Eden

by Louise Wise

  “What crap!” Matt exploded, making him jump. “You’ve claws, but apart from that you’re no different to the rest of us.” He leered at Jenny. “Claws, eh? I always knew you had a pervy sexual preference. Was screwing the pet dog not enough for you?”

  Fly lunged at him, his plate tumbling from his lap. His claws caught the edge of Matt’s clothes as he rolled sideways to evade the reaching hand. The grubby-white suit ripped smoothly from shoulder to wrist, and a deep gash appeared along his arm, but Matt was unperturbed and lurched to his feet with raised fists.

  He directed a punch towards Fly’s jaw, but Fly blocked it and sent Matt to his knees with a heavy winding blow to his stomach. While he was hunched over, gasping, Fly took a handful of hair and, wheeling him around, slammed his face into the side of the spaceship.

  Matt opened his mouth on a muffled gasp of pain and thick blood spilled down his chin. Fly let go, and he sank to the ground, moaning.

  Bodie was shocked at the speed of events. His fork, still speared with a piece of meat, was poised midway to his mouth. Jenny rose, she looked shaken.

  Matt rolled on the ground, groaning. “You bastard…” he muttered, clutching his bleeding arm, but a quick glance down told him the gash wasn’t serious. He fingered his bloodstained mouth, and a tooth came away in his hand. “You bastard,” he said again.

  “You will not kill me,” Fly said to Matt. “You need me.”

  Bodie wasn’t sure if that was a question or a statement.

  “Bollocks,” Matt said. He stood but kept his distance much to Bodie’s relief.

  Fly pointed to the still half-made boat. Matt had stubbornly refused to finish it, even when it was pointed out that it would be useful for all of them. “You will finish the boat,” he said.

  Matt swore, and spat out another tooth. He fingered his scalp. The tips of his fingers came away bloodied. “Bastard,” he said. “The alien’s clawed my head.”

  “I want you to finish the boat, Matt,” Bodie said, and Matt looked at him incredulously.

  Matt stood up. His face was smeared with blood, and he had a deranged light in his eyes. He drew back his top lip in a snarl, and swore viciously at Bodie.

  “That was an order!” Bodie pushed the forked vegetable into his mouth, and snatched it out again equally as fast, chewing angrily.

  Matt continued to glare.

  Jenny sat down, her face pale.

  Then Matt unlocked his stare from Bodie and stomped into the spaceship, muttering a variety of villainous words.

  Fly squatted down next to Jenny. Bodie could barely believe his eyes when he dropped a light kiss on the top of her head. She raised her face and smiled, and said words that were for Fly’s ears only.

  Fly replied in his language, which was toneless in his clipped, robotic accent. But Jenny must have understood perfectly, because her smile widened. They spoke in lowered voices, Jenny speaking Itor, and then they kissed one another on the lips before Fly rose and walked away.

  Bodie was scowling; he had hated the way he was made to feel like an intruder between a courting couple.

  Matt popped his head out of the door. “Arrogant bastard,” he said.

  “You listen, and you listen hard.” Bodie’s face was a strange shade of red. “Until I decide differently we do it his way, understand?”

  Matt scowled so deeply his eyes were barely visible beneath their brows.

  “This isn’t one of your childish games at the plant. This is real.”

  The silence was thick with their sparring anger, but Matt silently acknowledged Bodie’s superiority and nodded his defeat.

  Jenny was able to creep away in the early evening as Bodie fell asleep in the hammock made a few days ago by Matt.

  Fly was standing moodily in their bedroom, looking from the plastic window at the white foaming river. On tip-toe she crept behind him, and slipped her hands around his waist.

  “I feel like a teenager sneaking away from her over protective parents to meet her lover. “

  He turned swiftly and took possession of her mouth, leaving her breathless and stopping any further conversation. She recognized his mood, and appreciated it. Words weren’t welcome, only actions. He removed her clothes, his mouth never breaking contact. They made love as if his anger were still boiling, but his rough handling only excited her more.

  When they made love for a second time, Fly kissed every small bruise he’d caused, and entered her so softly and gently it was almost as if he had become another person.

