by Mallory Rush
Her own bed was too empty. Despite his warning, she had asked Urich to sleep, simply sleep with her. Though all she really wanted was to be held, he had said it would prove too tempting then made a reference to some alien code of honor.
She didn't understand or like it, but things like honor deserved respect. And he did want her, no question, so she salved her ego with that.
"Eva, come sit with me." He patted the couch and with a mischievous smile she plopped on his lap. Urich groaned. "Why do you keep torturing me like this?"
"Because it's fun. And because you deserve it for torturing me with this stupid football game."
"Rather barbaric, but there's too much strategy to qualify for stupidity. And it does seem to generate a good deal of excitement in the process of entertaining."
He was observing the fans intently, and when the crowd went wild over a touch-down, Urich laughed heartily.
"You're really enjoying this, aren't you?"
A little sheepishly, he admitted, "quite a bit, actually. It's not the sort of thing my kind approves of, any form of combat being considered distasteful—except for debates. They can get fairly fierce, but our wars are restricted to words."
"So, besides these debates, what do you do for fun?"
Urich thought awhile about that. And then he grinned. "We aren't nearly as preoccupied with having 'fun' as you are, however we do have something similar to a time machine when that occasional urge for a diversion strikes."
Eager to hear more, Eva asked, "What's it like? How does it work? Can you actually meet people from the past, go places in the future?"
After she'd pummeled him with more questions than yards on a football field, Urich cut her off with a quick kiss.
"You're too tempting for your own good, much less mine," he grumbled. "As for your questions, let's just say that our resources are a millennia or two beyond yours."
Though he didn't intrude where he had promised not to, Urich knew what was coming next and felt that awful dread which was as close a companion as Eva.
"Will you take me there and let me try it out?"
"In time."
"Why not just zap us there now then bring us back after we check it out?"
"Because..." Once I take you there, they'll want to give you to the mate who's eagerly expecting your arrival. Even the thought caused his stomach to twist around the strange food he had begun to acquire a taste for. His taste for Eva, a delicious morsel of humanity, was becoming an addiction. To give her up was unthinkable, impossible. It would destroy him.
Not to give her up was to invite a similar fate.
"Because why?" she pressed.
"You have to be cleared and I'm not scheduled to return until I have a report worth giving." A lie, a lie. He was scheduled to meet with Raven and Zar in twelve earth hours. And once there, he would lie, lie again. For so loathing lies, he was mounting them as though he couldn't lie enough.
"Well, seeing that you've been sent here to get a handle on humans and get some emotional experience under your belt..." she wiggled down and he endured a sweet agony. "Let's go out on the town. You've been taking notes from me since you got here, and I think you're ready to interact with the public at large. Besides, the sooner you go exploring, the sooner I can visit your place. I'll bet it's a trip."
"Yes, quite a trip." A one-way trip.
Her eyes, so open and trusting, searched his. "Why do I get the feeling that you're not nearly as eager to play host as I am to be a guest?"
"I think, Eva, that your expectations are other than what you'll encounter." At least that much was truth.
"Don't tell me I'll meet a bunch of little green Martians and you'll turn into one too, once you're back on your turf." Her laughter was a bubble filled with crystal bells. Urich relished it, cherished that bubble he could pop, those bells he could shatter with a revelation more horrible than any little green Martians could ever be.
"We're humanoid in form. And, like humans, our features vary with our genetic inheritance."
"So, are you considered a hunk there?" At his puzzlement, she said, "Good looking. Handsome, attractive. The kind of guy women drool over."
Women. He was suddenly uncomfortable with more than the raging war about to split open his jeans. After a steadying breath, he explained, "Physical attractiveness isn't any more important to us than the pursuit of frivolous pleasures."
"Wow! Just the kind of place that Cindy Crawford would hate and lots more of us would love. Eat as many Dove bars as you want, forget about make-up, slouch around in your sweats? Hey, sounds good to me. Except for that lack of interest in frivolous pleasures, you could have millions of women begging Scotty to beam them aboard."
