by Linda Mooney
A handful of supervisors were gathering around Provoker, with schematics and diagrams of the plant, which took up nearly four hundred square miles, to give him a grasp of the enormity of the attempt. As the Guardians shouldered the bulk of the recovery effort, things began to move with more efficiency. Provoker may be a huge pain the backside, Hunter admitted as he delivered another body and saw how smoothly the chaos was being handled, but the man was a genius when it came to strategies and coordinating multiple situations and emergencies.
For the next two hours the sixteen slowly managed to contain the blast, while rescuing and recovering the dead and injured. During that time, everyone was focused on the job, as the lives of innocent workers and engineers depended on them.
StarLight drifted downward, toward a portion of a tank wall that was nearly ten feet thick. Resting on its side, it looked more like a section of a roadway in the middle of the scorched burn mark that was all that remained of this area of the plant. From the corner of her eye she spotted Challenger running in her direction. He waved at her, and she lowered herself to the ground to see what he needed.
“Can you help Corona up in Area Eight?”
“Sure. Where’s that?”
“Hit the sky and head in that direction,” he directed, pointing. “She’ll flash you when you get close.”
Nodding, Star took off, keeping just above the remaining towers so as not to miss Corona’s burst of heat signal. She didn’t have to wait long or look far. The woman had her hands full, keeping an opened vat full of iridite up to temperature. The stuff had to be cooled very slowly, or else it could explode with almost volcanic force. The last thing anyone needed at the moment was to have to deal with large globs of scalding liquid metal flying through the air and landing on them.
Blender stood beside the woman, pushing waves of cool air into the liquid. A few yards away, Provoker stood with a couple of plant supervisors. Seeing her land nearby, he gestured for her to join them.
“Seeker and Hunter have found a small pocket of survivors on the back side of the iridite,” he told her. “The heat’s too intense, but Corona can’t lower the temp any faster than she and Blender already are doing it. Is there any way you can lift the vat of iridite and keep it airborne until we can get out the survivors?”
Star eyed the vat with a worried eye. “Lifting it won’t be the problem. It’s keeping the liquid stuff all in one place. It’ll start spreading the moment I drop the gravitational field, and then I’ll have to concentrate on trying to keep it all scooped together.” She turned back to him. “I wish I could be more positive.”
“Is there another vat we could put the stuff into?” Provoker asked the supervisors.
They shook their heads. “Tanks are built as needed. We don’t keep any spares around.”
“We have to get to those survivors. How many are there?” StarLight tried to figure out a way around their predicament. If there weren’t that many, Bruiser could aide in pulling them to safety. He and Disaster. They were the next two fastest men, after Hunter.
“StarLight!” It was Sender. The woman’s eyes were enormous blue-green mirrors in her face. Her skin was red and rough after close proximity to the raging heat as she helped to transport the injured away from the blast zone. Stumbling to a halt in front of Condemner, Sender bent over, gasping for breath. The fire and heat was sucking all the oxygen out of the air, making every breath feel as if it was being strained through thick soup.
Laying a hand on the woman’s shoulder, Star bent closer to catch her thinned voice. “They need you up front. Hurry!”
Without waiting to ask any further questions, Star lifted from the ground and rushed back in the direction from where the woman had come. Seconds later, she entered a scene of organized pandemonium. Before she had a chance to take in the flurry of frenetic activity, Seeker grabbed her arm the moment her feet touched down.
“You’ve got to lift that mass of molten ore now!” the woman shouted above the din.
“If I do, the stuff will go flying everywhere!” she shouted back just as Deceiver joined them. “Is there any way to contain it if I do?” Star turned to their leader for a suggestion.
Like Seeker, his face was raw from the heat. “How many recoveries are we looking at?”
“There’s one survivor left,” Seeker swore. “Hunter and I both feel him! But it’s too dangerous in there!”
“Where is Hunter?” A quick glance around didn’t reveal the familiar brown uniform among the fast-moving figures in the distance.
“He’s going back behind the vat!” Deceiver answered.
“What?”
Seeker tugged her arm, her every movement showing her frustration and desperation. “He thinks he’s faster than that crap, Star! Twenty seconds! Thirty at the most! Can you lift the ore for that long without losing it?”
“Reach for it, Star!” the Guardian leader urged tersely.
Clenching her jaws, Star threw out a hand. “Get these people away from here!” Before they had the chance to acknowledge her demand, she jumped into the air and began circling the huge, shattered tank, keeping as far to the outer edge as possible to avoid being scalded by the flames. In the past hour it had become evident the explosions had not been an accident. Someone had sabotaged the production, but for what reason was still unclear. It would take Time Merchant a few days before he could unravel the whole mess and find out who had planted the incendiary devices, and subsequently who was behind the entire event.
Her eyes scoured the ground, searching for Hunter. For some reason her body had grown cold, knowing he was getting ready to plunge into the blazing inferno. Did he honestly believe he could withstand the intense pressure and heat long enough to save the last man remaining inside?
