The Defiant
Chapter Sixteen

We arrived at Byth at 0400 hours on December 24, Earth Time.

Which logically meant none of us were up. (Except Four, who has a strange habit of only sleeping an hour or so a night). True to form, she roused us as soon as we reached orbit.

We met in the galley at 0430. When I arrived, Five was already there, and winked at me. I chose a seat across the table from him, still not ready to let the rest of the crew in on our relationship.

“We’re a bit behind schedule from our stop at the moon base,” Four began once everyone had sat down. “We shouldn’t spend much time here. I’ll just run down and get the fuel, then come back and we can go.”

“First of all, you’re not going alone. Second, how much time can we spend here and still get to Cebos on time?” I asked. Four glowered at me.

“A day.”

“So why don’t we all head down, get some fresh air, and come back after three hours or so? It won’t delay us, and it can only do good. I think we’re all going kind of stir crazy, stuck on this ship.”

Nods of agreement all around the table, especially from Three.

“Fine. But we’re cutting it down to two hours. And if any of you aren’t back at the shuttle after that time, so help me, I will leave you on the surface.”

From the information we’d received about Byth, it was a tropical planet with two suns, populated by mostly humans, with a few Sedha sprinkled in. The view traveling to the surface in the shuttle was gorgeous, all forest and glittering ocean. It reminded me of Earth.

We’d split up into groups again. Six was escorting Four on her mission to replace fuel. The rest of us were going down in pairs to get some sunlight. Space travel takes its toll on the body, and I found myself craving real gravity and non-filtered air.

The shuttle landed at the spaceport, and Four matched the atmosphere inside to the spaceport.

“Okay, remember. No one goes anywhere alone. We all meet back here at 0700 sharp. Get here on time.” Four snapped as she slid out of the pilot’s seat and pressed the button to release the shuttle hatch.

The rest of us filed out gratefully. Four took Six, and they vanished off toward the terminal. Splitting off into our pre-decided pairs, Eight and Seven left, followed by Three and Two.

Five and I wandered leisurely around the spaceport, which is a lot like an airport on earth. Most planets have at least a dozen scattered around on their surfaces to encourage tourism.

A spaceport is basically just one building with a bunch of smaller, dome-shaped buildings connected to it. Each of the smaller buildings is a port. The ceiling is retractable, so you can fly your ship in and out, and most planets rent out their ports so you can store your ship there for a fee while you’re staying on the surface.

Byth is a smaller planet, the only one in its system, so the ports are not rentable. You can keep your ship there for up to one day (which, on Byth, is about 31 earth hours). Because they’re sort of in the middle of nowhere, they get mostly travelers stopping to refuel and rest, and like to keep their ports open. Four wasn’t kidding when she said we could only stay for a day at the absolute maximum. If you stay in a port for longer than a day without giving the authorities notice and paying an exorbitant fine, they destroy your ship. A bit harsh, in my opinion. But their planet, their rules.

Unlike an earth airport, spaceports aren’t filled with shopping. You have to do that elsewhere. The only vendor they had was a fuel vendor. As Five and I passed it on the way to the exit, I saw Four haggling with a stern-looking Valhalla behind the counter.

Despite the fact that it was still very early morning on Earth, on Byth it was right in the middle of the day, and the suns were high and bright in the sky. Used to Earth’s blue skies, I was startled to see the two suns set in a sea of pale gold. The air was thinner than it had been on the ship, and though there was oxygen, I had to take about twice as many breaths as I would have to on Earth.

But the wildlife. It took my breath away. Shades of blue and green and red, leaves the size of a cargo crate, thirty foot trunks, spines, vines. The whole planet was forest, although it wasn’t a forest like I would have ever pictured one. Walking out of the spaceport, we saw a tendril-like plant that shied away from us when we got too close and a rodent-looking creature that stared curiously at us before chittering angrily and jumping ten feet straight up into the trunk of what looked like a Bythian version of a tree.

