by Jean Kilczer
“Aw,” Chancey said, “ain't that a picture? The mommy, the daddy, an' the fur ball.”
“I'll fucking get you, Chancey.” But sleep got to me first.
* * *
It was daylight when I awoke. But the sun was further back in the east than when I'd fallen asleep. I tried to make sense of that as I stretched and pulled off the blanket. I sat up and scratched my head. Wait! I felt the back of my head. No, they hadn't given me a haircut.
Sophia approached with a dish and a cup and that wide smile that always made me want to crawl inside her and make her part of me. Instead, I just smiled back.
She sat down beside me and laid the plate of nuts and dried fruit from our dwindling supply, a slab of fresh roasted meat, and the cup of berrybru between us. “Hungry?” she asked and kissed my cheek.
“I could eat a drak, but I'll settle for this.”
She picked up the digestall tablet from the plate. “Don't forget the entrée. The meat is native fare.”
I swallowed the tablet with a sip of berrybru. “What time is it?”
She grinned. “You mean what day is it? Feeling better?”
I chewed some raisins and nuts. “I slept right through?”
She nodded and stroked my cheek. “You did. How do you feel?”
I took stock of myself. “Great.”
“No, uh, nightmares?”
“None that I can recall.”
“You see, Bat was right.” She brushed hair back off my forehead.
“He always is.”
“Sometimes you're such a kid.”
I saw Bat glance at us from where he worked with a group of young Orghes to build an adobe hut. I waved to him. He waved back. Joe and Chancey had their heads under the jeep's hood. Huff sat with four fishermen and used his long hooked claws to help gut their catch. The warriors were busy sharpening spears and making arrows.
“Looks like they're gearing up for a fight,” I said.
“It's inevitable, Jules. Oldore refuses to sit back and let the mercenaries pick off his people one by one.”
I speared the slab of meat, bit into it and chewed “I can't blame him. Damn, this is good. But they'll be marching into the mouth of Hell.”
“And of course you'll be leading them.” I saw a tear escape her eye and wiped it with a thumb. “I'm so afraid I'll lose you,” she said.
“Soph, if I can execute Big Mack, there's a good chance his mercs will pack their bags and leave without further deaths.”
“Why does it always have to be you?”
I shrugged. “I guess because I've been blessed with this great gift of tel power.” I smiled.
She touched my lips. “When you smile, I want to crawl right inside you.”
“Funny, I was thinking the same thing.” I laid down, slid my hand behind her neck, under that bloom of raven hair, moved aside the plate, the cup, and drew her down beside me. I stroked the curve of her hips as she lay on her side and leaned over to kiss her.
“You know,” I said, “this is a big blanket.” Her closeness was enough to start a fire in my loins.
“So?”
“It could cover a multitude of sins.”
“You're a pervert. I swear, Jules, you'd make love in Times Square.”
“Never been there, but if we get the chance someday…”
She laughed.
“I love your laugh.” I kissed her full on her lips.
“I love you, Jules Rammis, Terran of Earth.”
I got my hand under her jacket, her shirt, and unhooked her bra. The fire flared up.
“Oh, you must be happy to see me,” she said as I pressed her against me.
I kissed her neck and cupped her breast in my hand under the blanket.
She nibbled my ear. “I could eat you like a candy bar.”
“Why don't you?”
She lifted a corner of the short blanket. “Because the wrapper isn't big enough.”
I pulled her on top of me. “I'd like to make you my sweet wrapper.”
She looked around. “Jules, people are staring at us.”
“They're probably jealous.”
She stood up suddenly, grabbed my wrist and yanked me to my feet. “I know a place.”
“Oh?”
“There's an opening in that limestone cliff.” She nodded toward it. “Not much more than a slit.”
“I'm up for a slit.”
“Pervert. C'mon.”
I let her lead me there.
Joe and Chancey looked up as we walked past the jeep.
Joe wiped his hands on a rag. “Going to the woods to pee again?”
“No, we'll be back,” Sophia told him.
