Carbon Life

by HR Ringer

  "It's also useful for gutting an attacker standing behind you, just as if you were using your elbow for a disabling blow to the diaphragm; the two moves can even be combined against two attackers, particularly if the one to the rear has an arm around your throat."

  Xiùlán tried the moves several times and found they fit right in with her martial arts knowledge.

  "Very nice. You appear to be a natural, Yuán. There are a few other additional 'blade' mods that can be used with this tool…," Mallene said as she entered several commands into her tool; this resulted in Xiùlán's tool emitting a soft 'trill' as it received data and stored it for later activation. "…which I just sent to you. The mods are available on the extranet, if any of your classmates are interested." Mallene looked intently at Xiùlán. "You appear to be a warrior, Yuán…I don't believe you would be out of place in an asari commando unit."

  Xiùlán could not hide her surprise. "Perhaps, if my skin were blue. But I don't think your commando units would be prepared for human hair, or the appearance of my face," this last said with a hint of pride mixed with a touch of defiance. "Besides, I have no biotic abilities. That's one of the reasons I chose to enroll in this program."

  "If I may…," she brought he left hand up, placing her open palm beside Xiùlán's face without touching her. "By the goddess, Yuán! Your…aura…is exceptionally strong. I would be surprised if it were discernable by other humans, but asari are more attuned to the mental functions of others, especially the human race. You have a great future ahead of you, Yuán Xiùlán, as a warrior… and a leader. Go in peace." Mallene put her hands together under her chin, palm-to-palm, fingertips up, and bowed slightly in Yuán's direction.

  Yuán mirrored the asari's actions and whispered, "Go in peace, Mallene Calis."

  * * *

  *** SAMANTHA TRAYNOR'S QUARTERS, 1655 HOURS ***

  Xiùlán walked up to the entry to Traynor's quarters and touched the red-glowing lock in its center, effectively ringing the doorbell. She hadn't received a reply to her dinner request, so decided to deliver a request in person. She waited for several seconds before repeating the request to release the lock. After what seemed like forever, the lock released, changing from red to green.

  Xiùlán touched the green circle, opening the door to Samantha's room. With the exception of the illumination cast by the weak overhead light just inside the door, the compartment was dark. "Samantha? Are you in here?"

  Traynor responded in a quiet voice, "Come in, Xiùlán." A dim light appeared further in the room, about where Yuán imagined a bed side table would be located. Xiùlán stepped in far enough so the door would auto-close and lock behind her. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of illumination, she could make out the bed, sitting next to the table and lamp.

  Someone…Traynor, she guessed…was curled up atop the bed covers with her head resting on one hand…knees drawn up towards her chin, other arm and hand hugging her shins. Xiùlán couldn't keep concern from coloring her voice as she said, "Samantha?… Sam? What's the matter? Are you okay?"

  "No." The one word response to the latter question was voiced quietly, sadly. She whispered, "Why are people so mean, Xiùlán? What the hell is wrong with me? I go out of my way to not draw attention to myself. There may as well be a big sign on my back saying 'KICK ME' and one on my front saying 'INSULT ME'. I've done nothing…," Her voice caught as she fought back the tears.

  Xiùlán kneeled on the floor beside the bed and reached for her hand, only to have it quickly drawn away from her. "Sammy…?"

  Traynor found her voice. "Please don't, Xiùlán. I'm worthless. I should go back to Horizon. Nobody there cared… about… my skin color. Here, I'm just a miserable little kuthi" [Hindi for female dog – a bitch]

  "Samantha Traynor!" 'I need to get this tā mā de chědàn [他媽的扯淡 - fucking crap] under control fast.' "I can guess the name of the miserable little sack of hóuzi jiānguǒ that called you that! You can't possibly be taking him seriously, Sam. You can't!"

  Xiùlán wasn't sure what to do, how to proceed. She never had to provide comfort to anyone, having always been the recipient of such in the past.

  She rose from her kneeling position, leaned over the unhappy woman and quickly straightened her legs. Sam whimpered as Xiùlán laid down beside her and took her in her arms. "Sammy, you are not worthless to me," Xiùlán whispered in her ear. "You are a special person, Samantha… special, and unique."