They were tall and green, like earth trees, but completely straight and devoid of branches. The trunks were covered with large, wicked thorns, and peppered with holes the size of a human head, one of which the rat thing had jumped into. The whole ‘tree’ was oddly spongy to the touch and left a vaguely lilac-smelling residue on my fingers. The top of the tree was an inverted bell shape, like a cup, and I wondered what the purpose for it was until I saw what looked like a giant bird land in one of the tree cups. The tree immediately snapped shut, like a venus fly trap, and I watched in sick fascination as the bird flew around frantically inside the semi-transparent bubble.

Five whistled, also watching the bird flying around inside the bulb, and took my hand in his. I yanked it away, whipping my head around in search of potential observers, but there was no one there, and I eventually relaxed. Five had noticed my reaction, though, and I saw the faintest trace of a frown on his face before it melted into his usual easy grin.

“You don’t always have to be so careful, One,” he said after a moment, startling me. “No one’s going to see, and even if they did, no one would care. And I wouldn’t mind if people knew.”

I turned to face him, but he continued to take in the scenery, determinedly not looking at me. My first instinct was to become defensive, but instead I sighed.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. Everything’s just—easier if no one knows.”

“Is it really? Or do you just want the rest of the crew to keep thinking of you as some kind of perfect leader, untouched by the normalcy of something like dating?” Five said, a bit scathingly.

“Believe me, no one on the crew thinks I’m perfect. I’m just a teenager like the rest of you, trying to stumble my way through this whole thing. It would be so much easier if I was a real leader. I don’t know what to do any more than you guys do! I got this responsibility pinned on me for god-knows-what reason, and I’m doing my best to muddle through, and I just keep getting shit for it! This isn’t my fault, okay? I’m just—I’m doing the best I can here,” I finished lamely.

“I know you didn’t choose this. None of us did. I just want people to know about us, because I like you, One.” He intertwined his fingers with mine.

I sighed. “Can we just keep it in the dark a little longer? It has only been a week, after all. Please?”

“Fine. We’re at the market. Better walk apart from me so no one suspects,” Five said, a bit bitterly. I glared at him, resenting this new immaturity, and dropped his hand, taking a step to the side as we reached the market entrance.

The Bythian market was similar to the one we’d seen at the station the previous week, with a variety of strange wares being hawked on either side of a long central street. As Five and I entered, a mixture of every smell imaginable assaulted my nose, every aroma from mint to freshly tanned leather. The market seethed with a riot of noise and color, hundreds of tongues being spoken by the sellers and customers and dozens of displays of various items.

“There you are! Thank God, Two is no good for shopping. Partner swap?” said an uncharacteristically peppy Three, appearing from nowhere with a less-than-enthusiastic Two in her wake. Without waiting for an answer, she seized me by the upper arm and dragged me off through the crowd, leaving the boys standing together.

“Lovers’ spat?” Three said.

“What? I, uh—What makes you think that?” I stammered.

“Well, I’m not stupid, One. I can put two and two together, and they make four. You’ve been all blushy for the last week, and Five’s stopped hitting on me. I connected the dots. Anyway, you’re welcome for the rescue,” she said matter-of-factly, stopping suddenly at a table overflowing with brightly-colored silk scarves. “What do you think?” She held up a swath of crimson fabric.

“You’ve got it all wrong, Three. Five and I aren’t—”

“Of course you are. I don’t care, anyway, if that’s what got you in a tizzy. But seriously. Red or green?” She picked up an emerald scarf to join the crimson.

I sighed. “Red. And, yeah, we’ve had a little thing. But it might be over now. He’s kind of mad at me.”

Three made a non-committal noise. “Do you want it to be over?”

“Wh—No. I guess—No.”

“Gee, you sound certain.” Three rolled her eyes, picking up a pearl pink scarf and running it through her fingers. “Somebody else?”

“No,” I said, slightly defensively.

Three raised her eyebrows, but said nothing. She waved the vendor over and handed her all three scarves. When I glanced questioningly at Three, she shrugged.

“Hey, we’re rich.”