Heart Of The Sun (9 page)

“Inform the shuttle it can land.” Macey says into his earpiece. A shuttle emerges from the clouds, setting down on the pad and shutting down its engines. A bay door opens to reveal a group of soldiers sitting in the back. They unload supplies for the base as Alan and Vash watch.

“I guess it’s time to say goodbye to Rinax,” Alan says, squeezing Vash’s arm. Vash turns and looked out over the crystalline sands with a look of longing. 

“Perhaps we will return someday.” Vash’s voice is soft, quiet as he says it. “Maybe it is an odd place to call home, but this is the first world to give me freedom. I hope it is not the last.” He evades Alan’s grip and walks towards the shuttle, passing the soldiers’ suspicious glances and climbing onboard. He finds a seat and sits down, strapping himself in as Alan follows and sits beside him.

“It’s going to be okay, Vash. You’ll see. Earth is a good place.”

“I do not expect your people to love one of my kind. It is simply the nature of war that one must suspect the enemy.”

“If we could stay here, perhaps we would,” Alan says, “but we can’t. The commandos won’t stop hunting you. Besides, we would run out of food eventually. My people are waiting for me, too. My family probably thought I was dead.”

“Do you plan to continue serving in the military once we reach Earth?” Vash asks.

“I don’t know,” Alan says, looking away. “It’ll take us three months just to reach Earth. Let’s just take one day at a time, okay?”

“Understood.”

They sit silently as the shuttle bay doors close and the pilot announces takeoff. The shuttle pulls up with a sickening lurch that makes Alan hold his stomach. Vash is looking through the window, watching Rinax below them as the shuttle builds up speed to break through the atmosphere. They pierce the clouds and Rinax can no longer be seen, the purple sands just a memory.

“Are you scared?” Alan asks.

“Scared?”

“Of going to Earth,” Alan says.

“I do not know what it is that I feel,” Vash says. “It is... complicated.”

You’ve got that right,
Alan thinks, but bites his tongue. “How so?”

“I am going to the land of my enemies.” Vash says. “I do not expect to make many friends there, or on your ship. My people killed your soldiers and pilots. I don’t expect them to show me much warmth.”

“Has to be better than Rinax. You were completely alone there.”

“I do not mind being alone. And then I met you.” Vash’s hand meets Alan’s and holds it in a firm grip, their fingers entwining. 

“You still have me,” Alan says, smiling. “I won’t let anybody give you grief.”

The uneasy silence between them dissipates and Alan rests his head back against the seat, bracing himself for the ship to break through the atmosphere. Vash looks across and sees his eyes close. He closes his own momentarily, letting out a long, barely audible sigh before summoning green light to his fingertips.

The shuttle rocks. The green light is gone before Alan opens his eyes. 

“What’s going on?” Alan yells. “Are we under attack?”

“We didn’t even break out of the atmosphere yet,” Vash soothes him. “It must be some kind of technical problem.” They hear ruckus up front as the pilots scramble to get the ship under control. 

“Prepare for a crash landing!” One of them yells back into the passenger section. “This bird is going down!” The ship rocks again and Alan grabs his stomach as it lurches violently, threatening to bring back his breakfast.

“Are you strapped in?” Vash fusses over him, checking his belt is secure. “Close your eyes. It will be okay.”

“We’re going to crash! It’s not going to be okay!” Alan yells. He grabs a paper bag and vomits into it, his stomach giving up the fight.

Vash puts his head between his knees. “Brace yourself!” Alan copies him, an the next thing he knows the world is spinning and spinning until his brain finally gives up trying to keep up with it all and he blacks out.

* *

The first thing Alan feels is the cold. It penetrates his clothing and tickles his limbs until they are numb. He opens his eyes to see frost on the inside of the broken windows. His breath is so cold it freezes. A frozen branch is sticking through the window, right where Vash had been sitting when they crashed.

Vash!
Alan moves his stiff neck and feels a stinging pain in his forehead. He reaches up and his fingers come back coated with blood but he ignores his concern for himself as he shakes the still figure beside him.

“Vash! Wake up!” Vash’s face is so cold that Alan can’t tell for a second if the Karalian is dead or alive, and fear jolts through his veins as he processes the possibility that his only friend on Rinax might be lost to him forever.

Vash opens his eyes, and Alan closes his eyes, letting out a long, relieved breath that freezes instantaneously, the water vapor hanging in the air between them.

“Alan...” Vash reaches for him, feels his warm pulse, and relaxes against him. Alan brushes through his long hair with cold fingers. 