Chancey gave me his lopsided grin.
I ignored him and we walked to the cliff.
“Oh no!” I said.
“What?”
I nodded toward Huff, who had left the fishermen and was trotting toward us on all fours. “C'mon!”
We squeezed into the narrow opening of the cliff. “He'll never fit in here,” Sophia said.
I held my crotch. “I might not either!”
But the slit widened. We brushed aside crumbled rock and the bones of small animals in the filtered light from outside.
“We should've brought the blanket,” Sophia said. “There could be bugspiders.”
I took off my jacket and spread it out on the dusty ground. “I'll be your wrapper.” The fire within me was fueled when I kissed her sweet lips, her neck, and gently sucked on her full right breast.
She took my head in her hands. “Oh, babe.” She arched her back and moaned. “You know how to get to a woman.”
We got our shoes and pants off and I laid down on my jacket with her straddling my hips.
“Sophia,” I whispered and drew her down to my chest. “How did I live before I met you?”
She ran her fingers through my hair and pulled up my head to kiss me hard. “You only existed, babe. Like me.”
The fire roared and I entered her. “My sweet Sophia,” I gasped. “My Greek Goddess.”
“My Terran cub!” Huff cried from the entrance to the slit.
“Go away, Huff!” Sophia yelled.
“I cannot. I am stuck between walls.”
“Goddamn him!” Sophia said. “Can't you keep him on a leash? Oh!”
I was deep inside her, moving faster. “Forget him,” I gasped. “He's stuck.”
I rolled Sophia under me. We both forgot about debris and spiders as the fire overwhelmed us.
We lay there locked, panting. I came again and brought her to another orgasm."
She held me against her. “I'm going to make sure you always get a good night's sleep!”
“Jules,” Huff cried pathetically. “I am like the dire flapper between two ice floes.”
“Jesus and Vishnu!” I stood up and got into my pants and shoes. “Let's get the poor bastard out of there before he goes into shock.”
“Someday I'm going to…” Sophia pulled up her pants and put on her shoes.
“Ah, you don't mean it. I'm coming, Huff.”
I pushed on Huff's shoulder and hip and popped him out of the slit.
“You know, Huff,” I said, “you don't have to follow me every place I go.”
He sat down and licked his scraped belly. “I did not want to lose you again the way I lost you when you left the village to pee.”
“I promise, Huff, next time I go into the woods to pee, I'll come back. OK?”
He nodded and followed Sophia and me to the blanket. “Now I could eat two draks.” I sat down to my meal.
Huff put a heavy forepaw on my shoulder. “I do not myself need draks to travel. I already have these four paws, my cub, but the people need…”
“Just kidding, Huff,” I said gently. “I promise, I won't eat any of the draks.”
“That is good to better.” He watched me finish my meal.
Sophia shook out the blanket. “You should teach him what a figure of speech means.”
“I dou
bt it would take.”
“I guess if I want the Terran cub,” she folded the blanket, “I'll have to tolerate his mother, too.” She leaned over and kissed my head.
“I am a male Vegan.” Huff pulled up his belly pouch. “Beneath my pouch I have a–”
“Never mind!” Sophia put up a hand to block her eyes. “I believe you.” She slid me an angry look, I guess because I was laughing so hard.
She picked up the empty dish and cup. “Someday, I swear –” “I'll wash my dishes,” I said.
“No! Let me. I need a change of scenery.” She stomped off toward the stream.
I waited an hour for her to return.
She didn't.
Chapter Twenty Two
“Joe,” I called. “Chancey!” I trotted to the jeep. They had closed the hood. Joe was wiping his hands on a rag. “Did either of you see Sophia? She went to the stream to wash some dishes.”
They glanced at each other.
“I saw her walking down there,” Chancey said and shrugged. “But that was–”
“You checked the stream?” Joe asked me.
“Sure. And the camp. She's not…I can't find her, Joe!”
He threw down the rag and slid into the driver's seat. “Get in.”
