Eden

by Louise Wise

  She walked forward, feeling anxious that he’d want nothing more to do with her and he’d send her away with some harsh words.

  “Is this where you disappeared to last night?” she asked, as she drew near. She felt ready to burst into tears, or even throw herself at his feet and beg him to forgive her for having such stupid friends. “I came earlier, but you weren’t here. I didn’t know where you were!” Her voice rose into an accusation.

  “I’ve been chopping trees over the river.” He wiped sweat off his temples.

  “Why didn’t you come for breakfast?”

  “I was not hungry.”

  “Is this what we’re reduced to now? Avoiding one another, sleeping in separate places?” She ended on a heavy swallow, as if something had lodged in her throat.

  He left the axe embedded in the tree and came towards her. “You speak too fast.

  “I’m sorry. I’m nervous.”

  “Why are you nervous?” He looked affronted.

  “Because you stormed off and didn’t come back! I thought you’d given up on me,” she burst out.

  He showed her his hands, filthy. “I would prove that I have not given up on you, but I would make you dirty. “

  With a shriek of delight Jenny ran at him, throwing her arms around his neck.

  Fly laughed, and the relief that threaded her voice matched his.

  “Oh, Fly,” she said, her face buried in his shoulder. “I thought this was the end, and that you’d chosen and decided you’d be better off without any of us.”

  Fly gently unlinked her arms from around his neck and lowered her to the ground. Cupping her chin, so she was forced to look at him, he said, “That is your choice, Jenny, not mine. My past is a bad one, I deliberately killed many people.”

  She swallowed. “Why did you kill them?”

  “It was my job. I was.” he struggled to find the correct word, “an assassin -”

  “Like a vigilante?” asked Jenny, but he didn’t understand.

  “The people I killed were bad,” he said. “They were tainted with evil and at times it was kill or be killed.” He spoke directly into her face as if to make sure his words were understood. “Sometimes it may appear that I would harm you, but I never will. “

  She turned her face into his palm lying against her cheek, and kissed it. “I know,” she said softly. “Our future is what’s important now, and I really don’t care what you did in the past.” She reached up and clung onto his shoulders, as if afraid he would push her away. “Somehow, the more Bodie and Matt find a reason for me to leave you, the more I want to be with you.”

  Fly buried his face in her hair. His hands cupped her bottom, pulling her against him. She could feel his groin come to life against her belly.

  “Then I have been right in my decision.” He raised his proud head, and looked down at her. A nerve twitched deep in his scarred cheek, one that she had come to recognize as embarrassment. “I am making them a shelter near ours as a peace-offering.”

  Her mouth opened and closed. He continually surprised her, but never more so than now.

  “A what?” She looked over her shoulder, noticing the foundations for the first time. “You’re building them a house?”

  “I am.”

  “You’d do that for them?”

  “For you. I’d do that for you,” he said.

  The constriction in Jenny’s throat tightened again.

  “Building them a shelter will mean they can trust me.” Sweat glistened on his face. “Bodie loves you and is not going to let you go without a fight. We need to call a truce before someone dies.”

  They both understood that what Fly really meant was before he killed one or both of the men.

  “The house might work. It’ll please Bodie, and if we get him on side then… “ she shrugged and grinned happily up at him.

  “How long have you known Matt?”

  “Matt and I met in during our university years in our late teens. We were, er, friends for a while but it didn’t last long. It was as if he couldn’t stand me being more successful than him.”

  A rumble low in his stomach caused her to step away from Fly with a chuckle.

  “Not hungry, eh? Come on, let’s go back and show the others we’re still a united front.”

  “Wait,” he said, pulling her against him again. His erection was more pronounced this time, and she looked seductively up at him from beneath her heavy fringe, as he said, “It is not food I am hungry for.”

  “Oh?” she murmured, flattening her palms against the hard wall of chest. “Then what are you hungry for?” she purred, teasingly.

