Between Two Worlds
Danger

I look back at Kat, tied to the post, waiting to die. Watch as she struggles to free herself. Am I okay with a person willing to do this? He calls it for the good of his people. But is that really true? Can I live with myself if I become a part of this? No. The answer is, no I cannot live with myself if I willingly become a part of this. Seeing what he does, and hearing his plan for myself, I know that Kat must be right about everything she told me. I look back at Altair and search his eyes, wishing the Ghemin had somehow given me telepathic powers. “My answer is no.”

“What?” he asks, sounding genuinely confused.

“No. I will not join you. I will not help you. I think what you are doing is despicable and I will not be a part of it.” I say refusing to look away from him.

“You will join me, this wasn’t a request, just a courtesy. I was just letting you know the plan.”

“And how exactly are you going to force me? My brother is lost somewhere in this big galaxy, you already killed my friend Carina, and now you are killing my friend Kat. You have no leverage.” I say, refusing to back down.

He’s silent a moment, before saying, “Then you can die with her.” He grabs my right arm and twists it behind my back in one quick movement.

“No!” I shout fighting with everything in me. I swing my left arm and land a punch on his right shoulder. He grabs my left arm and twists it behind my back as well. I kick backward as hard as I can and connect with one of his legs. He lets go of my left arm to grab a handful of hair, jerking my head painfully backward.

“Enough!” he yells, his voice echoing through the cavern.

“You have two options; a life with me, or death here, with your friend Kat. This is your last chance. Which will it be?”

I hesitate a moment as a blurry picture fills my mind. Altair standing over me while I lay on the ground, crying. “I choose option number three. I will not die, nor will I join you.”

“Sorry but that was not an option. I can see you wish to die. So be it. I will not stop you.” He says. He lets go of my other arm and then brings his fist down on my head, hard.

Pain explodes in my head at the point where his fist made contact with my head. I feel him dragging my body somewhere, and then I know no more. When I regain consciousness, the first thing I’m aware of is a dull throbbing headache and the sound of someone singing. Wait! Singing? The creature! My eyes pop open and I sit up quickly, looking around. I’m on the ground next to Kat, apparently, Altair drug me over next to her and just dumped me. Didn’t even tie me up. I don’t see any sign of Altair, but the singing has me worried. I don’t want to be here when that creature shows up.

I climb unsteadily to my feet and then pull the gag off of Kat. “Are you okay?”

“I will be as soon as we get out of here.” She says.

I pull at the knot tying Kat’s hands to the post, but the knot only gets tighter. It’s some kind of intricate knot that I’ve never seen before. I pull on a different section, but the knot gets tighter still. “Ugh! I can’t figure this thing out!” I try pulling on one of the knots tying Kat’s hands together and have the same issues. “Stupid knot! Stupid Altair!”

“Calm down a minute and let’s think. You can’t get the knot untied, so that’s out. There has to be a knife or something around here somewhere… wait! I completely forgot! I’m such an idiot!”

“Forgot what? Forgot the fact that we are going to die?”

“No. We aren’t going to die. I have a dagger. You can just

use it to cut through the ropes.”

“So… where’s this mysterious dagger? And why didn’t you produce it sooner? That creature is almost here!” I say annoyed.

“It’s strapped to my left ankle. Just unzip my boot and you will see it.”

I unzip her boot, and find a small dagger and sheath, strapped to her left ankle. “How did you get that thing on this planet? I thought they had tight security?”

“Let’s just say, that there are some mysteries that are better left unsolved.” She quips.

I pull it out and quickly get to work sawing the ropes. It doesn’t take long until Kat is free and rubbing her shoulders. It must be painful to have them tied behind you for as long as hers were. I pass her back the knife, she zips up her boots, and we take off running. Every time a foot hits the ground, it makes a slapping sound which is magnified times ten by the cavern’s echo. The closer to the cave entrance we get, the louder the singing gets; until its echo surrounds us and I can no longer tell if it’s coming from in front of or behind us.

I cover my ears with my hands, and shout, “Are we almost out of here? I can’t take any more of this!”

“Huh?” Kat shouts. “I can hear your voice, but I can’t make out what you are saying!”

All at once, the singing stops, as if someone turned off a water faucet. I sigh in relief, but my relief is short-lived. I spot the creature in front of me. I have never seen anything like it before in my entire life, it’s a horrifying sight to behold. It walks on six legs and is dog-like but completely different at the same time. It’s big enough that if it walked on two legs, it would tower over me. It has no tail, as far as I can see; and its mouth must be full of sharp teeth because it appears to be chewing on a bone.

“Rain, look,” Kat says in a serious tone.

“It’s kind of hard not to look at it,” I say.

“No, not the creature. Look at what it’s eating. Or more accurately who.” She replies.

“I don’t want to,” I say, quietly. A shiver of fear runs through my body. But even as I say it, my eyes look down and I spot an orange shirt. “Is that?” I can’t even bring myself to say his name.

“Altair? Yeah, I think so.”

Even though he totally sucked as a person, I feel waves of sadness wash over me. “Killed by his own creation. What a terrible way to die.”

“Justice served,” Kat says.

“How do we get out of here without suffering the same fate?”

“Very carefully.”

The creature seems to notice us and looks up from its meal. The mysterious singing starts again, and it starts walking toward us. This is it. This is how I die. I close my eyes and wait for the creature to pounce on me. Wait for the claws and teeth to tear into my flesh. But that doesn’t happen. Instead, I feel something wet hit the upper portion of my body, and then the singing abruptly stops. What? What happened? Why am I still alive? I open my eyes to find the creature inches away from me, dead. Its head lays a few feet away from the body.

“I must say, closing your eyes and just excepting death is not what I expected of a Copaie warrior.” A male voice calls out.

“Duncan?” Kat calls out.

“Yeah, who else would save your scrawny butt from certain death?” he asks with a laugh.

“Duncan? What is he doing here?” I ask.

“Saving your butt from becoming the Kruezung’s next meal.”

“But how?” I ask still not understanding.

“Carina was the love of my life. After Altair had her

killed, Kat came and talked with me. Told me about her mission

and asked me to help her put a stop to him.”

“But I tried to escape, and you drug me back to my room. A little roughly too.” I accuse.

“I had to play the game, until the right moment presented itself. I couldn’t have Altair being suspicious. Besides, you could have died out here by yourself.”

“Why didn’t you tell me of the plan?” I ask.

“Once again, I couldn’t have Altair being suspicious. He had you bugged.” Duncan explains.

“Bugged?”

“Yes, bugged. It means there’s a listening device attached to every pair of shoes you own.”

“Oh, wow.” I whisper.

“You were almost too late, Duncan. We were almost dinner for that thing.” Kat accuses.

“Sorry.” He says shrugging his shoulders. “I overslept and then I got lost a few times. But I made it in time to save your life, so I think it’s all good.”

“Are you responsible for…” I ask, pointing to Altair’s dead body.

“No. That was Altair’s own arrogance that brought him down. He thought the creature wouldn’t hurt him since he created it. I told him that was a foolish idea, but he ignored me. Looks like I was right.”

I’m reminded of the old saying Kat told me of, those who live to create violence die by the same violence. I guess it really is justice at work, as Kat said. “So, now what happens?” I ask.

“Now we put a stop to further experiments, and we open this planet up to settlements. Allow anyone who wants to be a part of this place to come. Establish laws, a government, etcetera. And then I go back home and put a stop to the Ghemin experimenting on your people.” Kat explains.

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