Icarus Rising

by Bernadette Gardner

  After nearly two years at the research station, Zara had

  grown accustomed to the social mores of the Icarians. She

  accepted their blunt nature, their forceful personalities and

  their inability to understand many human customs. Still,

  however, she found their preference for nakedness to be

  disconcerting.

  It wasn't that their muscular, long-limbed bodies weren't

  exquisitely beautiful by human standards ... no, in fact, that's

  exactly what it was. Next to Icarian females she felt

  underprivileged in the height department and in the breast

  department as well.

  Lined up with the rest of the staff from the station, Zara

  kept her eyes locked straight ahead and her jaw clenched

  tightly when the Icarian delegation arrived, swooping out of

  the sky like condors on their fifteen-foot wingspans.

  Jidar landed first. His feet hit the green sand with an

  audible thud, and he bowed slightly to Dr. Danson while the

  blue-feathered wings of his symbion folded of their own

  accord and rested against his naked back.

  Zara's muscles tensed involuntarily. The leader of the

  Icarians commanded everyone's attention. Even standing

  silently while he waited for his mate, Namara, and another

  female to land behind him, he seemed to be broadcasting his

  innate power and superiority.

  Zara would never have admitted to anyone that Jidar

  frightened her just a little bit. Though the Icarians did not

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  Icarus Rising

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  wage war and their society had almost no crime or violence,

  the coiled power in Jidar's massive frame made Zara's knees

  a little weak. After today's ritual, Jidar would effectively

  become Caleb's master in all things. He would have the final

  say in where Caleb would live, what role he would play in the

  Icarian tribe and ultimately whether or not he mated with an

  Icarian female.

  Despite his kindness and keen intelligence, Zara hated him

  at the moment.

  "Caleb Faulkner, step forward." Jidar's voice boomed

  across the beach, and Caleb left the head of the line of

  assembled humans and approached the Icarian. A few steps

  before he reached Jidar, Caleb dropped to one knee. He

  bowed his head and extended his arms, fists tightly balled,

  behind him in the Icarian posture of respect and

  subservience.

  Behind Jidar, Namara landed and dropped immediately

  into the same position as Caleb. The Icarian co-leader's long,

  white hair hung down like a curtain over her body, modestly

  shielding her voluptuous form, at least for the moment.

  One pace behind Namara, another female, this one dark-

  haired, landed and knelt. Zara recognized Arilani. A healer

  and an expert in symbion physiology, she was Raymond

  Danson's counterpart among the Icarians. Together the

  geneticist and the tribal doctor would see to it that Caleb's

  bond with the symbion bird went smoothly.

  Once Namara and Arilani had folded their wings, Jidar bade

  them rise and they joined him in a semi-circle in front of

  Caleb.

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  "You may stand, young one." Jidar placed a hand on

  Caleb's shoulder and took his hand to help him stand up in

  the soft, uneven sand.

  "Young one?" The question came from somewhere in the

  line-up of human observers.

  Danson shushed his colleague, but Zara offered a

  whispered reply. "This ritual is usually performed at age ten,

  just before an Icarian enters puberty, so in essence, by

  Icarian standards, Caleb is still a child."

  Silence fell over the assembled crowd again, and after a

  brief exchange with Jidar and Namara in which Caleb pledged

  loyalty to the tribe above all else, he dropped back to one

  knee. Once the bonding was complete, as an adult Icarian

  and a full-fledged member of the dwindling tribe, he would be

  given the right to vote in tribal decisions, campaign for

  election to the administrative committee that helped Jidar

  rule, and accept or decline the mate Jidar offered him.

  Assuming, of course, he survived the bonding.

  Zara's throat tightened at the thought, and a sick feeling

  began to churn in her stomach when two male Icarians took

  shape in the brilliant sky, carrying between them one of the

  huge winged animals. Everyone on the beach turned to watch

  the symbion and its handlers land. It was strange to see just

  a huge pair of wings held between the two Icarians. Several

  specimens of the headless birds, both living and dead, had

  been brought to the research station for study, but this was

  among the largest and most impressive Zara had ever seen.

  Though they lacked a disarticulated head and feet and

  bore only vestigial eyes, the birds were quite beautiful and

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  extremely graceful. At the upper end of their bodies, they had

  large, beakless mouths designed for scooping fish from the

  Icarian ocean, and at the lower end of their bodies they bore

  reproductive organs for laying perfectly round, fist-sized eggs

  which they incubated for several months in their conical-

  shaped nests. In between, nestled in the tightly woven

  feathers of their elongated thoraxes, lay a bone-tipped siphon

  which they used to link their bodies permanently to a host.

