. As ready as she'd been to pay the ultimate price for her mistake, she found that was something she wanted after all.