“I got you.”
She relaxed back into his arms and leaned against his chest as he carried her into her yurt. She would have wanted to walk on her own, but her head was spinning. She hadn’t slept for the last thirty-four hours.
“You could have called the moment Vana landed, not just as you were about to leave for her place!” blared a woman’s voice which sounded like a foghorn, clearing all the fogginess from Nirvana’s head. “Chatin! Go home and fetch a pot of soup for Vana. Tej! Don't just stand there! Get some wood for the fireplace!”
All the lights in her yurt were on, and it was bustling with activity.
“Binsa,” Nirvana called out as Ching lowered her onto a chair. “Don’t fret. Thank you very much for looking after my place. I would be sleeping on cobwebs if it weren’t for you.”
Binsa placed a glass of water in Nirvana’s hand and continued barking instructions. Apparently, she had brought her entire family to help with the cleaning. Nirvana paid Binsa a handsome sum to help maintain her yurt-home while she was away. Usually before Nirvana headed home, she’d give Binsa one or two hours’ notice. Binsa would change her bedsheets, pillow covers and curtains.
Nirvana reached out to hold Binsa’s hand. “I just need the bed. I can do the rest tomorrow.”
Binsa brushed her hand away, “Just a few more minutes.”
“Nirvana,” Eryn called out, “he’s coming ‘round.”
Nirvana drank a few mouthfuls of the herbed water to get rid of the remaining fogginess in her head and got up to walk towards Zane.
“His heart rate is going up,” Eryn reported after checking his stats on the monitor.
Zane was blinking furiously, probably trying to clear his vision. He wore a panicked expression as he struggled to move his limbs.
“Zane, you’re at my home.” Nirvana pushed the hair off his forehead and gave into the temptation to run her fingers through his hair. “These people are my friends.”
He struggled even more and this time, he could actually wriggle his limbs. He was going to writhe himself off the bed at this rate. She pushed him back to try to keep him down as he tried to tilt his body over to the side.
Suddenly, he retched so violently into the mask he choked on his own puke.
Nirvana cried out in surprise and scrambled to help Zane remove the mask. Binsa quickly came over with a cold towel to help him wipe his face while Nirvana unbuttoned his shirt and took another towel to clean him up. Zane shut his eyes and slumped back onto the portable med-bed.
“It’s my fault!” Eryn cried out. “I’m so sorry! I should have reduced his oxygen gradually during the drive here. It’s too much oxygen for him. I’m so sorry,” she kept apologizing with tears in her eyes.
“He’ll be fine, Eryn. He’s tough,” Nirvana comforted her. “I should have thought of it too back in the jeep, but I fell asleep.”
“He’ll live,” Ching said gruffly. He lifted Zane’s body to allow Nirvana to yank the soiled shirt off him.
Binsa, who was going to wipe him down, froze and clutched her chest while Eryn covered her mouth.
They were totally unprepared for the whip scars and burn marks that covered Zane’s body.
Nirvana tried to keep her expression nonchalant as she took the towel from Binsa’s hand and continued cleaning Zane, hoping that Ching did not notice her initial shock.
"Actually, I can handle it from here," she hinted, trying to get some privacy. Ching nodded and lowered Zane gently back onto the bed.
Everyone quickly finished up what they were doing while Eryn performed a quick check on Zane with her scanner.
Ching gently rested his hand on Nirvana's shoulder. "I'll come back later with your bags. Just those Dawa found in the storage?"
Nirvana nodded.
He removed the metal bangle around his wrist and snapped it on hers. “Take my CommsB. I’ll get yours later.”
The CommsB is a multipurpose communication device used by the Atharians. It also served as a form of identification pass. Nirvana usually left hers with Ching for safekeeping whenever she travelled, since she had no use for it outside of Athar.
“No hurry. You can give it to me tomorrow. It’s getting late and your place is not exactly near the port. I’ll direct your calls to your assistant for the time being.”
He nodded and gestured to Eryn to leave.