  They fell asleep in each other’s arms, where Jenny began to dream she was back in the cabin and a shadowy figure had crept over to her bed while she was asleep. She “woke” to find the shadow was a native-wolf, and Bodie (walking) and Matt appeared behind the wolf.

  Bodie said, “Kill her. She isn’t one of us anymore.”

  And the native-wolf, now appearing to wear clothes in her dream, picked up the gun. At this point Jenny woke up, and lay nestled against Fly trying to understand why the dream had disturbed her so much.

  She was just beginning to doze off again, when Fly pushed back the foil covers and stood up. She sat up, yawning and pushing hair out of her eyes. “Are you going hunting?” she asked.

  Fly leaned over and kissed her. “Yes, and thank you for staying tonight.”

  “That was the deal I made,” she said. “Matt’s better, so I’ll stay here now. It’s for the best, anyway,” she added, smiling sadly. “Else our state of affairs would become so bad we’d never speak to them again!”

  “I’m sorry, Jenny.”

  “So am I.” She frowned as the memory of her dream nudged her. She gasped as it flooded back, as though she had flicked a rewind button. It made sense now.

  “Fly,” she said, and watched as he began to dress. “Remember when I told you I thought Matt had taken the gun while I was asleep in the cabin the other night? Well, I think Matt has been following you when you go hunting.” She bit her lip, looking worried.

  Fly stopped as he was about to pull on his animal fur poncho, and said in his own language, “What makes you think he’s following me?”

  “Sometimes, and he doesn’t know I know, his bed is empty at night, and plus the gun has gone.” She shrugged. “And I keep having silly dreams; a premonition, if you like,” she added, when she saw he didn’t understand.

  “I knew it!” he said, in his alien tongue. “I knew something hasn’t been right with the natives these last few days. “

  “Why didn’t you say?”

  “And cause you more distress?”

  Isn’t he sweet! Bodie and Matt were so, so wrong about him. “The wolves accept you, but not the stranger following.” Jenny felt tearful rather than angry, and incredibly hurt that anyone would want to harm Fly. “But why follow you and not kill you? Although thank God, he didn’t try.”

  Jenny began to climb out of the bed. “Well, we’ll tell him we know all about his little game and put a stop to it -”

  Fly smiled, his strange eyes lighting up. “No, I think it is time Matt and I had a discussion of our own.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I ask for your trust, Jenny. “

  “I suppose.” she laughed, nervous. “I feel like I’m consenting to something I’m going to disagree on.”

  “I do not intend to kill him.”

  “I know!” she cried. “I wasn’t thinking of him, I was thinking of you. I don’t want you to put yourself in danger. He isn’t worth it. And I do trust you, of course I do.”

  He pushed her back into bed, and pulled a foil cover up around her shivering shoulders.

  “Your body tempts me,” he said. “Sometimes I cannot think straight.”

  Jenny grabbed his hand. “Be careful,” she said.

  Fly regarded her without expression. “I’ll never ask you to choose between us, but maybe you should think about it?” he said, and left her with that thought.

  TWENTY-FIVE

  It was raining, but it was barely
felt beneath the giant trees in the forest.

  The wood was beginning to appear familiar to Matt. The trees, the same after another, towered above, blocking out most of the light. The leaves on some spanned two or more meters. Everything seemed magnified in the jungle. He felt like an ant in comparison.

  He hated the forest, hated the ponderous trees, and the way they seemed to take all the oxygen and leave none for him. Even the sunlight struggled in its attempt to break through the thick branches. It was dark, dank and depressing. It totally summed up his feeling of Planet Eden.

  Bodie had been fretting all yesterday and today about something Jenny had said, or rather tried to say, at dinner before Fly attacked him for no reason. Something about Fly belonging to a superior race.

  What crap!

  It was merely another reason why they shouldn’t kill the alien. Bodie disappointed him; the man despised Fly too, yet he was always less keen to do something about it. There were continual excuses: he was told to wait until Jenny had come to her senses, or until Bodie was better, or - and this was a new one - maybe the alien should be allowed to live after all.

