I woke up to hear the waves crashing on the beach below.

  It had been two weeks of peace and quiet in our house on Lone Tree Ridge. We’d fallen into a nice routine, and yes, we still heard the Sleezenak drums during the day, but nothing attacked us at night.

  I’d gone back to the caves under the Mound Mountains to see how many of the Sleezenak had survived the fight. Either we’d killed them all or they had left because the place was deserted. I did notice that only that first statue of Sakata was there, drumming away, but the rest of the statues were gone. Did they get up on their own or did someone grab them? I figured I wasn’t going to solve that mystery any time soon.

  I loved mornings because that was when Khanna and I would cuddle. I patted my little bed I shared with Khanna, but it was empty. We’d killed more deer and had a variety of leather blankets now, and Holly Kroft, my favorite MILF-y anthropology professor, had woven us mats to cover the bus seats we slept on. We’d figured out how to make them comfortable, and even Billie Lynn Kidd, the bratty CrossFit queen with the boyfriend back on Earth wasn’t complaining…about that, anyway.

  She was trying to be faithful to the boyfriend—Scott, or Mike, maybe—but she was failing. We didn’t fool around every night, but I wasn’t surprised when she woke me up with kisses or more. I couldn’t blame her. K’Shaul had a strange energy that made us constantly horny.

  Billie was a little less angry but also a little sadder. It seemed to me that she was giving up on finding a way home.

  Holly was the opposite—she was confident that once we found Sector X and the Foiros Waystation, we’d discover some magical doorway that would get us home. Forces had stolen us from Earth and dropped us on K’Shaul, so there had to be other forces that could undo that process.

  I glanced over and Billie was sleeping, but both Khanna and Holly were gone. The huntress usually took the last watch, which meant Holly should still be sleeping. Where was she?

  I put a hand near the coals of the fire and still felt heat. I slid some wood onto the fire for Billie.

  Pushing through the door, I walked out onto the wooden pathway, which connected our house to the bus, where we’d built our watchtower. The bus acted as our main gate.

  Khanna was up there, wrapped in a blanket. The rest of the world was lost in fog.

  I raised a hand. “Khanna, have you seen Holly?”

  The words that left my mouth weren’t in English. Opal—my Arkadian Quantum Universal Intelligence Assistant—did the translating on the fly. My English transformed into a dialect of Arkadian, which Opal thought was thousands of years old. She was still studying the language. The Arkadians were a race of mysterious space explorers that had made any number of scientific advancements, which included an advanced understanding of the spacetime continuum. My current theory was that the Arkadians were responsible for the Ravana Storms that swept through the universe, cutting off pieces of planets and transporting them to K’Shaul, also known as the Repository. K’Shaul had dinosaurs from an alternate Earth, a spaceship, giant bugs, lizard man shamans, and old sections of highways as well as a Twankinian convenience stores.

  Because of the spaceship, I had a futuristic multitool named Betsy.

  Khanna frowned at me. “Khanna see the old slut climb down to the beach. It’s stupid. She seemed upset. Maybe we lose her. Shame, that would be, for the old slut isn’t worthless like the other one, the yellow-haired bitch.”

  “Billie is not worthless.” Thankfully, we were speaking ancient Arkadian and not English. “She’s a really good shot with the rifles.”

  “Those light sticks are worthless,” Khanna sniffed.

  She wasn’t wrong. All our guns were out of charges. That was another reason why we needed to find the Waystation.

  “I’m going after the professor. If Billie wakes up, be nice to her.”

  Khanna grimaced.

  She’d made it clear that while she loved me, she would never trust the other women I was with. I didn’t know why. I only hoped Khanna would eventually be nicer to the other women I was with. For now, I had other concerns.

  “Opal. Can you scan the beach? Is Holly there?”

  HOST COMPANION: Professor Holly Kroft is down on the beach, at the edge of this unit’s scans, to the south.

  “Thanks.”

  I’d finally gotten Opal up to 70% of her full battery. That had extended her scan function, which really helped in all kinds of ways. She still insisted she was in an error state—92% of her normal functionality—but I wasn’t sure how much that extra 8% would get me. Maybe at a 100% battery, she wouldn’t complain so much. I was also hoping for more optimizations. I was sitting pretty at 54% optimized, and already, I was faster, stronger, and more agile than your normal human, almost to the point where I could leap over tall buildings with a single bound. She’d also optimized the language center of my brain.

