Galaxia

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “We have no time for this male heroics crap,” she growled. With a jerk, she picked up the bottom end of the tube. She got a quick glimpse of the timer as she did: nine seconds! She hauled the thing up over her head, took two fast steps toward Patrick so that her chest was pressed tightly against his. She had a moment to see the startled look on his face before she brought the tube down heavily over both of them. It hit the floor with a thud, cutting off light. The air inside felt heavy, and Carmen found herself breathing faster. Patrick moved then. His body sliding against hers as he knelt down. She could feel his breath against her belly, the warmth of his exhalation sending flutters through her.

  He reached down, sliding a hand over her leg, and…picked up her foot? He set the foot down again on top of something. Then he did the same with her other foot. He jerked hard on something, and she felt the material under her feet shift.

  “There, the bottom is sealed,” Patrick said. He stood back up slowly, his nose tickling her as it brushed her breast. The contact made her shudder, and not in a bad way.

  “What?” she asked. Carmen tried to make her brain work, but all she could think about was his chest, which was now pressing up against hers, and how damned tight-fitting the outfits they wore were.

  “I sealed the bottom. We should be safe from the radiation now.” He reached up to touch something up top, and fresh air poured into the tube. “And now we’re hooked up to the ship’s air, so we won’t suffocate.”

  Carmen could hear the smile in his voice as he spoke. She could see in her mind how the corners of his lips would quirk up. She wished she could see the smile with her eyes, instead of just imagining it, but it was too dark to see anything. All she could do was imagine the look on his face…and smell the clean, warm smell of his body. And feel him standing there in front of her. He shifted his leg off to the side a few inches, which brought his hips closer to hers, and her own lips parted in reaction.

  She wondered if he had really planned to stay out there. And why. It was fine to be gallant when there wasn’t any danger. But gallantry for the sake of her comfort when it put him at risk? She felt her anger stirring a little again at the thought. That was plain stupid. And Carmen found it insulting, as well.

  Then Patrick shifted his weight from one leg to the other in front of her again, and she had a hard time thinking of anything except the way his chest felt sliding against hers. And wondering what it would feel like without the ship-suits they wore.

  Whatever his reasons, he’d been trying to save her. Had saved her.

  “So we just wait here?” she asked.

  “Yes. Sorry it’s not a more comfortable spot to ride out the storm,” he replied.

  She was feeling plenty comfortable, tucked into a tight space with his hot body pressed up against hers. She just wasn’t quite sure how to let him in on those feelings. When had she become shy about a guy? That wasn’t the way she usually operated. She went after what she wanted. But here…? She suddenly realized she didn’t want to screw things up.

  Doing something might blow…anything with Patrick. But doing nothing at a moment like this could, too.

  Carmen always preferred action to inaction.

  “I think it’s just fine,” she whispered. She reached up, her hands finding his shoulders in the dark. Then she leaned up and in, her lips looking for his in the dark – and finding them.

  * * *

  For a moment Patrick was too stunned to move. He felt Carmen’s hands on his shoulders, and had just long enough to wonder what she was up to before her lips were pressed against his. That was enough to send his libido into screaming overdrive. He’d already been having enough issues. Standing in a dark, close space with his body pressed against a beautiful woman, it was all he could do to hold still. He’d had to shift sideways once already so she wouldn’t notice that he was already quite stimulated by her presence.

  But now? Her lips moved sensually over his. Her tongue flicked out to taste his lips, and he parted them just a little to allow his own tongue to meet hers. Patrick slipped his hands up over her hips, pulling her body closer to his.

  Her lips parted for his tongue, and he used it to probe her mouth. Her kisses grew more passionate, her hands exploring the hair at the back of his neck while she explored every inch of his mouth with hers. Her nails scratched at the nape of his neck, and he moaned into her mouth. She slid her leg up along the outside of his thigh, the slick fabric of their ship-suits making a susurrus of soft sound. Her touch was like fire, setting him alight.

