With careful concentration, while holding on to the ladder, I enhanced my sight and looked around. The metal lever and the paintings describing the direction in which to pull it were an arm’s length away.
I tried to speak but was too weak to say anything. My throat felt like I had swallowed nails. As sweat rained down on me from above and another loud ding echoed around us, I reached out with an aching hand and pulled the lever. It was surprisingly easy, and immediately there was a hiss from above. The door opened upwards and my rescuer whooped in triumph. A rush of hot, poisonous wind came from below and my knees buckled, but before I passed out and fell to my death my rescuer grabbed me again. I was pulled up and thrown onto cold, wet ground.
It was still unnaturally dark and blissfully cold but the air was as sweet as a woman’s caress. All I wanted to do was cling to the wet earth and keep breathing, but my rescuer had other plans.
“It’s a cave, but I can see light ahead,” he said, helping me to my feet. We waded through a stream, bending every few steps to wash the gunk off our naked bodies. Eventually we emerged into sunlight and collapsed on the bank. For a while all I could do was lie on my back, feet submerged in the water, arm shielding my face from the sun. Then I got thirsty. I turned on my side, came up to my knees, and turned around on all fours. When I lowered my face, the water felt cool on my skin, soothing, and when I opened my mouth it tasted pure and cleansing. I knew it for a fact. I knew it was pure as I tasted it and even knew the temperature of the liquid. I just didn’t know how I knew it. The water was refreshing, but I had the knowledge of its effect more than the actual feeling. It was unnatural. It was strange, but not as strange as my reflection in the water.
The face, the bald head, the eyes, the lips. I was staring into the reflection of someone else’s face. Only at a second glance did I realise what I was not seeing and managed to stifle a yelp with a hand to my mouth. My eyes were clear blue, but the thin black symbols which had appeared overnight during my adolescence were gone.
I sat back, dumbstruck, and looked around. My rescuer must have been going through the same revelation regarding his body. I saw him sitting on his haunches several yards away, staring at the water. Sensing my gaze, he turned his head and looked back at me.
“Maybe you can tell me what this rust bucket is all about?” he called. His voice was unfamiliar, but now that we were out of the deathtrap we awoke in, I recognised the dialect and it warmed my heart. Like me, he was bald—no, completely hairless, loins and all—but that was where the similarities ended. When he stood up I couldn’t help but envy his physique. It was perfection. Strong, long limbs, a lean but muscular body, and his skin as pure as a baby’s—which was more than odd, it was simply impossible. No one could be that strong, carrying me all the way up from the abyss to the surface, without having been touched by the curse and further amplified by a Tarakan device. This was a Tarakan combat vessel—he looked nothing like the man I used to know, but I didn’t care.
“Hello, Galinak,” I said.
“Who are ya?” He eyed me suspiciously as I walked towards him. “And what was that rust below?” He gestured at the cave. “And if you can answer both those questions, how about telling me why we are standing butt naked in the middle of the rusting wilderness?”
“It’s me, Twinkle Eyes,” I said.
“No, you’re not, and that’s far enough.” He took a half step away from me. I stopped.
“It’s me, Twinkle Eyes. We just have different bodies, both of us.”
His eyes narrowed. “You’re rusting me, and patience was never one of my virtues. I’ll ask you for the last time. Who are you?”
I sighed. “You have a signature hip throw. You are terrible at cards. The odds in the fight we had in Vincha’s shack was five to two. You and Vincha had a weird sexual tension between you but you never actually got to …”
I watched his suspicion turn into a broad smile with every word I said.
“Well, rip my wires. Is that really you, Twinkle Eyes?” he finally asked.
I nodded and pointed at my eyes. “Just without the marks around the twinkle, I guess.”
“Bukra’s balls.” Before I could react, Galinak stepped forward, grabbed me in a crushing bear hug, and lifted me in the air like a little child.
“Galinak, put me down, you crazy Troll.” I tried to struggle, but it was like pushing against metal.
“It’s rusting Twinkle Eyes,” Galinak called out as he spun me around in his arms.
“Damn it, we’re both naked.”
“Who gives a silver wire?” Galinak shouted but eventually plunked me down on the ground and put a steadying arm on my shoulder. “I thought we were both goners,” he said. “I mean, I heard you over the Comm, negotiating with those Tarakan arse rusts when we were surrounded by those Lizards, and I remember thinking to myself, ‘Twinkles has some Salvationist spirit in him after all.’ But then the Lizards began breaking in, I heard you screaming over the Comm and …” Galinak’s eyes darkened.
“Push those memories back,” I said quickly. “They are not good to dwell on, believe me.”
“Aye, you’re probably right.” Galinak looked at himself again. “This is going to take some getting used to.”
“I know.” I looked, fighting the urge to cover my loins with my hand. “It’s as if this body is not yet my own. I wonder if we’ll sort of settle in with time.”
Galinak turned around in a slow circle, saying, “Right. Care to explain what’s going on?”
“I assume you were not briefed.”
He completed the full circle. “No, last thing I remember was what I am trying not to remember right now. Since then, completely blank. Did they speak to you?”
I nodded.
“Those smart-arse Tarkanians knew better than to wake me up for a chat,” Galinak grumbled. “I would have said several things they would be sorry to hear.”
“My conversation did not take long,” I said carefully. There was no use in agitating my only protection. “We were supposed to get more information and, you know”—I indicated both of us—“clothes and equipment and weapons.”
“Where, down there?” Galinak pointed at the cave.
“Yes, something must have gone unexpectedly wrong, some sort of malfunction or … a sabotage. But we need to get back and retrieve them.”
“That rebirth must have crossed your wires.” Galinak shook his head. “Because this new body of mine told me we were going to die down there, and that a normal human would have already been convulsing on the floor. Whatever was in that air was nasty, rust, I can still feel the sting on my skin.” He made a point of moving his hands around his naked body, brushing the invisible particles away.
“But we are naked, weaponless, in the wilderness,” I protested. “We’re alive, healthy, and there are no Lizards that I can see.”
Galinak raised a hairless eyebrow. “I’ve been in worse situations.” When he saw the look on my face he added, “I would tell you to grow a pair but that would be an inappropriate comment at this time, Twinkle.” His laughter was short-lived. I guess he wasn’t used to the sound of it, either. “You know what they want us to do, right? So just fill me in on that, but first let’s find out where we are.”
He drew my attention to an elevated boulder with a flat top. “You told me your eyes still have that special twinkle in them. I’ll give you a leg up.” He crouched