The second man runs on, eyes wild as he stares at me. Yeah, this can’t be good.
“Breeeeeeeep!”A terrible noise pierces my ears. It’s like torn metal screaming through a throat that should not exist on this side of Hell itself, much worse than Aker’iz’s wildest cries.
I clench a hand to one ear—the other is holding the spear, and I can’t give up on it. The approaching caveman stumbles in surprise at the horrific noise and turns to look behind him.
Kenz’ox is running hard toward the saucer, carrying Dex. It’s the drone that makes the noise, and it looks like it makes light, too.The ground around Kenz’ox is illuminated by dots of color, like impossibly bright lasers that leave scorched lines and little wisps of smoke where they pass across the grass. The closest man yelps and lifts his hand to his eyes, but it may be too late—those lasers must be absolutely blinding.
Kenz’ox sprints as fast as he can, but carrying the drone, he struggles to pull away from his pursuers. First among them is the chief, who runs surprisingly fast for someone so fat.
“The woman ismine!” he bellows, slashing his sword at Kenz’ox’s back and missing by a half inch. His headdress drops off and crashes to the ground.
“Get in here!” I yell. “We’ll close the hatch!”
As Kenz’ox closes the last ten feet, the chief suddenly hurls his sword low. It skids across the ground and snags Kenz’ox’s ankles, sending him crashing forward. Dex tumbles from his grip, buzzing wildly as he ricochets into the saucer. I duck on instinct.
Kenz’ox hits the ground hard. The chief is already on him, snatching up his sword and lifting it overhead like an axe, ready to split Kenz’ox’s skull.
Fury blazes in me. “Stay away from him!” I act without thinking and throw my spear at the chief as hard as I can. It hits him in the side and ruins his movement before he sags to his knees with a pitiful little groan.
Otis jumps in, and then Kenz’ox makes a pounce for the hatch. I grab one huge hand in both of mine and drag him inside, then hit the hatch button.
It closes with a softzupand sucks itself shut in a way I’ve only seen it do once before, sealing itself off from all outside sounds.
Kenz’ox embraces me hard. His whole body shakes, and he’s breathing heavily. “Sweet Ancestors. You’re here. And Aker’iz!” He lifts the baby, holding her tight. “Oh, my dear loves…”
I squeeze him back, noting that he’s got several wounds all over him. “Otis watched over her and gave her food,” I explain, not yet daring to believe this is over.
There are hard bangs on the hatch of the saucer. The cavemen have finally reached it, and now they want to get inside.
“Dex, can you fly this thing?” I ask.
The drone runs his propellers with a softbuzz, but can only lift one side of himself from the floor. “If someone takes me to the control room.”
I lift him, noting that he’s incredibly light. In the control room, there are many lights on the consoles, and the glow is a bright blue. “Where?”
“Set me down on the main console,”he says with his broken voice. “I see you got it working again.”
There are sharp bangs all over the saucer now, and it sounds like all the cavemen are hammering on it with their swords. I wonder how much it can take.
I put Dex down and stand back. “It was missing a Plood,” I explain. “And it doesn’t seem to care if the Plood is actually alive or just in mushroom form.”
Dex connects to the saucer in the way I remember him doing back when we first came to Xren. “That would make sense.There was a Plood inside when I first hijacked it. But I threw him out. Ah. It responds.”
The saucer shakes softly. I hold on to the wall. “Okay. Can you deal with this?”
“I’m not sure we dare fly yet,”the drone says. “But I’ll see if this thing has any weapons on the outside.”
The loud banging continues as I make my way back to where Kenz’ox and Aker’iz are sitting on the floor. She’s weeping with a mix of soreness and relief, and he’s rocking her in his immense arms. “Thank you for coming here,” he says. “I was sick with worry about her.”
“I was, too,” I admit. “But Otis cared for her, making sure she had food.” The griket is lying coiled by the wall, tail making a lazy spiral in the air. “He’s not only fierce, but caring, too.”
“I misjudged him a great deal,” the caveman admits. “Thank you, Otis.”
The banging from outside suddenly stops, as if cut with a knife.
“It appears that we do have weapons,”Dex informs us from the control room. “I just hope I didn’t kill anyone out there.”
I finally sag to the floor beside Kenz’ox. “I don’t have any of the paste for your wounds.”