  Gasping, he leaned back from the kiss for a moment. He needed to get a breath, cool down. Keep at least a little control. But she wasn’t to be deterred. The moment his lips left hers, she simply moved them down to his neck, fingers sliding to the zipper on the front of his shirt. She slid the zipper down a few inches, her tongue and teeth rasping at the skin of the top of his chest as she exposed it.

  He moaned again, unable to help himself. He slid his hands up her sides, over her shoulders, and buried his fingers in her hair. She had his top unzipped halfway to his navel now, and her hands slipped inside his shirt to touch his skin while her lips kissed where they could. Patrick gently lifted her face back toward his. He wanted those kisses back on his lips. He was hungry for them in a way that astonished him. She understood instantly and her lips met his in another flurry of passionate kissing.

  This time, he moved his hands down from her hair to the back of her neck, gently tracing lines with his fingernails. Her kisses grew even more intense in response. He slid his right hand over her shoulder to her front, teasingly playing with her zipper. Except it wasn’t teasing. Patrick realized that he wanted her – wanted to feel her skin against his, wanted more than just these kisses. He wrapped his fingers around the zipper and pulled down, opening her top halfway to her waist in a single motion.

  Carmen gasped into his mouth, her tongue twisting about his. He slipped his hand inside her ship-suit and slid it up her side, her smooth skin like a brand under his fingers. They reached cloth – she was wearing a sports bra – but that gave him only a moment’s pause and then his fingers slipped under the cloth. He cupped her breast in his hand, and she moaned, arms wrapping around him to pull him closer.

  Patrick pushed the sports bra up, revealing more of her skin. He wanted all of it touching his. Her hands slid down his sides inside his top, slipping over his hips, around his butt. She pulled him in closer, her mouth still working hungrily against his. He reached up to her shoulders with both hands and yanked the ship-suit down from her shoulders, the sleeves pinning her arms lightly to her sides. He moved his mouth to her neck, then to those newly-bared shoulders. She was panting into his ear, the sounds tantalizing to him.

  With a jerk, she yanked her arms free from her sleeves, letting the top half of her suit slide free. She was bare to the waist now, except for the bra, and even as his lips caressed her clavicle she ripped that off over her head.

  He smiled even as his lips dipped lower over the curve of her breast, making her writhe against him. She moaned into his hair, fingers reaching around the back of his head to hold him closer to her. Not that he minded!

  Her hands went to the fabric of his ship-suit, still in place over his shoulders. She grabbed a handful in each of her hands and yanked hard, pulling it down over his arms. Patrick felt her exhalation near his face and turned his mouth up to meet hers. Now their chests were touching, sweat slick and gliding against each other as their kisses grew even more passionate.

  Patrick felt her hands on his hips, pulling the suit down over them, and he groaned. Her touch was like fire on his skin. All he could think about was how much he wanted to feel her body against him.

  Clang!

  The sound of metal on metal jarred him back to reality with a cold splash of reality. More clanging noises, and the Hopper shook gently around them.

  “What the hell is that?” Carmen asked. She sounded as breathless as he felt. Her arms were still draped around him, both her hands
still dangerously deep into his pants. God damn it, this was the worst timing ever!

  “It’s the shuttle,” he said, fighting to keep his voice under control. He was shaking with desire for her, even now, even knowing they were about to lose their moment of privacy. “They’re picking us up.”

  “So soon?” she asked, sounding petulant. She jerked her hands out of his pants and wrapped them around herself.

  He didn’t laugh. It would have hurt her feelings, and besides – he felt the same. Amy was their other certified pilot. She must have fired up the shuttle the instant radiation levels were low enough to be safe, and burned on maximum thrust all the way here. He knew he ought to be grateful. If they’d been caught out in the full brunt of a bad solar flare, they’d have needed medical attention right away. But he was pretty sure they hadn’t taken much of a dose at all, not tucked away as much as they were.

