Lin's Challenge

by Mara Jaye

  Pless, her normal probably meant another Earther down here. “Almost normal looking to you?”

  “As much as a hairless blob of a man can be.” She settled in against the rock. “He’d have been somewhat odd with the whites of his eyes tattooed black, but back home a few people have had the same thing done. His pale skin and bald head are somewhat more common.”

  Interesting that a MoNse could blend in on Earth. No wonder she’d kept a good distance from the one near us earlier. I made a note to the currently running recording to check for Vahdmoshi infiltration on that planet. “Was today the third time you’d been accosted?”

  “Yeah. Surprised me, too. He must have been a new guy.” She opened her eyes and stared across the room at the Blendarian and a Mrwarn finding their places to sleep. “I don’t expect it to last much longer. Workers are going to get in better shape. They won’t be as exhausted, and I hope I’m able to keep up with them physically, too.”

  One of the Gleets who made it in before the doors closed wanders over to the doorway. He begins to relieve himself, and I’m glad the room slants down to the trench outside.

  “In case you couldn’t guess, that’s the restroom. Mr. Frog and his crew know to go there. Mr. Fox and his buddies still want to pee against the wall. I haven’t seen a dolphin since we landed so I assume they’re all upstairs.”

  I understand some of her words but not all and have to ask what she means. “Restroom, fox, frog, and dolphin?”

  “Sorry. Elimination area? Shitter? What do your people call where you go… you know?”

  I have to laugh because shitter translated just fine. “Waste room, usually. We have a bath room for bathing only.”

  “Makes sense. The other words I used are names for various animals on Earth. Different people remind me of certain animals at home.” She yawned. “I never expected aliens to look so familiar and yet so strange at the same time.”

  A true statement if I ever heard one. “Me too.” I lean over to find a more comfortable spot next to her against the rock wall. I’ve been in worse situations I try to tell myself and no, my thoughts doesn’t make the wall any better. I’d love nothing more than a cool shower and my bed. I take my shirt from my pants pocket and put it on. The fabric smells as bad as I’d expect and I grin at how soft I’m getting. I’ve only been an Alliance Enforcer for a couple of sas. Suspecting the answer isn’t one I want to hear, I ask, “Where do we wash up? The system cleans the room but does it clean us, too?”

  “Yes, in here. It’s dark so you can’t see it now, but you remember how the above pipe runs into the room?”

  I glance up and find the dark line of a cold bar attached to the warmer hued ceiling. “I do.”

  “Those points aren’t gun barrels like I’d thought at first. They’re spray nozzles. We’re given a cold shower before we’re let out to work. Chilly, but somewhat gentle.”

  I nod. “They must bring it in from outside instead of underground. It’s probably part of the irrigation system for the terraforming happening under the dome above us.”

  “This is my first day in this area. I don’t know if it’s warmer this far below the surface. Anyway, the water after the bars open is much worse. If you’re not out of here quick enough, you’re sprayed like the rest of the room. I’d say it resembles a fire hose if you had any idea of what I meant.” She fidgets again, bumping into my arm. “Sorry. It’s dark.”

  “You’re fine,” I reassure her, which is adorable. She’s obviously tough to have survived a month down here, yet, she’s delicate, too. Her hitting me had zero effect. “You’d have to work harder to hurt me.” I can’t help but smile when she laughs before leaning against my arm as if I’m a huge pillow.

  “If it weren’t for the security around here, I’d accept your challenge before giving up in defeat.” Lin presses the side of her face against my bicep, and I smile. My system works to keep my temperature lowered down here. It’s clear she’s enjoying the coolness and says, “If I weren’t so tired, I’d ask you all about what’s going on. Have you fill in the blanks I don’t know.”

  I’ve been careless. She suspects I know far more than I’m supposed to. She might be easy to talk to, but I’m the one to blame for being so open with her. In an effort to dial the information back a notch or five, I say, “You could probably tell me, instead. I’ve been here an entire day and still don’t know when our holidays will be.” She chuckles against me, and I can’t help but smile. “I’m serious. You know the sanitation, security, and housing systems far better than I do.”

