The Mandala Maneuver (5 page)

He reached for her boot, and she lifted a hand. “I’ll get it.” No way she was going to let the Zhore play a reverse Prince Charming and yank her shoes off her feet.

Good thing the sun had already begun to go down behind the hills and they were in shadow, or there was no way Lirzhan could have missed the flush that went over her face in that moment. She bent her head and unzipped the offending boot, then rolled down the thigh-high stocking she wore.

To her relief, he did not appear particularly enthralled by these actions, and in fact had busied himself with getting out the LED lanterns from the emergency kit while she was baring her foot and leg. Now that he had sufficient lighting to work with, he turned back to her.

“May I?” he asked, gesturing toward her heel.

Well, no point in stopping now
, she thought, but she only nodded.

His gloved fingers touched her foot. For some reason she had thought they would be cold, but she could feel the warmth of the flesh beneath the black — well, it couldn’t be real leather, not if the Zhore were vegetarians, but the material was remarkably similar. He turned her ankle slightly so as to cast more light on it, and she could see then that the blister in question had in fact popped, and was now an angry red, the moisture beneath the broken skin gleaming in the blue-white light of the LED lamp.

“Ah,” was all he said before he reached for the antiseptic wipes.

She let out a hiss as the sharp disinfectant touched the raw wound.

“Am I hurting you?”

“Well, it hurts, but it’s not your fault. It’s fine.”

He nodded, and swiped a second antiseptic patch over the blister before taking out a bandage and applying it to her skin. While he worked, Alexa tried not to think too hard about the strangeness of the situation — of having a Zhore handle her bare foot, gloved fingers of one hand supporting her ankle as he finished treating her heel with the other. Had any other human ever had contact this intimate with one of the aliens?

Somehow she doubted it.

But at least he went about the process quickly and efficiently, and showed no desire to continue fondling her foot or leg after he was done. He set her foot down gently, and asked, “How does that feel?”

She bent to touch the bandage; it was padded, and should afford some protection against further chafing when she put her boots back on the next day. “Better. Much better. Thank you.”

Another nod, and then he reached into the emergency bag and pulled out her half-eaten protein bar. She had a feeling she was going to be heartily sick of those things by the time they got off this rock.

If
they got off it.

No, she wouldn’t let herself think that. They’d survived their first day, and so far Mandala had seemed serene enough…besides the attack by that feline predator back near their landing site. But they’d seen no animals larger than that since then, so perhaps most of Mandala’s fauna was relatively harmless.

Lirzhan retrieved his own bean-and-rice bar, and settled himself against one of the rocks while he ate quietly. He didn’t seem particularly inclined toward conversation, for which Alexa was grateful. She was already tired, and she found it hard sometimes to know what to say, to attempt to guess what he would respond to, or what would make him shut down. Not that that was necessarily a bad thing. She had a feeling she’d probably already told him too much.

Oh, well
, she thought, as she settled herself down for the night.
It’s only four more days….

H
e’d taken
the first watch, saying she needed her rest more, and after a few attempts at demurral, Alexa had given up and wrapped herself in one of the odd reflective blankets that had come with the emergency kit, huddling against one of the boulders as if trying to access some of the sun-warmth that had been stored in it during the daylight hours. Now she slept, and something hard and wary in her features seemed to smooth itself away in slumber. How he wished he could go to her, wrap her in his robes, hold her close and keep out the night’s chill, but he knew that time was not yet here. Perhaps it never would be.

Still, he had to permit himself a tiny flicker of hope. She had let him help her, let him touch her and treat the wound on her foot. Surely if she were disgusted by him, she would not have allowed him to do even that much, would have insisted on handling the matter herself, even if it required a good deal of contortion.

Or perhaps she is merely practical, and realized that letting you take care of it made the most sense.
From what he had seen so far of Alexa Craig, that appeared to be the most logical explanation.

Across the canyon, some creature let out a long, mournful cry, and he stiffened, scanning the darkness for any imminent threat even as his hand strayed to the pistol, which he’d kept in a pocket of his robes. But the sound moved off and he relaxed, even as Alexa stirred within her blanket, then pulled it more tightly about herself as she seemed to fall into heavy sleep once again.

He allowed himself a few seconds of admiration, not just for the symmetry of the features revealed by the light of the LED lantern, but also the steely determination that had forced her to keep up with him across the rough miles. She was a city dweller, certainly unused to such exertions, and yet he had not heard one word of complaint from her. Of course, they had days to go yet, but he guessed she would not complain. Not aloud, anyway.

