Alien Interludes (8 page)

“I was under orders, but I had no intention of taking out your cities,” he’d told her at their first meeting. “Plasius is peaceful. I know you have no military. The battle drones were for show only.” Israla didn’t trust the volatile Earthers, especialy the men who commanded the troops that had threatened her planet. But there was something about Tyler Carter that insisted he was a man of honor. Since coming to Plasius, he’d conducted himself impeccably and insisted the soldiers that remained do so as wel. Despite the fact Earth’s chain of command was gone, only broken links remaining, Tyler was obeyed without question by the other Earthers.

He’d kept to himself except when disputes among the stranded Earthers demanded his attention. It had been weeks since Israla had last laid eyes on him.

“So what occasion brings you to me today?” she asked, smoothing the light sheath she’d concealed herself in. Earthers were notoriously repressed, the older ones easily scandalized by the Plasians’ lack of modesty. For some reason Israla didn’t wish to embarrass Tyler, to see him stammer and stutter as he tried to look anywhere but at her. She thought belatedly it would have been better to take this meeting at her carved wooden desk, the two of them sitting across from one another in the more businesslike corner of her office.

“It’s about those soldiers you’ve been keeping in stasis,” he replied. His smoky blue eyes looked directly into her black-marbled ones, but there was no chalenge. Just laserpoint attention.

“They attempted to murder two women, one of whom is now the Empress of Kalquor.” She thought back to that horrible night of bloodshed and near death. Israla shuddered. Violence was a foreign concept to the Plasians. They didn’t even require a police force.

“Yes ma’am, I’m aware of their crime. And I assure you I don’t approve of their actions. However,” Tyler took a deep breath before continuing, “I’d like to request you don’t turn them over to the Kalquorians. They won’t receive a fair trial. And Kalquorian executions are long, drawn-out affairs.” Israla knew he was right, but she played devil’s advocate nonetheless. “It seems Earth executions went along the same lines, did they not? Torture, castration, and unceasing hard labor until the convicted dropped dead. For far less brutal crimes than attempted homicide, if I’m not mistaken.”

Tyler nodded. His expression remained calm, but there was pain in his eyes, pain that made Israla wonder if someone he’d loved had met such a fate. “I didn’t say my government was any less vicious than Kalquor’s. But as we Earthers say, two wrongs don’t make a right.”

“I can’t let those men go free, Colonel. They can’t simply walk away from what they did. Kalquor won’t hear of it.”

“I’m not asking you to set them free. I may be Earther, but I don’t condone violence against women. I think those men should stand trial for their crimes, but it should be before the Galactic Council. It’s their one hope for fair judgment.”

The fur on Israla’s head stood at attention. Plasian head fur, an approximation of the hair that grew from Earthers’ heads, displayed every emotion by its movement for al to see. Plasians were incapable of subterfuge because of it.

That didn’t mean Tyler was able to read Israla’s moods easily. His brows furrowed at her reaction. “I am prepared to make this concession worth your while, Saucin.” Israla didn’t feel unloading the violent Earthers that had been kept in stasis for the past three years a concession. She’d love to make them someone else’s problem. It was cowardly of her perhaps, but deciding the fates of those who engaged in brutality was beyond her abilities.

What kept her from immediately discussing how to foist a dozen aggressive Earthers onto the Galactic Council was the bargain Tyler hinted at. What could a homeless Earther possibly offer? She was moved to pity for the man’s wilingness to sacrifice his few meager possessions for the lives of men he had no care for.

“What did you have in mind, Colonel?” she asked with a soft voice.

Tyler shifted. He swalowed. He cracked his finger joints. Then he dropped his eyes so that he wasn’t looking her in the face anymore. “If you find me pleasing for it, I’d be wiling to have sex with you in exchange for those men’s lives.”

Israla stared at him. Of al the things she’d have expected Colonel Carter to offer, this wasn’t one of them.

He continued, his pleasant rumbling voice tripping over the words. “I know you prefer younger men. I’m not your type at al. But it’s al I have to trade, and sex seems to be the going currency for a man with little to no funds.”

Israla pressed her lips together. “I do not enjoy men who don’t find me attractive, Colonel.” Her tone could have frozen a raging inferno.

