“Some kind of root?” Liz asked as Agra plopped twisted masses of spongy brown lumps into the steam wafting off the boiling pot of water.

  “My father thought it was a type of fungus,” Agra said. “They are easier to get then snow beetles and much tastier. I collect them in the deepest sections of the cave. I’ve been saving these ones. The longer they grow the tastier they get. I think you’ll like them.”

  “I think I’ll pass,” Jakob grumbled. He had Liz’s bag open by his side, an unwrapped ration bar in his hand. He’d been sitting across the fire from them for the past half hour silently nibbling on the tasteless rock-hard nutrient dense bars. Taylor had been leaning against the back wall going through the old data pad again. Agra handed Liz one of the fungal tubers to look at.

  “Is this what you and Anson ate all these years?” Liz asked with concern. The hard wrinkled surface stank of damp earth and rusted metal.

  “It makes a delicious stew,” Agra relished. Saliva dribbled from her quivering beak.

  Liz let it plop into the pot and went to check on Taylor. From behind the holograms of Anson looked flat and blurry.

  “What have you found?” She asked. Taylor swiped out of the video.

  “I know I’ve met someone named Anson before,” he began with a frustrated frown. “I went back to the earliest videos to see if Greg ever said his wife or child’s name but got nothing.”

  “Hmm, Anson,” Liz repeated herself. Now that he mentioned it the name Anson did sound familiar. The kid perhaps? They would be around their age now if they hadn’t died in a Syn raid.

  “What else have you found?”

  “Judging by the previous dates logged I think we are in what passes for summer on Altair IV. The long winters are inhospitable for human life. So, I guess we got lucky,” Taylor said. “Greg spent hours in this cave complaining about this and that. Looks like only Agra could go outside to collect food and wood. That’s when I noticed he logs got a little strange.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Do you remember Greg mentioning the wreck where he found Agra? He never mentions it again. I mean there are plenty of video logs I didn’t check, but it seems pretty weird,” Taylor explained. He then glanced over at Agra as she stirred the pot humming some song.

  “Greg recorded most of the videos alone, only making references to what he and Agra were up too. She hardly appears in any. I think he purposely recorded these journals when she was out. It was his personal journal of course, but I get the feeling he didn’t want her to know about the wreck for whatever reason. He was her father. Why wouldn’t he trust her?”

  Liz put her hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t tell Jakob about this. That fool doesn’t need another reason to not trust Agra.” She glanced back at Jakob who was obliviously gnawing at his ration bar. None of them noticed Agra flash her eyes in their direction.

  Jakob watched with quiet discomfort as Agra ate. Her beaky maw would open, exposing fleshy mandibles that picked and tore messily at her meal like little snakes. Greasy black fluid dribbled from the gaps in her beaky mouth as she noisily slurped up the broth. When finished Agra would snap her beak shut with a wet slurp. It was too easy for him to imagine the blood of his friends falling from her face.

  “I’m going to get some air,” he abruptly announced as he slid off the ground and sauntered toward the exit. Liz put her hand on the rifle propped up beside her as she watched Jakob’s gaze fall on it.

  “Are you sure you don’t want some stew, its good,” Taylor offered with a raised bowl as Jakob vanished behind the curtain.

  “He doesn’t like me,” Agra said bluntly.

  “He lost all his siblings to the Syn. I can’t imagine him ever liking any Syn even one as accommodating as you.” Liz said placing her empty bowl on the ground beside her. She stared into the fire wondering what her parents would have thought of Agra. They had been scientists as well, open minded and unwilling to hate the Syn for what they were. Agra seemed to validate the philosophy they had died with the day their ship had been overwhelmed.

  “Maybe killing those Syn running around loose out there will make him feel better,” Taylor said. For a moment Agra glared at him then sighed wearily.

  “I hope it doesn’t have to come to that,” she said.

  “I was under the impression that you hated your kind,” Liz asked.

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  “That doesn’t mean I want to hurt them” Agra growled in frustration. For once she seemed to struggle to form the words she wanted. Conflict was obvious in her large amber eyes. “Can we talk about something else?”

  “Yeah, sure thing Agra.”

  Agra shifted her amber gaze up at the smoke drifting through the craggy hole in the cave ceiling where the dancing embers joined with the shimmering stars.

  “What’s it like way out there,” Agra asked.

  “What can I say? The universe is full of wonders,” Liz shrugged.

  “My father said that there are planets so warm that all the ice melted into great pools of water. Is that true?”

  “Some planets are so hot that metal runs like water,” Taylor said. Agra tapped at the steel plate beneath her with incredulity.

  “We’ll get you off this rock Agra so you can see the universe for yourself,” Liz promised. “We’ll all get off this planet.”

  “I’d like that,” Agra beamed. Her enthusiasm quickly waned however.

  What’s wrong?” Taylor asked.

  “My kind rules the stars while your people wage an unwinnable war,” Agra said somberly, “What can I expect to find out there besides misery?”