It might only be her diplomatic training that had kept her from grumbling about their situation. Perhaps if she were around one of her own people, she would be acting quite differently. Somehow, though, he did not think that was the case. He sensed that she presented the same face to everyone.

Whether it was her true face…well, that was the question. He had a feeling she kept much hidden. That same sadness he had first sensed on the shuttle seemed to pulse from her, but he did not think it had very much to do with their current situation. Certainly it was nothing one could see in her public aspect. But she was
sayara
, and her soul resonated with his, even if she did not know it yet.

He shifted, finding a slightly more comfortable position, and lifted his face to the heavens. The stars here were numerous and bright, but there was no moon. According to the data on Alexa’s tablet, the planet did have two satellites, but they had not yet risen yet. All was utter blackness around them, save the small pool of pale light from the lanterns, pushing back the darkness.

A small gasp, and her eyes fluttered open, blinking at the unfamiliar surroundings for a second or two before she focused on him. Comprehension lit their deep blue depths, and she relaxed slightly, although her mouth was still grim.

“I heard something,” she said.

“There was a night bird, or the Mandala equivalent, a minute ago. But that is all,” he added, trying to reassure her. “Other than that, I have only heard the wind in the grasses, and the sounds of the stream moving over the rocks. It is safe here, I think.”

“You think.” Her voice held a note of dry humor.

“Well, I cannot be positive, since we do not have the necessary scanning equipment to tell us if the surrounding area is completely clear. But it feels safe.”

“Oh, then, it’s fine, isn’t it?” But she took the sting from her words by chuckling, and he saw an amused glint in her eyes. Then her expression sobered. “Is it time for me to take over yet?”

“Not yet,” he replied at once. “You still have some hours left.” He didn’t add that he intended to let her sleep longer than she planned. His body did not require the same amount of rest hers did, and she needed to maintain her strength. But trying to explain that would most likely result in another argument.

“Good,” she said. “Despite everything, I was having a nice dream.”

“About?”

She only shook her head, and smiled, then rolled up in the blanket again and turned away from him.

T
he chronometer strapped
to her wrist had not been calibrated to Mandala time. Even so, Alexa had a feeling she’d slept for more than the four agreed-upon hours when Lirzhan finally woke her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Oddly, she had not startled at his touch, but only nodded and said, “I’m awake.”

He withdrew then, huddling in his robes and burrowing into a depression in one of the boulders that sheltered them, and seemed to go to sleep. In the darkness he almost appeared to be part of the rock itself, in his bulky, shapeless robes. Apparently they were warm enough on their own, as he hadn’t taken the second of the two blankets in the emergency kit.

Now, in the bitter hours just before dawn, she thought she could use that blanket herself, so she rummaged through the bag and pulled out the little folded square, then shook it over her legs before wrapping the first blanket more tightly around her shoulders. She wasn’t precisely warm, but at least now she thought she could survive the chill until the sun came up. Funny how uncomfortably warm it had been here during the day — and how quickly that warmth had disappeared once night fell.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and settled her chin on them, eyes straining against the dark beyond the small circles of light provided by the lanterns. Just above the horizon to the east hung two moons, one a fingernail crescent so thin she could barely see it, the other just past the quarter. Neither of them provided much in the way of illumination.

Figures
, she thought. As Lirzhan had told her earlier when she’d briefly wakened, all was still here. The stream chattered softly over the stones a few meters off to her left, and beyond that she heard a soft, eerie rustle that had to be the wind in the grass, although she’d never heard such a thing before. But there were no animal sounds that she could detect. Just as well, because Lirzhan still had the pulse pistol hidden somewhere about his person. Now, maybe he would wake up fast if they were attacked — he’d certainly been speedy enough when that feline came out of nowhere and almost made her its lunch — and maybe he wouldn’t. She didn’t have the heart to rouse him now just so she could retrieve the pistol, so she’d have to hope for the best.

It’s not as if you could hit what you were shooting at, anyway
, she thought, and let out a sigh. Sure, she’d had some rudimentary arms training, enough that she knew how to shoot a pulse pistol, but that didn’t mean she was a very good shot. She’d never seen the need, frankly. It wasn’t as if she were a member of the Defense Fleet or even the Exploration Commission, where having such skills would come in handy. Up until today, all the predators she’d ever met had walked on two legs and faced her across a negotiating table.

