One Big Bite by Michele Mills
3
“Who stole my lunch?” Cannibal bellowed, spittle flying out of his mouth. His voice echoed throughout the rough-hewn walls of level 2400, causing his personal crystal to heat in his pocket.
His food was gone. Again.
Gone.
Scar, the most annoying of all his brothers, got right in his face. “Why would any of us be stupid enough to steal your lunch?” he snarled, stating the obvious. “We all know what you’re like when you’re not fed.”
Cannibal shoved his brother out of the way. “That’s what I want to know. I don’t understand why any of you would steal my food,” he yelled at all six of his other brothers, who were all busy removing their helmets and unclipping their gear. They ignored him and steadily took their seats at the table and began opening their own lunches—the ones he had packed for them. “This is stupid,” Cannibal continued. “None of you need to steal my lunch to have more. All you have to do is ask me to pack extra while we’re still at the domicile.”
“Godsdammit, stop whining,” Chief groused as he grabbed his own lunch and strode toward a table. “No one stole your food. This time you forgot it and left it behind. Your pack has to be back home, sitting on the kitchen counter.”
“And Lila is probably opening it right now, using it to feed her pet cats,” Claws remarked, referring to his Bride who lived with them in their compound.
All seven of his brothers laughed heartily at Claw’s stupid joke, wiping at their eyes and slapping their knees. “Good one. That was good!”
Let them laugh. This was the third time this week that Cannibal’s food had gone missing and enough was enough. The first time, and even the second time he’d been angry, but still reasonably level-headed about it, taking their excuses in stride after a very short tirade and instead eating someone else’s offered lunch. But he’d been eating less-satisfying midday meals for two diurnals now and it was bad for his equilibrium. He was completely off balance lately, as if was something new was happening and keeping him on edge. It was because his food was disappearing, right?
“I bet Lila’s cats are playing with Cannibal’s meat and not even eating it,” Trunk laughed. “There’s probably a mess strewn on the floor and the cleaning bots are sucking up all the discarded food.”
Cannibal’s stomach growled with hunger, which caused his rage to explode like a mining blast. “Enough!” he roared. He stepped forward, placed his claws under the edge of the nearest empty table and flipped it over. The loud crash echoed in the cavern. “Where is my lunch pack?”
“Give him some food,” Chief shouted. “I can’t stand this anymore. I want to sit and eat in peace. This ends today.”
“Here take mine today and sit down,” Hook grumbled. “Damn, you’re a mess when you’re not fed. I pity the female who eventually becomes your Bride.”
Cannibal took great heaving breaths and held Hook’s pack in his claws, trying to calm his heart and mind. The smell of his food entering his lungs helped greatly. He sat and ate the offered lunch, a low-level growl still rumbling in his chest as he stuffed his mouth with meat. His brothers ate their own meals and each shared portions with Hook. They chatted and laughed amicably around him, talking about the latest episode of their new favorite show, Gladiator Nation. As if nothing was wrong. As if the mysterious loss of Cannibal’s lunch wasn’t important to them and in fact easily explained and forgotten.
But Cannibal would not forget or forgive. He glared at each of them with suspicion—which one stole his lunch? They all claimed innocence and Chief thought Cannibal had left it behind today, but Cannibal distinctly remembered packing his lunch and holding it in his claw as he’d left their domicile that morning.
And this was the third time this week it had gone missing. There was no way he’d accidentally leave his own food behind three times in a row. Each day there was a different chorus of excuses as to why it had suddenly gone missing when lunch break rolled around, all of which were ridiculous.
One of the other crews stole it.
You left it on the public transport.
No, no and no. He turned his head and glanced back at the entrance to the nearby abandoned shaft. His crew worked level 2400 this moon cycle and they’d set up a temporary break area and workstation not far from the mining cage. The entrance to the new shaft and the opening of old shaft three-oh-four, which was left for regeneration were on opposite sides of this cavern and he found himself staring hard at the entrance to the abandoned mine.
What if the mystery were located in that old mine? He’d been staring at it for two days now, his usual disinterest morphing into a tingling curiosity. He clenched his fists. He had to go in there. Today, he would explore that shaft and see if he could find some clues as to the disappearance of his food.
