Close Encounters (5 page)

“What about the Buri?”

I shrugged. “I don’t think they’re capable of hurting you. Just don’t let them on board unless it’s with me. Other than that, don’t interfere with them. The more they hang around the camp, the easier it will be to gather info on them.” I paused. “You might want to let me know if Brownie is lurking in the bushes, though. I don’t think he likes me much.”

“Probably with good reason,” Max replied. “There’s an area of new skin growth on his left hip. From a close scan of the scar, it would appear to be the remnants of a laser burn.”

I mulled that over for a second. So much for Redfield’s assertion about not wanting to stun the Buri. Apparently they’d rather kill them. Unless Redfield didn’t know everything that was going on. With Frisk’s reputation for hating GEPs, it wouldn’t surprise me to discover he was withholding info from the doctor.

Well, there was nothing I could do about it right this minute, and I still had a lot of work to complete.

Once the antigrav sled was loaded, we tugged it to the clearing I’d made, and I set the huts to work erecting themselves. The process clearly fascinated Junior, and he watched them go up with a mixture of awe and curiosity.

When they were done, I had two huts side by side, with a connecting partition between them that I used for storage. Each section of hut had a door with a porch roof covering it. Most of the complicated lab work would be done by Max, but the back hut was equipped with instruments so I could work on my own.

The front hut would be my living quarters. It came with its own lav, kitchen, and bedroom, and Max controlled the climate through remotes. When I tried to coax Junior inside for a look around, his eyes widened, and he backed up a step. I suspect he thought that any building that could go up so fast all by itself might come down the same way, and he wasn’t going to take any chances on being inside when it did.

But at least he seemed to be over his hesitancy where I was concerned. He helped me unload the rest of my supplies without a quibble and then made himself comfortable near one of the porches.

As a reward for his assistance, I made him dinner after Max did a medic scan and assured me the Buri physiology was compatible with human rations. It took some mimicking on my part, and finally taking a bite myself before he’d try the food. And he didn’t seem too fond of the vegetables sautéed in lemon wine, making faces with each swallow. But at his first taste of amberberries covered in chocolate sauce and topped with whipped cream, total rapture lit his features. It didn’t take a fluent command of Buri to understand his meaning when he shoved the empty bowl at me and growled.

With a smile, I zapped another packet of the dessert in the heating unit and refilled his bowl. Even when you’re dealing with an alien species, the way to a man’s heart was apparently through his stomach.

I just hoped it would be this easy with the big guy. If I wanted to be accepted by the Buri, he was the one I had to impress. But I suspected I had my work cut out for me.

M
y first night on Orpheus Two turned out to be a long one. Junior was still working on his second dessert when his replacement showed up. He gave the new Buri with light gray hair and silvery eyes a meager taste of the sweet, and I ended up fixing yet another bowl. Apparently this earned me Ghost’s undying gratitude, because he spent the rest of the night guarding my door, keeping me awake with his shifting and turning.

Crigo had vanished with first dark, but that didn’t surprise me. He was itching to explore, and I’d seen him eyeing a herd of grazers that looked like a cross between the buffalo and gazelles I’d seen in the Centaurius Zoo. They were elegantly built with long legs and spiral horns, but furred with a woolly coat of dark brown curls. They also had a hump on their backs, long beards, and broad, heavy faces.

It was during one of Ghost’s tossing-and-turning periods that I awakened from a light doze with a strange thought. What if the Buri weren’t posted outside my hut as guards? What if they thought they were protecting me from the Dynatec crew?

The idea was so odd I couldn’t believe it had even occurred to me. My eyes opened and I blinked twice before sliding out of bed and into a robe. Moving silently, I padded to the front of the hut and gazed through the transparent door at Ghost. Had I picked up something from him?

It didn’t seem likely. He was leaning against the wall, head tipped back, gentle snores parting his lips.

Trying not to wake him, I opened the door and stepped outside, letting my gaze scan the surrounding jungle. Something or someone was out there. I could feel a presence in the tingle that ran down my back and lifted the fine hair on my nape.

I was on the verge of querying Max when a slight movement caught my eye. It wasn’t much, just a shimmer of moonlight on inky hair, but it was enough to tell me who my watcher was.

The big guy was back.

Shifting slightly to my right, I walked to the edge of the porch. We were within touching distance when I stopped. Close enough that I could pick up the scent of his warm, clean, very male body. I had a clear view of him from this angle.

I’m well above average height for a human female, skimming six feet tall. But he was the largest male of any species I’d ever met. He stood motionless as I stared up at him, and I tightened the belt on my robe nervously.

Which was ridiculous. I never got nervous.

In the distance, the roar of a rock cat after prey split the night, but neither of us so much as twitched. If the emotion I’d picked up earlier had come from him, there was no sign of it now. My shields were completely down and I wasn’t getting a thing.

“Shall I record?” Max asked in my ear.

I hesitated. Technically, every meeting with a new race should be recorded, because you never know what you’ll miss during a contact that you might pick up on later.

