The Astronomer

by Charmaine Pauls

  Saunders didn’t answer, and that was an answer in itself.

  “That son of a bitch. He’s been a spanner in the works ever since we started.”

  “Dr. Riber, you and Professor Andrews can’t knock heads. It’s not good for the team. You need to work together.”

  “We will,” she said icily, “as soon as he learns to follow orders.”

  “And I think everyone will be careful to follow orders from now on.”

  Saunders said it with a surprising twinkle in his eye. As Fraya got to her feet, he leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a smile.

  “Now, go kick some ass, Dr. Riber, and bring me back some evidence of a lost city.”

  She was too caught off guard to respond. It was the first time she actually saw Saunders smile.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Another week passed before Fraya was due to return to the condo, and she only agreed to return because she knew Emilio would be there, as planned. She needed to see him, wanted him close to her, and feared their reunion all at the same time. And she was reluctant to leave the site. They had at last, after she had fired Panagakos, made good progress and had found some exciting evidence in carbon dioxide residues, which all pointed in the direction of success. Stix Shaw had taken over Panagakos’s responsibilities and was doing a damn good job. The men were more careful now, and she had slowly started seeing some signs of her hard earned respect. But for now she had to leave Andrews in charge while she drove back to the condo to work on her reports, and to meet her mate.

  She was on her way to the vehicle when Cramer caught up with her. “Dr. Riber, we’ve dug the tunnel as you’ve instructed. How deep do you want us to go?”

  She turned and stared into the distance, into the direction of the digging. “Professor Andrews is in charge of excavation.”

  “He left early this morning. But hey,” he shrugged, “if you want the work to stand still, we can wait for his return.”

  Fraya fumed. Andrews undermined her whenever he had the chance. She checked her watch and made a quick decision. “Get in,” she said, motioning at the vehicle. She took the driver’s seat and headed into the direction of the geysers.

  They secured their gasmasks before they got into the toxic zone. Fraya parked close to the digging and made her way to the tunnel. She activated the communication system while studying the wooden frame that braced the entrance of the tunnel.

  “Cramer, has the tunnel been reinforced?”

  He shook his head. “Not enough. We need to know how deep you’re planning on going to know how strong the reinforcement needs to be. It will also determine which material we’ll use.”

  “What does it look like inside? Does it match our ultrasound map?”

  He shrugged. “Still difficult to tell. Sandstone. If we drill, it’ll go quick. Ultrasound doesn’t indicate any hollow or water filled chambers underneath. Should be safe to go down, unless you want to extend rather than go down.”

  Fraya contemplated the question. Damn. Andrews really had to be here. It was her job to pinpoint the location and oversee the operation, not to make geographical evaluations. If the area had been covered up with layers of sand, like she believed it had, they would have to dig both vertically and horizontally, similar to a mine. She walked to the entrance and peered inside.

  Cramer touched her arm to attract her attention. When she looked at him over her shoulder he shook his head. “We haven’t secured it yet.”

  “I need to take a look inside.”

  “Not a good idea,” Cramer said.

  “Too late for it not being a good idea. I’m here now and we’re wasting precious time.”

  Fraya held out her palm and after a second’s hesitation Cramer placed a torchlight on it. She switched it on and pointed the beam inside. She inched forward, inspecting the walls, the ground and the ceiling of the man-made cave. She pulled a computer star map from her pocket, and studied the card in the light. According to her map, they should be standing in the temple, the heart of the city, if it existed. Digging was a logical choice, but her gut told her otherwise. She kicked at the wall with the tip of her boot.

  “You’d have to run this past Professor Andrews, but I’d suggest to cut east. The–”

  A rumbling sound cut her short. Fraya glanced up, just in time to see a crack in the rock ceiling of the chamber, and in the next instance Cramer pushed her forcefully toward the exit, making her stumble and hit her shoulder hard against the wooden corner of the frame. A big piece of the sandstone ceiling fell behind them, making the earth shake with its force. Ignoring the pain in her shoulder, Fraya jumped to her feet, cursing the limited sight she had through the gasmask as she searched for Cramer. He was right behind her, swearing like a sailor.