Something had to be keeping the plant worker from being roasted alive. Something that kept most of the molten ore away. Something which made Hunter believe he had a chance at rescuing—
She saw him directly below. He was close to the edge, closer than he should be. Even from where she hovered over him, she could see how the temperature had burned him. For a fleeting second she wanted to place her cool hands on his face to soothe him.
“Hunter!”
He glanced up and spotted her, and flashed both hands twice. Twenty seconds. He needed twenty seconds; that was all.
She nodded, pulling back so she could lift the vat from the side, instead of from directly below her. She’d have more leverage that way, more chances to see if anything was about to “drip”, and catch it before it did.
Twenty seconds. Oh, please be careful.
As if he could read her mind, Hunter flashed her a confident grin. Then he was gone.
Killing the gravitational field around the vat was not a problem. Star knew she had lifted masses thousands of times heavier. She had moved entire planets by manipulating centrifugal forces and magnetic fields. But for some reason she couldn’t fathom, the broken shell of the tank holding nearly a million cubic feet of molten ore was a riskier threat than rogue moons or lost asteroids.
Raising the vat to eye level, Star began counting.
One thousand one. One thousand two. One thousand three…
Oh, please, Hunter. Hurry!
The same thick walls which kept the superheated ore safely inside the tanks was also keeping the last survivor alive and relatively unscathed, although the air around him was as hot and thick as boiling steam.
Hunter transported into the almost impossibly tiny space where the walls had caved in, then folded over, to create the pocket of life that cradled the unconscious man inside. Grabbing the man by his duty vest, Hunter glanced around in the absolute darkness, looking for any other sign of life.
There were a few powers he’d never told the Guardians he had when he’d applied for membership two years ago. They had been delighted just to accept him with the abilities he’d revealed to them. But he had other gifts, some of which he’d used surreptitiously in the past, but never where anyone would
notice them. For some reason, Hunter had felt he needed to keep some part of who he was just to himself.
Having this man unconscious was what he needed in order to zap him out of that confined deathtrap. No one had to know he could transport another body with him. Nor did they need to know how he was able to find just the right, exact area to appear.
Hunter smiled. If anyone cared to think beyond the obvious, they would catch on to, or at least suspect, why he was able to avoid materializing inside a solid object or another person.
Holding onto the limp body, Hunter popped out of the hidey-hole, suspending himself and the injured man in the netherworld he entered when going from one place to another. He could see everyone scurrying about, trying to secure the area from dangling pieces of metal scattered by the blasts.
Nearly parallel from him, he spotted Star, hovering a few feet off the ground. Her body was tense, rigid with worry and fear as she concentrated on keeping the shifting liquid above and away from where she thought he had gone to rescue the man. From where he drifted, Hunter could see the tightness in her face, how her eyes reflected the white-hot ore, and for a split second the realization slammed into him that they were but an hour or two away from joining as one in every physical sense. The thought started his hands shaking, as well as causing an uncomfortable tightening in his groin, and Hunter swore at himself.
He had to find a place safe enough to bring the man back into the natural dimension, yet protect them from discovering eyes. Hunter found it in a huge panel of construction steel lying at an angle a few yards away. A heartbeat later, he was laying the man along the ground and collapsing to his knees beside him, rasping for breath. Another half-dozen heaving lungfuls of air, and Hunter shakily got to his feet, holding on to the panel for support, and emerged into the line of human traffic.
“Star!” His voice was raspy, his esophagus seared by the heat, but she heard him call her name. As she quickly lowered the vat and turned toward him, he didn’t miss the relief washing over her face. Pointing back behind him, he hoarsely called, “This man needs a medic, quickly!”
She gave him a curt nod and zipped away, riding the magnetic and gravitational currents as lightly as if she had wings. Hunter watched her go with a sigh.
He couldn’t help himself now. He couldn’t keep himself from studying her, his eyes sliding over her body in a way he’d never studied her before. Her body suit did nothing to hide the perfect lines encased inside. She was long-limbed, with a narrow waist, sweetly curved butt, and high, round breasts.
The memory of the few times he’d held her in his arms came back with a vengeance. Of those times she had sought him out for comfort after a particularly rough mission. Or when she had fallen asleep against his shoulder, knowing he would see her safely back onto the ship.
Once she had been overcome by a fit of weeping over the death of that Follusian child she’d risked her life to save. That loss had come at the end of a hard, emotionally draining assignment, and one where she’d cried until she’d had no more strength to continue.
Now that he thought back on it, StarLight was prone to flirt with every man at Guardian Command. She would laugh, and tease, and play practical jokes on them all, especially Bruiser, who would let her toss him into the heart of the sun if she wanted to. But she had come to only him when she’d needed emotional support. She never flirted with him. Never teased. Never joked. It was almost as if she avoided him when they weren’t on the job, and Hunter often wondered why he’d been excluded from her select circle.
Until now.
Was it possible he was the only one she trusted?