The claw of fear I had been feeling suddenly grew into a talon that dug beneath my rib cage. “You think–”I couldn't catch my breath. I sat next to Joe. Chancey got in beside me.
Huff saw us and left the fishermen to lope to the jeep and jump into the rear compartment. I turned to look at him. He must have read the expression on my face.
“I am here, Jules.” He put a forepaw on the rear seat. “I am here with you.”
I nodded and felt tears slide down my cheeks.
“Hey!” Bat called. “Wait for me.” He picked up his medkit, which was always by his side.
Joe started the jeep and swung it around to meet Bat as he strode toward us. He got into the rear seat.
“Did you see Sophia?” I asked him. “She went to the stream to… I can't find her, Bat!”
“I saw her this morning,” he said, “when she was sitting with y'all on the blanket.”
“There's Oldore,” Chancey pointed to him.
The Orghe leader was surrounded by his warriors, including Galrin, as he talked to his general, golden-furred Sunrai.
I stood up in the jeep and held onto the windshield. “Oldore!” I called as Joe approached him and stopped. My hand trembled on the rim. “Have you seen Sophia?”
“I saw her,” Oldore walked over, “when she brought you a meal earlier in this day.”
“Not since then?” I asked.
“No.” He looked at his group of warriors and hooted.
They shook their heads.
“Not since then,” Sunrai said.
“Perhaps she went for a stroll?” Oldore suggested.
“No!” I said. “She wouldn't do that!”
“Sit down, son.” Joe pulled on my sleeve and I sat down.
Oldore turned to his warriors. “Search for her, my breths, and if you find her, send out a calling to say that she is safe.”
The warriors hooted and dispersed. Galrin climbed into the rear seat of the jeep. “I am still duty-bound to be your sim, Terran Jules, to serve you in any way that you wish for a turning of the moon.”
“OK.” I sat back and tried to slow my breathing.
Chancey patted my shoulder. “We'll find her.”
But we didn't.
We called her name over and over through the thick woods, and scared winged creatures from their roosts in trees and small animals that skittered and hopped to safe dens. We ventured further than she could have walked from the time she went missing.
I clutched my jacket at my throat and stared straight ahead, sick in my heart as Joe maneuvered the jeep back to the stream to search there again. My breath shuddered in my throat. Chancey put his arm across my backrest.
“This is a nightmare,” I whispered.
“Take it easy, son,” Joe said softly, “the light plays tricks in these woods. It's easy to get lost.”
I spread my hands across my temples and probed again for her mind pattern, but all I received were the simple thoughts of animals. “She's gone, Joe!”
“We'll keep searching,” he said grimly.
“How many more days,” I asked, “until the ship comes to pick you up?”
“To pick us up.” He sucked his lip. “Two more.”
I laid my head back and stared at the sky…what was that creature wheeling overhead in the afternoon light? “Oh, no! A Shayl!”
Joe braked hard.
Another Shayl joined the first, and then more.
“Looks like reconnaissance,” Chancey said.
And then a Shayl joined the group carrying a limp Terran form in his arms.
I stood up in the jeep and clasped the windshield so hard in both hands, the metal dug into my palms.
The Shayls turned and flew toward Mack's base camp.
“They've got her!” I rasped. “Oh my God, they've got her, Dad!”
* * *
I felt numb during the ride back to our camp. The warriors had returned and were gathered around Oldore.
“Wait here,” Joe told me and went to talk to Oldore.
I started to get out of the jeep. Chancey grabbed my arm. “You heard what the boss said. He knows what he's doing.”
I sat back down, too drained to argue, and continued to scan the empty sky. “Do you think she's still alive? I didn't feel her kwaii leave this plane of existence.”
“Jules,” Bat put a hand on my shoulder, “they wouldn't be taking her back to their base if she was dead.”
“No. I guess not.”
“It's you they want,” Galrin said.
“We know that, kid.” Chancey threw him a hard look. “Now shut up about it.”
Galrin was right! I hadn't been thinking straight. It was me they wanted. Sophia was the bait. The Shayls had wanted us to see them, to see Sophia being carried back to their base camp.
