Page 13 of There’s an Elf in My Cockpit

Based on the readings, it made more sense to try to approach the energy signatures from down here than to backtrack all the way and attempt what was likely a very dangerous climb with a possible ambush lying in wait. As we walked, or rather she walked and I shuffled like an invalid, Vi told me about the tunnels she’d passed along the way. She’d made the choice to keep going in the direction she’d picked and keep to the biggest passages and so far that had worked out.

After only a hundred feet I had to pause, my legs trembling and the spinning intensifying. The ice was black above our heads but at our sides and below our feet it shimmered white, reflecting the lantern light back at me in a dizzying manner. The snow goggles from around Vi’s neck helped but now it put pressure on the sizable bump on my temple, not ideal but it would have to work.

The tunnel was aimed straight at where we needed to go until suddenly it made a sharp turn to the right. With no choice but to simply keep going, I shuffled around the corner and stumbled, frantically grasping with one hand for my belt, for the laser pistol I usually kept there. Coming up empty I blocked Vi when she casually stepped around me and then she laughed, “Easy big guy, it’s frozen in the ice. Can’t hurt us.”

My vision was spotty and blurry, even with the tinted glasses to protect them. I struggled to comprehend was my eyes were telling me but Vi was calm so I carefully shuffled after her. Past the huge wraith-like shape with the rows of glowing yellow eyes. Closer, I could see that she was right, the creature was trapped in the ice, frozen in time.

Vi had seen shapes like these before or she wouldn’t be so calm now, how had she responded to the first one she’d seen? I really, really hated that I hadn’t been there for her. But, I had to admit that when we came across a second one as the tunnel doubled back, they were pretty cool too. To look at a little slice of time, when these creatures were all frozen in one freaky flash freeze, preserving them so perfectly that they almost looked alive.

We were still going in the right direction but I was struggling more and more to keep going. My body just wanted to lie down and sleep, and I knew that once I gave in to that urge, I wouldn’t be getting up for a long time. We needed help, I needed medical attention because this concussion was a bad one, I didn’t know how long I’d last until I passed out.

Vi had been trying to raise the teens on my com sporadically but she had no luck getting through to them. The ice above us had to be thick enough to block the signal, or something else, like our nearness to those energy signatures, was blocking it. When my legs finally gave out, I had to make sure that Vi knew to forge ahead to a spot where she could call Darth for aid.

To distract myself from how miserable I felt I tried talking, or rather, I tried to get Vi to talk. “Hey, so you know my full name but how about you tell me yours. I think we’re well on our way to more than just a casual acquaintance, aren’t we?” I was dying to know if it really was just Vi or if that was a nickname. I’d learned that most aliens didn’t really shorten names the way we humans did, so sometimes it confused them when I said Olly was fine too. Darth for instance found it bizarre at first but he seemed to enjoy calling me by my nickname now.

She didn’t immediately answer but came over to tuck herself beneath one of my arms, steadying me as I wobbled along on limp legs. I didn’t want to lean on her when she was already so tired, but this was no time to be stubborn either. I knew I was in a bad way, my vision was getting worse and worse, even with the goggles, and the pounding pain in my head was only growing.

“It’s Vixen Virliales, actually,” she said after the silence had dragged on for a while. I was stuck on the fact that her first name was actually Vixen but it was obvious she’d gone somewhere else, even if I could no longer read her facial expression.

In an effort to distract her, I started to talk, “Vixen huh? That’s one of Santa’s reindeer, why are you like the epitome of Christmas? Which is my favorite celebration, could you get any more perfect?” I was tickled pink by the thought that she really was named like one of the reindeer, what were the odds? I found an elf dressed like one of Santa’s workers in my cockpit only a couple of days before Christmas and she was even called Vixen?

I was glad that I made her laugh and then she demanded I explain to her what all my nonsense meant and I tried to explain Santa and Christmas. I was pretty sure I was starting to turn incoherent, babbling away about the North Pole and presents when my thoughts were starting to grow hazy. Vi kept urging me to keep talking but at this point, I was pretty sure she was just making me talk to make sure I stayed awake.

She confiscated the scanner I was using to track our progress and I didn’t protest. The last thing we needed was for me to send us in the wrong direction, and though Vi said she was horrible at finding her way, she’d done fine so far. Better her than me right now, considering everything was gray around the edges and black was creeping in.

I no longer felt the pain in my head, now everything was just numb, and that included my hearing. As if everything Vi said came at me from underwater. Hey, technically we were underwater, weren’t we? With all that ice on top of us? I chuckled out loud and the world spun even faster.

Damn it, no! I couldn’t pass out, I couldn’t do that to Vi. I gritted my teeth hard and focused, pushing the rushing tide away, that was trying to pull me under. We were in front of some kind of blockage, a wall of white, a dead end. No, there was a seam down the middle. I couldn’t talk and focus, but Vi wasn’t trying to make me speak now.

I just had to figure this out, I had to hold on until we got to help somehow. I couldn’t abandon my spiky, brave girl a second time. I just didn’t know how.