Page 26 of Caldar
Sure. Why not? That made as much sense as anything else.
It was so hot for the middle of the night. At least the insects sounded peaceful.
Despite the sweltering heat, she kept Caldar’s jacket on. Sweat rolled down her back. Yes, it was silly to wear it, and yes, she was still upset with him, but it was a comfort thing. She needed all the comfort she could get.
Sonia didn’t know how she got here. Her best guess was she had been dosed with drugs when the Suhlik opened her pod, then they dumped her here. On a planet. In a maze. For some reason.
There was just enough moonlight to make out the leaves of a hedge. They were nearly black, glistening pearly white where the light caught. The hedge went well over Sonia’s head. Too tall to climb? Behind her, the hedge stretched. In front, more hedge. The walkway was wide enough for her to stretch out her hands.
Sonia looked up. How tall could it be? She might as well try to climb up and find the way out. She reached into the hedge to grab onto a branch and sliced open her palm for her trouble.
“Motherfucker!” She cradled her bleeding hand to her chest, ruining Caldar’s jacket and her formerly white blouse. Her hand tingled. Was it supposed to tingle?
The razor-sharp leaves of the hedge glowed softly in the dim light, almost majestic if they weren’t clearly a vicious murder plant in a murder maze. She half-expected the 1980s David Bowie to saunter out as the Goblin King in too-tight pants. That was the vibe of the place.
She wished Caldar were there. He was objectively awful and not a good person, but he seemed keen on keeping her alive, which Sonia totally supported.
Great, she was stuck in a murder maze, and she wanted her alien… who wore too-tight pants.
Oh no.Oh no.
Was Caldar her Jareth? Sonia had been fascinated with the movie when she was a kid and never understood why Sarah turned down Jareth. He was quality boyfriend material. He was good with kids. Liked hanging out with Muppets. Danced and could sing. Looked amazing in super tight pants. He kidnapped her baby brother when she asked, because acts of service were his love language.
Caldar hadn’t kidnapped any babies—that she knew of—but he did abduct her friend, Wyn, very briefly. They had a whole moment in a ballroom before things were sideways. Morally gray? He was the grayest. Tight pants? Check.
Huh.
Screw emo art school guys. Apparently, morally gray Goblin Kings were her type.
Sonia tore off a strip of cloth from the bottom of her blouse to bandage her hand, which was harder than she expected with one hand. Too bad Caldar didn’t have anything useful in his pockets. All she found was her pencil and a staff keycard for the cruise ship.
Something howled in the distance.
Sonia jumped, clutching her bandage hand to her chest. Her back brushed against the leaves of the hedge, slicing through the jacket.
“Fuck!” She moved again; this time careful to avoid cutting herself.
This place was the worst.
At a juncture, she could go left or right. Either way looked the same: dark, forbidding, and filled with slicey-dicey bushes.
“Left or right?” Because talking to herself was the first sign of coping well with stress. Unfortunately, there were no cute puppet monsters to give her directions.
“The direction does not matter. However, I do not recommend touching theclahdiv,” a computer-generated voice said. It was slightly distorted, like a worn recording or blown out speakers.
Sonia looked up and spun around, as if she could spot the source of the voice. She’d really rather have to deal with a puppet monster than a disembodied voice. Those things were never good news.
“I spent far too long cultivating a specimen with unique properties to have you ruin it with your Terran pathogens,” the voice said.
“Sounds good. Why don’t you just point me to a ship out of here and I’ll stop contaminating your stuff?” she said.
“My apologies. I have already released the—” The translator chip went fuzzy on the word. “They are already fixated on the hunt. I cannot stop the process.”
Well, that didn’t sound good.
“I guess I’m going to get my pathogens on all your plants,” she said, because it was the only threat she had. “Out of curiosity, is the plant poisonous?”
“Most definitely. Forgive me for not making introductions. I am the doctor. You are the volunteer. You do not ask questions. This is not a discourse.”