“Vash, we have to stay awake,” Alan says. “I get the feeling that if we fall asleep again, we won’t wake up. Where the hell are we, anyway? I thought Rinax was mostly desert.”

“In the continent we were on, yes,” Vash says. “That’s the one we fight over; all of Rinax’s resources are held there. But there is another continent too, one filled with frozen forests and icy tundra. We must have landed there.”

Alan frees himself from the broken harness and forces his freezing legs to move. “Are you hurt, Vash?”

“Not that I can tell,” Vash says. “Just a few scratches.”

Alan climbs across the seats and offers his hand to Vash, who accepts, climbing over to stand with him. Vash moves his hand up to Alan’s forehead, gently touching the gouge there.

“It’s okay,” Alan says. “I’ve had worse.” He makes his way to the cockpit, which is bent upright, and pulls the door down. One of the pilots falls out and Vash catches him, but his head dangles down uselessly from a broken neck and lifeless eyes stare widely at them. Alan pulls his eyes away and looks inside the cockpit. The other pilot has been skewered by a tree branch through the chest, eternally pinned to his seat.

“They’re both dead,” Alan says sadly. “We’re on our own, Vash.”

“That is unfortunate.” Vash’s eyes hold a look of regret as he places the pilot’s body on the passenger seats and works on the exit door. It refuses to move at first, but then budges and opens. Vash looks down, and seeing he can make the jump, hops down. Alan follows, jumping from the shuttle. Vash catches him as he lands awkwardly, then takes stock of his surroundings.

They are surrounded by forest, except all the trees are frozen, glimmering like crystal. Thin rays of sunlight permeate the canopy. Small pieces of ice fall as they stand there, bouncing off the frozen leaves underfoot.

“It is said that Rinax’s winter comes so suddenly that the trees don’t even know it,” Vash says. “They are frozen with their leaves still intact, preserved until the spring thaw. Then they shed all their material and start over at the same time, leaves falling all around as new greenery sprouts.”

“How do you know all this?” Alan asks.

“The Karalians have many legends about Rinax. It is not just a place to harvest energy. It is our promised land, the haven that our people will ascend to when we are ready.” He closes his eyes. “But we are far from ready as long as we kill our own people, and yours. The history of this world is written in blood.”

“I had no idea it meant so much to the Karalians,” Alan says. “Whenever we flew missions, we were always told it was an important strategic point, but I have to admit, I wasn’t a good study. I just did what I was told in those days. If it was for Earth, I didn’t care about the reasons.”

“And now?” Vash asks.

“Now I don’t know,” Alan says. “Things have become complicated. The war is no longer black and white.” He shakes his head. “I guess it doesn’t matter now. We were so close to going back, but I guess it wasn’t meant to be.” He climbs back aboard the shuttle and goes back into the cockpit, looking at the broken communications equipment. Vash follows.

“We can’t even signal for help,” Alan says. “We’re going to freeze to death out here, and nobody will even see the shuttle from the air.”

“We will not freeze,” Vash says. “I can create a fire using magic. Take any supplies you can and we can get moving.”

“Get moving? Where to? We should stay the hell here and see if we can fix the radio. If you’re right, the whole continent is frozen. I have no desire to die in the middle of a frozen wasteland. We have to signal for rescue.”

“You saw how that worked out last time. We brought the commandos down on us. No signals. You cannot fix this equipment anyway. Look at it. It is nothing more than a tangled mess of wires now.”

“We’re going to die,” Alan says, despairingly leaning on the broken control console. He lifts his hand and punches down hard on it. His cold hand stings. He goes to do it again and Vash grabs his arm, holding it in his tight grip.

“Despair will not help us,” Vash says. “Strip these men of their clothes and wear them over your own. An extra layer will help you with the cold.”

“I can’t do that!”

“They don’t need them any more. You do.”

“What about you?”

“Karalians do not feel the cold like Humans. Many of us live on the poles, as the equator of our planet is too hot to support life in the summer months. However, the winter months can be brutal. We have learned to tolerate a chill like this.”

Alan leaned down and reluctantly stripped the pilot of his clothes. “I’m sorry,” he whispered to the corpses. “When we get rescued, I’ll make sure you get a proper, dignified burial.” He put the clothes on and climbed inside the cockpit. “I can’t get this one free. The tree branch goes right through the seat. I’m leaving him alone.”

“Do as you wish. I have found supplies in the overhead compartments. We should get moving.”

