His fingers dug into the skin of the beast. There was no rope to be had, so he pulled it by the strips of meat dangling from its body.
Zeph insisted on bringing it back because it meant something to his honor. Netto scoffed and spit out the brine filling his mouth. He wanted the day to be over. He would die a happy man if only he could make sure that Rylie was safe before nightfall covered the sky.
He stopped at the edge of the boat and pulled himself up, looking around for the girl, but was greeted by Montihan, his face bruised and his arm in a sling.
Their host sat on a half-crushed seat under a tarp awning large enough to block out the sun. The man didn't even blink when he and Zeph appeared out of nowhere.
“Where's Rylie?” he asked, locating a shielded net which he handed to Zeph. Netto didn't watch as his partner secured the limb to the ship without complaint.
“Down below with Janet.” Montihan rose from his seat and kicked shards of glass off the side of the boat. Netto wondered how the ship was still afloat. His host caught on. “I’ve had this ship since I moved to Kepler. Not many like her in the universe. There's no need for them on most of the planets out there when there's no seas, no oceans.” He shrugged. “There's no need for boats. The glass shielding I added myself years later, and equipped her to dive below the waterline. At least it was good for something.”
“And Janet?” Zeph asked as he finished with the head and caught one of the pairs of pants that Montihan tossed to each of them.
“If Rylie can get her warm, she'll be okay. She hasn't stopped shaking since you saved her from the ocean. Thank you for that.”
Zeph nodded and strode past them, going below deck without another word. Netto sat down and ran his hands over his face.
He looked up to see Montihan watching him.
“So is it done? Never got a chance to ask you if everything's been fixed.”
“Yes. If I had known what would happen...” Netto looked around at the damage. He closed his eyes and willed away the tension in his head. “I'm sorry about your ship.”
“Yeah, well, everything that matters is okay.”
“It's been fixed and was still fixed by the time we left. If it will stay that way through the night, tomorrow morning, a week from now,” Netto said as he leaned back, “I don't know. Nothing should've gotten close enough to begin with.”
“It answers one question. We know how those men died,” Montihan said.
“Yes.”
“I don't suppose this has anything to do with crops?”
“No idea. Only time will tell.” They sat in silence for awhile with nothing but a slight breeze to fill their ears. Netto stared at the passageway that led into the ship, unsure if he should go check on Rylie.
He peered down at himself and unclenched his hands. He looked no better than his partner. The only difference between them was that he still had most of his face intact. His deepest wounds had only begun to heal.
“It'll be hours before nightfall, best get cleaned up. I’ll get us on route back to the homestead.”
“No,” he said.
“No?”
Netto scanned the horizon. “I need to make sure that there won't be any more breaches.” He ran his tongue over his sharp teeth and released a small amount of blood. It did little to comfort him. “If we get farther away, I'll lose my connection to the modules.”
“And you can’t use the satellites?”
“The channels are convoluted and if there are any more of those... things... It's best that Zeph and I do our job.”
Montihan walked back to the bridge and plopped down before the controls. The man grumbled and turned on the ship. The undamaged lights flickered on.
“Promise me one thing.”
“No.” Netto was done making promises.
He continued regardless, “My girls make it back to land alive.”
Netto's jaw ticked but he didn't say anything. He got up and walked into the ship, deciding he wasn't going to wait to see Rylie. He had so much to say to her, the words tasted like rotten meat in his mouth. He needed to get them out, needed to be near her, breathe her in and erase the monsters in his head. The need to apologize and make sure she was okay became his only thought. The mission and the serpents vanished.
