Icarus Rising

by Bernadette Gardner

  pushing forward relentlessly through the darkening sky.

  "There!" Caleb tried to reach the creature, who now shared

  both his mind and his body, and guide it toward the flickering

  light, but he got no response. Eventually he lost the battle to

  keep his eyes open and he drifted off, lost in dreams of warm

  water engulfing his aching limbs and an overwhelming desire

  to sink down beneath the waves and sleep forever.

  It seemed like only a second had passed before he woke

  up, choking on salt water and tasting gritty sand. His eyes

  seemed to be glued shut, and his body weighed a thousand

  kilos.

  He tried to push himself up, but apparently someone had

  thrown a heavy blanket over his back. The damp covering

  held him trapped against the ground. Its rough texture on his

  back itched and irritated him. Who would have thought to put

  something so uncomfortable on him?

  Since he didn't posses the strength to sit up, he

  concentrated on crawling out from under the sodden mass.

  Clawing his hands into the sand, he threw every ounce of his

  remaining strength into hauling his exhausted body across

  the beach. He groaned with the effort but made no progress.

  It almost seemed as if the blanket was secured to his body.

  After several tries, he gave up and lay panting. Realization

  came upon him slowly. Soaked from having landed in the

  water, his wings held him pinned to the sand. He

  remembered seeing the ocean racing toward him, his feet

  hitting the ground, and then his body collapsing at the water's

  edge.

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  Icarus Rising

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  The first few waves had washed over his head, and he

  recalled welcoming the momentary silence.

  Fortunately, the tide had receded, and each subsequent

  wave had swirled over less and less of his body. Now only his

  toes felt wet. The breakers tickled them, or maybe it was a

  legion of marauding sand crabs preparing to feast on his

  flesh.

  "Help me..." A surge of panic at the thought of being eaten

  alive forced the words from his lungs, followed by an

  explosive cough. At least he'd made it to the beach.

  Someone would hear him eventually. Assuming of course

  he'd managed, in his blind, delirious flight, to reach the island

  he'd been trying to find.

  Hours past, it seemed, while he lay contemplating his fate.

  The symbion seemed to be dead. He sensed nothing from it,

  only a dull pain at the nape of his neck told him the creature

  was still connected to his body.

  It would have to be surgically removed, a process that, at

  best, would leave Caleb paralyzed. For all he knew, maybe he

  already was.

  "Cleb ... Calb..." A muffled voiced reached him before he

  could sink further into despair. His ears must be full of water.

  He didn't recognize the voice, but it sounded like a woman.

  "Omigod ... are you ohh ... cleb ... can you heeeer meee?"

  He opened his mouth to respond and sand showered

  across his tongue. He sputtered, and the disembodied voice

  shrieked.

  "Omigodmsorry ... clebcanyooo ... hear meee?"

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  Icarus Rising

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  "I ken ... I ken..." He spat out sand and cautiously pried

  one eyelid open, fearing more sand would be kicked into his

  face.

  Cool hands brushed the crusted particles from his cheek

  and forehead, and finally he caught a glimpse of his savior.

  Zara!

  Oh no. Why did it have to be her? Why did she have to be

  the one to find him like this, helpless and broken, his useless

  body imprisoned under the corpse of his symbion?

  "Zara..."

  "Lie still. I'll call for help."

  "Noph ... no. Pleeeze..."

  "Caleb, you've been gone for ten hours."

  He wasn't sure why that mattered, but he knew he didn't

  want everyone from the research station crowding around

  him like they had during his disastrous joining ritual. The

  embarrassment would kill him much faster than lying here

  and rotting under the dead weight of his water-logged wings.

  Zara seemed to be digging her way beneath his body,

  scooping great armfuls of sand from under his left shoulder.

  Maybe she was going to bury him. Smart girl. Hide the body

  and spare him any further humiliation.

  "Humph?"

  She ignored his question and continued to dig while

  muttering to herself or to him, he wasn't sure. "Dead ... no

  one expected to find you alive." Rather than push him into

  the hole she'd formed beneath his upper body, though, she

  levered her own shoulder under his and with a mighty heave,

  pushed him over onto his side.

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  Icarus Rising

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  Now he remembered he was naked and cold, but at least it

  was dark.

  On her hands and knees before him, Zara peered into his

  face. Finally a rush of hot water drained from his right ear

  into the sand, and he shivered with the return of normal

  sound. At least he was able to hear her next question clearly.

  "Are you in pain?"

  He nodded. He'd been mostly numb up until this minute.

  Now his whole body ached, and the ache became fiery agony

  as his raw, exhaustion-deadened nerve endings began to

  wake up.

