“And?”
He shrugged again. “And nothing.” Cliff paused again before he went on. “This sounds corny, but I don’t want anyone but you.”
Rabine bumped her hip against his again, trying to lighten the mood a little. “That’s sweet.”
“Maybe, maybe not.” He stopped and turned her to face him. “I told her that I love you.”
His words caught Rabine totally off guard. She knew her feelings for Cliff had gone way past the attraction and lust borders some time back, but she had avoided talking to him about that for fear of how he might react. Now, out of the blue, he just told her that he loved her and she didn’t know what to say.
She did the only thing she could do. “I love you, too.”
As Cliff embraced her in the middle of the corridor, she kept thinking about the feelings she’d felt for him in the vision, and the very similar feelings she had for Crosley.
* * * *
Elsa would have been in the way in sickbay, so she went to the bridge since she was too fidgety to just sit. She’d reviewed the plans tactical had worked up for arming the Ling and Hargon and was going over it for the third time when the Communications Officer spoke up.
“Lieutenant Commander Romanoff on channel one for you, Captain. She says it’s urgent.”
“Thank you.” She tapped the switch on the command chair. “Davis here.”
“Captain, we have a serious problem—actually two problems, but one we can fix quickly and the other will be easy.”
“What are you talking about, Romanoff?”
“The Ling and Hargon on the ship will all be dead in a few hours unless we get them back to the planet. We’ll all be dead in a couple of days unless we get them off the ship and get medical attention.”
Elsa’s heart beat hard in her chest. “Spell this out for me in language I can understand.” Sometimes she didn’t like dealing with geniuses. They always assumed she knew more than she did.
“I’m not sure I can, but there’s an…” Romanoff paused. “An infection in the bodies of the Ling and Hargon keeps them alive, but it only works on the planet for some reason. The landing party was infected, and we’ve infected the rest of the crew, but we can treat that.”
“So we can fix this?”
“Yes, I think so.”
That was all Elsa needed to know. The details didn’t matter and wouldn’t change her course of action. “Very well. Do what’s needed to get the aliens back to the planet, and get medical on the treatment for the crew.”
“Already in process, Ma’am.”
* * * *
Leilend was resting well in a room of the palace, and Alexa and the doctors thought she would be fine in a few days. The landing craft evacuated the rest of the landing party back to the ship where the treatment to kill the nanites was progressing and doing its job. The remaining crew on the ground, all volunteers, wasn’t showing any symptoms, but Alexa said it was only a matter of time, and they had perhaps a week before they would all be dead unless the treatments to kill the nanites started before they could destroy the crew’s bodies.
As Rabine sat with Cliff, Crosley, Logan, and Alexa in a meeting room off Logan’s office, she still worried about all the Hargon booze that the exobiologist was drinking, but the woman took a huge swallow from the glass in her hand. “I’m going to miss this stuff, but that’s life.”
Logan lifted his glass toward Alexa. “There are some good things about our world, then.”
“No, there are many, but until we figure out a way to protect ourselves from these little critters in your bodies, we can’t have physical contact.” Alexa paused, her eyes focused on something far beyond the walls of the palace. “I suspect the nanites are something the Old Ones put in you, or on the planet, to keep you isolated. I wonder why the pilots of your ships haven’t died.”
“Some have, perhaps enough to make sense. After all, Crosley and I didn’t get sick, so maybe a good number of the pilots had better tolerance than others.”
Crosley nodded. “Or maybe Leilend is just more sensitive than we are.”
Cliff chuckled softly and squeezed Rabine’s hand as he held it. “Maybe that’s it, but I’m sure Alexa will figure it all out soon enough.”
“I have faith in that.” Crosley nodded.
“Not to change the subject, but do you or Logan have any other questions we can answer about the shift of power?” Cliff looked from Crosley to Logan.
“I don’t. I think this is fair, and my people are excited about the future.” Crosley looked to Logan. “How have things gone with Kartime?”
Logan waved his hand in a sign of dismissal. “Don’t worry about Kartime. He sees it all as a game, and he loves games. As I’ve said before, I’m not one to fight the inevitable, and I believe this plan may work.” He smiled. “I am a man of facts, and I believe this solution takes the facts into consideration. I have feared for all of my life that none of us may live to see another year. We now have a chance.”
Alexa tossed off the rest of her drink and stood up from the table. “I can see that you four are going to talk politics, and I’m exhausted. I’m going to check on Leilend and then go to bed. Goodnight all.”
After Alexa had left, they all talked for a while about the changes the new balance of power would bring to this world, but Rabine was happy to stay out of the conversation, letting Cliff talk shop with Logan and Crosley. She took the time to watch Cliff explain the history of Earth and how the idea of mutual assured destruction worked for so long and eventually led to long-term peace. Cliff left out how the peace gave way to the near-extinction of humanity a few centuries later.
As she watched him, Rabine let her mind wander and she thought about how good she’d felt the last few weeks, knowing that she’d found the luck to have Cliff in her life. As she listened to the men talk without really hearing what they said, her mind drifted back to the last vision she’d had, the one while waiting in the conference room for Captain Davis to return.