  Which just left him feeling frustrated. But they didn’t have much time left. Amy was lifting them into the air even now, and she’d use maximum burn all the way back to base.

  “We’d better get dressed,” he said. Did he sound as sulky as she did? He thought he probably did, and the thought made him grin ruefully. He pulled the top of his ship-suit back over his shoulders and zipped himself back up.

  Then he crouched down to open the bottom of their cocoon. She flinched away from him when he did, which surprised and hurt him. A few minutes ago, hadn’t they just been…? Why would she back away now?

  “Are you OK?” he asked.

  “Sure. Fine.”

  She didn’t sound fine, but he didn’t have time for this right now. Amy would expect him to radio her. She knew it would take a minute to get out of the shelter, but if he didn’t call her soon, she’d assume he was unable to, and it would be a mess explaining why he wasn’t dead or dying.

  “I’ve got to radio the shuttle,” he said. He opened the bottom of the shelter and light spilled into their hidden spot. Carmen yelped.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “It’s cold out there!” she said, chuckling a little. It was good to hear her laugh again. He was worried that she was mad at him for the bad timing of their rescue. Ha! He would’ve done just about anything to have the shuttle come just fifteen minutes later.

  He lifted the bottom of the shelter a bit and slipped out. He went over to his console and sat down in the control seat, checking his gauges. Shit, they’d been in there for half an hour. How had that much time gone by? It had felt more like ten minutes. Maybe he was wrong – he would have needed the shuttle to be slower by more than just another half hour…

  “Shuttle, this is Hopper One, thanks for the rescue,” he said drily.

  “Glad to be of service,” Amy replied. “You two OK?”

  Patrick glanced down at the dosimeter tucked into his pocket. All of the long-term staff wore them up here, because…shit happened, and you never knew when you’d want to know how many rads you’d been getting lately. But his hadn’t budged. The crater wall, the Hopper hull, the shelter – that trifecta had probably been overkill, if none of the solar flare had leaked through at all.

  But he couldn’t regret using a little overkill, in this case. He smiled.

  “We’re clear, Amy. Nothing got in.”

  “Awesome sauce,” she replied. “The doc still wants his daughter in medical right pronto for a checkup.”

  Patrick sighed. How could he have forgotten that little bit of complexity? That Carmen’s father was basically his default boss, at least for the time being? That he might not take kindly to someone dragging his daughter off, putting her in danger, and then…

  Yeah. He might not appreciate it overly much. He winced. If she talked to her dad, the fallout could be explosive. He’d need to play it very cool for a bit, or he was liable to be ordered back to Earth and replaced with someone less interested in sleeping with the doctor’s precious daughter. And he was, if he was being honest with himself. The memory of their time together in the radiation shelter still burned in his mind like a brand. If Amy hadn’t shown up, he’d still be in there with her. And damned if they wouldn’t have bared even more skin by now. Standing up in a tiny space wasn’t the easiest way in the world to manage, but he was pretty sure she’d have been game to try.

  Carmen slipped out of the shelter and slid back into her seat. He glanced over at her. She looked a little rumpled, but otherwise more or less composed. Her cheeks were the faintest bit pink, though, and he could see little dots of perspiration at her temples, and in the hollows of her clavicles.

  He flashed her a smile, and she returned one, if a bit wavering. It was something. He was feeling a little shell-shocked, himself. She had to be much the same. Patrick lost himself for just a moment in her eyes. What the hell was he going to do? Here was this incredible woman. And he wanted her – wanted to show her how good they could be together, and not just in the sack. He wanted to see her smile at him, to enjoy those flashes of her brilliance. Not to mention her daring.

  But how the hell was he supposed to manage that without being kicked back to Earth and stuck into some hellish corner of the planet as punishment? He turned his face back to his controls. He had a lot to think about, once they were back at the base.

