Yule Planet

  Yule Planet

  Escape from the Holidays

  Angel Martinez

  Edited by

  Jude Dunn

  Illustrated by

  L.C. Chase

  Copyright

  This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from the authors. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  * * *

  Cover Artist: L.C. Chase

  Editor: Jude Dunn

  * * *

  First Edition

  YULE PLANET © 2018 Angel Martinez

  All Rights Reserved.

  Published in the United States of America.

  * * *

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: Yule Planet is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are fictionalized. Any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. The story contains explicit sexual content and is intended for adult readers.

  Any person depicted in the Licensed Art Material is a model and is being used solely for illustrative purposes.

  PUBLISHER

  Mischief Corner Books, LLC

  Dedication

  For mom, who would've wanted to pet the chionisaurs.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Epilogue

  Dear Reader

  You May Also Enjoy…

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  About Angel Martinez

  Also by Angel Martinez

  About Mischief Corner Books

  Chapter One

  Tired of the same old resort planets? Looking for a change that will revitalize you and reconnect you to your human roots on Old Earth? We have what you need on Yule Planet!

  Sofia stopped the holo at the spot where a camera bot swooped over the mountains, the vid revealing the resort. She'd only watched the promo vid a few dozen times, but she never tired of that beautiful, heart-squeezing shot. A cozy little village came into view as the bot cleared the last snow-covered ridge. Warm yellow light shone from old-fashioned paned windows, spilling onto cobblestone walkways. The neat fachwerk—Sofia had needed to look the word up—buildings gave the impression of shops and private residences all lined up sleepily in the wintry landscape.

  And behind the village? When she let the holo play again, her heart sped as the castle that housed the resort proper rose out of the twilight. Soaring cone-topped towers, crenellated battlement, huge courtyards, and thick stone walls, all impeccably dusted with just enough snow for perfection. Gorgeous.

  A snort came from behind her. "It's all so ridiculous. None of your ancestors even came from Earth's northern hemisphere."

  "Mami, please." Sofia rolled her eyes. "Stop it. Yule is symbolic, a shared racial memory."

  "Sure, if your many-great grandparents were some northern pagans. Don't waste your money on that tourist trap. Stay and have Midwinter with familia."

  It would be the same as it was every year—the horde of noisy cousins underfoot, Tia Lena and her wife, Gia, arguing economic politics with Papi. They weren't even on opposing sides. They just liked to argue. The uncles would drink too much. The aunts would fuss too much about why she didn't have a family of her own yet.

  She couldn't stand it again. For once, this one time, she had to get away. The idiotic middle management job, the constant harping about familial obligations, the stupid relationship disasters—all of it. Yule Planet would replace it with a brief respite of mystical wonder, with the freedom to care only about herself and her own wants. She would see the ice palace, visit the Yule Longhouse for dinner, go to the mineral baths, and commune with old gods and old beliefs in rooms festooned with holly, oak and mistletoe.

  Mystical. Yes. She'd come back wiser after a detoxification of the soul that included Old Earth methods of cleansing the body. Primitive rituals of heated stones and steam, a stranger's hands kneading her flesh, and other pure, ancient knowledge instead of sonic exfoliation and super-filtered oxygen treatments. A return to a more primal existence would clear the foul mood that had put hooks in her for months now.

  Wilderness. Planetary atmosphere. Weather. "I'm going, Mami. My final word. Besides, the deposit's nonrefundable."

  Those were the magic words. Her frugal mother shook her head and muttered about ridiculous daughters as she stomped off and left Sofia in peace. Finally. With the holovid switched over to a docutravel show about Yule Planet, she could accomplish some shopping without interference. The travel show advised having a good coat. Synclar was best for the insulation without being too bulky.

  A little pricey, but worth it. She bought one in deep purple.

  A cute but practical pair of boots, several scarves of different materials, gloves for various conditions and intervals of time outside later, she believed herself properly equipped.

  To keep Yule Planet pristine, only emergency shuttle service is available for departures and arrivals. All guests are delivered to the resort's landing pad from the orbiting station in carefully monitored solar-robotic pods. Your itinerary specialist will assist you in determining whether a single, double, or family pod is the most appropriate option for you.

  The show moved on to recommended attractions and activities, most of which she knew by heart from watching the promotional vids.

  When she turned her attention from her packing lists back to the show, they'd moved on to a gorgeous night scene, snow gleaming bone white under the planet's single moon. Figures moved along the crest of a high hill, difficult to parse until the camera swept in closer. Riders on… Sofia had no idea.

  The indigenous Naorpw people traverse the icy wilds of the planet with ease atop their chionisaurs, the name given their mounts by United System scientists. While theses tribes do trade with the Yule Planet resort systems—and you may catch a glimpse or two during a visit—they are generally wary of strangers. We suggest any photo ops with them remain long range and that you do not seek them out, as the chionisaurs are carnivorous and unpredictable. In order to preserve their culture and way of life, Yule Planet rules are also quite strict about contact with the indigenous people. Please refer to resort literature.