Rabine looked to her left at where Crosley sat, his attention on Cliff and Logan, and she saw something in his face, something familiar and exciting. Crosley wore an inspired expression as he considered the future that lay before his people and the Hargon. Optimism shown from his face, but there was a little fear of the unknown there, too, but Rabine could see that he intended to do all in his power to ensure the survival of his world.
And there was something more that Rabine saw on Crosley’s face, and she thought it was relief sketched into the handsome lines of his jaw and the faint traces of relaxation around his eyes. Maybe it was just that his people had a chance to live in peace now, but Rabine thought that Crosley was more relieved that Leilend would live. But there was more, too.
Crosley turned his head to face Rabine, and his gaze locked to her eyes. Like a flash going off in her mind, Crosley was suddenly there, standing beside her in an open field.
He smiled softly, and reached out to run the back of his hand down her cheek. “We will talk soon.”
Rabine shivered from the heat of his touch, and the vision faded from her mind as quickly as it had appeared.
* * * *
Cliff had talked so much to Logan and Crosley that he feared he might lose his voice soon, but the Security Chief stretched his arms high over his head and yawned like a bear. “I think the time difference is catching up with me.” He stood and shook hands with Cliff and then with Rabine. “Good night, my friends. I thank you for all you’ve done to help my people.” Logan looked at Crosley. “And the Ling.”
Rabine smiled at the Security Chief, and Cliff thought the sun might have come up sooner than expected. “It’s our pleasure, Logan. Good night.”
Logan went to Crosley. “As for you, I’m happy that all of our people may live long enough to see our grandchildren grow into adults now. I’m proud to call you my friend, too.” The two aliens shook hands, and Logan left the room.
Crosley hesitated for a moment, just staring at Cliff, and then
he stood. “I should check on Leilend, but I’ll be back.” Without another word, he walked from the room, leaving Cliff and Rabine alone.
She leaned toward him and kissed his cheek. “Do you think this will work?”
Cliff had been wondering the same thing, but maybe not in the way that Rabine meant it. “Do you mean for the planet or for us?”
Rabine looked at him intently, but Cliff didn’t think he saw any surprise on her face. “I guess both.”
“I have no doubt that the MAD plan will work, at least long enough to let them learn better ways not to kill each other.” He thought about the visions he’d had of he and Rabine joined by Crosley, and wondered what it all meant. He knew many people in multiple relationships, some living aboard Daedalus, but he never thought of himself involved in anything like that.
“I agree with that, but it seems that we need to talk about these visions. Are these just things sent to us by Crosley?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is I’ve fallen in love with you. Maybe that’s all that matters.”
Rabine reached up and put her hand on his chin and turned his head to face her. She placed her hands on his cheeks and smiled. “Maybe it is.”
She kissed him, and the touch of her lips made his body quiver. His reactions to Rabine had puzzled Cliff at first, and he thought for a time that his body would react to any woman in the same ways, but he realized that the quickening of his heart, the rushing of his breath, and the stiffness spreading through his cock had far more to do with the way he loved her than with simple biological responses.
Cliff wanted to touch her, to feel Rabine’s hot, soft skin under his fingers and against his body. He yearned to taste every inch of her body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, to experience over and over the tingles that her presence fired through him like a blaster.
His hands moved of their own volition to stroke her arms and then moved to caress Rabine’s breasts. Though he’d given up trying to present any clinical detachment about her weeks ago, Cliff almost laughed when he thought that perfect was still the best word he could come up with to describe Rabine’s boobs.
He was trying to come up with a way to get her clothes off when Crosley stepped into the room, interrupting their embrace.
* * * *
“Um, excuse me.” Crosley’s speaking was the first warning Rabine had that he’d come back into the room. She didn’t really want to stop what was happening with Cliff, but she figured sucking Cliff’s cock while Crosley stood there like a third wheel wouldn’t be too good of an idea. Then again, based on the visions, it wouldn’t be the first time Crosley had seen her with a mouthful of dick.
Rabine quickly pulled away from Cliff, and she fought the urge to check to see if he had unbuttoned her uniform. “That’s OK.”
Cliff panted a little. “Sorry, we weren’t expecting you back this soon.”
Crosley sat down across from them. “Leilend is resting well, but she woke up and asked me to bring you her love.”
Rabine was certain her blouse wasn’t open. “That’s good news.”
“Yes, it is, but we need to talk.”
Cliff nodded. “I think that’s right. What’s with these visions or dreams or whatever they are?”
“As I told you, we aren’t telepathic in the way you think of it, but we can sense others and, sometimes, enter the thoughts of others.”
“So you planted those…” Cliff trailed off, his face a funny expression. “You made those visions, then.” It wasn’t a question, and Rabine could hear it in his voice.
“Not exactly. We can’t control your thoughts, only offer a setting. It’s more like a dream based on something that is already in your mind.”
It was suddenly clear to Rabine—Leilend and Crosley only put a seed in her mind, but her own imagination allowed that seed to sprout. She looked at Crosley, and she knew now that she’d found him attractive from the start, even after she saw the creatures that the Ling could change into.