  Fly’s smile was a mere parting of his lips, before he lowered his head to take possession of her mouth. Jenny wrapped her hands around his neck, and Fly lifted her, securing her legs around his waist. She locked her ankles, enjoying the snug feeling of his manhood against her femininity.

  Fly and Jenny walked slowly, both carrying armfuls of twine taken from the trees. The substructure for the bridge was in place, and once Bodie’s and Matt’s shelter was finished he was keen to continue with the bridge, and the twine, albeit rope, would be the simple material used.

  Neither was keen to get back to the spaceship and meet Bodie and Matt. They reached the beach, and began to walk along the ice-encrusted shoreline. The waves crackled as they hit land, and ice sparkled on it like crystals.

  Jenny still felt the imprint of his body against hers from his lovemaking. She still had the scent of him in her nostrils, and her mouth felt swollen from being kissed so thoroughly.

  In the distance was Matt, Jenny noticed with a sinking heart. He had been watching them heading towards him, but at their spotting him he deliberately turned away and now his figure was bowed as he scrutinized something in the sand. He bent down and picked up a wriggling, snake-like creature between finger and thumb, before tossing it into the sea.

  “If he’s come to say one more remark about you and me I’ll.” Fly chuckled. The sound of it made her smile. She would have taken his hand, if they hadn’t been carrying so much twine, just to show Matt that his snooping last night hadn’t mattered one iota.

  “I mean it,” she said. “He’s seriously pissed me off.”

  “Pissed?”

  “Never mind,” she said. “Matt’s always been insecure, come to think of it.”

  “He is envious of you.”

  “Of me? Because of you?” she asked, puzzled. “Why?”

  “Your intelligence,” he said. “Your ability to move forward, your beauty, your tolerance, your compassion -”

  “Stop,” Jenny cried, laughing. “You’re biased, I think.”

  Fly said nothing, and Jenny looked at him side on knowing he was storing the new word in his mind to look it up later if he could find a working translator.

  “Once, I told Matt, in confidence, that my father was the Zack Bodie, a famous astronaut, but the following day it was all around the plant and he’d gone cool on me,” she said as they steadily approached the man they were talking about; his figure small in the distance.

  “I was so angry with him, but he swore he never said anything,” Jenny continued. “He seemed so sincere I believed him. Then he was promoted to the lunar station ahead of me - despite my higher qualifications, but I was glad for him. I got his old post, but he seemed to resent me for accepting it.” Her brow furrowed as she remembered. “I could do nothing right.”

  “He has the gun.”

  Jenny looked up, and noticed the gun strapped to Matt’s head in the distance. It wasn’t placed over the eye, but that didn’t make it any less a threat to Fly. Jenny’s heart began to thump as she saw Matt turn towards them, and raise his hands up towards the gun. But all he did was pull it off, and it hung from his fingers.

  Slowly they got closer towards him and watched as Matt, his back to them, threw pebbles into the sea.

  He turned and called as they neared. “You’ve been a long time, Jen, dinner’ll be a huge affair, I should thi
nk.”

  Both Jenny and Fly registered his pretentious smile.

  “That’s right, Matt. I’ve been working hard all morning just so you and Bodie can eat.”

  Jenny spoke several faltering Itor words, and Fly smiled in return. He snatched the gun from Matt’s fingertips as soon as they were close enough, and they continued along the beach with Matt following, scowling at their backs.

  The rest of the day passed slowly, as did the following day and the next. Jenny was cool towards Matt, but found it hard to be the same towards Bodie even though his view on Fly was the same; his broken body drew out her pity and love until she felt torn between the two men who loved her - albeit differently.

  Soon another month had gone by, and Jenny had been amused to see that Matt and Bodie had began to mark off the days scratched onto the wall in the cockpit, like she had in the cabin.

  She spent her days with Fly in their home, but the nights she insisted she spend with the others. Fly had been annoyed at first, stomping about and glaring at her in that strange way where his eyes appeared to be as dry and as dusty as coal, but Jenny never backed down, and finally Fly relented and began spending the nights back in the cabin as well.

