by Sharon Green
"I told you before that I'm resourceful, Val," I said as I turned to face him. "It would have been better if you'd stayed asleep."
"'Val'?" he echoed with raised eyebrows. "That isn't my name."
"It's sort of silly to be formal now." I shrugged, giving him a faint grin. "Not after we've … gotten to know each other so well."
"I can't argue with that," he agreed, laughing softly with his eyes, too. "Let's go back and see if there's anything we missed."
"Maybe some other time," I denied with regret. "'Business before pleasure' has always been the way I handled things; I'm too old to change now."
"You don't look too old," he said, studying me with his head to one side. "As a matter of fact, you look like you should have been in bed hours ago. Let us return to your accommodations, Missy. It is past time that you retired."
He stood with his arms folded and a grin on his face, and I couldn't help returning the grin. He'd switched to Tildorian speech, but we weren't on Tildor.
"Best that you tend to your own affairs, sir," I countered and folded my own arms. "I am not a child to be ordered about in such a manner."
"I do tend to my own affairs," he assured me. "At this moment you are my affair. You may come willingly or may come with struggles, but accompany me you shall."
"I go my own way," I said and set myself. "No man may interfere with that."
"I must," he said, a sad look in his eyes as he got ready to move at me. "I cannot allow you to do that which is wrong."
"The rough stuff won't be necessary," another voice said from behind Val. We both looked over to see Dameron, and he was shaking his head at me.
"I knew you'd probably try, but I didn't think you'd try this soon," he said, leaning against a bulkhead. "Doesn't Valdon suit you?"
"He isn't bad," I answered with a shrug. "I'm just not as impressionable as the other girls around here. How did you know I was here?"
"If you think I'll tell you that, you're crazy," Dameron came back with a snort. "You're enough trouble just as you are."
"You haven't seen anything yet," I commented, studying them both. I might be able to take them, but only if I was willing to go all the way; they were too big and well-trained to play games with. The only question was, could I kill them? They had saved my life more than once; could I now justify to myself the taking of their lives?
"This isn't the time or the place to discuss it," Val said, putting a big hand out toward me. "Come on, Diana, you look tired. After you've had a good night's rest we can sit around and talk it to death. Or even ignore it. How about it?"
I looked at him for a minute, looked at Dameron, then finally walked between them and out of the control room. I'd have to take my chances with their friend Phalsyn just as I'd taken my chances with them, but I hurried back to my room so they would not have a chance to catch up to me. I was in no mood for the company of either one of them.
Chapter Thirteen
I washed and dressed when I woke up, but didn't leave the room. I wasn't pleased with the thought of Dameron's surveillance system and I wasn't very hungry. Instead I just sat and smoked and fretted about things in general.
It didn't take more than a couple of hours before my peace and quiet was disturbed. The door slid aside as if I were open for business, and Valdon breezed his way in. I looked at him sourly from the low comfort of the chair I was stretched out in, and took another drag on my cigarette without saying anything.
"Are you trying to make me starve now?" he demanded as he stopped in front of me. "I've been waiting for you in the refectory for hours."
"That's a shame," I murmured, putting the cigarette out. "But for some reason I don't remember asking you to wait."
"Asking isn't necessary," he came back with a grin as he looked down me. "I'm a prince of a fellow, remember? Think you'd like to try it on your own this morning? I won't let you poison yourself."
"What thoughtfulness," I murmured, putting the ashtray aside, then I looked at him again and stood up.
"Well, why not? It's getting boring around here."
He stood aside to let me go first, and he looked all too pleased with himself. I'd have to see what I could do about changing that.
As I'd half expected, Dameron was sitting at a table looking somewhat anxious. When he saw me he brightened a little, but only a very little. He didn't know how right he was.
"You look like you had a good sleep," he said heartily as I sat down. "Have you been thinking things over?"
"I certainly have," I agreed with a solemn nod. "And my thinking has led me to notice something very interesting. Have you any idea how many different ways it's possible to put a bomb together from just what you find around you? Not chemically speaking, of course…"
"A bomb?" Dameron yelped, paling a shade or two. "You couldn't have -"
He glanced at a stunned Val, looked back at my small, satisfied smile, then jumped up and raced from the room, Val hot on his heels. I watched them with clinical interest for a minute, then tried my luck with the food box. When the food was delivered I ate happily in solitude, then was able to smoke half a cigarette before Dameron and his trusty second came back. Neither one of them looked very happy, and that was even more satisfying than using the food box right.
"The detectors say there isn't a bomb of any sort in your quarters," Dameron growled as he sat opposite me. "You were lying, weren't you?"
"Not at all!" I protested with injured dignity. "I never said I'd made a bomb, I just commented on how easy it would be. If I ever decide to make one, I won't comment on it."
Dameron wearily ran his hand through his hair, and Val leaned back looking more than annoyed.
"All that trouble for a comment," Val muttered, his black eyes filled with thunder. "Never in my life have I been more tempted to - "
He broke it off while continuing to stare at me, but that didn't bother me much.
"A whole lot of trouble could be saved all around," I mused, lazily blowing smoke at the ceiling. "If certain people suddenly turned reasonable, they'd never have to find out how bad it can get. And believe me, you ain't seen nothin' yet."
