One Big Bite by Michele Mills
2
The team retreated to the massive Omega 9 space station, a preselected neutral zone where they could plan next steps. Except it wasn’t as neutral as they thought.
Roxy shared quarters with two other lab techs—the three of them in one small room. Luckily, she still felt perfectly fine after the shot, no side effects whatsoever. She sat on the narrow bottom bunk with her tablet in her lap, anxiously trying to figure out how to get herself to Salo without anyone knowing why the hell she needed to go to Salo in the first place. Arriving at IHO headquarters without any of her other team knowing wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Finding time alone to securely message the IHO Chief Scientist with the news that she needed help to arrive, while not admitting to anyone why, was proving difficult. She could easily send a nonsecure text message to an assistant, but a direct, secure message required classified clearance from the second-in-command of her team.
She tossed her tablet to the side and blew out a frustrated breath. She wasn’t a spy or a secret agent. How was she going to do this? And she found herself watching the movements of the other members of the team and wondering—who was the mole? It was just crazy to think that one of these beings had turned on Petrov and the rest of the team and had been selling them out.
Well, at least Petrov and his daughter were also heading to Salo. At this rate, they would probably get there long before she did.
And then someone knocked on their door, shouting words that didn’t make sense. Wait, did they say…?
“Oh no,” one of her roommates cried out. “No, it can’t be.”
Roxy’s breath caught in her throat.
“Everyone to the meeting room,” another tech shouted from the hallway.
The entire team crowded into a small meeting space and Dr. Xoorlax, the Gravian female who was second-in-charge of the lab informed them with tears in her eyes, “We’ve learned that Dr. Petrov and his daughter didn’t make it to IHO headquarters with the serum. They were intercepted by a Lurk battleship. Apparently, Petrov became so desperate to get away he thought their only escape was through the black holes on the way to The Swirl. The vid channels are reporting that Petrov’s ship exploded in an asteroid belt, and both he and his daughter are presumed dead.”
“Dead? Petrov is dead? And his daughter too?” someone next to Roxy choked.
Roxy sat in a chair, tears streaming down her cheeks. Her chest tight and her throat so hot it was hard to breathe. She’d hugged Petrov last night and now he was…dead? What the hell? She’d known what they were doing was dangerous, but Petrov had seemed so untouchable. A part of her must’ve thought his plan would work. And now…
The rest of the staff cried or sat numbly, comforting each other over the loss of Aleksandr Petrov—and his daughter who most of the staff had also befriended.
A raging fury swept through Roxy. She crossed her arms over her chest, anger replacing tears. The Lurks were going to pay for this. Somehow, someway, they would pay.
“No one thought the Lurks would be so bold as to literally kill Petrov and his daughter to gain the serum for themselves,” Dr. Xoorlax continued with a rough voice. “We knew they were trying to steal it, but to commit murder…”
“Does this mean that the serum has been destroyed?” someone shouted. “Did it blow up in Petrov’s ship?”
“I don’t know,” Xoorlax admitted.
“If it didn’t make it to Salo, where is the serum? Did Petrov have both variants with him?”
“I don’t know that either. No one knows.”
A loud debate started as members tried to decide what to do next.
All Roxy could think of was how she was alone. There was now only one serum. Holy gods. There was no backup, no second variant that Petrov was transporting. Just her. It was now more important than ever that she get to Salo. Hanging out with the team meant she was exactly where the Lurks could easily find her. Now she understood why Petrov wanted her to remain silent and tell no one—when she left, everyone could truthfully say they had no idea what had happened to the serum.
“The Lurks will want us too because they’ll think we know something,” another doctor sitting next to her pointed out. “Our lives are in danger. We have to plan a defense.”
“They’ll leave us alone if we give them the serum,” a scared scientist shouted from across the room. “Just tell the Lurks where it is so they’ll leave us alone!”
Roxy’s jaw clenched and her hands fisted on her lap.
“Have we turned weak so quickly?” someone else shouted. “Petrov risked his life, and we fold in a millisecond?”
“Hey, I only work for the IHO because it pays well. I didn’t know my life was in jeopardy! I didn’t sign up for getting killed.”