  “Cramer, are you injured?”

  He swore again. “No. You?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  She made her way back to the vehicle, Cramer in tow, and drove them to the office. They entered the lock-down zone, waited for the toxic gas to be sucked out, and found Mason and Stix inside, who stared at the state of their clothes open-mouthed. Fraya glanced at her shoulder, visible under her tank top, and saw that she was going to have one hell of a bruise.

  “What the hell happened to you?” Stix said. “I thought you were on your way back to base, Dr. Riber.”

  “Nothing serious. Where’s Professor Andrews?”

  Stix looked at Mason and they both shrugged.

  “Get hold of him. Now.” She turned to Cramer. “I have to get back to base. Make sure no one goes back inside unless the protective walls are up, am I clear? We’ve had enough accidents at this camp.”

  She left the men with more instructions, and made her way back to the observatory, where Emilio would be waiting.

  It was a long drive, and thankfully, Emilio wasn’t yet there when she got to the condo. At least she had time to have a much needed meal and clean up. She was starving. She noticed with much surprise that the construction was finished, the metal frame that had hugged the house gone. She greeted Al, who had been taken care of by Tracy, and said a silent prayer of thanks to Tracy for leaving fresh food in her fridge. After a quick breakfast of flaked nutrient-enriched fiber and powdered artificial milk, she headed upstairs for a shower when her sat phone rang. It was Saunders, and he wasn’t happy.

  “Get your ass over here. Now.”

  “I just got back from camp. I need a shower.”

  “Which part of ‘now’ didn’t you understand?”

  Fraya sighed heavily, threw the phone on the bed, pulled a linen shirt over her tank top and made her way back to head office. She was surprised to find Saunders waiting for her in the parking.

  “What’s up?” she said, jumping from the car.

  “Cramer radioed in.” Saunders was as tight as a string.

  Fraya rolled her eyes. “Nothing happened.”

  “It doesn’t look like nothing’s happened. Look at you.”

  She lifted her shoulders. “What?”

  “If there’s one more incident on site, I’m pulling the plug.”

  “For God’s sake, Saunders.” She threw her arms in the air. “You’re like a mother hen.”

  “I’m fucking responsible, Doctor. I didn’t like this project from the outset and I don’t like the way it’s going.”

  Fraya raised her hands. “Alright. It won’t happen again.”

  “It bloody hell better not, or you’ll find your ass stuck on a telescope chair in Santiago so fast you won’t know if a meteor hit you.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Are you finished?”

  “No.”

  “What now?”

  “The doctor is waiting for you at the medical center.”

  “I’m fine. Nothing happened.”

  “You still need to have a check-up. Company procedure.”

  “You’re joking, right?”

  He pointed in the direction of the building. “Do you want me to escort you?”

&
nbsp; Fraya groaned. She knew it was pointless to argue. She was about to try and talk her way out of it anyway when she saw the black A-Cell pull into the parking lot. Fraya froze. It had been too long. Her body betrayed her instantly with a flush of heat before she had even seen his face. The door opened. One black boot settled firmly on the ground, then the other. She saw him straighten his tall body from the driver seat, his jeans snug, the top two buttons of his white French cuff shirt undone, his hair pulled back into a ponytail. Their eyes locked, and for a few seconds Saunders didn’t exist. No one existed as Fraya warily watched her mate closing the distance between them. He was angry. She could see it in his deliberate stride and from the way his jaw bunched. Only then did she become aware of Saunders again, who glanced from her to Emilio.

  “He knows?” she asked through tight lips.

  Saunders didn’t ask what Fraya meant. He cleared his throat. “He called from the zone station and asked for you. I had to tell him,” he said as a way of excusing himself.

  Emilio stopped in front of them. He extended a hand, which Saunders shook half-heartedly, but Emilio’s eyes were fixed on her. “Fraya.”

