One Big Bite by Michele Mills
4
“Female? I know you’re here,” a deep male voice echoed inside the cavern.
Eeek. Roxy recognized that voice. Gorzan of Forty-Five was shouting for her again, like he’d done on that first day he’d come to the mine to try and find out who’d stolen his precious lunch. Shit. Why couldn’t he just leave the food and go? The handsome-but-scary miner they called Cannibal who’d tossed tables because he was flaming mad over the loss of his food wanted her to show herself so he could…have her kicked out of the mine?
Oh hell no.
His heavy boots crunched on the rocky terrain.
Roxy left the workroom and darted back into the farthest corner of the mine shaft, back to her favorite spot near the pool. The first time he’d shown up she’d made it out of the workroom and around a bend in the cave seconds before his arrival. What would she have done if he’d found her?
Okay, it was true that she’d stolen his lunch several times, but she’d been desperate and alone in the mine. Totally, depressingly alone. And starved. And without any progress made in her goal of getting the serum to the IHO. She hadn’t been intercepted by the Lurks, but she was also stuck here with no way out. And she’d thought that she and this miner had formed a nice arrangement where he made extra food for her, and she left the empty pack and dishes at the mouth of the cave for him. Couldn’t he just leave it at that?
She ran deeper into the cave, heading for the mountain spring in the back cavern—her favorite hiding spot.
When she’d first arrived, she’d thought guards would find her and drag her out. Couldn’t they have followed her every movement through their security system? All they had to do was at the very least see her exit at this level on the lift and then do a simple search to find her.
But no one ever came.
She glanced at the Illibrium embedded in the walls. Were the crystals keeping her safe and hidden? The nearest crystals in the walls glowed steadily. No overt response, but she knew she was right. They’d guided her here and somehow they were also keeping her hidden.
The IHO tablet was still with her when she got to the cave. Despite the fact that she was so deep underground, she was able to receive intermittent reception to the interwebs. But she still had the same problem as before—she couldn’t get a secure direct message to the Chief Scientist without clearance. There might be a way to hack their system and get in, but she wasn’t good with dark web stuff. Roxy had a feeling that she was on her own still and tasked with getting herself to IHO headquarters to provide the serum. But she couldn’t get there without being taken into custody.
That first day, she’d found some sort of abandoned workstation deep in the cave. Thank gods. Without it she’d have been stuck sleeping on the hard, rocky ground. The workstation was a small room with a bed carved into the wall. A tiny generator still worked and when she turned it on, it powered a lantern and the surprisingly high-tech toilet that played Xylan chants and made the area smell nice. It was all very much set up for the Xylan species. Everything seemed to be raised higher than she was used to, which made sense because they were all so tall.
Luckily, the guards had fed her that morning, so the fact that there wasn’t a single morsel of food in the cave was less bothersome than usual. She spent a lot of time standing in the main cave, with the portable lantern at her side, shaking out the dusty bedding she’d found on the bunk. Then she returned and lay on the large bunk, and it was pretty comfortable. But then she got thirsty and worried all over again. She had her tablet, a spot to sleep, light to see by and even a toilet, but no food or water. That was bad.
So, she picked up the lantern and her tablet and went exploring farther in the mine. The workstation wasn’t that far from the mouth of the cave, but there was still a lot of dark mine shaft left to explore. Roxy walked farther and farther into the back of the mine. It was so quiet. Her boots crunched on the rocky ground and her eyes took in the scattered glow of crystals in the sloped walls. Eventually she stopped at a fork in the mine shaft. There were two directions she could go. “Which one?” she said out loud, unsure of which way to take. She decided on the right-hand tunnel, which was smaller and looked natural. She could tell the difference because large sections of the mine had smooth walls, as if cut by a large boring machine, and other parts were bumpy and rough.
After a short distance she heard a sound that caused her heart to fill with joy. “Wait, what’s that? Could it be…?” She sucked in a sharp breath, licked her lips and walked faster. And then she found it—a deep cavern with a spring of fresh water trickling from a hole in the wall. It ended in a pool of water deep enough to submerge in. The water seemed to be lit from below with the glow of crystals. She knelt before the edge, cupped her hands and drank and drank the refreshing water until her belly seemed to slosh with water. Then she lay on the hard smooth ground next to it, with a goofy smile on her face, finally feeling safe and comfortable.
Eventually she stood and continued to explore the cavern. She took the lantern and walked around the edges of the cave and found no outlet. This was a dead end. Then she sat cross-legged next to the pool, listening to the spring. She stared at the freakishly beautiful white Illibrium crystals that glittered on the walls and ceiling, like a sparkly night sky. Every square nanco of space was embedded with Illibrium crystals. Most beings would find the crystals super-intimidating because Illibrium was a volatile mineral and the single most powerful source of energy in the entire four sectors. These crystals powered space stations, battleships and entire cities—one crystal. And it never ran out of power.
But she thought they were simply beautiful.
