I hit the ice and immediately break through, the cold water pulling me in like I imagine the vacuum of space might do, robbing me of oxygen, light, and so quickly it's almost a relief, consciousness. My last thought before I’m under, looks like I’m going to drown after all.
5
Khur
I'm just passing around the lake, considering the tall, lonely ice fishing huts dotting this side of the pond, when a high-pitched scream fills the air. My sensitive ears swivel faster than my eyes can follow and I just catch a flash of brown fur and a gray jumpsuit before it hits the ice and disappears.
A familiar set of horns scrambles down the side of the hilly ridge but I can tell Furga is struggling to make it. Why they approached that way is beyond me. The angle is steep and slick. Everyone knows to go around. My sister's best friend is often reckless, but this is one of her stupider ideas.
Whoever it is, I'm going to give them an earful, I think as I tug off my jumpsuit. I only wear it for propriety. I certainly don't need it to keep me warm, and it will weigh me down in the water.
Taking deep, rapid lungfuls of refreshingly cold air, I run to the nearest fishing hut and jump in. The hole is barely big enough to fit my massive body, and I'm lucky there wasn't a line and hook waiting for me. I clear my mind of these useless thoughts and focus on swimming.
I haven't swam in years and I can't find joy in the act now, because I spot a sinking figure across the water, and they are most definitely not Dhugaren. I kick my feet more urgently. I know no other creature on this space station is built for the cold like we are.
The creature, which I think is a female, is small and furless. I am used to this after being around so many aliens, but this one is different than any species I’ve seen yet. I scoop her—I am certain it's a her now that I have my arms around her—into my arms and kick towards the beam of light created when she broke through the ice. Then I mentally kick myself for noticing her soft curves and reposition my hands on her back and under her knees.
Hefting her out of the water, I look up to see Furga has made it down the slope.
“Help me. We need to start chest compressions. Do you remember your medic training, Furga?”
"Yes, sir.”
She immediately drops down beside where I've laid the female and starts compressions in an efficient manner. Thesirpart makes me pause. It's too familiar and too painful. But there's a life at risk here and I don't have time for my own pain. I drop to my knees on the other side.
"What sort of alien is she? Do you know anything about their physiology?”
"She's one of the new humans. They just arrived. Descendants, like us. I'm going to assume similar biology.”
I nod, assuming as much myself. The Originem say we're all closely related descendants of their species. I hope life saving medical procedures transcended any differences. Then I lean over and pinch hernose, careful to avoid cutting her with my claws, covering her mouth with my own and pushing oxygen through. Her lips are like ice and I worry hypothermia will kill her when we get her breathing again. One thing at a time, though.
After another round of compressions and shared breath, the small creature below me coughs icy water and sucks in a loud breath.
As soon as the human starts breathing again, Furga can no longer keep the cool attitude we were taught to let envelope us. For me, it is too ingrained.
“Oh, great Ulvand I almost killed a human. Is she supposed to be blue? That can't be good! Khur!!"
The human is indeed turning blue, her lips especially. She’s shaking violently and the water in her hair is already turning to icicles. I look down at my own mane, thick across my shoulders, and see it is already starting to dry, the water slicking off naturally.
"She's not built for cold weather like we are. We need to get her warm,” I tell Furga.
I bundle the small thing into my arms again and pull her into my chest. She's so much smaller than me that her feet dangle somewhere around my knees as I stand, so I sweep my arm under her feet again. She struggles in my arms ineffectively and I hold her closer. Some deep instinct is calling me to protect this small human female at all costs.
"I've got you. It's going to be okay,” I say softly to the human.
Empty platitudes are another thing I am familiar with, but I've never needed them to be more true than this time. I can’t say why I feel this way about this small, extremely fragile creature, just that I feel like I carry something very important in my arms. Pointing my horns towards the entrance to the station corridor, I sprint as quickly as Ican. She’s small and light, but she’s shaking uncontrollably and I’m deeply concerned.
It takes entirely too long to get out of the artificial habitat and into the warmth of the corridor, and even then I can see it won’t be enough.
“We need to get her out of this jumpsuit,” I say.
Luckily, there’s no foot traffic in the corridor right now because I imagine humans are more prudish about nudity than Dhugarens. Most other races are.
Furga and I work together to get her jumpsuit off. It's in places stiff with ice and in others stuck to her skin with moisture, and reveal pale white, furless skin covered only by two strange garments that cover her breasts and cunt. What was she even doing out there, with no fur and no proper weather gear? She must be the most reckless being on the damn station. As soon as she’s out of the suit I bundle her back into my arms.
“Body heat. It’s the quickest way. And I’m pretty sure our body temperature is higher.” I say to Furga, who looks like she’s close to freaking out again.
“I can’t believe she slipped like that. I’m the worst tour guide ever.”