  Zara swallowed hard and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure

  she could bear to watch the next part of the ritual as Caleb

  prostrated himself in the sand at Jidar's feet. The male

  handlers carried the huge, gray-feathered symbion toward

  Caleb and settled the creature on the back of its future host.

  It only takes a moment, she told herself, clenching her

  fists until her nails dug into her palms. It only takes a

  moment, and Caleb will cease to be completely human.

  Zara waited, blind to the climax of the bonding. It would

  all be over soon, and Caleb would take to the air on his first

  flight.

  "Perfect," Danson whispered. "It looks like—" The

  geneticist's proud comment cut off abruptly when a deep,

  primal scream tore across the beach.

  Every nerve in Caleb's body burned. White hot flames

  seemed to emanate from the point just below the nape of his

  neck where the symbion had plunged its siphon into his spinal

  column.

  This was supposed to be safe and painless! His panicked

  brain supplied only snippets of his conversations with

  Raymond Danson and Arilani.

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  The average Icarian is ten years of age when they are

  joined to a symbion. The process takes only a few moments

  and appears to be completely painless. Danson's words

  echoed, mixing with Arilani's assurances.

  The siphon pierces the sheath around the spinal cord of

  the host and creates an instant connection. Within minutes,

  the young Ica
rian gains control over the symbion wings and

  launches into the sky for his or her virgin flight.

  Through a blurry haze of shock, Caleb registered the feel

  of hands on his body, turning him over, wiping sand from his

  eyes and his lips.

  Someone shouted his name. Danson. Bastard. Caleb

  wanted to wrap his hands around the man's throat and

  choked the life out of him for this. Fortunately for the

  geneticist, Caleb couldn't so much as control his own

  breathing at this moment or he would be homicidal from the

  pain.

  "Don't move him. Let his body and mind adjust." Jidar's

  deep voice cut across the jumble of worried exclamations that

  filled the air. Was that Zara crying? Caleb tried to look for

  her, but all he managed to do was flop his head to one side

  and spit salty liquid into the sand. Blood. Had he bitten his

  tongue? Or were his insides dissolving from the fire racing

  through his veins?

  Vaguely, he registered movement on each side of him. The

  violet-tinged gray wings of his symbion flapped ineffectively,

  throwing wet sand in all directions. A naked Icarian female

  held one of the quivering limbs in her hand and administered

  an injection.

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  Caleb felt it. The slim needle pierced flesh and muscle that

  had only moments ago belonged to a separate being. He

  screamed again as ice flowed from the injection site, numbing

  the wing and that entire side of his body.

  Someone sat on his legs, and he couldn't imagine why

  until he began to convulse. His body heaved against the half-

  dozen people now holding him down. Each movement

  stripped his nerves raw as though he were being flayed alive.

  The sand under him felt like a million diamond-hard

  blades. The salt breeze stung his eyes like acid.

  A gentle caress on his thigh brought him instantly aware in

  a different way. A surge of desire spread through him,

  tightening his abdominals as female hands slid over his skin.

  Pain became pleasure so intense he moaned and shifted his

  hips toward the sensual touch. He smelled her arousal, a

  willing mate so close he could see her, yet his eyes refused to

  focus. His brain told him he needed her to complete him. He

  needed her body wrapped around his, eager to receive the

  seed that drew up inside his cock, and pulsed to a shuddering

  orgasm... Hot semen spewed over his belly and his legs and

  in his ear Zara's sweet voice whispered to him.

  The violent release left him temporarily weak and light

  headed. His body ached all over from the exertion brought

  about by no more than her fingers brushing the taut muscles

  of his leg.

  Oh God. Oh God. He'd just come in front of every single

  member of the research team.

  "We'll take care of you. You'll be all right. We'll make it

  stop."

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  He wanted her. He wanted her so badly that he would die

  without her. "I nee ... I need..."

  "Give him air. Let him talk. Caleb, what are you feeling?"

  Danson's voice grated like screeching turbines in his ears. He

  snarled a response, and some of the hands clamped over his

  limbs loosened their grip.

  Something in the back of his mind told him it was time to

  fly. Being held against the ground was unconscionable

  torture. He had to get away. A burst of raw power erupted

  from somewhere in his ravaged brain, clearing the numbness

  from the left side of this body. For an instant he was

  invincible.

  He tore at the hands clutching him and heaved himself up

  on shaky legs. Figures crowded around him, Icarian and

  human. They blurred together in one homogeneous threat.

  Only Jidar was smiling.