  Lit by the faint green glow of his survival suit Jakob sat in the jagged mouth of the cave entrance staring out at the sloping snow filled crater walls. A swarm of stars twinkled over head in the frigid black night. His thoughts turned to the war, of the battle the Orion had fled. A cloud of steam wafted from his reddened face with each frustrated exhalation. His survival suit was operating at the edge of its capabilities just so he could sit there. He was too busy reflecting on the events of the day with fist clenching anger to really notice the cold. He was angry at himself, at the Syn, and at the universe. He was stuck here as the war raged and his people continued to die.

  He still hadn’t made up his mind about Agra. It annoyed him that Taylor and Liz had accepted her so easily. Jakob blinked, realizing he had thought of Agra as a she in the first place. Agra was a crafty Syn, he’d give her that, but she had shown her true colors when she grabbed him. Jakob rubbed his neck certain that Agra would have killed him. No matter how nice she acted Jakob could tell she could be as violent and ruthless as any other Syn he had encountered. Greg Anson was wrong. All Syn were evil. Agra had just gone crazy on this god forsaken planet like Anson had. Anson had only been right about one thing. Agra needed to be studied, taken apart piece by piece to take advantage of any weakness the Syn might have. To say Agra’s intelligence had scared him was an understatement. How many of the Syn were like her?

  Crack! The subtle sound of a twig breaking jolted him from his contemplative daze. Weaponless Jakob knew he had no chance against even one Syn. Agra had proven that. Damn her for throwing away his plasma rifle. On his stomach to keep a low-profile Jakob crawled backward into the cave until only his head stuck out. He scanned the darkness in vain for any kind of movement. That is when he saw it. A lone Syn had appeared at the edge of the crater. Its wind tousled black downy coat didn’t make it hard to find in the snow. Jakob watched as the Syn just stood in place sniffing at the sky. Could a Syn even smell? It suddenly occurred to Jakob that he didn’t know. He’d have to ask Liz. He watched with gritting teeth as the Syn suddenly bristled and began bounding on all fours towards the cave.

  “Shit!”

  Jakob snapped an icicle off the wall and brandished it desperately as the Syn drew closer.

  “Just try it!” he yelled as the Syn stopped abruptly just meters from the entrance. The Syn squinted at Jakob and the icicle with uncharacteristic hesitation. Jakob felt a chill down his spine as he recognized the same cognizant glow in its red eyes that Agra had. With the icy dagger waggling in his hand Jakob got up slowly. The Syn continued to stare at him without blinking. It honestly seemed surprised to find him there.

  “You’re a smart one huh,” Jakob muttered as he heard the sound of running footsteps echoing behind him.

  “Is that one of them,” Taylor gasped.

  Agra pushed her way past Liz and swiped the icicle from Jakob’s hand as she left the cave to confront her kin. The humans watched in shock as the two wordlessly eyed each other. Now that they were together it seemed that Agra stood slightly above most of her kind. Agra eyed the icicle in her hand for a moment than threw it aside. The Syn watched her do this with interest then placed its hands behind its back to bow its head. It then parted its beaky maw slightly and uttered a short series of undulating clicks. The Syn did nothing as Agra hissed violently at him and held her ground with bared claws.

  “What did you just say?” Agra exclaimed before switching to a language the humans could not understand. Their conversation continued in this strange clicking and hissing tongue. All they could do was watch and listen.

  “Jakob what the hell is going on?” Liz asked in a hushed voice as Agra and the Syn had their little chat. Jakob shrugged. He was more focused on what was happening.

  “I have no idea. It just showed up out of nowhere. If you want answers, ask your friend Agra.”

  The Syn waved its hands in one last clicking plea before Agra lowered her guard. The Syn just stood there as the humans approached.

  “You understood it?” Liz asked eagerly. “What did it say?”

  “He means us no harm if that is what you’re worried about,” Agra said morosely.

  “Bullshit!”

  “He gave me his word,” Agra added quickly as Jakob threatened the Syn with a shaking fist.

  “This thing killed our crewmates, destroyed our ship,” Jakob said turning back towards Liz and Taylor. He then directed his outrage at Agra. With a finger at her face he roared, “And you! How can you speak to this thing? I thought you were raised by a human.” Agra silently accepted the accusation with sad shifting eyes. She took a step back with her hands raised submissively.

  “You’re right I’m not meant to speak to the sacred tongue,” Agra said vaguely. Her narrow gaze then fell on the Syn who seemed to be watching the argument with interest. “Neither of us should. I want answers just as much as you. That is why we are going inside to chat like decent people.”

  “Sacred Tongue?” Taylor asked. The young man was shivering, frost forming in his hair.

  Agra turned to the Syn and spoke to him once more.

  “He’s as much my guest as you are.” She harrumphed as the Syn followed her back towards the cave entrance. “If you don’t like it then you’re welcome to stay out here.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Jakob exclaimed as Liz and Taylor joined her.