“No,” I answered. “Not this time.”

As usual, I had subvocalized when talking to Max, but the big guy tilted his head and his gaze became more intense. Slowly, he lifted one hand and touched me just over the chip implanted behind my ear. Immediately I felt a sense of puzzlement coming from him, and I sucked in a deep breath of night air.

No one had ever been aware of my conversations with Max before. Absolutely no one. Either his hearing was better than mine, which was impossible, or he had, at the very least, a rudimentary telepathic talent.

While I was thinking, his interest shifted from my conversation to my hair. I’d left it loose when I prepared for bed, and he spread his fingers to sift through the heavy mass, draping thick locks over my shoulder and wrapping them around his fist.

For the first time in my life, I didn’t know what to do next. Nothing in my experience had prepared me for this.

He continued stroking my hair, then his gaze shifted and our eyes met. And as we stared at each other, a buzzing filled my head, a small, pleasant sensation that gave me a warm fuzzy feeling and made me smile.

Suddenly I was picking up more emotion from him than I wanted to, in the form of complete and utter shock. He dropped my hair as though it had burned him and took a step back. A low rumble erupted from deep in his chest as his gaze swept down to take in my bare legs and silk-clad body.

With another growl, he turned and faded into the surrounding darkness, leaving me alone to wonder what in the thirteen hells had just happened.

Had I dreamed the entire encounter?

No, it was no dream. I was on the porch wearing nothing but my robe, and Ghost was still snoring from his spot against the wall. And I’d just had a deeply physical reaction to a male from an alien species.

Oh, no. There was no way I’d allow this to continue. I was finished with men, regardless of what species they belonged to. Damn Gertz. When he was busy taking liberties with my genetic makeup, why hadn’t he excised this deep-seated need for love and acceptance I’d been cursed with? It would have made my life so much simpler.

With a sigh, I padded back to bed, my mind still on the big guy. But sleep was a long time coming. I really needed to come up with a name for him, like I had for the others. Blackie was out. He just didn’t seem the type for a cutesy nickname.

After an unusual amount of dithering, I settled on Thor. Yeah, that had some dignity to it, and I could picture him as the god of thunder. All he needed was a hammer.

With that decision out of the way, I finally drifted off to sleep, only to have the dragon birds wake me two hours later at the crack of dawn. Apparently they’d decided the huts were a new toy. They covered the roof, their tiny feet sounding like a pouring rain, chattering and inspecting, even swooping down to peer in the Plexiglas windows.

Mumbling under my breath, I dragged myself to the shower, and then forced my eyes open so I could find my clothes and dress. It took two cups of scalding cafftea before I felt semi-normal again. When I was sure my brain was functioning at its usual level, I walked to the door and looked out.

Crigo was stretched out on his side beneath a flowering vine, lazily cleaning his paws. His stomach was rounder, a bulging ball that marred his normally sleek lines, and he was awash in contentment. But that wasn’t what made me do a double take.

Including Junior and Ghost, five Buri males squatted in a half circle around my porch, all looking hopefully at the door.

Normally, Alien Affairs tries to limit first contact with a low technology group to simple observation for a few cycles by trained xenologists so as not to influence or disrupt their culture. Unfortunately, we didn’t have that luxury with the Buri. Time was a limited commodity if we wanted to save them, and my need for information necessitated getting as close to them as possible as quickly as I could manage. Disturbing their culture was small potatoes when compared with losing the entire species.

I sighed. “Max, how much of the amberberries in chocolate sauce is left? I think I’ve created a monster.”

“Not much, Kiera. We are overstocked with Zip Bars, though.”

“That will do.” I went to the food unit and punched in my request. Zip Bars are high-energy rations. You could live for a month or more eating one a day. It helps that they taste wonderful too. They’re made from compressed zipple nuts and amberberries, coated in caramel and covered in chocolate. All of which hides the taste of the super nutrients mingled with the other ingredients.

I scooped up the individually wrapped bars and carried them to the porch, handing one to each Buri. In unison, they lifted the bars to their noses and sniffed. Thanks to my reflexes, I managed to stop them before they took a bite, wrapper and all.

Patiently, I showed a Buri with white streaks in his dark brown hair how to unwrap the bar before he ate it. The others watched, then mimicked the action, their eyes closing in bliss while they chewed.

As they ate, I covertly studied the male with the streaks. He appeared to be in good physical condition, but he had an aura of age about him, so I dubbed him Elder. He caught me sneaking glances at him and grinned, holding out the Zip Bar and nodding in what I assumed was thanks.

I was waiting for them to finish, and mulling over my plans for the day, when Max interrupted me. “Kiera, one of the Dynatec crew is approaching.”

“Who is it?” I straightened and turned toward the path.

“Second Lieutenant Claudia Karle, the woman you asked about yesterday.”

“Is she armed?”

“Only with a hand laser and belt knife. And I detect no recording equipment on her person.”

“Okay. Let her through.”

