Young Writers Society

Their plan was objectively stupid. All the smart plans had been sucked out the window when Tejal smashed his wheelchair’s front axle, so duh, of course the plan was stupid, but Ellipse thought that this particular plan was the most stupid.

That could just be personal bias though, because once all the crates were shoved onto the conveyor belt, Tejal climbed onto a table, and Ellipse kneeled in front of said table, and now she had to cart him around on her shoulders. And Tejal was a lot heavier than he had been when they first met.

She tried not to hunch over as she walked, hands clutching at the excess fabric of Tejal’s pant legs in hopes of keeping him stable.

“Over there,” he said, pointing and throwing his arm out a little. Ellipse felt him sway and tried not to stiffen in reaction.

How Tejal managed to read all the gato’s cuneiform writing was beyond Ellipse, but she supposed that maybe Americans felt the same way about Chinese characters and Russian cursive.

“So you see the three vertical lines in a row?”

Ellipse murmured a confirmation, afraid to nod. Tejal was pointing at a sign a ways down the terminal, just far enough away that the curved ceiling half hid the writing.

“That’s the symbol that refers to a person or individual. Sort of like the ren one from when you explained Titan etymology to me.” He leaned forward, tilting his head to look down at Ellipse, and then pointed at a deep recess in the ground where steam rose up to the low ceiling and spread out through the station. “Mao has a lot of natural hot springs, so the specifus built a few hot baths into the place.”

“They seem like they cause a bit of mold,” Ellipse mused. She wanted to hear more about gato etymology, but she supposed history was interesting too. The station’s cement walls were grimy with splotchy blue blobs from Mao and a species of green-black Sirena beach bacteria on the spots right above the baths. It seemed a little unsanitary, and Ellipse itched to scrub everything down with a mild toxin.

Tejal pointed at another sign, this one hanging from the ceiling only a few meters up ahead. “That’s the symbol for bathrooms, that one on the end of that sign.”

Ellipse squinted. The symbol was a forty-five degree triangle with a line from the big angle to the middle of the long side. If she stretched her imagination, it looked sort of like a cat using a squat toilet. She could remember that.

“I think this is the last loop before we reach the end,” Tejal said. “Do you need to rest before we do the spiral?” He rested his arms on Ellipse’s head, and suddenly she regretted not picking up at least some rudimentary Gato. If she had, she could do the searching by herself and not have Tejal’s not-quite-bony elbow drilling into her skull.

“I am good.”

They walked (or Ellipse did) for only a few more minutes before reaching the end of Mao Station’s straight corridor. Then Ellipse turned left into the spiral and refocused on her surroundings.

The station was so old that all the interior sections had degraded into an indistinguishable crusty-cement-and-grime look. The floor curved noticeably in each step, and the walls felt too short in comparison to the width of the floor. Ellipse was not tall, and Tejal’s torso was hardly a long one, but she had to make sure not to bounce too much. Otherwise Tejal might tap the ceiling with his head. And she had to squat-walk through all the doors to the bathrooms, which looked very silly. At least Focci had stayed behind to take care of the ship and could not make fun of her.

The pair received a few odd looks as they walked the length of the spiral, mostly from gato, though Ellipse made eye contact with an earthling in a fancy silver track suit once and immediately flushed pink. The specifus paid them no mind, usually only writhing past and sparing a glance to guess how tall this very funny-looking earthling was.

The first two loops of the spiral came and went with no sign of a specifus that looked like the final Impending member, and then Ellipse needed to rest. Her legs felt heavy, and her shoulders were tight from supporting Tejal’s weight. She took her time kneeling and scooting herself up to a bench on the side of the corridor where Tejal could sit, and then the moment his weight lifted, she shot up and stretched.

“Uuggh. I hate this. Why did you break your wheelchair?” Ellipse clasped her hands together and threw her arms up.

“I was literally saving your hide,” Tejal retorted. “And you’re a third of the way through already.”

“I am just glad this station is so sparse. Searching through a garden like in Un and Nestor would be a total pain.”

Crossing his arms, Tejal shifted on the bench and squinted up at Ellipse. “It is nice that we can just sort of walk through. But don’t you think we attract too much attention with me sitting like… you know?”

“Eh.” Ellipse pulled her arms behind her back and bent forward. “We can keep the specifus team off that way at least. They cannot recognize that we are two separate earthlings.”

“I’m not as worried about the specifus as I am about the other three.” He shifted again and uncrossed his arms. Then he looked from side to side, frowning. “The tubai might still smell you under your perfume, and the earthling is pretty likely to recognize our faces.”

“That is why you are on my shoulders, you know. To be a lookout to counter the whole smell thing.” She gave one final roll of her neck and shoulders and then dropped back to the ground.

“This is so embarrassing,” Tejal grumbled, but he scooted forward and clambered onto Ellipse’s shoulders anyways.

