Far Space (31 page)

A halu’o, shark, if ever a human was worthy of the title, Jennifer thought.

“Soosuri, Tom,” Jennifer said calmly. “They call themselves Soosuri and I would prefer if you would have the courtesy to do the same.”

“Prefer?” Tom snorted. “I don’t really care what you or the little squidysushi-things call themselves.”

Jennifer should have realized the physical appearance of the Soosuri would inevitably lead to the nickname. Tom had immediately started using the slang term after seeing the creatures for himself.

Jennifer glared at Tom, irritated both by the complete collapse of any professional demeanor since they had been stranded and the leer on his face. Trying to ignore him, Jennifer turned to the task of checking the rebreather in the pack at her side. “You’re impossible, you know that, Tom?”

“Sure,” MacGregor said. “I just want to know if they finally suggested a way to get off this rock.”

Looking up, ready to sling a retort his way, Jennifer caught his gaze lingering on her body and felt her heart rise into her throat. She clenched her jaws and forced herself to maintain a stern expression of disgust on her face. Show no fear, she thought. Even the Soosuri had the same advice when facing
predators. True on the tasi, true on tano’ – what works in the ocean will hopefully work on the land.

MacGregor’s hungry eyes left Jennifer’s face and roved up and down her body, lingering on the sleeveless bodysuit clinging to her chest, still wet from her time in the water with the Soosuri.

Jennifer stood, hands on hips, and said, “No, Tom, they did not.” She let her eyes rove over his rumpled body suit, keeping her eyes locked on his crotch for a moment before meeting his eyes again. “If they had, you can be sure I would have shoved you aboard the first available ship and launched the thing myself.”

Tom’s cheeks reddened. He took a step forward and grabbed her arm. “What’d you do, spend the whole worthless day learning to say ‘pain-in-the-ass’?”

With reflexes honed by years of tae-kwon-do training, Jennifer drove the palm of her hand into Tom’s chest while twisting her other arm free. Before Tom could stagger back even a single step, Jennifer swept his feet out from under him with her left foot, causing him to fall flat on his back. She pinned the larger man to the ground with the heel of her right foot pressing against his windpipe.

“Touch me again and I’ll teach you the word for ‘asphyxiation’,” Jennifer said.

“What’s this?”

Jennifer did not look up at Rider Thuros’ question. She pressed harder against Tom’s throat then stepped back out of his reach. “Just discussing linguistics, Thuros.”

Tom stood up, his smoldering gaze never leaving Jennifer’s face. Rubbing his throat, he said, “Watch yourself around this one, Rider.”

Jennifer snorted and pointedly turned her back on MacGregor; an attempt to show she did not consider him a serious threat and also dismissing him with one movement. She heard Tom stomp off. Still, she did not relax, worried a slight slump in her shoulders or a drop of her head even a millimeter would be taken as a sign of weakness and offer Tom an incentive to re-engage in his verbal assault.

“Well, that’s odd,” Thuros muttered.

Turning, Jennifer took in the stocky geologist. She smiled and wondered how a man as smart as Rider could be so completely clueless when it came to dealing with people. Jennifer stepped over to him and squeezed his arm.

“I don’t know why he’s so upset with you,” Thuros was saying. “If it’s anybody’s fault we’re stuck here, it was Captain Merck, and there isn’t much point in arguing with a dead man.” He sighed. “Anyway, Tom will be all right once he cools off a bit.”

Jennifer looked beyond Thuros to where Tom was speaking in low tones with Quade Pierce near the back of the cavern. Yeah, right, she said to herself.

By way of changing the topic, Thuros held up a data pad. “You won’t believe what I found in the south tunnel!” He launched into a one-sided discussion about sedimentation patterns, crystalline structures, and ore potentials. After a cursory look at the information on the data pad, Jennifer bent to gather her equipment.

Thuros, happy to have a willing ear, did not notice as Jennifer retreated into her own musings as she peeled off the rest of the dive suit. The body suit she wore under the wetsuit was skin tight and unfortunately, the only piece of clothing she had available to wear when outside of the water. It would dry out quickly enough and, as it covered her legs down to her ankles, was reasonably warm in the constant environment of the cave.

