Nova

by Lora E. Rasmussen

  With a jaw–aching grit of her teeth, Avara shook off the train of images and quickly gained her feet, using the physical movement as a means of escape.

  Retrieving her now dried outerwear by the fast fading fire, the Shield dressed and quietly began gathering their belongings for the day’s journey.

  Minutes into the task, Avara knew before she spoke that K’llan had awakened and was watching her as she worked. “Is it that time already?”

  Pushing strands of internal disquiet aside, Avara turned her head towards K’llan as she disabled security nodes and turned off their portable generator. “Yep, I’m afraid so.”

  Slipping away from her bedroll and also donning her outer garments, K’llan offered “We are making good time.”

  “True; we’ve already covered about a third of the distance.”

  Of course, that meant they still had at least another two weeks of travel before reaching the Karukai outpost.

  That thought, and its ramifications, hovered in the silence between them as Serros met K’llan’s striking violet eyes.

  “At least it has stopped raining.” K’llan said a moment later, deliberately, Avara knew, shifting focus away from what two more weeks travel meant in terms of acquiring necessary sustenance. Avara smiled in return at K’llan’s consideration, and the two went about breaking camp in companionable quiet, leaving the Captain time to stew in her thoughts and more fully collect herself.

  As K’llan had explained it, Feeding from another person rather than consuming Vitani was much more nourishing and so could sustain a Vosaia for a number of days that was closer to a week than not. Yet no matter how the math was worked, even in the most ideal rescue or escape scenario, K’llan would have to Feed from Avara again, and probably more than once before their trek was complete. On one hand, last night proved that the fear of K’llan unintentionally causing physical harm to Serros while Feeding was a non–issue.

  On the other, there was most certainly danger on an emotional and personal level. Despite having lived with an Arca Synergy Enhancement for over six years now, Avara had never experienced something like the exchange of emotion, thought and memory that had taken place between the two.

  Though anything but unpleasant, Avara felt disconcerted, out of control in some way that was entirely unfamiliar to her. The bond that had somehow sprung between them upon their initial encounters and then was further nourished by their still growing friendship, had been expanded. Avara couldn’t escape the feeling that there was now a still–open psychic door between herself and K’llan. She suspected that the condition would not be short–lived.

  And yet, even more than trying to reach balance in the face of the unsettling mental reality of the aftermath of the Feeding, was that just as K’llan had warned, the experience had been anything but platonic. Avara’s penchant for brutal self–honesty disallowed even an attempt to deny that the exchange had been anything less than passionate, sexual, and decidedly romantic in nature. All of which brought her back to the other source of unease and uncertainty.

  Diana.

  Avara consciously stifled the nagging sense of irresolution as she finished the last of her morning camp chores and shrugged on her pack. Looking around the cavern one more time, Serros was torn between the opposing desires to both stay and leave this place far, far behind. Quelling internal debate, she asked Z’arr, “Shall we then?”

  “Yes.”

  The air held the sweet smell of earth and flora recently bathed in water, life renewed and refreshed, much as the two Nova Squad members. They moved easily at a ground–eating lope, the miles falling away like poppy–seeds bobbing in the wind. By the time night had fallen and they’d made camp, the two women had managed to travel farther than standard, a total of ninety miles in a single day.

  It was not difficult to understand why they had made such progress. Having eaten well for the first time since landing on Dantis, Avara felt like a new person, and she could tell the same was true for her Vosaia companion. K’llan exuded a sense of vigor and vitality that burned so brightly, it almost seemed chemically induced, and Avara knew without asking that vivacity had been wrought by Feeding. Given Avara’s own level of recuperation, her guess was that at least to a degree, the exchange of life–energy had been reciprocal.

  Their rapid pace of travel was a trend that continued much of the next several days, the miles flying away. Five days after having left the cavern, the landscape gradually changed, becoming noticeably drier, with savanna fading into patches of scrub over rust colored sand and rock–swept flatlands.

  The stream they’d been following had disappeared to a slight, half–stagnant trickle and the heat beat down upon them with the persistence of a smith working a forge. Before long, thorn–tipped low bushes and varietals of purple or yellow–shot cacti became a normal feature in their travels, as did a significant increase in the type and number of reptile life. Evenings offered a new challenge in discouraging both reptilian and arthropodal visitors, the latter of which uncomfortably resembled rust colored, four–clawed and dual–tailed Terran scorpions.

  In response, they went out of their way not to make camp by the fading stream and switched to religiously sleeping in their sealed tent every night.

  As they traveled, the duo regularly supplemented Avara’s supply of dried jakhri with smaller game kills, mostly rabbit and the wild pig–like creatures that seemed to be a favorite food of the local grass–cats. As confirmed by CPA scans, a small, green–leafed bush and some of the cacti also turned out to edible, if not particularly appealing and somewhat difficult to prepare. The steady, mostly meat based diet provided the baseline of sustenance that Avara needed, but she knew her body was feeling the lack of dietary variation.