She laughed a little. “So the dream was already in my mind?”
Cliff must have caught on to the idea, too. “I once read an article where someone said that dreaming is like being an inept motion picture director with an unlimited special effects budget.”
Crosley nodded. “Yes, like that.”
Cliff frowned deeply. “But why would I have a dream about you and me making love to Rabine? Are you saying that I want to share her with another man?”
“I can’t answer that because only you know what you are thinking.”
Chapter 9:
The Night
Cliff chewed on what Crosley had said, but it didn’t make sense to him. Cliff had never been the jealous type in the past, but his new-found objectivity told him that that had been because he just didn’t care and, sometimes, the woman going off with another man provided a convenient way to get rid of her. Maybe he had, for the first time in his life, a reason not to want the woman he was with to leave.
A thought flickered in Cliff’s mind, just a small spark at first, but it built slowly with a threat to become a raging inferno. His memory jogged back to recall the times he’d been with two women, but most of the events were meaningless, simple romps in the sack. In a few cases, he’d been little more than an observer while the two girls had had sex and he watched. One such tryst stood out in his mind, but try as he might, Cliff couldn’t remember the last names of the women, only their first names—Victoriya and Samantha.
What he did remember was that there was something more to that three-way than just sex. He and the women had, somehow, connected on not just a sexual level, but on an emotional level as well. They hadn’t just spent the night together fucking—they had shared some time making love. Cliff didn’t minimize that the things the girls did to him felt great, but even when they rested after climaxing, their arms and legs tangled together in the sheets, it still felt good.
Cliff knew that no man had a chance to really understand how a woman thought, and he admitted that he probably had less chance than most other men, but he couldn’t help playing the game. Was it possible that, for some reason, Rabine held a secret desire for two men? Could it be that, somehow, the intrusions of Crosley and Leilend into Cliff’s mind had let that desire spill over from Rabine?
He didn’t have enough information, and Cliff knew it, but a lack of details never stopped him from doing something before. Why should it start now?
* * * *
Crosley shook his head. “I know what you are both thinking, and it has nothing to do with any psychic or mental abilities. It’s easy to read on your face that you are both considering some sort of relationship with Leilend and I, but we all know now that’s not possible.”
Cliff nodded. “The best possible outcome would be that two of us would be dead in a few days.”
“That’s right.” Crosley took a deep breath. Since his new friends knew nearly everything he knew now, and since they needed answers, he pressed on. “Leilend and I fell in love with both of you some time ago, even before you reached the planet.” He smiled. “In all honesty, I longed for you, Rabine, while Leilend fantasized about Cliff. At least at first.”
“But that changed.” A faint redness flushed Rabine’s face, and Crosley knew that meant she found the topic embarrassing.
“Yes, it did. Soon, I found myself attracted to Cliff as well, particularly when he and I were making love to you or Leilend.” Crosley smiled. “Leilend was lusting for you well before she came to you in the garden, Rabine.”
Rabine shook her head. “But none of this matters. We can’t stay and you can’t leave.”
“Sadly, those are the facts. Leilend and I discussed this, and we agreed that we should simply walk away.”
Cliff stood and paced around the room. He would stop suddenly and turn to look at where Crosley sat across from Rabine, his mouth open as if to speak, or his hand out to point at them, and then his face would scrunch into a mask of deep thought before he resumed pacing.
Cliff stopped pacing again. “But it’s only a matter of time before Alexa figures this out.”
Rabine shrugged. “Maybe so, maybe not. How long? I’m not as bright as Alexa, but I’m no dummy. I don’t see an easy solution.”
Crosley jumped into the gap to prevent it from degenerating into a scientific debate. “Cliff, you seem less surprised by this than does Rabine.”
Cliff smiled a little. “I won’t go so far as to say that I’m in love with either you or Leilend, but I will say that being with Rabine and at least one of you sounds like a very good idea for some reason.”
Rabine’s face went oddly slack, and then color again flooded her face. “Yes, but we don’t know how the infection would react to that kind of contact.”
“Well, we could call Alexa and ask her.”
“Oh, no! I am not calling the ship’s resident grandma and asking if it’s OK for us to fuck aliens!”
Crosley laughed. “In any event, Leilend is not strong enough for that level of activity.” He thought for a moment. “But perhaps there is a way…”
* * * *
Leilend knew Crosley would soon attempt the dream state, but she didn’t expect the images to come on with such intensity. In the visions, there were often telltales that let those who were familiar with them know that the images weren’t real, but she saw no such hints.
She and Crosley stood alone in a small clearing in a forest, and the sun beat down on them with comfortable warmth. They stood naked in the rays of the sun, and when she glanced down, Leilend saw that Crosley’s cock was soft. She stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his body. As they kissed, Leilend felt his cock stirring against her body. Slowly at first, the pressure of his erection pressed to her stomach, and it soon raged hard and stiff.
Aaron, Melodee - As Darkness Falls [Flights of Fancy 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage and More) Page 12