The suit also left nothing to the imagination. She thought back to MacGregor’s hungry look and wondered if the rules and restraints of civilization were so superficial they could fade after only a matter of days. Of course, the man seemed to be on the edge of restraint as it was. What would it really take for him to simply cross over the final line? Would Tom’s next move be more than simply grabbing her arm?

The thought of one of her colleagues attacking her gave Jennifer pause. Here was something which had never seriously concerned her. Jennifer had not been worried about her personal safety back on Earth in the cities where she had lived. Even during the difficult and dark days following the initial enemy attack when panic had taken over. Now, stranded on a distant world, her own crew mates were more threatening than the alien creatures she spent her days trying to understand.

“Well, I just hope you can find some time to come see these mineral veins for yourself,” Thuros said, holding a picture of a glittering rock wall up for Jennifer to examine.

Snapping out of her disturbing inner thoughts, Jennifer turned her attention to the images on the data pad. “Of course, Rider, I’d love to see them. But, I’m really tired…”

“Of course!” Thuros said. “I didn’t mean right now! You’ve had a full day getting to know these fascinating creatures a little better.” He leaned in close and whispered, “I just wish our real linguist showed as much enthusiasm as you.” He raised his eyebrows and tilted his head away from the pool where Tom and Quade were still deep in an animated, if muted, discussion.

“Me too, Rider,” Jennifer said. “I could use the help.”

“You’re doing fine,” Thuros said, squeezing her arm. “Just keep it up.” He turned and hurried back to the corner of the cave where he had set up shop. The area was littered with rock samples and the few tools he had managed to salvage.

Jennifer looked at her corner of the camp. Her pitifully few possessions; the wet suit, her back-pack with its rebreather, her dive vest, full face mask, and a few all-environment data pads were all she had to work with. The data pads were her office. Without their translation and communications capabilities, talking to the Soo would be nearly impossible.

So, here she was, trapped on a world humans were not meant to survive on with people she did not trust. With all the military personnel dead, leadership had fallen to the senior researcher. Jennifer glanced over at the makeshift table Kalvin Mason had constructed. As usual, he sat there hunched over his own data pads, lost in the abstract world of assumptions and what few facts they had gathered about the Soosuri from Jennifer’s interactions and from what had been retrieved from the ship captured in Earth space. Mason had little leadership experience outside of an academic environment. The adverse conditions and isolation forced upon the small group eroded his influence over the others, especially Tom and Quade, from the moment their spacecraft had disappeared beneath the waves.

Kalil Mahir, the youngest of the survivors, had gravitated toward and eventually fallen under the sway of MacGregor’s strong personality. The
electronic specialist had been able to wire up their generator to provide the power needed to run the meager leftovers they had been able to bring below-ground. He had also been able to help Jennifer set up a pretty effective speaker and mike system, tuned to work while she was underwater, allowing her data pad to act as a translator device once there was enough vocabulary and syntax from the Soosuri.

Jennifer dropped down on to the raised ledge which doubled as her bed. It was covered with a thin padded mat from one of the packing containers. Rubbing her bare arms, she wished for the thousandth time, their supplies, inadequate as they were, had included at least one change of clothes.

Laying out her gear so it would dry a little before she put it on again tomorrow morning, Jennifer paused. Holding the helmet in her hands, she stared into the reflection on the face plate. She tried to imagine a plausible future which did not include spending the rest of her life on this Soosuri world and fell short. Sighing, she put the helmet aside pulled her dive vest toward her. As she made a show of checking the contents of its many pockets, she chanced a sidelong glance toward where Tom was pacing, still speaking to Quade in low angry tones, the words indecipherable across the cavern.

Quade was leaning quietly against a stack of packing containers. He was staring directly at her.

Jennifer quelled a shudder and paused at the sight of the dive knife snuggled in its sheath attached to the front of the equipment vest. She wondered if she would be forced to use the nano-blade on someone instead of the intended purpose of freeing the user from snags encountered underwater. She pulled the blue steel blade from its sheath and wondered how much more desperate her situation would become before she was forced to make a decision: flee her fellow humans for her own safety or take action to ensure her own protection.