“You good?” Hook asked.
“Not really, it’s only half my usual amount,” Cannibal answered.
Hook had moved out of their family compound and now lived with his Bride and infant son in employee family housing, but Cannibal still made his brother’s lunch and brought it along with him to the mine. His brother shook his head. “I could never eat as much as you. It would make me sick.”
Cannibal snorted with derision. They all claimed it would make them sick to eat as much as he did, which was ridiculous. But this also meant that sharing their tiny snack-lunches was not sustainable. If this continued he would starve.
His eldest brother was right about one thing—this ended today.
When lunch break ended Cannibal returned with the crew to the mine and focused on his work. This moon cycle they were tasked with drilling a new shaft to link two sections of level 2400. It was difficult work, with constant monitoring of the crystals, precision blasts and careful digging and carting away of debris. On Timbur they often had to resort to slow-moving, old-fashioned mining techniques in order to keep the Illibrium safe.
After many hours of hard labor, his mind began to wander. There was a break in the action while Trunk decided on the exact location of the next blast. Cannibal sat on a rock and quickly devoured the three protein bars he always kept stashed in his work uniform.
Who took my lunch?
If his brothers hadn’t stolen his food, then it had to be something else. But what? And he had to find out, or tomorrow’s lunch would disappear too. At this rate he was going to have to lock his food up or keep it strapped to his back while he worked.
He glanced down at his pocket and scooped out his personal crystal. He smiled at it and rubbed the glowing heat in his claw. It was telling him to get up and get going. His crystal wanted to explore too?
Cannibal finished his shift early, determined to look around and pick up some new clues before he left for the day. “I’m going to explore the rest of this level and the abandoned mine,” he informed Bayzon, the Chief of their crew. “I need to find out why my lunches are disappearing. If it really isn’t any of you then it must be a hungry animal.”
Chief nodded. “If you didn’t leave it behind, it might certainly be an animal stealing your food,” his brother agreed. “No sentient being would be allowed past security and the Illibrium would’ve alerted us to a disturbance. Be careful though, it might attack if it feels cornered.”
Rook pushed his helmet up from his sweaty face. “I can go with you,” his youngest brother offered. “I’d like to see that part of the mine. I can help if there’s a hungry animal we need to trap and relocate.”
Cannibal bared his fangs. “No,” he snapped back. “I don’t want you there. I can go alone.”
“Fine,” his brother snarled and stomped off. “Don’t take my help.”
Cannibal ignored Rook’s outburst and left the crew behind. He didn’t want anyone with him while he scouted that cave. Not even his brother’s hurt gaze could change his mind. He was doing this alone and that was that.
He’d told Chief he was looking for an animal, but this wasn’t entirely true. An animal as the culprit made complete sense, but for some reason Cannibal felt this was the wrong conclusion. There was more to this than a burrowing animal. The truth was…the last three days he’d felt something watching him. His personal crystal had been glowing brighter and sending off signals of alert. Not danger, but…activity? And again, he hadn’t told anyone because this message was specifically for him. And today the message had grown in strength, and he had to know what it was.
He stepped out of their mine shaft they were working on, past the mining cage and over to dormant cave three-oh-four. No one had been here in years. All the mature Illibrium available had been extracted and the cavern was left to regenerate. This mine wasn’t set to be cycled back to for ten more years. But as he walked inside, he could see that the crystals looked larger than he thought they should be. As if their rate of growth skipped forward five years. Huh. Maybe the closure of this cave happened longer in the past than he’d assumed?
He pulled his own personal crystal out of his pocket and held it in his claw as he walked. He’d performed the fever bond with this crystal when he was fifteen years old and for the last twelve years it had been his constant companion. It glowed bright in his palm. Practically twinkled with energy.
Cannibal lit his head lamp and walked farther into the shaft. He didn’t technically need the lamp due to his night vision and the ambient glow of Illibrium, but he could see clearer with it. He walked deep into the cave, finding nothing more unusual than larger-than-expected crystal growth, until he stopped at the workroom. All mines had at least one central work room. He stepped inside expecting to find a time capsule of dust but found his open lunch pack on the only bunk, with the plates neatly stacked and every last item eaten. The containers looked like they’d been licked clean. The bedding was rumpled as if recently slept in. And a pleasant feminine scent lingered in the air.
