- Caroline -

The fire has burned out, and the girls are just sitting here. Right now, the girls back at the cave are done with breakfast, and they’re starting the work of the day.

These girls are not. There’s not much they can do.

I see no reason to postpone the things that have to happen. These girls don’t have food because there’s not much here. There are no not-sheep, as far as I can tell from what the girls here are telling me. No turkeypigs. The bushes and roots have already been eaten. We have a trickle of water from the creek, and that’s it.

I want to get away from this star-shaped patch of jungle. And I want that while I still have some energy. The longer I wait, the harder it will be.

If we go all the way out to the point of the star, where I came from, then we’ll be very close to the trap. Only the trench will separate us from that. And if we’re somehow able to kill Troga there, then we can safely make our way over the new trench she burned, to the cave and relative safety.

Troga shows up pretty soon after any activity near her trench. I’m pretty sure I know how. The glass that makes up the trench is continuous. There are no cracks in it. It’s hard and stiff. Any vibration or sound will be conducted perfectly.

Troga can lie still and just listen to the sounds of the glass, like a spider in the middle of its web stays still waiting to feel the vibrations of a fly caught in its sticky net. She can probably hear footsteps near her trench. And if someone falls into it, that must make the whole web sing like when you tap your nail on a crystal wine glass. Then, she can come and burn the victim, knowing that they can’t get away from her slippery trench.

If I get out of this, I’ll get these girls back to the cave, and we’ll all make crossbows like Aurora’s and we’ll march to Bune, break into its center, and seriously fuck up the entity responsible for this. Whether it’s a computer or a person or whatever. Sending Troga out into this jungle is one step too far. There’s no excuse for that. No fucking excuse.

“We’ll get out of this,” I state out loud. “Today. We can’t wait.”

Okay. Now I’m committed.

“Not sure who elected you dictator,” Eleanor drawls. “But it wasn’t any of us.”

“I’m not trying to boss anyone around. But nothing’s getting better just by sitting here and waiting. Those cavemen with the green stripes will try to kill the dragon. If they succeed, the first thing that happens is that they’ll come here and capture all of you. You think you’ll have a choice about what happens then? These guys don’t have any women of their own. Zero. Us right here and the girls back at the cave are the only women on the whole planet. They’ll keep you as sex slaves and breeding pods and servants.”

“But not you?”

“Not me. I’ll slit my wrists before I let these guys get me. I’d rather fucking die.”

My intensity at that last statement gets some of the girls to look at me with more interest.

“What can we do?” onesie girl asks.

I feel for my throwing stars in my chest pocket. Still there. Three of them. Sharp as razors. “I have a plan. We’ll trap Troga. We’ll get to the cave. There’s food. We’ll be safe there. We’re a tribe all to ourselves. The best tribe on the planet. We have some cavemen of our own living with us, too.”

“Are you their slaves?” Eleanor asks.

“No.”

“Then what makes you think we’ll be?”

It’s really hard to explain a gut feeling. “I’m pretty sure you will. Our men don’t come from one tribe. They come from different tribes. We met each of them separately, got to know him really well, and invited him to our cave. One at a time. That makes a big difference. You’re twelve girls who’ll be attacked by a hundred primitive men with swords. A hundred caveman virgins with swords. You think they’ll let you decide if and how things happen?”

They’re all quiet for a long time.

“How will we trap that dragon?” Tamara finally asks.

I clench my jaw. “She has to be baited. Just so happens that I have the perfect bait.”

“What?”

I force a grin. “Me.”

- - -

I explain my plan. Some of the girls are eager to get going while others are more reserved. But they all agree to try. I think my little speech worked.

“We need rocks,” I direct. “As big as possible.”

Then, we’re marching the way I came, out on the point of the huge star that goes all the way to the trap. Almost.

“The dragon can reach out of the trench with her claws,” I warn the girls. She’ll try to trip you up. If she thinks you’ll escape, she might blow fire. If she does, hit the ground.”

“How do you know so much about that dragon?” Eleanor asks.

I sigh. “I never wanted to know shit about her or any dragon, believe me. But I had no choice.”

“Who was that guy you helped build the trap?”

“His name is Xark’on,” I say in a tone that doesn’t invite any further questions.