  What an amazing life that would be, free of company rules, of human law. Just free and wild. Sofia indulged in a moment's fantasy of herself sitting tall and proud on one of those snow lizard things. Childish woolgathering, though, like the daydreams she used to have in first-year classes about Sofia the Conqueror and her army of wereleopards. No, the indigenous whatever their name had been people could have the desolate wilds. She would be a good, conscientious visitor and leave them alone. Besides, she had more planned than she could realistically cram into her visit and would be far too busy to be an ugly offworld tourist pestering the planetary natives.

  Another week and she'd be on her way.

  "Simply sit back and enjoy the trip, Ms. Cancino. Keep your hands and arms inside the ride at all times," the flight tech at the launch station joked as he checked her harness, lowered her helmet, and clicked it in place.

  Everyone at the welcome center on the orbiting station had been so friendly, and Sofia managed a laugh for the sake of decorum. Honestly, though? Now that she faced the prospect of hurtling through vacuum in a tiny pod, s
he was nervous.

  Scared out of my mind.

  While she'd waited for her turn in the arrivals lounge, where attentive wait staff brought a constant stream of drinks and snacks, she'd watched the cameras as other resort goers climbed into the pods and launched. Other cameras showed the pods in transit, while a third set filmed the happy, laughing people disembarking planetside.

  Faux rabbit-fur boots. Synth-cashmere scarves. Dinner in the Longhouse with all the candles burning. Sauna and a massage. Maybe have time for some shopping. Oh, there's a drum circle tonight… On and on her list went, repeating all the wonderful things that waited for her on the surface as her pod slid from the airlock and out into the dark.

  Speed was difficult to judge as the blue-white half sphere in her viewport loomed larger and larger. She knew from the briefing that the planet pulled her pod into its gravity well at a horrific speed she didn't want to think about, but from up here, all was peaceful and calm.

  Thrusters and EM fields built into the pod would slow it in atmosphere and orient it correctly so it didn't land upside down. The resort had been doing this a long time. People landed in these pods every, single day. They knew what they were doing.

  Hitting atmosphere at two-hundred-six meters per second before the thrusters deploy… Two-hundred-six meters per second…

  Of all the numbers from the briefing, that one had stuck. Sofia still had no reference for how fast that really was, but she didn't need one for it to sound like an unsafe speed for falling into a gravity well. Every single day. They know what they're doing.

  Except that as sphere turned to arc and arc to horizon, gravity pressed Sofia harder and harder into her seat. The thrusters weren't kicking in. The pod wasn't slowing. Something was screaming, and she didn't have time to figure out what before her vision tunneled into black nothing.

  * * *

  When light trickled back into Sofia's awareness, she was sure she was dead. White. Unsullied, uninterrupted white, no matter where she looked, which wasn't far, since she couldn't move her head. That thought led to the discovery that she couldn't move anything, no matter how hard she tried, and that thought segued into the knowledge that she wasn't dead but buried alive.

  She'd just gathered breath for a scream of sheer terror when the white above her brightened. Then brightened again. Then a hole appeared in the unbroken white—a hole and a… mitten?

  Another mitten joined the first, followed by several more digging away the white around her. By the time she had an arm free, she'd finally figured out that the stuff holding her was impact foam. Her pod hadn't landed. It had crashed.

  She set that aside, too shaken to process it yet.

  Hands lifted her out into a blindingly bright world. She stood on shaking legs, trying to determine what was broken. At two-hundred-six meters per second, something had to be broken, right? Dark, blurred shapes moved around her. Vibrations tickled her ears in varied enough rhythms that she thought they were speech, but she couldn't make out words. Everything was muffled and strange.

  A click. Internally she called herself an idiot as someone lifted off her helmet. Both hearing and sight sharpened, though it took her a while to parse either. Hulking shapes surrounded her, milling about, and beyond those, even larger hulking shapes loomed a few yards away. Voices… speech…

  The shapes in the background resolved into huge animals, things that looked like feathered lizards.

  "Chionisaurs," she breathed out. "You're the Naorpw! Does anyone speak Common?"

  How had she gotten so far out into the wilds? Were these people savages? Would they feed her to their mounts?

  "Are we what?" one of the hooded and mittened shapes asked in perfect, growly Common.

  "You're Naorpw, the…the indigenous people!"

  Someone behind her giggled. Sofia didn't think she'd said anything funny. The figure facing her removed a set of snow goggles, blue eyes squinting at her.

  "Indigenous, my ass." That one, larger than the others, turned their back on Sofia, muttering, "Fucking tourists."

  "Then who are you people?"

  "Someone tell her to stop yelling. She's scaring the bubbies." The large figure stomped away toward the chionisaurs without a backward glance.

  The beasts were huge—bigger than commuter tramcars—something the holovids didn't properly demonstrate. Large Person went right up to one, and to Sofia's horror, petted its blue-white feathered nose. At least it appeared to be covered in feathers. Maybe it was some bizarre kind of fur. The monster nudged Large Person hard enough they had to take a step back. Sofia was certain a loss of fingers was imminent.

