I glared at him. “You disgust me.”
Rema frowned in confusion and looked at Ohem, who just shrugged his shoulders and lifted his harness. Panicked that he was trying to kill himself, I made a move to slam his harness back down and he grabbed my wrist, chuckling. “We’ve landed, Jack.”
Chapter 21
Ilookedoutthewindow. The wind whipped gray trees and bushes around. The entire planet was a jungle of gray. We’d landed in a valley that ran the length of the treeline for miles. It almost looked like it had been clear cut at one point in time, and short gray grass had taken over the space. It was weird that the jungle hadn’t reclaimed the cleared out spaces after thousands of years of no maintenance from my people. It didn’t look natural.
Rain pounded the glass of the door, and when Ohem stood, the door slid away, letting the howling sound from the storm inside. I shielded my eyes from the sting of the rain with my forearm. Someone tapped me on my shoulder, I turned to see Rema holding out a black ski mask with a face of solid plastic instead of the mouth and eye holes. I pulled it on and almost yelped when it hardened into a helmet, letting out a hiss of air when it pressurized.
Rema’s grin disappeared behind the red helmet that melted over his face, but I hoped he could still feel the heat of my glare. I sighed, at least we were on the ground and the rain wasn’t in my eyes anymore.
This helmet was uncomfortable as all hell, though. I ran my fingers along the seam at my neck and couldn’t find it. It had melted into my suit. I clawed it, but my nails only scraped along the hard surface.
I was panicking again. Ohem’s hand closed over mine. “It’s voice activated, Jack. Retract,” he said, and my helmet lost its firm feeling and went back to cloth. I pulled it off, sighing in relief, and was immediately bombarded by the rain and had to pull it back on. It hardened again automatically, but this time I didn’t panic now that I could take it off.
“Thanks,” I said.
Ohem leaned down. “You need to keep it on until the storm dissipates. Do not take it off, Jack. I’m watching you.”
I stuck my tongue out at him and, like Rema, his amused look was swallowed up by his helmet covering his face.
I hoped they both got water under their armor and it caused a rash.
I followed Ohem out of the ship and into the storm. The wind almost knocked me over when I stepped out of the shuttle and I had to grab onto Ohem’s arm to get my balance. Why couldn’t I ever land on a planet that was temperate? Was it too much to ask? Keeping a firm hand on Ohem, I looked around. Gray trees, gray grass, horrible gray sky.
This planet sucked. Everything was just varying shades of gray, from black to almost white. It was depressing. What had my ancestors seen on the planet to settle here? Maybe it was like a way station or something. Those always seemed to be in the most remote, shitty spots.
We gathered with the rest of the soldiers and crew that Aga had insisted come with us, the big crocodile was in the middle of it all issuing orders and scowling at people. He wasn’t wearing a helmet and didn’t seem bothered by the stinging rain pelting his eyeballs. He caught sight of us and waved Rema over, the two joining forces to get everything organized. Cargo vehicles were being unloaded from some shuttles and crew members were piling into them, forming a convoy line of sleek black hovering machines that vaguely resembled the armored transport vehicles back on earth. Only without the wheels or obvious guns.
Ohem ushered me into one vehicle. There were no seats inside, just hand holds hanging from the ceiling. I reached up to grab one and immediately regretted it. It was squishy, like I’d grabbed a fist full of jellyfish for stability.
Ohem’s head was turned, no doubt watching to see how I’d react. I swallowed my shriek of surprise and disgust to give him a smile. He and Rema had enough entertainment from me today, thank you very much. Rema’s shoulders were shaking with his laughter. He and Aga were leaning into the vehicle waiting for my screams. Pricks!
I gave them all the bird and held on tighter to the jellyfish handle. Why make it squishy? Did it help mold to your hand or something?Aliens were fucking weird.
Once everyone was loaded into the vehicles, the line started forward. Mine and Ohem’s craft were in the middle, protecting the command from front and back. Aga and Rema had taken the lead vehicle. It was an odd feeling to be riding in a truck like thing but not have wheels on the ground.
Hovering only a few feet on the ground made for faster travel. I’d asked why we didn’t just fly there and they’d told me that Vero had very good ground to air weaponry, making an approach from the air dangerous. We were going to ride in from the ground into where we thought their left flank was. Intel still had found no sign of Vero’s soldiers. The drones couldn’t get good images in the storm, so we were treating this like there were enemy soldiers waiting for us.
I’d been slightly disappointed that this super advanced alien civilization didn’t have robots or drones that wouldn’t be knocked out by the weather. Ohem said AI was unreliable and dangerous at the best of times and no sentient race trusted them, and that drones were small flying crafts, so of course, weather affected them. Science fiction was so off the mark on a lot of things. I was going to have a sit down meeting with some Hollywood directors back on earth one of these days and make a damn fortune with a new, more realistic movie.
The vehicle shuddered as the wind battered us around; I kept my feet by sheer force of will. The soldiers and Ohem were completely at ease with the tossing, their stance widened and stable. A booming crack of thunder made me jump, it was followed by another and another. The winds picked up and tossed us around some more before our transport came to a gradual stop. Ohem’s head tilted to the side, and I tapped him on the back. He turned, and his helmet retracted, revealing his grim face.
“What’s going on?” I asked him, looking around at the confused soldiers around me.
Ohem dropped his hand from the jellyfish holds. “We've stopped. Much too soon to have made it to the ruins.” He went still in a way that let me know he was talking through his link, probably to Rema.
I watched his face as emotion rolled over it. For having stiff plates instead of skin on the upper part of his face, he was very expressive now that I knew what to look for. The widening and then narrowing of his eyes, the tensing of his lower jaw, the smooth black skin pulling tight over the muscles there, Izi lighting softly, then going dark. Surprise and then disbelief followed by despair.
Something big was going on. Something bad. I stepped closer to him to press my palm against his chest. He had his war armor on; it was rougher than his regular wear, like a shark’s skin.
Ohem placed his hand over mine. “Rema said they have found a settlement. We need to get out.”
He turned to the door that opened on the side of the transport and stepped out, the wind and rain rushed in behind him. I checked to make sure my helmet was on securely before following him out.
The storm had reached new heights. Lighting lanced across the sky, blinding me every few seconds. The clear face of my helmet darkened after the second flash of lightning, saving my eyes from the blinding effect. Thunder boomed near constantly now and the wind was trying its best to pick the convoy up and toss it away like errant toys. Whoever was driving each vehicle deserved a raise for keeping them where they needed to be.
“We have to reach Rema. He is with Aga at the front. Stay close,” Ohem’s voice came from inside my helmet, not from my neck link like I’d been expecting. I followed behind him up the line of hovercrafts, leaning into the wind to keep my feet.
