Sweet Starfire (36 page)

The jungle was safer than what waited in the alien ship. Cidra whirled to run.

“Racer!”

Stunned to hear Severance’s voice, Cidra glanced over her shoulder. There was no sign of him. The alien lifted one massive clawed foot over the edge of the jagged metal. It was coming after her. Frantically Cidra tried to peer around it.

“Severance, where are you?”

“Damn you to hell, Racer. You’re dead. This time you’ll stay dead.” The blue reptile raised the pulser it was holding, aiming it at Cidra.

The voice was coming from the mouth of the alien. Disoriented, Cidra reached out to grab a tree limb to steady herself. The creature moved closer. “Severance, if you have any control over that thing, make it stop. Don’t let it come any closer.”

“Stop talking with Cidra’s voice, damn you. Where is she? What have you done with her? You’re already dead meat, Racer. Tell me what you’ve done with her or I’ll make it slow this time.”

“No!” With a staggering sense of disorientation Cidra began to realize what must be happening. “Severance, listen to me. Can you hear me?”

“Cidra, where are you?” The six-foot reptile swung its scaled neck, searching the vegetation. The pulser didn’t wave.

“Severance, is that you holding the pulser?” She was trembling with the force of will it took to stay where she was, instead of fleeing into the jungle.

“Of course it’s me. Where are you?” The huge mouth moved as if haying trouble shaping the words, but the voice was definitely Severance’s. “Come out, Cidra. It’s all right.”

“I’m standing right in front of you. Severance, it’s another illusion trap. I must look like Racer to you, and you look like a monster to me. Please put down the pulser.” She took another step backward and found herself with her back to a thick tree.

“An illusion? It can’t be. It’s too damn real.”

But he was staring at her, the hideously unemotional gaze full of a deep, savage hunger. In spite of her analysis of the situation, Cidra was terrified. Even if she was right and the creature facing her was Severance, she might not be able to convince him of who she was before he pulled the trigger of the pulser. “It’s me, Severance. Please believe me. It’s only another illusion. Saints know we’ve seen enough of them lately.”

The creature took another ponderous step closer. “An illusion? Prove it. Take my hand, Cidra.” One of the clawed palms was extended toward her. The pulser was still aimed at her breast.

“Don’t touch me!” She was certain that what she was seeing was only a bad dream, but her instinct for self-preservation was stronger than her logic. She pressed herself tightly against me tree.

The creature that claimed to be Severance took another step forward, holding out the handlike appendage that wasn’t gripping the pulser. “Cidra, if it’s really you, prove it. Take my hand. Don’t look at me like that.”

“Stay away from me until I figure out what’s going on. We’ve got to break the illusion.”

“I’ll know it’s you if I touch you. Nothing on this planet could feel quite like you feel.”

“Please stay away from me.” She was trapped against the tree, and the creature took another pace closer. The eyes raked her. If she was wrong, she was already dead.

The reptile halted. The hand holding the pulser came up with a swift,1 sure movement, aiming at her head. Cidra closed her eyes. There was no time to run. It would be better to go like this than to have her head snapped off between those Fierce jaws. “Severance,” she whispered.

The creature triggered the pulser. Cidra waited for the withering shock, wondering what it would feel like, hoping it would be quick. There was a sharp movement in the tree beside her. She opened her eyes to see a mouthful of fangs fall past her head and land at her feet. The fangs were connected to a sinuous, mud-colored body. She stared at it in dazed astonishment. Whatever it was, it was dead. Hesitantly, she raised her eyes. The blue reptile still held the pulser, but it was no longer aimed at her.

“Come away from the tree, Cidra. You never know what’s hiding behind trees around here.” Once more a blue, handlike appendage was held out to her.

Slowly Cidra moved away from the tree, her eyes never leaving the awful mouth that spoke with Severance’s voice. “Are you sure it’s you, Severance?”

“From the way you look at me I admit that I’ve got my doubts. But I know Racer is dead. He has to be dead. A little trust is all we’ve got to work with, so we’ll take it from here.” He continued to hold out the appendage.