They climbed back down from the shuttle, out into the frozen forest. The extra layer of clothing did provide some protection, but Alan could still feel the chill right down to his bones. He folded his arms as they walked, his breath coming out in clouds of frozen vapor.

They walked all day like that, saying little to each other. Their previous intimacy seemed forgotten in the cold as Alan mused on his broken hopes.
We were going to go home. To Earth. I could have seen Chester again. Now that seems more and more unlikely. Vash is happy, I can feel it. He never wanted to go to Earth, did he? That shuttle crashing was the best thing that could have happened to him.

His feet hurt from walking and his cut itched, the dry blood irritating him, but Alan didn’t want to stop when Vash called.

“We should rest,” Vash says as they reach a clearing. “Grab some firewood and I’ll create a fire.”

“You get it. It was your idea to come along.”

“Why so bitter? I only seek our best chance at survival, Alan. I want to get home safe as well.”

“Only your home isn’t Earth, is it?” Alan turns on Vash. “You never wanted to go to Earth really, did you? This is the best thing that could have happened to you!”

“That is untrue. I regret the death of the two pilots. Yes, I am hesitant about leaving behind everything I know, but I already made that choice long ago when I left Karalia.”

Alan seemed to deflate. “Okay, whatever. I’ll go get firewood. Just get us warm. I can’t feel most of my body any more.”

They sat in silence, eating ration packs that had been left in the emergency kit on the shuttle. Vash tenderly saw to Alan’s wound, cleaning it and stitching it with the utmost care. “I am sorry you cannot go home,” he says softly, but Alan says nothing in response. Vash throws him a blanket and they sleep apart despite the cold, each of them suddenly needing their own personal space.

Alan can’t sleep. He shivers underneath his blanket, looking up at the stars where the trees open up to the sky.
I was almost home. I was so close.
He looks over at Vash, who is sleeping soundly.
What’s with him? One moment he was loving and fierce, and now he seems as frosty as this place. I don’t get it.

Lights overhead catch his eye suddenly and he gets to his feet, frozen limbs fighting him. He waved his arms and yells. “Hey! Down here!” He rushes to Vash and awakens him, shaking him awake with the force of a hurricane.

“Up there! Help’s coming! We have to get back to the shuttle!” Alan starts to run, the frozen leaves crackling underfoot as he races through the forest. Vash follows, catching up the Alan. To Alan’s surprise, Vash jumps him and they go down together into the cold leaves. Alan finds himself fighting Vash to get free, but Vash is stronger and holds him down.

“What the hell? Let go of me!” Alan yells, but Vash holds him down until the sound of the ship fades away.

“It could have been a commando drop-ship,” Vash says quietly, as if the ship might hear them even now. “They might have heard the distress call from our shuttle and decided to check it out. Think before you act.”

Alan stopped fighting and lies his head back in the cold leaves. “And what if it wasn’t? What if it was one of ours? What if we’ve missed the only opportunity to get out of here alive?”

Vash stands up, holding his rib. He bends over, as if in excruciating pain for a second, then stands back up.

“Are you okay?” Alan asks. “Did I hit you?”

“It is nothing. Come on. We must keep moving.”

“Now? It’s the middle of the night!” Alan’s anger is back again and he’s on his feet. “I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on!”

“What do you mean?”

“You know damn well what I mean! You’ve been different ever since we crash landed here. Cold and frosty, like this place. I know you well enough to know that you’re hiding something!”

“I cannot tell you,” Vash says simply.

The ship makes another pass and Alan runs after it. Vash grabs onto his arm but Alan slips from his grip, racing through the trees faster than Vash can keep up. The frozen trees are thinning but Alan keeps up his pace, darting through the trees until they thin away completely. A hill of frozen mud leads down to a sheet of ice, a former lake of some kind that sparkles blue and purple in the moonlight. Alan stops for a second, judging the slope. He looks behind to see that Vash is still following and tentatively puts a foot on the icy slope. He slips, falling downwards, spiraling out of control as he tries to grab a handhold but there is none on the slick surface and he slides until he hits the covered lake, losing momentum until he slows down to nothing. Vash follows him down, keeping his footing while sliding in a controlled fashion. Alan is still lying prone on the ice. He looks around to see Vash and scrambles to get up, his hands and feet sliding on the slick surface before he can pull himself up. The gash on his head has split open again and is now weeping blood into his eyes. Vash catches up and grabs Alan, but Alan fights in his grip, pushing him away.