Below

by Kaitlyn O'Connor

  To Victoria, there seemed to be an air of agitation in the mannerisms of the crew members on the last record, but she couldn’t tell whether it was an assessment prejudiced by her knowledge of the disaster that had followed, or it the crew had already been aware of a problem. “Raphael, take a look at this and tell me what you think.”

  She made an aborted attempt to rise and give him her seat, but he placed a hand on her shoulder, leaning over her. More disturbed than she liked by his proximity, she did her best to ignore it and told the computer to replay the final log.

  “They look scared, jumpy, on edge,” Raphael commented.

  Victoria glanced up at him.

  “There! Replay that.”

  Victoria’s head whipped back toward the image. She backed it up, staring hard at the crew members displayed. It was a man and a woman, standing in the corridor near the lift, but she couldn’t tell which level they were on. They were talking in low voices, but even if they hadn’t been, she doubted she could have understood what they were talking about from the blips of static interlacing the audio.

  “Look at his lips. Five missing.”

  Victoria’s heart skipped a beat. She reversed the record and played it several more times. “It could be,” she said finally. “But even if that is what the guy said, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he was talking about crew members. It might be anything.”

  “He looks a little too agitated to be talking about socks,” Raphael said dryly.

  Victoria frowned, irritated by the sarcasm in his voice. “I can see they’re both upset about something, and it seems probable you’ve picked up on part of the conversation, but it still isn’t much to go on. He could be talking about tools that went missing ... personal items that were stolen. The fact is we don’t know what he’s talking about and we can’t just jump to the conclusion that it has to do with the missing crew members. We need the work logs.”

  A sound at the door of the office drew their attention. Roach was standing in the doorway. There was something about the way he was looking at her that set off alarm bells. Irritated at the intrusion, she frowned at him. “They can’t have finished the clean up this quickly. What is it, Roach?”

  He glanced at Raphael, his expression antagonistic. “I just wanted to put in my request before we settled on room mates.”

  Victoria felt her stomach clench. She’d hoped to avoid this confrontation all together, or at least put it off for a while in view of their current situation. It seemed useless, however, to point out to him that she felt like demanding a sexual partner now, when their situation was so precarious, was in poor taste, to say the least. Roach obviously didn’t feel the least uncomfortable or disturbed about the missing crew members. Doubtless, if she mentioned it, he’d merely point out that the stress of the situation was all the more reason to settle on a partner to assure sexual release from tension. “This isn’t the time. We’ll discuss this later.”

  He frowned. “I figured if I waited till a more convenient time, you might come to an agreement with somebody else. I want it as a matter of record that I requested the first two weeks,” he said, stubbornly refusing to leave without an answer.

  Since there seemed no other way to avoid it, Victoria was on the point of telling him she wouldn’t be choosing a room mate for a while—if at all--when Raphael spoke.

  “She’ll be rooming with me.”

  Chapter Five

  Caught completely off guard, Victoria couldn’t hide her stunned surprise at the announcement that the two of them had already reached an agreement. Fortunately, Raphael’s comment distracted Roach, as well. Otherwise, he’d have know immediately that Raphael was lying and that could’ve made the situation even worse.

  “Like hell!” Roach yelled furiously. “Stick to your own kind!”

  Raphael stiffened almost imperceptibly. His eyes narrowed. “What kind is that?”

  Victoria jumped up abruptly, knowing Roach was just hot headed enough, and stupid enough, to provoke a physical interchange. Nor had it escaped her notice that Raphael, who normally seemed very cool headed, was showing alarming indications that he was more than willing to take Roach up on his challenge. “Stop it!” Victoria snapped.

  Both men ignored her.

  Roach spat on the floor as if he tasted something bad. “You ain’t figured it out yet? Cold blooded with cold blooded ... warm blooded with warm blood. They paired us up before we left, fishman.”

  “I said can it, Roach!”

  Roach glanced at her then, his look assessing. “You got an agreement with him?”

  Victoria’s lips tightened in anger--at both men. Now she had to choose. It was no contest really. And, yet, she’d hoped to avoid a confrontation with Roach, had intended to express no interest in taking a partner, at all, at this time, so that she could avoid having to turn Roach down in the future. She didn’t want Roach—at all. But if she chose Raphael now, that would mean she’d either have to agree to Roach when her time was up with Raphael, or risk having—creating—just the sort of incident the company most disliked, battles between males, or females, over sexual favors. “Yes,” she finally answered.

  Roach’s eyes narrowed. “In that case, I withdraw my offer. I’m not certain I could stomach taking the fish’s leavings.”

  Insulting as it was—to both of them—Victoria couldn’t prevent the leap of hope that entered her chest. She didn’t have time to examine it, however. She had to jump between the two men to prevent them from coming to blows, for the words had no sooner left Roach’s mouth than Raphael surged forward, his face a mask of barely leashed rage. Grasping Raphael’s arm, she put her back to him and faced Roach. “At the rate you’re going, Roach, you’re going to be spending most of your time in the brig. Get back down below and get to work!”

