Starkissed (7 page)

The tall grass swayed in the quickening breeze, and her eyes moved back and forth. She didn’t see any matte black against the straw-colored grass.

She made her way to the patch of flattened grass where the lifecraft had landed and turned toward the Commander. She replayed the scene in her mind and saw Steve throw it down. Slowly, she walked the general area, pushing the tall grass aside with each step.

She found the bag by tripping over it. She slung it over her shoulder and as she hurried back to the Commander, she noticed the shadows were longer and the air had definitely grown chillier.

“I found it,” she announced and let it slide to the ground. She sank to her knees and ripped it open. “Here are the protein packs—only six. They won’t last long.”

“They will keep usss alive until we find food.”

“
If
we find food. What we find may not be edible.”

“But we will eat—even if it killsss usss.”

Leith nodded and dug deeper in the bag. She pulled out a flat plastic case, as square and thick as her palm. “Steve has a rotten sense of humor. MDVs. Micro disc vids. There won’t be intelligent life on this planet for a million years, let alone electricity.”

She drew her arm back to throw it as far as she could in the sea of grass.

“No!” the Commander said sharply. “We will dessstroy it later. We mussst leave asss little trace asss posssible of ourssselvesss and our technology on thisss planet.”

They were on the verge of death, and it could come in any shape, form, or fashion at any moment, and he was worried about what local archaeologists might find a few million years from now. But he was serious. Too serious. His slitted amber eyes stared at her unblinking, and his mouth was a thin, straight slash. She lowered her arm and dropped the vid case in the bag.

“And I’ll be sure to die someplace where my bones won’t fossilize and change the course of history,” she muttered under her breath. She rummaged some more. “Great. A mess kit for two. I’m sure Steve meant to tease us, but it’ll be so much tastier boiling those toxic roots and sautéing those poisonous mushrooms and washing it down with water so full of deadly bacteria we can watch ’em swim.”

The Commander tilted his head to one side. “You are being sssarcassstic.”

“How can you tell?” Then she regretted the quip because he looked so—so naively somber. “I’m sorry, but I’ve honed my skills on Steve. He was always so easy to get, it www.samhainpublishing.com

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was embarrassing at times. But I can stop if it’s annoying you. Actually, I’m annoying myself!”

“No, I find human sssarcasssm fassscinating.”

“Don’t the Zi do sarcasm?”

“To insssult, not to amussse. Then, of courssse, the one insssulted mussst retaliate, to protect the honor of hisss
uh’mir—
hisss clan.”

“And how would he do that?”

“A duel in the desert.”

“Oh. Do you get to slap his face with your glove?”

“What,
saàloh
?”

“Nothing. An ancient Earth custom. The nineteenth century was famous for its duels at dawn.”

“Ss’h. It takesss place at
—
what do you call it? Yesss, high noon. The hottessst time of the day. It isss a tessst of endurance.”

“Is it to the death?”

“Of courssse,
saàloh.
Ssso you can sssee, sssarcasssm isss not a frequent occurrence.”

“Remind me not to insult you sarcastically.”

She pulled out a small carton next, saw what it was, and shoved it to the bottom.

Steve really did have a rotten sense of humor. Tampons.

“What isss that?”

“Nothing.” They were useful for now, but what would she do next month? With any luck, she wouldn’t survive that long. “Oh, a laserlight!”

The cylindrical tube fit snugly in her hand. She aimed it at a tuft of grass and pushed the button. Nothing. She popped off the end but it was empty.

“Isss it not crysssium powered?” he asked stiffly.

“It
was
, but Steve thoughtfully removed the battery.”

The laserlight was the most controversial use of crysium of all. A nifty little gadget, it could start a fire, dry out clothing, cut through most anything, and lead you through the darkness. A DNA detection field around the laser beam prevented one from cutting off one’s finger or foot or accidentally decapitating a loved one. The field would recognize human and numerous other species, but she didn’t know about Zi. She explained to the Commander that he had to be exceptionally careful around it.