  But it had been agreed that once Matt was well and able to hunt for Bodie and himself, Jenny and Fly would return back to their home.

  That day was upon them, but they wouldn’t be parted for long, Fly had assured her, soon the men’s shelter would be ready.

  Jenny had, so far, kept this a secret from Bodie and Matt. She wanted to use it as a trump card for later.

  The splints had come off Bodie’s legs, and as he lay on the mattress, Matt gently raised a leg up and down several times, before moving onto the other.

  “How’s that feel?” he asked.

  “Bloody painful,” Bodie said, breathless. “I feel like I’ve run a marathon. “

  “I’m going to bend them at the knee,” Matt said taking hold of his left ankle, and pushing so Bodie was forced to bend his knee.

  Bodie squeezed his eyes shut half in pain and half in the effort it took him to bend his knee. It was lowered back down on the mattress, and then Matt was ready to try the other leg all too soon.

  “Not bad,” Matt said, pleased. “Maybe we’ll get you running that marathon, yet! “

  Bodie’s head hit the mattress with a thump. “I doubt it,” he turned his head away from Matt’s eyes, knowing that, despite Matt’s cheerfulness Matt had done most of the work. His legs were just useless stumps beneath a frustrated body. He stared up at the high ceiling, and the metal ladders crisscrossing it towards broken platforms above and wondered how long it would take the others to realize how much of a burden he had become.

  “… The alien isn’t as invincible as he likes to make out. For several nights I’ve been following him to see what he gets up to, and not one evening has he suspected a bleeding thing.”

  “Huh?” Bodie’s head turned with a jerk.

  Matt, hopping from one leg to the other, pulled off his boots and threw them to one side. “If I’ve to choose what he’s more like, human or animal, I’d choose animal. Do you know where he goes? He joins up with the wolf-beasts and hunts with them. Only they aren’t wolves, Christ only knows why Jen calls them that. I’ve even seen him sharing their kill. It’s sick, man, sick.”

  “I agree, but just as long as you know we have to be cautious where Fly’s concerned. I don’t want you doing anything stupid while I’m laid up. We’ll achieve more when I’m well.”

  “That could be never, and you know it.”

  Bodie glared at him, furious that he should voice his own thoughts. “I’ll be damned if I have to let you carry me around for the rest of my life!”

  “Easy! I was just saying…”

  “Well don’t. Sometimes, I wonder if you realize how you hurt people with your remarks.”

  “Some people are just too sensitive. OK, OK, I’m sorry. And I know, before you repeat yourself again, we’re to be cautious. Cautious, but not afraid. I’m not scared of him, and you shouldn’t be either. He isn’t any different to us.”

  There was something in Matt’s voice that made Bodie wary. “If you plan something, and act without my knowledge. “ he began.

  Matt held up his hands. “Relax, Commander, I’m just full of shit, as always.”

  “As long as that’s all it is,” he said closing his eyes again, and failing to see the animated smile that lit Matt’s face.

  Jenny lay on the cabin bed, clutching the pillow to her breast like some lovesick teenager. The howling of the natives whipped around the ship, and Fly was never more missed than now. She hated it when he went hunting, and always feared he’ll end up the hunted. He’d laughed at her fears, and tried to reassure her, but now as she squeezed the pillow and wondered where he was and what he was doing, his reassurance had proved to be pointless.

  She feared for him. Not only from hunting, but also from Matt and Bodie. They would never accept him; with or without the new shelter Fly was building them. She had been foolish for believing that it would. And now Matt was completely well, it was only a matter of time before he tried to kill Fly.

  She fell into a restless, dream-filled sleep. A little later, half wake, she thought she saw a tall shadow creep in through the opened door. But she was so sleepy, her eyelids refused to stay open. They closed, but flickered when the shadow crept forward, and removed the gun from the small table beside her bed.

  She dreamed Fly was leaving her. He and Matt had become bosom-buddies and wanted to live in a small cottage deep in the forest. But the three bears came home, and chased them away for eating all the porridge. Then the three bears turned into wolves, and captured Fly, tearing into him with large teeth. Matt was laughing, and when Fly began to scream she woke.