Eryn was about to apologize again when Nirvana stopped her. “I was next him throughout the trip, and I slept instead of watching him. Let’s not do this, Eryn. I’m pretty sure none of us is blaming you. I’ll call you if he gets worse.”
Eryn nodded, eyes still brimming with tears. They lifted Zane off the portable med-bed and onto the Nirvana’s bed. She thanked everyone as they made their way out and sighed in relief as she closed the door behind them. Hurrying back to Zane’s side, she helped him sit up and leaned him against the headboard.
“I need to brush my teeth,” he said, trying to get out of bed.
“Stay here. I’ll get you something.” She went to the washroom and took out a new toothbrush for him. Then, she brought out a small basin and a mug of water.
“Here.” She handed him the water and toothbrush and held the basin while he brushed and rinsed. When he was done, she put everything away and pulled off his boots. When she was about to remove his belt, he caught her wrist.
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Zane, you look terrible. I bet your head is still spinning. Look at your hands.” She held up his hand. “You’re shaking. Let me help you.” She went ahead and pulled out his belt.
“You know, it’ll be easier for me to get your pants off if you lie down,” she suggested. Zane hesitated a little, then slid down the headboard to lie flat on his back.
“We’re supposed to be lovers, you might as well start getting used to me touching you.”
“Do you do this a lot?” he asked as Nirvana walked away to dump the soiled clothing in a basket outside the yurt.
“Do what?” she asked, rummaging in her drawers.
“This couple act.”
She paused her rummaging and looked at him. “Yes, but this is the first time I’ve needed to keep up the charade for more than a few hours and in front of people I know.” She pulled out a set of men’s clothes and walked over to the bed. “Here, put these on.” She handed him the set.
“Whose are these?” Zane asked, looking uncomfortable.
“Ching’s,” Nirvana replied. “We spoke while you were out. He’ll get over it. Might be awkward for a little while, but we won’t be here for long.”
He was still very hesitant about putting them on, so she took it from his hands and pulled the sweater over him.
“You’ll just have to wear his until he comes over with your clothes.”
“I didn’t pack any clothes.”
“What? Then what’s in the duffle bag and suitcase?”
“Equipment needed for the mission.” Zane reached down and pulled up the pants Nirvana slipped onto him.
“Why didn’t you pack your clothes?” she asked, recalling his surprised reaction when she said they had to leave immediately.
“I didn’t think we’d be going anywhere when Dein summoned me.”
“Why didn’t you ask him for time to go home and pack?”
Zane shrugged. “You were already annoyed with me. I didn’t want to piss you off further by delaying.”
Nirvana sighed. “I’m sorry. I was under a lot of pressure and severely lacking sleep.”
He gave her a weak smile. “No offense taken.”
“I’m going to take a shower. No need to wait up.” She picked up the basin and went around the yurt turning off all the lights except for the ones leading to the bathroom.
She wrapped up her hair and took a quick shower since there wasn’t any hot water. Shivering and teeth chattering, she climbed into the bed and scooted towards the heat source that was Zane.
“I can move to the floor,” he offered.
Nirvana stuck her icy feet under Zane’s and warmed her fingers on his torso. “Does it feel like I want you to sleep on the floor?”
He didn’t respond, but she couldn’t care less because she was too busy warming herself up with his body.
“Ching will get over it? Just like that?” Zane asked, just as Nirvana was about to fall asleep.
“Hmm? Get over what?” she asked groggily.
“You being with me.”
“I don’t know. That pretty doctor who attended to you earlier? Eryn?”
“Yeah?”
“I might have some plans to match make them. Hopefully that will distract him from us. Oh, that reminds me.” She raised her CommsB and spoke into it, “Eryn.”
A few seconds later, it lit up and Nirvana answered the call, “Eryn, are you still with Ching? Can you ask him to bring some clothes over for Zane? Thank you.”
“He’ll even lend me his clothes?!” Zane asked, sounding incredulous.