Without really meaning to, she glanced over at Lirzhan where he slept huddled against the boulder. That is, she assumed he was asleep. Impossible to say for certain with the way his hood dropped so low, hiding his face. How he was able to see past it, she had no idea, but obviously it hadn’t slowed him down any on the way here.

Something in her was sorely tempted to creep over there, to push back the hood to see what it concealed. Of course such an action would be a horrible breach of protocol, and she would never
actually
do such a thing, but….

It was difficult spending so much time with someone whose face she couldn’t see, whose expressions she couldn’t gauge. He might as well have been wearing a mask.

That notion jogged a memory in her mind, of an old book she’d read years ago as a girl, when she had devoured numerous public domain works that didn’t require an outright purchase. God, what was that story? Something about a singer and a deformed genius….

The Phantom of the Opera.
That was it. Somehow she doubted that creeping up on Lirzhan and pushing back the hood would have a better outcome for her than it did for the hapless Christine Daaé when she sneaked up behind the Phantom and removed his mask. Better to quell her curiosity than risk an interplanetary incident.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly what he was hiding under there. Speculation had been ongoing for the greater part of a hundred years, ever since the Gaians and the Zhore first crossed paths. If anyone had ever seen one of the secretive aliens, though, the information must have been immediately suppressed.

She heard a screeching cry then and stiffened, eyes straining against the dark — well, actually, it wasn’t full dark anymore. The first gray light of dawn had come upon her while she was ruminating, and she hadn’t even noticed. Some lookout she was.

But she could see well enough to make out a largish avian creature, a bit larger than a Gaian crow, dive for the stream and then fly off with something dangling from its beak or proboscis or whatever passed for such things in these parts.

Even on Mandala the early bird gets the worm
, she thought, and grinned a little.
Or fish, as the case may be.
Maybe those fish were edible, but they didn’t have the equipment to test them, even if they could somehow manage to catch one.

“Another avian?” came Lirzhan’s deep voice from behind her.

“Yes. It’s already gone. And the sun is starting to come up.”

“Good.” He pushed away from the boulder and stood, brushing at his robes. Alexa thought she heard a few cracks of his joints, and almost shook her head at the incongruity of the sound. Sure, she’d heard a few of those coming from Trin as he got up in the morning to make a pot of tea, but somehow she hadn’t expected that a Zhore would be subject to the same early morning pops and creaks.

A wash of pale light came over the hills to the east, and suddenly it was day again. She pushed away the blanket covering her legs but kept the one wrapped around her shoulders, then stood up to survey their surroundings. The wind had shifted direction slightly, seeming to come from the north now instead of the northwest. Alexa decided to take that as a good sign, since their destination lay due north from where they were currently encamped.

“Wish I could offer you some coffee or tea, but the emergency kit wasn’t quite that civilized,” she remarked. “Can I interest you in half a veggie protein bar and some water?”

Something that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle emerged from the hood. “That will have to do, I suppose.” He came over to her and took the bar she had just dug out of the emergency bag. As he did so, his gloved fingers brushed over hers, and she forced herself not to flinch. Stupid reaction, really, when she’d let him handle her bare foot just the night before.

“So what’s the plan for today?” she inquired, her tone sounding too cheerful even to herself. Over-compensation, probably.

He scanned the valley around them before answering. “The stream appears to cut more or less north and south through this canyon, so I believe we should follow it for as long as possible. It seems more sheltered down here, and the ground is smoother. We should be able to move more quickly, at least in the beginning.”

That sounded like a good enough plan to her. But first….

There really wasn’t a good way to take care of certain necessary functions while wandering through the wilderness, although the emergency kit did at least provide a packet of toilet paper and some disposable towels, along with disinfecting mouth wipes. Alexa excused herself, found a concealing rock, and did what was necessary. Afterward she went to the stream and splashed some water on her face, then performed an abbreviated version of what her university roommate had referred to as a “birdbath” — a quick cleaning of certain essential body parts — before putting her jacket back on and heading back to their makeshift campsite, where Lirzhan was already putting away her discarded blankets and stowing the empty protein bar packaging in a pocket of the emergency kit. Whether he’d attended to his own needs while she was otherwise occupied, she didn’t know and certainly wasn’t going to ask.

She could only hope she wasn’t flushing too furiously when she asked, “Ready to go?”

