Humankind has found the stars - and forgotten the coordinates of their home planet. Then Hana does the impossible and gets pregnant. Her mother's predictions ringing in her ears, she sets out to find humanity's lost cradle. She only has a myth to gu...
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Chapter 10 — by Elisabeth_Long
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Hana mashed the tissues tighter, ignoring the dark mucous stains, and jammed the wad back against her nostrils. At least the coughing fits had subsided. The inside of her mouth tasted like muddy ash and her chest burned like she'd smoked a dozen Kirellian yeetweed tokers.
Phili's worried gaze didn't help.
"I'm alright." Yeah, okay. That would've sounded way more convincing if her voice didn't crackle like she had gravel in her throat.
Phili, who'd been helping her park her butt on the sickbay's diagnostic table, arched a brow. He'd been lucky. His Shozien side gave him lungs that were more resistant than hers. He hadn't so much coughed as cleared his throat a few times. His own handful of tissues weren't half as gunked up as hers.
"I'll be alright," she insisted. "How's that instead? Besides, didn't ALI tell us initial scans show we're both clear of any mycelium fungal threads?"
"ALI, ship status?" Phili called out. His white eyes darted back and forth between her and the nearby sickbed currently occupied by a well-done Hiwjshi and the gold droid that hovered.
"We have left orbit, First Mate. No sign of pursuit. Where to now, Captain? What course setting shall I take?"
Hana tilted her head back and stared at the ceiling. Where to, indeed...
"Maintain current speed and direction away from Jangal, ALI." While Hana doubted the trees of Jangal were capable of spaceflight, what she'd witnessed on that planet didn't make her want to take anything for granted.
She knew her nightmares would forevermore include the awful scenes she'd witnessed: discovering the grotesquely mounted, and animated, remains of Leo's father... Leo going insane and attacking the trees with his axe... The trees attacking back. Hana shuddered as images of Leo being ripped apart replayed in her mind. What happened next was a blur. She'd been grabbed, then had come an awful smothering and she'd passed out. The next thing she knew, Phili had been shaking her awake. A frantic golden droid from who knew where zipping above them through arid smoke, begging them to rescue a burnt Hiwjshi who lay unconscious nearby.