The debate continued until finally it was agreed that the question was moot considering they didn’t even have any info to give the Lurks anyway. No one knew where the serum was—as far as anyone knew both variants had been destroyed in Petrov’s ship.
The team was ordered back to quarters to rest and to get some sleep. Roxy returned to her bunk thinking she’d never be able to sleep with so much anxiety filling her mind, only to pass out quickly.
The next morning,Roxy awoke to the news that a Lurk battleship had docked with Omega 9 overnight.
The Lurks had learned that Petrov’s former lab team was stationed there with all of the equipment. Normally, a Xylan Imperial Battleship provided military support to the space station, but it was on a preplanned training exercise. The Lurk commander took advantage of this small window of opportunity and demanded that the IHO team submit to med scans.
Oh hell, no.
Roxy used the cleansing unit and chose the blow out selection at the end that dried her body and instantly straightened her hair smooth and shiny. She carefully applied her make up, put on her IHO work outfit, and began plotting her escape in earnest. She went out and chatted with her roommates about the Lurks arrival, ate a quick breakfast and then strode down a hallway—the weight of the universe on her shoulders and her mind filled with half-baked plans for escape.
Then she noticed a group of engineers walking towards her, transporting an Illibrium container from cargo bay. Roxy stopped and stepped aside, pressing herself back against the wall to give them clearance. She stared at the gorgeous Illibrium through the clear case as it passed, because how often did mere mortals such as herself get to catch a glimpse of actual Illibrium?
A crystal, not much bigger than her open palm, was held in stasis inside the clear box. Her body tingled and her breath quickened. It was beautiful. It glowed a more brilliant white as it came close. A rush of peace and safety ran through her as she made eye contact with the striking crystal. Was she making a connection with a mineral?
Weird.
And then it was gone, and she remained in the corridor, staring after it, long after she’d lost sight of the procession. And for some strange reason a certainty formed in her mind. She had a destination in her head, as if she was being called somewhere. And this new destination made absolute sense.
The…the Illibrium was communicating with her? She’d heard of this. In fact, this idea that Illibrium could communicate beyond a fever bond had a name—Illibrium madness. This was why she’d never seen a crystal prior to this. They were kept locked up because they were beautiful, powerful, and also possibly dangerous in the wrong hands and could easily bond incorrectly with susceptible individuals.
But the whole reason why that crystal had been transported through a public hallway was because it was supposed to be safe. A brief glimpse of Illibrium didn’t hurt anyone, so why was she left feeling as if the crystal had reached out to her and connected?
Because it had.
And was this a bad thing?
No…no, it wasn’t. The Illibrium had sensed she needed help and gave her directions on where to go for that help. It might seem odd that she was going to follow the advice of a glowing crystal, but she had no other plan. And this plan sounded so right. She was going with it. She lifted her chin, marched back to her quarters, and began gathering her things. A group of coworkers had congregated in her shared quarters, because it had somehow become a main gathering spot.
“What are you doing?” Dr. Gungin asked—the same doctor who’d sat next to her at the meeting.
“I’m going to Timbur,” she replied firmly as she pulled a suitcase down from a top rack. The Illibrium had clearly shown her that Timbur was the planet she needed to keep her safe and secure and she was going there, immediately.
“What? Why are you going there?” one of her roommates asked. “No one visits Timbur. It’s not a vacation spot.”
“I’m going to Timbur because it’s a good place for me to get a new job and start over,” Roxy answered with firm resolve, although it did sound stupid, even to her own ears. They had to think she was crazy. Why would someone suddenly plan to go to Timbur without being requested? But she couldn’t tell them the truth. None of them would believe that an Illibrium crystal she’d passed in the hallway had told her to get moving and travel to the planet where the rarest mineral in the four sectors was mined. And also, any of them could be the mole. She could trust no one.
“Are you trying to leave because you’re worried about what’s going to happen to us? Is that what this is about? You don’t have to do that. Roxy, don’t worry,” the Creekan doctor told her. “The IHO is taking care of us. They already have us set up to restart the lab on Creeka Minor. My government knows they screwed up by pulling out when they did, so they’re offering to take us all in and pay for the relocation and building of the new lab on our home planet. Without Petrov’s data or the two variants of the serum, we’ll be starting from scratch—but there’s a lifetime of safe and steady work being offered to all of us there.”