Everyone knew that Illibrium was tricky and temperamental to extract and keep happy. The crystals weren’t sentient, but more like a pet you had to think of and care for. Beings could become notoriously addicted to the crystal and suffer from Illibrium madness. Roxy had heard stories of how a crystal could gain some sort of twisted mind control on a being and make it do its bidding. For reals. There were documented cases. It was rare, but it happened. Even after the crystals were carefully harvested by the Illibrium miners, they could only be maintained by engineers who the Illibrium approved of. Illibrium was always kept in heavily shielded compartments and only approved employees were allowed nearby so as to avoid anyone contracting Illibrium madness.
The staff at intake had admitted it was necessary to screen all new arrivals to make sure they were attuned to the crystals. She was shown to be attuned so she figured this meant the crystals liked her? As far as she could tell she didn’t have an unhealthy relationship with the Illibrium. And it seemed to retain all of its brightness that it always had when she was near. It wasn’t like it shut down because it didn’t want her here.
She’d never touched a crystal before. Would it allow contact?
Roxy stood and walked close to the nearest white crystal that was poking half out of the wall. She gingerly put out a hand and carefully, delicately ran the tip of a finger along the sleek edge. It was cool to the touch and glowed brighter as she continued to “pet” it.
She dropped her hand, walked back to the pool of water and sat back down, that goofy smile still plastered to her face. The crystals liked her. It wasn’t a weird relationship, but more like a healthy friendship? They allowed her to stay and in fact, she felt protected by them.
The Illibrium had called her here.
Not that she’d tell anyone that was what she thought, because it sounded crazy. “She’s got Illibrium madness,” beings would whisper. But she knew it was true—the Illibrium was keeping her safe from the Lurks.
Eventually her worries resurfaced. She made her way back to the workstation and sat back on the bunk with her tablet, trying to figure out next steps. How would she get the serum inside of her to Salo? It was great that she’d found a good place to hide, but she couldn’t stay here forever. Right? She used her tablet to research Minecorp, pulling up maps of the Timbur mining operation. She learned this section of the mine was labeled three-oh-four and abandoned to allow time for the Illibrium to grow back. So this section had “baby” Illibrium? Years from now the miners would rotate back to this cave and harvest all over again, but for now it was just dark and abandoned.
A team of seven Illibrium miners worked the other side of this level. Oh shoot. She’d seen their distant lights and heard the echo of their voices when she’d entered from the mining cage. These miners would kick her out in an instant. But—she bit her lip—could they also be a possible source for food? She’d have to start foraging for food or she’d starve. She had all she needed to remain here except that one last missing link—food. And the miners probably brought some sort of food with them to eat during their breaks? Hopefully?
Jeez, she was preplanning how to steal food from Illibrium miners?
This was terrible. But she couldn’t just walk right up to them and ask for food, please. I know you don’t know me, but um, could you feed me while I hide in this cave over here? Yeah. They’d turn her in to the guards in a hot second. She couldn’t tell anyone on this mine about the serum either. The Lurks didn’t know the serum was inside of her, but they had to have already figured out she was the last tech they hadn’t scanned. And if she had avoided being scanned and run away to escape detection, this meant she was hiding something important. Maybe the mole on the team had told the Lurks where she’d gone? They would be working hard to find her, and she had to lay low, which made it even more important that Minecorp couldn’t find her within their four thousand levels of mine.
Roxy woke up the next day with her stomach growling and forced herself to walk to the cave entrance and scout out the miners as possible food sources. It was risky but she’d starve otherwise. She still felt perfectly healthy—the serum was working fine. But the lack of food was making her agitated as hell.
There was a good lookout point at the mouth of her cave that allowed her to hide behind boulders and secretly watch the activity of the miners who would arrive. She had to admit she was interested in seeing them. They had a workstation set up with tables at the mouth of their own shaft. There wasn’t that much distance from her lookout spot and their tables. She’d seen miners and other staff as she’d been taken to the mine and processed, but she’d been distracted at the time, trying to find a way to escape from her guards. But after she’d managed to make it into a lift by herself, she’d seen no one else up close. There’d been nothing but eerie quiet and the occasional distant rumble of the lift.
Finally, a mining cage dinged and stopped at this level. The doors opened and a crew of eight males in full mining regalia stepped out, their loud booming voices echoing in the mine chambers. They flicked on the generator for their workstation and a series of lights clicked on, illuminating the area so she could clearly see the main cavern that joined their two sections.
Her jaw dropped open. Wow. Margol Illibrium miners were epic.
Why hadn’t she noticed this when she was on ground level and the other crews were surrounding her? She was reminded again of how tall these Xylan were. They had two hearts and super-strong bones. Four long fingers lined each hand, tipped with claws. And their foreheads were covered with a series of ridges that went all the way down to the top of their nose.