“Green stripes? Lots of muscles?” Eleanor keeps on like she didn’t hear me.

“Yes.”

“And he’s a little more to you than just a guy who builds traps.”

Of course my helpless bawling a little earlier gave that away. “Maybe.”

“So will he help us?”

Shit, things would be so much better if he would. And so much worse. “No.”

“So you’re pretty much judging a whole bunch of aliens on the basis of the one of them you don’t like.”

“No. I met the others. If I thought they would be good for you or for us, then I’d be all for letting them just do their thing and come get us. Let them deal with that fucking deadly, creepy dragon. But it won’t be like that. The dragon will kill us. But that tribe will enslave and rape you. Breed you.” My voice cracks at that last part.

“Eleanor,” Tamara says, “let’s not pester her about that guy. Can’t you see she’s barely holding it together?”

“You said that you had a way of going home,” Eleanor says. “Did you mean home to Earth?”

“Uh-huh. There’s a spaceship here. We were all dropped right on top of it.”

“Then why haven’t you gone home yet?”

“We don’t know how it works. But we know it can fly.”

“Doesn’t it have a crew? Is it those nasty little shits who abducted us?”

“We don’t think so. That flying saucer crashed in a lake here. They won’t come back and get us. Now we have to be quiet. That trench is pretty close.”

I actually don’t know how close to the trench we are, or how much safer we would be if we don’t talk. But I’m not thrilled about what’s about to happen, and I don’t want to be interrogated about things I’m not really all that sure about.

We’ve brought a bunch of rocks, as big as we can carry. So they’re not very big. Hopefully we’ll find some larger one closer to the trench.

And then we’re there. It’s the point of the star, where the trench takes a hard turn, almost 180 degrees, creating a sharp angle with itself.

“The trap is right over that ridge,” I whisper and point. “It’s extremely well hidden.”

I can see the tall tree right behind it, which Roti’ax and his friends wanted to hang me from so the dragon would see me. There’s nobody here. But I’m sure the tribe will soon be here with some other plan to bait Troga. Their so-called treasure and the prospect of actually having women in the tribe will be too strong a temptation. Now that Xark’on and I have done the hard work, those lazy cowards just need to get Troga out of her trench. I’m sure they can think of suitable bait. Feels like those guys would sacrifice one of their own for that purpose. Or several of them.

We spend an hour looking for rocks and stacking them in two large heaps far apart. Some of them need two girls to lift them, but most of them are of a size that one girl can lift. And some of them have to small enough that one girl can throw it thirty feet.

That one girl will be me. I’m the only one of us who’s relatively well fed. And the time with Xark’on did get me in better shape, with all the swimming and the walking and the... other activities.

“Okay,” I say when everything is ready. “This will attract the dragon. In fact, I’m pretty sure she’s close right now. Don’t be distracted by any weird noises. She can make some creepy sounds. And get down if you think she’ll spew fire. Stay away from the edge if she’s close. And, very important: don’t look at her. She can mesmerize you like a male stripper. Um. Don’t tell my mom I said that. Okay, I’ll be the only one to go down in the trench. Nobody follow me, even if it looks easy.”

The girls nod. Eleanor shrugs and looks away.

I take a moment to myself. First I look look towards the cave. Signalling Heidi didn’t work, but that’s fine. I didn’t expect it to. One flickering little torch, miles away, against the sun —it was very optimistic. But at least it helps me not feel too bad about being gone for so long. I tried my best.

Then, I turn around and look towards the treehouse, although I can’t see it from here.

I can’t help missing Xark’on. Did he really plan to kill me all along? He seemed so different from the other men from his tribe. But the evidence is pretty damning.

“I loved you,” I whisper.

In a different world, who knows? He might have loved me too.

I take a deep breath. I will probably not survive the next hour. That’s okay. Someone has to do this. After the way those tribesmen molested me, I don’t want these twelve defenseless girls to fall into their hands. And I don’t feel all that defenseless. I feel angry and sad and determined. So this is the time.

I take a deep breath and look up at the trees. Such a beautiful day this is. It’s actually not a bad planet, and I’m sad to leave it. It made me strong.

“Let’s begin.”