Truehearts & The Escape From Pirate Moon by Jake Macklem (ebook audio reader TXT) 📕

take weeks, if not months, of stretching for it to be properly limber. But it will do. Ace finished her routine and stared up at the sky. A bead of sweat dripped into her eye and she grimaced as she blinked the sting away. Too much sweat for one set. The bright green planet lit the red grass plain with a yellow glow that hovered over the ground. Taking deep breaths, she basked in the feeling of sweat evaporating off her body in the warm breeze. I feel good. I did need those two days.

Ace had tried to sleep the last night, but excitement and Cam’s snoring drove her from the hut, down to the edge of the wood and the cooler air of the river. Today was the start of their journey. They had nineteen days to make it to the pickup spot and get off this moon. Picking up her canteen, she took a drink of water then poured the rest of the contents over her head. She pulled her hair forward as the water washed over, making sure no debris had collected. She had already cut out the mats and shaved the sides of her head; she was not going to cut any more of her hair off if she did not have to.

Flipping her hair back, she wiped the water from her eyes. Her smile quickly faded. She yanked her boots on, wrapped her skirt on, pushed her arms through the sleeves of the top, and sprinted towards the hut, pulling her shirt on as she ran. The distance that took her fifteen minutes to hike weeks ago, she ran in three now. She pushed the door and slid inside.

Cam sat up, pistol in hand, aiming at the door. His eyes were puffy with sleep. “What in the blazes, woman!”

Ace quickly cut him off. “Hurry up!” She motioned him to follow. “You’ve got to see this.”

Together they sat at the edge of the woods, behind the cover of the trees. Cam held the binoculars to his face. She had never seen analog binoculars, but he did not seem interested in sharing. Still, just looking over the field she could see plenty.

The ground trembled under the footfalls of the trudging beasts. Thick red-brown fur draped off their bulk in curly tangles. They walked on three legs and had a tentacle-like appendage protruding from their chests—or what Ace thought was the chest. The grasping extremity scooped up clumps of the grass, tucking the bundles into mouths lower on their torsos. They stood somewhere between four and five meters tall, and there were hundreds of them. Even at this distance, she could hear the noises they made—air squirting out of a balloon in a deep bass tone.

Never seen anything like it. “So, what do you think? Cosmic, huh?”

Cam lowered his binoculars, scowling toward the creatures. “I’m not sure how these things fit in this tiny ecosystem? Is it more complex than I thought? Maybe a lot bigger. Herd is moving west. That’s the same direction we want to go.”

“Wasn’t there a group of humans that followed around an animal and hunted it or something like that?” Ace asked.

“Some of the original inhabitants of the American continents. They lived in harmony with the environment and traveled with an animal called buffalo,” Cam answered.

He knows so much useless shit. “So, are we going to travel with the herd?”

“That’s not a good idea.” Cam looked at Ace. “We don’t know what kind of predators come out when those things go marching. I don’t think it’s safe. We’ll travel out toward your ship and cut across there. Won’t take long, but should keep distance between us and those things.” He used his thumb and motioned to the three-legged beasts.

“I can’t believe how hairy they are. How do they survive the heat?”

Nodding, Cam said, “They probably don’t. I would say they come from a very cold region.” Where could anything be cold on a moon that’s heated to a hundred and twenty degrees every day?

“What are they doing here?” Ace asked.

“If I had to hazard a guess, annual migration maybe?” Cam looked up into the sky and cocked his head. “Huh.” He lifted the binoculars. “That’s an anvil.”

Ace looked up in the sky. “All I see are puffy clouds.”

Cam stood up and pointed. “See the one that goes up into the sky and then flattens out on top?

“Yeah.” Ace saw the cloud.

“What does it look like?” Cam asked.

“Oh, an anvil. So, what does that mean?” Ace wondered.

“Thunderstorm.”

She stared at the pile of trees. She had lain on death’s door here for almost four months. Now she was leaving and, according to Shaw, the whole thing was going to be washed away. Like it never happened. She tightened her grip on her spear. I’ll know it happened.

“What do you say, Red. Ready to get goin’?”

“Shank… I mean… Yeah. I’m ready. Let’s get the hell outta here.” Ace gave a cocky smile. Cam just shook his head and walked away. “What? Seriously? Hell is a swear word? I didn’t know that.” She saw him shake his head again. “It doesn’t count,” she said to his retreating back. “Cowboy!”

They traveled for a few hours before the clouds rolled in overhead, and with them, the winds. The clouds hung so low it looked like you could reach out and touch them. The humidity in the air was clinging and refused to let the pouring beads of perspiration cool her down. Ace followed Cam’s path through the tall grass. She had watched the horizon in the beginning, until her eye hurt from constantly focusing on the different distances. She watched the ground now.

Kaboom! Ace jumped and felt her heart pounding. The thunder was very loud and vibrated the ground. The flashing light rippled through the clouds and reminded Ace of the green