Kegg’ and Qiuq

By Kavelina Torres

This story originally appeared on She Said Notes.

The drive home from town was long but Kegg’ couldn’t enjoy it. She was looking forward to her fishing spot just up the road from her house.

The planet Kegg’ and Qiuq currently lived on wasn’t quite tidal locked, though it turned very slowly. This particular day had been going on for the length of a Sol person’s life or about 67 years. In a few more years the whole planet would be a snowball. Of course they would be gone before then. Best to get as much rod and reel time in the water as she could.

Kegg’ was the Inuit of old. She glanced into the rearview mirror, as the last vestiges of the town disappeared behind her, and smiled at her tattooed face. Her people had taken to the stars like most others. Kegg’, herself, had been in and out of the black sleep so many times she reckoned she was more than a thousand years old. Last time she and Qiuq talked about age, Qiuq’s eyes almost disappeared with her laughter. They came to the conclusion they were nine hundred Sol years old give or take two hundred, but that was four black sleeps ago.

When Kegg’ pulled onto the wooded drive she felt the tension flow out of her shoulders. Kegg’ and her Aunt Qiuq lived in breathtaking solitude at the end of the road. Their yard was a circular patch of grass with a small shield generator at the edge of the jungle forest where everything actively competed for every patch of sunlight. Seriously have to do some clearing this evening or we might not be able to get out of the house tomorrow. She reveled at the thought of working with the forest again.

Kegg’ entered the small blue kitchen. No bit of space appeared free. Qiuq was an avid herbologist and as such she picked random plants for her microscope and molecular generator. Qiuq knew so much about the plants that inhabited this world, and many other worlds besides. She knew how they could be helpful to their people when they found a place of their own. She even harvested seeds. Though Kegg’ thought that that was just asking for disaster. Qiuq didn’t think so and that was Qiuq’s area of expertise — one of them.

Kegg’ tossed her bag on the floor before rummaging in the packed kitchen to slap together a sandwich. PB and reconstituted freeze dried moose with a smear of cream cheese. Her favorite, though, as old as she was, Qiuq still rolled her eyes at Kegg’’s taste buds. Well, she didn’t have to eat it.

“Don’t forget to leave an offering, Kegg’luneq!” Qiuq’s voice floated out of the bowels of the house. “Kegg’luneq-qaa?” She was definitely was all about the ancestors. Kegg’, finished with her sandwich making, was still standing in the kitchen gazing at the unkempt yard out the window. “Kegg’-qaa?”

“To what-qaa? There’s nothing out there.” Her eyes sparkled at that bit of half truth.

“There’s always something out there, Kegg’.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll set something aside.”

Kegg’ pulled the cooler with the salmon eggs out of the freezer, slung her fanny pack over her shoulder, grabbed her fishing pole, and turned her squat body back down the dirt drive as she ate her sandwich. This was her time to relax. No one around but the bees and the bears. Or what passes as bees and bears.

The path to the river was across the street but Kegg’ liked a place a half a mile up, down a long goat path, and a steep embankment culminating in a small strip of grey beach. She headed there now.

Kegg’’s bobber dropped into the water, making a small plop as the hook sank to the bottom of the river.

Comforting.

Kegg’ grew up deep in the wild Yukon bush. Trees and animals are a thing. Being back in a forest sat warmly in her chest. She settled in to wait for the first nip.

With the river burbles singing quietly across the deep, she could hear the echo of kids drifting over the river. Their happy screeching carried across the five kilometers quite easily. Kegg’ grimaced. She hated noise that came with people.

Kegg’ had left her bag in the house but her fanny pack carried, well, everything. Kegg’ rummaged around until she found the bright green foam ear plugs. As she rolled them up and pushed them in, she took to her deep breathing her mum had taught her when she was feeling stressed. As the plugs expanded in her ears Kegg’ breathed a sigh of relief. Now it could be just her and her fishing pole.

Except there was a little rumble. She felt it rather than heard it. Still that was normal for this youngish planet. There were earthquakes daily. It meant nothing. The rumble felt stronger than usual but even an occasional large one wasn’t out of the norm.

“Alright, alright,” Kegg’ grumbled.

She dug into the cooler and tossed some salmon eggs into the water. Seven plopped into the river, each a little pink and orange stone. That oughta be enough.

The rumble became a roar. Kegg’ looked up over the trees to see a wall of water debris coming down and around the out of sight sharp bend in the river. Kegg’ stared. Upriver was a glacier. Nothing that would make that kind of wall.

“They’re here.” Kegg’ said out loud. She dropped her fishing pole, snapping out of her daze.

She sprinted up the embankment to the little goat path. She was already in a sweat. She couldn’t quite catch her breath. The very air seemed to be rushing away from her faster than she could suck it in. I am not running. I am not running. She was scrabbling. The air displacement that came with a wall of water that size clutched at Kegg’’s body as she tried to get away. Kegg’ knew this was the end of her. The real end.

