Eden (12 page)

“I thought the wolves had damaged it beyond repair,” she said. “Is there no end to your talents?” She felt she said the wrong thing, became all confused and blushed hotly. “I-I mean talents as in making lov... things!” she squeaked. “Making
things
.”

Fly was taken aback at her soft kiss. He fingered a wire on the buggy absently while he tried to understand her mood. She stood chattering away, much too fast for him to understand. Her cheeks were flushed, and he was never more tempted than now to take her in his arms.

It had taken a long time to stop her acting fearfully every time he was around, and with one stupid uncontrollable rage when he had nearly took her without consent, he had almost ruined everything. But now they were walking towards one another with the same interest of sharing and companionship.

Maybe something more, he could only hope. But he wasn’t going to risk losing her by insisting.

He slapped the bonnet, feeling pleased with himself. “It is temperamental, but it works.”

She laughed. “Wow! Solar-power, it
’s
wonderful! How did you...” she shook her head, and allowed her words to trail off.

He had removed the dash, and wires protruded from it to run upwards towards the large concave dish. The back seat had gone and was replaced with a wooden floor. Large, yellowish, rounded vegetables were rolling about. He watched as she leaned over to pick one up.

“I found them a couple of days ago,” he explained. “Raw or cooked they are perfectly fine to eat. “

“They could be turnips.”

“You have the same on earth?”

“No,” she smiled. “The shape
’s
the same, but our turnips aren’t covered with fluff. “

She let the vegetable drop back into the buggy as her eyes moved to the empty space where the radio had been.

“It was beyond repair,” he said to her unspoken words.

Her shoulders slumped and he immediately wished he had better news. The radio had been totally destroyed by the natives; they had been incensed by the static that came from it.

“I doubt Taurus is in its range now, anyway,” she said.

Fly had an inexpedient urge to comfort her. Instead he turned and began to walk away. But Jenny called to him, and when he looked back the first thing he felt was gratitude that he would be able to spend a few more seconds in her company.

“Don’t disappear! I haven’t seen you all morning. Let me take you for a drive.”

As he drew near, she smiled up at him and slipped behind the wheel of the buggy.

Jenny drove in silence. It was deliberate; her thoughts were overwhelmed with new trepidation. Seeing the buggy was only half of it, while knowing Fly had not abandoned her was the whole of it. Her thoughts turned to her mother, billions of miles away on Earth. Her mother would like Fly. She had always said there was good in everyone if you looked hard enough. She glanced at Fly. And there was plenty of that in him.

She slowed the buggy on reaching the
colorful
spectacle, and breathed in the heady aroma. The spongy grass was pockmarked with sandy dunes, and between them thrived blooms in abundance. Yesterday she had cut down some of the flowers for her cabin, and was disappointed that once away from sunlight they had closed up, taking their scent with them.

This was one of her
favorite
places, marred only by the presence of a giant homicidal plant standing over the many beautiful knee-high flowers, whose scent was pure undiluted perfume.

“You like it here?” Fly asked.

“The flowers; the smell, It
’s
wonderful.”

Fly sniffed loudly. “It is pleasant.”

Jenny chuckled. “It
’s
more than “pleasant”.” She pointed towards the giant, ugly plant. “One of them attacked Bodie. Its leaves became hard, knocking him over. “

“I have seen animals speared on the leaves and drained of their blood while they struggle to free themselves.”

Jenny shuddered. “Do you have to be so graphic? Oh Lord, blood sucking plants, whatever next?”

“Is this still your
favorite
place?” Fly teased.

She smiled back. “If I shut my eyes I can still smell the flowers, but I don’t have to see the blood-sucking plant. This
wonderful scent alone makes me happy. “

“You do not look happy. You are worried about Bodie, I
think?”

“You
’re
very astute. But no, I was thinking of my mother. She lost her husband on a space mission, and now she
’ll
believe she
’s
lost a daughter too. “

“You are always thinking about others.”

“I came on this mission against her wishes, I didn’t think of her then. I did what I wanted, and enrolled for the mission exams. I passed, and went on to complete a preparation course. Mum wished me luck but...” her voice wavered. “I knew how she was really feeling inside. She didn’t want me to end up dead like my father.”

“What is “mother”?”

“Mother and father are my parents,” Jenny explained. “The two people who created me,” she added when he still looked confused. “Where
’s
your computer?”

“The battery has failed, and I cannot find another that works. Mother,” he moved his tongue around the unfamiliar word. “I think I understand. That is the female animal who has young.”

“That
’s
right,” she said, although she wasn’t sure she liked his description.

“So, what is “father”?”

“A father is a man who, er, makes the woman pregnant. He
’ll
bring up the child too.”

“I understand; as most children I never met my biological parents. My parents had probably never met, either. We do not have primitive births as you do on Earth. “

Jenny made a conscious effort not to bristle. He hadn’t intended it to be a barb, and his tone had been matter-of-fact.

