She confirmed her legs were still functional as she scrambled to her feet, her long getaway sticks wobbly from the ordeal, not to mention the massive surge of adrenaline, but somehow holding her upright without buckling. With careful steps, she made her way toward the area she’d heard the sound, avoiding debris as best she could in the dimly lit wreckage. Her foot nudged into a soft form. Soft and motionless.
Fuck, she hissed to herself, looking down and recognizing the broken form of Garggoxx, stepping over the deceased woman and continuing on toward Harper’s likely location. Toward what she had now confirmed to be the only other survivor of the crash.
Olivia moved quickly but carefully, Harper’s groans guiding her way. There was a faint tinge of smokiness to the air, but there was no scent of an active fire. Whether it was the craft’s hot exterior burning whatever they’d landed on, or if it was remnants of some sort of rocket afterburner system that had miraculously kept them from going splat into the planet’ssurface, was anyone’s guess. All that mattered was they were alive, and with what seemed to be breathable air, safe on the surface of some new world.
Of course, she hadn’t even known they were anywhere near a planet when the attack had occurred. As mere livestock, windows were not a feature of their holding compartments. But now she could see outside. And the air, though tinged with smoke and death, was nevertheless the smell of nature, and with it, of freedom. They’d made it through the hard part. The crash behind them, now they just had to manage to survive on this planet, wherever the hell that might be.
“Where are you?” Olivia quietly called out, still unsure if there might be any threats outside within earshot.
“Here,” Harper’s weak voice replied.
Olivia hurried to her, climbing over a large piece of buckled decking to find the woman leaned up against the wall. It was quite dark even with her eyes adjusted to the lack of light, but the look of pain on her face was plain to see. She crouched down beside her injured friend.
“How bad is it? Can you move?”
Harper shook her head. “I broke my leg, but that seems to be the worst of it,” she replied, but with an unexpected Scots accent.
“Why are you talking like that?” Olivia asked as she gently moved debris to get a better look at the woman’s injury.
“Like what?”
“With that accent.”
“I always talk like this.”
“You didn’t before.”
“Yes, I did. It’s just the translation rune makes everyone sound like they’re speaking your home dialect, is all.”
“But you sound different now.”
“I’m telling ya, nothing’s changed.”
Olivia cocked her head in confusion, the movement making the crusty spot scabbing behind her ear crack a bit uncomfortably. “Ow,” she grumbled, gently touching the area with her fingertips.
The scab was fresh and there was caked blood in her hair and on her neck. Suddenly, it all made sense. Apparently, during the crash, she’d hit her head and damaged the rune. There were plenty of other nicks, cuts, and bruises, but this one was of particular note. She’d accepted that whatever the aliens had done to her upon her capture had given her the ability to understand other languages, though she’d still been a bit skeptical. But now? This was cold, hard proof. And, just her luck, though she didn’t know how the weird tattoo tech worked, the damn thing was apparently broken.
Olivia shrugged. “Huh. I guess I never did ask where you were taken from. You said you were walking home after drinks and that was the last thing you remembered, and I just left it at that.”
“Well, to be fair, we did have a lot of more pressing things to talk about.”
“Fair, that.”
“How long have we been here? Hang on, I smell smoke.”
“It’s fine,” Olivia replied. “It’s been fading. Whatever was on fire is out. How long is anyone’s guess, but I’d think less than an hour.”
“How can you be sure?”
Olivia swallowed hard. There was no gentle way to say what needed to be said. “The bodies are still warm.”
Harper sat silently. She’d seen the others tossed about during the crash, but knowing was far different than wondering.
“Any idea where we are?” she finally managed to ask.
“Not a clue. It’s night, so I don’t think it’s smart to venture outside in the dark, and we wouldn’t be able to see anythinganyway. Plus, who knows what might be out there, not to mention we’ve got no idea how long the days are on this planet. Sunrise could be an hour from now or it could be dozens. Maybe longer.”
“So, we just sit here?”