They didn't have Scotties and they didn't beam, but Urich refrained from making reference to that amusing Star Trek show, filled with more human insights than cosmic accuracy. Eva adored it with a passion to match the football zealots.
Glancing at them in the hope Eva would drop this conversation, Urich watched a player fumble the ball. Observation was becoming less and less satisfying; how much more interesting to be in the game...
"Wait a minute," she said, blocking his way. "If looks aren't important, how come you seemed so... well, kind of arrogant, when I took one look at you and did some drooling myself. And then, when you took off your shirt and acted like a—" Eva pouted prettily as he gripped her hand which was releasing a button on the shirt she'd bought for him the day before, along with a variety of other attire that he'd modeled while she lavished him with compliments he had delighted in.
"If you must know, I read your every drooling thought and since I'd never been viewed so wantonly before, I was very flattered and succumbed to a... an ego trip. Most illogical but you have a maddening ability to interfere with that once reigning portion of my brain. Now, hopefully you'll preen over that while I focus my energies on this game."
Peering around her, he shook his head. Another fumble. Urich narrowed his gaze on the ball slipping from hands trying desperately to keep it. Just as he was about to lend some assistance, Eva readjusted her position. Her legs straddling his, soft behind riding his knees, even softer breasts level with his vision, she sighed with pure pleasure as they rose, pressed together like floating balls sealed by yearning hands.
"Genetic inheritance is really interesting. Lucky for me, I get my breasts from my mother's side of the family. Unfortunately, I get my hips from my dad's. Mom says they'll come in handy once I decide to have babies. She's always after me to find a decent man and get to it since time's running out for me to supply all the grandbabies she wants."
"You want children," he said more tightly than the clutching of his heart, the fisting in his loins.
"Sure I do. But finding a decent man who makes me feel as indecent as you do, isn't easy to come by."
This conversation was becoming more painful than his physical distress. Much more of this and he would have to put Eva to sleep before he did or said something irreparable.
His silence only served to make Eva more talkative. "The strong and silent type definitely holds some appeal. But they can be a little anal retentive and that's a real turn-off. Mom says I'm too selective, but after John, I decided better no man than the wrong man."
"A smart decision."
"I think so. Otherwise I might have settled for less and spent my life regretting it. Life's too short for regrets. One thing's for sure, I don't regret bringing you here. The house used to seem so empty, filled with ghosts, but you've brought it to life. And you've brought me to life, Urich."
Though her words told him much, her eyes spoke volumes more, made him want to confess that he coveted the tremulous seed of love that had taken root in her and was growing like a garden gone wild in him.
"Your home is like you, Eva. Warm, comforting, and full of fascinating contrasts." Realizing he was courting an intimacy they were both too needful of, Urich tweaked her nose. A playful gesture that made no sense but he found delightful all the same,
particularly when she giggled. "Not so different from teams of athletic warriors working together against their opponents who're striving for the same goal...?"
"If I didn't know better, I'd think you were more interested in that boring game than me."
"Of course not... Touchdown!"
"My mother's a football widow. She copes with it by spending a lot of money while Dad swigs beer and divides his yells between, 'Get your head in the game!' and 'Yes! Yes! Yes! Touchdown!!!' Actually, Urich, he could give you a few pointers on how to properly yell. As for the beer swigging... want one?"
"Extra point!"
"Guess not. Well, enough about me and my parents. What about yours? Which side of your family do you take after? Your mom's or your dad's?"
Damn, but she was tenacious. Damn. Deducians were provoked to profanity even more rarely than they laughed. And yet he had been driven to silently swear over a little thing, really. Then again, it was a sensitive subject for him.
Sensitive. Yet another human trait. It seemed he was fast becoming more human than not. He liked earth food. He liked their clothes. He was entranced with this game Eva was competing with, making him frustrated with her interruptions while feeding his ego with her hunger for his attention.
