“You missed! You missed on purpose! You know what happens next.”

“I pinned her. Now I’m going to go get her.”

“You risked her infecting the environment with her humanity, and risk infecting the environment yourself, just so you can bring her back for trial and execution as a war criminal? You are a coward. And you are weak. The Council will punish you as well as your daughter for this betrayal.”

“I betrayed nobody. But denying her a trial would be betraying our own mission.”

Mars snatches his rifle back and glares at Jupiter, “We shall see.”

The sirens blaring in her ears finally wake Siff up. Groggy from pain and blood-loss, she reads her heads-up-display and has an adrenaline rush. She needs to slow her descent or she’ll crash into…the forest? She didn’t make it past the forest? No time to think about that now. Can’t move my right arm, gotta use my left. Aagh! That hurts so much! Got the handle. Pull down and across.

Having only one of the handles pulled begins to slow her descent, but also puts her into a nauseating spin. The alarm from her headset is still blaring, and the trees come to meet her quickly. She crashes through branches, her momentum wrapping the cords of her chute around a large oak and sitting her firmly in place on the mossy ground surrounding it. Her helmet strikes the trunk and splits open, falling in two pieces next to her. She hasn’t the strength to fight her way free, nor even the energy to cry in pain. She has fallen short of her goal and landed in the most dangerous place on the ship. Tied up and shot, she can only wait as one already dead for the inevitable animals to find her. She really hopes she is not alive when that happens.

Siff closes her eyes again, head bobbing in and out of consciousness. She hears rustling on the edge of the clearing and a blurred figure making its way to her. It is a man. She can barely stay awake to hear him, or respond to his help, “…saw you fall…Goddess…” He is cutting her free from the cords of the parachute, “…have to go…going to move you.” The man begins to lift her and her scream of pain brings his attention to her wound, she is now fully awake, “What kind of wound is that, Goddess? I have to bind it before you bleed out. I didn’t know gods could bleed. Hold still.” He cuts a strip from his shirt and applies pressure to the wound. Siff cries out again, but he holds his hand over her mouth, “You need to be silent, Goddess. The terrors of this forest will find us.” He grabs a piece of oak branch from the forest floor and puts it in her mouth to bite down on. He looks in her eyes and it is then that she recognizes him. It’s him. Oh god, it’s him. It’s uuuuuuuunnnnnnnngh!

Lucas finishes tying the bandage, then lifts her onto his shoulders, he smells of leather, wood smoke, earth, and sweat, “We have to move. Right now. I know a place close by where we might be safe. I’m sorry, Goddess: this is going to hurt.”

He runs with her over his shoulders as she grunts and cries in pain, the branch in her mouth helps her keep quiet. A couple of hundred yards and he sets her down. He lifts a set of branches from the ground that are tied together to form the roof of a shallow ditch. Pulling her into it, Lucas lays Siff down and covers her with the forest hide, “Stay here and stay quiet. No matter what.” And with that he disappears into the dark.

She lays still, branch between her teeth and tears running down her face. Who saw me? Who was on the Needle? God it hurts so much! What’s out here? Has Lucas left me here to die? Am I going to die? I don’t want to die.

Her thoughts are interrupted by a rustling in the grass nearby. Something is out there. And it’s getting closer. Almost imperceptible footsteps interspersed with sniffing. Whatever it is now hovers just out of sight as Siff strains her eyes to look through the moss and branches covering her. A silhouette slowly moves into her vision. Powerful and feline in shape, muscles reflecting starlight on its frame. Siff guesses it must be at least eight feet high on all fours, and that’s not counting the antlers. The sniffing comes closer to her and two massive hand-like pads start pulling at the covering with strong clawed fingers, dark eyes inquisitively staring through the branches, snout constantly sniffing. The branches are pulled aside and the beast looms over her, open mouth showing large fangs and inquisitive eyes. It pauses for a moment as Siff lays unmoving, staring at the beast she is waiting to consume her. She can only hope it will kill her first. Instead the animal sits next to the ditch and continues to watch her as if unsure what to do. It seems like an eternity before more footsteps are heard. Lucas has returned.

Brandishing a spear he cautiously approaches. The beast lets out a guttural growl and bares its teeth as it stands to face him. Then it backs away slowly, allowing Lucas to come close to Siff, “Goddess, are you alright?”

“Where did you go?” Her voice is weak, “You left me.”

“I tried to lure the creature away with my own scent. But it found you. Torrens never let anyone live. Why are you alive?” He continues to step closer as the beast backs away. Now right next to her he slips his arm under her body and helps her stand. The pain is still too much to bear, “Okay, I’m going to lift you like last time. If the torren wants to kill us it will have an easy time of it. But if it was going to do so, we would already be dead.” He leans his spear against a tree and lifts her across his shoulders. She watches him retrieve his spear and glance to the beast sitting, growling behind them. Lucas starts his journey, Siff feeling every bump and jerk in her side, the torren still growling with its hackles raised following them through the trees. It is a few hundred yards before it sits and watches as they head to the edge of the forest. The glimmer of morning begins to show through the trees, “I was camping nearby when I saw you fall. My horse is just past the tree cover. We’ll ride to camp, then I’ll check your wounds. I have a few medicines there.”

Passing intermittently in and out of consciousness, Siff manages to sit wearily on the horse, Lucas behind her keeping her from falling. Now out of immediate danger, Siff feels herself drifting off. Lucas tries to keep her awake, but the wound and fatigue are now overcoming the fear and adrenaline. Her eyes close and open again. She finds herself laying at a small campsite, Lucas hastily packing his medical supplies back up, “Stay with me, Goddess. I know someone who can help.”

“Siff.” The word comes weakly from her lips.

“Huh?”

“Siff. My name…Siff.”

Her eyes close again, and a heaviness holds her in sleep.