This would be funny if it weren’t so scary. She reached the roadside fell on her tummy and flipped over — determined to meet her demise the way she met her whole long life. Staring it in the face with a steely-eyed stubborn grimace. But there was nothing there. No wall of water. No debris. No death.

Kegg’ lay on the ground still breathing hard as the trees waved at her. This must be what Qiuq meant when she talked about the consequences of not leaving an offering. Only what came into view was not of the ancestors. It was them. Tegusta.

A dark cigar-shaped obelisk. Large. Very large. Kegg’ could see the ship — for that was exactly what it was — floating above the river as it drifted by her. But this starship was more. It looked like it had spent eons rumbling through — not space and darkness — but fire and dirt. There were scars, burns, and gouges across the face of it. As it slowly moved downriver, it sucked up the water, driftwood, and the occasional fish along with the riverbed, rocks, and trees.

Kegg’ could hear the rushing of the water even with her earplugs in. Kegg’ laid there in awe, staring up at the ship. The local military forces are probably on an intercept course now. Probably. Time to fire up the cloaking generator.

Kegg’ was up and running for the house. Arriving at home, Kegg’ ran directly to the generator room. “Qiuq-qaa? Qiuq-qaa? Qiuq! Where are you?” she yelled as she ran.

“Coming, young lady. I can’t always make these old bones move like I want them to.”

“You’ll have to do better than that if you want to live a little longer,” Kegg’ chuckled under her breath. Qiuq wide form appeared in the generator room doorway. Her eyes twinkled from the small creases where her eyes disappeared as she guffawed.

“I heard that!”

“Damn right, you did! The Tegusta are back. They brought the big guns this time.”

Qiuq frowned at Kegg’. “Why now-qaa? It’s been ten Sol years since we last saw them.”

Kegg’ waved her hand dismissively, “No matter. Let’s fire up the generator, fix the shields, and hide.”

“We are going to have to do better this time. I’ll get the ship ready while you hide us. We might get out of this pickle yet.”

Kegg’ flipped the cloaking generator on and there was a satisfying whoosh that settled into a reassuring hum. The shield generator was another matter.

Kegg’ grabbed her sack of tools and hurried outside to the shield generator. It was an ugly thing. Always spewing parts like they were glitter. This time it was the array that produced the shield that was on the fritz. Again. Irksome to deal with but necessary. Kegg’ opened up a faring and set about trying to fix the damn thing.

Kegg’ and Qiuq had landed on this backwater planet five years ago, to mine for flight crystals and to hide from the Tegusta. Kegg’ blended in well enough with the locals and brought in local money and supplies, while Qiuq pretended to be too old and broken to mine. The local population thought they were mining for gold and quartz but flight crystals were more important. They could run the crystals through the molecular generator to compress and fuse them to each other. They then could focus their ion engine, folding the power to ten times the maximum. They could power the ship to transport all of the Beluga Inu people out of this galaxy — and out run the totalitarian rule of the Tegusta.

The Beluga Inu had escaped the Tegusta grasp four times in the past waking Sol decade. This time they would go into uncharted territory and past even the outer reaches of the Alliance. There were suns and where there were suns, there would be planets.

Kegg’ had used an extra tachyon boost eight black sleeps ago while searching the heavens for telemetry on a new home. She had found some likely candidates. That was probably what lead the Tegusta to us in the first place.

Kegg’, finally finished with repairing the shield array, replaced the faring, and pushed a few buttons on the control panel. The hairs on her arms rose with the rise of the shield’s power. Satisfied it was working well enough, she turned it off. No use helping the Tegusta pinpoint where they were with a power spike. It would protect them if the Tegusta decided to scorch the planet. But that was a last resort — or that’s at least what Qiuq continued to claim. Kegg’ thought it’d be better as a ruse to keep the Tegusta interested in this little plot of land while they escaped. At that moment, Qiuq popped her head out of the front door.

“Get out of your head and get in here. Help me pack the victuals. My back is killing me and you’re still young.”

“Young yet, but not for long. Our next black sleep will add another 300 years. And you’ll still be older. Age is relative.” Qiuq and Kegg’ both burst out laughing together, releasing the tension they both felt.

“I’ll be along,” Kegg’ added when she could get a word out.

“If you don’t get crackin’, there might not be a next time,” Qiuq left, still giggling as she moved down through the house, to the ship underneath.

Kegg’ packed away her tools and gave the shield a final pat as she stood up and took one last look around. In the coming days there wouldn’t be a yard. It’s a good thing. The land taking back what it’s owed.

She pocketed the shield remote. Hopefully the shield would be a good decoy when the Tegusta turned their colonizing eye toward the Kegg’ and Qiuq. Kegg’ went inside to help Qiuq pack for the long journey.