Ego, a self-indulgence that Deducians didn't indulge. But there it was, his ego insisting he had no need to hide from Eva what was considered better ignored amongst his peers.
"I look most like my father—a Deducian, pure as they come. As for my mother, she came from another race known for their powers over minds and..." he allowed himself a small smile. "Matter. I'm a hybrid, and that sets me even more apart than other Deducians—a very aloof breed. You'd call me a loner, I believe."
"I can relate to that."
"I know. It's one of the reasons I feel more aligned with you than anyone I've ever known before."
"Even your mother?"
"I never really knew her." So many things he would have to reveal to Eva, he'd lay the groundwork here. "She was extinguished shortly after I was born. The last of her kind, she was a sole survivor, discovered by my father, who to this day insists she manipulated his mind in order to be his mate. They only had one child. Me."
"You mean he didn't love her?"
"Even then, love was something rarely experienced. And those who did were pitied for such a loss of logic." Let them pity him; he pitied them for their deeper loss.
"That's awful. Please don't tell me it was your father who 'extinguished' your mother."
"Heaven's no. Though euthanasia is acceptable—Mylar for instance, murder just doesn't exist with us. My mother was a victim in a bloodless—but insidious—overtaking."
"Are you saying that she was a casualty of chemical warfare?"
"Something like that." Urich gazed longingly at Eva's breasts then forced his eyes to the game he wished he could escape to. "Eva, please, there's less than ten seconds left, the teams are tied, and the Forty-Niners' time out is almost out. Which do you want to win?"
"I don't care."
"Humor me."
"Only on a wager. I win and you drink a beer."
"I'll match those stakes. If I win, you let me watch the next game in peace while you go shopping."
"Deal," she said smugly. "I'll take San Francisco. The Packers can't intercept and score in ten seconds. The Forty-Niner's have a chance at a field goal."
"I don't think so." Urich pointed to the ball which flew from the quarterback and landed into a Packer's arms, his feet racing in fast-motion over seventy yards, Urich shouted "Yes! Yes! Yes! Touchdown!!!" at the sound of the buzzer and the cacophonous roar of the crowd.
"You can't do that!"
"But I already did," he said with a grin.
"It's—it's not fair."
"Why not? It's only a stupid football game, remember?"
"Well, yeah, but—it's just not fair."
"As you Earthling's say, all's fair in love and war. Actually, I'm beginning to like the way you humans think."
"I think you cheated."
"And I think you're a sore loser." He darted a tongue between her lips and while she was busy reeling from that, Urich said decisively, "Eva, I won."
Chapter 10
"How am I doing so far?" Urich asked, squeezing Eva's hand beneath the small table as he scanned the China Town restaurant with more than his eyes.
"Great, just great," she assured him. "Except... I don't mean to sound demanding, but when you're out with someone it's considered impolite to seem more interested in your surroundings than you are in being with them."
Unlike the game, he realized that her wish for his attention was more a subtle coaching in social protocol.
"You're a good and patient teacher," he said, his gaze warming on her. "You're also a sight more beautiful than anyone else here."
Eva glanced at the other woman he had been studying. "I do feel pretty, but—"
"Beautiful," he insisted.
"Okay, I feel beautiful. But that woman is absolutely gorgeous." Though Eva smiled, he saw the worry it belied. "There are millions of women who'd love to get their hands on you, Urich. You're bound to meet your share of them and... and I'm afraid of losing you the way I lost John. Only it would be a thousand times worse."
He could tell her that when Deducians mated it was for life and infidelity was nonexistent. But such assurances were denied him and Urich felt a surge of rage at that. With difficulty he subdued the simmering anger that could shatter the room like a bomb should he vent it, and said with forced calm, "You could never lose me to another woman, Eva. In all the universe, there's not another like you."
