Too Close to the Sun (The Sun 1) (22 page)

“I need you to come closer and direct the light here so I can see where I’m welding. It won’t do us much good if I accidentally hit a tyrillium cable and blow us all to kingdom come.”

Against her better judgment, she crawled forward until she was wedged between Nicoli's legs. Feeling his muscled thighs on either side of her hips had her senses tripping down memory lane to the night they'd been together. Had it been only yesterday?

There was no way he couldn't feel the way her heart raced inside her chest but she hoped he'd assume she was claustrophobic and scared to death, which of course she was.

Trying not to think about where she was, Angel watched Nicoli work, moving the light occasionally when he progressed to a new portion of the plate. For a while, the sight of metal edges melting and fusing together distracted her. Nicoli’s ability with the torch was impressive, making the entire operation seem easy and effortless.

“There,” he said after finishing the last bit and shutting off his torch. “That should hold it until we can make it to the nearest space station for repairs. Brace yourself. I’m going to have the computer start up the thrusters while we’re in here to make sure they work. I don’t know about you, but I’d just as soon not have to crawl all the way in here again.”

Angel nodded, but remained silent.

“Computer, fire the rear thrusters.”

There was a moment of nothing. Angel could almost taste the anticipation. Then the thrusters roared to life, jolting the ship violently as it shot forward. Angel, slammed against the side of the shaft, lost her grip on the luminator and it went sailing through the air. Unable to turn easily in the narrow space, Angel could do nothing more than watch helplessly as it rolled out of view, taking the light with it. As the light faded, the walls of the shaft closed in.

Angel froze. The sound of her pounding heart grew so loud she could no longer hear Nicoli moving in front of her. She was alone, paralyzed by fear and trapped inside an all-too-familiar nightmare, one that had haunted her since childhood.

Chapter 13

“Angel?” Something was wrong, he could tell. Her breathing had become harsh and erratic. It seemed absurd to him that this woman who had braved Free Rebels and Harvesters might be afraid of the dark. And yet…

“Angel?” He spoke calmly, but again there was no answer. He wasn’t sure what to do. He reached down, hoping to comfort her, but when his hand touched her, she flinched and began to whimper.

“It’s okay. It’s only me. You’re safe. I promise you, you’re safe.” He tried to sound convincing as he inched his way closer to her in the shaft. The next time he touched her, she didn’t flinch, but the low whimpering sounds continued.

With effort, he maneuvered himself until he lay alongside her. It was a tight fit and they were wedged together, but that made it easier for him to wrap his arms around her. To his relief, she didn’t try to pull away.

“Angel, it’s okay. I'm with you and I'm going to get you out of here. You’re safe with me.”

His words were met with the sound of chattering teeth and he knew she was losing ground to her growing panic.

“Just concentrate on the sound of my voice. Everything’s fine.”

He kept murmuring words of reassurance, knowing that what he said wasn't nearly as important as his tone, so he kept that as soothing as he could, all the while holding her close.

Slowly, he felt her relax. How long they lay that way, he didn’t know. He didn’t care. It felt good to hold her. It felt right - and he knew that as soon as they were free of the shaft, he'd never again have this opportunity.

“Nicoli?” Her voice came softly, muffled from where her face pressed against his shoulder, her breath warm against his neck.

“Yes?”

“I want to leave. Please.”

“You got it.” He promised. “I'm going to slide past you so I can guide you out, but I'll be with you the entire way."

When he felt her nod, he worked his way down the shaft until he was behind her. Then grabbing her ankle, he gave it a gentle tug.

“Just move with me," he said, his words sounding unusually loud in the small space. We’ll go nice and slow.”

It seemed to take forever, with Nicoli stopping periodically to make sure she was okay.

"Not too much further now. The tunnel's getting lighter."

They reached the opening and as soon as he climbed out, he turned to help Angel by placing his hands around her ankles and pulling her toward him. When she was clear enough, he grabbed her around the waist and lifted her down. Without releasing her, he turned her toward him so he could see her face.

She wouldn't look up at him, seemingly absorbed in her study of the floor. “Wow, that was embarrassing,” she said in a tone filled with self-condemnation.

“Don't worry about it. We all have our private demons."

"Maybe.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “If you don’t need me right now, I’d like to go back to my cabin. I’ll, uh, come relieve you on the bridge in just a little while.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything. She started to walk off, but stopped after taking just a few steps. He watched as she seemed to struggle with herself. Finally, she turned to look back at him. “Thank you for, you know, your help.”

“No problem.” He watched her walk away.

After putting away the torch and other tools, Nicoli returned to the bridge. All systems were working. Well, working as normally as they could under the circumstances. He laid in a course for Delphi IV and, taking the controls, set a moderate speed out of the Darwin Zone.

Once they were safely away, his thoughts inevitably drifted back to Angel.

“Everything okay?”

Nicoli glanced at Yanur as the older man walked in and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat.

“For now.” Nicoli turned back to the vast emptiness of space looming ahead of him and they fell into a companionable silence.

After several minutes had passed, Yanur said, "About what happened with Angel back there on the Harvesters' planet --"

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Excuse me?” Yanur sounded confused.