The crysium battery would last indefinitely with daily use. As advertised, the housing would wear out before the battery. Crysium was found only on Crux, but with the sanctions against the non-allied planet, its import had been halted indefinitely. Pre-www.samhainpublishing.com

40

Lanette

Curington

sanctioned crysium was legal, and the manufacturer of the laserlight claimed their product only used legal crysium batteries. Laserlights were relatively cheap, considering how long the speck of crysium would last. Leith had one, but conscious of the controversy, refused to use it. It was—

“Stupid, stupid, stupid!” She jumped to her feet and snatched off her jacket. “How could I be so stupid? Do you realize what this
is?
A
survival
jacket. I’ve had it for three years, but never actually had to use it to survive.”

She spread the jacket, lining up. Without its protection, she shivered in the chilly breeze. She glanced at the Commander who, as usual, remained stoically silent. He watched her, but his eyes blinked slowly, sleepily. He was reptilian, after all. Didn’t reptiles slow down when the weather cooled? Didn’t they go into hibernation if it got cold enough? They’d have to find shelter and build a fire soon or she’d lose the Commander to his natural instincts.

“We’ll look at all this fun stuff later.” She pulled at several magnostrips, opening secret pockets, and examined the contents before she found what she wanted. “Here it is.

The medkit. And here’s a laserlight that works. I apologize, Commander, but this little baby will probably save our lives. Oh, good, a solar film!”

She opened the medkit and found the elastic bandage. “This will help your knee.”

The Commander nodded and blinked slowly. His eyeslits were dilated and glassy.

She shook out the solar film. Folded, it was no larger than the palm of her hand, but when undone it was large enough to wrap around two people. She doubled the silky silver material and draped it over his head and shoulders. His fingers shook as he grasped the edges together.

She pulled on her jacket and fastened the magnostrips.

The sun was sinking rapidly in the west. The west? She’d try a compass later to find out if that phrase had any meaning here. Now, she approached the Commander’s leg.

“Does it hurt now?”

“Only…when…I…move.”

“I’m going to pull up your trouser leg and wrap this bandage around it. The support should help.”

He nodded again. Slowly.

She pulled the cuff of the woolen material out of his boot and carefully pushed it up above his knee. His leg was the same tawny-umber blend, but otherwise was no different from a human leg. The calf muscles were taut and well defined.

Occasionally, her fingers brushed his scaled skin. She was surprised to find it soft like rich, expensive leather. She shivered but not from the chilling breeze.

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His knee was puffy, swollen.

“Tell me if it’s too tight. I don’t want to cut off the circulation, but I need to get it tight enough to support it.”

The bandage was, supposedly, flesh-colored—light beige. As she wound it around his knee, she wondered if Zi bandages were tawny-umber. If Zi females wore face powder, what color would it be? If their children—no, younglings had crayons, what color was Flesh in a box of one-twenty-eight?

“Is it too tight?”

“No…
saàloh.
”

She rolled the trouser leg down again, accidentally-on-purpose touching his smooth leather skin. It was all she could do to keep from running her hands along the length of his leg. She stuffed the cuff back in the top of the boot and sighed.

The sun neared the tops of the mountains in the distance. She’d taken entirely too much time bandaging his knee, rolling and unrolling his trouser leg. Another gust of wind stirred her hair and gave her goose bumps.

“We have to get you out of this wind. Is the solar film helping?”

“Yesss…”

The grassy meadow seemed to stretch forever to the “east”, but to the “west”, toward the mountains, she saw a dark stand of trees. About two kilometers, she guessed. Beneath the trees, they would be sheltered from the wind. There would be deadfall to build a fire.

The Commander turned slowly, following her gaze.

“I can…make it.”

She tucked the laserlight in a jacket pocket, threw the medkit into the flightpack, and slung it over her shoulder. She squatted beside him and adjusted the magnostrips on the film so it wouldn’t come loose. He laid his arm across her shoulders and leaned heavily on her.