  I climbed down the rope ladder attached to the edge of our house. A hundred feet down, I hit the beach and walked through the fog. What was Holly thinking? We didn’t know if the beach was safe. Something had dragged off all the Sleezenak corpses that had fallen onto the beach.

  I hurried across the sands until I reached Holly, who was in her white Paraxen survival suit, barefoot, with a hooded leather cloak she’d sewn herself.

  Khanna wasn’t wrong. The professor was really good at making things. She’d woven waterproof baskets, which took a shitload of skill. And she’d learn quickly from Khanna on how to preserve meat and tan hides. We had a smoker now, on the side of our ridge, and we’d found a niche on the face of the cliff. There we created our meat locker, using stones, Twankinian cement, and planks for a door.

  Initially, clean water and food had been my main concern. Now, I had other things to worry about.

  Holly quickly wiped away her tears. “Hello, Mr. Marshall. I’m fine. You shouldn’t worry about me. I needed to be alone, and the ocean is beautiful, even with the fog.”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “If you’re fine then why are you crying?”

  She went to talk. But then started weeping again.

  I went and hugged her, and instead of resisting, she rested her head against my chest. I wasn’t going to push her to talk. We all dealt with stress differently. Holly put up a tough front, but inside, I know she struggled to make sense of what had happened to us. This wasn’t the first time I’d held her while she cried.

  “I hate relying on you,” she said finally.

  I eased her back so I could look at her face.

  “Did I hear you right? Rely on me? We rely on each other, Holly.”

  She stepped away from me as she again wiped the tears away. “But you know that’s not true. Khanna is alive because of you. If you hadn’t rescued her, the Sleezenak would’ve eaten her. You saved me and Billie time and again. No, Sid. You’re the most important person in our community. Then Khanna. Then me. I’m not used to…”

  I waited for her to finish. We stood there in silence for a long time.

  I had to chuckle. “Yeah, you’re not used to living on another world. I’m not either. I’m glad you see me as important, but come on, we’re all important in our own way. I just had to defend Billie with Khanna. Don’t make me have that same fight again.”

  Finally, the professor could laugh. “Billie is our resident sharpshooter. That is how she sees herself. Once we get the guns recharged, she’ll be happier. I know she wants to contribute.”

  “She does,” I said. “She takes second watch, which sucks. She works tirelessly. And we both know when she’s not being a brat, she can really help with morale. Every now and again, she’s our best cheerleader.”

  “That follows, since she was an actual cheerleader.” The professor paused. “All of what you are saying is true, but she still has her doubts about her role here. And she’s been sad lately, far sadder than me and my silly morning tears.”

  “What do you mean morning tears?”

  The professor didn’t answer. She didn’t have to.

  “Have you been crying every morning?” I asked.

  She nodded, looking uncomfortable and a little ashamed.

  I shook my head. “Damn, Professor. You have to tell me these things. You know keeping this shit to yourself is only hurting you. I’m sure you know some case study about therapy or whatever.”

  “I don’t want to burden you, Sid,” she said. “I want to be the strong one.”

  I looked her dead in the eye. “I can be strong for the both of us.”

  A little smile curled the side of her mouth. “You said it before…you like the challenges of this place. You like that K’Shaul forces you to focus, and you’ve found love. Am I wrong?”

  I didn’t say it, but even if we could go home, I wouldn’t leave Khanna alone on K’Shaul. Also, a part of me was curious about Opal’s primary mission. It seemed important somehow. Did we have a grand destiny on K’Shaul?

  I easily dodged the professor’s question. “I’m feeling better about our security. I would like to explore the San Submerged skyscrapers out in the ocean and see if we can find more supplies, maybe a backpack, for the trip to Sector X. Khanna and I have been working on a canoe.”

  “Would you go home if you could?” she asked.

  The professor was too smart to allow me to evade her questions for long.

  I was forced to answer. “I would make sure that you and Billie got home. But can you imagine Khanna in modern-day America? Can you see her eating at MacDonald’s? What kind of life would she have there?”

  Holly took a moment to carefully choose her words. “Maybe she would like it. Modern day America offers luxuries undreamed of by ancient peoples. You should ask her.”

  I had thought about it. But the possibility of getting home seemed unlikely.

  And she wasn’t wrong. I liked how focused I was, and I found great satisfaction in all that we’d accomplished: building a home, creating the smokehouse and the meat locker, finding more berries, finding ground nuts, though we had to be careful. Holly had a nut allergy. I’d also made some friends, kind of. Maybe Jack and Reggie, weren’t really my pals, but were allies. They were a pair of Tyrannosaurus Rexes with fungal armor, one white and one black.