  "Takemehome."

  "Dr. Danson's waiting at the station. He'll have everything

  ready to help you."

  Danson. Oh shit. He was in trouble. The worst had

  happened, and it was Caleb's fault for not telling Danson the

  whole truth.

  "No!" His shout startled Zara. She slid an arm under his

  and lifted his upper body onto her lap.

  "What is it? What's wrong?"

  "No Danson ... not yet. I need..."

  "What? What do you need?"

  "Female?"

  His symbion woke then, and the nearly instantaneous

  transition from lifelessness to full sexual awareness left Caleb

  shaking. Behind him, his wings began to fold of their own

  accord, dragging furrows of wet sand with them.

  Strength surged through every muscle in his body,

  including a few he wished would remain asleep. Undone by

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  the wave of emotions building in his brain, Caleb pushed

  himself out of Zara's embrace and scrambled into a crouch on

  the sand. His wings quivered, casting drops of water and grit

  everywhere before settling themselves against his back.

  Confused, he stared at her, and she stared back.

  "Caleb—"

  "I feel better. I'm all right."

  Her gazed dipped to the massive erection now rising

  between his legs, and she blushed. He wondered how he

  could see the increased color of her cheeks so well in the dim

  starlight. He hadn't expected to acquire Icarian night vision

  along with his wings—that was a trait native to the dominant

  race, not the symbions. Yet as Caleb's glance darted around

&n
bsp; to the narrow strip of sand beneath the lighthouse station, he

  realized the silvery light from above was more than adequate

  for him to see every detail of the scene.

  Ocean spray glittered on the nearby jetty rocks like a net

  of diamonds. At the edge of the water, tiny crabs worked

  their claws into the damp sand, digging up the minute

  shellfish roe that lay a few centimeters beneath the

  constantly shifting surface.

  Zara's hazel eyes were dilated into wide pools of curious

  black rimmed by thin rings of green—the same color as the

  sand. Her sleeveless shirt was wet and clung to her breasts.

  Under his brash scrutiny, her nipples began to harden.

  Motivated by this sudden, uncontrolled rush of desire,

  Caleb forced himself to look away. "I need to be alone," he

  said. "I'm not ready to go back to the station."

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  Icarus Rising

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  "But everyone's looking for you. Jidar has been in the air

  all day."

  On the heels of his arousal, anger boiled up, laced with an

  unnatural fear that he knew came from the symbion. This

  particular one had been captured once and examined by

  Danson. The geneticist had done his best to cause as little

  pain as possible while collecting blood and DNA samples from

  the terrified creature, but still it recalled the discomfort and

  uncertainty of its brief captivity at the research station along

  with the somewhat forced nature of its bonding. Caleb

  suspected it would balk at returning to the lab now while it

  was still recovering from their manic virgin flight.

  "I can't now, Zara. I need time."

  "Female?" The symbion wanted Zara, almost as much as

  Caleb did. It craved release too as an outlet for the

  unregulated flow of unfamiliar hormones from its new host

  body.

  Caleb fought the urge to lunge across the beach and tackle

  her.

  "Okay." Zara put her hands up in a calming gesture. "We

  can rest here for a little while, and when you're ready to go

  back—"

  "No!" He straightened to his full height, his wings sweeping

  out to the side. All he needed to do was jump into the air, and

  his symbion would take him far away again where no one

  could hurt either of them.

  Zara backed away a step, which put her foot right into the

  depression she'd dug in the sand. With a gasp, she toppled

  backward.

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  Caleb's human instinct was to reach for her and break her

  fall, but his reflexes worked too fast for his brain. His wings

  flapped once, propelling him forward. Instinctively, he

  scooped Zara up under her arms and lifted her off the ground

  before she could fall.

  Two more strokes and they rose above the beach, clearing

  ten meters in the blink of an eye.

  Triumph washed through Caleb's brain. The symbion had

  proudly captured a mate and was now searching for a quiet,

  secluded place to claim its prize.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  41

  Icarus Rising

  by Bernadette Gardner

  Chapter Five

  Zara's heart leapt into her throat the moment her feet left

  the ground. One minute she'd been tumbling backward in the

  uneven sand, and the next she found herself careening over

  the dark beach, suspended in Caleb's arms.

  For a moment she couldn't speak. Fear of plummeting to

  the jagged rocks of the jetty held her mute. How did Caleb

  have the strength to lift himself, let alone her, into the air

  after a ten-hour flight?

  She didn't dare struggle for fear he'd lose his grip, so she

  held her breath and tensed all her muscles, hoping to make

  herself a little bit lighter, at least until he cleared the rocks.