“It’s complicated. Look, Zane. You and I, we have a lot to talk about. Let’s get some sleep first. I’m adjusting to the atmosphere too. We’ll talk later.”
She turned to face away from Zane, closed her eyes and sunk into darkness.
Chapter 7
Nirvana woke up to Zane’s light snoring. She must have snuggled into him for warmth when the temperature dropped during the night. What’s the time now? She pushed herself up and leaned on him lightly to reach for the CommsB she’d left on the nightstand.
Suddenly, Zane grabbed her wrist and jerked her away.
Nirvana gave a small yelp of surprise and brought up her other arm to shield her face in case he punched her.
“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Reflex.” He let go of her hand and threw his arm over his eyes, taking in slow, deep breaths.
Nirvana frowned. What kind of life had he been leading to have developed this kind of reflex while sleeping? Cautiously, she placed her hand on his heaving chest and leaned over to reach for the CommsB. She could feel his heart pounding under her palm.
He covered her hand with his and squeezed. “What time is it?”
“Time to get up. We’ve been sleeping for about… nine hours.” She pulled her hand out from under his and ruffled his hair. “Day and night cycles are about seventeen hours each, so a complete day in Gebo is thirty-fours. It's 0430 now.”
She sat up and stretched. The blanket fell off her and she shuddered when she felt the cold air. She got out of bed and walked over to the windows to zip up the fabric covering them one by one. By the time she was done, her teeth was chattering. She rushed back to the bed and dived under the covers.
Zane was still toasty warm, so she scooted near him and warmed her fingers on his arm. The muscles on his arm tensed up, jolting her memory of his reaction when she leaned on him earlier, so she removed her hands from him and rubbed them against each other instead.
“You have to let me know if you swing the other way or don’t like being touched,” she said quietly.
“What?” he asked in surprise, voice still rough from sleep. “I don’t.”
“Don’t swing the other way or don’t like being touched?”
“Don’t swing the other way.” He scooted closer, reached for her hands and placed them back on his arm. “I’m just not used to body contact of any kind. I get jumpy, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like it.”
Zane didn’t elaborate any further, but he was staring at the ceiling, deep in thoughts with a haunted look in his eyes. Nirvana was tempted to ask but in her experience, people don’t pour their hearts out to someone they had just met. She’d have to plan carefully on how to coax the information out of him.
“We can practise. I can keep touching you until you get used to it,” she teased.
He turned to face her and said, “I’d like that.” She couldn’t see his facial expression clearly under the dim light from the fireplace but she could make out the dent his dimple made on his cheek.
“Let’s get up. It’ll take us a while to adjust to the day and night here, but that’s not necessary. We won’t be staying that long. We’ll just listen to our bodies and plan our activities accordingly. Otherwise we’d need to adjust again when we move.”
“We’ll be moving?”
“Likely. There are a few places I need to go to buy the equipment I need for this mission.
Zane rubbed his eyes and reached for his glasses on the nightstand. He stood up slowly and gave himself a good stretch.
“I need to use the bathroom,” he said, looking around.
Nirvana got up and showed him the way. She built her bathroom as an extension outside of her yurt so that she could make it bigger. Having to share a tiny bathroom with six men on Marian made her go a little crazy when she built hers.
She had partitioned her toilet and shower with wooden stalls and positioned them all the way at the back. To the right side was a long vanity counter where a large stone wash basin sat on, and to the left was her pride and joy ─ the big, wooden hot stone bathtub which she made herself.
Zane’s eyes rounded and his mouth gaped when he entered the bathroom. He snapped his head around to look at the yurt and back at the bathroom again. “It’s almost half the size of your yurt!” he exclaimed.
Nirvana shrugged. “I like big bathrooms.” She brought him to the toilet stall and asked, “Do you know how use a compost toilet?” Seeing the blank look on his face, she gave him a quick demonstration and left him to stare in wonder while she went to the vanity counter to wash up. After that, she went back into the yurt to make the bed.