"You are not leaving!" Dameron choked out, his face red with suppressed fury. "I don't care if this entire base is put in jeopardy; you don't budge until Phalsyn gets here! Valdon! Have her get her possessions together and move her in with you! I want her watched constantly! If there's any more trouble out of her, I'll hold you responsible!"
Dameron poked an emphatic finger at Val, pushed away from the table, then stomped out, leaving Val with a dark expression on his face. I wasn't exactly thrilled with the arrangements either, and I was still in a perverse mood.
"I think I'd prefer your lock-up," I said coldly, beginning to get to my feet. "I'll tell Dameron - "
"You'll tell him nothing," Val growled, grabbing my arm and slamming me back down in the seat. "You've done enough doing and telling to last everyone for a while. You'll sit there until I've finished eating, and then we'll get you moved. Not a word out of you until then."
"The hell you say!" I snarled, at the same time kicking for his kneecap. I was too fed up with being told where I could and couldn't go and what I could and couldn't do to worry about what damage I did, but the blow didn't land square. He moved his leg at the last instant, catching no more than the painful tail end of the shattering move, then brought his foot down hard right on top of mine. I was wearing rubber-soled deck shoes and he wore nothing but that one-piece uniform, but I still gasped and clutched at a mashed foot.
"That's exactly what I do say," he countered, giving me a look containing all the elements of an electrical storm. "If you try that again you'll be limping for a week. Now, keep quiet."
He reached across me to press buttons on the box, then he leaned back again to wait for the food as he stared straight at me. I turned completely away from him and ignored him totally, then surreptitiously rubbed at my foot.
When Val finished eating he grabbed my arm and hustled me out of the refectory. I
put my few things together without a sound, then was escorted to another room in the residential wing.
This room, done in blue-green, brown, and white, was considerably bigger, with three low chairs grouped together around a carved, obviously Tildorian table, a long lounge of sorts off to one side by itself, and a larger, more comfortable-looking bed. I dropped my possessions in one corner, walked silently into the very strange but extremely utilitarian bathroom, sat down on the floor, and proceeded to ignore everything.
For the rest of the day I could occasionally hear Val moving around in the outer room, and he came in every once in a while to check on me. He didn't say a word and neither did I, but when he brought food in to me I took it and ate it. But I ate just for the hell of it; my appetite had long since disappeared.
It was just about going-to-bed time when Val came in and bluntly told me that I'd hogged the facilities long enough. I got to my feet and left him to his requirements, and just for curiosity's sake went to the door. It was no real surprise to find that it didn't open, but I still felt pushed a little deeper into the pit. I turned off the room light, groped my way to the corner where I'd left my things, got out of the ship's suit, and curled up on the floor.
The bathroom door eventually slid open, but the light was partially blocked off by Val's body as he paused in the doorway. He stood without speaking for a minute or two, then he moved farther out into the room.
"You can take the bed," he said, his voice soft in the silence. "I'll make do on the lounge."
"It's your bed and your room," I answered, moving my head around on my arm. "I'm fine where I am."
He came over and sat down on the floor near me before he spoke again.
"Diana, we're not barbarians here," he murmured. "You don't have to sleep on the floor." When I didn't say anything he put his hand on my arm and added, "You're not wearing anything and you feel cold. Take the bed and don't worry about what will happen. I gave my word that Phalsyn won't give you trouble, and I'll see that my word is kept."
"How nice that you can speak for Phalsyn," I murmured back. "Where I come from, bigwigs usually speak for themselves."
"I'm speaking only for me," he said, anger in his voice as he pulled me closer to him. "I couldn't keep you from being hurt on Tildor, but this base is another story."
I couldn't see his features in the darkness, but his hand was warm on my arm. I was far away from the area of space I considered home, and there was only me against a group of very determined strangers.
I still had no real idea what they were determined about, but it has been my experience that some of the nicest people you'd want to know are often ruled by the most ruthless of governments. If you deal just with the people themselves you're all right, but if you happen to tangle with their government it isn't wise to plan on being home for the holidays. I felt his warm hand on my arm and didn't say any of that.
"I know how you must feel," he said softly, drawing me up against him. "But you're not really alone. I'm here, too." His hand caressed my hair and moved farther down to my back. "I saved you from that fever on Tildor, and now I feel responsible for you. You don't think I tended you just to turn you over to Phalsyn for dissection or something, do you? Besides, Phalsyn isn't so old that he wouldn't be more interested in your outsides than your insides. You have mighty attractive outsides."
I leaned my head on his chest, and couldn't help smiling while my eyes blinked.
"You're not so bad yourself," I whispered, really feeling his presence for the first time. "Don't go away for a while."
He didn't go away, and for a lot longer than a while. Neither one of us slept in the bed, and the lounge was ignored, too. I still don't know how they manage to produce floor tiles that are so warm and resilient. It's just a good thing they do.
* * *
The next day Val refused to let me sit around in his room. He dragged me to the refectory against my will, and then had the nerve to say mixing with other people would be good for me. When he left our table for a minute to speak privately with someone, I casually leaned over to the next table and asked the people there if they'd heard anything about the rumor that the base was slowly losing air from an unidentified breach.
