One Small Step for a Kaskari (D2)
Vadir is alive and shaken by all that's happened so far. But it doesn't take long for him to realise what must come next. To avenge his people and save the Earth. The Dauntless must be destroyed.
Previously on the Fall Years: Upon locating one of the crashed ships, the Welcome Wagon enter and soon encounter a single alien, still barely alive they decide to bring it to the medical tent where it can be seen to by on site Doctors and other medical experts.
“He’s alive, but barely,” came a soft voice at Vadir’s side.
The Terran woman spoke a language he couldn’t understand. He had some relief that they hadn’t seen it fit to kill him while he was still passed out, but now that he had awoken, he couldn’t afford to remain here. Not while the threat of the Primor remained and festered within the vessel that had once been his home. His weary eyes glanced over to his left and he could see various clear bags and tubes being used to pump liquids into him. They wanted him docile and cooperative. They can’t keep me here! Don’t they understand! This entire world is in danger. I need to warn them...
He strained and put more into his roll than he intended because it led to him spilling out onto the hard grass dirt. Dizziness washed over him as he lay there for longer than he meant to, pressing his face against the rough dirt. He had never felt it before, never imagined he ever would. It also dawned on him later than it should that he could breathe this planet’s air. He reached out with his grey hand and picked up small clumps of dirt, rubbing it between his thumb and forefinger, leaving a dirt stain on the top of his finger. The way it crumbled on his touch was a completely new experience to him. This is the first time I’ve felt real grass and dirt. So many years spent on the Dauntless… and all my friends. His composure almost broke as the realisation hit him and his grey hand curled inward. Scraping up dirt, he climbed to one knee his breathing became heavier as he played back through his mind what had come to pass on the Dauntless. Does this mean I’m the only one to make it out alive?
Even if he could breathe the air, the weight on his shoulders left him unbalanced and groggy. He grasped at the bedsheet beside him and used it to pull himself up onto shaky feet. With his senses so dulled, he hadn’t seen them off to the side—humans. They had been watching him struggle in silence. The soft-spoken one from earlier had stepped ahead of those nearby and gestured to those armed to lower their weapons.
“WE. WILL. NOT HURT YOU,” she said while pointing to her chest. The Terran woman was shorter than those around her and wore a long, baggy white lab coat. It contrasted against the more muted colours of the military uniform that those with her were wearing.
Vadir cocked his head and answered back in Kaskarian, “I don’t understand. What are you saying?”
The man closest to the woman said something, and she just shook her head. Vadir looked from the long-haired woman to her more grizzled companion. Lighter in skin, but looking far worse for wear. The years had not been kind to them. This was someone who had seen war. He knew that getting them on his side would be the best way to get out of this alive, but how do you convince someone who can’t understand a word you’re saying? While he argued within himself, he failed to notice the gap closing and her reaching down to where he now sat, on the edge of the bed. She appeared to be offering her hand while using the other to quiet those behind her.
He looked at his right hand briefly before reaching out to accept her handshake. Her soft grip wrapped around his wrist. On instinct, this triggered his latent psionic power, a trace that turned the veins of his skin a vibrant yellow as his mind and hers touched. The humans had also raised weapons once more, and he had to fight back the wave of nausea that threatened to overwhelm him at that moment.
“DO. NOT. SHOOT!” she barked back at them, but it didn’t come out in her native tongue. Instead, she fluently spoke his language. He understood her now, but the trace did not end there. As a matter of speaking, her life, up until now, had flashed by in his mind. He withdrew his hand, still reeling from the burning sensation that seized his wrist. The woman before him was a well-crafted facade, as what she had shown him was someone almost at the end of their limits. She threw herself back from him and, for a brief moment, was embraced by the grizzled man. He cupped her head as she cried into his chest.
“Did he hurt you? You just spoke a different language.”
“No, just, I think he can understand us now. And I, him,” she wept, looking back over her shoulder. As he had seen some of her life up till now, she had seen the misery of his. Maintaining a massive vessel, only for it to be overrun and reduced to ruin, and the thought of him being the last of his kind also stabbed at his worst possible fears.
Vadir composed himself and got to his still, unsteady feet. The raw emotion of their connection had overwhelmed him too, and it took all of his will to suppress their joint turmoil. An alien’s touch. Another new experience. He knew their words. Understanding fully would come later. The two he planned to say next seemed to fit his current predicament, and it might get them to be less guarded.
“I’m sorry,” he managed in perfect English, just as she had copied his language. He could speak theirs, it seemed.
“Etu elfriq er gel venad (1),” the woman said, letting go of the man and facing the stone-faced Vadir Kor.
Her pronunciation left a lot to be desired, but the intent was there. It was now Vadir’s turn to point to himself. “You di- did not do anything. That was me. I can do this thing called—reguv… trace. In your language. It helps when we need to clear up misunderstandings.”
