by Leslie Chase
"I'm going to be covered in bruises if this keeps up," Hannah complained, rubbing her elbow from her latest collision with a wall. A glance at the menu distracted her from her pain and Amanda saw her eyes light up with interest.
"Okay, what the hell is this stuff?"
Amanda laughed. "Oh, we don't really know what a lot of it is. Martian food is weird — the alien foodmakers can turn out all kinds of meat and vegetables, but hardly anything we know from Earth."
Hannah's eyes widened. "You mean that's all alien food?"
"Sort of. Nanotech manufactured stuff that the aliens provide, but it's just made out of—"
"I don't care what it's made from," Hannah broke in. "It's alien food! I want to try everything."
Amanda laughed, shaking her head, and started ordering. In the face of Hannah's enthusiasm, it was hard to stop, and by the time they left they were laden down with food. Fortunately, it was only a short walk to Amanda's apartment.
"I can't wait to try this," Hannah said as she arranged the cartons on the untidy kitchen table. Amanda looked at the food and sighed. Well, I guess the leftovers will feed me for a few days, she thought. There wasn't a hope in hell that they'd finish it all tonight.
But the glint in Hannah's eyes told her that her sister was going to give it a damned good try. Amanda fetched cutlery and a jug of her latest drinkable booze. She'd ruined a foodmaker convincing it to make something that was almost like wine if you squinted at the taste and weren't too picky. It was far from perfect, but it was drinkable, and Hannah didn't seem to mind the hint of alien flavors. Eating in silence, both sisters found that they were too hungry to talk until they'd eaten. Eventually, Hannah sat back and grinned.
"Okay, that stuff is weird," she said, pointing at the carton she'd been eating from with her fork. "What is it? I can't even tell if it's meat or vegetable."
Amanda shrugged, looking at the name of the dish scrawled on the side of the carton. "It's called herok, but beyond that I've got no idea. Sorry, it's all just stuff that comes out of a foodmaker — you'd have to ask one of the aliens what it's supposed to be."
"You could ask Markath for me," Hannah said with a mischievous look. Amanda glowered.
"Leave it alone, will you? I'm not going to talk to him again if I can help it." She'd almost managed to forget about Markath and the way he'd made her feel. The mention of his name brought it all crashing back into her consciousness and she had to take a deep breath. Let's talk about anything else, she thought, blushing. I can't think straight when he's on my mind.
The grin spreading across her sister's face made it clear that Hannah could see what she was thinking, and that was another reason to change the subject.
"What exactly are you going to be doing out here?" Amanda asked, stabbing her fork into a slice of unidentified meat with more force than was strictly necessary.
"Ah, well, the guys I'm going to be working with think they know where to find some ruins," Hannah said. "So we're heading out to look for them once the team's all here. See if we can dig up something worth selling, that sort of thing. I've got experience digging valuable tech out of wrecks back on Earth, so I'm there to help the salvaging. Seems like there's good money to be made, trading that stuff back to the aliens."
Amanda nodded. Back on Earth, Hannah had always been one for exploring abandoned places and had made her living selling what she'd found there. That gave her a set of skills that would be valuable on Mars where a good salvage haul could make a small fortune, or even a large one. It still worried her, though. Even on Earth, that was a dangerous way to earn a living; here on Mars the risks were much higher.
"Where are you going to be?"
"I don't know, exactly," Hannah shrugged and grinned. "I guess either they're not sure, or they don't want me to know too much before we head out. If it is a big strike, we don't want some other salvage team getting to it first. All I know is it's out on the Hellas Planitia somewhere."
That didn't narrow it down much. Hellas Planitia was a huge area, and remote — Amanda hadn't heard of any settlements, human or alien, being established anywhere near it. She frowned, worried.
"That's a long way out, sis. What happens if something goes wrong?"
