“They left to go to another part of the planet and get permits. They were only supposed to be gone an hour or two.” He glanced at his watch which showed that he had been on Ocean for over five hours now. It felt longer.
“They might be back soon then, but we can’t wait outside,” Reese said and touched his jacket. “Your clothes aren’t temperature-controlled, are they?”
“No.” That explained why Reese hadn’t seemed affected by the cold of the cell – some clothes had nano-tech that let them change their temperature and appearance. Nick had never been able to afford anything like that, though, and he couldn’t stop shivering. “We’d better find somewhere to spend the night – a motel or whatever this planet’s equivalent is.”
“Too late – the slavers somehow freed themselves.”
Nick followed Reese’s gaze and saw one of the slimy aliens back amongst the dark shapes of the buildings. As he looked, another joined the first and they began to race towards the humans. Nick felt a jolt of fear that was even sharper than the piercing cold. He broke into a run, Reese doing the same to stay at his side, both moving as fast as they could through thick snow that slowed their movements and ice that constantly threatened to make them slip over. The crunch of their feet in the snow and sound of his own breathing muffled any noise that the slavers made so that Nick had no idea whether or not their pursuers were gaining on them.
They were forced to head away from the town which meant that, even if they weren’t taken captive again, they would be outside as the temperature dropped even further and might not survive the night.
Chapter Seven
THEY HAD got away from their hunters at last but slowing to a walk made Nick start shivering again. With the slavers close by they couldn’t risk lighting a fire – if one would even burn in such damp surroundings – and there was still no sign of the ship’s return. Either they had been delayed or had got into trouble or the captain really had decided to ditch Nick. He and Reese had no one but themselves to rely on for the moment and he was filled with gratitude for Reese’s presence. “We gotta find somewhere to shelter fast.”
“Agreed.” Reese looked round. “A cabin would be perfect but I can’t see any kind of dwelling.”
From what he had read about it before they landed, the planet was largely uninhabited – which made sense when ninety percent of it was water and the rest was like this – so he thought they’d be lucky to find anywhere so welcoming. The town of Seaspray, where they had come from, was behind them and the moving darkness to their right was the ocean. On the other two sides were vast areas of snow-covered land, which had its own variety of dark green gorse and stunted grey trees, all of it loomed over by snow-capped mountains of varying sizes. Seeing the latter gave him an idea.
“We could find a cave in the mountains or it least an overhanging rock to shelter beneath.”
Reese nodded his agreement. “Good idea.”
They turned and slogged through the dry snow as night began to descend, darkening the thick shadows where any number of slavers might be hiding. Or other creatures. Nick didn’t know if there were any dangerous beasts on the planet and, given that they had no choice about sleeping out here, he decided that he really didn’t want to know.
They reached a mountain. There was no sign of a cave so they settled for an area right beneath the edifice, with rock overhead that also jotted out to one side. Reese used his gloved hands to clear away the snow on the ground, to give them a dry resting place, while Nick found stones large enough to jam against the rock, until they were sheltered on three sides.
When he leaned down and came into the refuge he found that Reese had spread a blanket over the ground that he must have had in his bag and was taking off his coat.
“What are you doin’?” Nick objected. “You need that.”
He sat down beside Reese, who inched closer until they were touching. “We both need it. I’ve increased the temperature of the nano-heaters so the coat should keep us warm enough to manage for tonight.” He pulled the coat over them both and a moan of pleasure escaped Nick’s lips as he was surrounded by heat. “Are your hands and feet all right?”
They had been aching and feeling increasingly sore from the cold. His mittens at least were waterproof but he had felt snow getting into his boots ever since he stepped foot onto the planet. He pulled off the woolly mittens and Reese began to rub his red fingers with a slow, gentle rhythm designed to bring sensation back to them. Nick gritted his teeth as feeling returned to his own hands with a pins and needles kind of pain but, between the steady warmth from the coat and Reese’s massage, the pain soon began to fade and he found himself enjoying the unexpected contact.
Reese let go of his hands and moved forward, leaving his coat over Nick, then eased off first one and then the other of Nick’s boots.
“I can do that,” Nick said hastily, reaching out to stop him. “You don’t wanna get too close to my smelly feet.”
“They’re close to getting frostbite,” Reese said once he had got the socks off them. Their grey colour was a bit worrying but Nick was still embarrassed – why did Reese have to pick the least attractive part of him to get personal with?
“Hmm, you have large feet. What does that indicate again?” Reese looked him over with a teasing leer and Nick laughed, despite himself, drawn to this man who was always quick to smile and lighten the mood. Reese had both Nick’s feet on his lap now and began to rub life back into the first.
“It means that you have too much imagination,” Nick said, trying to ignore the first jolting pains as the foot Reese was touching felt worse as the feeling returned.
“Is there such a thing?”
“Perhaps not for you but my life seems to keep demanding that I be practical and worry about the basic needs in life.”
“And does worrying help?”
He made a non-committal sound, the comment a bit too close to home.
Reese tickled the foot he held, making Nick squirm and swat at his hand. “You know, many people would consider a massage like this to be foreplay.”