  She puts a hand on my forearm. “Ah, but you knew about the blue gems and where they were better than I did today. I might have killed us all without your insight.”

  Since I can’t tell her my advanced optics lets me pick out aberrant energy patterns, I go with, “The gems just speak to me.”

  “Oddly enough, I understand. One of my friends can find four-leaf clovers like a boss.” She pauses before explaining, “Three leaves are the usual and four abnormal. She says the abnormal ones seem to glow. Probably like the gems do for you.”

  I turn my head toward her and breathe in before replying but stop as a rush of pheromones flood my lungs and senses. The allure of her grips me harder than a charkin’s chain. All I want to do is remain still and inhale her scent in until every molecule of my air is hers. I close my eyes as the smell shoves out every other thought. The system display in my mind reads “98% genetic match. Begin union?”

  Pless. Pless it all. The Earther has awakened me. This can’t happen. Not now, not with her, ever.

  Everything, including this notification, is recorded for the director. I can’t erase anything. At best, I can mark it as private. She’s still against me, only now I can feel her touch on a cellular level. No wonder other Gharns seem to be so singularly focused on their union partner. I haven’t even accepted the match, and I want more of her.

  Accept match?

  Now it’s a voice in my head. I want to refuse but the need to accept overwhelms me. How did we stay in control before nanotech? Pause match, I think in reply.

  I should delete. She can’t be sent back home, yet I doubt we’ll be able to unite and live together.

  Accept and unite?

  I groan out loud, and Lin looks up at me. “Am I too heavy?” She begins to move away. “I’m sorry, but you’re so cool and refreshing.”

  Delay union, I reply to my system before smiling at Lin. “I don’t mind at all. You’re a little bit of fluff, and I’m able to keep both of us comfortable.”

  She laughed and settled in again. “A perfect match.”

  Union delayed. Match accepted.

  I smile at how bad I thought things were a moment ago. Now they’re infinitely worse. Lin has accepted for both of us. I could override my system but not my base instinct.

  Usually, when we’re at the mercy of mating biology, it’s with a legal person. I glance down at her and mentally relax my body. The push-pull of wanting to complete our union with sex yet not wanting to mate with an Earther almost hurts.

  Her own breathing slows, and she sighs. “You smell really good for a miner without a bathtub.”

  Of course, I do, since she’s picked up the pheromones I’m emitting. “Only for you,” I try to joke but am deadly serious. Even if I were born on her world as me, I’d still be appealing to her olfactory senses, but with the bionans? She won’t be able to resist me. I’m hers, and I need to get G’nar down here now to help me stop this.

  “Don’t you mean, so do you?” she says, and someone begins yelling outside.

  I recognize the voice. Unfortunately, not my Alliance partner but the locked out Gleet. He has probably just now realized he should have tried harder to find a cave. “He sounds unhappy.”

  Lin clings to me and whispers, “Oh no, not again.”

  “What?” Her hands barely meet around my chest, and she’s buried her face in my shoulder. I can’t begin to think straight with her clinging to me. If I hadn’t
put on my shirt earlier and blocked a lot of our skin to skin contact, my cock would be ready for anything. I find it difficult to focus on anything but overriding the union denied command. “What’s happening?”

  Before she can answer, the Gleet begins shaking the bars to our room and screaming. “I’m not working another fucking shift out here! Open the fucking door!”

  Lin scrambles up to stand with feet on either side of my knees. I reach out to pull her closer again. “He can’t get in here.”

  “That doesn’t matter.” She takes my hands and tries to pull me onto my feet. “We need to go to the back of the room. Now. We’re fish in a barrel.”

  I don’t need the Earth idiom translated to guess the meaning. Once on my feet, I shield her bad arm from the others as we all stumble to the far end of the cave. The Gleet hasn’t shut up, and now several are at the bars yelling back at him to go away.

  Lin whimpers and sinks to her knees. ““Please make it stop,” she whispers.