"We'll have emergency comms, the sponsor's got a ship in orbit to relay any calls," Hannah said with a shrug. "Look, it's not like I was any safer going into the ruins on Earth. Back there we were on our own. Here, at least it's an organized expedition. There'll be twenty of us and we'll have a base camp, support in orbit, all that good stuff."
"Just promise me you'll be careful, okay, Hannah?" Amanda said dubiously. She knew her sister wasn't one to duck a risk if it looked exciting, but at least so far, she'd come through everything she'd done okay.
That had only made Hannah cockier though.
"Promise," she said, crossing her heart with a solemn look on her face. "Now, what else have you got to drink? I'm curious about what you've been brewing up here, this wine is weird."
The rest of the evening was lost to Amanda showing off the booze she'd convinced the foodmaker to create. The drinks the aliens made for themselves were far too strong for humans, she'd quickly found. Adjusting the recipes was one of the many skills that the aliens had lost in their disaster, and Amanda had to figure it out for herself. It made for a fun hobby even if most of the results were undrinkable.
Hannah's looks of disgust at every new drink were at least partly teasing, she was sure. At least, her sister kept coming back for more samples and soon they'd put aside their other worries in a pleasant haze of booze.
Usually when Amanda dreamed of flying, it was a nightmare. The red rocks hurtling up at her, a spaceship coming apart around her, an alien trying to tear his way into the cockpit to kill her. It was one of the dreams she dreaded most.
This time was different, though. This time she wasn't flying in a ship, she was flying in Markath's arms. And instead of a heart-pounding plummet towards the Martian rocks, they soared in the light of the distant Sun.
His presence filled her mind, and she felt herself aching for him. He didn't seem to need a suit despite the thin air of Mars, and while her breathing echoed in her ears as it always did when she wore a spacesuit, Markath was gloriously naked.
Looking Amanda in the eye, he reached out for the helmet of her suit, and with dream logic she knew that she didn't need it. Not while he was there to protect her from the thin atmosphere — Amanda knew, deep down, that Markath would keep her safe.
The helmet dropped away to the rocks below, and his hands moved down, peeling the suit from her body without any difficulty. Amanda felt a bone-deep ache of need for him grow as each part of her suit came away in his hands. Slowly, deliberately, Markath stripped her naked, letting the spacesuit fall.
Now she was flying too, unsupported by him as his hands brushed her bare skin. Markath flew above her, wings spread wide, and she could look at him properly. He was gorgeous. Impossibly hot, ridiculously sexy, deep red skin over hard powerful muscles that made her body cry out for his touch. Amanda's pulse raced and she knew that she needed him more than anything else in the world.
Reaching out for him, she felt the burning heat of his body. Her fingers ran over his muscles, and he drew her closer with a strength she couldn't have resisted if she'd wanted to. Lifting her, he pulled her into a kiss, and as he did so she felt the firm, hard shape of his cock pressing against her.
Amanda gasped at the sensation of it, feeling an answering emptiness inside her. In the dream, she knew what she needed and didn't argue. Letting him position her over his iron hard cock, Amanda looked Markath in the eyes and nodded. And his thrust filled her, making her cry out and arch—
—and wake up.
Goddammit.
Grabbing a pillow, she threw it across the room in frustration. Awake, her body ached unsatisfied. And she knew that there was only one cure for the emptiness inside her.
I could go to the palace. Find him. It would be easy. Part of her wan
ted that more than anything else.
But no way in hell was she going to give in to that call. She could tough it out, she knew she could. She had to be able to — if she went to him once, she knew that she'd be lost.
Getting up, she stomped into the bathroom and into the shower. The pounding impact of hot water helped her get herself under control, and by the time she made her way back out to the kitchen, Amanda felt almost human.
Where's Hannah gotten to? Some human contact would be good, even her sister's company. But Hannah was nowhere to be found. On the kitchen table, Amanda found a note.
