cosmicshifts Page 11

  Phillip wiggled his toes in the snow and felt like he was on solid ground. With the snow coming down fast, he figured he had to get out of the open. If this planet was inhabited, then someone would come to investigate what had landed. He did not want to be there and become the subject of some science experiment. Also there was no way to tell what kind of wildlife was on the planet either. There might be nothing more than a stray bird or some alien version of a goat, but there could also be predators. He could handle whatever came at him on Earth, but here was a different story. At home he could tap into the elements, and they assisted him in finding shelter, food, or other things. Sometimes they were his only companions during his long existence. Maybe he could tap into the elements on this world too. He closed his eyes and reached out his senses to feel the wind. The angry tempest howled around him and didn’t want to help him. He pushed his awareness down, below all the layers of ice and snow to the ground. Once he touched up its energy, it seemed glad to aid him because it had been neglected.

  He took in a deep breath and moved deeper down. He didn’t sense any plant life. Is this place mostly covered in ice and snow? Does it ever get green? On Earth he had traveled into Canada toward the North Pole, but even among the polar bears and the reindeer it was too barren and bleak for him. Phillip didn’t enjoy the cold and preferred the deep forests and mountains where he had many places to hide just in case someone came looking for him. Although, he didn’t have to worry about leaving any signs of his presence unless he wanted to. On this planet, he hoped the same principles applied.

  Phillip felt the rock below all the ice. It was mostly the same as it was back on his world. He asked it to show him to the nearest shelter and where there had been a disturbance somewhere on the planet if it was close. It took a moment, but the energy of the rocks rose to the surface and settled into his bones so he felt connected with the element. It was a magnetic force that rolled through his body, and he knew it would show him the way. He focused first on searching for any place where the main craft had landed, but after scouring the countryside there wasn’t anything except rising snow mounds. He ran through the snow, but in some places the drifts came up to his chest, making the trek arduous. His coat kept him warm. When he looked back to see if he had a trail behind him, the snow had collapsed around the path he had plowed through, and it had already filled in his footprints. No matter how hard and far he looked, he couldn’t find the wreckage of the main ship. As he trudged through the blizzard, Phillip found breathing was laborious. The air was thicker than what he was used to, but he muddled through it until he came to an ice-covered waterfall.

  The snow stopped for an instant, and a ray of sun slipped between the clouds. Within the silence of the storm, Phillip glanced up and saw three large suns. One was purple. Another was orange, and the third was yellow like the one he was used to. It was also the closest. A shaft hit the waterfall. Rainbows burst over the snow, refracting through the ice. Behind the frozen water he glimpsed a slim opening. He squeezed through the narrow aperture. He inhaled the air within the cave and didn’t find it stale or having the scent of an animal in it. Instead it was dry inside, and when he breathed in again he caught the faint aroma of something burning. It wasn’t wood or coal. It was something different. He sniffed again and realized it was bone. The raw material was difficult to burn, and had a distinctive smell that coal didn’t, but it kept the fire blazing hotter. He would burn any other large animal bones if he found them before he had pilfered lighter fluid from the campers he stumbled upon.

  Phillip moved deeper into the cave system. He had assumed it would be covered with moss or strange creatures ready to attack him, but there was nothing in the cavern so far that didn’t remind him of home. While on his journey with Alika, she had told him about her home planet, Rovan. It was more jungle than Earth. There were countless valleys where great herds of animals roamed and were untouched by civilization because it was forbidden. Some parts of the planet were only night and the other parts were day. And at certain points the night and the day shined as one, it just depended on where one stepped. He longed to see the plants and the skies of her world and the green pools she talked about. The only thing he wasn’t so keen about was that men were scarce so women shared their mates. Phillip wanted to keep her to himself, but first he had to find her.