  If I weren’t so close to her, I’d have missed her plea. A familiar buzzing sound begins. The security bot. I wrap my arms around her, pressing my chest against her back. Thinking about anything but our bodies joined almost hurts. “It’s going to get worse, Lin.”

  “I know.”

  Chapter Six

  Lin

  “I don’t think the universe’s DNA is GACT but FUCK since everyone here knows that word,” I say, and Turkh rumbles a low laugh. I more than love how cool to the touch his skin is. His amazing arms are around me and making me feel safe. If my neck and injury didn’t hurt so much, I’d relax and fall asleep.

  “Some curses just translate better than others.”

  “The universe is universal. Who knew?” The disc at the base of my skull stops throbbing finally, and I sigh in relief. The painful warning would have ended sooner if one of the frogs had accepted missing out. Now, he and several others are dead. “Maybe now everyone can settle down for the night or whatever this is.”

  He nuzzles his nose against my hair. I’m sure the smell isn’t pleasant, yet, he’s treating me like I’m a handful of honeysuckle flowers. “Are you all right?”

  “That’s what I should be asking you,” he says against my scalp. “We can sleep here.” Turkh shifts a little and pulls me up against him as if he’s the world’s, er, galaxy’s sexiest mattress.

  I rest my cheek against his chest and put a hand on his bare upper arm. “For a bronze god, you’re awfully warm and soft skinned.”

  “Bronze god?” He lets his lips rest against the top of my head. “I understand the god part, but bronze?”

  “It’s a type of metal on Earth used for statues and other things.” I wish I’d paid better attention in science class and remembered what the mix was so I could tell him. “I don’t think it’s a pure metal like gold or iron. Do you know what those are?”

  He chuckles. “Base element names translate better than a planet specific mix, yes.” Before I can ask him about his home, he asks me, “Are you feeling sleepy, yet?” He shifts a little under me. “How’s your arm?”

  He’s deflecting the conversation. Probably isn’t an Iron age graduate on his planet, yet, Turkh’s smart enough to leave me thinking they have computers on his world. I can always get answers out of him later when his guard is down, so I follow his misdirection. “I’m crushing you, aren’t I?” I try to get up and off him, but he tightens his hold.

  “No, you’re good. I’m concerned about your injury and how much the translator hurts you.”

  “Doesn’t yours bother you?”

  “A little. I have a high pain tolerance and want to know more about what you experience. What does it do to you when the security system is active?”

  “Must be nice,” I murmur about his not being racked with pain whenever anyone acts up. He chuckles, and I breathe deep to smell his shirt. I really love his exotic cologne ”My arm is going to sting for a while until it heals. My translator, which I love and hate, only goes haywire when someone starts a fight or fuss. I don’t notice it until then.”

  He runs his fingertips over the back of my neck, and I shiver from the touch. He’s warmer than metal despite the metallic sheen yet so cool under me. Refreshing in this damp hellhole. “Really, it doesn’t hurt so much.”

  “I believe you. I just wish you didn’t have one.”

  “Don’t.” I yawn as his hand slides down to the middle of my back. “I’d be lost and probably die without it. The trip here was awful because I had no idea what was going on. At least now we have some sort of instruction. Plus, I understand what the other people are saying.”

  Someone closer to the door stirs before growling, “Shut. Up.”

  Turkh tenses under me like a cat ready to pounce. I spread my fingers against his chest. “It’s all right. He’s right,” I whisper. “We need to get what sleep we can.” He presses his lips against the top of my head and relaxes. I’m not sure how to respond. Is a kiss on his world a sign of romance, affection, or something they give their pets? I don’t know and don’t want to if the meaning is bad.

  My eyes close and the next thing I know, there’s noise and hollering in the distance. It’s whatever passes for morning down here. No breakfast or coffee, just a real need to pee. I don’t want to open my eyes. Turkh’s been here for less than a full day’s revolution yet he’s already a necessity to me. If only he could run to the surface for snacks, coffee, and my favorite sneakers, he’d be perfect.

  “Good morning.”

