"Danielle?"
"Yeah?"
"Are you alright?"
She managed a drunken smile. "Go 'way. I'm s'eepy." She snickered at the way that came out. She was squishy. "Bathe later." She frowned. "Cold."
She'd been demanding covers, but when he merely pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arms around her, she discovered that was even better.
God, she felt great! A year-two?-of famine and then, just about the time she'd decided they were too damned dense to figure out she was waiting for them to make the first move-supernova!
* * * *
It was hard to ignore the fact that the guys had been looking at her strangely since their orgy. Lord knew, Danielle had tried. She'd felt like she'd died and gone to heaven at first-the died part right away and the heaven when she came out of her coma enough to actually enjoy the bliss-but she'd caught them too many times to completely dismiss it.
Truthfully, it wasn't until it dawned on her that they didn't seem all that anxious to repeat the experience that she really noticed. Before that, she'd just thought they were as blissful as she was and still 'glowing'. When it did finally penetrate that they seemed almost more tense than they had before, it brought her crashing back to reality and the furtive glances she kept catching began to seem a lot more like uneasiness than shyness.
Once that had been brought her attention, her immediate reaction was uneasiness. Had something gone wrong that she hadn't noticed?
Thinking back, though, she distinctly remembered that she'd noticed they'd all come. Even if she hadn't been nigh dead with bliss, she couldn't have missed the mess they left!
So if they weren't dissatisfied, what was the problem?
She finally remembered she'd been pissed off at Kiel when she'd discovered that not only had Baen and Jalen come to watch, but he'd invited them to partake, which had made it abundantly clear what mating meant to him-to them-screwing.
She wasn't especially happy when she remembered that, but reality had fully sunk in and she knew it was for the best. Soon, she hoped, they would complete the first part of their mission and then take her home, at which time she would have to be debriefed about her accident and then would be reassigned. There was no telling, really, what sort of negotiations would ensue before things were fully settled, but it didn't take a lot of imagination to figure out that she would be going her way and they would going theirs.
It was amazing how depressing that was when she'd not only always known it would be that way, but that it had to be that way.
There was no dismissing the fact that she'd grown a lot more fond of them than she should have allowed-especially Kiel and Baen, although she thought Jalen was sweet, too-but in the scheme of things, she'd faced a lot worse with people she was more than a little fond of. At least she had the consolation of knowing they were alright-and would be even if they joined the fight.
They would probably be alright. They weren't indestructible. The battle with Manuta had deprived her of that illusion, but they were tough and smart and exceedingly well trained as soldiers. Their chances of coming through the conflict intact were a lot better than hers. She'd already exceeded the life expectancy of pilots by six months. She was expecting to get blown away any time now. The next engagement or the one after that and-oblivion, lights out, the end.
It took a full day after she'd finally noticed that nobody seemed nearly as damned cheerful about their romp as they ought to be to decide how to handle it. When she'd turned it over and over in her mind and realized she couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer on her own, though, she decided to simply face it head on and ask them straight out.
"Is there a problem I should know about?" she asked tentatively when they all settled around the table in the galley to eat.
All three men paused in their eating. Baen and Jalen looked at Kiel. Kiel frowned, looking more irritated than thoughtful. "We do not have a problem," he said finally.
That was a satisfactory answer! Irritation flickered through Danielle. "Ok-nobody has a problem we should talk about?"
Both Jalen and Baen looked as if they wanted to say something but apparently they decided against it. They returned their attention to their food.
Maybe she'd gotten her signals crossed and it didn't have anything to do with her at all? "When do you think we'll get to … uh … Chab?"
The men all looked at each other again. This was getting to be so annoying!
"We are nearing the edge of the solar system now," Kiel responded finally. "We have not been able to communicate, however."
"Is that what's bugging you guys?" Danielle asked, relieved. "Gertrude checked everything?"
"Yes."
Danielle frowned, thinking it over. "Well, they either aren't receiving or they aren't responding because they're suspicious. Maybe they're at war with somebody and think it's a trick? I mean, they haven't heard from you guys since they sent Manuta out. It's bound to be a surprise to them."
Kiel nodded. "Yes. We will be on high alert until we reach the planet."
As relieved as she was to discover the reason for their tension, she realized she was still a little outdone about it. It made sense that they'd be worried when they couldn't communicate and didn't know what they were going in to, but she was still a little ticked off that the circumstances had prevented any glorying in their intimacy. Unreasonable or not, it had been fabulous and she felt like she should've gotten some kudos or, at the very least, smoldering looks as they recalled it. As it was, she was the only damned person on board that had been floating around as if something wonderful had happened! It took a lot of the thrill away that they didn't seem to feel the same way about it.
She tried to take it philosophically. Such was life, and all that! It was life on the edge, anyway. Nobody really had a lot of time to devote to enjoying life or fond recollections when they had to worry about getting their ass shot off.
She didn't see any sense in wasting what little time they had to enjoy it, though, damn it!
