The sun had sunk behind the horizon, a glorious red fireball, bathing the Yautja in crimson light and making halos of rainbow colour along the waterfall.
Aki'ru was still holding Eran's talon, now limp, the exoskeleton that was so shiny now dull in the dying light.
His life was ebbing away, he could feel it. The creature was dying.
This couldn't be happening.
He had nothing he could do to prevent it. Utterly devastated, Aki'ru was kneeling beside the Xenomorph, the light of the sun slowly fading.
He had regarded the creature as his friend, his hunting partner, and now their journey would end, in such a miserable way. Dying in the face of the enemy, honourable till the last breath, that was their destiny, and not to expire because of a simple accident during a glorified swimming trip.
It can't be!
Everyone that came close to him died. The elder was dead, and his …. Friend… from back home too, and now this creature, not days after they met. He had to be strong. He was a yautja hunter, the strongest species in the galaxy, and yet here he was, reduced to a snivelling heap of despair, clinging onto the hand of a dead serpent, as if it meant something to him.
Yet it had.
They shared an awkward connection. Eran had saved him on the ship, saved him again in the Bar, and in the river he had saved him as well by helping him see.
It was so unfair! He should have been the one lying dead for his failures, his weaknesses, his misdemeanours, all his vices and failings, not this near perfect creature.
Sobbing, he bent down, resting his head against the ribcage, and closed his eyes.
A tear made its way through his closed eyes, and dripped off his mandibles, and dropped down onto the blood-stained gash in the xenomorphs side.
It sizzled and fizzed the moment it touched the exposed flesh, and suddenly, Eran gave a twitch.
Aki looked up, through the veil of his tears, as the Xenomorph coughed and spluttered, spitting out gobbets of spit and blood.
"Eran!"
He coughed again, and softly squeezed Aki's talon. "Can't…just….leave…yet….It's..not..the right…time" he coughed and spat, pressing his talon on the wound.
There was tension in his body, as Eran's frame was racked by pains radiating out from the wound.
"It…will... heal... give me… a few hours…"
Aki got up, and looked out across the plains. The sun slipped below the horizon, and for a moment, the Yautja had though he had seen a green flash.
"It will be dark soon" he muttered, more to himself than to the Xenomorph. They would have to find a way to get off this cliff.
Slowly, Aki managed to supress the emotions that were bubbling about his mind, threatening to overwhelm him. If Eran was wounded, he had to get him to safety where he could recuperate. It was a foolish thing, and the code would probably dictate to leave him behind and to go on alone, but he didn't care.
The face downwards was slippery and dangerous, and there was the waterfall, which thundered downwards, not metres from where he was standing, but going up seemed an option. The cliff face was cracked and eroded. It was almost completely vertical, and there was the matter of a sheer drop almost five hundred metres down, but he had no doubt he could make it. They had to travel light.
He unclipped what was left of his body armour. It had been strained and it had saved their life but now he would no longer require it. The plasma caster was damaged, its structure bent beyond repair, the power cell depleted, the targeting computer shot. He unclipped all of it, and ditched it. He remained with his hunting jerkin and trousers, both damaged during the swim and still slightly damp.
He would have to make do with the wrist blades and perhaps the spear. It would be enough. Finding weapons in a human settlement should not be hard.
Settlement. Humans. That was the reason he got into this silly trouble in the first place. Jettisoned on an unknown world and the first thing they stumbled upon was a crime. And in some rash judgement he had decided to meddle in the human affairs.
But revisiting the scene, the governors cold satisfaction as the woman cried and the child lay still on the hard-packed earth, his blood-curdling smile, it all made it worthwhile. She escaped from injustice. Was it not honourable to fight for those who could not fight for themselves?
The code said otherwise. Those who are too weak to fight are only fit to die, yet this was not the first time Aki disagreed with the code. It was not omniscient, in his opinion.
Did that make him an outcast? A bad blood? And yet, his people had a treaty with the humans, offering each other support and help. Was that not also a form of weakness? If so, were they weak? Had they become content in their Rituals?
Aki couldn't make out the truth.
Do what your heart tells you, Aki'ru
"My heart?"
"Your…heart.." coughed a voice behind him. He turned, to see Eran standing, no, leaning against the wall. Blood was dribbling from beneath his talon and his fangs were bared, teeth gritted in pain.
"What are you saying?"
"Do…as your heart tells you. If you have no other guide, listen to your heart.." The xenomorph gritted in pain.
"What do you know of such things? You have no idea what the code says." He sounded blunt, and immediately regretted his tone.
"I do not know the code, but I know you."
"You know nothing of me"
The Xeno flinched, as if being hit.
"Look. None of this is supposed to be happening. I'm supposed to be on board my ship heading home."