The Buri were just finishing off the Zip Bars when the bushes at the head of the path rattled and Lieutenant Karle stepped into view. At the sound, all five males lurched to their feet, spears at the ready, lips curled back from their teeth.

Karle plowed to a stop and raised her hands. “Whoa. Didn’t realize you’d have company. Maybe I’ll just come back later.”

“No, it’s okay.” I pushed my way between Junior and Ghost, and started forward. I hadn’t taken two steps before Junior’s hand clamped down on my shoulder, bringing me to a halt.

I turned to face him, smiling and radiating tranquility and calm. “She’s not going to hurt me,” I assured him with a serene tone. “She couldn’t, even if she wanted to.”

He hesitated, glanced at Elder, and then dropped his hand. All the Buri moved away to take up positions at the edges of the clearing, watching Karle with suspicion.

“Whew.” Karle wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead. “They had me worried for a second there. You sure didn’t waste any time making friends with them.”

“They like my cooking,” I said. “What can I do for you, Lieutenant?”

“I have a few minutes before my team is ready to go, and thought I’d drop by and introduce myself.” She grimaced.

“There are only six females in the crew, and one of them is attached to Frisk at the hip. I figure the rest of us women need to stick together.”

My shields were down and I was picking up overtures of friendliness from her. For the moment, I accepted her at face value. Even if she were somehow masking her true emotions, she’d piqued my interest with that comment about Frisk.

I gestured toward the hut. “Do you have time for a cup of cafftea?”

I’d noted she was tiny the day before, but now I saw she was downright petite, with hazel eyes, café au lait skin and a dark cap of short hair curling around her face. When she smiled, her eyes sparkled. “I’ll make time.”

“Then please, come in.”

Junior looked vaguely alarmed when she followed me to the hut, but I smiled assurance at him and he settled down.

“Have you been working with Frisk long?” I asked as I punched the button for two caffteas.

She straddled one of the bench seats at the table. “Six months now. Dynatec replaced our regular captain and our chief science officer at the last minute. None of the crew were too happy about it. Captain Morgan was a great guy, a real jewel to work with.” She shrugged as I slid a cup in front of her. “Not that we had a choice. You take what you get with Dynatec. Frisk can be a real ass, but I’ve seen worse. At least he stays busy romping with Quilla and leaves us alone to do our job.”

“Quilla?” I tried to sound casual. That name wasn’t included on the ship roster I’d received, a sure sign Dynatec didn’t want us to know about her. Chances were good I’d just found Frisk’s superior.

“Yeah, Quilla Dorn.” She sipped from her cup. “She’s the other new crew member, although we’ve yet to figure out exactly what her job is. She came on board at the very last second, and spends all her time entertaining Frisk.”

Oh, yeah. She was the one, all right. “Max?”

“Checking,” he responded.

I nodded. “How’s the mapping going, Lieutenant?”

“Slowly. It’s a big planet and we have to cover most of it on foot.” She smiled. “And please, call me Claudia.”

“Claudia. I’m Kiera.” I cradled my cup in my hands and settled my elbows on the table. “Doesn’t Dynatec provide you with mapping drones?”

A frown flickered across her face. “Not this trip.”

Apparently I wasn’t the only one puzzled by Dynatec’s refusal to take advantage of modern technology. “It doesn’t look like you’d get much of the planet mapped if you have to walk to a new location each day.”

“Oh, we don’t walk. We take a sled to the last place we marked and start from there.”

“Redfield said the Buri always follow you. Don’t they have trouble keeping up with a sled?”

She laughed. “They don’t try. It only took them one day to figure out how we operate. Now the two assigned to my team just stay at our last location until we come back the next day. Gorgeous, aren’t they, though? Any one of them could make a fortune as a holovid star. Especially wearing nothing but those loincloths and thigh-high boots. Not to mention the gold bracelets. There’s nothing sexier than a well-muscled arm highlighted by hot jewelry.” She fanned her face with one hand. “I hope you find a way to save them.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Won’t that cut into your profit?”

“Of course. But I’m not so mercenary that I could still sleep well at night knowing I’d gotten rich off the extinction of an entire race. And I’ll get my usual pay no matter what your decision is. I can live with that.”

She drank from her cup, her gaze going to the door. “You know, if this place is ever opened up for colonization, I wouldn’t mind settling here permanently.”

“If the decision goes against the Buri, that could be a long time happening. Colonization won’t be allowed until the last surviving member is gone.”

“I know.” Her smile turned wistful. “That’s another reason I want you to find a way to help them.”

I really hoped Claudia was on the level, because in spite of her employer, I couldn’t help but like her. And I could always use an ally in the enemy camp, so to speak.

I’d been created to be flexible, to make snap assessments and rely on my own judgment. In other words, be a doer. Abruptly, I made an executive decision. “Claudia, Dynatec is up to something big. I don’t know what it is they’re after yet, but I’m pretty sure they won’t hesitate to wipe out the Buri to get it. If I’m going to stop them, I’ll need all the information I can get.”