Ava
We found Glow Ball! I hug Glow Ball against me. The little animal peeps and presses against me, and I can't help wondering—is the little rahoni telling me he is happy to be back with me, too?
I swear, even with this stupid sleeping-bag contraption, I think Rigel is hugging me. Or am I imagining it? I want Rigel to feel more for me. He kissed me earlier, so... That's a good sign, right?
Now that I have the little rahoni in my arms, I stop paying attention. Rigel knows the way. That is, until, out of the corner of my eye, something sparkles in the cliff wall.
Were my eyes playing tricks on me? I tug the ribbons over Rigel's wings. Rigel loops back and as we fly in a circle around the cliff, I definitely see the shine of silver in the rock.
In my heart, I want it to be something cool constructed from an alien civilization like a spaceship.
Maybe before letting my imagination run wild, we should explore. I yank the ribbons of my faithful steed Rigel, pointing to where I want to go. Rigel opens his wings, changing course.
It's while I'm holding onto the straps and pointing that Glow Ball wiggles his way out and takes off. Oh no! What's going to happen to the little animal?
I do what I can, reaching for Glow Ball and shaking the straps. Hurry up, Rigel! Glow Ball must be ignoring me. He whizzes through the air, furiously flying toward the shiny wall.
Rigel opens his wings, slowing us down. His feet strike the ground of a big ledge, and I shimmy out of the sleeping bag. Then I'm off, sprinting in pursuit of Glow Ball.
Rigel is yelling and calling after me. Why is Rigel so worried? It isn't like I'm that far away. Plus, I need to explore everything. When I am at the base of the cliff wall, I come to a sudden halt and try to make sense of the silver-colored glyphs that cover the bottom part of this cliff face.
***
Once, my parents took me to see petroglyphs. I must have been incredibly young then because they held hands and made dewy eyes at each other, barely noticing me. Better for me because it gave me the freedom to run ahead on the hiking path and climb over boulders. That is when I saw the petroglyphs. Since it was me in front of my parents on the trail, I felt like I had discovered this new world. I still remember tracing the animal shapes and spirals etched in stone.
Those symbols enamored me for years. In search of finding more ancient symbols, I spent many afternoons in the public library, leafing through books with Sanskrit, cuneiform, and even Egyptian hieroglyphics, not that I ever figured any of it out.
Few things in my life have ever come close to the feeling of discovery and finding the petroglyphs as a small child... until now.
Strange. Even though I am light years from Earth, encountering vastly different civilizations from my own, I feel the same sensation from years ago: like I am the discoverer, along with an intense curiosity of needing to know the secrets of these symbols.
The markings here are gigantic, probably several times Rigel's height, and etched in silver: several squiggly zig-zag lines and a bunch of large Vs.
Glow Ball chirps and flies upward. Not being able to reach Glow Ball makes me nervous.
"Glow Ball, come back!"
The mischievous rahoni ignores me, flying higher up on the cliff wall, darting around half a dozen pictographs I missed, probably because of their location and these symbols do not have the shine of silver.
What might these be? I see a pair of eyes, a tail, four limbs, and then something coming out of its mouth, which makes me think it might be some type of animal.
Or it could be a bunch of random lines in the wall, but what if it is...
Am I channeling my sister again? I must be because when I squint, I see... dragons. Or maybe I want them to be dragons?
I hear the fluttering of wings. It's Rigel, his mouth is agape as he gazes upward, his eyes locked onto the same Vs and squiggly lines.
I want him to see what I do. I take his hand and point to each cluster of pictographs and tell him my theories. "Snakes, birds..." I point to the symbols higher up near Glow Ball. "...and dragons."
Rigel beams at me, like whatever I'm saying is important. Too bad he does not understand a word I am saying.
I spend more time studying the wall, looking up and down so that the camera will capture everything.
I could stay there all day, except Rigel lifts the safety harness and raises an eyebrow.
I sigh, getting back into the safety harness and fortunately, Glow Ball flies back to me and like a good rahoni, he gets back into the backpack. Rigel rearranges me in the harness, and after tightening the straps, he walks to the very end of the ledge.
"Ready," I shout.
Rigel leaps. We swoop over the canyon.
When we see the tiny dot that is the Firefly in the distance, I find myself thinking about how I am going to miss this. Everything feels right with us. Will that disappear when we leave this place?
The closer we get to the Firefly the more my mind races with possibilities. One thing is for certain. I need to study Rigel's language because there have been so many times on our short trip that I couldn't share my thoughts with him.
So, I make a promise to myself. When we get back to Hydra, I will find a way to learn his language. I mean, the wall translates what we both say, so... Maybe I could ask the wall to teach me how to say the things I want to tell him in his language?
I want to do that so maybe he can hear all my crazy theories. Then maybe both of us could dream of dragons.
As for now, Rigel lets me steer him. We fly fast, diving downward, the air filled with our laughter as I try to pull those ribbons to get him to do a few more loop-de-loops before arriving at the Firefly.
***
Within seconds of Rigel and I landing from our exploratory flight, Kayla rushes out of the Firefly. She hugs Rigel and then me.
Kayla's eyes shine. "I was afraid something bad happened. Why didn't you call us on the communicator?"
"I tried but it didn't work."
There is the sound of a scourge tail thrashing. Out of reflex, I jolt. It's Tarak growling at Rigel.
Kayla's eyes flick between me and Tarak. "I need your help aboard the Firefly. Come with me," says Kayla, beckoning me to follow. We walk through the helm where the lights are bright and the speaking wall greets us; apparently, the ship's electrical system works again. Kayla leads me through a door at the end of a long corridor.
"Welcome to my laboratory," says Kayla when we step into a huge room that has a... Is this possible?
"Is that a living tree?" I ask, staring into the middle of the room where a tree with twisted roots seems to grow out of metal.