  He inhaled the scent of the burning bone and stopped at a junction too narrow for him in his current seven foot five inch tall frame. In his human form, he was six feet and four inches tall, but in his current guise it was nearly impossible for him to push through some of the places within the cave. He willed himself into human form and gritted his teeth when the beast inside of him fought to take back control. He ducked through the tight space. Rock scraped against his flesh and caused him to hiss from the sudden pain. He trudged forward until he came to a place that forked five different ways. Three of the tunnels had old air coming from them. The other two both had fresh air, so he couldn’t tell where the smoke originated from. Mixed with the aroma of the smoke, he smelled a predator. It had the same gamey scent of a beast, similar to a bear, and yet there was something deeper to it he couldn’t quite place. He turned to head to the other cave that he could venture down, but the fragrance of smoke was lighter. Something tugged on his insides and told him this was the way to go. If the predator turned out to be some kind outer space polar bear he would deal with it. Besides, he had claws of his own that could slice and dice anything that came after him.

  He moved slowly through the cave as it led further into the earth. It grew a little warmer as he descended. The crystals in the walls glowed faintly blue, giving him the light to see by. He got to one flooded passage, but the scent of the hunter was stronger than it had been before. He slid into the water and expected it to be frigid, but it was tepid. There had to be a thermal shaft or geothermal spot within the cavern that brought the heat into this part of the cave. He didn’t sense any life within the pool, so he walked until the water was up to his waist. When he lost his footing his head dunked underneath the water. He broke the surface and spit out the water he had swallowed, tasting a bit of sulfur. Phillip kept swimming while searching for more light, but it was all black. His senses drove him forward until he smacked his head on the ceiling of the cave. He had to crawl through the passageway to get to the other side. Once he inhaled, he caught the scent of smoke mingled with the predator. It was a stronger smell of musk rolled in cloves.

  The hair stood up on his body as he approached a passageway that led into a bigger room. He moved slowly, keeping his claws ready in case something came at him. Phillip listened, heard nothing, so he crept forward. The cavern opened up into another room. This one reminded him of the cave he had called home on Earth. He saw another opening and instead of it being open there was a covering across it. Someone lived here. Phillip crept toward the hide, hoping that his approach was silent. The earth element grounded and guided him as he had asked, but he released it then so he could focus on the things he would find on the other side of the drape.

  Phillip pulled it back and glanced around, realizing he had stepped into the sleeping chambers of the cavern’s inhabitant. The walls were lined with the glowing blue crystals. He saw the remnants of a fire pit. He didn’t see anything in the way of technology at least that he was used to, a radio, a flashlight, or even anything metallic. Maybe this civilization was primitive and had not figured out how to fashion such things. This was where the aroma of the bones and the beast originated from. A large shape huddled underneath some hides in the corner across from the hearth. He stepped into the room, not wanting to wake whoever was sleeping. As he studied the mound, he noticed a few strands of white hair. He breathed in again and caught the metallic scent of blood. It had been cloaked by the fire. In the corner was a heap of black clothing. The person beneath the blankets was Elarna. She had rescued them from Earth and from the military that was after him and Alika.

  Now here she was being cared for by someone. Maybe Alika was
with them. He didn’t see her green form, but maybe she was also below all those furs. Please be okay. He went over to her, knelt down, and peeled back the layers of pelts on top of her.

  Elarna was sleeping. Scratches adorned her face and ran down her neck. They hadn’t been there the night before and looked already healed. She must have been wounded in the crash, but how badly was she wounded? Before Phillip could rouse her, a great whoosh of air surrounded him and then he was slammed into the wall. It took a moment for the stars to fall from his vision. Before him was a beast at least eight feet tall. It was completely white with large hands and bigger feet than him. He had an elongated snout, but he reminded Phillip of all the descriptions he had seen or heard about the abominable snowman. Phillip was aware that people called him a Yeti at times even though he was a Bigfoot. This creature was something he expected to see in the deep mountain valleys of Nepal where snow and ice covered the landscape most of the year. He had searched Earth for something that resembled him. Once he had come across a trace of another Bigfoot, but he had never met one. Here on a distance planet he had stumbled across a true Yeti.