Dismissing her pique with an effort, she followed them back to the bridge when they'd finished eating and studied the solar system Baen had pulled up on his display. "Which one is Chab?"
"It is fourth-here," he said, pointing.
"I guess we're still too far out to get an actual look at it?"
"We cannot detect much from here beyond the chemical readings," Kiel answered before Baen could.
"Well … we should see it soon. I guess you guys are excited?"
They turned to stare at her blankly.
"Ok, well maybe not."
"I am more uneasy than anything else," Jalen said after a moment.
Danielle sent him a commiserating look. "I guess that's understandable-especially …." She broke off and shrugged. There were a number of possibilities to explain why they hadn't been able to communicate with Chab-none of them good. She should've just kept her mouth shut, she reflected.
She was uneasy herself, she realized as she settled in the jump seat to watch the view from the viewing ports. Not that that was an excuse for being insensitive to their feelings! They probably felt the same way she had when she'd first gone to Meredie after she'd been gone a while-worried that it might not even be there anymore.
Of course Chab had to be. They had the chart of the system from Manuta. If there'd been any radical changes-like a missing planet-Gertrude would already have detected it.
It was still dismaying that they hadn't responded to any hails. Ghost town, popped into her mind, she supposed because she'd seen quite a few of them since the conflict had begun. Once a colony world came under attack by the Nubiens, the people who could fled to the nearest military fortifications for protection-if they got the chance.
Maybe that was it? Something had happened and they'd had to seek shelter and whatever it was had disrupted communications? That certainly wasn't good, but it was a scenario that wasn't all bad either if it meant there were survivors.
"If there's one thing we've learne
d from our own troubles, there are always survivors," she offered.
She felt the looks they all cast her way, but Kiel caught her gaze and held it. "You know something we do not?"
Danielle blinked. "No! I'm just saying even if the reason they aren't communicating is because something bad happened, there are always survivors. God knows the Nubiens do everything they can-short of destroying the planet itself-and we've always found survivors."
She was making things worse. She could see that. Clamping her lips together, she broke eye contact with him and stared and the viewing screen. In the distance, she could see their home star, a red, an older star. Closer, she spotted a gas giant-fortunately not too close-and flicked a glance at the map of the solar system. It displayed only one gas giant, which was the fifth of the six planets this particular solar system boasted.
Kiel had said that Chab was the fourth and she focused on the forward display once more. It would still be small with distance from here, she knew. Too close to the gas giant and the chances were it would've gotten too much radiation for life to develop on their home world. Wondering idly if there had once been a planet between the gas giant and Chab, she didn't at first realize she'd caught sight of Chab. Even when she finally realized she was staring at a planetary body, she thought it must be a rogue asteroid, or perhaps a moon that had escaped the pull of the gas giant.
As they drew closer, however, she spotted two more specks that were smaller still and clearly orbiting the white ball she'd first noticed. Her belly clenched. Try as she might, though, she discovered she couldn't dismiss the fact that they were drawing closer and closer to a barren rock of ice.
Swallowing a little convulsively, she glanced at the others for confirmation and had it in their grim expressions. It didn't seem to her from looking at them that it was anything they'd expected. Of course, all they had was the information from Manuta and who knew how much that was?
She struggled for a moment with the desire to say something uplifting, debated whether she should even try or not, and finally decided to take the plunge. "I expect they were aware Chab was entering an ice age and that's why they decided to colonize other worlds."
Baen flicked a glance at her, but some of the hardness left his expression. "That seems a logical conclusion."
She was pleased to see that Kiel and Jalen looked a little less grim, as well. "Well, they were obviously very advanced to build something like Manuta. They would've known Chab was undergoing a climate change."
"Unless it was caused by something unexpected," Kiel pointed out grimly.
"Well, I suppose that's possible," Danielle agreed. "But they still sent out colony ships. And if they were prepared, then they would've made provisions for those who chose to stay, don't you think?"
"We will see," Kiel said grimly.
"Mayhap there is something there to tell us where the other colonies were located?" Jalen suggested.
Danielle felt pity swell inside her at the hopeful note in his voice. It must feel just awful to finally make it back to the home world and discover everyone was gone! "It stands to reason they would, right?" she agreed. "I mean, they'd want to try to keep in touch."
"Except Manuta was not given any such information."
Mr. Doom and Gloom! "Yes, Kiel, but you said yourself that it was the furthest and the least desirable-at least somebody told me that. They probably figured it would take too long to bring it to readiness and just used the ones that were easiest. Even if they didn't leave any directions, you could figure it out. All we'd have to do is use Chab as the starting point, figure out when they sent out the robots to terra-form, and use that as your starting date to determine which of the closest planets would have seemed desirable to them at that time."
"We?"