  Allowed to live? Not if he had anything to do with it!

  Bodie had been certain that Jenny was about to reveal something about the Itor race before the alien had interrupted her. Matt scowled, and swore some more. Bodie certainly wasn’t the same man who had left Earth’s atmosphere all those months ago. If Zack had been here instead, the sparks between him and the alien would have been spectacular.

  Matt more than hated the alien. He loathed him. Picturing him and Jenny together made his flesh crawl - and to think he once fancied a piece of her. He wouldn’t touch her now even if she were the last woman on…

  Matt smiled grimly, and forced himself to concentrate. He trudged on, the gun’s strap secured the weapon firmly to his head, and it felt light and took almost no effort to use. He had practiced until he thought he would see in tunnel vision for the rest of his life, and now his eye was stinging from over use.

  Fly was somewhere in front. But it didn’t matter that Matt had lost him because he knew where the alien was heading. He had followed him at every native-wolf call for a while now; he had needed to know here the alien spent the twilight hours, and what he did.

  Suddenly the lens that he was looking through was blocked by a tangle of brown hair with tiny, pitiless yellow eyes.

  It was the closest that Matt had ever been to one of the creatures that Jenny had named native-wolf, and for a short moment Matt was helpless, but as the beast reared up, he effortlessly made the small movement with his eye and fired the weapon.

  The sounds of the forest masked any sound the gun or creature made, and Matt moved on, taking care to be more observant. His ears were useless, the forest was increasingly noisy. His hands were scratched from barbed leaves, and his neck still carried a thick piece of twine like a prize scarf, which had nearly garroted him when it had first became wrapped around his neck.

  He slowed his pace; knowing in front was the clearing where Fly met with his pack of wolves. He estimated that with a tiny movement of REM he’d kill the entire pack - at least twenty or thirty in this case.

  Matt moved from tree to tree, ignoring the gibbering monkey creatures. The clearing was just in front, and the entire pack was present. He smiled, self-complacent, and searched the mounds of tatty, thick hair of the natives for Fly’s familiar outline. He wanted him to witness the creatures” destruction.

  He frowned.

  Fly wasn’t there, yet he had seen him disappear into the clearing.

  He pushed up the gun, in case it was making his vision unpredictable; the weapon really wasn’t suited to the human eye, but Fly was definitely not among the breathing. He searched the immediate forest with a frown.

  Something heavy fell on him. He threw out a fist in a single punch, while struggling to pull the gun back over his eye. His hand made contact with unyielding flesh, and his knuckles stung from the impact.

  His face was pushed into the leaf-caked ground and the gun was ripped from his head. Matt muttered a string of swear words, struggling against the weight that pinned him down. But Fly had the advantage of being on top, so Matt allowed his body to fall limp and, as he hoped, he was flipped over on his back.

  He wasn’t prepared for the closeness of Fly’s ugly face, or the clawed hands that circled his throat. His hands tore at the scarred fingers that crushed his windpipe but they clung around his neck as if imbedded. Barely able to breathe, he stared up into the alien’s eyes.

  “What’s the matter, man?” he said in a wheeze of breath, trying to feign friendliness. “D-didn’t realize it was … was a private party.”

  He was aware the wolf creatures had joined them; he could smell them. But he didn’t want to take his eyes off Fly to acknowledge their presence.

  “Why have you been following me?”

  The hands bit painfully into Matt’s throat. He wondered if the alien realized. “You knew?” he croaked.

  “Why?”

  “I w-wanted to know what hold you h-had over the wolf-people.”

  Fly’s face remained unchanging. Matt wished Fly had picked up some body language as well as English so he could, at least, guess at what he was thinking.

  “They fear me. It is wise not to make an enemy of people you fear. Have you not learned that?”

  “I don’t fear you!” Matt spat, forgetting he was trying to pretend fellowship.

  “But I can smell it.” Fly’s claws pieced the flesh around Matt’s neck and drew blood. “You came to put an end to your fear. You came to kill me.”

  Matt pulled at the hands again. The strength that held him was frightening. Something big and hairy came close to his left ear; he could smell the creature’s foul breath.