  His voice sent a shiver down her spine, both because of the suppressed furious tone she recognized, and because she had missed that deep, sensual resonance.

  Emilio studied her, his eyes going over her body, missing nothing. “Have you been checked by a doctor?”

  “She was just on her way,” Saunders interjected.

  Emilio nodded his approval. “I’ll accompany you.”

  “No,” Fraya said quickly. He was mad. It was better he had some time to cool off before she faced him alone. All he needed to know was that she was fine, that nothing serious happened. She didn’t need him to attack her with a ‘I told you so’.

  “I prefer to be examined in privacy,” she said. “Go ahead to the condo. I’ll meet you there.”

  Saunders looked uncomfortable. Fraya cursed silently as she realized he was going to flee, leaving her alone with her very agitated mate.

  “Make sure she sees the doctor,” he said to Emilio. “She’s as hard-headed as a mule.”

  “Don’t I know that,” Emilio mumbled, but Saunders was already on his way back to the building.

  Fraya stood dead still, waiting for the onslaught, preparing her defense speech, because she was sure Emilio was going to reprimand her now, tell her she shouldn’t have taken the job, but he surprised her by lowering his head and kissing all thoughts from her mind. His lips were warm and soothing as he sucked her lower lip gently into his mouth, nipping at it with his teeth. Fraya’s body melted instantly, molding against his as she leaned into the caress, lifting her head to give him access. When she moaned into the kiss, his body tightened with an alarming tenseness. She could feel his muscles going hard against her swollen breasts. When she whimpered, weak with desire, his arms pulled her tighter, crushing her against his chest as if the muffled sound was fuel on his fire. His hands gripped the curve of her bottom, lifting her to the hardness of his need, and Fraya forgot to breathe. Her shirt moved down, exposing one shoulder on which he planted a kiss before he lapped at the skin with his tongue. She was lost in his touch, oblivious to their surroundings, not caring if anyone saw, her passion mounting, and then, in the next second it dropped as low as it had climbed when he released her abruptly and pushed her away. Fraya opened her eyes and stared up at him in confusion.

  “Are you hurt?”

  She understood. He needed reassurance. “No. I’m fine. It wasn’t a big deal.”

  His eyes moved to the bruise on her exposed shoulder, already turning an angry shade of purple. “The last time I saw your skin marked with blue was when you fell into the river, in Zone 11.” He clenched his teeth. “I don’t like to see you like this.”

  Fraya sensed the effort it took for him to control himself and laid her hand on his arm. “Nothing is broken.”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw. “Have you ever thought about what would become of me if anything happened to you?”

  As a matter of fact, she hadn’t. Comprehension dawned on her. It was all about the damn mating heat. If she perished, God forbid, he would be left with an uncontrollable heat. That was what this was all about. It was about his lust. It had nothing to do with concern.

  “Don’t worry,” she said, squaring her shoulders, “I’m still fuckable.”

  He pinched his eyes shut for a second, and when he reopened them Fraya instinctively took a step back.

  “And I’ll have you prove that to me,” he said coldly, “after you’ve seen the doctor.”

  Fraya felt like screaming with frustration. They had not seen each other for weeks, and not even five minutes into their first encounter they were already at war. Not wanting to engage in another full-blown fight, she took a calming breath and said, “I’ll see you at the condo.”

  She ignored she stares she got as she made her way to the doctor’s rooms on the recreational side of the building, and waited impatiently for him to conclude his examination. Forty-five minutes later, Fraya walked back to the exit. She was halfway through reception when Tracy called her name and caught up with her.

  “Fraya, are you alright?”

  “Nothing happened. Why is everyone making such a fuss?”

  “Ben was frantic. Said you had an accident.”

  “A piece of the roof came down. It wasn’t like an earthquake, or anything serious.”

  “I was worried. We were all worried.”

  Fraya softened at Tracy’s expressed concern. “Thank you. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just tired and it’s been a rough few days.”

  “How did it go?”

  “It would have been easier if the people in my team cooperated.”