Danielle blinked at him, dismayed at the sense of hurt that flickered through her at being excluded from the 'we, wondering at the same time when she'd begun to relate to them in such a way that 'we' had come automatically to mind. "Right. I mean you, but it isn't an impossible task. It might take a little longer than you expected, but it could be done. Anyway, we won't know until we land if you'd even need to that, will we? The entire planet might not all be iced over. We can only see the side facing us."
She was relieved to discover that observation wasn't pure optimism. Once they'd drawn near enough to get a better view of the surface, they could see that the area near the equator wasn't one continuous ice sheet. It was bitter cold. According to Gertrude's sensors, the temperature was well below zero on the daylight side-midday. Once they'd circled the globe, they found that that temperature dipped to -180 degrees at night.
"Well, that isn't good, but its survivable if they had time to prepare. What about the site Manuta was launched from?"
"It is under thirty feet of ice," Kiel responded.
Danielle cringed inwardly. "Well, they would've moved, of course. Even if they had facilities underground, they'd want the best climate. I guess we'll try the closest point to Manuta's launch?"
Kiel glanced at Baen. Baen shrugged. "We have come. We cannot leave without checking to be certain that Chab is abandoned."
"It is on the dark side. We will wait until the temperature has risen before we land."
"How long before sunrise?" Danielle asked.
"If Chab's rotation has not changed, one hour."
"I think we might as well drop through the atmosphere and take a closer look," Danielle suggested.
None of them seemed particularly enthusiastic, but Kiel dropped below their orbital path and punctured the atmosphere. Almost as soon as they did, they began to encounter turbulence and Danielle was sorry she'd suggested it when Gertrude announced that the winds were gusting at nearly 100 mph near the surface.
"Storm?" Danielle asked shakily.
"Unable to determine without more data. Possibly, but there is very little to slow the winds," Gertrude responded. "It is also possible that this is mild conditions, comparatively speaking."
To Danielle's relief, Kiel took the ship beyond the atmosphere once more where they waited in orbit for the site they'd chosen to warm up. The surface temperature was still below zero as they descended, but the wind had dropped off to a more comfortable 57 mph. It still buffeted the hell out of the ship and Danielle didn't think she was alone in being tremendously relieved when they finally landed and Gertrude announced that it had detected structures approximately a hundred yards from their landing site. The computer didn't detect any life forms, but was unable to penetrate the material the structures were composed of and could not verify whether any were present or not.
"Ok, we have a problem," Danielle said as everyone took off their harnesses and stood. "You guys can't go out like that. You'd freeze to death inside of ten minutes!"
Kiel, Baen, and Jalen all looked down at themselves.
"We have manufactured suits much like yours," Kiel said finally.
It was news to Danielle! It occurred to her, though, that she'd told them they needed to try to fit in and not to announce the fact that they were shifters. She supposed they'd thought that would be the best way to do it. "Well, even if it's just like my suit, we'll need head gear and gloves."
"We have those, as well. We reproduced everything that was on the original ship since there seemed a purpose for it."
Danielle was still uneasy. They came from Marchet! The temperatures there were mild enough for them to be comfortable running around mostly naked. "Boots?"
"Yes," Kiel threw over his shoulder as he followed Baen and Jalen from the bridge.
Still unconvinced, Danielle followed them-or more specifically Kiel. She discovered when she'd followed him into his cabin that it was barely big enough for the tiny bunk-and him. After debating whether to leave again to get out of his way or stay and try to talk to him, she finally plopped down on his bunk to give him room to dress.
He opened a locker and removed an entire flight suit-exactly like hers except for the fact that it was a different color.
"My suits are made out of a very special material," she said. "It protects from this sort of temperatures."
"We deduced that. That is why we reproduced the same material."
She was still doubtful, but somewhat relieved. "We still won't be able to stay out long without freezing. We'll have to make short searches," she cautioned.
Kiel flicked a glance at her. "You will remain here."
Danielle gaped at him. "You aren't serious?"
"I am very serious. We do not know what to expect. It will be better if you remain in the ship."
Anger surged through her. "You aren't afraid I'll take off and abandon you here?" she asked tightly.
"Would you?" he asked almost absently.
"Of course I wouldn't!" Danielle snapped. "But you don't know that and you don't believe that."
"No. This is why Gertrude has been ordered to remain on the surface unless there is a threat to you and the ship."
Danielle gaped at him in furious disbelief. "You … you reprogrammed my damned computer?" she demanded indignantly.
"It seemed … wise," he said dryly.
Danielle abruptly felt more like crying than screaming curses at him. "Bastard!" she ground out, jolting to her feet and stalking to the door.
He caught her before she reached it and she whirled to face him. His gaze flickered over her face. "Why is water in your eyes?"
Danielle felt her chin wobble. She sniffed. "Because I'm pissed off!" It hadn't been an intentional lie. She was furious. She was angry because she was hurt, though, not because she felt insulted-although she was certainly insulted!
A reluctant smile trembled at the corners of his hard mouth. "You want to spar with me about it?"
The Forgotten Eight Page 3