“Parents are chosen for their good genetics, and we were born in a special birthing laboratory and raised in the customary care of the
world
’s
government.”

He had told her only fragments of his past life and it never ceased to shock her. She wondered how two worlds, with people created from similar atoms, could be so different and lacking in compassion. In reality they had been born the same, only their habitat made the two worlds so different yet so homogeneous.

“Look!” Fly pointed, and Jenny looked around in time to see a chimp like animal disappearing up a tree with its tiny baby peering out of its pouch.

“Oh, I didn’t
realiz
e they had pouches. It
’s
so sweet.”

“I can taste it already,” he agreed.

“That
’s
not what I meant!” she said, turning her head to laugh up at him, as he laughed back.

They watched the animal in silence, and Jenny became aware how their thoughts had somehow
channeled
together, and the emotion that dominated Fly had been with her all along, even when she was safely in England. It was fear - fear of loneliness. Both had experienced it, even from their own people. Neither knew where they belonged, and had drifted through life looking for respect in the strange hope that it would banish their seclusion from everyday experiences.

She wasn’t sure how it happened, but then their lips were level, and his face was very close. Her breath was sharply in-drawn as his mouth shortened the distance, and touched hers.

The kiss was stunning. Potent, and discovering.

“Oh,” Jenny said when they parted.

He touched her lips with his fingertips, looking thoughtful. Then he sat back, and made a distance between them.

Jenny turned to face the front and switched on the engine, her fluid movements were replaced with jerks.

Fly swore in his own language. It was so ferocious Jenny found herself flinching. Then Fly shoved open the door, and walked away.

Jenny sat in the buggy, overlooking the ocean from a cliff top, and pondered on their situation. To her right, in the far distance, were thousands of black-coated animals gracing peacefully on the plains. When they moved the entire horizon appeared to be moving.

The view was fantastic, but her sigh was heavy. Several days had gone by without the other mentioning the kiss, and the discord surrounding them had grown moss. If this had been under normal circumstances, she’d believe Fly was suffering embarrassment at what had transpired between them.

Jenny put the buggy into reverse; swinging it around, she came face to face with one of the yellow-eyed native-wolves. It sat on its haunches, panting heavily. Its flat face was thickly coated with blood, saturating its gaping jaws. Its matted coat held many grey hairs, and its limbs were thin and gangling, unlike the powerful legs and arms of the beasts that had attacked her. Keeping one eye on the wolf, she fumbled for the gun, already knowing it was back at the spaceship.

Becoming clumsy with nerves, she urged the vehicle forward; but the creature settled back to lay on its side with its front legs/arms beneath its head like a pillow.

But it never closed its yellow eyes, and watched as Jenny, weak with relief, drove away. The buggy was slow and the animal, however old, could easily have out-run it and kill her via the missing roof. As she passed its eyes followed her, and she shivered expecting to feel the creature
’s
great hostility, instead the watching eyes held a kind of friendly wisdom that humbled her. There were times when the animals seemed so familiar, yet so dissimilar.

With a safe distance between her and the creature, she let herself relax. It seemed Fly had been correct in his assumption that the
animals wouldn’t harm her if they believed her to be his mate.

She waited for the shudder at the thought, but it never came.

FOURTEEN

The morning dawned as cold as the Arctic. But Jenny was used to the freezing nights and rapid thaws that gave way to lukewarm afternoons.

She spent the morning alone, but Fly returned earlier than expected with six large fish neatly speared on some unfortunate animal
’s
antler. He announced that after they had eaten he wanted to show her something he had found that morning. He seemed pleased with himself, and Jenny rushed her food like a child who had just been told she could have a special dessert if she finished what was on her plate.

Later, breath shallow and perspiration dampening her skin, she was beginning to wish she had lingered after all. But she followed Fly dutifully, who hadn’t bothered once to see
if
she were still behind.

Sighing, she glanced to her right, and stared in wonder at the sight of a vast herd of animals grazing in the distance. Occasionally they raised their mammoth heads and swallowed whatever they had gleaned from beneath the dry soil at their feet. She craned her neck to watch, amazed and awe-filled at the sight.

Finally they passed them and Jenny concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. The ground was like fine, grey sand, so minute that neither she nor Fly left prints. She was amused at the strange reptiles that lived underground. The creatures, the size and shape of a rattlesnake but the texture and
color
of a worm, were disturbed by the vibrations of their feet, and popped out from beneath the dirt before disappearing, harmlessly and silently, below the surface. Jenny looked back towards the mammoth creatures, and although she could no longer see them, she now knew what they were feeding on.

She continued to plod on. They were climbing steadily, and the air around her was becoming thin; she felt slightly light-headed. She wanted to take a rest, but was unwilling to ask since it had been her idea to walk, after the buggy had temperamentally refused to work.