He was right. A little trust and some common sense was all they had to work with at the moment. Uneasily Cidra touched the leathered palm. The unhuman fingers closed around hers. She closed her eyes, waiting for disaster. Then, slowly, the universe seemed to right itself. The hand holding hers felt warm and familiar. She relaxed slightly.

“You’re right,” Severance said, sounding wearily relieved. “Whatever it is, it’s just an illusion.”

“Yes,” she agreed shakily. “But it’s so real. I’m afraid to open my eyes.”

‘Try it. As long as you’re holding my hand, you can keep telling yourself who I am. Believe me, you don’t look like Racer any longer.”

Slowly she risked a glance through slitted lashes. When she saw Severances familiar face watching her with narrow-eyed concern, she breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re back to normal,” she told him.

“Says who?” But he grinned briefly.

“What happened to you in there? I saw a strange flash behind you, and you fell backward. When I got close to see what had happened, you came toward me looking very blue and very

hungry.”

“I don’t know. I felt a sort of shock that knocked me down. I lost the quartzflash. When I got up again, you were screaming but you looked like Cord Racer. I feel all right. Do I still look okay to you?”

She nodded, afraid to let go of his hand for fear that he would turn back into a monster. “I’ve about had it with things messing around with my head.”

“I thought you were the one who was so convinced that mind link was the ultimate form of orgasm.”

She was outraged. “I never said any such thing!” “I beg your pardon. My misunderstanding.” “Harmonic mind link is a beautiful, creative, sensitive experience. It is not an… an orgasm, and it is not made up of horrible illusions.”

“How do you know? You’ve never experienced it, remember?”

“One doesn’t have to have experienced something to have an understanding of it.”

“I keep forgetting about your educational accomplishments.” Severance headed back to the gaping hole in the ship. “Yell if I start turning into a blue monster again.”

“I’m going to start yelling right now. Severance, I think we ought to get out of here.”

“I agree. I just want to see if I can find the quartzflash first, though.” He used the flame for illumination as he leaned back inside the ship and scanned the interior. “There it is. We’ll need it tonight. Stay here while I get it.”

“The last time you went inside, you came out wearing an ugly blue suit. I’m not sure I could stand it a second time around.”

He was already inside, scooping up the flash. He flicked it on one last time. “Look, Cidra. If I hold the light just right, I think I can see into that case.” He used his fist to scrub off some of the dirt. “Sweet Harmony, I think it’s a skeleton.”

Leaning through the opening of the ship, Cidra caught a glimpse of a huge skeleton mouth through the murky case cover. She shuddered. “Look at those teeth.”

Severance grinned briefly. “Definitely a carnivore.”

Cidra glanced at his own rather feral smile. “His teeth remind me of yours. Damn it, Severance, if you don’t come out of there, so help me, I’ll—” A flash of black light at the end of the case interrupted her words. Once more energy sizzled, although it seemed weaker this time. “The light! Severance, that’s what happened before!”

Severance felt the same tingling shock he had experienced earlier. Energy clawed him, not as strong this time, but enough to force him to his knees. With both hands he gripped the pulser and aimed for the source of the eerie light. He squeezed off one shot and then another before a small explosion rocked the shattered ship. He heard Cidra call his name, and then everything went still.

Slowly he got back to his feet, watching as the light flickered and died at the end of the long case. “Cidra?”

“I’m all right, Severance. So are you. What happened?”

He examined the charred metal fixture that had produced the crackling energy and the light. “Whatever it is, it’s useless now. Tough to keep machinery working on Renaissance.”

The hike through the jungle to the river’s edge was without further incident. Cidra was exceedingly grateful. When the campsite came into view, looking very much as it had when they left, she smiled with relief and headed for the tent.

“I can’t wait to change these clothes. This habit Wolves have of wearing one set of clothes all day long is bad enough, but to be stuck in the same set for three days is very annoying.” She plucked at the fastening of the oversize shirt as she walked through the silent deflector screens.

“Wait a minute, Cidra. Let me make sure nothing has decided to take up residence in the tent. The deflectors have been off for at least a full day.” Severance caught her arm.

She stopped short. “Yes, of course. Details.”

“Paying attention to details is supposed to be one way of staying alive on this planet.” He stepped around her and cautiously opened the tent, pulser in hand.

