Eden (23 page)

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
realiz
e 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
realiz
e 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.

“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 k
ill 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.