She pushed onward, head bent. Feeling light-headed was nothing compared to the first hour or so in weightless space, after that hour of space sickness she had always been fine, as if floating in a vacuum was a natural occurrence.

Any higher, we’d be in bloody space, she thought grumpily. She walked on, but wasn’t aware Fly had stopped and almost cannoned into him.

He pointed towards rocky, orange terrain. “Can you see that line of rocks?”

She nodded, her earlier curiosity re-aroused.

“What I want to show you is in there. Do you want to rest?”

“No, let
’s
go on, we
’re
almost there.”

“You are walking well.” Praise wasn’t something he gave lightly, and it always seemed so condescending that Jenny felt close to cringing, but he said it with such sincerity she learned, in time, not to take offence.

“Thank you,” she said, straight-faced.

Fly regarded her silently, then turned and began walking again. The walk seemed easier after that, and she couldn’t be certain, but she was sure Fly had slowed his pace.

Even before she entered the cave, the oppressive heat hit her. Fly urged her forward, his large hand on the
center
of her back, the other hand shining the torch around. Low snorting from a dark corner made her hesitate.

“Go forward,” he commanded, and his voice echoed. Jenny moved grudgingly, her eyes seeking out the snorting animal.

He shone the light at the cave ceiling. It gleamed red and yellow beneath the beam. Her eyes could just make out a huge black shape, curled up like a cat in sleep. The size was big, larger than a wolf, but the animal slept on, either unaware or uncaring that it had visitors.

Following the beam, she rounded a rocky corner, and, as if somebody had switched on a light overhead, the darkness vanished. Holes in the rocky walls and ceiling allowed in sunlight, and the light bounced off
colored
boulders and turned everything amber; and before her was a wide lake illuminated like somebody had thrown in a million of
multi-colored
fairy lights. Everywhere she looked were boulders and rocks in shiny bright reds, oranges and yellows, and this entire glorious
color
was reflected in the lake.

Fly switched off the torch, and allowed her to precede him. She stopped to glance around and caught him watching her, as if he was seeking her approval.

And she did approve. It was like being inside a jewel. She stepped forward, her mouth rounding in surprise and delight when the water licked her feet. She stopped and looked down. But it was the warmth, not the beauty that had astonished her. She looked around again for Fly.

He was pulling off his trousers and throwing them alongside his already discarded ragged Itor top. He stood before her completely naked, then bypassed her without a word.

She stared after him in shock. His sculpted physique, even though marred with scars, was beautiful in its savagery. His back and shoulders were a
crisscross
of scar tissue. She noticed an ugly raised band of scar tissue around his ankle. Wasn’t there a part of him unblemished?

There was no fat on him, only finely shaped muscle encased in a golden skin. There was nothing alien about his body - it was perfectly male. He waded into the lake and struck out strongly, and Jenny watched appreciatively at the play of the rippling muscles in his shoulder and arms.

Hmmm,
she thought and unconsciously licked her lips.

Aware that she was staring, she stepped away from the edge and began to walk around the golden water.

Underground rivers must have made the lake, and its heat came from the pockets of magma that littered the black river
’s
floor, creating the geysers.

Fly disappeared below the ember glow of the lake, and Jenny watched his shape glide beneath the water like a fish. He bobbed up, and looked around for her.

“Can you not swim?” he asked.

Jenny nodded. The swim appealed, especially swimming in heated water. It was taking off her clothes and swimming, semi- naked, alongside him that terrified her. She could remember all too clearly the last time he had seen her naked, and the result of that had been a humiliating and terrifying experience.

So why was she trying to ignore the heat rising upwards from her stomach? She shivered. Tiny sparks had been left to simmer since his kiss, and it seemed only now she was finally able to acknowledge them.

She shook herself, and concentrated on the alien side of him. She looked up, wanting to see his dry, dead eyes, and
minimize
the effect he was having on her, but the eyes were a dewy brown and had the opposite result.

“How did you find this place?” she asked.

“Hunting. I chased an animal in here this sunrise. Come, the water is warm and clean. “

She sat on a rock, and pulled her knees in to her chest. “We have nothing to dry ourselves with afterwards,” she said, and was
surprised to hear a low chuckle.

“I suppose there are special swimming clothes on Earth that you are wishing you had brought with you.”

A smile tugged at her lips. “Sometimes you are quite sarcastic.”

Fly lay on his back and floated on golden sunlight. A small cluster of bubbles surfaced on the water alongside him, and he swam lazily away. The bubbles became larger and larger until a spurt of steaming water was ejected upwards, and harmlessly cooled by the air before falling back down in the lake.

Unable to resist any longer, she peeled off her animal hide poncho, and Itor top. She hesitated on the trousers, but after glancing at Fly, who wasn’t paying her any attention, she slipped them off, and climbed into the water in her ragged long johns.