  She looked at the table, half wondering what drew her eyes there, but the gun was lying where she had left it.

  TWENTY-FOUR

  Bodie sat in his chair next to the smoking barbecue with the gun on his lap. He stirred a steaming pot of soup, while beside it on the griddle sizzled the leftovers from yesterday’s meal.

  He felt on edge because today was the day when Jenny and Fly would officially leave them to go and live in their house.

  Jenny had wanted the parting to be amicable, hence a nice friendly meal all together.

  The noise of the buggy returning made his head turn, and he watched with frustration as Fly and Jenny exited from the buggy with the ease of healthy, young bodies.

  “Hi!” Jenny said.

  “Hi,” he answered. He forced a smile at Fly. “I hope you’re hungry. “

  Fly stepped over and peered into the pot. “Did you cook the fungi thoroughly?”

  “As instructed,” Bodie said.

  “Until the color lightened?”

  “Maybe you should be the first to sample it!” Bodie couldn’t control the snap in his voice, but it was too late to be retracted. He tried to laugh, to make out he was joking, but the alien bore down on him, and Bodie cringed as it lunged at him.

  But all Fly had done was snatch the gun from his lap.

  Fly sat down, watching as Bodie lowered his hands, raised to protect his head. Feeling foolish, knowing the alien was mocking him, he looked at him meekly, hiding the revulsion that he really felt.

  “Isn’t it about time you trusted us?” He looked pointedly at the gun.

  “No,” Fly said.

  “I.” Bodie stopped and glanced at Jenny. She looked stricken; this was hurting her! He glanced back at Fly, and wished such dark thoughts on him he almost lost control.

  He fixed his eyes to the top of the valley, while clutching the last of his calm.

  Matt came out from the spaceship. “Oh,” he said, in a bored voice. “Tarzan and Jane are back.” Then he proceeded to ignore them, and turned to Bodie. “Grub ready, yet, Commander?”

  The food that Bodie ate could have been dust. The texture, taste and even the sight was unappealing to him. Matt ate well, but
his eyes were rarely off Fly.

  “Where do we go from here?” Bodie asked him.

  Fly looked up slowly from his plate. “I do not understand.”

  “Will we see Jenny again?”

  Jenny tutted. “For God’s sake! Fly’s not taking me anywhere I don’t want to go, stop being so dramatic, Bodie,” she said. “We’re just going to stop sleeping here. You’ll still see us.” She glanced at Fly, before looking back at Bodie. “Fly accepts that we’ll always be friends -”

  “Only because he can’t change the past,” said Matt. “He regrets pulling us out of Taurus. Am I right, alien?”

  “You and Matt have discussed ways of killing me,” Fly directed his words towards Bodie, ignoring Matt completely.

  “I - we -” Bodie colored when he found Fly’s dark stare on him. He was a hopeless liar.

  “Not ways exactly, but the means,” Matt said, his eyes gleaming, and they all looked at him, Bodie with an exaggerated expression that told him to, “shut up!”

  Fly and Jenny’s eyes met, and Bodie noticed the hidden communication in the act. Jenny looked as if she had terrible news confirmed.

  Matt put his plate down aggressively and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Watch your back, alien. You could be in for a surprise.”

  Fly’s black eyes, twin dry coals, fixed to Matt’s face so sharply there was a snap in the air.

  Matt spat a white foaming ball into the ground. “You’ve underestimated us, alien, we could kill you in your sleep.”

  “Matt!”

  This was Jenny. And all three men looked at her.

  She swallowed. “Maybe there’s something you should know: Fly’s race is superior. The Itor is ven -”

  “- Stronger than a human male, and my claws add to my advantage,” Fly interrupted, placing a firm hand on her knee as if to silence her.

  Bodie watched the small movement curiously, although he didn’t think to question the interruption. Instead he watched Jenny fall silent, biting on her lower lip, and he became even more certain that she had been about to reveal something important about the Itor race.