Zane’s duffel bag and suitcase were on the table, together with a stack of clothes. Ching must have dropped by while they were asleep. He’d even lit the fireplace for them. She threw more split logs in and waited for them to catch fire.
Her mind wandered off to Ching as she adjusted the logs with the tongs. To be fair, she did try to work something out with him. Ching loved Athar as much as she loved space travel, so they fought a lot during the first three years of their relationship. It was always the same argument; she needed to leave, and he sulked about it.
Eventually, they got tired of fighting and agreed on an open relationship. If he wasn’t in a relationship when she visited Athar, they’d hook up. According to the local gossips, it seemed he wasn’t averse to occasional dalliances but nothing serious or long term. She was worried he might be waiting for her, so she made her absences from Athar a lot longer and came back less frequently.
Still, he was always available when she came back, but they no longer talked about commitment. Instead, they would enjoy the companionship until she had to leave.
This dragged on for the last eight years. She might as well use Zane to break it off with Ching for good. It was probably for the best that she ended it, anyway. Ching deserved a good and grounded woman. Like Eryn. Grinning at the thought of being a meddling matchmaker, she carefully picked up a glowing log with the tongs and transferred to the woodstove in the kitchenette.
She walked past Zane, who was standing at the door of the yurt, staring into the distance. “I didn’t hear you come out,” she said as she tried to coax more fire in the woodstove.
“This is your home?” he asked.
She straightened her body, looked around the yurt and gave his question some thought. “Sort of.” It was the best answer she could give him and went to transfer more burning logs from the fireplace into the woodstove.
“I’m surprised you even have light bulbs, given how primitive this place looks,” he commented as he walked around the yurt. “How are we going to use all the electronics I brought?”
“You’ll have to power up the generator outside the house. The generator charges up using solar energy but if we are going to use a lot of electricity at night, we’ll need to pump it up. We can do that when the sun comes up. Ching brought over his clothes last night. You can layer on more if you’re feeling cold.”
Zane took a sweater from the top of the pile and pulled it on
. Then, he took the stack and walked to the drawers. He pulled them out one by one, seemingly to look for an empty spot to store his clothes but Nirvana thought he should have been more discreet about snooping around.
“I usually put his clothes in the right corner of the top drawer,” she called out while stirring the soup she was heating up.
“Ok, I was looking for his specifically.”
“We don’t live together. He has his own place. He sleeps over sometimes, but not enough to warrant his own drawer,” she said wryly.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.” He quickly placed the clothes in the top drawer and walked over.
“Oh, you can pry.” She smirked. “As long as you know that turnabout is fair play.”
He walked over and leaned on the counter beside her, watching her stir the soup.
“You’re not used to being touched, so are you a virgin?”
“What?!” Zane sputtered.
Nirvana stopped stirring and looked at him with a straight face. “Have you had sex?”
He scratched his head awkwardly. “Yes.”
“Girlfriend?”
“No.”
“Flings?”
He nodded, ears starting to turn red. Ok, enough prying, she thought. She’d give him a break.
“Well, Ching and I were something like that too. We’d hook up whenever I come to Athar and keep each other company until I leave for my next job.”
“He must be furious.”
“He did look upset at first. Then he seemed OK. I don’t know. I don’t want to stay long enough to find out more.”
“Why did you come here then? And risk upsetting him?”
“This is sort of my base when I’m not on Marian. I needed a safe place to work out our infiltration plans. Also, I figured Ching would find the Peregrine useful, so I came here.”
“Ching sounds like a big shot.”
“He is,” Nirvana’s eyes rounded. “If there’s any form of hierarchy in Athar, Ching is all the way at the top. You can call him the King, the President, the General, Ruler, or whatever of Athar.”
“Wow.”
“Which is why it’s hard for him and me to work it out. He can’t possibly marry an outlaw.” She bought the ladle to her lips, blew, and took a small sip of the soup. Wonderful.
Fatal Extraction Page 4