Hey sis,
Thanks for hosting me, and sorry I didn't stay to say goodbye! Got a message early this morning and figured you needed the sleep — I'll be back soon enough, with a hold full of alien treasure. We're setting out for Hellas Planitia at 0700, come see us off if you're up by then.
If not, see you in a couple of weeks!
Hannah.
PS: go see Markath. You know you want to. ;)
Amanda looked at the clock and swore. If she ran she might just be in time to see her sister leave.
5
Markath
The human settlement of Marsport felt strange and alien to Markath. He'd flown over it every day, but this was the first time he'd walked its narrow streets, and he couldn't understand how humans managed to navigate them. They were too small, too crowded, and far too messy.
Around him, humans stared curiously. Few dragons came down into Marsport and those who did generally kept to the area near the palace. Markath suspected that most of the people here had only ever seen a dragon at a distance. It wasn't as though there were that many dragons to see, only a few hundred in the whole world. There were many times that number of humans in this settlement alone.
He'd heeded Josie's advice and treated his injuries before seeking out Amanda again. Between that and his duties at the Dragon Palace, by the time he'd gotten free it had been late enough that he didn't want to risk disturbing her. Humans, he had heard, could be funny about being woken late at night. But now the sun had risen above the horizon, and he would wait no longer.
The only trouble was finding her. If she'd lived in the palace, his implants would have guided him to her straight away. Out here in Marsport, though, the computers didn't talk to him and he couldn't just ask where his mate was. It was an infuriatingly primitive arrangement.
"You," he said finally, grabbing the nearest human gawker by the collar. "I am looking for Dr. Cain. Where do I find her?"
"Hey, man, let go of me," the human answered, flailing his arms and trying to pull free. He looked on the edge of panic as he gestured wildly. "Looking for a doctor? The clinic's down there, by the port."
Looking in the direction the man was pointing, Markath nodded and let him go. The port itself was the easiest thing to find in this mess of a place, its tower tall by human standards. There were a couple of human spaceships docked there, and a skyship made its way out as he watched.
"Thank you," he said to the human as he released him. The man scampered away, and Markath strode purposefully in the direction he'd indicated, brushing aside the humans in his way. How do they tolerate these crowds? Markath couldn't understand it, but even a thousand years ago, when human knights had ridden horses into battle and the highest technology they'd dreamed of had been the windmill, their cities had been crowded and narrow. The millennium that had passed since then didn't seem to have improved anything.
Those humans who saw him coming gave him a wide berth, which suited him fine, but the area around him was still too tight. He could never feel truly comfortable if he couldn't stretch out his wings. And he still didn't know exactly where he was going. This was getting frustrating.
The port itself was no better organized than the city, a haphazard arrangements of landing fields and hangars. On the outer edges, skyships came and went, docking next to the spaceships that would supply them or take on their cargo. Here, at least, there were other dragons, imperial inspectors checking for contraband being smuggled to Earth.
Markath considered asking one of them for directions when a piercing whistle grabbed his attention. Hannah waved at him from the dock beside one of the skyships, standing with a group of other humans. Their spacesuits were all brightly colored and patterned, each unique and identifiable. But since the port was still inside of the atmosphere shield that the Dragon Palace projected, none of them wore their helmets. He could see their expressions, a mix of fear, curiosity, and suspicion as he approached.
"Looking for Amanda?" Hannah called out as he approached. She was the only one who looked happy to see him. "I don't think she's in the clinic yet. Maybe if you hang around you can surprise her."
Markath shook his head, not sure what to make of Hannah's enthusiastic support. The humans around her looked at one another, looking equally uncertain. One of them, a big man with his suit painted in aggressive dark reds, stepped forward as though to stand between Markath and the rest. Markath frowned down at him — though the human was big, he wasn't as tall as a dragon warrior.
"Are these your crew, Hannah?" he asked, trying not to sound aggressive. There was no need to push this, and he didn't want to make things awkward for Hannah by fighting with her companions.
"Sure are," Hannah answered cheerfully, showing no signs of discomfort. "It's alright, Jim, this is a friend."
