I Rise into a Daybreak

By Kate MacLeod

When a cosmic monstrosity swallowed the Earth, the survivors fled to hide among the stars. The scars on Kara's mind linger from infancy to adolescence. The monster follows them wherever they go. Kara knows this whatever the others say.

Then Kara and her family crash land near an empty mining town on an abandoned world. The pilot utters not a word, lost speechless in a terror Kara knows all too well.

No functional pilot? No escape. And something lurks in the rainy fog, watching them.

"I Rise into a Daybreak", a sci-fi horror novella where rite de passage meets cosmic terror.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ratatoskr Press
• Release date: Sep 26, 2017
• ISBN: 9781946552488

Kate MacLeod

Dr. Kate MacLeod is an innovative inclusive educator, researcher, and author. She began her career as a high school special education teacher in New York City and now works as faculty in the college of education at the University of Maine Farmington and as an education consultant with Inclusive Schooling. She has spent 15 years studying inclusive practices and supporting school leaders and educators to feel prepared and inspired to include all learners.

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I Rise into a Daybreak

I RISE INTO A DAYBREAK

KATE MACLEOD

Ratatoskr Press

CONTENTS

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I Rise into a Daybreak

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I RISE INTO A DAYBREAK

Iawoke midscream, but there was nothing unusual about that. The scream died but the sound of my panicked breathing was loud in my ears. I could feel that breath reflecting back on my own face, a warm, moist fog almost welcome in the cold air. My eyes were open wide but there was nothing to see but darkness.

Darkness, and the images my mind was always capable of conjuring to fill the darkness. Writhing forms of twisting tentacles like fractals, my mind could zoom in but every closer view was more and more tentacles, every curling tentacle spawning dozens more similarly curling tentacles. They gleamed in the darkness like metal reflecting sunlight, but not with the bright flare that would reveal the source of the light. And my mind kept zooming in through layers and layers, never-ending layers.

I bit back a sob and threw up my hands. My knuckles barked roughly against something centimeters from my face, the thing my breath was reflecting off of. I pressed my palms to the surface, a soft, oily foam they sunk into but only slowly. I was in a small space, a space filled with the smell of my own fright-sweat, a sweat so much more acrid than the cleaner smell of work sweat after a day operating the heavy farm machinery.

Farm. Colony. Where was I?

I bit down on the tip of my tongue until I tasted the metallic tang of blood. Just a bit, but the coppery zing was enough to make the visions stop. Or abate; they never went entirely away. My darkness always had a snaky pattern to it, a screen saver waiting for me to lapse back into it.

The foam around my hands pulled away and there was a rush of even colder air sucking the sweat smell away from me but leaving my skin goose-bumped and shivering. Then there was a light, also cold but too bright, and I turned my face away, covering my eyes. The tentacles wanted to rush back, but I couldn't bear to open my eyes to that light again. Too much.

Kara.

That voice. That tone, never cajoling, always more reminding me that what the voice wanted me to do was what I really wanted to do too. I took a deep breath and let my hands drop from my face.

What's happening? I asked. This doesn't feel right. I thought we'd wake up in a bed, not still in the pod. The harsh light dazzled my eyes but I could just make out my aunt standing over me, one daughter on each hip. The girls were too big to be held that way both at once, but Lauren's work-hardened arms could take it. The twins' legs were wrapped around her waist, entwined together like an elaborate belt. I couldn't see their faces, buried as they were against their mother's neck.

Something's wrong, Lauren said. Her voice was calm despite the growing noise around them, a low whistle. The world bumped and shook then fell still again. We're on a shuttle. I need you and Michel to watch the twins.

I blinked then sat up so that the light overhead was no longer shining directly into my eyes. We were in the cargo hold of a smallish shuttle filled with cryopods. My brother Michel was already sitting up in his pod next to mine, rubbing at his eyes then reaching out for cousin Sarah, who readily left her mother to snuggle in his arms.

I saw the open pod that Lauren had emerged from, and the other two Sarah and Billie had been in, plus one more.

Where's mom?

Aft, Lauren said, lifting Billie away from her side to hand her to me. She was more reluctant to go than her sister had been. I sat up straighter and tried to be more inviting to the five-year-old.

Can't we go too? I asked as Billie at last released her mother and turned her panicked grip onto me. Her sweaty hands grasped a few hairs from the nape of my neck as they clutched fistfuls of my medical gown.

Stay here in your pods, Lauren said to both Michel and me, raising her voice as the whistling outside grew in intensity. The shuttle shook again, harder than before. We seem to be entering atmosphere. The pod walls will keep you safe if it gets bumpier.

How long does it take to land? Michel asked as he reached for the lid of his pod to pull it closed.

Hard to say without knowing the flight plan, Lauren said. Just stay here until I come back for you.

She turned to make her way between the two pairs of now-empty cryopods, not releasing her grip on one handhold until her other hand was secure on the next. It looked like excessive care given the hurry on her face but then the shuttle suddenly plummeted like a child's dropped toy. Michel pulled his lid shut with a snap but I didn't even have a hold of mine. I grasped the edges of the pod, holding on as the world fell away beneath me. Billie shrieked into my ear, clutching me tighter still until at last there was a hard jerk and the falling ended.

Did we crash? I asked. But no, we were still moving through the atmosphere, the whistling sound louder than ever.

Get in the pod! Lauren said then went out the hatch to the aft part of the shuttle. I hastily grasped the lid to my pod and slid down beside the trembling Billie, pulling it shut over both of us. Trapping us together in the darkness.

Billie's breath was loud in the small space.

Where's Daddy? she asked. They promised Daddy would be here.

We'll find out soon enough, I said, awkwardly stroking my cousin's hair. Once we're on the ground we'll know what's going on.

Is this what happened before? Billie asked, her voice barely more than a whisper, her mouth so close to my ear I could feel her lips brushing against its contours.

What do you mean? I asked.

Before, when you were little. Why you have nightmares, she said, so low she was scarcely speaking. I didn't answer, just hugged her a little tighter.

I didn't know. For me it felt like it was happening all the time. If it were real again, how would I really know?

The snaky tentacles were closing around me again now that I was back in the darkness. I bit my lip hard to keep from whimpering.

Then there was a soft glow of pinkish light. I looked down to see a small object shaped like a waterlily cupped in Billie's hands. It glowed from within, not brightly but enough to fill the space between us.

My daddy gave this to me, she whispered. And Sarah got a rose one. So we wouldn't be afraid in the dark. I wasn't afraid before, I was asleep before I was even in the pod and I never even got to turn it on. It makes me less scared now. Does it make you less scared?

It's nice, I said, touching one plastic petal. It was warm and ever so slightly damp from being clutched in Billie's hand. But it didn't chase the shadows out of my mind.

I wish Sarah was here, Billie said, so softly I doubted she even knew she was speaking out loud. The foam around us eased most of the jostling as the atmosphere pounded on the shuttle's hull but it did little against the long free-falling plunges