Page 9 of My Tiny Giant
Tragul was a stunningly beautiful world, with red-sand beaches, blue skies, orange rivers, and an ocean the color of jungle green. With its mild climate and few predators, the country of Ravie could’ve been a gorgeous interplanetary tourist destination, had it not been for the war raging here for the past twenty-three years.
I checked my monitor.
“No, no hostile elements currently detected within the radius of my system.”
“Good. It’s a handy piece of equipment you have there.” Agan slid an appreciative gaze along my suit, then glanced over my shoulder to where he’d broken off the wing. “Too bad that as any technology, this one also has its annoying limitations.”
I fought down the flare of irritation his words had brought. I loved my suit; it was more than just a weapon or a piece of equipment. My fondness for it was similar to how I’d felt about my very first car—even more so, as the suit had saved my life on more than one occasion. It’d helped save Agan’s life too, just a little while ago.
Once again, I chose not to argue. As irritating as it felt, I had to spend the entire night in the jungle with this man. There was no need to create any further animosity between us.
I gritted my teeth inside my helmet and pressed on, hacking my way through the bush with one of my blades.
After another couple of hours of trudging through the thick jungle, fatigue set in. Despite being aided by the power of the exoskeleton, my muscles ached, and my mind was clouding with exhaustion.
By the way Agan’s shoulders slumped, I guessed he must be getting tired, too.
“Any fescods or yirzi on the horizon?” he asked once again.
“No,” I confirmed, after checking the monitor. “We can stop here for the night.”
Exhaustion weighed down on me. I could literally drop and sleep where I stood.
Agan visually inspected the surrounding area.
“It’s not safe here.”
“No place is completely safe on this planet,” I snapped, too tired to continue being perfectly diplomatic.
“Well, this is the only planet we Ravils have.” His tone turned zesty, too. “I’ll be damned if I let a bunch of blobs with no brains inside their bodies drive me off it.”
That was why we all were here in the first place. After kicking fescods off Neron, Voranians, a more technologically advanced nation than Ravils, had been actively supporting Ravils’ resistance to fescods on Tragul.
The first contact between Voranians and humans was made a dozen years ago. Over two years ago, the first agreement between our races was signed, allowing for interplanetary marriages between Voranians and humans. Due to the low number of females born in Voran, their government had invited women from Earth to marry Voranian men. Just a year after that, a military alliance between our species was born.
My unit was the first interplanetary force from Earth to take part in the peacekeeping efforts on Tragul. I’d been excited and honored to be a part of it. After having learned everything I could about Ravils and their decades-long struggle, I welcomed the chance to help and hopefully make a difference.
For nearly eleven months now, I’d fought side by side with many Ravils. The bold, reckless courage they all shared was a common characteristic of their race, along with the blazing self-confidence. Agan appeared to have gotten a lion’s share of both.
Stubbornness, however, must be his own thing.
“I’m not sleeping this close to the trees,” he insisted. “We need to get here,” he pointed at a spot on his paper map he’d taken out again. “There is a decent size clearing right here, by this creek.”
“Fine.” I gave up and headed in the direction he pointed out, mumbling, “Whatever makes you more comfortable, your highness .”
Both yirzi and fescods could attack anywhere, either in the jungle or by the creek. But since sleeping under the trees gave Agan the creeps, we needed to keep going.
After another twenty minutes of marching through the jungle, he finally stopped.
“Here.” He surveyed the clearing next to the pale-orange creek rushing nearby. “I’ll secure the perimeter.”
He unclipped a few round sensors from his belt, then started attaching them to the trunks of the trees around the clearing.
I checked my monitoring system, not spotting anything alarming.
“Looks good.” I plodded to the middle of the clearing, selecting a spot for my sleeping pod. I dragged my feet from exhaustion. Even the boots of my suit seemed much heavier than normal.
“I’ll have to put one of these on the other side.” Adan sauntered to the creek, holding the last sensor in his hand.