The grizzled man stepped forward, moving the woman aside. “Like attacking the city of Lazarus.”
Vadir cocked his head. He had no idea what this Lazarus was, but there was no masking the venom in those words. Then it dawned on him. “Grenigh vorgundai (2).”
“The Lunar city, yes,” said the woman. “Master Sergeant Miller, if I may say my piece.”
“It hasn’t stopped you so far, Doctor.”
“This alien is no soldier. He was one of their engineers. His job was to maintain the ship.”
“And you know this how?”
She sighed and rubbed her temple to try to come up with a response that would deescalate things. “When we were linked. I saw him doing his work. It must have been moments before they attempted contact with Lazarus.”
Vadir nodded slowly. “Yes, a team was sent to the grinigh surface.” He began pacing, and those with him remained guarded. As well, they should. When contact failed, we made the first move. And then… Vadir stopped and faced them again. “Primor! Ug qala (3). Danger.”
“The Mortalis, or as he calls them, Primor stormed the ship,” the Doctor said.
“And human too. A three-way fight broke out. Chaos. I…” he looked at his scarred hands and struggled to keep his breathing under control. I selfishly left them all to die.
“Miller, would you mind giving me and my patient some time alone?”
“Excuse me, your patient?”
“He’s shellshocked, experiencing both trauma and a new world. We need him on our side to face what lies ahead. What happened to Lazarus was a tragedy. But the mistake can still be fixed before this incident gets worse for both his people and ours.”
“You think you can get through to him?”
“His trace kicked down the door. Now it’s my turn to make him feel at home.”
The Master Sergeant looked concerned but said nothing. He gestured for his men to leave. “I will leave two men at the entrance. I may also send the Wagon’s medics to interview him in the meantime. He may be of use to us yet.”
“I agree,” said the woman.
Miller soon left, with the two soldiers following on his heel. Now it’s just the two of us. Vadir looked at the woman, he understood some of what was said, and that the Sergeant would send in two others to ask questions later. That was fine, just as long as they didn’t kill him. He was just happy to still be alive.
The woman folded her arms. “So our minds joined. Anything else you want to tell me?”
Before he could answer, he lurched forward and spun, hitting the ground. As he lay there, he heard her calling for help, but her voice soon faded and the darkness returned and with it, an uncertain future.
He awoke a little later and found himself still in the company of the Doctor he had traced. A chill ran through him. If he wanted to be of use to these people, he would need to better understand them beyond just grasping at their language. I wonder could do another trace. That would give me what I need. He looked over to the Doctor and waved her over. She smiled at him, stood up, and approached his bed. She carried in one hand an electric lantern. Its illumination kept back much of the darkness and it allowed Vadir to take in the alien person’s features. He had been too caught up in his circumstances to appreciate her beauty. The Kaskari had encountered many alien races across their travels through the vast void of space. Some were alive, many more were extinct, and some of those races had come close to looking like them, but the humans were so similar he almost wondered if a group of Kaskari had got here first centuries ago. The one key difference that stood out to him was in her eyes. The iris was round and blue. Unlike his people, where it was diamond and, more often than not, red.
It didn’t mean they were completely unrelated. He more so suspected their technological feats had been granted by someone else.
“How can I assist you? Are you feeling better?” she asked, placing the lantern on the side table. She had interrupted his train of thought and he didn’t know how to communicate his intention. He simply held his hand out. She understood. “You want to do another trace?”
“Yes, to better understand you.”
Her hand hovered above his grey palm and she looked visibly shaken. Their first mental collision had left them both rattled. Not wanting to give her the chance to pull away, he gripped her pale pink hand and engaged his trace once more. The veins on his skin turned a brighter yellow. If I can read her mind, I can better understand them. I can make this right.
There were no visions this time. She was calm and composed. She had learned, either consciously or unconsciously, to block his attempts to pierce her history. But her language, English. It unravelled before him. It had a lot in common with his own tongue, but diverged in just as many places.
“Better?” she asked.
“Yes, thank you.”
“Nobut tu (4)”
“You’re the first alien to speak to me in my own tongue.”
“Says the alien.”
They laughed at that, and the tension lifted. He couldn’t fathom what the Sergeant planned for him, but she at least seemed trustworthy. It would have to do.
“I’m genuinely sorry for Lazarus. My people would have found a better way if -”
“If they could have run a trace like we did.”
“Yes, but it’s never that easy.”
“I’ve merged with your head twice now and your name still escapes me.”
“Vadir Kor and I could say the same of you.”
“It’s Kate Underwood.”
The silence following this was another long one, he didn’t quite know where to begin, but there was one matter that concerned all life on this planet. “Your moon city had fallen when we found it.”
