“Yeah.”
“So this gravity is less for you.”
“I see where you’re going. Okay, we’re going to do a little high jumping contest, huh? What’s the bet?”
“No bet. And not ‘we.’ I already know I can’t make it to the top of that Basidicus. But if you can, we can save a bunch of time.”
“There’s no way I could jump that high. The gravity here is not that much less.”
Her face fell.
“But I bet I can make it onto that little one, and from there I can get on the tree, and then onto the big one.”
“You think so?” Kira asked.
“How stable are they?”
“They’re like big mushroom-shaped rocks.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” I shrugged out of my pack and slung a coil of Kira’s CNT line around one shoulder. Then I walked around the smaller mushroom, assessing my approach. It was maybe a meter and a half over my head.
“Are they slippery?” I asked.
“Not really. Oh!” She dug into her bag. “Check this out.”
She handed me a thick-bladed old-school metal knife with a hefty handle.
“They’re not going to attack me, are they?”
“No, dummy. You jam it in sideways. So you have something to hang on to.”
That made sense.
I circled around the smaller mushroom up to a little rise. Then backed up so I could get a running start.
“Here goes nothing!”
I ran, full-tilt, down the rise and launched myself at the top of the mushroom. The lesser gravity was definitely on my side, because I easily made it half-way up the rounded cap of the mushroom. And Kira’s knife trick worked perfectly. I pulled myself up as Kira cheered.
“Don’t get too excited,” I said. “I’ve still got two more jumps.”
But they were easy enough as well. A minute later I had gained the top of the large mushroom.
“I think I can see your camp from here,” I joked.
“Nice. Now throw down the rope.”
“Why don’t I just collect the sample for you—since I’m up here.”
“Because you’d mess it up.”
“Way to be encouraging.”
“I’m serious. There’s a high risk of contamination if you don’t do it right.”
“Okay, you’re the boss.”
I tossed down the CNT line after anchoring it to the blade, which I jammed in to the hilt on top of the cap of the mushroom.
Kira climbed the line like a trained gymnast, and I helped her up over the edge.
“Oh crap,” she said. “This is the wrong Basidicus!”
“What?”
“Gotcha,” she laughed.
She found the small metal box which had been affixed to the surface of the cap, then popped open a compartment and fiddled with its tiny controls.
I peered over her shoulder. “Okay, I admit it. That looks like something I’d mess up.”
“Shhh!” She bit her lip in concentration.
I looked away, trying not to distract her. That was when I caught sight of the dragon.
The creature was huge—at least a half dozen meters long—with a thick neck, powerful arms and legs, and a broad, flat snake-like head. As I watched it move almost soundlessly through the jungle, it really did look like a dragon to me. The creature even had some folded membrane-like appendages on its back that very well could be wings.
“Uh, Kira…”
“I said be quiet. I’m almost done.”
“Looks like we have a visitor.”
“What?”
She turned away from her collection unit. “Shit! Get down.”
We both flattened ourselves on the surface of the mushroom. “What is that thing?”
“An azure komorak,” she whispered.
“Dangerous?”
“Very.”
“Is it me, or does that thing look like a—”
“Dragon? Yeah, it does. Everyone says that. Don’t worry about it. Just stay down.”
For the next twenty minutes, the komorak moved about aimlessly, digging its snout into the underbrush, pawing at piles of dead leaves and moss, and every once in a while lifting its head and flicking out its lizard-like tongue, as if tasting the air.
“This thing’s not going anywhere,” I whispered.
“Just be patient.”
“What’s it doing? Getting ready to build a nest?”
“It’s foraging. Now, seriously, shut up.”
To be honest, I wasn’t very good at waiting around. Even when scared shitless. I kept imagining the beast deciding to curl up and go to sleep at the base of our mushroom. We’d be here all night.
As it was, the sun was starting to ease towards the horizon. We didn’t have all that much light left.
“Are these things territorial?” I asked. “Because if they—”
All of a sudden I couldn’t speak. Something was covering my mouth.
It was Kira’s lips. She was kissing me.
Okay. Not something I was expecting, but certainly welcome. I decided to just go with it.
I pulled her close, and kissed her back—urgently. We tangled up in each other’s arms and soon I lost track of time. Kira was an amazing kisser, and if my fate was to be eaten by a dragon, this wasn’t a bad way to go.
I don’t know how long we were making out, but eventually she pulled away and poked her head up. It was noticeably darker now, with just the odd shaft of late afternoon sunlight shooting through the trees like a laser beam. Small winged insects caught the light and lit up like fireflies. It was magical.
“Okay, it’s gone!” Kira said, slapping my behind. “Up and at ’em, Adventure Boy.”
“It’s gone?” I sat up to see for myself.
“Yeah. I need about five more minutes with the collection unit. You want to make sure the line is still secure? I think I rolled on it.”
“That wasn’t a rope you rolled on,” I said with smile.
Kira smirked back at me. “You’re right, it was too thin to be a rope.”
“Ha, ha.” I moved closer to her. “Anyway, that was very nice,” I said softly.
“Yeah, well, I had to do something to shut you up. Otherwise we were going to be lunch for that komorak. Now if you’ll excuse me.” She pulled away and returned to the business of collecting her sample.
Well, easy come, easy go, I guess. Still, I had definitely noticed a spark. Maybe she was just messing with me now.
We got back down to solid ground without incident, and made it to two more collection sites.
“How do you feel about