  Xiùlán hugged her tightly, rubbing her back, stroking her from neck to waist.

  Traynor's voice was uncertain. "No one wants me here… do they? You don't want…"

  "…don't you even dare presume to know what I want, Samantha Traynor," Xiùlán replied in a harsh whisper. "Don't… you… dare! I don't yet know what we… you and I… will eventually become, Sammy. I find I'm thinking about… well, you, more and more. I certainly will not commit to a relationship with a worthless individual. So, you're not worthless, are you?" Xiùlán brought a hand up to Sam's cheek, stroking the smooth skin with her fingertips for a few moments; she moved her head slightly so she could look at Sam in the dim light. Dark eyes studied dark eyes for several seconds before Xiùlán ever so slowly, tenderly, placed her lips on Sam's. The kiss was not planned, hadn't been thought out. It just… happened.

  Sam was taken aback for a moment before hungrily returning the kiss, moving her own lips to better meet the pair she had been longing for since arrival day, since seeing this beautiful person's nude body in the shower. She tentatively touched tongue tip to Xiùlán's lips, which parted slightly, seemingly to allow its entrance, only to find the way guarded by the tongue behind those lush, tasty lips. There was a slight battle between them before the stronger of the pair won out… Sam's capitulation was total as she surrendered her mouth to this beautiful Chinese woman.

  Xiùlán ended the kiss the same way she started… gently, grasping Sam's lips tenderly with her own, sucking on them one at a time before lovingly releasing them. "You are not worthless to me, Samantha Traynor. I like you. I like you a lot. Come on. It's getting late…time to go have a bite to eat before we arouse each other any further."

  * * *

  *** SAMANTHA TRAYNOR'S QUARTERS, 2130 HOURS ***

  Having dinner together had helped Traynor's mood tremendously. They had talked at some length about Joesiar's attitude towards each of them, along with others in their class, particularly female students. Sam had agreed to talk to Heather, another woman that had become a target of the miserable troll's racist attitude; he had somehow discovered each of her parents were from different racial backgrounds, and the litany of insults and sexually suggestive comments had reached new lows, even for Joesiar. Sam was going to accompany Heather to the AG's office tomorrow to add those complaints (along with more of her own) to his 'jacket'.

  They had returned to Sam's apartment for beers and to chat some more before 'lights out' at 2300, where Xiùlán had shown Sam how to employ a mental defense to deal with comments by Joesiar and others of his ilk (of which there were very few on this base, thankfully), a lesson she happily embraced.

  Xiùlán had finished her second beer and was seriously thinking about heading back to her own room so she could get to bed. Students spending the night with other students was not prohibited here, but neither was it encouraged. The focus was supposed to be on learning; developing friendships was also important, but within limits. "I should go, Sam. It looks to be a long day tomorrow, and I need some sleep. Don't need another headache like I had before lunch today."

  Samantha took a sip from the bottle she'd been nursing since the pair had returned from dinner three hours ago. She had been enthralled as Xiùlán told of her first year as an Alliance recruit. "Awww, sounds as if you were just getting to some truly good stuff," Traynor complained. "You never said…did you have any close friends? Like…really close?"

  Xiùlán took note of the mischievous light in Traynor's eyes as she answered in a snarky tone, "Lined up outside my door, every night!"
>
  Traynor laughed as she said, "You know what I mean. Close friends. Boy friends…girl friends? Friends?

  Xiùlán's grin dissolved into a straight line as she thought back on her weeks in basic and the hell she went through on Titan. "Sammy, look at my face…what do you see?"

  "Seriously?" Traynor grinned. "I see an exotically beautiful face, Xiùlán…gorgeous dark brown eyes, lush lips, firm jaw line, a head full of lovely ebony hair that falls to your perfectly formed bum…"

  Ignoring Sam's last comment, Xiùlán said sadly, "What I see, staring back at me from the mirror every morning of my life?…the face of a woman that doesn't blend inanywhere I go, Sammy. In my home town?…Shanghai? A face with your features, never mind your permanent tan, is what looks different…what stands out in a crowd. In the Alliance, my features mark me as someone different. You say 'exotic'? What makes me exotic, Sam? 'Cause it's been my experience 'exotic' is just a synonym for 'foreign'."