  Caleb spread his wings. His wings. They'd always been his,

  and they always would be. He crouched, and before anyone

  could make a move to stop him he launched himself into the

  air. The alien part of his brain rejoiced. "We are free!"

  "We are finally free," he agreed. "And they will never

  control us again."

  He circled the beach once, swooping low just to hear the

  startled exclamations of those assembled. Some scattered,

  others ducked. The Icarians only stared, expressions of

  triumph and curiosity blending on their faces. At the edge of

  the crowd, though, one figure stood alone.

  Tears glistened on Zara's face as she pressed two fingers

  to her lips and raised them into the wind.

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  He wanted her. And when he returned, he would finally

  have her, but for now he had to go as far away as he could or

  risk taking revenge on the people who had tried to kill him.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  21

  Icarus Rising

  by Bernadette Gardner

  Chapter Three

  "I postulate the ejaculation was a response to

  overstimulation of the limbic system and a direct hit to the

  left anterior cingulated cortex. As stated in my earlier

  research, the symbion uses its siphon both to ingest spinal

  fluid from the host and to inject a complex mixture of its

  supercharged hormones—" Dr. Danson stopped speaking

  abruptly as soon as his roving gaze caught Zara's.

  She'd just come in from the beach, exhausted and wet

  from running through the surf, scanning the horizon for signs

  of the Icarians who had all taken off in pursuit of Caleb. Her

  hair was plastered to her face like a net of salt-encrusted

  rope, and her legs wobbled from too many hours trudging

  through the sand.

  She glared at Danson. "The ejaculation? That's what you're

  concerned about?" She flung an arm toward the window of

  Danson's lab, which overlooked the spot where the bonding

  ritual had taken place. "Your experiment just brutalized a

  man's nervous system. He could be dead for all we know, and

  you're in here calmly recording your observations about his

  ejaculation?"

  " Doctor Abbott." Danson set down his hand-held recorder

  and placed his hands in front of him on his desk. "You of all

  people should understand the risks that were involved in this

  undertaking. Weren't you brought here specifically to help

  prepare Dr. Faulkner for the possibility that the joining might

  have an unfavorable outcome?"

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  Zara seethed. "Don't tell me my job, Doctor." She

  emphasized the title just as he had, sarcasm dripping like

  venom from her words.

  Since the moment Caleb had screamed in pain, her heart

  had been firmly lodged at the base of her throat. She couldn't

  swallow, could barely take a deep breath around the sharp

  ache of fear that constricted her chest. She'd been prepared

  to give Caleb up to science, to the Icarians for the future of

  their race. She hadn't allowed herself t
o consider she might

  lose him to death.

  Danson rose and came around the corner of his desk, his

  expression softening. "Zara, I'm aware you're upset by what

  happened. We all are, but we can't let it stop us from doing

  what needs to be done. I have to record every detail of the

  ritual, and I need to be prepared to deal with whatever

  injuries Caleb may have sustained."

  "Assuming he survived."

  "I have every confidence he's still alive."

  "Maybe, but is he functional? I saw his eyes, Ray. He was

  gone. He didn't recognize us. He looked ... like a caged

  animal, terrified and in agony. Who knows what he'll do to

  himself."

  "Jidar will find him, and we'll deal with whatever effects

  the joining has had on him."

  "And if his mind is destroyed?" Zara's jaw clenched as she

  bit the words out. How could she handle seeing Caleb reduced

  to nothing more than a mindless body? How could she deal

  with her own failure to talk him out of giving up his humanity

  for Danson's experiment?

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  "I won't jump to any conclusions, Zara. Right now, we

  need to concentrate on Caleb's physical state. I have no

  doubt you will need to work with him extensively to get him

  to fully adjust, but—"

  Zara held up a hand. "Don't patronize me, Ray. If Caleb

  has suffered a psychotic break because of the overdose of

  symbion hormones, my services won't be needed. There

  won't be anything left of his mind to work with."

  Danson sighed. "Can we just wait and see? I expect Jidar

  and Namara to return with Caleb any moment. There will be

  plenty to keep us all busy, so why don't you ... get cleaned

  up, have something to eat and try to remain calm?"

  The sound Caleb had made before he sprang off the beach

  into the air plagued Zara's mind. It had been a cry of

  desperation, and she wished she could make that same sound

  now. Words alone could never communicate to Danson the

  depth of her outrage at his cavalier attitude. He'd assured

  them all the bonding would be safe.

  "This wasn't supposed to happen, Ray. Tell me you didn't

  know this would happen."

  Shock widened Danson's eyes for a moment. "No. I didn't

  know. I swear it. When I first came here ten years ago, I

  witnessed hundreds of Icarian bondings during their last