He turned around in a circle, examining the small space. What the hell? There was no one in the toilet or the closets. The small room was vacated of whoever had been hiding there.
He gathered the containers and the empty pack and stepped out of the room. “Hello? Is anyone there?” he shouted into the cave.
No response. This most certainly wasn’t an animal. But how could a sentient being make it into this cave without them knowing?
“You can come out. I won’t hurt you. I am Gorzan of Forty-Five, part of the Fever Brothers Crew working this level. My crew name is Cannibal.”
He waited, but no response.
Then he exhaled and walked out. There was no use staying longer. If this female wanted his assistance, she would have stepped out and spoken to him. If she wanted to hurt him, she could have tried that too. But neither happened so he assumed she was deciding she couldn’t trust him yet? He didn’t know why she was hiding in here, but the cave was a safe place for this female to hide. No one would disturb her there. She obviously was only lacking food and water.
At least now he knew what had happened to his lunches. And he also knew how to make sure they weren’t stolen again.
He met up with his brothers at the mining cage and entered with the noisy crew as they exited at the end of their shift to return to the compound.
“You found your lunch pack licked clean in three-oh-four?” Chief questioned as the cage lifted them from the deep mine and up to the ground level of the massive Minecorp operation.
Cannibal shifted the pack in his arms. They’d all quieted down and were staring at him now, waiting for his answer. He thought about telling his brothers the truth about what he’d found but they’d want to call security, and this shaft would be swarmed with guards. He had to play this differently. He’d draw this being out carefully. With food. And when he met who was here, then he’d tell the others. “Yes, it was scattered at the mouth to the cave,” he lied. “I picked it up. There were no paw prints or claw marks.”
“You think there’s some kind of animal living in the abandoned part of the mine?” Heavy questioned, because he was the animal lover in their group. “You want some help with that?”
A growl rumbled in Cannibal’s chest. He didn’t want any help with this. This was his project, and his alone.
Heavy reared back. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Don’t bother to offer help,” Rook groused. “He’s being an ass about this.”
Cannibal looked down as heat raced across his cheeks. He didn’t know why he reacted this way either. All Cannibal knew was he didn’t want anyone else interfering in his search for the being who was eating his food. He was going in the mine alone and figuring out who this was by himself. He didn’t need his brothers’ help.
“Well, don’t feed it,” Heavy remarked. “You’ll just encourage it to scavenge for food.”
“I know,” he grumbled.
Although, he was most certainly going to feed it.
He didn’t say another word. And then they left him alone, talking amongst themselves. They left the cage and walked out to the public transportation. His mind was filled with the mysterious feminine scent that lingered in the workroom. Why would a female hide in that cave? Her scent wasn’t Xylan and he found her intriguing. He was determined to help this unknown female, who was most likely Creekan or Gravian. If a being was on Timbur and not Xylan, those would be the next likeliest species. He wasn’t angry anymore that it had been stealing his food. He was pleased to discover the loss of his food wasn’t a cruel joke someone was playing on him. This female was simply hungry and desperate for food. And in her desperation, she’d zeroed in on his lunch, which caused pride to swell in his chest. She was in trouble, and she’d sought him out for help. This made sense because he had the best food.
He couldn’t get past the idea that if another living thing was hungry, it had to be fed. Food was the highlight of Cannibal’s entire life, second only to his fever bond with his personal crystal and his career on the Illibrium mine. He had a passion for sharing food with others. If he hadn’t become a miner, he would’ve instead been a chef. An owner of a restaurant specializing in fresh, organic food. He was either working on the mine or preparing and eating food. It was a good life. Except he spent all of his free time solely with his brothers, who did not truly appreciate the food as he did. He felt as if this being in the mine was a fan of his work and he wanted to give it more.
After dinner Cannibal cooked an extra meal for the female in the mine, spending time making sure it was special. Then the next morning he packed lunches for his brothers and himself and also an extra just for the female in need of food. It was exactly like his own, with double the amount of food as his brothers. He suspected his was always taken because of the increased food volume in his pack and because of the extras he added. No one else had ale or dessert. They considered it too filling for midday and reserved those foods for final meal. Not Cannibal. He drank ale with all meals. And he could have dessert each diurnal, even on solstice.