A part of him trembled with anticipation. But an even larger part of him trembled in fear. What would happen if she was unwilling to accept him? Although he had the right to force her, could he do such a thing? History was full of HandFast cases where the interaction had been nothing more than a mutual fulfilling of their obligation—a simple, hurried, physical act, performed at the required intervals, with no emotional attachment.
Yes, there were some couples who used the ritual as an excuse for unrestricted sex. There had even been couples who had jumped the ceremony, and begun their own coupling before it had become official.
And there had been cases, although so few that one had to search deep into the archives to find them, where the HandFasting couple had gone on to extend their joining after the year was up, into a permanent situation. A marriage.
But these cases were among the small minority. Until now, the most one could expect was a quick pregnancy, and reaping the financial spoils of early fertility.
Hunter grimaced at the prospect. Damn them. The Committee paid the expecting couple a nice bonus for a swift procreation. And if a child was delivered, another nice monetary payment was sent to the new parents. A superior rated child heaped even larger benefits. Hunter didn’t know which was worse—the forced intimacy, or the blatant payment for peddled and procured flesh.
He glanced back at the man lying behind him. As he’d suspected, the worker was beginning to awaken. His body was in excruciating pain, and as he came to, he would begin to feel the extent of his injuries.
Quickly, Hunter went over to quiet the man and assure him help would soon be arriving. The engineer opened his scalded eyelids to find the Guardian kneeling over him.
“G-Guardian?” the man rasped through a raw and swollen throat.
“Lie still. Medical attention should be here shortly,” Hunter told him.
“You’re … Master Hunter, right?” The man coughed, and the sound of it was almost too painful to hear.
“You shouldn’t talk. You’re in pretty bad shape, but you’ll live.”
“You got me … out. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Hunter glanced outside to see if a medic was on his way, but a slight tug on his sleeve drew his attention back to the survivor.
“You were Hand … Fasted … with StarLight.”
He was immediately on the defensive, and gave the weakened man a cautious stare. To his astonishment, the man grinned in spite of the agony it must have cost him.
“I was … HandFasted,” the man confessed.
Suddenly, Hunter was no longer apprehensive. The man wanted to tell him something, and it was rare that ex-HandFasters revealed themselves, much less gave out any information about what they had gone through. Squatting down next to the engineer, Hunter moved closer.
“I … married her,” the engineer went on, surprising Hunter even more. “You may find that … that sharing something that profound, and that humiliating … it may draw you closer.” Giving Hunter a wink, the engineer tugged on his sleeve again. “I watched you on the screen. You two, you were scared, but you have something between you already.”
Managing a small grin, Hunter disagreed. “Sorry to disappoint you, sir, but Star and I are not a couple. We haven’t even dated.”
“Well, then, it’s time you two had a-a … talk. Declare how you … feel … to her.” The man coughed again with scorched lungs. “But I know what I saw. Take care of her. Treat her with respect and dignity. It’ll pay off, I promise you, but only if you want it to.”
A noise outside drew Hunter’s attention away from the man lying before him. Two medics burst into the small enclosure, and immediately began treating the survivor. Hunter stood and backed away as they airlifted the survivor onto a small field diagnostic bed and led him away to where an evac medical ship was waiting.
Several yards away, StarLight stood grounded, watching the man being carried away. Hunter approached her slowly, until he knew she was aware of him standing just behind her.
“Star.” His voice was soft, meant just for her ears. “When?”
Her whole body tensed, as if it had suddenly turned into ice. His powers felt her fear, like syrup running thick and slow in her bloodstream, as she accepted what he was asking her.
When do you want me to come to you tonight?
He could almost envision what
was going through her mind. The mental calculation of time between this planet and home.
“Ten,” she whispered in return, a heartbeat before she launched herself into the sky.
Hunter watched her go until she was a tiny speck in the distance. Then he headed over to the medic tent to have his skin regenerated before going back to Guardian Command.
He knew this night, their first night, would only be the beginning.
[Back to Table of Contents]
Chapter 7
Tolerance
She had felt him behind her, and it was as if he had lit up every nerve ending in her body.
When?
Tonight, her mind kept echoing over and over. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight.
She’d had to get away, but even the clearing skies hadn’t offered her a release from the emotional torment. There was no escaping the inevitable. There would be no going back once it was over.
Tonight. Tonight. Tonight. Tonight.
Far below she could see things were wrapping up. The emergency was over. Soon, everyone would pile back into Three for the trip home. Except she could fly back by herself, since it was a short distance.
And she would have to fly back. She couldn’t find some out-of-the-way moon and use it as a hiding place, like she used to do when she had been unable to take any more of whatever foster home she was in at that time. When everything had come down on her—the teasing, the cursing, the ranting and raving and threats and dire predictions.
As her power had developed, so had her body. By the age of fifteen, Star had found herself in possession of a woman’s physique, and an awesome ability. It had been partly out of necessity, and mostly out of defiance, that she’d settled upon the skintight body suit as her choice of attire. It absorbed the dark, invisible fields thrown out by the stars, which fed her as much as food filled her belly, while it also flaunted her flawless body, daring men to look but not touch.