  Traynor's jaw dropped. "Xiùlán, 'foreign' is not a word I would use to describe you. To me your looks are quite striking. I love your face!" The thought 'I love you' came unbidden.

  "I haven't made any close friends since I joined the Alliance, Sam. No friends of any kind, truth be told…

  "Xiùlán, please." Traynor didn't like the way this conversation was going. She moved to sit next to her as she asked in an anxious tone, "Am I not a friend, then?"

  Xiùlán noted Traynor's worried look, realized what she had just said. "Sorry, Samantha. I wasn't including you in the group of friends I don't have. You're the first person I've met that's taken more than a passing interest in me. I have never met a man that didn't think he was the galaxy's gift to every woman he took an interest in." She set her empty bottle down and rose from her chair. "So tell me, do you really want to be friends with someone like me…," Xiùlán placed her hands on her hips, pulled her shoulders back to accentuate her bosom and grinned mischievously, "…or are you only after my body?"

  Traynor grinned as she rose and moved to stand a few centimeters from Xiùlán. "You got me. Guilty as charged, your most stunning honor. I'm only interested in your body…those legs…that cute bum…those perfect boobs. Don't care about you whatsoever. And if you believe that…," Sam had been drawing closer to Xiùlán while she was talking; Xiùlán had not stepped back and their mouths were so close Sam's lips brushed hers as she finished in a husky whisper, "…I have a really neat little patch of swamp land on Horizon I feel certain you'd be interested in." Sam tilted her head as she placed her lips against those of her new friend.

  Xiùlán responded by reaching around Sam, drawing her close so she could return her good night kiss. Sam squirmed a bit when Yuán dropped her hands to grab her butt. "And here I thought you just wanted me for my mind," she whispered around Sam's lips. "I suppose you'd like me to take off all my clothes as well?"

  'yes…yes…yes…yes…' Sam thought to herself. "You don't have to do that, really," came the snarky response. "I'm perfectly capable of removing your clothes all by myself.

  Xiùlán broke her kiss, grabbed Sam's upper arms and pushed her back just a bit. "The more I see you, the more I think about you…want you. I'm just not quite ready, ya know? In my head, I can see us thrashing around in your bed together, right now, enjoying each others…company? But the reality for me, Samantha Traynor, is I want to be sure of what I'm doing, what I'm committing to. I think I may be falling for you, falling hard! Honestly? That really scares the hell out of me. I want to make absolutely sure what I am feeling for you is more than simple lust. Can you see that, Sammy?" Xiùlán looked at her friend with worried concern. "I remember telling you I needed some time to think. I'm still thinking about…us. But I'm not interested in a yīyèqíng [一夜情], Sammy."

  "Wait, what? 'yīyèqíng'? I picked up a couple of phrases and words when I stayed in Shanghai, but that's a new one to me."

  "Sorry, bad habit…I occasionally lapse into Mandarin out loud, although when I do I'm usually cursing a blue streak. Yīyèqíng is a one-night stand. Anyway, if I'm to commit myself to you, Samantha Traynor, I mean for it to last, at least until hell freezes over."

  Samantha's face briefly showed disappointment; she began smiling again as she replied, "Xiùlán, I want you, so bad it hurts. That's lust. I have never met anyone like you. Truth is, I think about you any time I have a free moment. There's so much I need to learn here, so much to do. This shit with Joesiar is a major distraction…a problem I hope will go away soon. You are a major distraction as well, but one I do not want gone, unless its into my arms. I'll wait for you to think this through, but you need to know I will continue to be a distraction for you until you make a decision."

  "Fair enough, Sam. In the meantime, we need to plan how we're going to eliminate Joesiar from the Alliance. I need some sleep. Let's discuss it at lunch tomorrow."

  Traynor grin grew wider. "Can't wait."

  * * *

  *** 79/01/11 ***

  Xiùlán's second day of non-physical classroom work was going well. The soreness in the middle of her chest had diminished greatly; the bruise was actually beginning to fade a bit, even if Joesiar's prophesy (unknown to him, of course) was beginning to come true…the bluish coloration was becoming a hideous shade of greenish-yellow as it started to fade. Initially, she had been rather upset about this, even if her skin color had less to do with the appearance than the physical process of healing. At least the soreness had lessened…good thing, since she was going back into physically demanding training in less than a week.