When he arrived at the mine, he set his own pack down on the break table, alongside the extra lunch for the being in the abandoned mine. No one questioned him bringing double, they knew how much he ate. Cannibal bringing along a second lunch wasn’t unusual. Plus, they all knew this meant he’d remain fed, which was good for everyone.
Cannibal frowned as he studied the two lunch packs and glanced at the entrance to cave three-oh-four. What if this unknown female took both lunches? This was the test as to whether they would be friends. If the female only took one lunch for her own needs and left one for him, then he would consider this an honorable exchange and continue. If she took both, then he knew it was time to alert security.
Cannibal put his helmet on and got to work. He drilled the new shaft alongside the other drillers in their team—Hook, Claws and Rook. Heavy and Trunk were the blasters in their crew and Scar managed the removal of debris. Captain oversaw the crew’s entire operation, checking for safety, collecting data and collaborating with the mining techs.
It was hard work but also very rewarding. They knew that what they did brought power to the entire four sectors. Their job was to harvest the crystals with care, guided by their fever bond with their own personal crystals. And they did just that.
Hours later Cannibal strolled out, washed up with his brothers and went to gather his lunch and smiled when he found his own lunch left behind, and the extra one taken. And again, his other brother’s lunches left behind untouched. He smiled wide and sat down to eat his own food, knowing this being hiding in the cave was a like-minded being.
And now he had to meet this unmated female.
He put down his fork. Unmated? Why had that entered his mind? He had no idea about this being. But—he took another bite of spicy meat—he couldn’t shake the thought that there was an unmated female in that cave. Of what species, he didn’t know. The scent trail had been faint, but he’d liked it. It brought him pleasure, thinking of how she wasn’t claimed and did not already have offspring by another male. He somehow knew this too.
The next day he made lunch for her again, always taking extra time to feed her with new meals he thought she might enjoy—all the foods that were his own favorite. He gave her specially brewed ale, his artisanal bread and his spicy meat that he slow-cooked all day while he was at work. He even gave her a tiny dessert each day he’d made from three layers of puff pastry injected with blood custard. On top of each one he used icing to scroll the Xylan mark for the first letter of his birth name on top of each one, just so it was stamped with his name. He made sure this female was always reminded who was feeding her—one step removed from him placing the food in her mouth himself, from his own claw. He continued in this way, feeding her and not seeing her.
They fell into a comfortable routine. At the end of each shift, Cannibal secretly walked over to the workroom in cave three-oh-four and retrieved his empty pack and utensils, his brothers none the wiser. No one seemed to notice he was making two elaborate lunches but only eating one, and that he ended up with two empty packs again as they left at the end of each shift. His brothers were clueless when it came to food consumption.
After the third day of this he found his pack conveniently left for him at the mouth of the cave, so he didn’t need to walk into the workroom. He grinned and took the pack home. He washed and refilled it with new food and drink as usual for the next day, happy to be doing this for her.
He kept her whereabouts secret from his brothers for seven diurnals straight. They had no idea there was an unknown female living in the abandoned section of the mine. And he preferred to keep it that way. He would tend to her needs.
Only him.
He wasn’t in a hurry at first to meet this stranger, or to bring her out of the mine. Tending to her needs by keeping her fed was enough. His personal crystal seemed happy with this arrangement too—it glowed brighter each time he stepped into three-oh-four.
The female was a fan of his cooking and he appreciated how she devoured every single morsel of food and consumed all the drinks he made for her. This particular shaft had a mountain spring to keep this being clean and hydrated. There was a location for her to sleep and rest. If she wanted to stay, why not let her?
But last night he began to worry. What if the female was in denial about her level of assistance? What if she required medical help and was not asking because she was scared? The only reason a being would hide in the abandoned mine was fear and a need for safety. Why would anyone else hide here?
Also, who was she? How could a being enter this mine and hide, undetected? It seemed an impossibility.
Today he wasn’t going to simply step into the mine and retrieve his empty pack. This time he wasn’t leaving until he’d visually confirmed her safety.