They hadn't heard a thing, but by the time those particular people had left, everyone else in the room had heard about the rumor. Val looked around at the buzzing knots of conversation and wondered what was going on, but made no real effort to find out.
After we were through eating, Val stopped in to see Dameron and I waited in Nelixan's office. She'd always been too uncertain to try Val, and was curious to know if I had. She listened carefully to my evaluation of my roommate with a big grin, and when Val came in she looked at him with a good deal of interest.
"All set," Val said to me as he came up. "Dameron says that Phalsyn will be here in the next couple of days so we have some interim time to waste. Is there anything in particular you'd like to do?"
"Ah, Valdon," Nelixan interrupted in a very warm way. "I have no plans at all for my off hours. Why don't you and I spend them together - in my room."
"In your room?" Val repeated blankly, staring at her. "What would we do in your room?"
"I'm sure we could find something," she drawled with a grin, and Val finally understood what she was talking about.
"What brought this on?" he asked, curiosity in the dark gaze he sent to her. "I always had the impression I wasn't your type."
"I thought you weren't, but in the light of the latest reports I've had to change my mind," she answered. "How about it?"
"Sorry, Nelixan, but I'll be busy," he said with a growl, turning to give me that look again. "I have a date to strangle someone."
"What did I do?" I demanded plaintively. "I've been sitting here quietly, not even thinking about my ship - "
"Sitting there quietly?" he exploded, taking a step toward me. "You consider discussing me sitting there quietly?"
"Why not?" I asked with a shrug. "Are you ashamed of your abilities?"
The look in his eyes darkened as he stared at me, but he couldn't seem to think of an answer to that one.
"It's hard to remember that some men are shy about such things," Nelixan said with a laugh. "Maybe we shouldn't have mentioned it to him."
"I'll remember that for next time," I said, which for some reason forced a wordless growl from the subject under discussion. He grabbed me by the neck, pushed me out into the corridor, then directed me by hand to the solar room. We sat in artificial sunshine for a couple of hours without talking, and he made sure I stayed away from anyone else who came in. I sat back and relaxed completely, and made sure that no sign showed of the grin I should have been covered with.
I had almost decided to take off the ship's suit when someone came over saying that Dameron was looking for Val and me. We went back to Dameron's office, noticing the knots of excitedly whispering people on the way, and were gestured right in. I had on my most innocent of expressions and Val was genuinely in the dark, but Dameron didn't leave him there for long.
The rumor about the base's "air loss" had finally reached the base commander, and though no one could actually trace the rumor back to me Dameron had no doubts. He must have ranted and yelled for an hour, but Val got the brunt of it. Val had been made responsible for me so anything I did was his fault, and Dameron kept repeating the point so it wouldn't be lost on Val. Val caught on real quick, and spent most of his time just looking at me. After a few minutes, I wanted to scrunch down in my seat.
When the tirade was finally over, Val rose from his chair without a word and stood next to the open door, waiting for me to go through first. I wasn't sure about trusting him behind my back, but I didn't have much choice in the matter. He followed me down the corridor back to his room, and we spent the rest of the day with Val staring straight at me, not saying a single word. Our food was delivered by cart again, and no one came to call.
By the time I was ready to call it a day I still hadn't heard anything from ta
ll, dark and awesome, but I was too sleepy to still be bothered by it. I hadn't had much sleep the night before, and the safe passage of time tends to wear off most sharp edges. I used the facilities to wash as best I could - I hadn't found any equivalent of a shower or bath - then got out of the ship suit and into bed.
Val was still staring at me, but I discovered that his stare was on a different level. I smiled to myself as I got comfortable, wondering if he would forgive me enough to join me in bed. The chances were still 50-50 when he went into the bathroom, but the scale tipped all the way in my favor once he came out. He got into bed next to me, waved the light out, then pulled me to him.
"I thought you were mad at me," I said with a small laugh, rubbing my cheek on his chest.
"No, I was more disgusted with me," he murmured, already touching me with hands and lips. "What happened was my fault for taking my eyes off you. It won't happen again."
After that we were too preoccupied to say anything else, but I clearly remember laughing at what he'd said. I hadn't yet learned he was a man of his word.
The next two days started off badly and got steadily worse. When Val had said he would not take his eyes off me again, he hadn't been kidding. We went to the refectory to eat - once. All I did was wonder aloud what the Tildorian barbarians could have put in their herb mixture that was able to get around base inoculations, and pow!, right back to that crummy room. And I hadn't even had the chance to suggest whatever it was might be something contagious!
We stayed in the room every minute of the two base days and nights, having our meals delivered to us with no one being allowed to listen or talk to me. I considered getting violent, decided that that would be stupid, then tried it anyway.
Even with the limited number of non-lethal things I could do Val ended up bruised, but I ended up flat on the floor, face down, with him sitting on top of me. He refused to let me up unless I gave my word not to make any more trouble, but I'm not often that easy to convince; we stayed that way a ridiculously long time before the delivery of our next meal broke up the scene. I hadn't given my word, but I needed some help in standing up.
