Stone (Volume 1, Bonus Issue 2)

Image Description: A dark silhouette of a person looking up at the stars. The stars are tiny, white dots against a multicolored sky. The sky is a blend of red, orange, yellow, blue, and green.

Credit: Greg Rakozy / Unsplash via Webador

Stone (Volume 1, Issue 2)

by: Laura Browne-Lambert

A yellow ray of sunlight shined through the porthole window, illuminating the notebook in Shonda’s hands. She liked this seat best. It had the most light, tomato and squash vines added greenery and the promise of fresh food, and it hosted the clearest view of the Stone People’s mountain. She popped a freeze-dried strawberry between her teeth and chewed it slowly as she considered her notes.

She was out of her depth. Her training as a geologist had not prepared her for being stranded on another planet, but more than that, it had not prepared her for a scenario like this one – in which the inanimate stones she studied came to life. Geological training did not cover first contact with alien species or culture studies.

But she had begun noticing patterns. Most Stone People, when they left the mountain, returned to the same place. More jagged, sharply edged beings were rarely left unattended. Shonda assumed they were younger, newer. From her profession, she knew that older mountains were shorter and more rounded. Younger mountains had not had enough time to lose their height and sharp edges to erosion. If the Stone People were anything like humans, she supposed the older stones supervised the younger stones the way parents looked after their children.

Certain stones rolled down the hill and took turns slowly rolling around the base of the mountain much like sentries. Right now, the sentries were who Shonda was studying. One had rolled off-course and settled a few hundred feet from the compound.

Before Shonda knew what she was doing, she had pulled her suit on and opened the door to the airlock, helmet under her arm.

“Where are you going?”

Shonda spun around at the sound of Martin’s voice. She had been certain he had been fast asleep under his pile of blankets. Now, he leaned on one arm, his tousled head lolling over his shoulder. Although his body looked half-asleep, his eyes watched her sharply.

“On a walk,” she said. “No need to get up.” She twisted her helmet into place over her head and locked the airlock door behind her. When the door to the outside slid open, Shonda rushed out and, almost immediately, slowed her pace.

The rogue sentry rested atop a slight rise in the dusty ground directly ahead of her. What had she been thinking? Standing here, mere feet from a Stone Person when she had been hiding from them for months was surely one of the most foolish decisions she had ever made. She held still, again feeling like a rabbit chased by a fox. The sentry shimmied forward by a few inches. Shonda took a half-step backward. When the sentry shimmied back to its original position, Shonda returned to her own. The Stone Person wobbled forward, and they repeated their dance.

Shonda’s heart beat so hard that she could feel the thump-thump in her throat and hear the blood rushing through her ears. Sweat dripped down her spine while her fingers felt ice-cold. Praying that she was not making the wrong move, she lifted her leg and swept her boot through the dirt three times – and waited. To her astonishment, the Stone Person shifted, grinding its base into the dirt in a slow swooping motion – once, twice, thrice. Shonda gasped. Nervously, she picked up her foot and tried again. Swoop, swoop, swoop. Her counterpart repeated its same movement. Okay, she thought. One more time. Shonda lifted her foot again and –

A gloved hand closed around her wrist. Shonda jumped as Martin’s voice reached her ears through the comm link.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Martin exclaimed.

“I—”

A heavy thud vibrated the ground under their feet. They turned to follow the sound. Every one of the Stone People that Shonda had identified as sentries had lined up to form a circle around the base of the mountain. In unison, they reached out their appendages and pounded the ground beneath them. The Stone Person that had approached Shonda rolled rapidly away and took its position in an empty space in the circle.

Shonda felt her body vibrate in tandem with the sentries’ hammering. Had she caused this?

Martin pulled on her arm. “It doesn’t matter,” he said. He dragged her back into the airlock.

“I’m sorry,” Shonda said as the door slid shut behind her. Fresh fear bubbled through her body, equal parts icy and hot. Had she just destroyed their chances of surviving this?

“How could you do something so stupid?” Martin pushed her through the second airlock door. “Did you want to kill us?”

Angry tears stung the corners of her eyes. “Of course, I didn’t.”

“Well, you probably just did.” Martin hunched by the porthole window and watched the Stone People continue their steady rhythm.

“Like you’ve never done anything you’ve regretted before.” Shonda knew those words were petty, but she did not need him rubbing salt in her wounds.

Martin held out an arm to stop Shonda from taking off her suit. “Stay suited up. We might have to make a run for it.”

Shonda collapsed into the desk chair and let her face fall into her hands. “Fine,” she said.

They sat in silence until well past dark. All the while, the sentries drummed their stone bodies against the Martian sand. Eventually, Shonda’s fear settled into apathy. Her body could not handle maintaining its high levels of adrenaline, and she rested her forehead against the surface of the desk.

Martin broke the silence. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

Shonda responded without looking up. “I’m sorry for doing something dumb.”

“I get it,” Martin said. “You want to be hopeful, but we’re alone out here. The only people we have are each other.”

“I know that,” Shonda said. “I just – I wanted to believe –” She felt Martin’s hand land between her shoulder blades.

“I know,” he said.

Shonda let herself sit in the quiet until—“Do you hear that?” Shonda whispered.

“Hear what?” Martin hummed.

“Exactly.” Shonda lifted her head. “I don’t hear anything.”

She felt Martin stand beside her. “You’re right,” he whispered, slowly approaching the window.

“Can you see them?” she asked.

“No,” he said. “I think they’re gone.”

“Gone?” Shonda stood and peered through the glass. What little she could see in the darkness confirmed his report. The circle of stones had disappeared and the ground around the compound appeared still. Relief flooded her body like a cool wave lapping a sandy shore. They were safe – at least for the moment.

“Gone,” Martin agreed. “I vote we get some shuteye.”

Shonda nodded. “I don’t know if I’ll get any real sleep, but it would be heaven to get out of the space suit.”

They stripped out of their chunky gear in the dark and pushed their bedding together. Shonda relished the added heat of shared body warmth. Martin did not feel like home – like Jeanne – but knowing that she could reach to her right and find another person was a comfort. She lay awake long into the night, replaying the events of the day and wishing for home.

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