  His lips curled in a sneer. “Yes ma’am.”

  When he’d left, Victoria turned on Raphael. “What did you do that for? You know damn well we never discussed such a thing, much less arrived at an agreement.”

  “You didn’t want him.”

  “No, I didn’t, damn it! But I’d have liked to handle it myself. As it stands, you’ve put me in the position of playing favorites--or accepting him down the line. And neither damn one of those positions are acceptable to me.”

  He studied her a long moment, his face taut with anger. Then, to Victoria’s shock, he snatched her up against him, hard, grasped the back of her head in one hand and lowered his mouth to hers before she could do more than gasp in stunned surprise. The moment his mouth covered hers in a kiss that was warm, moist and both hungry and possessive, something hot and liquid flowed through her, setting her flesh on fire, pulling the strength from her limbs so that she collapsed weakly against him. The arm he’d slid around her waist tightened. Unaware of anything beyond the feel of his mouth and tongue and the havoc they wreaked with her senses, Victoria weakly sought purchase to prevent herself from falling, grasping his shoulders, then slipping her arms around his neck, tangling her fingers in his dark hair as she responded to his kiss with fervor.

  When he released her mouth at last, Victoria’s head fell back weakly, lolling against his shoulder. She found she could not catch her breath. It sawed painfully in and out of her chest, her lungs struggling to keep up with the rapid, pounding beat of her heart.

  He caught her face in one hand, tipping her head back so that he could look down at her. “Am I too cold for you, Victoria?”

  With an effort, Victoria opened her eyes and looked at him blankly. “Wha...?”

  A faint smile of triumph curled his lips, gleaming in his eyes, but before Victoria could even decide what it meant or how she felt about it, he lowered his lips to hers once more. This kiss was far less punishing, but just as possessive, and just as devastating to her already overloaded senses. She felt as weak and insubstantial as water.

  “You are mine. I will not share you with another,” he murmured when he lifted his lips at last.

  Victoria stared at hi
m blankly as his words slowly sank into her mind, slowly began to make sense to her. She stiffened, tried to pull away. He released her. It took an effort to stand upright without his support. “The by-laws prohibit....”

  “I don’t give a damn about the by-laws,” he said grimly.

  “Officers of the company are not allowed....”

  “I did not choose my position.”

  “I did!” Victoria snapped. “I’ve worked too hard and too long to jeopardize my plans because of a ... a testosterone battle between you and Roach!”

  His eyes narrowed. “You think that’s what this is about?”

  “Isn’t it always?” Victoria said bitterly. She’d been in much the same position before. It had almost destroyed her budding career, and the worst of it was that neither man had really cared for her. The contest had been between them. They’d become so immersed in trying to outdo one another and claim her as their ‘prize’ that they’d either not seen, or not cared, that the rivalry between them was wrecking her chances of advancement with the company.

  “Choosing a life mate is still acceptable, even in the fucked up universe we live in these days,” Raphael said tightly.

  Victoria gaped at him in surprise and unconsciously took a step back. “Life...,”she said faintly. “Among terraformers, colonists and the like, certainly, where a partnership is considered desirable and even necessary, but....”

  “Isn’t that our ultimate goal?”

  The comment totally threw Victoria. “Our? How did you...?” But she knew how. Obviously, she hadn’t guarded her thoughts from him as well as she’d believed. “Damn it, Raphael! You had no right to ... to....”

  “You chose to meld minds with me.”

  Victoria stared at him uncomprehendingly. “I don’t even understand what you’re talking about! How could I choose?”

  His lips tightened. Something curiously akin to pain flickered in his eyes. “Nevertheless.”

  Victoria looked away, feeling drained suddenly. “I can’t deal with this right now. We have a dangerous situation. I need to keep my mind on keeping us all alive.”

  Raphael was silent for several moments. “Let’s have a look for the work logs, then.”

  Relieved that he’d allowed the subject to drop so readily, Victoria nodded and they left the security chief’s office and began a room by room search to find the logs. By the time they located them, however, Victoria discovered that she’d missed her window of opportunity insofar as using them as leverage to protect herself and her crew.

  Tuttle came pounding into the control room, bellowing her name.

  Victoria and Raphael exchanged a startled glance, dropped the records and raced into the main operations room with weapons drawn. “What is it?” Victoria demanded.

  Tuttle was gasping for breath. “The shuttle--Captain Huggins took off without us!”

  It took several moments for that information to sink in ... and Victoria still couldn’t believe it. Without a word, she pushed past Tuttle and raced up the stairs. The landing pad, when she finally reached the flight deck, was empty except for the crates of supplies, which Captain Huggins and Grant had obviously off loaded hastily before their departure. She was still staring at the vacant spot the shuttle had occupied in shocked disbelief when Raphael and Tuttle joined her.

  “What happened?” she demanded as she turned to Tuttle.

  Tuttle shrugged. “He called me in sick bay and told me I needed to deliver a message to you. Said they’d heard back from the company and the orders were to proceed as planned and send a report on the investigation when it was completed. Clancy seemed to be doing OK, so I didn’t argue. I had just started down the stairs when I heard the gang plank being retracted. When I turned around and ran back up, the shuttle was already leaving the pad.”