Normally Roxy would be jumping at this opportunity to restart on Creeka, but nothing about this was normal. “But we all have to go through the Lurks’ ridiculous med scan first before each of us can leave, right?” she countered. “I can’t imagine them giving up on that.”
“Well, yeah. But is that so bad? None of us want to submit to the med scans, but we’re all going to go ahead and do it. They won’t find anything. It’s just a silly request to prove they have power over us.”
She bit her lip. There was no effing way she was submitting to that med scan. And she had to somehow make her reason for not having the exam sound real. “Well, I’m not doing it,” she exclaimed, “what if they say it’s just a scan, but they inject us with something lethal?”
The crowd in the room began to stare at her as if she’d grown two heads.
“The Xylan fleet will be back in two diurnals,” someone tried to calmly explain. “And the Lurks will leave because they’re scared of the Xylan. The Lurks can’t actually hurt us because they know they’ll be in trouble, especially after what happened to Petrov. The Xylan would blast them into stardust. They claim they didn’t kill Petrov, and he died crashing into an asteroid belt, but everyone knows they crashed because they were chasing him! The Lurks are on thin ice right now with the other intergalactic governments. They won’t hurt us.”
“It’s just a simple, painless med scan which buys us the means to escape,” the doctor agreed. “Then we leave, free and clear.”
“No, I’m not going through with that med scan. I’m quitting. After what happened on Rigtor Five, I don’t trust the IHO to keep us safe. I’ve decided to leave and work on Timbur instead.” She probably shouldn’t be telling them she was going to Timbur, because this could very well get back to the Lurks. But once she got inside of Timbur, they couldn’t get to her, unless the Xylan chose to kick her out.
Two different technicians let out snorts of disgust and stood up and left the room. She didn’t blame them; she’d feel the same if their situations were reversed. But what else could she say?
The Creekan doctor gazed at her with flaming red eyes. She’d seen Dr. Gungin at the lab, often huddled next to Petrov, conferring over data. The two of them had been close friends. If only she could tell this male the truth. But she couldn’t, for his own safety.
“Okay,” he sighed, “well I guess if that’s how you feel you should leave then…”
“Will the Lurks actually allow her to leave without taking the med scan first?” her roommate asked.
“They’re not getting a scan from me,” Roxy groused, trying her best to continue sounding like a temperamental bitch. “I’m not even working for the IHO anymore and I was only part of the team for a week. They don’t need to scan me.”
“Uh huh, well, good luck with that excuse.”
“I don’t understand why you think going to Timbur in the off chance they give you a job is even a good idea,” someone sniffed. “If you’re able to sneak past the Lurks without having to submit to the med scan and get out of here to board a ship, the problem is you’re still not Xylan. They’ll never let you stay on Timbur permanently. They’ll kick you off right away.”
It was all true. The rarest and most sought-after mineral in the four sectors was mined on Timbur, so they didn’t mess around when it came to security. Hardly anyone was allowed on the planet and the Xylan military had a fleet permanently stationed in orbit. Timbur was a Xylan outpost locked down tight, but she had to get there. If she was serious about hiding from the Lurks, that was the place. And ever since she’d had her bonding moment with the crystal in the hallway, she had an overwhelming need to be on Timbur. It didn’t make too much sense, but it just seemed right. “I’ll use a transporter,” Roxy answered, “and have the send marked confidential.”
“Are you kidding? You can’t afford a transporter trip. Beings only go there because they’re requested and then it’s paid for. You won’t be able to afford the trip on your own. It’s very expensive.”
The advice was entirely logical—but she had to ignore it. She should stay and make her way to Creeka, but first order of priority was now keeping Petrov’s serum safe. She couldn’t go to Creeka with the team because getting there meant first submitting to that med scan. And that med scan was literally her death sentence. She needed to get to the IHO but she’d have to stop over at Timbur first. After she arrived on Timbur she’d figure out how to get from Timbur to Salo.