“Would they?” The prospect wasn’t an alarming one and, by the time Reese pulled fresh woollen socks over Nick’s now warm, recovered feet, Nick would have been happy to discover that this was all a form of foreplay. Sadly, Reese made no affectionate move except to join him under the blissful heat of the coat again and point outside. “Look.”
For a moment, Nick’s gaze remained on the man who sat half in shadow beside him, unable to believe there could be anything he wanted to see more. Reese’s eyes glowed brightly – dancing and expressive – against smooth brown skin and a small perfect mouth was pursed yet tilted upwards, as if concealing some mischievous secret. Nick followed Reese’s gaze and couldn’t help but smile at the world that was revealed to him beyond their sleeping place.
The planet’s rings had come to life while they were setting up the shelter, glittering with light like a circle made of stars and showing more colours than Nick had ever seen at one time. They shone down on the snowy planet which, for once, looked like something out of a festive song instead of being a source of misery to him. The pale landscape had a soft glow and the colours from the rings – gold and bronze in one moment, changing to silver and an almost electric blue the next – were reflected palely on the snow. He had never seen such beauty and it filled him with pleasure and awe to witness it.
Nick couldn’t get to his ship and there were people who wanted to enslave him in the vicinity, but sitting here, leaning against Reese, with such a sight laid out in front of him, he felt more relaxed and cared for than he had in years.
Chapter Eight
IT SNOWED in the night and the world that had seemed so hauntingly beautiful the previous evening was going to be almost impossible for them to traverse, but Reese knew that they had no choice. They had lasted until the morning but Nick couldn’t survive outside for much longer in such freezing temperatures.
He stood beside their shelter in the th
ick snow and Nick joined him to say, “I don’t know if there are any other towns within walking distance and my ship should be back at any time, so I think we should return to Seaspray, if that’s okay with you.”
“I have no better plan.”
Nick looked round. “All that running about last night got me kinda confused but, if the sea’s there, the town has to be in that direction, right?” He gestured to the iron-grey of the ocean and then into the snowy landscape ahead of them, half hidden by a layer of orange fog.
Reese took a pair of shades from the inside pocket of his long coat and slipped them on. “Glasses, show a map of the area,” he said and a digital image appeared on the dark lenses with various locations marked. “Zoom in and tell me how to get back to Seaspray.”
The computerised glasses spoke in its friendly masculine voice. “You are one point eight miles north-west from the town of Seaspray. It will take you approximately two hours to reach there by foot. Be careful not to slip on the icy surface of the rocks.”
He slipped off the glasses and put them away. “We’re further out than I thought we’d come. I’ve got some snacks in my bag so we should eat breakfast before leaving.” They would need plenty of energy for the trek and he wished Nick had some clothes that were better designed for such weather. Nick was a tall slim man, gangly in a cute way, and lacked the muscle tone that made this easier for Reese. And the temperature-controlled coat – that certainly made a difference. It had seemed like an expensive luxury when he bought it but it was paying him back now.
They headed back into their temporary refuge, bending down to get into the small space without hitting their heads or arms, and he searched his rucksack, producing an energy drink, several meal-bars that had travelled from Earth with him and a packet of biscuits he had bought yesterday.
“Here.” He handed Nick a meal-bar and opened the biscuits, helping himself to one and putting the packet down on the blanket between them.
“Thanks.” Nick ate with gusto since neither of them had been offered any food by the slavers. He was better-looking than his holo-photo had led Reese to expect with an old-world kind of beauty, like a medieval hero painted on some ancient ceiling. After their prison adventure, he clearly trusted Reese, which was good, although it made him feel a twinge of guilt. It would be better for them both when they were aboard The Prince and he could get his job done, so he hoped that the ship would land soon.
“How did you end up on Ocean?” Nick asked.
“I was travelling with friends, looking for a job while they took a vacation,” he said, using the lie he’d come up with yesterday, “and when they headed off to party on Disco World Three I caught a lift with another ship, paying them to let me accompany them. I guess they got a better deal from the slavers, though, as they left me here.”
“That’s terrible.”
“It could have been worse. I met you.” He gave a flirtatious smile, partly to distract Nick from asking any other questions and partly because he wanted to, and Nick responded with a startled look and a smile of his own. “Did you say you were a detective?”
“Yes. We were hired to solve a murder. At least, we were supposed to be but when I spoke to the family yesterday they said they’d handle it without us. I’m almost certain one of them told the slavers to arrest me, which suggests that person is the killer.”
“What will you do?”
“That’ll be the captain’s decision, although he’ll be mad as hell if he has to leave here without being paid.”
“He can’t blame you for what happened.”
“Wanna bet?” Nick clearly wasn’t a fan of the captain’s although, from what Reese had read, few people were. Prince was attractive – if his holo-photo was accurate – but he was meant to be selfish and greedy. Having given his name to both a spaceship and a detective agency, he clearly wasn’t short on vanity either.