Tyler’s flicked a surprised glance at her before looking down again. “You are beautiful, Saucin. Al Plasians are, but you’re the loveliest I’ve seen.” It was Israla’s turn to be startled. “My sources say you’ve taken no lovers since coming to my planet, Colonel. I assumed you were not interested in our people, or too repressed like most of your breed to want sex with us.”

Tyler crooked a self-conscious smile at her. “Plasians are very pleasing to the eye. And I enjoy sex very much.” His smile faded and his gaze went inward. “I did, anyway.” Israla leaned forward, fascinated despite herself. “Who was she and what happened to her?”

Tyler’s eyes brightened with tears. “My wife Heather. We lived in Chicago, one of the cities hit by Armageddon.”

“There’s no chance she wasn’t there when the bomb went off?”

He shook his head slowly. “I’d spoken to her only an hour before the Kalquorians came through the wormhole. I told her we were preparing to transport home immediately to deal with the attack force that was threatening our defense grid. That I’d see her soon.”

“I’m so sorry.” Israla winced as she uttered the worthless sympathy. Empty, useless words, but that’s al that was left when the one who filed your heart was gone forever.

“Thank you.” He didn’t try to sound grateful, and that was al right.

The bombs had gone off a year and a half ago. Time enough to dul the worst of the agony, but the void within remained. Israla knew the pain wel. She’d lived with her own version of it for forty years now.

“The Kalquorian emperors are determined to exact their brand of justice for the near-fatal attack on their Matara. They wil not be easily convinced to give up their claim on those soldiers.” Tyler took a deep breath. “You think it’s hopeless.”

“I think it wil be exceedingly difficult.” Israla smiled tightly. “But I have good relations with one of their trusted councilmen, Dramok Rajhir. I wil contact him about the matter and see what he can negotiate. If anyone can convince the Imperial Clan, it wil be him. The emperors hold him in high esteem.” Tyler blew out a breath. “I thank you for making the effort. No doubt you’d rather wash your hands of the whole affair.” Israla shrugged. “I have worried about this issue for quite some time. I am prepared to keep those men in stasis indefinitely rather than see them put to death in the manner the Kalquorians would prefer.”

“Plasians are noted for their gentle nature.” Tyler licked his lips. “Now as to my side of the bargain—” Israla held her hand up. “No need, Colonel. Your heart wouldn’t be in it.”

Did she imagine the flash of disappointment on his face? It was gone as fast as it had appeared. “You are too kind, Saucin. I realize I’m not your usual choice of playmate.” She let her eyes drift to the window overlooking the side lawn of her property. About a dozen boy-men, clad only in tight-fitted shorts, romped on the lush mossy surface. They tossed an oblong object they caled a footbal and tackled one another. So innocent and fresh. Pretty things to play with. She taught them carnal amusements and then sent them on their way. They often left her wilingly, eager to experience others and expand their horizons. A few wanted to stick around for longer than Israla was comfortable with, but her aides often stepped in, distracting the younglings’ pursuit of happily ever after.

Israla found it imperative to not just teach the boy-men techniques for pleasing a woman sexualy. They needed to know that relationships weren’t guaranteed, that ‘forever’ was actualy a finite time span.

“You are a very attractive example of your species, Colonel, and I enjoy looking at you,” Israla assured him. She realy did. Her gaze had already drifted from the younglings to peruse Tyler’s wide shoulders, the lovely vee of his torso as it tapered from those shoulders to his trim waist and the muscled thighs il-concealed by his olive pants. Israla sighed before she could stop herself.

She cleared her throat. “However, you are not the kind of man I choose to share my body with.”

Tyler’s blue eyes were sharp as he stared at her face. “Who was he?”

Israla stiled. “Who was who?”

“The man you’re stil in love with.”

She pressed her lips together. Pain closed a fist around her heart. It would be rude, but she considered ordering him out of her office.

Tyler cocked an eyebrow at her. “That bad, huh? Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”

No, she certainly didn’t. And she was going to make Tyler Carter leave. Israla opened her mouth and was shocked to hear herself say, “We were monogamous for twenty years.”

“I didn’t realize Plasians ever practiced monogamy.”

