Baby, it's Cold in Space: Eight Science Fiction Romances

by Margo Bond Collins

  “She a visitor. We must act accordingly.” He was taking a risk, depending on the highly developed sense of propriety among his people. His hope was that they’d agree and it would buy him enough time to speak with Lauren privately.

  The small stone object he held in his hand, weighing less than a bird, could change everything.

  “We’ll see it tomorrow anyway,” Cupun said. “What harm is there in having a peek tonight?”

  Pukak turned and faced them. “We must adhere to custom. It is our way to be a patient and peaceful people.”

  When the others started to grumble and move toward the door, he turned back to Lauren. “Thank you for the gift. We will present it to the Highest Priest tomorrow. But tonight, you must take nourishment and then sleep.” He had no idea how he was going to sneak into to speak with her after the others went to sleep, but he had to find a way. “Cupun will bring you food and make sure you are comfortable and then she will stay the night with you.”

  “Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Her eyes were so light, the color of starlight on snow and he couldn’t seem to look away from her. “Thank you for honoring The Siku with your presence.”

  Pukak took small steps backward until he bumped into the wall. “We shall speak more later.”

  “I await our next meeting with great pleasure.”

  ***

  Now that she was warm, Lauren was ravenous. After four years of being forced to eat freeze-dried meals alone, the scent of the stew Cupun carried inside made her stomach growl with want.

  “Four Legged Stew,” the woman said, placing the bowl on the small table. Beside it, she placed a utensil that looked more like a ladle than a spoon. “I hope you enjoy.”

  It took amazing self-control not to just turn up the bowl. “It smells delicious.”

  Cupun gave a shy smile, returned to her stool and picked up the electronic device. The Siku didn’t approach mealtimes like most human cultures. They mostly ate only when hungry with no designated meal times. Food wasn’t an event so much as it was only a necessity. It was unusual, really, and fascinating.

  Lauren wanted to know more about everything here: the food, the technology, the culture, but tonight, she was so tired and hungry that she was more than willing to wait until morning to begin gathering data. Her first priority had to be establishing communication with the Space Consortium. Then she had to figure out why The Siku didn’t seem to be expecting her.

  Talkback repair and then data. As soon as I can concentrate.

  The Four Legged Stew was the most delicious thing she’d ever eaten. Rich and hearty, it was perfectly seasoned and filled her stomach in a way that made her feel warm and sleepy. After finishing the entire bowl and refusing a second helping, Cupun took her dish and gestured for Lauren to follow her outside.

  The cold air hit her like a right cross from a heavyweight. She wished she’d grabbed her parka and her cap but Cupun seemed to be fine without anything other than the leather dress she wore inside.

  “What do you call this?” Lauren asked, pointing back at the dwelling.

  “Igloo,” Cupun responded.

  “But it isn’t made of ice. It’s made of leather or hides.”

  Cupun shrugged in a universal gesture. “Igloo,” she repeated. “Follow me.”

  Lauren looked around and tried to get her bearings. There were only a handful of shelters visible in the moonlight and she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. The village didn’t seem that big but maybe she wasn’t in the center.

  What if I’ve ended up in the wrong place?

  The two women walked along a pathway of well-packed snow toward another smaller structure. Up above, the sky was achingly clear. Two silvery moon hung in the night sky, lighting each step. The stars familiar to her, both from Earth and Mars, had shifted in the night sky making none of the constellations she’d studied since elementary school visible. It made her feel lonely and disoriented.

  When they reached the small, hut-like structure, Cupun said, “This is our toilet. I will wait here for you.”

  Lauren hadn’t realized how full her bladder was until now. “Thank you.”

  The structure was the same as the one she’d just left but it was smaller. It was warm but still she saw nothing that resembled a fire. Even though she was exhausted, her brain was fighting to collect data.

  Tomorrow. Start tomorrow.

  On one side there was a long bench with three holes cut out of the seat.

  Flushing toilets were too clearly too much to hope for. At least it’s warm.

  Afterwards, she followed Cupun back to the igloo and took off her cap and scarf and slipped back under the stack of pelts and skins. Her eyelids were heavy and she didn’t know how long she was going to be able to fight sleep but her brain wouldn’t stop whirring. Every time she nearly dozed off, she thought of a question she wanted to answer.

  What kind of animals do they hunt and eat? Do they use the whole animal like the native cultures I studied in preparation for this mission? How is it possible that they have electronic devices but no flushing toilets?

  Tomorrow she was going to have to hike back to the Kalevala and retrieve the wool sweater General Worthington sent with her. She’d left it, thinking the clothing designed for his mission would be more than adequate. She couldn’t have been more wrong. Even though she’d only seen a handful of The Siku, and only two up close, they wore only natural fibers like animal skins.

  She snuggled under the covers, full and warm, and quickly fell asleep.

  In her dream, she held the book, marveling at pages. She was in the old apartment, the one with the balcony. When she looked up from the pages, a Polar bear and her cub stood on the balcony. Just as she reached the sliding glass door, she heard something that jarred her from sleep.

  “Don’t make a sound.” Pukak placed his palm over her mouth and whispered in her ear.