The big human grunted and stepped back, shooting Hannah an unfriendly glance.
"I do not want to interrupt," Markath said, looking at the anxious ring of human faces around him. "You are getting ready to set out on your... adventure."
He nearly called it something less complimentary but held back at the last moment. There was no need to be rude to Hannah, after all.
"Nonsense, we're still waiting on some supplies being loaded anyway," she said, nodding to the ship beside them. It hung in the air in a crude attempt at flight, scavenged gravity crystals supporting it. Markath hated the skyships. They were ungainly things, put together by humans who didn't understand the grace of the ancient dragon technology they used.
Be fair: it's not as though we understand it either, he admitted to himself with a sigh. Before the Great Sleep the dragons had marvels of technology that no one still living could replicate, or even repair. But it still rubbed him wrong to see the humans use bits and pieces for their own ends.
This ship was new, he thought, perhaps specially built for the task of exploring. A sign on its prow provided its name, the Outrider, and as he watched, crates and tanks were being lowered into its hold by grim-faced men. The goods were coming directly from one of the spaceships, a squat and bulky vessel watched by armed human guards who kept a close eye on him. That was part of the agreement between the Earth governments and the empire. Human spaceships were Earth territory, even when they were landed on Martian soil.
Markath didn't approve of that, but he supposed it wasn't his decision to make. And for that matter, he wasn't sure it was a bad deal. In exchange for that concession, the humans had agreed to only land at designated ports on the Martian surface, letting the empire control what came and went from their world.
Still, he didn't like the way those humans were looking at him. Glaring back at the nearest guard, he held eye contact until the man looked away.
"I'm only here to find Amanda," he said to Hannah, trying to keep his temper under control. None of that was her fault, after all. "I did not mean to disturb you."
"I'm sure she'll be at the clinic soon," Hannah said with a little laugh. There was a tightness at her eyes that told Markath that she wasn't oblivious to the tensions around them. She simply wasn't about to let that get in the way of her cheerful nature.
"I will go and wait for her there, then," Markath said. "If you can point me at it? These accursed streets aren't easy to follow."
"Oh." Hannah looked around, as though trying to find her bearings. "You know, honestly, I've no idea. I only got here yesterday, and I had to ask directions to find it m
yself. You're right about these streets."
"Perhaps I can help?" One of the other humans interjected, stepping forward and taking Markath by the arm. Markath resisted the urge to pull away — there was something unsettling about this man and his smile. As cheerful and friendly as he seemed, none of it quite reached his eyes.
"Who are you?" Markath growled, and that insincere smile only got wider.
"My name is Max Dieter," the man said. "I'm going to be leading this expedition for RyaTech, so I'm pretty good at finding my way around. If you're looking for the Marsport Clinic, then you need to be heading in that direction. Take the first left and you'll be right on top of it."
Dieter pointed, and Markath followed his gesture dubiously. This man didn't seem like a scout or prospector, he was too polished. Too precise. Even his suit showed it, in perfect condition and painted with a complex design that it was impossible to imagine he'd had a hand in himself. This man might be leading the mission, but Markath wouldn't trust him to navigate.
Still, it was a start, and if Dieter was wrong about the way to the clinic he could always ask someone else. Listening to the human's directions, he took careful note of them and prepared to head off.
"I wish you luck out there," he said as he turned to leave, trying to be polite. At least in Hannah's case, he meant it. He didn't relish the idea of waiting in a crowded street for Amanda to appear, but at least it wouldn't be as awkward as standing around with these humans. But before he had taken five steps, a shouted word stopped him.
"Hannah!" The shout cut through the noise of the crowded port, and Markath turned to see Amanda shoving her way determinedly through the crowd and waving. Markath felt his heart swell at the sight of her and growled at himself for that reaction. Seeing Amanda again only inflamed his confusing feelings. But that was what he had come here to confront.