For a second, before he found his balance and a comfortable position for his knee, she thought they were going to fall over again. His hands gripped her painfully, one on her shoulder, the other on her arm, and she bit her lip to keep from crying out. That strength, unleashed, could very easily crush every bone in her body.

This close to him, Leith caught a whiff of his scent. His smell, his power, his vulnerability, his color, his texture—all of it played havoc with her senses, teasing her body into a reaction that was
alien
to her and most inappropriate at that moment. Perhaps the fact that their lives were at stake was the active ingredient. Now or never, and her body was all too aware of it.

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42

Lanette

Curington

They found a rhythm, a steady gait that ate up the meters more quickly than she thought possible. Even so, the sun dipped behind the mountain peak, and she brought out the laserlight, setting it on array, to light their way.

In the distance, somewhere in the trees, an animal roared.

They both halted at the preternatural sound and waited while its echo died. Then they continued on their way. They had no choice. The stand of trees was their only hope.

The Commander was breathing heavily by the time they reached the trees. Leith’s shoulders ached from his weight, and the headache, which had diminished earlier, returned with the strain.

The night sky overhead, full of stars but as yet no moon, disappeared as they moved beneath the trees. The leaves rustled in the breeze, and the animal roared again. An answering bellow sounded, farther away.

Leith played the light left and right. Night creatures, disturbed by their movement, scent, and light, scurried through the underbrush. A night raptor swooped low over their heads and dove to the ground. Its prey squeaked once then the predator took to the air again and disappeared in the night.

The Commander stopped and leaned against a tree. By the pale array, its crooked trunk with low gnarled branches looked as if it were trying to swallow him.

“I will…ssstay here. You continue…to look for a…sssuitable sssite.”

“No. I think we should stay together. That animal, the one that roared, sounded too close.”

He shook his head and drew the film closer against the cool night air. “I will ssslow you down. I need to ressst my leg.”

“No—”

“Do it,
saàloh.
” He sank onto one of the lower branches and carefully repositioned his leg.

“What if I get lost? How will I find my way back?”

“Call to me,
saàloh.
I will anssswer.”

Not if a roaring beast has found you and made you his supper, she thought but didn’t say aloud. “What if I find my way back to you then can’t find the site again? We still might wander around all night long.”

“I have faith in you. Go. Or we will ssstand here…all night long.”

He sounded exasperated with her, and she didn’t blame him. She didn’t relish the idea of wandering through the woods in the dark alone with who knew what kind of night creatures out there waiting to pounce. She liked even less that she would have to leave www.samhainpublishing.com

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him alone with nothing to protect himself. If only the other laserlight worked. Damn Steve anyway!

“All right. I’m going.” She turned on her heel and headed in a direction at random.

Leith tried to remember landmarks, but in the pale light all of the gnarled, twisted trees looked the same. She heard a rustling to her left and moved the light, hoping to scare it—whatever
it
was—away. Two red eyes glowed from the brush, then quickly darted off.

She shuddered and called out, “Commander?”

He answered, and he was nearer than she thought he’d be. She hadn’t gone very far at all. She had to get a grip. She was safe for now. They were more afraid of her than she was of them. She had to find a campsite
now.
The Commander was depending on her.

She couldn’t let him down.

She walked farther into the darkness, pushing aside limbs, stumbling over roots. She tripped over a dead limb and fell through a thick patch of brush and thought she’d landed in a dream.

The site was picture-perfect—a small clearing with a soft carpet of moss and grass and a fallen tree to one side. She blinked and pinched herself to make sure she hadn’t hallucinated the scene out of panic-stricken hysteria.

She scrambled to her feet and pushed through the brush, the way she’d come.

“Commander! I found it.”

“Very good,
saàloh.
”

She jumped. He was only ten meters or so away, using a crooked tree limb for a crutch.

“God, you scared me. What the hell are you doing here?”

“I followed you.”

“How did you find your way? I don’t think I would have found my way back to you, and I have the light.”

“I can sssee well enough to follow
your
trail,
saàloh
,” he said with a touch of disapproval. “And I would have to be deaf not to hear your crassshing through the undergrowth.”