"I'm glad you think so."
"It's more important for you to believe so," he reminded her. And then he confided, "I liked telling you that. You've been the one tutoring me lately and I'm starting to miss our little sessions in the chamber."
"So do I. Want to go there later?" Hopefully, she added, "Or maybe sneak into your time machine?"
"We don't need either one." He tapped his temple. "Your powers are as close as this. Let's give yours a try, shall we?" He glanced at the woman who had engendered Eva's ridiculous concern. "Open your mind and visualize a line, like a phone wire, running to hers."
Eva's expression of eager curiosity didn't mesh with the disapproving shake of her head. "I told you that's a no-no."
"Oh come on, Eva. What's the harm in taking just a peek?" When she hesitated, he goaded her. "Why do I get the feeling that you're hiding behind morality because you're afraid you'll fail?"
"I've gotten past that," she haughtily informed him.
"Then prove it." Smile sly, he added, "I'll help."
"I can do it by myself." She bit her lip as if wishing back the defensive retort her pride demanded she make good on.
He let Eva struggle past her self-doubts then mentally lurch toward her target. Perceiving she was about to careen into the hyperactive child two tables over, he swiftly interceded to guide her telepathic trek.
"Oh. Oh no." Eva clutched his hand and whispered urgently, "I want back. Get me back, Urich."
Seconds later she latched onto the glass of plum wine he didn't dare touch. But he wanted to. So many human things he wanted to indulge in—and plenty he didn't.
"Appearances can be deceiving, can't they?"
"I am so glad that I'm me instead of her."
"Sad, isn't it? Leaving home, certain physical beauty will lead to a movie career, empty promises made then broken after she's been used. Used then discarded."
"She wants to go home but she's too ashamed."
"Yes, just as she's too proud to return after lying about who she knows and how well she's doing. How odd that pride keeps her from those who really love her, while her lack of it is why she's here with that married producer who loves her no more than she can stand the thought of sleeping with 'the creep'. But she will. And she hates herself for it."
"The girl who left Iowa with stars in her eyes..." Eva sighed, sadly. "I feel sorry fo
r her. Don't you?"
"I could." He gestured to the room of diners. "Just as I could feel pity or joy or hope for most everyone here. The vista of emotions around us is almost overwhelming—it's like an assault I have to shield myself from." He pressed his temples, blocking out the clamorous roar.
"Urich? Are you okay?"
"I have a monstrous headache." He managed a strained laugh and focused on Eva. She was his best defense, a calming balm to take refuge in. "Serves me right for paying more attention to my surroundings than the lady I'm lucky to be with." Funneling the tremors inside his head out and away, he heard glasses clanking, china tremble against metal.
A sudden crash nearby was followed by a jabbering torrent of angry epithets spewed upon the kneeling server as she hastened to clean up the mess of broken china and glass. Steam rose from the splattered array of food, surely burning her hands while she endured a stinging humiliation.
"That is so mean," Eva quietly seethed. "The poor woman probably works for pennies and scraps while that jerk lives off the profits of slave labor."
"He does." Compelled to stop this display of power's abuse over another, Urich stood.
"Where are you going?"
"To clean up the mess I'm responsible for."
"Urich, you're just going to get her in more trouble than she already is. It's better if you ignore what's going on."
"That's a pervasive attitude in your society and one I like no better than this ugliness I have no intentions of ignoring." With that, he stalked his way over.
"She is clumsy," the other man said, as if that excused his outburst and put the blame where it lay.
"You're cruel." Urich perceived an evilness within the man. It was like a worm eating away his brain. While mentally purging himself, Urich dropped to his knees and caught the woman's scrambling fingers.
He touched her scalded palm. She gasped and her expression fluctuated from gratitude to fear. Fear of his healing; fear of the scowling observer.
Though a sweep of his hand would have put everything back together as it had been before she dropped it, Urich forced himself to lend his assistance as a human would.