  “Everyone is talking about Panagakos. What you did took guts. He deserved it, too.”

  “No one is sorrier than me that it came to that. He was a good technician. But if I had kept him on it would have sent the wrong message to the rest of the team.”

  “I bet you wish you could fire Andrews’s ass as easily.” Her voice turned conspiratorial. “You know, Ben never liked him.”

  “He’s a tough one. He seems to hate me.”

  “I think he just feels threatened by you.”

  Fraya snorted. “I don’t know why, but he gives me the creeps.” Fraya checked her watch. “I better get going. Emilio is waiting at the condo.”

  Tracy made a face. “I don’t envy you. He wasn’t a happy chappy when when when Ben spoke to him earlier.”

  “He’s overreacting.”

  “Apparently he nearly exploded. Call me. We can have a drink at my place if the going gets tough.”

  “Yeah. Thank you Tracy. And thanks for the food. You’ve got to stop spoiling me like this.”

  “There’s a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Looks like you’re going to need it.”

  Fraya took a deep breath, got back into her vehicle and slammed the door.

  With every mile she closed between the observatory and the condo, her heart beat more furiously, and she didn’t want to examine her feelings to decide if it was out of fear of a confrontation, or from excitement.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Fraya marched into the condo. Emilio stood in the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest, watching her angry entrance measuredly. His jacket was thrown over a stool with a red cotton scarf he often used when he was rock climbing. His feet were bare. A dishcloth was draped over his shoulder. Her eyes moved to the clean dishes stacked in the drip rack and the spotless counters.

  Holy crap. Emilio had cleaned her kitchen. Even if the act took her by surprise, she couldn’t thank him. If they started talking she knew where the conversation was going to go. He would try to talk her out of the project, and that was something she’d never let happen. She stripped her leather gloves she used for driving and threw them on the counter. Not sparing him another glance, she made her way upstairs, aware that he followed a step behind.

  In t
he loft she braced her hands on the sides of the basin and stared at her dirt-lined face in the mirror. She saw him in the reflection, leaning against the wall. He just watched her, his eyes lined with a heaviness that bordered on a volcanic explosion. Underneath that cauldron of boiling emotions lay the passion she had come to recognize by now.

  “What did the doctor say?” Emilio said, breaking the silence.

  “Exactly what I had said. I’m fine. Nothing is broken.”

  Fraya could see his eyes darken, even in his reflection in the mirror. “I’d like to examine you to make sure for myself.”

  She stripped off the linen shirt with jerky movements. “I’m tired Emilio. I really can’t fuck right now.”

  It wasn’t a lie. She felt weary to the bone, close to the point of collapsing, but she wasn’t about to show it, least of all to him. He would tie her up to keep her from returning to the field if he knew the truth of her exhaustion. She studied the bruise on her shoulder. Her body was damp with perspiration, her hair covered in dust.

  “I need a shower.” She straightened, hoping he would get the hint, but he didn’t budge.

  “A bath would be better.” His voice was gentle, but she heard the tightness in his tone.

  “A shower will be quicker.” She sat down on the bench and undid the shoelaces of her heavy boots.

  Without responding, he strode lazily to the bath, his movements hiding his predator stance, that part of him she knew was always ready to pounce, and opened the tap of the tub. Right now, he was furious. The fact that he tried to control it so well made her worry. That meant it was serious. Otherwise he would have already lashed out at her.

  She watched him from under her eyelashes, removing her boots. “I’ve been in the field for weeks. Don’t make me fight you on this.”

  “I’m not asking you to fight me. I’m running you a bath.”

  “Just a bath?” she asked suspiciously.

  He lost a bit of his cool. “Jesus, Fraya, what do you take me for? Do you really think I’d ask you to fuck me after what you’ve just been through?” He took a step toward her. “Yes, I want to fuck you. I want to fuck you to the goddamn moon and back, just to know that you’re real, that you’re alive, to punish you, to make you beg, to hear you promise you’d never do something so fucking stupid again, but I’m not an animal.”