  I had enough on my plate.

  Suddenly, Opal’s voice filled my skull. Power crystal detected thirty meters to the south.

  I really did love Opal’s extended scanning range. It made finding crystals a million times easier.

  “Walk with me,” I said. “Opal found a power crystal.”

  We made our way, walking along the edge of the ocean as the waves crashed.

  I was surprised when Holly grabbed my hand, and we walked, holding hands. I liked how warm she was, and thanks to the soaps and shampoos we found in the Twankinian convenience store, she smelled good.

  She was feeling insecure, that was obvious, and if holding my hand made her feel better, I was glad to do it.

  Thirty yards south of us, a red light glimmered in the water. So, the power crystal hadn’t been buried—it had been brought in by the surf.

  “Opal, do you detect other crystals farther out?”

  Negative, Sid Marshall. No other crystals detected. Extrapolating, there might be more, since the Ravana Storm brought those skyscrapers from a variation of your homeworld. More information needed. Current theory: Power crystals are a residual effect of the Ravana Storm phenomenon.

  I left Holly to wade into the surf. The water was frigid, but I soon caught the power crystal as it rolled along the sand. When my hand got close, it raced through the water and vanished.

  A message appeared in my vision:

  <<<>>>

  Inferna Energy detected! Utilizing power crystal. Charged to 72% of full.

  This unit is 28% away from optimal functionality. Please charge to 100%.

  <<<>>>

  I felt the surge of power fill my body, which was new.

  Even newer? She had a name for the energy now. “Opal, what is Inferna energy?”

  The message changed.

  <<<>>>

  Due to fluctuating energy levels, evaluation is only 78% accurate. All current data subject to change. There is a 22% chance that queries will be rejected.

  Inferna energy is a theoretical concept outlined by Arkadian research on anomalies found in the universe outside of the known spacetime continuum. Processing information. Results pending. All further queries on Inferna energy de-prioritized.

  <<<>>>

  The professor looked at me curiously. “What is she saying?”

  “Well, she has a name for the magic. She just doesn’t want to answer my questions about it, though. In other news, my queries have been de-prioritized.”

  The professor smiled and patted my hand. “Poor baby. Now you know how I feel. In some ways, with Khanna around, I feel like I’ve been de-prioritized.”

  “Never.” I had to sigh. Dealing with Opal wasn’t exactly easy, but she was an invaluable resource…as long as I found her power crystals.

  Holly and I walked and talked more, holding hands, until we found the bottom of the ladder. We climbed up to our house as smoke drifted from the chimney. With the sun rising higher in the strange patchwork sky, Khanna had left her post and had rekindled the fire. Inside our little house, the walls half complete, we found a warm home with a fire crackling.

  Billie was up, combing her hair, before braiding it. “There you lovebirds are. What have you two been doing?”

  “Love?” Khanna was slowly picking up English, and she seemed most interested in learning words about love and sex.

  “Just kidding, Khanna,” Billie said. She wrinkled her nose. “How much can Khanna understand me?”

  “More and more,” I said.

  Khanna smiled and laughed a little. “Holly watch. Holly watch us fuck.”

  “What?” Billie asked.

  The professor cleared her throat. “It’s nothing. Let’s get some berries for breakfast. We need coffee. I bet you a million dollars there is coffee out in those skyscrapers.”

  “No,” Billie said. “I want to know what Khanna meant.”

  My heart sank. We hadn’t told Billie about Holly watching Khanna and I together. It hadn’t happened again, though Khanna wondered why Holly didn’t join us during our morning sex at Privacy Rock.

  Holly swallowed hard. “Before Khanna joined us, I went looking for Sid, and I found them, in Khanna’s strip mall, and I, uh, decided to watch. I shouldn’t have. But you know what this place does to our libidos. It also has a negative effect on my judgement, it seems.”

  Billie’s mouth dropped open. “You watched them? But what about you not sleeping with students?”

  “I didn’t sleep with him. But you did. I’ve heard you and Sid in the bus at night when you think I’m sleeping. I know you’re not being faithful to Mike. Or is it Scott?”

  Suddenly all our secrets were spilling out, and both of those women were furious.

  What in the fuck was I going to do?

  Khanna wasn’t going to help any. She just sat there, smiling as Holly and Billie went at each other.

  I had to handle things on my own.

  Land of the Lust: Guns of K'Shaul), so if you can't wait, you can run on over there to keep on reading. And if you have some extra cash and like the story, I have a PayPal.