  “Are you scared of my friends?”

  “Let me up!” Matt said as loud as he could; unfortunately it came out as a hiss of expelled breath.

  “Shall I leave you to them?”

  “Jen will never forgive you. Neither will Bodie.” The words came out as a gurgle.

  Fly moved his hands and held Matt’s neck at an awkward angle. Matt moaned in pain. When the haze cleared from his eyes, he noticed the tossed gun lying almost within reach. If only he could reach it…

  Releasing his hold on Fly’s wrists, he instantly felt the pressure increase, but it had to be done. He shoved a fist upwards, and connected with Fly’s jaw with a satisfying crunch.

  Fly fell sideways onto a wolf, which reared up on two legs as if it were human, and ran away with a high-pitched shriek.

  From where he lay Matt quickly followed his punch with a kick to Fly’s stomach. As Fly rolled, Matt jumped to his feet and lunged for the gun. The natives made no move to attack him, but danced around with excited, almost human, whooping.

  When Fly was on his feet a split second later, Matt was struggling with the gun. The strap was broken, and it wouldn’t stay on.

  With a cry of rage, Matt flung the gun to the ground and pulled out the knife he’d found in the basement of the spaceship all that time ago. The blade had been carefully restored; shiny and sharp. He circled Fly, holding the knife out before him.

  “You know, alien, it’s really a shame it’s gonna end like this,” he said, and then thrust the knife towards Fly’s belly.

  Fly dodged and the blade became tangled in his animal hide poncho. Matt, using his elbow, shoved Fly to one side and pulled back the knife. He swung around, saw his target, and plunged it towards Fly’s chest.

  The tip had barely touched him before Fly’s knuckles blurred in front of his eyes.

  Matt’s head seemingly spun around. He felt like a character in a cartoon, but the pain was too real. Blood flew from his mouth in droplets, then his body twisted in the same direction as his head and he fell to the ground, his knife spinning away.

  He rolled quickly, dislodging Fly’s attempt to overpower him again. He aimed another kick to the alien’s stomach, and Fly doubled over with a
grunt of pain.

  The natives began to make loud war-cries. It sounded like nothing Matt had ever heard. Noticing Fly was badly winded and momentarily disarmed, Matt smashed his fist against his jaw bone. He followed it with another blow, and another, feeling victorious. Fly staggered backwards, but didn’t fall. Matt came at him again and aimed another punch at his jaw. This one didn’t make contact.

  Pain exploded in Matt’s left cheek, nose, chin. Then he realized he was staring into a sky of treetops. It took him a while to realize he had been knocked down.

  He raised his head long enough to see Fly standing above him. He seemed to go on forever. His face blurred, and Matt’s head fell back on the leafy ground.

  “Jesus Christ… son of a mother fu…” Matt clutched his head, rolled over, then sat up spitting out dry earth and leaves. He was covered in them. He opened his eyes, and panic gripped him.

  He was blind!

  He rubbed his eyes, then opened them again.

  The darkness was all around. It was thick and heavy and pressed in on him as though it had substance. He knew he was still in the forest. He could smell the damp leaves; could smell the animals and hear their noise.

  He opened and closed his eyes. But whatever he did the darkness was always there.

  A low growl caused him to whip round in its direction. A shape rose before him, and reflected eyes glowered at him.

  Matt felt his stomach churn. Discovering he wasn’t blind but, instead, was in the thick of the forest at night-time without a weapon, and with a pack of alien wolf-creatures for company, brought very little in the way of relief.

  Jenny gave Fly a bowl of soup with vegetables and meat, and watched him raise it to his lips.

  “So what happened to your face?” Bodie asked for the second time that morning. He had been watching them closely. His eyes had been constantly searching Jenny’s face for any sign of anxiety or fear. There was no fear but it was clear she was distressed.

  Bodie had sensed an air of nervousness around her. He had realized, with a fast growing apprehension, that Matt had followed Fly again - but this time he hadn’t arrived back; and to add to his worry Fly had showed up at breakfast with fresh bruising on his jaw.