Constellations' Child

8

The violent, churning water envelops me, like the river is swallowing me alive. Even after years in space, my body reacts instinctively, clawing at the water to rise to the surface. Without the survival pack, I probably wouldn't be able to, but with its help and a few big kicks, I finally come up, gasping for air.

Turning my head frantically, I can make out one or two other heads bobbing in the water. I can only pray they all made it. The current brings me back under again, sloshing me from side to side. Luckily, the survival pack is doing its job. Every time the river pulls me down, the pack fights in the other direction.

The river twists and turns as I pop up briefly for air, making it hard to anticipate what's next; from what I can see, nothing but more rapids. For a moment, I think I hear my friends calling out, but the current picks up and I get a clear view of where I'm headed—a waterfall.

No time to wonder how big the drop is. All I can do is take one last deep breath before I plunge off the edge. Free falling—again—my mind automatically begins counting the seconds until I hit the water. Luckily, I only get to three. This time, though, as soon as I go under, I can immediately tell I've landed in a calmer segment of the river. Still moving in a fast current, I see all my friends ahead.

Out of the corner of my eye, something moving fast along the riverbank catches my attention. The thick forest obscures my view, but it must be the Addicted. I'm about to yell to my friends to swim to the other side of the river, when a gap in the trees allows me to get a clear look at what's following us.

A truck.

An old blue and grey flatbed truck, accelerating down the riverbank on a dirt path. I've never actually seen one in motion, but there were dozens in the forest near my Sector, abandoned years before and covered in vines, like the forest was protecting relics of a bygone time.

Just as I squint to try and see who's driving, the river pulls me back under, even more violently than before. My arms flail helplessly, fighting to grab something but only feeling water running through my fingers. I kick as hard as possible to no avail. I'm lost in the sloshing water, feeling only seconds away from drowning, when the river yields again. I surface and cough up what feels like a full day's ration of water on the Constellations.

Looking ahead, I can't believe my eyes. The trucks I'd seen moments ago are positioned right along the riverbank. Protruding from one of them is a long pole that stretches a considerable distance over the river, just a few feet from the surface. A large net hangs off it, covering a surprising amount of surface area in the river. My friends have already grabbed onto the net and are making their way toward the trucks. I'm the last to grab hold and, upon doing so, the truck begins to move away from the river, pulling us to shore.

A man in military fatigues stands at the water's edge with one hand on the pole and one outstretched for us to grab. Smiling, he's waving and telling us it's going to be okay. Behind him and also in fatigues is a woman standing guard, facing the forest and scanning the area with a gun that doesn't glow like the Addicted energy weapons. I know what that means, and for the first time today, I'm able to take a deep breath.

The man helps Pavo out of the water first, as he was ahead of us in the river and closest to shore, followed by Grus. He extends a hand to Vela, but a piece of debris shooting down the river comes out of nowhere and plows right into her, pushing her past the net and headfirst into a rock jutting out of the water. It's immediately clear she's been knocked unconscious. Luckily, the life preserver is keeping her afloat on her back, for now.

I react without thinking, letting go of the net and swimming after her. I can hear the commotion of my friends yelling and the truck doors slamming. I assume they're heading down the riverbank to cast the net out again for us, but my focus is on Vela. No matter what, I have to get to her, even if the trucks are never able to pick us up.

I swim as hard as I possibly can, closing the distance considerably, but she's drifting to toward the center of the river. If we get too far to the other side, there's no way the pole will be able to reach us. Up ahead, I see another problem—a waterfall. Seriously? How many waterfalls can... No use, just swim!

I increase my stroke rate and kick harder than I thought possible. Ahead to the right, a rock formation with a large tree limb wedged against it presents itself. If I can get to Vela and make it there, I can probably hold us in place until the trucks arrive.

The drop off is getting closer by the second, but I'm only a few feet from her. With a final kick and stretch of my body, I grab her life preserver and make our way toward the rock. The current picks up as we get closer to the waterfall, and the rock looks more and more slippery as we approach. The tree limb is going to be our best bet, but I'll only know how sturdy it's lodged against the rock when I make contact. I can only hope it hasn't been there too long and beneath the surface its branches have a good hold.

One arm dragging Vela and keeping her head up, the other pulling at the water, feeling like it's on fire from the strain, I manage to swim us far enough over to intersect with the tree limb. Thankfully, I see green leaves on the branches, which means it's only been there a short time. Just before we reach what hopefully is our final stop on this wild river, I swing us around so I'm downriver from Vela for the impact.

We approach our target. I hear the rushing water as it makes it's way around the obstruction that could save us. Holding Vela with one arm, I extend the other downriver to soften our landing. Soft leaves run through my fingers first and a few small branches break off before we hit fully. The tree limb shakes, turns slightly, and feels like we've knocked it loose right away, but it settles in place once again. It's steady for the moment, but any more movement on our part seems like it'll send us over the waterfall in our treehouse.

I see the trucks speeding along the riverbank, silent from my perspective due to the churning river. They pull up, directly across from us, and begin to extend the pole from the flatbed, it's net lapping on the water's surface. Finally out as far as possible, there's still about six feet between us and the net.

Trying to figure out how to push off without budging the tree limb, I sense the low hum of an approaching Addicted craft again. They'll be here in moments. Without any choice, I plant my feet as firmly as possible against the tree limb, which doesn't feel as steady as I'd like, and hold Vela as tight as I can. If I can't get a good enough push off, we'll come up short of the net and head over the waterfall, but staying here means we're dead.

I push off with everything I have and stroke with my free arm violently to reach the net. The tree limb dislodges from the force and heads toward the waterfall. I'm coming up short! I'm going to miss it! A roar of the truck's engine, though, pushes the net out another couple feet, as the truck's back wheels plunge into the river, allowing me to clutch the edge of the net.

The noise from the Addicted craft grows as the truck drags us to shore. They could be overhead any minute. As I get closer, the man in fatigues extends an arm that looks stronger than the tree limb. Surprisingly, he's still smiling widely as he says, "we're with the Alliance, welcome to Earth!"

Finally, someone besides me calls this planet by the right name.