Space Tripping With the Shredded Orphans

Chapter Five - Don't Drink the Water

Lix woke early with the sun. His left side ached and his left arm was asleep. He could see the others were already up, but he wasn't ready for that yet. He was relieved to find that none of them had been eaten in the middle of the night. That would have really put a damper on the day.

Lix watched through half closed eyes as Ophelia stretched out on her bedroll with one foot extended to each end of the roll. She rolled forward and backward, then onto her stomach, arched her back and stretched her legs back to touch the top of her head.

"Man, do you have to do that so early in the morning?" Mac said, as he yawned and stretched. Then he dropped his arms and scratched his belly. Shaking his head a bit he ran his fingers through his tousled blonde hair. "You make my head hurt."

"I need to keep up my strength. Would you like to see me fall and die on stage?" Ophelia said, as she turned over and started doing push ups.

"That would be some show," Mac said. Then he made a flying motion with his hand. "Neeeyooon... Splat!"

"Ha ha."

Lix was just about to comment when he felt something tickling his leg. "Ahhhhhhh!"

He jumped clear of his bedroll and began to shake. He swatted at the thing crawling up his leg. The thing was now making its way from his thigh up to his stomach. He beat at his chest and jumped up and down while still screaming. A second later a small dark object fell from his tunic and landed at his feet. It would have fit snuggly in the palm of Lix's hand.

They all stared at the greyish-green bug. As if sensing this, the coleoptera scurried away as fast as its six legs could carry it. It quickly disappeared under a rock.

"Afraid of some small critter crawling around in your bed?" Ophelia choked back a laugh.

"Hey, I think that thing bit me." Lix unbuttoned his tunic and was inspecting his chest for red marks.

"Well, that's probably the most exciting thing that's going to happen to you on this trip," Mac predicted.

They ate breakfast and started back on their northeasterly trek. Justice stopped after about an hour and checked his comm cuff. He was still not able to get a response from any receivers, but he did manage to pick up traces of water about thirty miles ahead. They adjusted their course and headed in that direction.

Chitto was looking off into the distance. He squinted and cocked his head. He kept squinting and shaded his eyes with his hand. Lix looked in that direction and didn't see anything.

"I think I see trees," Chitto said to his surprise.

"Really?" Justice said. He took some more readings on his comm cuff. "We're about three miles from a water source!"

"I love you, man!" Mac yelled excitedly. He grabbed Chitto's face and planted a big kiss on his lips.

Lix grinned when he saw Chitto wipe his mouth on his sleeve. "I could kiss you, too, but I won't."

"We should be there before dark," Justice said, relief evident in his voice. "Then we'll find the city and maybe we can reschedule the concert."

"Let's keep walking then," Ophelia said.

They kept walking and soon the rest of the group was able to make out the shapes of trees that Chitto had spotted. An hour and a half later, they came to the edge of a long narrow lake. Its enticing waters shimmered in the late afternoon light.

Mac was a water baby from Uji Voda. He wasted no time. He dropped his pack and took off his shoes. He quickly waded in to his middle as his fingers and toes transformed into their webbed form. He scooped up a handful of water and dumped it on his head, the gills in his neck opening in response.

"Wait!" Chitto yelled. "You should check the water purity before you go in. You have no idea what's in there."

Mac froze in place. The rest of the group watched him from the shore as if he might keel over at any second, or start melting and smoking from acid burns.

Justice made his way past several large boulders and plucked a tough blade of grass. He dipped it into the water and placed a drop on his comm cuff. He pushed some buttons and looked at the readings. Lix was worried when Justice shook his head and frowned.

"It's good!" Justice finally yelled.

Relief flooded over Mac's face. He dove into the water and swam off like a fish. Justice threw off his pack and splashed into the water after Mac.

Lix joined in right behind Ophelia. He looked back to see Chitto wading in slowly. Chitto got in up to his waist then he dunked his head under. He began floating on his back slowly making circles in the water.

Lix swam past Chitto and dove under the water. He felt the urge to do something that he hadn't done in a long time. He could feel the air starting to run out in his lungs, but he kept swimming, almost there. He reached out a hand and pulled.

Lix was not disappointed by the brief glimpse of surprise on Ophelia's face that submerged next to his. He beat a hasty retreat before that look changed into something more threatening.

Ophelia came up for air, gasping and sputtering. "LIX!" she screamed, grabbing at water and air around her, but he was now out of her reach. She lunged after him. Ophelia always paid back her debts.

After Ophelia had managed to dunk Lix several times they all went back to the shore tired, refreshed, and hungry.

Ophelia looked around. "Where's my pack?" she said.

"What do you mean?" Justice asked. Then he looked around as well. "Blast me to Gehenna!"

They all looked around frantically, but their bags were nowhere to be seen.

"This is truly distorted," Mac said, shaking his head. "Are you sure there's nothing in this water?"

Chitto was glancing at something on the ground. "I see footprints. They appear to be from that direction," he said, pointing a finger toward what was formerly an average looking clump of trees, but that now looked somehow very dark and menacing.

"Alright," Lix said, looking carefully at the prints in the sand and gauging the distance to the trees. The sand was so soft that the prints were not more than indentations. He could tell that there were quite a few prints there as if a small army had just marched by that they had somehow missed.

Lix drew his blaster and took a step toward the trees. "Let's go that way."

Everyone drew their blasters and slowly advanced toward the grove of trees, their eyes scanning the thick vegetation for the slightest movement.

Sweat began to bead on Lix's brow, but this time it wasn't from the heat. He took the lead and since he didn't see anything up ahead, he began to walk a little faster.

Panic overtook him and soon he was running towards the trees as if the momentum was driving him forward.

Ophelia followed as the rest of the group began to run as well.

Lix was several feet ahead of everyone.

He felt his heart pumping as he ran holding his blaster out in front of him. He couldn't see anything in the shadows of the trees, but he sensed something there.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his forehead. Everything flashed brightly in front of him.

Then it all went black.