  Chapter 7

  CARMEN SETTLED HERSELF into her seat to mask her shaking. She was probably blushing crimson, too. And there was Patrick, looking all proper and done up… And she was a mess. It simply wasn’t fair. He grinned over at her, and she gave him a shaky smile in return.

  She looked outside, but the ground was rocketing past with dizzying speed. She could see the shuttle above them. It had picked them up with a clamp, and was carrying the Hopper like an egg nestled against the bottom of the ship. It was flying really fast though – far more swiftly than Patrick had flown them out here. She guessed Amy must be trying to make the best possible time back to the lunar base. But the effect was that looking out the front window was a nauseating experience.

  Carmen closed her eyes to give them relief from the view, but with her eyes closed all she could think about was her skin bare to the waist, Patrick’s chest pressed up against hers, his mouth on her mouth and everywhere else he could think to put it.

  She opened her eyes again before the memories made her make some truly embarrassing noises.

  “We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Patrick said.

  “Making excellent time,” she replied drily.

  “Sorry about that,” he replied, frowning.

  What was he sorry about? Sorry about the speed with which they were returning? Sorry they were interrupted? Or sorry about the entire thing? Carmen tried to sort through her own feelings. Stuck in a small dark space with a hot guy, things had seemed so much simpler. But now they were out again, and dressed, and… Patrick moved a hand to touch a control on his console, and all she could think about was him putting his hands on her again.

  She took a deep breath, let it out, and took another. She wasn’t a teenager anymore. She wasn’t about to let her hormones control her.

  “Back to the grind, when we get in there,” she said, keeping her voice light. “I hope the data we grabbed from your site helps you in your research.”

  “It’s your research that I hope goes well!” he replied. “Of the two of us, your work is a lot more time sensitive than mine.”

  Carmen suddenly wasn’t quite so sure. After all, they had a good test for the virus, didn’t they? And how hard would it be to set up more domes up here? If it came down to it, find enough water on the moon somewhere, and you could probably move a bunch of people up from the surface and build a city of uninfected human beings out here. She wondered if anyone else was already thinking along those lines. Hadn’t Patrick mentioned something about getting shipped a bunch of extra materials for new domes, instead of the supplies he’d actually asked for? She wasn’t positive. And somehow, it didn’t seem like the right time to ask.

  The shuttle was already setting down, settling to the ground n
ear the domes. Off toward the habitats, Carmen could see people rushing to extend the long airlock tube.

  “Honestly,” Patrick said, exasperated. He keyed the radio. “Stand down. No radiation injuries were sustained. I’ll dock the Hopper and we’ll proceed to medical just to be sure, but we’re OK, people.”

  “You kids had some folks mighty worried,” Fred’s voice came back to them over the radio.

  “Sorry about that,” Patrick replied, trying not to chuckle. “Occupational hazard.”

  There was a clunking sound as the shuttle released their Hopper from its clamps, and they dropped softly about two feet to the ground. Patrick eased on the thrusters, and took them slowly out from underneath the shuttle.

  “Listen, we should talk,” he said. Carmen looked over at him, her face heating up all over again. He looked worried, to her. Worried about what?

  “About…?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows at him. Hey, he ought to be made to feel at least as uncomfortable as she was. But he just chuckled.

  “It’ll have to wait, I suppose. We’ve already got company waiting for us in the lab.”

  Carmen looked over to where he was taking the small craft, and there were indeed a group of people standing in the hall just inside where they’d be docking. She winced. One of them was her father.

  “I am about to get so much crap,” she muttered.

  “I’ll take the heat for it,” Patrick said. “No way anyone could have known about the solar flare. They just happen. But maybe I shouldn’t have taken you out so far.”

  He settled the Hopper back into its docking cradle. Carmen exhaled, inhaled. She had to say something to him, something that mattered. But what?

  “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” she said at last.

  “Not…any of it?” Patrick asked hesitantly.

  “Not a bit,” she said, smiling as she unbuckled from her seat. She bounced up and pressed the panel to cycle the door open. That would do, she thought.