"And I am supposed to be on that ship, heading towards your homeworld, away from mine, to my own death at the hands of your people." The tone was biting.
"This is no fault of mine." He knew it was wrong
The Alien staggered forward, leaning heavy on the spear. He brought his face close to his. Aki saw the smooth dome, already shining again as if polished, the saliva-dripping jaws and the inner maw, firmly closed, but dangerous still.
"You killed my family. I admit, I say so without rancour, but that does not change the fact that I was your prisoner"
"And yet you saved me when you had the chance to destroy me."
The Xeno turned away, and slumped back on the ground. The power that had radiated from it had suddenly evaporated, and it looked vulnerable. But Aki'ru had experienced what Eran could be now.
"Does it matter now? Things are as they are"
Aki tasted bitterness. The Xenomorph's tone beheld defeat. "Listen, Eran." He breathed deeply. "Look, I'm sorry."
"Do you say this now because you still need my help, Aki?"
"I say this because it is what my heart says."
Eran turned away, looking into the coming dark. "Then it is good."
He just sat there, looking hurt and vulnerable in the dark.
And yet, he, Aki, was the more vulnerable of the two. Eran had seen his heart, and had seen the conflict raging on within him. He had bared his soul to a creature he almost knew nothing about, a creature that had been his sworn enemy a few days back.
But now, there was a bond between the two. Both had risked their lives for each other, which was noble.
One good deed deserves another.
"What now?"
"We wait till you are well enough to climb, and then we make for the top of the cliff. It's not too far. At most fifty metres."
The xenomorph nodded. "Give me another hour, and then I should be good enough to go"
A
It turned out that they took more than an hour. Both of them fell asleep, and rested for a good six hours, until they awoke. Aki'ru was feeling the hunger gnaw at him, but, most importantly, Eran was looking much more like himself. His leg was still covered in dried xenomorph blood, but he was no longer shaky.
The stars were out, and the cliff shone faintly, the moist surface reflecting the light.
"We climb?"
Aki gave the Xenomorph a leg up and the creature clambered, not without alacrity, upwards. He himself hoisted his bulkier form upwards, and slowly pulled himself up. He was not sorry to see the last of the precarious ledge where they had almost spent the last day.
The light of the stars was enough for him to climb, taking care to put his good hand on the best of the footholds, and not to put too much weight on his injured one.
They made good headway, until they reached a crack in the cliff, where Eran waited for Aki'ru. The Yautja noticed that the Xenomorph was carrying the spear with its tail while climbing.
"I have to make a sheath for that for you."
"Why?"
"So that you don't get yourself stuck at the next opportunity again. How's your wound holding up?"
A small trail of blood had seeped through the scab that had formed. Eran covered it with his talon. "It's fine"
"All right then. Further up we go."
They continued their progress. Aki's arms ached, and his hand throbbed, green blood seeping through the bandages. He would have to re-do them.
The stone was harsh under his claws but he was used to such climbs, as was the Xenomorph. But his wound visibly slowed him down, forcing him to do small rests every few steps, and Aki could hear his laboured breathing. This was not good.
A
The sun was already making its coming know, the night sky slowly faded and was replace by a light blue hue, as the two arrived at the top of the cliff.
Eran seemed completely out of breath, and, truth to be told, Aki didn't feel much better. They had to do some hunting soon, but right now, they weren't in the shape to do so.
The view was magnificent though. The rays of the sun illuminated a barren, sandy landscape, dramatic cliffs and table top mountains. And, on the horizon, far away, the glint of a ship, a freighter, zooming skywards, the sunlight flashing off its silvery hull. It mesmerized the two, they stared at it, and then, suddenly, with a flash of its engines, it disappeared.
"Where there's a freighter, there has to be a spaceport" Aki remarked
Eran shivered behind him "We are not ready yet"
"Ready for what?"
"Ready to confront the Blood Moon."
"What is it?"
Eran looked at Aki "We need food."
He was avoiding the topic. The furtive glances, the way the xenomorph carried itself, it was afraid. Afraid of even mentioning Blood Moon. But in one thing he was right, though. They needed food, they needed to eat. And Eran wasn't any half use on a hunt.
"Stay here, Eran. I'll be back."
A
Eran's world was mostly a world of pain. He had not told Aki the extent of the damage his unfortunate accident had caused, and he had only survived so far because of the Yautja's salty tears reviving his metabolism, but he was running out of minerals fast. He was counting on Aki's fast return, and a good meal would re-start the healing process but he was very much aware of being on borrowed time. It would not end here, he hoped.
A small voice nagged on the inside of his mind, telling him, why not. He was quite worthless. He was a coward, and not any help.
Gritting his teeth, he tried to shut out the small voice, and hoped, begged for the yautja to return.