?GRA’ETH
I drop from the pod bay of the tactical cruiser and land roughly on the paved road beneath me. The hover jets blow dust and debris into the crowds of tourists. The aliens who vacation on our planet gape at me. An alien child drops its chilled cr’uhn onto the ground and cries. The fi'len who runs the shops and vendors along the dock and boardwalk stares at the bus as it sinks into the waves.
I rip off my suit jacket and shoes. “Your queen and her kind are in that transport. Humans can’t breathe underwater, and if you ever have had a love for your king, I urge you to help me save them now.”
My people, and the variety of tourist aliens, stare at me in disbelief. I run to the edge of the dock and dive into the cold waters. I can’t wait for their help.
The waters off the dock are deep and murky with debris from the transport unit. Glass shards float all around me, and the current takes a purple finger straight past my head. I hope for the Deenz’s sake that’s all that’s left of him.
Propelling forward through the water, I wedge my body into one of the narrow broken windows. The shards of glass cut my skin, and my blue blood mists around me in the water.
I pick out a pale yellow curl in the crowd of floating human women. Opal.
I push the body in front of hers, one with hair like fire, aside to get a better grip on my queen.
The red-haired woman's eyes flash open for a moment. A bubble escapes her rosebud mouth, and she clutches at her chest. I secure Opal under my arm and am about to kick them off the wall and back into open water when I realize that this will be the other woman's last moment alive.
I can’t leave her.
I grip her around the chest and pull her in, pressing my lips to hers. I give her fresh air, and she pulls it in deeply. I try not to think about all the parasites we might be exchanging as I do.
She tastes like cinnamon.
I turn to my queen and push air into her lungs as well…she doesn’t respond. Her chest rises and falls, but she is limp in my arms.
I have to get Opal to the surface now.
I push both human women through the window and squeeze my shoulders through the jagged opening again. The transport unit is descending quickly, and for a moment, I’m distraught I can’t save them all.
Flashes of gray fill my peripherals. It must be the fi’len on the docks. They’re diving with me; we can save them.
“Give them air!” I scream to my brothers as I ascend.
A dozen fi’len bodies cut through the current. Our bodies are so well designed for the water yet so rarely in it anymore. It’s a beautiful sight to behold, even if it’s a rescue mission.
I'm relieved as I break the water’s surface with the humans under my arms. The redhead sputters water from her lungs, but my queen is still.
Two fi’len men grab the women and pull them up on the dock so I can lift my body up. The redhead stumbles and sputters, reaching for me.
“You…you saved me,” she says, shocked.
“Take a deep breath, human,” I say, letting her lean into my chest. I put my arm around her. Her body is so cold, and it shakes violently as she coughs.
I push our way through the crowd that surrounds my queen as she lies motionless on the ground. When we arrive at the front, I gently set the red-haired human woman down.
The queen is nude, but a worker has thrown their jacket over her body.
“Turn her head to the side,” the human says. “She’s drowned. We need to get the water out of her lungs.”
Drowned. The fi’len don’t have such a word, but I trust her. I turn Opal's head to the side and open her mouth. The queen's lips are blue.
Through chattering teeth, the human says, “Now…now you compress her chest and try to expel the water.”
She mimes pumping motions with her hands clasped over one another.
I follow her instructions and press Opal’s chest. After a few compressions, nothing happens. I look toward the red-haired one again.
“Harder,” she says.
