I tap on the viewer again. “Are you injured?” She must have stayed where she was because she answers me quickly.
“No, but I’ve looked everywhere the last few days and there’s no way out.”
“Is KyT responsive?”
“No, and it’s not like I haven’t tried to get him to respond.”
“I have help on the way. We will do our best to get you out of there as soon as possible.”
It doesn’t take long before I hear something heading my way. Jumping off the platform, I walk around one of the ship’s large roots out into the open, only to laugh when I see that MeK has redesigned one of the hover wagons into a type of sleigh, and both MeK and BuK are bundled up tightly on top of it. MeK pulls his mask down, a huge smile on his normally unexpressive face.
“Do not laugh, you walking snow behemoth! We were sinking hip deep in some of the drifts and I decided if this thing could haul heavy crates, there should be no reason it could not carry us.”
“Hey, I think it is ingenious, even if you two look like younglings.”
“HaL, I have not had that much fun riding since being that age.” BuK smiles as he throws his legs off the side of their makeshift sled, sinking up to his knees as he looks up at the massive tree-like ship of KyT’s.
“This is impressive, and I am now sad that I did not take him up on his offer to stay here when we first relocated to Ethra. I am sure on a normal rising I would have walked right past this structure. If his ship is this nice, it makes you wonder why he likes to sleep out in the open in the Timbers.”
MeK, being the serious one, is always straight to the point. “HaL, were you able to find the female?”
“Yes, and I believe she is stuck. I cannot see through any of the viewers on the middle floor because of the vines covering them.”
“I bet she was stunned when she saw you.”
“No, she seemed calm, so I am assuming KyT had told her about how different we all are. MeK, I hope you can override this lower door because I cannot find any other way in, and I checked every platform for an outer access.”
“I will give it my best shot. I tried to get in contact with Father, but he has moved out of range. All ANDI could tell me was something about there being a stowaway on Destiny, and that he, too, was moving away from the asteroid that had caused this frackin’ mess to intercept Destiny.”
BuK and I stand out of the way as MeK’s fingers work on the entrance panel. One red light after another goes off, and then I hear him sigh when the screen goes black.
“It locked me out, and without the decoder from my ship, I cannot do this manually.”
“How long will it take you to go get it?”
“This ship is nowhere near the shuttle area and even using the sleigh, by the time I got there and back it would take half a rising.However, I am not dressed properly for these low temperatures. I can barely feel my fingers already.”
“Weaklings, all of you! It is practically a heatwave out here, and it must be easily negative five degrees and rising. Well, it appears we are going to have to do this the hard way then.”
Thankfully, there is no snow or ice blocking the doors at the bottom, since the bulk of the ship is covering them, so luckily we can still see the bottom of the doorway. Extending the claws on my fingers, I curl them under the small gap where it sits on the ground.
“MeK, the moment I lift this a few inches, I will need your help to get it the rest of the way up. BuK, get ready to crawl under. There should be a lever inside that you can hit for the door to come up manually.”
“What if there is not?”
“Then you will be stuck until we can get the codes from Father. I do not want to damage KyT’s ship any more than I have to.”
“Briar is not going to be happy about that, but alright.”
Putting one knee on the ground, my arms and neck tighten under the strain as I lift the door upward, fighting against the hydraulics working against me. The moment I get it a couple of inches off the ground, MeK is beside me, adding his strength as we struggle against the ship itself, which is simply trying to secure KyT as it is designed to do. When BuK’s smaller form slides under the entranceway, MeK and I step back and the door slams shut. Both of us shake out our arms from the stress we just put them through.
Before I can yell out to BuK, the door starts sliding upward with a loud squeak since we have just sprained the primary mechanism. Something that will now have to be fixed before KyT can uproot and leave the planet. Stepping inside, the intense, damp heat takes my breath away, and I instantly shift into my unprotected, non-insulated form. My bare skin gets clammy, even though I still run hotter than most.
The first level of the ship is mostly the internal workings, and it takes walking around the base of the structure a few times before MeK finds the ramp leading up to the main level. He presses an override button, and I am shocked as it slowly lowers. BuK is the first one up the ramp, only to stop the moment he gets to the main landing.
“Vedece? It is BuK, can you hear me?”
“Yes, oh, thank you, baby Jesus, I was convinced I was gonna be stuck in here forever.”