  Classes today were designed to enhance what they had learned yesterday regarding their new omni-tools; instruction time was spent hacking non-networked computers set up for the class. It was delicate work, meant to teach them how to infiltrate software designed to resist the sort of attacks they were performing. The object was to enter the system undetected, alter the programming in whatever way served the mission, then leave the system, all without a trace being left behind. There was a lot of good natured teasing aimed at the less technical minded students…those for whom the programs sounded obnoxious alarms when the intrusion was detected. As the class progressed, the intrusion sensitivity of the programs was ramped up accordingly; by lunch, few people could claim total success at hacking the programs. The class was told only one recruit, in the other class, had been able to hack their way in undetected 100% of the time, no matter how difficult the program appeared to be. Xiùlán would have bet a year's pay she knew the name of that person; hopefully, she'd be able to learn more from the master hacker in the coming weeks.

  * * *

  *** SAMANTHA TRAYNOR'S QUARTERS, 2030 HOURS ***

  "Samantha…Sam, I…," Xiùlán hesitated before asking, "…have you ever slept with…I mean…had sex…with anyone?"

  The question caught Traynor completely off guard. "Once, one night in a co-ed dorm at Oxford," she replied in a soft voice. "The girls on my floor knew about…my sexual orientation…took it upon themselves to 'turn' me. Five of them trapped me in the gym locker room…stripped me…pinned my arms and legs…held me down on a bench…had one of their boyfriends…use me, like a piece of meat," her voice caught as tears began to slide down her cheeks. "I screamed, I cried. No one would help, no one came. They got done using me…left me there…alone…naked, bleeding, crying. They'd taken my clothes…had to walk back to my dorm room with a towel wrapped around me. I had never…had sex before, Xiùlán! It's supposed to be magical, delightful, memorable. It's not supposed to hurt…not supposed to be scary or humiliating." Tears brought on by the suppressed memories continued to slide down her cheeks.

  Xiùlán slid over next to Sam, reaching around her with one arm to hold her, grabbing a hand with her free hand as she said, "Sammy, I'm so sorry." Xiùlán pulled Sam tight to her side, holding her close, trying to sooth her.

  Sam had regained some control over her emotions and whispered, "I'm sorry, Xiùlán. I didn't mean to just drop that on you. I've never talked about it, hadn't thought about
that time since it happened. Blanked it out of my mind, I guess."

  Xiùlán replied softly, "You don't need to feel sorry for anything, Sam. What you experienced… what they did to you? That was not 'having sex', Samantha, understand me? You didn't agree to it, didn't choose to participate. You were raped, plain and simple. You reported this, correct? You did tell the authorities, didn't you?"

  Sam looked down, embarrassed. "I didn't…I was afraid…afraid those people would hurt me worse. I went to the doctor, got a 'morning after' drug. She took samples, treated my injuries, told me I'd heal…physically…just fine…referred me to a councilor. None of those women were classmates. I moved out of that dorm, changed to a different building…never saw them again."

  'Mòbùguānxīn de mǔgǒu' Yuán thought. "Let me guess, Sam…," Xiùlán placed a hand on Traynor's cheek. "…you don't have any skills in unarmed combat, do you?"

  "No," she sniffled, "was never able to take any classes… I was a math, tech and communications major, Xiùlán. I never expected I'd need to fight off an attacker, much less six at once."

  'Jīngrén!' "Okay, here's what we're going to do. I will teach you how to defend yourself against any and all comers, Sammy. You will not need a gun for close-in work when I'm done with you. It's knowledge you're going to need."

  "My god, Xiùlán, I can't let you do that," Traynor stood up as she protested. "I cannot pay you…"

  "…Fù gěi wǒ?" She was incredulous! "Pay…me? Sam, I would not dream of…I do not require any payment to train you. It will be a privilege to pass on my knowledge. Now, I have to get back to my quarters…lots of studying to do."

  "Anything I can do to help you? Perhaps we can teach each other, Xiùlán. I can help you with technical, you can help me with unarmed combat. Deal?"

  Xiùlán thought it over for a moment. "Why not? I can use the help. Xīnzhèng, Sammy. See you tomorrow."