Joe was still talking to Oldore while his warriors moved closer to listen. Let them talk. Let them plan all they wanted. I knew what I had to do.
“I don't like that look in your eyes,” Chancey told me. “What've you got in mind?”
“Just waiting for Joe,” I mumbled, and lowered my head.
“I don't think so.” Chancey's arm, around my backrest, suddenly tightened as he closed his hand on the shoulder of my jacket.
“Bubba,” Bat grabbed the collar of my jacket, “let's listen to what Joe has to say, OK?”
I unzipped my jacket in one motion, pulled out of it, and slid into the empty driver's seat. “You listen, Bat,” I said. “I'm beyond listening!”
I threw myself out of the jeep, rolled and got to my feet. Chancey followed and tackled me. I hit the ground hard, with the wind knocked out of me.
“Don't fight me.” Chancey tried to pin my arms to my sides. I pulled one free, made a tight fist, and hit him hard. He rolled off me with a grunt, but was quickly on his feet. He grabbed my shirt and drew back a fist. Before he could swing, Huff slammed into him and sent him sprawling. I scrambled to my feet, unholstered my stingler, spun it to stun and aimed at Chancey.
“Don't do it, man!” He thrust an open hand forward. “Mack's just lookin' to snuff you.”
“That's my decision.” I swung the gun to aim at Bat. “Get out!”
“Can't do it, bubba. You might need me.”
He was unarmed. I jumped into the jeep and Huff followed. “Get out, Galrin!”
He wiped a hand across his eyes. “I am duty-bound.”
“Whatever the hell!” I put the jeep in gear and floored it as Joe and Oldore trotted toward us.
Chancey ran full out and jumped into the back seat.
“Don't try to stop me,” I shouted to him. “I'll sic Huff on you.”
“Wouldn't think of it, man. I'm just along for the ride. Wait fer Joe an' Oldore.”
“Joe's sneaky,” I called and headed in the direction of Mack's base camp. “He'd lie, and find a way to stop me.”
“He's probably right,” Bat said.
“There's no right here, Bat, or wrong. There's only saving Sophia's life.”
“Will you die in order to save her?” Galrin asked me.
“I'll try not to, Galrin. I'll sure try not to.”
Huff howled a plaintive chant. Perhaps a requiem.
* * *
Leave the jeep and walk to the gate alone, Jules of Terra, Evrill sent as we approached Big Mack's base camp. Anything less or more and the Terran woman will die by my employer's orders.
I stopped the jeep. Where is she? I sent. Is she all right? I'll do what you say. Just tell Big Mack not to hurt her!
“What's happening, man?” Chancey asked me.
“She…she's alive,” I said. “They've got her.” Is she all right? I sent.
Follow his orders. She is only anomalous in her thoughts and emotions. Scared and sad, you would call it. Her physical body is unharmed, as yet. She is watching you and prays that you will save her life.
I need assurance that if I surrender to Big Mack, he'll let her go, unharmed.
That is not to be. Give yourself up. She will be turned free after all the island Orghes are terminated.
“I have to surrender to Mack,” I told the group, “or he'll kill her. I don't have a choice.”
“He'll kill you,” Chancey said.
Why does Mack want me? I sent. You're a more powerful telepath than I am.
True. But I cannot infiltrate the Orghe warriors' camp by the white cliff and the running stream. Only you can do that. He has a vial of poison so deadly that one drop on their food will produce death within minutes.
Oh God. “He wants me alive,” I told Chancey.
“What for?” Chancey asked.
What if I don't agree, Evrill?
You know the consequences.
Turn your eyes to the sky if you do not believe the urgency of your woman's situation.
I hesitated, afraid of what I'd see. But finally I looked up. “Oh no,” I murmured. A Shayl was circling, high in the afternoon sky, grasping a figure beneath him. “Sophia…”
Must I describe her death to you? Evrill sent. I do not like this killing work! Must I send you an image of how her body will appear when she hits the land?
