Steph Bennion - Paw-Prints of the Gods

“You again!” cried Ravana. “Where the hell did you come from? How can you just appear out of nowhere? Not to mention breathe!”

The woman winked. “I play by different rules when it comes to reality.”

“This is not real?”

“Let’s not get into technicalities,” she said irritably. “From your bemused air of bafflement, I take it that your travelling companion has been her usual inscrutable self. There was me thinking you’d be fully briefed by now.”

“She said you are a watcher,” said Ravana, eyeing her carefully. She had quizzed Kedesh further about the mysterious stranger during the long drive into the mountains, but received nothing but vague replies. “Are you an alien?”

“No more than you are,” the woman replied frostily. “The only true citizen here is the green slime you seem happy to obliterate, but that’s imperialism for you. How’s the little star man? The boy being led like a lamb to the slaughter to fulfil his destiny, I trust?”

“What?”

“The infamous Falsafah prophecy?”

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m talking to an idiot!” she growled. Her youthful facade, much to Ravana’s horror, abruptly slipped and twisted into that of a wizened old crone with blackened razor teeth. “You showed real promise against mad Missi. Do your homework before we meet again!”

“But…” stammered Ravana.

The watcher and her rocky pedestal were gone. What looked like a silver owl fluttered skywards, then vanished to leave nothing but the blank rippling waters of the lake.

Ravana gulped. Gripped with terror, she lunged forward through the water, away from the transport towards the distant sand bank. Her half-wading, half-leaping progress became rapid once she reached the shallows and soon she was sprinting through ankle-deep water, conscious but uncaring of the slimy dark shadows darting away on all sides.

“Ravana!” Kedesh’s voice sounded loud in her helmet. “Slow down!”

“Thraak thraak!”

Ravana reached the dry ground of the ridge and fell to her knees. She was scared, angry, confused and seriously fearing for her sanity. Behind, the transport climbed from the lake onto the sand bank and pulled to a halt, pouring water from various nooks and crannies beneath the chassis. Nana took the opportunity to shuffle along the roof towards the ladder, but it was Ravana who reached the airlock hatch first.

Kedesh rose from her seat as the girl burst back into the cabin, Nana close behind.

“What happened out there?” she cried. “Spooked by the slime?”

Ravana threw her helmet to the floor. “Didn’t you see her?” she retorted angrily.

“See who?” asked Kedesh.

“A big scary slime monster?” sneered Artorius.

“That damn watcher from the dome!”

“Fwack!”

Kedesh frowned. “There was no one out there but you.”

“Thraak thraak,” added Nana, as Artorius helped the grey from the suit.

“And Nana on the roof,” the woman corrected. “You saw Athene?”

“Athene?” Ravana stomped to a bunk, sat down and threw an angry glare at Kedesh. Nana and Stripy slunk to sit with a startled Artorius. “You can’t see her but somehow know her name? Who is she? Tell me now!”

“One who walks amongst us,” Kedesh said slowly.

“Stop being so frigging mysterious!” snapped Ravana, frustrated. “What the hell is a watcher? And why is she also a cat? Or even an owl?”

“She can be whatever she wants,” the woman remarked gaily.

“Answer my damn question!”

Kedesh sighed. “Watchers are hard to explain,” she admitted. “Some believe them to be alien beings of pure energy, evolved far beyond the need for flesh and bones, each with a consciousness mapped into the quantum fluctuations of space-time. Less charitable people dismiss them as delusions of the insane, of course. In the past they may have been looked upon as gods. The cat thing goes back a long way amongst watchers who toy with humans.”

“Evil space ghosts!” Artorius remarked gleefully. “Cool!”

Ravana forced herself to be calm. “An alien cat woman?”

“Thraak,” replied Nana. “Thraak thraak.”

“Our grey friend has a point,” said Kedesh. “It is said they’re as old as the stars, which makes us the invading aliens, not them. The watcher who calls herself Athene is one I have crossed paths with before. She likes to meddle more than watch.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Ravana said dubiously. “Tell me more.”

“Athene is a bit of a maverick all-rounder,” Kedesh said thoughtfully. “The fact she’s hanging around Falsafah worries the hell out of me.”

A short while later they were on the move. The ridge ran high and dry for most of the way, but solid ground remained at least an hour’s drive away. Ravana was keen to hear more about the mysterious watchers but Kedesh, ever eager to change the subject, convinced her that their immediate concern was keeping the acid slime away from the transport. Ravana soon found herself back on the roof, plasma cannon at the ready.

She gazed across the congregating flotillas of slime, astounded by how the lake had changed in such a short space of time. The shore either side of the sand bank bubbled like hot volcanic mud and a green mist swirled uneasily above the wallowing sickly surface. The knowledge they were running low on spare cartridges for the cannon did not help Ravana’s nerves and she jumped when Kedesh’s voice suddenly interrupted her thoughts. The woman had suggested they use their headcoms to keep in contact; Ravana did not like to be reminded of her cranium implant but had reluctantly agreed.

“Everything okay up there?” asked Kedesh.

“I’m fine. Is Artorius with you?”

“He’s taking another nap.”

Ravana paused to fire another volley, the third so far, at the encroaching slime.

“Athene, your watcher, spoke about the Falsafah prophecy,” she told Kedesh. “She called Artorius a star man and said something about him fulfilling his destiny.”

“A star man?

“Also, at Missi’s dome, when he was safe she said there was no paradox.”

“Interesting.”

“Is that all you can say?”

For a while Kedesh did not reply. “It’s nice the way you’re looking out for him,” she said eventually. “I’m not sure I would have the patience with such a rude little boy.”

Ravana was shocked. “Kedesh!”

“Sorry. Obviously, I’m also grateful you’ve stepped up to the crease on my behalf more than once. When Missi tried to suffocate us, why didn’t you collapse when I did?”

“I grew up on a world with a thin atmosphere. If you remember, the greys were affected even less. I owed you that one. You rescued us after we crashed.”

There was another brief silence. Ahead, a short stretch of ridge dipped below slime-infested water and Ravana released a couple of plasma bolts to clear the way.

“I have a confession to make,” said Kedesh. “I was going to leave you there.”

“But you didn’t. That’s all that matters.”

“The greys threw a curved ball. I was about to drive away when they hammered on the hatch. They had dragged you from your transport and somehow kept you alive long enough to get you into my airlock. Nana and Stripy saved your lives, not me.”

Ravana’s blood ran cold. “You were going to let us die?”

“You don’t understand.”

“Damn right I don’t! We crashed trying to avoid running into you!”

“I was scared of creating another paradox,” protested Kedesh. She uttered a shriek of alarm as Ravana released a volley of plasma bolts into the sand bank ahead, more out of anger than necessity. “I am not allowed to meddle!”