  She felt the rush of adrenaline flood her veins and she tensed her muscles. Fight or flight. It was a response she knew well. Her head told her that she should be scared but her heart told her that this man would never harm her.

  “You must choose another gift,” he said, tucking the small Polar bear carving under her pillow. “This one will scare The Siku.”

  “Why?” she asked in a low whisper. His face was only centimeters from hers.

  “I have no time to explain. Tomorrow, we will walk and share things.”

  She nodded. He stared at her and the same attraction she’d felt earlier sizzled to the surface. “Okay. I need to go back to my ship. Walk with me?”

  “I will. Now, you sleep.” He eased back into the darkness that lingered along the walls of the igloo and disappeared into the dark.

  Just a couple of meters away, the deep, restful rhythm of Cupun’s breathing never changed.

  Chapter Four

  PUKAK WAS ALONE, IN HIS BORROWED IGLOO, surrounded by books, journals and notes he’d taken over the years as Keeper of History. He wanted to read Miki’s prophecy again. Maybe there was something he’d missed over the years. If the Highest Priest discovered he’d brought all these materials with him, that he’d been reading instead of rediscovering his life force, Pukak would be in serious trouble.

  He pushed the threat to the back of his mind and flipped to the page he was looking for.

  Our people, from far away, will come from the sky bringing proof absolute.

  In her hand she will hold the White One,

  The sacred one,

  And the truth of the ages will be revealed.

  He’d read it so many times he’d memorized it but maybe he’d looked at it with the wrong perspective. He powered up his qTablet and picked up his stylus. “Our people” had to be the ones left behind by The Siku. “The White One” couldn’t mean anything but a Polar bear. Not only was it sacred to his people, but it was the reason they’d come back to Utuquq and cut off communication with the rest of the universe.

  The Polar bear was sacr
ed, a symbol of the power, and the only person in the tribe who could touch any representation of the animal was the Highest Priest.

  I was right when I felt change coming.

  Pukak rose from his desk and paced back and forth. It didn’t make sense. None of it fit. Lauren seemed to think The Siku were expecting him but that was impossible. Not only did they no longer have the technology to communicate with other planets, it was strictly forbidden, and had been since the Age of Change.

  Why does she think we invited her here? More importantly, who invited her here?

  Chosen at only seven summers old to become The Keeper, he’d spent most of his life in the pursuit of knowledge and truth and more than once it had created conflict between him and the Highest Priest. When the old man learned that there was an alien on Utuquq, there would be huge consequences. If he saw the Polar bear carving, it would be even worse.

  It would take the Highest Priest at least two spans of the White Star to reach Egakik from the Sanctuary of the Sea.

  Pukak had to use that time wisely and help Lauren understand before anyone else knew what she’d brought.

  ***

  The next morning, Lauren woke feeling warm and rested. There were no windows in the igloo so she had no idea what time it was. At twenty-eight hours, the days on Utuquq were a little longer than on Earth. On the ship, she’d maintained a very strict twenty-hour day; the schedule was a way to maintain her sanity. Here, she’d have to adjust to the additional eight hours and get used to the rising and setting of a star again.

  Cupun wasn’t in the igloo but she’d left a small breakfast for Lauren. She took a small nibble of what looked like a granola bar made of seeds and small fruits. It was bitter and grainy but it beat the rations she’d eaten on board the ship. After she finished, she tucked the other one in her backpack and grabbed her parka from a hook on one of the beams and dressed for the snow.

  After fiddling with the Talkback for a few minutes, she was unable to get it to power up. She clipped it to her pants and decided she’d look for some spare parts once they reached the Kalevala.

  She was just opening the door flap when Pukak stepped inside.

  “Good morning,” he said, stepping close to her.

  Even though she was prepared for customary greeting, she wasn’t prepared for the way her heart raced when his lips touched her cheek. She inhaled the now familiar scent of him and the heat inside her body ratchet up several more degrees.

  “Good morning,” she said, reversing the greeting and placing her lips on his forehead. Too much more of this and she was going to forget the contract she signed. The one in which she agreed to have no sexual contact with anyone on Utuquq.

  “Let us walk,” he said. His voice was deep and she felt the vibration of it deep inside her body.

  “I’m ready to explore.”

  They walked west toward the ship. The White Star was shining, a brilliant bluish-green light glinted off the frozen surface of the snow. She was thankful for the sunglasses the scientists back on Earth had designed for this mission. Unlike the uniform, they were incredibly effective at polarizing the strange cold glow of the star.

  As they walked, she looked for animal tracks in the snow and asked Pukak dozens of questions about the animals they hunted. Not only was he smart, he was deeply spiritual. He had a deep connection to the animals and plants in the forest. Interestingly, the flora and fauna was very similar to those that had existed on Earth before the huge shift in climate. There was no equivalent to the Polar bear.

  “Why did the gift I brought upset you so much?”

  “It is a Snow Bear, our most sacred spirit animal.”

  “Do you have them on Utuquq?”

  He stopped in the snow and turned toward her. “No. We do not. When they return, we believe that the world will end.”

  “The carving I brought was made nearly three hundred years ago by a tribe that used to live in the most northern parts of our planet. It used to be cold there for most of the year.”