"Yes," says Kayla, punching buttons that make the walls flicker and project a different image on each wall: rotating DNA; a looping film of an electrical storm on this planet; and a close-up of that tiny clump of grass Kayla plucked earlier. "Were you able to capture any footage?"
I give her the camera. "I think what we saw last is the most interesting."
She places the device on a small table. "Let's see what we have, shall we," she says, proceeding to growl and hiss at the wall.
I shiver. I do not think I will ever get used to the scourge sounds coming out of Kayla's mouth.
Projected on the wall in front of us are the glyphs.
Kayla's eyes get huge, and she uses hand motions to enlarge and move around some of the glyphs. "Amazing. This might be the first ancient artifact discovered by someone from Earth." Her hands fly over the keyboard. "Let's instruct the computer to analyze the glyphs. Wouldn't it be exciting if there is a message we can decipher or—"
I can't keep my mouth shut any longer. "We don't need a computer to tell us what this is."
"What do you mean?"
I move my arms just like I saw Kayla do, enlarging the pale glyphs. "Look here," I say, carefully tracing the lines of the glyph with my finger. "Feet, wings, and..." My fingers trace the curls coming from the pictograph's mouth. "...fire. Do you see the dragon now?"
"Ava..." Kayla says, unable to mask her exasperated expression. "We can do both. The computer will analyze while we make various hypotheses. So, did you capture any other interesting recordings," she asks.
"When Rigel and I first arrived at that site, I recorded some things that I thought were... pretty." Way to sound scientific...
Kayla growls. On the wall, I see the start of the path to the glyphs where I made my first recording.
Kayla squints, moving her hand so many times, I realize she needs to zoom in about ten times to even see what I recorded. I can't help feeling disappointed. To me, what I noticed stood out against the red dirt. I didn't think they were microscopic.
Kayla's hands flutter to her face, though, when she spots the tiny purple flowers. "That is amazing! I should have sent a sampling machine with you to collect samples from different layers of the valley. Have you seen any other types of plants?"
I think back to the morning when I was worried about Rigel and the rahoni. "I didn't think to record it, but on the valley floor... There were lots of plants. Big ones, too."
"Really," says Kayla, her eyes going wide. She makes a swiping motion in the air and a timer pops up on the wall. "Tarak originally wanted to leave within the hour, although we were going to delay for you and Rigel. Now, where did I leave..." Kayla rushes around the lab, picks up the sampling machine, and places the machine's straps over my head. "Take this and use it to collect as many samples as possible. Flowers would be nice since we don't have that yet, but collect a wide variety of plants if possible, and—"
"I get it, collect plants, although didn't you say we are leaving soon?"
"Don't worry, once I explain things to Tarak, he will understand. Come on," she says, leading me back toward the door.
"What are we doing?"
"Once I explain everything to Tarak, you will be off on another mission."
I walk along with Kayla, not even thinking about what we are doing until we are outside, and Tarak stands a few feet away from us.
My heart races. Why did I blindly follow Kayla?
"Kayla, I..." I rip my hand out of Kayla's grip.
Kayla glances at me, her eyes widening. "I'm so sorry, Ava. I wasn't thinking." She gives my shoulder a gentle squeeze. "Go back to the ship, okay? Once Tarak approves the new mission, I'll find you."
Kayla's warm hand is gone, and she walks onward alone. I want to run far away from Tarak, but it is like my brain is separated from my body, so I just stand there.
Kayla makes a long, guttural growl at Tarak. Tarak advances toward Kayla, growling.
This is terrifying. Kayla is half Tarak's size. I want to run far away from here but what if Kayla needs my help?
I stumble backward, nearly falling. Strong, familiar arms catch me before I hit the ground.
Rigel's sharp blue eyes bore into me. "Ava all right?"
No, I'm not! I need so many things right now except... My brain won't connect with my tongue or my mouth, either, but even if it did, we lack a common language for me to tell him... What? That I need someone between me and the angry scourge, but that I also can't leave because... We can't abandon Kayla.
I take several deep breaths. I grip Rigel's arm. What if Tarak attacks her?
I do know a handful of scourge words, mainly ones used as pet commands on Hydra. It is the only word I can use to communicate what I want. Swallowing around the lump forming in my throat, I ask him to stay. I am unable to face Rigel because if he says no...
His wings make the rustling sound they always do and when I briefly glance toward the sound, Rigel's arms are open and his fingers move, inviting me to...
I need this and lean forward. His strong arms engulf me in a hug.
Kayla roars and Rigel keeps me upright.
If I had not seen Kayla make that sound with my own eyes, I would think Tarak made that sound.
Tarak's tail slams on the ground.
Memories of Loviatar rush back, the way he would roar, bang the ship floor with his tail, right before he would... I squeeze my eyes shut and grip Rigel's arms so tight my nails dig into his skin, trying to get rid of those visions of Loviatar.
When I finally reopen my eyes, I see bright red marks covering Rigel's arms... Only now do I recognize I did that to him. I hurt Rigel.
Once, I scratched Loviatar like this. Memories of what happened after that incident hit me, and I cannot help shaking. Will Rigel punish me just as Loviatar did?
"Ava," says Rigel.
I can't look at him. I don't know what would be worse, his anger or disappointment.
Rigel speaks words I do not understand. What I focus on most, though, is how gentle he is. His fingers lightly brush my cheeks, and then ever so carefully he turns me so that we watch Tarak and Kayla. Over my shoulders, there is a weight; Rigel has draped his wings over me, like a blanket. It is like I have wings of my own.
I sway and his arms go around my waist, and... How does he know what I need? Maybe that part doesn't matter. No, the most important part for the moment is...
Together, we stand guard, ready to help Kayla if she calls on us.