“We suspected as much.”
“We call them, Primor. You call them Mortan or Mortalis. I had hoped we left them behind.”
“You’ve faced Mortans before then?” she asked, folding her arms.
“It would be centuries now since then. Most of those living now thought they were just stories, but they are real and they bring ruin wherever go.”
“How long have you been travelling for?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
He shrugged. “I spent some of it asleep, but I estimate it's hundreds of years by this point. I know one thing. I was born on that ship. It’s been my home for a very long time.”
Her mouth gaped open. “I’m sorry…” she stuttered. “That your people’s journey ended this way.”
He wanted to say that more would come, but he hesitated. He trusted her, but the soldier. What would he do with that information? I wonder.
“I want to see how it looks from the Earth.”
“See what?”
“The Moon, as you would call it.”
She closed her eyes and shook her head, but appeared to understand his sentiment. “I saw the Earth from your perspective, by the way. She looks so…”
“Inspiring.”
“Yes, but also inviting, tempting even. It kind of gives me hope in a way.”
“How so?” asked Vadir.
“Well, that we can join the stars, too.”
“After meeting us, do you really want to?”
“You think we made it this far by getting along right off the bat? You might understand what we say. But you’ve got a long way to go till you understand us.”
He didn’t object as she went about removing the tubes. She grabbed some nearby bandages from a storage unit and took great care when applying them onto his body, where openings had been cut. He sat up after she finished and swung his legs over the bed, planting them once more on the dirt. It sent a cold shock up through his ankles. He had forgotten he was barefoot. He used his toes to rub the dirt between them once more. I could get used to this. This odd coolness proved soothing. It also hurt as his feet rolled over small stones. The Doctor soon helped him to stand. Dizziness overcame him again, and it took a moment to steady both his nerves and himself. Kate thankfully helped him remain steady. She was just like she was in her memory. She had a duty, and that was to send him back into the fray. “Careful, don’t do anything too sudden. You’ve been out of it for a while, remember?”
“Thank you, Kate.”
She met his red eyes and huffed. “No problem, Vadir. I’m sure the others will come round to you once you get to talk to them.”
“The Wagon medics?”
“They can talk to you tomorrow. I wanted to make sure you would be ready for them first. Now let’s get this over with. Come with me.”
She parted the flaps, much to the surprise of the two guards. A simple request gave them the room they needed to exit. By now, a brisk and cold night had fully settled, and the stars blanketed the night sky. Vadir removed her hand from his shoulder and stumbled forward so that he stood alone. Behind him, Kate and the guards remained vigilant. The two men looked at each other, unsure of what to do about this developing situation. In truth, he was more than a little lost, too. There was so much to take in, from the chatter, banter, and laughter coming from the nearby tents to the ship he had come from, almost invisible due to its sleek silver metal design. Its final resting place would be here. He looked beyond it and saw her, off in the distance, at rest. The Dauntless Spirit sat in an open grave. Above it, the moon shone down, its light spreading across the arid landscape. On that celestial body, humans likely remained fighting against Mortan and Kaskari alike. Vadir’s legs could no longer remain standing and he crumpled to his knees. It was all so suffocating, and while he cried, these tears weren’t entirely related to his current situation. This had been the one thing he had never expected to experience. A whole new world… but at what cost?
Kate hurried to his side and crouched down next to him. He drove a glowing, red-veined fist into the dirt. It made her jump back a little, and then he opened it. The veins on his skin shifted blue this time as he traced. He felt her turning beneath his feet as they hurtled through space. He sensed a world teeming with life, both large and small. And then he felt it, deep within its bowels, a cry of desperation so potent it almost made him blackout again. It invited him back once more. The derelict husk of the Dauntless Spirit held horrors inside of it. In this trancelike state, he passed down the damaged halls, the biomass spreading and consuming all in its path. Then there was the Primor, waiting in their vast numbers to emerge, and wanting to finish what they had started in the lunar city. In that chaos, his trace went deeper until it found something.
<I see you, child of my enemy.>
He withdrew at its mere acknowledgement and leaned back, beads of sweat ran across his forehead. He felt her hand on top of his. Anger, fear and palpable dread gave way to calm, and he met her blue eyes for what felt like the first time.
“Tell Miller, I’m helping you. They took my home from me. It’s only right I repay them for this.”
“I promise I’ll do that, but first, Vadir. You need to rest. You’ve got a long day ahead of you.”
She helped him back to his feet, and he looked back over his shoulder. He thought he saw something looming on the ridge, like a stretching shadow, but with his power the way it was, it could easily toy with his mind. That presence, though, we have to destroy the ship, as much as it pains me to. Those things inside cannot be allowed to take root here… or it will be just like the stories they told me - of our fall and their rebirth.