  Due to an incredibly active professional and personal life that included a rigorous, daily exercise regime, Avara had always been sleekly muscled. Yet now, the gradual loosening of her belt and the way her travel–worn Karukai jacket and trousers snapped and whipped around, drew attention to a frame that was noticeably becoming too spare. More, with the lack of water, Avara felt like grime and grit had permanently taken up residence in her pores and she found her mind constantly conjuring up fantasies that fluctuated between spending a week in cool bath water and consuming the cargo of platters heaped with every food she’d ever even remotely appreciated. The only part of her that felt relatively clean was her mouth, a fact based in the hydro–fluid that, thankfully, also provided sun–protection from the planet’s roasting solar rays.

  Serros knew K’llan felt much the same way and if anything, the red–tinged dust and sand granules were even more noticeable against the Vosaia’s porcelain hued skin, making her look a bit like a weirdly slender, cinnamon–smudged marshmallow topped with blue frosting that some overly creative and unattended kid had gleefully whipped up.

  The image made Avara laugh aloud as the two picked their way past a particularly rock and ramble strewn part of their path during the early hours of their thirteenth day of travel.

  The sound caused K’llan to turn around, lips upturned in a smile of wry acknowledgement. “Reveling in the glamour of the moment, are you?”

  “You know it.” Avara barely even paused as once more, K’llan had effortlessly and without any discernable form of focus, been able to exactly read her emotions and translate them to actualized thought. Avara could feel the gentle trill of K’llan’s own feelings at the exchange: amusement, affection, and a sense of good–natured, self–deprecating humor at the situation and their ragged appearance.

  Again, amazement warred with the growing awareness of expectation at the existence of the cognitive and emotional link that existed between the two. It was becoming almost natural for Avara to hear the low song of the Vosaia’s presence, to feel the connection between their nyas.

  Avara wasn’t sure if the experience of isolation from all others and being in constant orbit of one another over the last weeks had heightened what the Feeding had opened between them, or if it
would have been true regardless. Given that the connection had existed previous to the Ardent’s explosion, she suspected that the answer was a little of both.

  “It will be an interesting experiment to see if we even recognize one another when we make it off Dantis and are finally clean.”

  The Vosaia’s words were sprinkled with silvery laughter that did much to lift Serros’s spirits. More, a picture of a water–soaked and well bathed K’llan sprang immediately to mind, an image that stirred her body before Avara had even realized the thought had formed. Closing her mind like a vise pinning joint to plank, Avara shifted her gaze from K’llan’s brilliant, lilac hued eyes that both saw and knew too much. “Not much chance of that.”

  Serros easily caught the upsurge of emotion from K’llan; comprehension and a flow of desire, before she too consciously retreated from the link between them, allowing Avara privacy.

  Attempting levity to dissipate the hovering awkwardness at the exchange, Avara remarked, “I’ll tell you one thing for sure; it’s gonna be Hell to get me out of the shower. I might just take up permanent residence.”

  Laughing in return, K’llan responded, “Not surprising, water–child like you. Sometimes I wonder that you could even leave your sea–world for the stars.”

  Avara felt a rush of gratitude that once more, K’llan did not press for a discussion regarding the Feeding or what lay between them. She knew without having to ask or be told that Z’arr was intentionally giving her as much space as their situation allowed for. That K’llan was granting her the time she needed to shift through the roil of confused emotion that she struggled to tame, even as they spent mile after mile to reach Outpost J2.

  Surreptitiously contemplating the Vosaia as they walked, just as clearly, Avara also understood that the topic would have to be broached soon, at least to a degree. Serros had noticed over the last couple of days that K’llan’s strength and endurance were fading, and she knew, despite the Vosaia’s attempts to keep the fact submerged, her hunger was increasing. K’llan was once again beginning to starve. That Avara would insist she Feed once more was not even a question. The thought of letting anything happen to K’llan was akin to the notion of deliberately taking a knife and slicing herself from gut to sternum.

  No, the question could be encapsulated in a single name that tumbled over and over in her mind and heart.

  Diana.

  Avara unquestionably cared deeply for Diana, had loved her as a friend and extended family for years, and since becoming lovers, their relationship had certainly been blossoming to something much more. At another time, Avara was confident there would have been no question at all as to whether or not she would be fully committed to Diana and Diana alone. The issue was, when she considered her relationship with Diana and the very real possibility of building a life with her, Avara knew in her heart that “at another time” really meant before meeting K’llan Z’arr.

  Avara finally admitted to herself that she was afraid; afraid of K’llan Feeding once more, and not because she was scared of the emotive and spiritual sharing the act would result in. No, she feared that the link between them would be even further magnified, and with it, the very present and persistent attraction.

  Serros had most certainly not forgotten the expression of mutual arousal that had occurred the last time, and the taste and touch of their passionate exchange sprang to the fore of her thoughts with alarming ease. The reality was, that Avara also knew it would be only too easy during Feeding to take the exchange a step further.

  And what kind of an asshole would that make me?

  Despite the lack of formal commitment between herself and Diana, she knew that if she did let go, if she was sexually intimate with K’llan before she’d sorted out her murky feelings and spoken to Diana, she’d be the kind of asshole that wouldn’t be able to look at her own reflection in the mirror at the start of each day.