Belatedly, Nicoli realized Yanur had no idea what had happened between him and Angel back at the Rebirth Colony and this wasn't going to be a lecture about not taking advantage of innocent young women. At least, not yet. “Forget it. You had something on your mind?”

“Yes. An apology.”

Nicoli nodded. “All right. I accept.”

“Accept what?”

“Your apology.”

“Oh. No. You misunderstand me. I'm not apologizing to you for letting her undertake the dangerous task of restoring you to your body - not when she had proven herself to be capable and clearly the better choice between us.”

"Then you're apologizing for lying to me."

"No," Yanur said. "Knowing how Althusians view the role of women, you didn't leave me much choice. I knew you wouldn't agree so I made a strategic decision to omit certain bits of information. A military man such as yourself can surely understand such a strategy - and this is a military mission, is it not?”

Nicoli hated it when Yanur got this way. "If you're not apologizing for sending Angel to retrieve my body and you're not apologizing for lying to me, then what exactly are you apologizing for?"

"Nothing. The apology we're talking about is the one that you must make."

That surprised him. "What am I apologizing to you for?"

“Not to me," Yanur correct. "To Angel. For jumping all over her when she's saved your life - not once but three times by my count.”

For jumping all over her. It was an unfortunate choice of words because that's exactly what he'd done back at the Rebirth colony. The memory of it left him feeling guilty because while it had been necessary, he shouldn’t have enjoyed being with her as much as he had.

His guilt made him defensive and he lashed out at Yanur. “She wouldn't have had to risk her life with the Free Rebels if she hadn't stolen our ship. And as for what happened back on the planet? I'll have you know that she nearly died - twice. That's what you - we - let her walk into."

Yanur sighed. “But she didn't die - and more important, neither did you."

"I'm too tired to keep arguing with you," Nicoli said, setting the controls on autopilot. They were safely out of the Darwin Zone and he wanted to be alone to think.

Alone to brood.

Rising from the pilot's seat, he crossed to the open doorway.

“Nicoli.” Yanur stopped him. "It's not a bad thing for women to know how to fight and protect themselves - if that's what's bothering you."

Nicoli felt the last thread of his control snap. “My mother
had
those skills - and she paid for them with her life. Knowledge is not always power. Remember that."

* * * * *

Thirty minutes later, Nicoli stepped out of the D-U feeling clean, but not refreshed. Irritation rode him like a gnat on a tiger’s butt. He didn’t know what to think of Angel. The situation would be so much simpler if she would behave like other women.

Then he wondered what other women he meant. The cold, hardened women in the Forces? They were well versed in combat.

Or was he thinking of the submissive Althusian women? Most of them were incapable of making a simple decision much less engage in a fight to the death. He couldn't possibly want Angel to be more like them.

The truth was that Angel was unlike
any
female he’d met.

Securing the towel about his waist, he tried to push her from his thoughts as he opened the closet. He was in Yanur's room because Angel was using his. He should have retrieved a change of clothes from his room before he undressed but he'd been too preoccupied to think of it. Now he needed a fresh change of clothes - because he wasn't putting the dirty ones back on - and the items hanging in Yanur's closet were too small.

He glanced at the clock. It had been about two hours since Angel had left him on the lower level. Surely by now, she was on the bridge. There was no reason he couldn't go to
his
cabin and grab a set of
his
clothes.

With that in mind, he left Yanur's cabin and headed for his own. He stopped outside the closed door and, as a precaution, knocked. When there was no answer, he palmed the access pad. The door whooshed open, leaving him staring into a familiar empty room.

Everything appeared as he’d left it. There was no reason for him to feel like an intruder, and yet he did. Irritated at himself, he crossed the room to the closet, barely conscious of the door closing behind him, and started searching for an outfit.

"What are you doing in here?"

Startled, Nicoli spun around at the sound of her voice, ready to remind her that she was the trespasser, but the words died in his throat at the sight of her.

She stood before him wearing nothing more than a white shirt. It was large on her and the hem reached the middle of her thighs. The fabric was soft and molded - a little too well - to the shape of her body.

"That's my shirt.” Was all he could think to say.

"Yeah, I hope you don't mind. I left my only set of clothes on the planet and couldn't bring myself to put that Rebirth gown back on."

At the sight of her, all the frustration from the night before when he'd resisted taking advantage of her rose up with a vengeance. He looked away before she noticed the raw hunger of his gaze. “Keep it. It looks better on you anyway.”

He reached into the closet, grabbing the first outfit he found. When he turned to leave, Angel was still standing there, watching him.

“We’ll reach Delphi IV in about two hours.” He tried for a casual tone, but noticed that his voice sounded gruff. He cleared it and tried again. “I thought it might be nice to eat at the station there. They don’t have much in the way of amenities, but the food is better than what we’ll get out of the Cosmos-genie.”

Angel nodded. “Okay.”

"Unless you don't want to do that."

"No, that sounds fine."

"Okay, then.” Leave, he ordered himself.

Though in reality only a few steps away, the distance to the door seemed immeasurable. He forced himself to take a step. Then another. But the next step, which should have carried him past her, instead took him to her, so close, he felt her breath when she exhaled.

He thought she would back away, but she didn't.