“Well, that is odd.”
“Perhaps C’hase is his name.”
Wouldn’t be the only being he knew that used illeism. L’iza was always very clear to Korth and its inhabitants that she was her own ship, no one controlled her but her. Maybe C’hase felt the same way. Bonds weren’t about control, though. He hoped C’hase would give him a chance to show him.
Walking along the length of the rectangular ship, Dani watched the young mogha chase a multi-winged insect, jaws snapping as he tried catching it in his mouth. He finally reached up in the air with his front paws and grabbed it between extended fingers. Antennae twirling as he sniffed and inspected it for a second, he released it, starting the chase all over again.
The warm balm that rested against her heart swelled, but something about it still felt different from C’hase, something more, deeper—
What was this otherness? Even more baffling was the fondness from this otherness towards C’hase. She had enough unanswered questions about her connection with the hellhound, questions she hoped to find answers to when they found Mogha.
Rubbing her chest over her heart, she stopped when she reached the front of the freighter, and the towering mound of dark dirt the ship rested in. Getting the freighter out of the soil would be problematic.
A squeak sounding to her right, she watched as Hedge joined the hellhound in his chase. Could there be a bond between the two like the one she had with the mogha? Were they communicating with their minds?
“C’hase, can Hedge hear you?” she said.
The mogha stopped in his tracks, Hedge devouring the insect in the next instant, an iridescent wing hanging from the little creature’s mouth.
Yea, he can hear me. C’hase was unconcerned Hedge just ate the flying bug, scratching behind his ear with his hind leg.
Dani pursed her lips. “No, I mean, can he hear you like you can hear me? Does he understand you?”
Yea, he understands me. C’hase stood. See, watch—
C’hase held up an extended finger, pointing at the rat.
Hedge, sit, he said, tone commanding.
The creature started digging, dirt flying in all directions.
Watching the space rat, C’hase’s tail twirled. Then he raised his head at Dani, tongue hanging out as he panted, smiling expression proud. See? He understands me.
“But he’s digging. You told him to sit.”
C’hase’s tail stopped twirling and his antennae drooped a bit as they watched Hedge disappear into the ground. Then his antennae rose again. He thinks sit means dig.
Dani laughed as a gust of wind ruffled her hair. Sweeping aside several strands that whipped close to her eyes, something in her periphery caught her attention as her hand swept over her face. She paused, or rather lack of something—
Where did the orange flowers go?
Those that were around the ship and right next to her appeared to have disappeared, green stalks rising out of the dirt, but no flowers at the ends. Gaze sweeping over the shoreline, she gaped as the orange blossoms winked out of existence. Upon closer inspection, she saw that they didn’t disappear, but closed up into green cocoons on the ends of the stalks.
Another gust of wind sent her brown hair whipping around her neck.
C’hase trotted towards her, stopping at her side, antennae set straight back against his head. Alpha, do you hear that?
Dani furrowed her eyebrows, following C’hase’s gaze out over the ocean, straining her ears. Nothing—
She saw it before actually hearing any sound. Waves over the ocean, starting on the horizon, moving towards them at breakneck speed. Then there was sound, a great roar that filled the sky.
Soon, there were waves crashing against the shore, the green stalks of the cocooned flowers bending wildly just as she was hit with a roaring wind that nearly knocked her off her feet.
“Get back on the ship,” she yelled at C’hase, but he seemed to be running in place, the wind so strong he couldn’t project himself forward.
Scooping the mogha up in her arms, Dani leaned into the driving force of air, planting her booted feet in the dirt with each step as she slowly made her way to the loading ramp.
The sound was deafening, unrelenting buffeting against her ears.
Halfway up the ramp, she could no longer move, the wind becoming like an impenetrable wall, hugging C’hase tight as it threatened to rip the creature from her arms. Squeezing her eyes shut, she thought of nothing but rooting to the spot.
There was suddenly a presence within, accompanied with the familiar warmth. The otherness did not speak this time, but she was filled with strength—
Opening her eyes, she took one step. Then another. The strength behind the presence propelling her forward.
Reaching the top of the ramp, she grabbed the crank, C’hase holding on for dear life.
Ramp closing with a groaning thud, she stared at the bulkhead as the sound of metal creaked and cracked.
C’hase leapt from her arms, sniffing along the edges of the bulkhead until he found Hedge, who was soon perched upon the mogha’s head, little snout sniffing at the air around them.
Molly pecked at the metal floor beside them.
Combing out her windswept hair with her fingers, Dani pulled it back into a tight messy bun. “Well, now we know why the trees are leaning.”
A loud piercing whistle in the bulkhead made her jump with a yelp. Stars, what was that?
Peering at the source of the sound, she realized there was a breach in the hull, the force of the wind blowing through the small crack making a whistle. Another one sounded on the other side of the cargo hold, her head snapping around.
Stomach dropping, there was no way she could launch this freighter into space.
Molly squawked loudly, feathers floating as she flapped her useless wings, running to the crates where her comrades warbled and cackled.
The wind moaned throughout the evening, metal flexing and popping as the freighter shook, echoing in the confines of the cargo bay.
Unable to sleep, Dani walked along the bulkhead with a solder gun, following the whistles, shoring up each crack.
C’hase lay in the crates with the chickens, paws over his ears, wincing as each whistle sounded off.
I’m sorry, Little One, Dani thought to him. We will get these repaired soon.
There wasn’t enough solder for the entire ship, but she’d try to get the noisiest ones.
I hope so, he said with a whimper.
That’s when Dani noticed something else about him. Was there orange in his gray fur?
Roar on the other side of the bulkhead dying down as fast as it began, the walls stopped shaking, flexing metal ceasing. Dani exchanged a glance with C’hase.
Is it over? he said.
Dani wound the crank and the ramp began lowering. Daylight poured in and she caught a glimpse of the ocean, calm and tranquil, not a single ripple across the smooth surface. But the most shocking sight was all the flowers had returned, the shoreline the same sea of orange it was when she first set eyes on the surface of this planet, flowing lazily in a slight breeze as if nothing had transpired the night before.
Turning, her heart seized—
There, in the pin with the chickens, C’hase chewed happily on a large bone.
“C’hase,” she yelled. “You can’t eat the chickens!”
She was at the pins in an instant, looking in the crates, moving aside straw, rapidly counting out loud. She had no idea how she could complete her delivery run, but she did not want to have to explain to the customer about any missing chickens. Maybe a rescue party was coming, but she was already in enough trouble.