Roxy grabbed her other red suitcases and rolled her entire collection of bespoke shoes, bags, purses and custom-made jewelry past the other team members who watched her with stunned expressions. Then she made her way to Omega 9’s enormous marketplace, ready to sell all she owned to get off this space station quickly. It brought tears to her eyes, selling all the clothes and beauty products she’d managed to purchase at below cost over the years. Some of it had even grown in value. But what was all this worth to her if she was dead? If the Lurks were able to perform that med scan, they’d know she had the serum and they’d take her, dead or alive, and she’d never be seen or heard from again. If they’d killed Petrov and Sofiya, they’d kill her too and since she was a nobody her death would be easier to hide.
Roxy stopped at the first resell shop. The Surrelian store owner gazed at her items with avarice glowing in his red eyes. “I’ll take all of it,” he hissed.
“Okay, but I want eighty percent of the sale,” she demanded, glancing at the sign that said all sales were 60/40. No way was she giving this being forty percent. She was desperate but not that desperate. There was a whole row of other second-hand shops for her to continue to barter with. She knew the value of what she had and it was all well cared for. Some of this was vintage and one-of-a-kind. Her clothing had always been her investment and today it would finally pay off.
“Yes, eighty percent,” he agreed.
They shook hands on it; Roxy signed a series of e-documents and then the holo vid channel selling began. Everything sold faster than she’d ever thought possible. An hour later Roxy’s entire collection was sold, down to the last hairbrush, sock and safety pin. Suddenly she had enough currency in her account for a one-way transporter trip to Timbur. She hoped the beings who’d purchased all of her products, clothes and accessories took as much care of them and got as much joy out of them as she did.
The moment she left the marketplace and returned to the same level as the team, she saw a tall group of scary Lurk guards herding her former coworkers into the med lab one by one. The Lurks were long-limbed, their skin gray-white and they were all a head taller than any of the lab team. “We’re missing one of the techs,” she heard one of them growl.
Oh hell. Okay, not going that way.
She quietly turned around a corner and slipped into a lift with a group of other beings and made her way to the opposite side of Omega 9, where the fancy transporter station was located. She paid for a ticket to Timbur using her IHO badge and number, which immediately gave her clearance to travel. Whew, one hurdle down. When she arrived would they allow her to stay or kick her back to Omega 9 right away? She had no idea.
Roxy stood nervously on the transporter disk, ready to take her first-ever transporter trip with nothing but her tablet in her hand. She did her best to look relaxed on the outside and not how she felt—like a group of Lurks was about to show up at any minute and cart her away.
The staff was very helpful and gave her directions on what to expect and then started the countdown. A tickle began in her belly, and she was whisked across the four sectors in a flash of scattered atoms and immediately reassembled on a transporter disk on the station on Timbur. She blinked her eyes open and in a matter of seconds the temporary blindness passed and she was staring at a small group of very serious-looking Xylan who were frowning at her.
“Who are you?” a seven-foot-tall Xylan guard demanded.
Shit, she’d forgotten how scary the Xylan looked. She swallowed hard and answered, trying not to let her voice quiver, “My name is Roxy Johnson, a human originally from New Earth.”
She stepped off the transporter disk and there was a moment of confusion because the Xylan staff didn’t quite know what to do with her. She rattled off her citizenship number and showed them her IHO identification, then stood with her hands clasped in front of her, trying to act totally normal. “I am here to start my position as your new lab tech,” she calmly lied with a huge smile on her face. As if she was here for the first day of a new job and had no idea why there was a mix-up.
They had no information of her arrival or position. “We didn’t request anyone from the IHO.” But they kept referring to her as “a female of royal pigment,” whatever that meant. She was worried they were going to send her back to Omega 9, but they didn’t. In fact, after their initial upset, they were all being super nice to her. The guard who’d first spoken with agitation was now treating her as if she were a member of his family.
Who knew Xylan could be so sweet?
They placed her next to an Illibrium crystal to confirm she was “attuned to Illibrium”. It glowed as brightly as the crystal she’d passed on Omega 9. She didn’t feel like this one was trying to communicate, but she still felt an ambiance of peace emanating from the mineral.
“This being’s presence won’t shut down operations,” a staff member confirmed. “In fact, the crystal glows twenty percent brighter with her near.”
That was good, right?
“You can stay,” the guard rumbled.
She was so relieved her knees grew weak. Whew, second hurdle down. Now at least she was off Omega 9 and staying on Timbur, which meant she’d avoided the dreaded med scan.