  His voice has changed. With my eyes still closed, I can sense the differences a lot better. Somehow, Turkh sounds warmer, more intimate than he did nearly all of yesterday. “No. Not yet.”

  “You know they’ll start spraying us in a little while.”

  “I know.” I lift up and look at his face while the others begin stirring. “We have a little bit of time. Do you mind standing guard so I can, um, eliminate waste?” His eyebrows raise, and I’m sure he’s thinking the worst. “I promise it won’t be bad. This is the first time I’ve felt safe enough to ask someone to keep a lookout for me.”

  His eyes darken in the dimness as he smiles. “ I’d be glad to.” He lifted his chin. “Let’s get started because I want my turn after you.”

  I get to my feet, every muscle sore. “Huh? You’re a healthy guy. You don’t need my protection.”

  “Healthy, huh?” Turkh went to the back of the room. “Let’s stand back here, and the water pressure won’t be so bad.”

  We go to the far wall and wait. The water starts several cells up. Yells from those who don’t know the water is cold let me know how close the spray is. The nozzle begins spraying us, and a couple in our group are new, too. Turkh goes to block me, and I move to his side. “No, or I’ll miss my chance to get clean.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  He moves slowly to let the water hit me, too. I squelch a scream at the icy pain. Hair, face, underarms, privates. I scrub fast to get washing over with before I turn into an icicle. The stream fades to a drizzle. Not helpful when I need to pee like I do. “Okay, we have a couple of minutes to go to the bathroom, uh, waste eliminate, before the room is washed out.” I go to a far corner where there’s some privacy and put my hands on the top of my pajama pants. “Remember our deal?”

  Turkh grins. “Yes,” he responds and turns to face the doorway. Other men are peeing against the wall. I drop my drawers and sigh in relief. He chuckles at the sound. I can’t say I blame him, but he has no idea. I’m not a country girl. It took me a while to figure out how to do this without making a mess. Guys are so lucky. Done, I pull up my pants and stand in front of him as the other men filed out. “Your turn.”

  “I don’t need you to watch out for me.”

  “Probably not, but it’ll keep me feeling useful.” I hear him, and the mental image hits me. The guy is pretty tall for the people around here. He’d be an athlete on Earth with his height. I’ll bet he’s pretty proportional in the package depa
rtment. I try not to grin, but, it’s been a while. Rick can’t rescue me, and I don’t think I’ll ever see him again.

  I’d much rather focus on the man near me. He also needed to pee worse than I did. His holding me all night while I slept gave me the best rest I’ve had since landing here. A few shouts far up in the mine let me know we don’t have much time. “Put a knot in it. Time to go.”

  He laughs and runs his hands along the walls before looking at them. “I was finished. That’ll have to do for washing up.”

  That was a good idea, so I did the same. The warm rock still held enough moisture to help me pretend my hands were clean. “I’d suggest waiting until the water comes on again, but you’ll lose the top layer of skin.” The gates slide open, and the others shove their way out to the corridor. “It only takes once.”

  “I’ll bet.” Turkh leads the way to a couple of unused pickaxes before looking up and down the conveyor belt. “So, no breakfast or drink before we start?” He grabs both axes and hands me one of the tools.

  “Afraid not.” I go to his right and get ready to work. “We’ll get our green goo later. There’s something in it giving us enough water, but I don’t know how.” I hit using both hands, and the blow jiggles my arm. The wound kept up the dull ache all night but now throbbed with renewed pain. Tears come to my eyes, and I let the ax head fall to the ground. “Damn.”

  “Let’s see,” he says and peers down at my arm. I lift the sleeve even if I don’t need to. He takes my upper arm in his hand to examine the wound. “I wish we were closer to home. I’d have supplies to help you.”

  “So do I.” A buzzing begins in the back of my neck, and I nod at the wall. “We need to get back to work.”

  Turkh shakes his head and hits the rock once. “I know.” He takes off his shirt and tucks it into his waistband like yesterday. His oddly clean scent hits me again, and I sigh.