Widening her stance, she heaved herself and Tejal up to full height, careful to keep her shoulders perfectly parallel to the ground, and then reached up to adjust the way Tejal’s excess pant legs hung. When she finally felt comfortable, she tilted her head up just slightly and grinned. “Ready to keep-

Tejal cut her off with a naughty word.

“What’s-

“Do you know the fireman’s carry?” he hissed.

Ellipse knew what it looked like to some extent. “Uhh.”

Grimacing, Tejal craned his neck and surveyed their surroundings again. The crossing between the loops and the straight corridor bustled, full of giant crates chugging along the conveyor belt that followed the spiral floor and people running back and forth through the intersection. He pointed in the direction they had just come, the motion violent.

“Day tubai! They’re headed straight for us.”

Ellipse stiffened. “Do you see the earthling? Are they the same ones from-

“I’m pretty sure. Now listen. On the count of three, I’m going to lean backwards to the left, and you’re going to lean forward. Keep hold of my right pant leg, right up where the stub cuts off.”

“Okay?!” She twitched and grasped for the fabric of Tejal’s pants.

“One. Two-

“Wait, on three or after three?” Ellipse felt more than heard her voice go shrill. Her limbs prickled, too aware of people watching her freak out.

“On three! One. Two. Three!”

Tejal fell backwards, and Ellipse’s heart punched out of her chest. She had no idea what she was doing. Or what Tejal was doing. Or even where the bounty hunters were.

Then Tejal’s arms curled around her shoulder, squeezing tight, and she heard him shout in her ear. “Tie my pant legs around your other shoulder and run!”

Ellipse took a staggering step forward, one hand feeling blindly around her back for Tejal’s other pant leg.

“Run!” he bellowed. “I’ll keep lookout and help you get me steady. But just run first!”

Fear surged through Ellipse’s legs, and she shot forward like a thoroughbred from a gate, still fumbling to tie Tejal to her shoulders. For a moment, she tried to look backwards, but a hand gripped the top of her head and forced her to face forward.

“Don’t look back,” Tejal said.

So she did not.

Ellipse thundered down the corridor. Her legs burned, and her throat scratched with every breath, and everything hurt. She could not even muster the strength to ask Tejal a question. All around her, gato and specifus and the odd other species dashed out of her way.

“We’re almost there,” Tejal whispered. She almost could not hear him over her own breathing. “Turn right at the next intersection.”

The station and its crowds were a blur in Ellipse’s mind. Vaguely, she registered someone shouting at her in Telugu and the disco-like flashes of startled hydrogen floaters, but that was it. The concrete walls existed only as grey space in her periphery.

She flung herself to the right and curved wide, nearly stepping onto the conveyor belt.

“No no,” Tejal hissed. He slapped her head lightly. “Run on the belt. They’re gaining.”

She stepped on the belt, gaze flying out ahead to track the crates further ahead and read the dock signs as they swooshed by. And before she knew what she was doing, Ellipse raced off the belt, cutting straight for the side door to the Conics’s dock.

She weaved around a posse of avians shoving small crates of yellow fruit across the floor and then pulled the brakes right as she reached the door. Then she ripped the door open and dashed inside. She wanted to collapse and fall on the ground and cry in relief, but Tejal was still hanging off her shoulders. She felt him move, felt her back muscles groan as they worked to keep her standing.

Then a metal clunk echoed through the dock and she felt Tejal jab at her stomach.

“Ow,” she hissed.

“Sit down. I want to not be attached to your back.”

Muscles screaming, she lowered herself to the floor and reached up to untie Tejal’s pant legs. He eased off of her shoulders and flopped onto the ground.

“That was an adventure,” he huffed.

Ellipse glanced over her shoulder. Her face twisted, scrunching with shame, and she tried to collect enough air to speak. “I am sorry,” she wheezed.

“It’s not your fault. Also we should probably move away from the door. I have a hunch it’s about to-

Someone banged on the door, and Ellipse almost thought her skin was going to peel off and run away from her. If only these stupid bounty hunters would just fly into a sun or something.

“Scoot,” Tejal said, poking her again.

She scooted, and Tejal rolled after her like a kid down a hill. The banging continued, the rhythm unsteady, which honestly was the worst part. Even the metallic clang was not so bad after ten bangs.

“I’m serious though,” Tejal continued. “It’s not your fault. Besides, I think Focci and I can figure out a good way to test the generator without Ami’s help. It just might cost a little more long run.”

Ellipse pursed her lips. Maybe this Impending crew search was not her best option for helping the boys. She lifted her watch hand and stared at the black screen for a moment, then looked back at Tejal, and then at the Conics’s loading ramp, where Focci was poking his head out, drawn from the ship by the bounty hunters banging on their door.

She had already agreed to help them test the generators by sending messages with her watch. If she sent the right messages, then maybe she could kill two birds with one stone.