Israla’s eyes lowered to her long fingers. They had laced together without her noticing, and she had curled her hands tight into a single fist. “Usualy we don’t. Sex is as natural to us as breathing, and it is only right to experience the beauty of body sharing with others. To not do so is like keeping a work of art locked away from the eyes of others, or preparing a fine meal without sharing it with the hungry.”

“That’s an interesting way of looking at it,” Tyler mused. “Yet you found someone that kept you from, ah, giving others the good fortune of intimacy with your body.” Israla shot him a sharp glance, but there was no hint of judgment, humor, or disgust. Tyler seemed genuinely interested and open-minded.

She sighed. Was she realy going to discuss this with him? She’d never spoken of her love affair with Aserb, not even with her dearest friends. None of them had experienced the madness of
nidlos
, or soul-binding.

But this Earther had. It was in the empty pain in his eyes when he’d spoken of his Heather, the warmth with which he stil spoke her name. Israla thought she might be able to trust him with the ache, of which the jagged edges had smoothed over time but stil remained in the pit of the gut forever.

“Sometimes you find another who is like a missing puzzle piece of yourself,” she began. “Someone who eclipses al others in the shadow of his brightness. The more I was with Aserb, the less I cared for the company of others.”

“No one else truly existed anymore.” Tyler nodded.

Relief poured through Israla. “You do understand. I didn’t think I was explaining it wel.”

Tyler smiled at her, his careworn face regaining some of the warmth of his early youth. He settled back on his seat, leaning back to let the smooth silvery wal support him. “That’s because no words exist in any language that describe how it feels when your heart is made whole.”

Israla hugged herself, delighted to find a kindred spirit in such an unlikely man. “He sang to my soul, Colonel. No one had ever done that before. No one has done that since.”

“No one wil. At least, not with the same song.” He gave her a searching look. “So tel me Saucin, why the younger men? Doesn’t a woman of your experience and wisdom find them tedious? Why not someone closer to your own age, someone like Aserb?”

“You may cal me Israla.” She gave him the warmth of her voice. “Sharing pain as we do invites a little more familiarity.”

“Then cal me Tyler. With Earth gone, my title is kind of moot now.”

Israla nodded. “To answer your question, there wil never be anyone like Aserb. There is no point in trying to bond with a man closer to my age who is set in his ways, ways I haven’t shared in the formation of. It would be too taxing.”

“Too taxing or too scary?” Tyler leaned forward, propping his elbows on his knees and cupping his face in his hands. He studied her closely. “I think you’re afraid you’l fal in love again. Or maybe you’re afraid you won’t find someone special enough to fal in love with. Maybe it’s a little of both.”

Israla wanted to refute al he said. “You’re wrong,” she said stiffly.

Tyler’s expression was irritating with its gentleness. “I won’t deny I’ve been physicaly attracted to the women of your planet. As I said, you are a beautiful race. But every time I contemplate it, guilt rushes in. As if I’m damaging the memory of Heather somehow. You don’t feel that?”

“Our lovers are dead. We live. There should be no guilt.”

“Indeed.” Tyler looked away, his gaze going distant once more. Remembering a woman he’d never hold again. “And I know Heather wouldn’t want me to walow in what was and missing out on what could be. But it’s hard. What my brain says, my heart doesn’t want to hear.”

Israla had nothing to say to that. She wished Tyler would go away now and take his hurt and observations with him.

* * * *

Israla jerked to awareness at her aide’s question. Her marbled black eyes bright with curiosity, Shisa sat across from her, in the same exact spot Tyler Carter had occupied only four days ago.

Damn the man. Since their conversation everything seemed to be a reminder of what he’d said. Of him. Israla’s mind was not her own; she’d replayed that afternoon until it seemed burned in her mind. His arguments. The way his expression was comforting one moment, lost in sadness the next. The sprinkling of beard on his strong jaw. How strong and capable his hands looked.

“Saucin?”

Shisa’s gentle voice told Israla she’d gotten lost in thinking about Tyler again. The Saucin restrained a sigh of irritation at herself. Realy, she needed to exorcise the Earther from her mind. Even her prodigious sexual appetite had taken a hit. She’d not indulged in a sweet morsel of youth since that day.