  "It's all right, Miss," a softer voice said at her elbow. Male? Possibly? Sofia's ears still felt stuffed with batting. "You're all right. That was quite the landing. Good thing these pods are so sturdy. Hecky? Do you have an extra coat? She's about your height."

  Another figure, tall and slender, bounced over to one of the chionisaurs, half-vanished into some sort of saddlebag, and emerged with triumphant cry. Bouncy Figure returned to the group around Sofia and, with a mad grin, handed her a roll of heavy cloth. It felt like coarse hide.

  "I have a coat in my luggage." She held the coat by its shoulders, not at all pleased with its earthy, animal smell.

  "Oh, hon." A smaller figure touched her arm, their voice sympathetic as they gestured toward the horizon. "Would that be the luggage that went on the resort's baggage transport? I'm afraid your coat's about seventy-five kilometers back that way."

  "Seventy-five—" Sofia swallowed a hysterical laugh. "But they'll come get me. Did you call them? The resort?"

  "First she thinks we're backwater yokels. Now she thinks we have long-range comm." Large growly person had returned when another person had taken over soothing the monstrous beasts. "No, we didn't call them. No way to do that out here."

  "But you'll take me there, right? Right?"

  Large person let out a disgusted sigh. "Fuck. Her volume control's busted too. Tre, she rides with you. Don't think I could manage more than five minutes before I'd be tempted to feed her to Shadow."

  Sofia turned to the person who was helping her into the smelly coat. "How long will it take to get to where I should've landed?"

  This new person, with sienna skin and a soft laugh, said, "Oops. Um, no. We're not headed to the resort. But we can't leave you out here. You'd die. You'll need to come along on this job."

  Arms wrapped around her ribs, Sofia tried to slow her shivering and her racing thoughts. "But you can't do that! It's kidnapping!"

  "Ma'am, you're the one who almost landed on top of us." That person, identifiable by a red tassel on their hood, handed Sofia mittens and goggles. "Around here, we call that salvage. Best get mounted up with Tre so you don't get left."

  Red Tassel turned her toward one of the beasts, and Sofia failed to bite back a whimper. "The pod has to have a tracker. They'll come looking for me."

  "Whatever electronics were on your poor little pod are toast, sweetie." Soft Voice was back and steered her towards the waiting monster as they tugged up her hood. "Don't worry. We're not anything as romantic or interesting as pirates or bandits. But we are on a schedule. Have you ever ridden?"

  "Ridden?" Sofia squeaked, unable to make sense of the question.

  "A horse? A pony? A Siral ox? A Velsian war cat? Though that last one's unlikely, I suppose."

  "No?"

  "Poor thing. You don't sound sure. Landing really rattled your brain case, did it?" Tre, this one had to be Tre, reached the chionisaur and tapped on its shoulder. The beast knelt in the snow, and Tre climbed up a series of knobs on its harness to reach the saddle up top. Tre reached down a hand. "Come on up, hon. Not the best shoes for it, I'll admit, but you can do it."

  The other muffled people were mounted, snow goggles back in place. The beasts lurched to their feet with little whistles and clicks from their riders, and the lead beast with large person astride began to move off.

  Terrified of being left behind in the
desolation of white, Sofia reached as far as she could and barely clutched Tre's reaching hand, fingers clumsy inside the insulated mitten. She scrabbled as much as climbed the side of the chionisaur, movements jerky and frantic enough that she nearly fell off the opposite side. Tre grabbed her by the back of the coat and dragged her upright before getting their mount moving.

  Sofia squirmed and tried to adjust, but the chionisaur's back was too broad to be comfortable, like trying to straddle a transport tube. Her thighs ached within moments, and the swaying from side to side as the chionisaur jogged along on its thick stumpy legs was making her queasy. This couldn't be sustainable for more than half an hour at a time.

  "How much longer?"

  Hard to read expressions with goggles in place and hood pulled down, but Tre managed some version of surprised. "It's a few hours yet, hon. Have to get to camp before the sun goes down."

  "Can we stop? Now?" Sofia tried again to ease her legs. The burning in her thighs brought tears to her eyes. "This is really painful."

  Tre's frown might have been concern or annoyance, but their voice remained soft. "Scooch back and hold onto my coat. Pull your feet up and sit crisscross applesauce for a few minutes."

  For two breaths, all Sofia could do was stare. "Did you… Are you talking to me like I'm a six-year-old?"

  "In this situation, hon? You are." Tre shrugged and turned back around. "Just hold on tight and don't fall off, please."

  Having to content herself with an outraged glare at Tre's back, she took a double handful of coat with an aggravated sigh and had no shame about wincing and hissing as she pulled her legs up. Cross-legged was a little better. For a while. Until her butt started to hurt. She shifted so her legs stuck out in front of her. Then shifted again so she was astride once more. No position helped for more than a few minutes.