  “Son of a bitch!” Victoria yelled. “God damn those bastards to hell!”

  Tuttle, she saw when she finally turned to look at her, was staring at her wide eyed. “Are we in trouble?”

  It took a supreme effort to fight her temper down to a manageable level. “We don’t know.” Victoria gnawed her lower lip a moment. “Go below. The crew’s working on cleaning up the access level. Tell them to knock off for today and get these supplies stowed, then they can choose quarters and settle in. And tell the cooks to get busy and see what they can come up with to feed the crew.”

  Tuttle nodded and turned to go.

  “Tuttle.”

  She stopped and turned back. “I’ll discuss the situation with the crew after dinner. That’s all they need to know right now.”

  Again, Tuttle nodded and left Victoria and Raphael.

  “At least he left the supplies,” Raphael said when Tuttle was out of ear shot.

  Victoria glanced at him. “I’d have felt better if he hadn’t. At least then we’d know he was coming back.”

  Raphael’s expression was grim. “Not necessarily—he could have taken off with our supplies and still had no intention of returning—but I see your point. If we had the communications tower up, we might have had a chance of calling him back. As it stands....” He shrugged.

  Victoria shook her head. “He’d ignore any order I gave him, even if we could communicate with the ship. He’s been ordered back. He wouldn’t have taken off otherwise. Huggins is a company man, through and through. He would not have made this decision on his own. And, unfortunately for us, it would never occur to him to argue with any decision they made.”

  “So ... what do we do now?”

  Victoria turned to look at him. “Try to stay alive.”

  Chapter Six

  The cooks had apparently decided that the desperate situation called for extraordinary efforts on their part. They’d put together a veritable feast for the crew members who presently trooped into the dining hall, tired and anxious, but freshly scrubbed and apparently hungry.

  Victoria couldn’t help but notice the crew members segregated themselves. Except for Raphael, everyone else that seated themselves at her table were top side crew members. The deep sea crew sat together, separated from her group by several empty tables.

  It made Victoria uneasy. They had problems enough without being divided among themselves.

  The situation between her, Roach, and Raphael was certainly not going to help matters. Roach was almost universally disliked, but it didn’t necessarily follow that that meant the top side crew members would ignore his grievance and, in any case, Roach was the sort to extend his anger to encompass the entire deep sea crew, simply because he had a personal beef with Raphael. It was highly likely that he would be picking fights with any one of them that had the misfortune to come within ‘firing’ range of his temper. And she had no doubt that he would do his utmost to incite the other ‘human’ crew members to treat the deep water crew with prejudice.

  Victoria found she had little appetite.

  She wished suddenly that she’d left Roach in the brig. Perhaps then Captain Huggins would have taken off with him, as he had Clancy, and that would have eliminated at least one of her problems.

  A useless thought, but she couldn’t help but wonder if it would transpire that Clancy would actually be the luckiest of them all.

  When everyone had finished eating, she stood and addressed them.

  “I hope that everyone has settled in OK.”

  “Does that mean we’re staying?” Brown asked.

  “It does. The company has ... uh ... expressed their confidence in our ability to handle our current situation.”

  “Meaning they’ve abandoned us to sink or swim,” Roach muttered in a perfectly audible voice.

  Victoria pretended she hadn’t heard him. “Our investigation into the situation we found when we arrived is ongoing.”

  “Which means they haven’t a fucking clue what happened here,” Roach said a little louder.

  Victoria glared at him.

  “Is that true? You still don’t know what happened?”

  “Yes. We still don’t know. Which
means I want everybody to stay alert and the orders I gave earlier stand. No one works alone. No one goes off alone. No crew works without at least two lookouts when outside the habitat. Tomorrow, the mining crew will concentrate on opening up the mine shaft. Top crew will test the processing plant and make sure its operational. Once we’re sure we have a go there, we’ll concentrate on the access pool. Raphael says there’s several tons of ore mined and ready to process. I expect us to be fully operational within the week, but we’re going to have to hump it if we want to see any bonuses.

  “Our focus is going to be on getting the mine and processing plant operational so that we can begin making some money, people. Anything non-essential to our project here can wait until we get around to it, or wait for the next crew.”

  “What about the communications tower?” someone near the back asked.

  Briefly, a sense of satisfaction touched her. At least they were willing to participate in group discussions. It was more important than ever that they work as a group. Their survival might depend upon it. “That’s essential. I’ll have the schedule posted in the morning. Check it and see who’s been assigned to what duties. I’ll be assigning a rotating crew to go topside and evaluate the situation with the tower and get to work on repairs. We need that operational as soon as possible.”

  Everyone seemed to take that as a dismissal. They began a general exodus from the dining hall and into the rec room.

  Victoria glanced at Raphael. “I need to get the schedules worked out,” she muttered, half to herself.

  Raphael nodded. “I’ll show you our room.”