Jennifer shrugged the vest onto her shoulders, ensuring the self-adhering snaps on the front were clasped. It didn’t cover everything, but at least the vest offered more cover than the body suit even if it was still damp and cold. The extra layer of clothing made her feel less conspicuous and also offered the reassurance of the large dive knife tucked into its slot over her heart. She also patted the pouch holding her multi-tool which offered several smaller blades.
Thinking back to Quade’s gaze a moment ago and Tom’s physical attack, she resolved never to go anywhere without one implement or the other.

Shaking her head, Jennifer had to let out a small laugh at this thought. At another time on another world, she would be happy a skin tight outfit drew attention to her. She had known from an early age the sight of a woman’s body did odd things to men. It drove them nuts and even made them a little stupid. Unfortunately, this was not a beach excursion and the open looks she was getting from Tom MacGregor and Quade Pierce were not at all innocent.

A soft splash in the nearby pool caught Jennifer’s attention. She looked and saw a pair of large pale blue eyes with split irises like inverted v’s looking back at her. From the body markings on the part of the smooth head poking above the surface, Jennifer recognized it as the female Soosuri she had been spending so much of her time with lately. Jennifer had dubbed her Sue, after her short name for the Soosuri, Soo, and because Sue sounded a lot like the name she used when referring to herself. Sue was the closest thing to a friend the lone human female had at the moment.

Had Sue witnessed the earlier exchange? What could she be thinking of these odd creatures who had arrived so unexpectedly in their midst? Jennifer had tried to explain their situation and, even without Tom’s promptings, had tried to find out if the Soo could help them off the planet or even all the way home. Unfortunately, these Soosuri appeared to have no access to any space-faring technology or any other technology of any kind.

If the data from the Soosuri ship had been interpreted correctly, this planet was filled with renegade Soosuri who were considered dangerous enough to place the planet on a quarantine list in Six’s nav database. Those who had sent Jennifer and her team had hoped this group might be able to form some sort of alliance against the ruling class which it was assumed had directed the attack on Earth more than a year ago. So far, Jennifer had seen no signs these particular Soosuri were dangerous or even equipped to pose a threat to other Soosuri elsewhere in the galaxy. What then was the purpose of the navigation quarantine marker? The mystery of this Soosuri group’s isolation had taken hold of Jennifer’s imagination, but so far she had been unable to get their side
of the story. Either she was phrasing the abstract question improperly or she was misinterpreting the answers.

Sue continued to stare at Jennifer.

Jennifer gave a small wave and managed a wan smile.

The Soo responded with a good imitation of the wave using one her tentacles ending in an articulated three-fingered ‘hand’. Sue wore a gold band around one of her fingers. The Soo called the ring an aniyu. Jennifer understood it had some religious significance but Sue had yet to expand much on the topic. Sue then disappeared below the dark surface of the pool, leaving only a few ripples.

I’ll have to bring up the ring tomorrow, Jennifer thought.

Jennifer stared at the dark pool for a moment, suddenly jealous of Sue’s freedom under the water. If her rebreather could carry enough filter charge, she could simply stay with Sue in the series of submerged caverns Sue and her family group occupied. At least there, she would not have to worry about falling prey to her own kind after she fell asleep. “Bunk mates with an alien,” she said softly, adding a quiet chuckle. “That’d be something for the trip report.”

Not wanting to talk to any of the other team members, Jennifer busied herself sorting the information she had gathered over the past few days on her data pads. The computer translation program was smart enough to incorporate all the new words she had picked up but she still needed to be sure the context was correct by verifying the program’s interpretations. Finishing more than an hour later, she tapped the transmit icon, sending the latest updates over the local wireless net Kalil had established. The others seemed content to let Jennifer be the only active link between the humans and the Soo. Mason used the translation device every now and again to try and talk to the Soo who would occasionally gather in the pool, but he rarely ventured far into the watery caverns beyond the camp. Kalil was simply more comfortable with his computers as Rider was comfortable with his rocks and dry tunnel explorations. Tom and Quade wandered some of the same tunnels as the geologists, searching for evidence of technology but they had turned so xenophobic they seemed hardly able to even look at one of the Soo. They certainly had no desire to spend any time in the water.