They finished breakfast and Nick got bundled up in as many clothes as he could fit into while Reese just slipped into his heated coat and wished there was a way he could share it with Nick as he had last night. With a flash of inspiration, he held out the blanket he had been about to put away. “Put this over your jacket – I’ll turn its computer back on so that it adjusts its heat to keep you warm.”
Nick gave him a look of gratitude and did as Reese had suggested, then glanced back at the tiny shelter. Reese wondered if he was thinking – as Reese was – how good it had felt to curl up in each other’s arms last night.
They left it and found that the snow was up to their knees now. Reese stepped into it and sank down, feeling an icy dampness soaking into his trousers. “The sooner we get to Seaspray, the sooner we’ll be warm,” he said and was sure he could see Nick repeating this as a mantra in his mind as they kept going.
Each step was a chore that made him wobble unsteadily and feel that much colder, even with his coat’s heat. He glanced over at Nick who had a look of frowning determination on his face and was moving at a steady pace. Reese tried to get into a rhythm, although he kept stepping onto a plant or stone – hidden beneath the piles of snow – and nearly tripping. Two miles, he told himself. It was just two miles.
He lost track of time, needing all his concentration for each laboured movement, and didn’t notice when Nick paused until his arm was caught hold of.
He stopped moving, panting from the planet’s thin air and the effort of each movement.
“Look – buildings!”
Reese lifted his head from the mass of almost blinding white around him and saw dark shapes in the distance. He blinked and they solidified into the edge of the town. They had got back. He gave a sigh of relief and his released breath was white like smoke.
Nick scanned the area. “No sign of The Prince though. I can’t believe they’re still not here.”
“Even an extra hour’s delay in space is the equivalent of about a day down here. We’ll have to be careful not to run into the slavers, though. Do you have appearance change tech on any of your clothes?”
Nick grimaced. “No. You?”
Reese set the settings on the control unit attached to his watch and said, “Set my clothes to blend in with Ocean clothes and overlay a new human body.” His coat and the rest of his outfit felt the same but the computer placed a virtual image over the top and he saw thicker, lighter layers of clothes instead of what was actually there. The skin of his hands changed colour, which was always odd, so his face must have changed too. “There. I’ll be safe, so just stick close to me and keep your face lowered until I’ve found us a room.”
Nick gave a nod of agreement.
They walked into the town, amongst buildings that had a clear layer over them and water running down inside it, presumably linked to pipes for heating and drinking water. It gave a waterfall effect to the dark circular buildings. Reese stopped the first person he met – a green alien – for directions to a hotel. Minutes after that they were stepping inside a room with two large comfies that would reform into whatever furniture they needed. He closed the door behind them as Nick touched one of the shapeless blobs and said, “Armchair.”
Beneath his fingers, the structure changed to become a padded chair. He repeated the instruction after touching the other blob and they both sank down wearily. It had taken them close to three hours to get back to Seaspray.
“I’ll go and fetch us some food in a minute,” Reese said, “but we should agree on our next move. We could just stay here and wait or you said your captain won’t be happy to give up the case you came here to solve. The family of the victim know you but not me. What if I try to get a job working for them to gather evidence?”
“It’s too dangerous,” Nick said at once.
“Your captain doesn’t sound like a particularly kind person, so the fact that I helped you escape from prison might not be enough to convince him to let me travel away from here with you. If I’ve made a useful contribution and he thinks I could help with other investigations, he might be more willing. I did used
to work as a detective in Britain.” He added that last part as Nick had still looked uncertain and it was a lie or, at least, half a lie.
“Are you sure you want to take the risk? I can’t go with you since they’ve already seen me and, if my guess is right, one of them is a murderer. I’ll do my best to convince the captain without you needing to do anything else.” Nick was worried about him. Only one other person in his life ever did that and it touched him. Nick seemed far too sweet-natured to be one of the rough-sounding Prince crew and Reese had to remind himself that there was a good reason why he couldn’t trust Nick too much.
“The killer was probably responsible for us both nearly ending up as slaves. A bit of payback sounds good, don’t you think?”
Chapter Nine
REESE LEFT the hotel room he shared with Nick and, using his new altered Ocean-suitable appearance, he freely headed through the streets of people. He had visited the castle yesterday and succeeded in getting a job as an assistant gardener; it wasn’t ideal but it was the only thing available and he could see why no one else wanted it in this weather. Even with his temperature-controlled coat the cold made his face go numb and his eyes sting.
The people – humans and a couple of different alien races – he passed tended to stare fixedly at the ground as if raising their heads was too much of an effort. It couldn’t be easy living on a planet that was constantly trying to either freeze them or drown them and it was still better than Earth. Even though he had an apartment in Holland he often only felt as if he could breathe when he was off-world. A memory intruded: the crack of a whip across his back and the simultaneous pain so intense that his younger self had never been able to hold back the tears, no matter how much he tried.
“Computer Avatar on; visible to me alone.”
Marie appeared, walking beside him. She looked like a middle-aged black woman with dark, friendly eyes, except for her translucent appearance and the fact that other Ocean citizens could walk through her. “Is everything all right, dear?”
No One Likes Humans Page 3