“If you ask me, sheer luck has a fair amount to do with staying alive around here.”

Satisfied with the tent search, Severance turned to give Cidra a laconic glance. “I didn’t know you believed in luck.”

“I’ve learned a lot lately.” She sauntered past him as he waved her into the tent. “What I’d really like is another bath.”

“I don’t know how you survived without your usual two hours a day in a lav.”

‘A clean body aids in the development of a harmoniously tuned mind,’” she quoted from inside the tent.

“One of your Klinian Laws?”

“A minor but important one.” She stuck her head outside the tent and smiled winningly. “Feel like fetching some water for me?”

His mouth kicked up at the corner as he took in the blatantly coaxing expression. “You’re not the only one who could use a bath. I smell like the inside of that egg-laying spaceship. I’ll rig up something.”

“You always manage to rig up something.” She ducked back inside the tent.

There were more important things to worry about first, however. Severance stepped into the skimmer and critically scanned the instruments and the in nards of the powerhouse. There was still sufficient power to recharge the deflectors. He snapped the power pack out of the pulser, replaced it, and then got the deflectors operating at full strength. When he was satisfied with the security of the campsite, he put in the call to Port Try Again. The comm set worked after a bit of relatively minor tinkering.

“Where in a renegade’s hell have you been, Severance? I’ve had ExcellEx reps yelling at me for two days. Seems they’re expecting some sensors. Where’s Overcash?” The security official sounded short-tempered and inclined to be abusive.

“Overcash became a meal. So did Racer.” “Racer? He was on a run upriver to the Masterson field camp. How did you connect with him?”

“It’s a long story. I’m requesting a skimmer and pilot to pick us up.”

“Who’s us? Oh, you’ve still got the little Harmonic with you? If Overcash and Racer wound up feeding the local wildlife, how did she make it?”

“She’s tougher than she looks. How about the skimmer?”

“Give me your coordinates. I’ll get someone out to you as soon as possible. Can you make it through another night?”

“Yeah, the deflectors are working, and we’ve got a pulser.”

“I’ll have a skimmer out to you by midday tomorrow.”

“Thanks,” Severance said, and waited for the inevitable final question. Nothing came for free on Renaissance. Or anywhere else in the Stanza Nine system for that matter.

“Who’s picking up the tab for the rescue run? ExcellEx?”

“No. Charge it to my account,” Severance said. There was a short wait while his account was pulled up from the computer. “Good enough,” the security officer said. “Your credit is still first-class. Looks like you always pay your bills.”

“Always,” Severance murmured, and switched off the comm set. He sat for a moment in the gently rocking skimmer and idly watched a pair of dracon eyes that were watching him.

Nothing came for free. There was a price on everything. How much of a price had he forced Cidra to pay in order to survive? He’d had no right to subject her to the events of the past few days. He should have taken better care of her. His job was to protect her.

Instead she had taken care of him. He remembered the comfort she had given him when he had been swimming in and out of his fever. In addition to the hazy nightmares he saw fleeting images of her gentle touch, the cooling baths, and the soft warmth of her lap as she cradled his head. She had come aboard Severance Pay as a delicate, cultivated creature accustomed to the finest manners and the most elevated of lifestyles. This morning he had awakened to find a young huntress rising from the edge of a stream to bring in the day’s meat. Because of him she had been forced to become a carnivore. That seemed unpleasantly symbolic to Severance.

She had learned other things from him too. He’d had no right to teach her about passion. But even as he berated himself, Severance knew deep in his gut that, given the chance, he would have repeated the lesson. The woman pulled too strongly at his senses and his mind. The two weeks on board Severance Pay alone with her had been sweet hell at times. He had known then that if she stayed with him on the run to
QED
, she would end up in his bunk. As long as he was anywhere near her, he would have no peace unless he knew he could possess her. He could not allow her a choice. She affected him too fiercely, made him ache with need, filled him with the desire to put a claim on her. At the same time he was aware of a violent desire to protect her. The possessiveness and the protectiveness went hand in hand, seeming natural and inevitable until the twin goals foundered on the ultimate dilemma. How could he protect her from himself?