Now that she was here, she felt that same intense calm she’d felt when she’d been close to the first crystal back in the hallway on the space station. But a nagging sensation of unease kicked in, letting her know there was more traveling to do. She needed to be closer to the Illibrium. She was on Timbur but hadn’t yet reached her final destination, therefore she needed to get away from the guards and explore deeper in the mine.
“No one knows exactly what to do with a human of royal pigment,” another guard told her. “This is an unusual situation. We are taking you to the CEO of Minecorp. A judge has been called to formally decide this matter against the Scales of Xylan Law.”
That didn’t sound good. She didn’t even really understand what any of this fuss was about, but she didn’t want to be a bother and ask too many questions. She was lucky they were even letting her stay.
“Don’t worry,” another guard said with a warm voice. “They will take care of you. Admin just wants to make sure everything is done according to the law. Following the honor code and legality is important to our species.”
“Oh, okay.” And then her stomach chose that exact moment to growl loudly with hunger. She placed a hand over her belly, her cheeks heating with embarrassment.
“First, we will feed you.”
The two guards guided her out of the transporter station to a small employee cafeteria and she was served a warm plate of fabulous food and given a large glass of iced Traq. The two guards chatted with each other about their Brides and their offspring while she stuffed her mouth with spicy meat. After she used the restroom and cleaned up, the guards then loaded her into a nearby vehicle. She’d arrived right after sunset, so she wasn’t able to see the city as clearly as she’d like, but Timbur seemed to be a jungle planet entirely populated by mainly Margol Xylan. It was green, lush and wet with blasts of bright colors from nearby blooming plants.
They drove to the enormous Minecorp admin building, which was the ground level of the entire mine. The two guards escorted her out of the vehicle and they walked into the main hallway of the Admin level. It was filled with more Xylan than she’d ever seen in one place. She’d somehow never met a Xylan face-to-face before today. She hadn’t had any Xylan in her classes at university and there weren’t Xylan on the lab team on Rigtor Five. She wasn’t sure why this was, but it caused her to feel a tingle of awe and wonder while walking next to these tall beings.
“Shift change,” one of the guards explained as they made their way through crowds of sweaty Margol miners. She was so small compared to everyone else. It was as if she were walking through a dense forest or a huge city with towering skyscrapers.
The Xylan all gave her startled glances. The guards stopped and began answering questions from a crowd of other staff who were pointing at her. They kept mentioning the term “royal pigment” again and again. Mainly she was just happy to see the guards distracted for a moment, because she had to get out of there. She had to go farther into the mine.
Right then the doors to a nearby lift opened. A crowd of miners swept out, leaving it empty. There were suddenly so many Xylan around her that she was separated from her two guards for a moment. This was her chance, and she took it. Roxy swiftly stepped on board. She pressed the button for the floor that her instincts told her was correct and hid in a corner until the doors closed.
The lift began to move and she slumped against the wall. “Oh my gods, it worked.” She nervously watched the numbers progress as the mining cage moved into the bowels of the mine, lower and lower. What if it stopped and someone else got on? Her heart raced and her palm were sweaty as she watched the levels click along. But it never stopped until she was at level 2400.
The doors slid open and she could see nothing beyond but darkness She stepped out of the lift into a dim cavern, hoping and praying that her instincts had been right and this level would be empty of staff or miners. If she turned to the right, she could see the distant pinprick lights of head lamps and the sounds of work. Obvious signs of a crew of Illibrium miners. Uh oh, only half of this level was abandoned. But to her left was more of that utter darkness. She went to her left and entered the mouth of a mine shaft.
It wasn’t too cold or too warm, the temperature seemed just right. Her boots crunched on the rocky floor. She wore her gray IHO lab tech uniform, minus the white lab coat. The tunnels were much taller than her head and very wide, originally built for heavy moving equipment. Roxy walked deeper and deeper into the cave, noting crystals were embedded in the walls. They glowed, giving her a bit of light to see as she walked.
That twinge of anxiety was gone. This was her final destination. A mine shaft?
She grinned. If no one found her here, this could work. “Thank you for bringing me here,” she whispered up to the brilliant crystals. “Thank you so much for your help.”
Although the fact remained that she’d arrived without food and water. How long could she last if she had neither?