She’d spent time on her tablet last night researching this particular team and found bios on each of them on the vid channel for the Illibrium mine. These Xylan males were a crew of brothers. Their father had been a miner too, as was their grandfather and great-grandfather. They’d all grown up introduced to Illibrium as babies because of the proximity of their father’s fever bond with his own personal crystal. When they reached puberty each brother fever bonded with a personal crystal.
It was kinda neat how the crystals had selected these particular males as beings they would allow to harvest them from the mine. Illibrium only trusted the mining crews to harvest them with care. This was important because Illibrium could choose to remain dormant and would be worthless when removed. But if collected correctly, it would provide a lifetime of limitless energy.
The miners dropped off their lunch packs in their makeshift break area before they stomped off into the mine.
That was when the one they called “Cannibal” caught her eye.
There was something special about him, about the way he moved and the outline of his perfect ass under his baggy uniform. His boots were deep red and his braids were tied back with a red band of the exact same color. He had style and Roxy could certainly appreciate a male with style. The others seemed fine, but they merged into the background and didn’t stand out as Cannibal did. One was particularly sour-faced, always angry. Another laughed a lot, another was huge and wide-chested. One miner had super-scary claws and spoke with an extremely loud voice and another seemed very young and new. They all had nicknames they liked to call each other. She had no idea what Cannibal’s real name was, but she figured they called him Cannibal because he was really fixated on food.
She licked her lips. She was starving and there was such an amazing smell coming from their meals. Cannibal’s lunch pack was the biggest. It was twice the size as the others, with more food packed inside. Apparently, Cannibal made everyone’s lunches, but he took particular pride in his own. His portions were always twice as large as what the other males ate. And yet Cannibal wasn’t bigger than anyone else. He could eat enormous amounts of food and never gain any weight?
Roxy was instantly jealous.
She couldn’t keep her eyes off of him. Cannibal’s voice was deep and comforting. Golden and black colored braids went all the way down to the middle of his back. They were so shiny and the difference between the light and dark braids in his hair was of a higher contrast than his brothers. She wondered how long it took to form the braids. In fact, she wanted to help him with his hair. An image flashed in her mind of him sitting in a chair, in their kitchen, while she stood over him, braiding that handsome hair.
Kitchen? Was she losing her mind? They weren’t friends. This miner was a stranger and technically her enemy at this point. A being she needed to hide from. If the miners discovered her here, they’d rat her out in an instant and hand her off to the guards who would kick her off the planet for breaking their rules. And the Lurks would intercept, and she’d be dead.
Roxy sneaked as close as possible and watched Cannibal unpack his lunch and her knees grew weak. Her stomach growled. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast yesterday morning and this male was unpacking a feast. And he ate like this every day?
First came the cloth napkins and metal utensils. Then he took out a flask of ale. Then there was a tub of meat that made her mouth water. There was even a dessert. It was just amazing. There was basically enough food in there to last her the whole day, and this was one meal for him?
She had to have it.
Her entire life narrowed down to one objective: how to steal Cannibal’s lunch. She felt zero guilt—she needed it more than he did!
Roxy sulked back to her workstation hungrier than ever and planned out tomorrow’s theft. That lunch was going to be hers. She pulled out her glass tablet, still trying to also figure out how to contact the IHO through a secure connection with no success. She had to let them know there was a second variant still available and that all of Petrov’s work was not lost. And maybe they could help from their end on how she could get out of here. But nothing worked. She lifted a hand and rubbed at her forehead. She had plenty of water to drink, but no Traq, and the subsequent caffeine crash was causing a headache. Why didn’t this damn workstation have a food dispenser? Ugh.
She eventually fell asleep, dreaming of food.
The next morning, she hid again at the cave entrance, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. At this point she’d completed a forty-eight-hour fast and was soooo ready to feast! The miners arrived for their shift, and she watched with bated breath as Cannibal set his heavy lunch pack down with the others. She waited impatiently as the crew readied their gear and planned their blasting and drilling for the day. Finally, they stomped off into the tunnels and she raced forward and stole Cannibal’s food pack and scurried away.
She ran all the way back to the tiny work room in her own mine shaft and shut the door behind her. Oooh, it was so heavy and filled with food. She switched on the lantern and sat on the bunk with the lunch pack in her lap. She carefully opened it. The flask of ale was still cold. The tub of meat was warm. She whimpered. The dessert was a delicate three-layered puff pastry filled with a dark custard. And then she took out the utensils and the cloth napkin and ate so much she thought her stomach might burst.
Holy crap, it was so good she wished she could write him a thank you note. If she had access to currency she’d purchase breakfast, lunch and dinner from this male each and every day. Why was he wasting his gods-given talents on mining? He could instead be head chef at one of the fancy restaurants on Omega 9!
She’d laughed at her own joke and continued eating.
Cannibal’sdeep voice again cut sharp through her reverie, reminding her that at this exact moment there was a miner trying to find her location. No time for daydreaming about food.
“Female?” he boomed. “Where are you? Come out so we can talk.”
How did he even know her gender? Did he also know she was human?
Shoot.
Roxy ran deeper into the mine.