The feeling of stepping into heated water the
color
of sunlight was sensational, delicious.

Sensual.

It was like silk against her skin. She had forgotten what hot water felt like, but she was certain it had never felt this good.

She murmured appreciatively, and allowed her body to sink to the floor of the lake. When she resurfaced Fly was swimming towards her.

“You like it?”

She pushed wet hair out of her eyes. “It
’s
lovely. Thank you for sharing it.”

“You shared your
favorite
place with me.” His eyes drifted down the length of her body, distorted by the water but still visible, and up to rest on her breasts where the water lapped over them. She sank down immediately to cover herself knowing, as his eyes moved over her, her clothing had become transparent.

Something stirred in her belly. It unfurled, stretched then sat up blinking in the bright light of temptation that was suddenly Fly. She wanted to touch him; to feel the texture of his skin beneath her fingertips.

His eyes roamed her face. “Are you still in the shadow of rape and death?”

Using her exact words struck her as sad, as if they’d inflicted a deep pain on him.

“It isn’t entirely you,” she admitted, and eager to explain. “Here, I find myself vulnerable for the first time since I was a child, and that
’s
what I find terrifying. I was independent, and in the workplace I had a whole team of people under my control. Some even claimed to be afraid of me.”

A tiny flicker of amusement crossed his lips. “You?”

Jenny smiled back easily. “I suppose that would sound funny, seeing as
I’m
so totally useless here.”

“You are not useless.” He reached out and touched her hair; wet as it was it appeared like burnished gold. “You are passionate, the fire in your hair tells me so.”

His choice of word made her stomach quiver, but Jenny couldn’t be certain if it was said on purpose or not.

“I don’t have a temper. In general,
I’m
a very calm person,” she said.

He lowered his hand to trail scarred fingers down the side of her face. “Your presence is not calm.”

She didn’t feel calm, either. Her breath had been in-drawn the moment he touched her. She swallowed. “Please?” she asked.

His hand dropped away. “Relax,” his voice was curt. He laughed, as if amusement rained down on him, but his voice sounded far from happy. “Geyser,” he warned flatly, and together they swam away from the danger.

They trod water, watching as a jet of orange water shot
upwards as if from a hidden hose beneath the surface.

Jenny was pensive. She knew he had misinterpreted her and was hurt, and swam away thinking of ways to break through the barrier. She knew she could make - should make - the first move but they weren’t exactly ordinary people, were they?

She lay on her back and floated.

But that
’s
exactly what we are. Ordinary emotions, ordinary fears and insecurities, ordinary Jenny and Fly in an ordinary, man and woman situation.

She started, and gulped in a mouthful of water. A shape glided beneath her and it took a moment of panic before she
realiz
ed the shape was Fly. He broke through the surface directly in front of her, grinning playfully.

Jenny
’s
heart lurched in her chest. His smile was so bright and warm, she found her own mouth twitching, and grinned widely back.

“You had me scared for a minute,” she said. “I thought you were a lake monster or something.”

He laughed, and it was a real laugh. “Maybe I am,” he said narrowing his eyes, and raising his hands, he bared his claws at her before diving under the water again.

Jenny paused, taken aback at his playfulness. She was on the point of swinging around to see where he had gone, when her ankles were seized in a strong grip and she was taken, her breath sharply inhaled, beneath the golden water.

She broke through the surface spluttering, and turned to face her attacker who was about to dive under again.

“Oh, no you don’t,” she said, and kicking her legs she broke into a fast front crawl and out-swam his dive. Turning swiftly, she turned and from beneath the amber water she could see Fly
’s
legs in front of her. He was standing upright, and it was obvious he was looking around to see where she had gone.

Jenny swam at his legs, hitting the backs of his knees to upset his balance, before grasping his ankles and pulling him down.

Treading water, Jenny laughed loudly when Fly broke through the surface seconds after her, spluttering.

“Let that be a lesson to you, I was the swimming champion at school -” she broke off abruptly as Fly sent a wall of orange water towards her.

Most of the afternoon was spent frolicking like children in the golden lake, and the wariness between them evaporated forever beneath their playfulness. In between the geysers they swam and floated on their backs. Then they lay on the rocks and let the steam dry their bodies, and it was there that they spoke honestly of their own fears and reactions to one another.

And instantly Jenny understood Fly. He was an alien, but first he was a man, not a human being, granted, but a man all the same. She took his hand and squeezed it.

He turned his head and looked at her.

“Thanks,” she said, and smiled. And Fly understood: her fear had gone. He smiled, and raised his hand with hers still cupped inside.

“Ah, Jenny, you are good for me,” he said.

The feeling that they were walking down that familiar road towards a sexual relationship grew. And Jenny wasn’t afraid. She covered her belly with her hands as if cradling a
fetus
, and nursed it gently with a satisfying smile.