  A space Yeti at that.

  The Yeti roared something, but Phillip didn’t understand him. He stood up slowly, hoping the creature would understand he was not a threat. He took a step toward Elarna, but the beast jumped in front of him, blocking her. Phillip wanted to say something, but all that came out was a grunt mixed with a short howl. Alika had implanted a translator into the center of his forehead so that they could understand one another. When he was in his beast form she read his thoughts. Even when she was in her second form as a large wolf, she could talk to him telepathically. He wasn’t sure if that was the case with this behemoth before him. Hell, he didn’t even know really how the translator worked or how to adjust it.

  Can you understand me? Phillip thought at the creature. He waited to see if the other understood him.

  The yeti cocked his head, but it didn’t seem that he did. Phillip sighed and searched round for something that might help him to get his point come across. He spied some kind of knife. When he reached for it, the other beast swatted at him and growled. Phillip bowed his head and held up his hands showing he submitted his dominance to the creature. He glanced up and saw the beast studying him. Phillip moved slowly and took the knife. The yeti seemed to be waiting for him to see what he was doing. He realized the yeti must have visited the crash site in order to bring Elarna back. He scratched a rough picture of the ship, a saucer shape coming down from the atmosphere and then breaking apart. He drew the smaller pod that he was in and then two shapes near the bigger ship. He pointed at Elarna, himself and then back at the ship, hoping the beast would get the idea. The yeti studied him for a while and then gestured at himself and Elarna.

  Phillip nodded, but he needed to know if this creature had seen Alika. He pointed at the second figure by the ship. The yeti shook his head and motioned to Elarna once more. He hung his head and sighed. Phillip slammed his hand down into the dirt. Pain shot up his arm as he realized he had broken something. It would dissipate when his body repaired itself. A jolt of energy raced along his arm. He looked up and no longer looked to the hairy face of the creature. Instead, he saw a dark skinned man with deep green eyes. His hair was as white as the snow outside. Phillip tried to pull his hand away, but he couldn’t.

  “I can heal your wounds,” the man before him said.

  Phillip understood him now that he was in a human or humanoid form. He nodded and took a deep breath and tried to push the Bigfoot back within his mind away. It took him a couple of moments before he had shrunk down into his man form as well.

  The yeti’s eyes widened. “How did you do that?”

  Phillip hoped he could maintain his human form. “Thank you for trying to heal me, but you don’t have to worry about it. My body will restore itself. Can you understand me?”

  “In this form yes, I can understand you. Please, how did you do that?”

  “It’s complicated. Did you find another woman with Elarna?”

  “No. As I tried to tell you before, there was only her. This other woman, she is like this one?”

  “She is my…” Phillip didn’t think wife was an appropriate word for Alika nor was she his girlfriend. “Mate.” He ended up saying. That seemed to be the best description of their relationship.

  The other nodded in comprehension. “Mate. Yes, I understand this. I did not see her, only this female in the wreckage of the great ship that fell from the sky. I searched the remains where it had broken up, but most of it was buried in the snow. I barely recovered her. Then the royal guard arrived and surrounded the ship. They’ll go through it and bring any survivors back to the compound. How do you do this, change your form? I thought I was the only one.”

  “We have to the go and find Alika. We have to go and…”

  The other held up his hands. “No. We can’t. There’s nothing we can do. The whole city will know you’re not one of us. They will know you have come from the craft. Besides, I can’t leave her. She still has injuries that I haven’t healed completely. Her wounds were grievous, and it took much of my energy to repair them.”

  It sounded like the other male was a healer, but he still wasn’t sure. Phillip gritted his teeth at the beast, pushing back against the human half. He had to keep the Bigfoot at bay for a while longer. The anger from not being able to find Alika weighed on him. He ran his fingers through his hair. She could be out in the elements, freezing to death. She could be at the mercy of the royal guard, or worse she could be dead. Phillip refused to believe that she was dead. He had to find her and this…man was his only link to her. “What’s your name? Where am I? Where did we smash onto?”