“Yes,” he said simply, and threw the emergency bag over his shoulder.

That science station had better have a decent bathroom when we get there
, she thought as she followed him up along the stream.
Because after this I’m going to want to take a shower for at least a day or two.

A
s he had hoped
, the stream wound its way northward for a good ways, sheltering them in a canyon that did not seem to be inhabited by anything larger than the blue-winged avians who dove into the water at irregular intervals, clearly intent on the aquatic life that appeared to dwell in its depths. There seemed to be every chance that they would cover more kilometers today. Perhaps as many as twenty-five, if they were lucky.

Alexa strode along behind him; if her foot still bothered her, she didn’t show it. She’d abandoned the tight knot of hair at the base of her neck and instead had it bound loosely with a piece of brown elastic. The golden-brown edges of her ponytail blew in the breeze, and between that and her lack of makeup, she looked curiously young and vulnerable.

Appearances, he knew, were just that…appearances. Irzhaan help anyone who thought of Alexa Craig as vulnerable.

After a while, he looked over his shoulder at her and inquired, “How is your foot?”

She appeared surprised that he had inquired about it. “Fine. I hardly notice it. But thank you for asking.”

Her tone was cool and casual. If only he could think of something to say that would break down her wall of reserve, but nothing came to mind. For an instant he almost wished they hadn’t made such good time so far today. At the rate they were going, they’d reach the science station without making any kind of a connection.

Frankly, the entire situation rather flummoxed him. If the woman with whom he’d felt the
sayara
bond had been another Zhore, this would have been easy, for she would be experiencing the same sensations he was. But with a human? If he had not seen the reports of what had transpired on Lathvin IV, had not felt his own connection with Alexa, despite her apparent lack of interest, he would have believed such a thing was impossible.

Still, he had to try. “I am glad to hear that your foot is doing well. But please tell me if it begins to give you any discomfort — we may need to change the wound dressing.”

One of her well-arched brows lifted. “I will. I think I’m okay for now, though.”

Her words had a tone of finality to them, as if she wanted to close down the conversation before it even got started. Very well. They still did have at least two more days to go after this, and that was only if all went well. He must not be impatient. He must —

An odd whirring filled his ears, one that sounded too mechanical, too precise to have come from an as-yet-unknown avian creature. He glanced up, just as pale green pulse bolts rained down from overhead. His unbelieving eyes registered some sort of small atmospheric craft, although he did not recognize the type.

“Run!” he cried, grabbing Alexa by the hand even as he tightened his grip on the emergency pack, then dashed away from the stream, down a narrow defile that branched off from the main canyon.

At least she did not protest, but pounded alongside him, her face grim and her eyes filled with questions she didn’t have the breath to ask. In here the trees were not as thick as they had been along the stream, but they did provide some cover. Besides, the walls of the narrow ravine were not wide enough to accommodate the unknown machine, although that didn’t seem to prevent its pilot from raining down pulse bolts at the two of them.

They crashed through the stunted, sun-deprived trees, Lirzhan attempting to zig and zag back and forth as much as possible and present a moving target that would be difficult to hit. He couldn’t stop to wonder who might be shooting at them, and why…although he guessed they must be connected in some way with whoever had been behind the attack on the shuttle.

The ravine branched, and he took the northerly defile, hoping to keep them more or less on track. Here the trees and brush began to grow more thickly, and he felt Alexa stumble over a tree root and grip his hand tightly to keep from falling. He increased his own grasp on her fingers and propelled her forward, all the while praying that neither of them would suffer a real fall. That emergency kit did not contain anything that would help with setting bones.

As quickly as it had attacked, the machine peeled off and headed back in the direction it had come, clearly unable to prosecute its assault with any real efficiency. Lirzhan would not take that as a signal to ease up, however, and kept moving forward, thinking it couldn’t hurt to put as much distance between them and their attackers as possible. True, their assailants could always fly ahead and wait for them to emerge from the other end of this ravine — wherever that might be — but going back certainly wasn’t an option.

“Look!” Alexa called out, and pointed with her free hand. Ahead of them and partway up the cliff wall were a series of dark openings in the gray rock.

A cave sounded like an excellent idea at the moment. He wouldn’t let himself stop to think what sort of inimical creatures might live in such an environment. Then again, most of the fauna they had encountered on Mandala so far had been relatively benign. Better to take their chances with a series of unknown creatures than face the ones who had already proved themselves to be more than hostile.