  Pukak stared at her. “But no longer?”

  “It’s not only the snow that’s disappeared. The polar ice caps have melted, flooding most of the cities that were located on the oceans. The water cycle has changed, throwing many places into perpetual drought while others drown.”

  “What caused the snow to leave?”

  “It’s complicated but the long and short of it is that we burned too many fossil fuels, cut down too many trees, used terrible things like chlorofluorocarbons.”

  “Can it be healed?”

  “That’s why I’m here. I’m hoping The Siku can teach me new ways to create energy that can help us meet the demand of our people without harming the environment.”

  “How did you find us?”

  “Originally, the folks at the Space Consortium discovered Utuquq using images from a craft we launched centuries ago. When they investigated the White Star, they learned that your climate was similar to ours. After years of radio communication with your people, we decided to visit.”

  “But that’s impossible,” Pukak said, stopping in the snow and looking into her eyes. “We’re forbidden from communicating with other planets.”

  “No wonder the welcoming committee was so small.” When she’d been traveling in the Kalevala, she’d often imagined floating down to the surface and exiting the craft to a snowfield full of cheering people, music and tents full of steaming food. “How did I get into the village?”

  “I carried you on my back.”

  “But if no one knew I was coming, how did you find me?”

  “I was hunting in the woods. It was just a coincidence.”

  “That seems equally impossible.”

  They began walking again. Birds, similar to the ones she’d expect to see back on Earth, flitted from tree to tree, chirping and twittering. “Why did you decided to go hunting yesterday?”

  “The Highest Priest thought I’d been spending too much time surrounded by my books and he wanted me to get back in touch with my life force.”

  “That sounds like bullshit.”

  “Bullshit?” Pukak pronounced the word so that the last syllable sounded like the word “sheet”.

  “It’s just an expression meaning that it’s stupid or untrue.”

  “I like that. Bullshit,” he repeated.

  Lauren had been on Utuquq less than a day and she already smelled a rat. There was something much deeper going on here and she needed to get to the bottom of it. Fast.

  Chapter Five

  ASIDE FROM LAUREN, it was the most beautiful object he’d ever seen. The size of six or seven igloos, it was perfectly round and blindingly silver. “It has taken my breath,” he whispered. He ran his finger along the metal surface, amazed at how smooth and slick it was.

  “Would you like to see the inside?” Lauren asked.

  “You would allow me?”

  “Sure,” she said, climbing up the stairs that led to the door. “Follow me and I’ll show you how everything works.”

  When he stepped inside the control room, he gasped. He’d never seen so many buttons, so many dials and lever. “How do you use all these?”

  Lauren sat down in the chair and pressed her fingerprint to a small, clear box. Seconds later, he heard a loud whirr and the console sprang to life. Instinctively, he stepped backward, bumping into an interior wall. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t damage your ship.” Her smile warmed him in places he didn’t realize he’d been cold.

  “No worries,” she said. “This thing is built like a tank.” She pulled down shades, blocking the blinding light of the White Star beaming off the snow. Even through the tinted windows, the reflection was causing a glare on the panel.

  He had no idea what a tank was but he was glad he hadn’t broken anything on her beautiful machine. It was the most intricately crafted thing he’d ever seen and it reminded him of something he’d seen in a book just a few months after he’d become The Keeper.

  “How does it work?”
>
  “It’s pretty complicated but I’m happy to explain the basics. Have a seat.” She rose and pointed to the chair where she’d been sitting.

  Pukak wasn’t sure he wanted to be that close to all those important looking buttons.

  What if I accidentally pushed one and we were rocketed into space?

  “You can’t launch us if that’s what you’re worried about. I’m staying here for a while, long enough to recharge the phyto-energy panels that power some of my systems.”

  That he understood. The Siku had long harnessed the energy of The White Star. Not only did it power the qTablets they used for communication and information, but it powered Zippersleds, and the electric grid. His people didn’t use any energy source they couldn’t replenish. It was a central belief of The Siku that didn’t change from generation to generation.

  It was really the only thing everyone agreed on.

  Even though The Siku lived in many villages and towns spread out over Utuquq, they didn’t have a central government. Before the Age of Change, the capital of Eramosa had hosted representatives from each village who helped to make decisions about laws and policies for the entire population. Now, the word of the Highest Priest, a man who’d been in the same position of power for more than fifty spans, was absolute law.

  Just the thought of the old man made him angry. In his years as The Keeper, the Highest Priest had made his mission to punish Pukak. He had no idea why; he’d never set out to anger or disobey but sometimes his academic work made him question. Questions were never a good thing.

  Especially when the Highest Priest knew about them.

  Pukak needed to talk to Lauren about what to expect in the coming days and he needed to figure out who she’d been communicating with on Utuquq but he was mesmerized by the lights and sounds aboard the spacecraft.

  ***

  Lauren had lost track of time. She was still reeling from the longer days and adjusting to the natural daylight again. She’d shown Pukak most of the systems on the ship. He’d been interested in everything from propulsion to cooling. He was extremely intelligent and it was nice, especially after four years of being alone, to have a companion who was her intellectual and physical equal.