  “My name is Heragthan,” the yeti replied.

  Phillip heard the name, but it sounded as though the other man had swallowed half of it. He didn’t think he could pronounce most of it. “Hergman.” He articulated carefully.

  The other man frowned.

  “Herrrman,” he tried again.

  The other seemed to accept that. He touched his chest. “Phillip.” Then he pointed at the woman on the bed. “Her name is Elarna.”

  Herman nodded and said the name to himself very low, but it was enough that Phillip heard it. The beast within wanted back out, but he held it at bay for a little longer, remembering what Alika had told him about trying to be in sync with it. He needed more time to talk with Herman. He smiled when he thought about Herman, the Space Yeti. There would be a story to tell in this. Of course he still had to find Alika first and get off the planet. No one was going to hurt his mate.

  “Phhiilllipp.” Herman strung the sounds together, but he did better than Alika had the first time she had said his name. “Yes. How is it that I can understand you in this form when I couldn’t in the other?”

  Phillip tapped the center of his forehead. “Alika implanted a universal translator in the center of my head so I can understand her and I guess you, but it doesn’t work when I’m in my Bigfoot form. Only then I can hear her thoughts. I guess it allows me to understand you and vice versa. But I won’t be able to understand you while you’re a yeti.”

  “Y-yet-ti? What is that?” Herman asked.

  “Where I’m from, there are stories of beasts that resemble your other form; tall, white hairy monsters that live in the snow up in the mountains. Sometimes humans find large footprints and make copies of them to show the rest of the world. They even do that with me. They call me Bigfoot because of my large feet, but I’ve never come across anyone else like me.”

  “I have not heard of these h-h-uma-nns. But they are like your other form?”

  “No. They look like me as I am now. This is how I was before I was cursed. Beast by night and man by day. Live for all eternity no matter what happens to me. What about you?”

  “My people. We are beasts….” Herman screwed up his face as though he was in pain. He backed away and his dark skin was covered once again by a thick white pelt. He stoo
d up, towering above Phillip.

  It was then he felt his own body shifting back into the Bigfoot. There was no need to fight it. If Alika was with him, she would have been able to keep him from changing back. But she was not. He had to find her. He knew now that he couldn’t do that without Herman’s help. He prayed that Elarna would awaken soon so he could ask her what happened and why they had crash landed. Maybe those answers would assist him. Maybe she knew if Alika had gone to another life pod or been at the helm too. Phillip dismissed the notion that she was buried somewhere under the ice. He couldn’t fathom the idea of never being able to look upon her stunning emerald face ever again.

  Chapter Three

  Elarna opened her eyes. It took a moment for her to realize she was lying down and staring up at a stone ceiling. Blue crystals embedded in the walls and the ceiling illuminated the space so she could see. Every muscle in her body cried out in pain. When the ship had been going down, she didn’t have time to make it to the escape pod. The alarm had sounded, tugging her from sleep because the craft was on autopilot speeding them back to Rovan. Her flight path had kept her clear of space debris, asteroid belts, and far enough away from enemy planets they shouldn’t have had to worry about anything. However, something had gone wrong. She had sprinted to the controls and….

  The rest was blank from there no matter how much she tried to search her memory for it.

  Must have gotten a bad bump on the head. Thank the goddess Geru I’m alive. As she sat up, her side pained her. She placed her hand over her left side, and it seemed that one of her ribs was out of place. When she tried to turn over on her good side, her leg screamed in agony and she fell back onto the bed. Right now she wished for the healing bed in her ship or to be back on Rovan where the healers could touch a person and mend any injury someone had. So much for trying to get up and figure out where in the universe I am. Elarna took in more of her surroundings from her limited viewpoint. A fire pit with a small fire popped a few feet from her, throwing off warmth into the room. The air was cool around her exposed limbs. She examined the blankets and noticed some were hides from some large animals and some were woven fabric. She ran her hand over them and felt a mixture of fur and scales.