  Feeling the renewal of some semblance of solid ground, Captain Serros shook her head slightly and came fully back to the present. “Only with frequent dunkings. Why do you think I insisted upon the onboard pool on Excalibur? Speaking of which, did you note the scent of water when we awoke?”

  “Yes; heavy, yet not like water in the air.”

  “Yeah, that was my thought too. I think there may be a water source relatively nearby, along our current trajectory.”

  “Looks like you may get a bath after all, Captain.” Z’arr teased, face and eyes alight with a humor that bespoke the beauty of the woman’s soul as much as her physical self.

  “It’s important to have dreams, Lieutenant.” Avara responded with a half–smile, sincerely enjoying the connection she shared with the Vosaia, despite the more complicated undertones.

  “Why don’t we quicken the pace a bit then?”

  “My thought exactly.” Serros responded, and they picked up their fast walk to a determined jog.

  It was clear that their Arca SPs’ had not led intuition or senses astray when, after five or so more hours of travel, the two heard the ringing rush of water over rock. With deliberate care they made their way through a particularly thick patch of thorny bramble and tumble–stones until they found themselves at the edge of a steep plateau and sight matched sound and scent.

  Before them was one of the most spectacular nature–wrought sights Avara had ever observed. Spanning a length as long as the eye could see and with a width of well over five miles, was a massive water–cut ravine. Enormous walls of exposed strata shot down at least two miles below them and proudly framed brilliant, turquoise waters that tumbled towards the east.

  Low cataracts were visible along the waterway’s track. Here and there, green defiantly speared rust and lighter mauve colored rock and loose earth along the river’s edge. Heat shimmered off stone like some sort of divine blessing, and the buzzing of nearby insects blended with the insistent murmur of the waters below them.

  Drinking in the magnificent panorama before them, without even thinking about the action, Avara reached and found K’llan’s hand. The Vosaia’s fingers tightened within her own as the two stood together without speaking.

  “Looks like you are indeed going to get your bath and swim.” K’llan finally remarked several minutes later, interrupting the spell of beauty that the vista had laid over them both.

  “Seems so.” Looking beyond the loveliness of the view, Avara added a moment later, “The canyon is also going to slow us. It’s got to be two miles down, then we have to cross and make our way up again on the other side.”

  “It will not be easy.” K’llan affirmed. “Alternatives?”

  “Mm. No matter what, we’re going to have to cross at some point to reach the outpost. Why don’t we head up a mile or so and see if we can find a more agreeable place to make our crossing? Shouldn’t put us too off–course.”

  “Very well.”

  As it had seemed so natural to do so, it was really only then that Avara realized she was still holding K’llan’s hand. Almost reluctantly, Serros released her grip, then nodded towards the more open edge of the canyon’s cliff–side that they were standing upon. “Might as well begin.”

  A little more than a mile and a half later, the two found a promising, if narrow, switch–back trail that plunged down the canyon’s side. Probably a once active and now dead tributary that was initially formed by the same ancient, proterozoic, strata–uplift that had fashioned the main canyon gorge itself. As they had spied a four toed, padded imprint in the pebbly soil, the trail was clearly used by some form of animal life.

  After a brief discussion, Serros and Z’arr began the decent down the path, carefully choosing their steps and foot placement in the dangerously loose sediment. The going was both slow and quite strenuous, and despite their best efforts, more than once they found themselves skating downhill in a barely controlled slip–slide of rock and sand.

  By late afternoon they took a pause for rest in a small gully and, scanning their progress and remaining distance, Avara noted that they had
made it about half–way down the cliff–side. The sound of the waterway below them was no longer a gentle murmur but a muted roar, and the smell of water washed away most other scents except for sun–baking rock.

  The generous swallow of hydro–fluid Avara consumed was a particularly welcome respite from exertion and the pounding heat. Sweat streamed down the back of her neck and tracked maddeningly into her eyes. It was a constantly returning nuisance that was only slightly more irritating than the dust and grime that chaffed at her skin at all clothing contact–points.

  Feeling a prickle of unease, Avara returned her canteen to her harness attachment a moment after K’llan. They were more than a little exposed on the steep and ridiculously narrow path upon which they moved, and the reality made her uncomfortable.

  Noting the position of the triplet of suns, Avara turned to K’llan and declared, “We need to reach the bottom before the day is out.”

  “Agreed. Spending the night huddled on a rock the size of a toboggan does not seem the wisest course.” Z’arr responded, her opinion regarding the lack of appeal at the idea clearly reverberating in her voice.

  “Let’s con…” Avara’s words were lost as the zip–ping of bullet fire spliced through the canyon with a deafening crack that bounded throughout the natural chasm’s walls. The first shot was followed by another even as the duo dropped down into their gully.

  K’llan’s cry of pain tore at Avara’s heart like shrapnel from a grenade blast. Casting a frantic gaze at her companion, Avara could see a bloom of blood spill along her neck like paint down a white–washed wall. Pistol already drawn and held at the ready, Avara grabbed K’llan’s shoulder and literally hauled her closer with a single heave, pulling Z’arr in–between her body and the scant rock–cover they possessed. Two more shots cried through the air and sparks flared briefly to life from durexium bullets striking surrounding stone.