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    The Wasp Child
    The Wasp Child
    The Wasp Child
    Ebook107 pages1 hour

    The Wasp Child

    By Rhiannon Rasmussen

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Caught between two worlds. Wanted in neither.


    Kesh is afraid-of his classmates, his allergies, his odd sense of smell, and his prospects for the future.

    Born into Meridian Colony, where corporate values dictate human worth, Kesh longs for escape. He gets what he asks for in the worst possible way when his

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRhiannon Rasmussen
    Release dateFeb 14, 2023
    ISBN9781949936643
    The Wasp Child

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      Book preview

      The Wasp Child - Rhiannon Rasmussen

      CHAPTER ONE

      Kesh scrambled back to his feet and shielded his eyes from the glare and dust. He could barely see Rin and Saize silhouetted against the hovercraft’s hatch. Although he could pick out the corporate blue of their student uniforms, their faces were obscured by sun and the hover haze. The dust blown up by the exhaust coated his own uniform and pelted his skin, and no matter how he angled his hand, it stung his eyes.

      You can walk home, you disgusting parasite! Saize shouted down, crouched to ride out the hovercraft's shivering.

      He could walk back all hundred kilometers, sure. Kesh had been watching the dashboard from where he'd been shoved in the back, hands duct-taped together, on top of the research equipment and musty old tarps. It'd been a bumpy ride. He had a pretty good idea of how bruised up he’d be tomorrow. There'd been no point in trying to put up a fight. At least they’d taken off the duct tape before shoving him out the door.

      Kesh swallowed the dust, smiled, and waved up at them with the brightest wide-eyed expression he could manage. Okay! Meet you there, then? How far is it?

      I told you he wouldn't understand, Rin said, leaning back in the pilot's seat.

      Freak. I can't believe they just let him go to school. Saize's silhouette retreated inside as the hatch sealed shut.

      Poor naïve Kesh. Too stupid to understand he'd really been abandoned out in the rainforest to die of exposure.

      Kesh considered trying to grab the edge of the hatch as the hovercraft retreated into the air, but it was already way too high up for him to jump. They'd ditched him at last, like they'd been threatening to do every year he'd been in school. All jokes, right? That's what they told the teachers every time he or Aster tried to have something done about it.

      Mostly Aster. She'd kept trying long after Kesh had given up.

      See you later! he yelled, although there was no way they'd hear him through the sealed hatch. But the last thing they'd see was him smiling and waving.

      He hoped it haunted them.

      Kesh lowered his hand as soon as the hovercraft was out of sight, futilely dusting himself off, and then turned and walked the other way. Maybe he could find a place where no one would ever discover his body. They'd never be really sure if he was dead or not. A lurking ghost.

      The thought gave him a sick feeling in his throat—not the idea of his own death, but the idea of Aster in the classroom, waiting for news of him. Graduating, wondering if he was somehow still alive. If he had a shot at survival, he should at least try it. For her. Right?

      But there was no way he could find his way back to the colony. The least the two bullies could have done was give him a blanket, or a knife, or any kind of survival gear. He supposed he was grateful that Rin had insisted the tape be cut open before they shoved him out. His reward for being cooperative on the way over.

      Didn't it get cold out in the rainforest at night? He'd definitely heard that. There were a ton of safety precautions he'd never paid attention to for field trips he hadn't been allowed on. Deeper in the forest, it was warmer—that one he remembered. And there were edible plants. Something about how it was a big deal that humans could digest the local flora.

      The local flora was silent, oppressively so. A stiff breeze rustled the needles clustered under his sneakers. It was far from cold—a bit sticky, even.

      I'm not a freak, Kesh said. The crunch of the field needles gave way to the wetter squelch of denser rainforest groundcover. Not all of the plants were edible. Some were definitely poisonous. Maybe many of them. I'm not a parasite. I'm not that weird. I do a full rota of chores. I study. So what, my grades are bad. Who cares?

      It seemed like everyone cared. Kesh kept walking. The silence was broken by an animal call. Some kind of bug. Most of the life on the planet was bugs. They lived in swarms and didn't kick people out of their colonies to die.

      No, wait. They totally did. The whole class had just watched a video on bug life cycles. That must have been where Rin and Saize got their grand idea. What were they planning on telling the teachers and admins when they got back? That he'd fallen out of the craft?

      Aster was going to be the first one who noticed he was gone at all, when she would try to call him this evening for their normal study group.

      I didn't remember anything in biology because I didn't know I was going to be out here. I'm not even allowed out here! I thought I'd graduate, and . . . I don't know! Clean stuff? You don't need a degree to clean stuff. He made a wide hand gesture, sending the plants around him bobbing, then clapped. His voice had silenced the animals, but the clap was muted anyway, and how tiny his own voice sounded among the towering plants and crunch of his footsteps was equally depressing. Am I going to die? That's not so bad. Everyone dies, right? Everyone dies alone. That's a poem, I think. Isn't it kind of awful to make kids read something like that?

      Kesh imagined himself dead, decomposing under popped sap orbs and desiccated needles, and felt sick. No cremation, no ceremony.

      A loud crack echoed to his right. He started. The noise drove the gross image right out of his head, replacing it with the sudden terrifying conviction that he did not want to die. Not here. Not now. Not alone. And definitely not by being eaten.

      Loud noises scared away big predators, right? All he had to do was keep talking.

      Is anyone there? Kesh called into the forest. The words squeaked out in a timid voice which he immediately hated.

      Another crack. A snap. The noise came from behind one of those tall plants called a tree, after old Earth trees, even though they didn't look anything like those orderly, green poles from videogames. This tree's purple sap orbs, glisteningly ripe, curled up into a dizzying pattern that sheltered whatever moved behind it from Kesh's sight. He could investigate, but that would mean stepping closer.

      Hello? I see you. That was a lie. Kesh moved backward, tensing to run.

      A crunch, and a huge, stooping creature stepped out from the brush. Its shell was iridescent, an oily sheen that blended with the plant’s luster. With it came an odd, musky scent, sharper than the wet peat of the forest.

      Kesh felt his core untense. He waved at the big bug, but slowly, to not startle it.

      Hello! You're a sansik, aren't you? he called out.

      Sansik were the most intelligent native life on the planet. The teacher would always say that with a laugh and follow up with But now that we're here, or some other rude aside. Sansik weren't hostile, and they didn't seem to mind passive-aggressive comments from the colonists. They even visited the colony a few times a year. He'd seen them on a few of those visits. From a distance. The smell was new.

      Maybe

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