  Finally, when he swooped lower toward the sand, she was

  able to squeak out her demands. "Put me ... Caleb! Put me

  down."

  Some of the other research-station staff had flown with

  Icarians on occasion, but she'd never accepted an invitation

  to soar over the ocean. Now, looking down at the undulating

  waves, she understood the awe her colleagues had felt, yet

  she still clung to her belief that this was not a safe or

  effective way to travel. For humans, at least.

  "Caleb! Please."

  In response, he banked to the south, carrying them once

  again over the jetty and passing the spot where she'd found

  him washed ashore. The tiny, little-used southeastern beach

  fell away as Caleb climbed higher into the air. Low scrub

  replaced soft sand, and Zara tensed again. A patch of

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  Icarus Rising

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  brambles half a kilometer wide separated the beach from the

  southern living quarters. Half a dozen individual bungalows

  provided private and shared living space for members of the

  station staff. Another dozen small buildings took up the

  northern side of the island running along the station's only

  paved road.

  Don't drop me now, she prayed as the scraggly foliage

  loomed beneath her bare feet. Her shoes had fallen off when

  they'd first left the ground. If she fell now, not only would the

  stiff, sharp-edged leaves of the brambles cut her skin to

  ribbons, their gnarled roots would be impossible to walk over

  without protection.

  "Caleb!"

  The first of the bungalows came into view, a pale, boxy

  shape against the blue-green sea grass that took over where

  the bramble patch ended.

  This was Caleb's home and he was heading toward it.

  Zara tightened her grip on Caleb's arms. Did he know how

  to land while carrying someone? If she called out for help

  would anyone hear her? All the bungalows stretching west in

  the line along the island's rugged southern coast were dark.

  No lights blazed from within any of the cubical structures. Not

  surprising. Everyone was probably at the lab complex, waiting

  anxiously for news from the Icarian search parties.

  It didn't matter. Once Caleb set her down, if that was his

  intention, she could run inside his hut and use the radio to

  call the lab.

  Again, Caleb banked, circling above his quarters. Once he

  came around the small square of asphalt in front of the

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  bungalow, he dropped quickly and set Zara down. Her feet

  touched the ground with no greater impact than if she'd

  simply taken a step, and Caleb slipped his arms from beneath

  hers. He soared over her head and landed himself a few feet

  in front of her.

  Awed by his instinctive skill, she gawked at the sight he

  made. A magnificent winged man, naked and muscular—he

  looked like an angel.

  During her tenure at the station, Zara had grown

  accustomed to the spectacle of winged humanoids, but now,

  staring at Caleb, she had a new appreciation for the exotic

  beauty of this race. />
  Her heart thundered, and something warm stirred in her

  belly when he turned to face her. She licked her lips

  involuntarily at the sight of his still semi-erect cock.

  Unbidden, her thoughts returned to those few chaotic

  moments of his joining when, at the mercy of a wave of alien

  biochemistry, he'd experienced a violent orgasm under her

  touch.

  Her face heated, and she looked away. "That was ...

  amazing, but please, don't do it again."

  He took one step toward her then stopped, seeming to

  battle with himself over whether he wanted to come any

  closer. "I'm sorry. It was a reflex. My symbion took over."

  She nodded and wondered who was in charge of his

  actions now. How much of Caleb's will remained, and how

  much influence did the alien now fused to his body have over

  his actions?

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  Icarus Rising

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  "Let's go inside," he said. "I don't want them to find me."

  He didn't wait for her response, just whirled around and

  stalked toward the entrance of his bungalow.

  Zara watched his strong, confident strides. Minutes ago

  he'd been unconscious, lying face down in the sand. When

  she'd first realized the dark form sprawled on the beach was

  him, she'd been certain he was dead. His body had been ice

  cold to the touch and eerily still before he'd taken one

  convulsive breath and miraculously come back to life.

  Now he seemed completely recovered, physically hale and

  mentally in command. If only she could believe it was true.

  She'd witnessed his disastrous joining, and she believed, just

  as Ray Danson did, that Caleb's ordeal was far from over.

  She could have run now to the next bungalow. It would be

  open since no one used locks on the island. She could call the

  lab with the radio there, or she could merely take off on her

  still-trembling legs and head down the paved road toward the

  bulbous western end of the island where the lab buildings lay.

  Instead she bowed her head and resolutely followed Caleb

  into the hut.

  Her first obligation was to him as her patient. He wanted

  privacy and a reprieve from the questions and tests that

  awaited him once Danson found out he'd returned. She had a

  duty to give him what he wanted, what he needed, no matter

  what the consequences for anyone else.