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Cinq
I need to get Jessica back to safety.
She’s staring up at the Gharian ship so I look, too. The vessel isn’t a model I remember but similar enough to the others from my homeworld for me to be certain of the origin. I call out to her. “Jessica? Please?” and make come here motions with my hands. She wasn’t watching me, but bends her knees and begins crawling from tree to tree, hugging the trunks. I can’t help but wonder if Earthers know about infrared sight. Clearly, they must, because as she reaches the cave’s entrance, she slides in and hugs the wall as if trying to disappear.
Once covered by the rock ceiling above us, I pull her into my arms. She’s cold and shivering. Tears have left wet trails down her face. I use my sleeve to wipe them away only to have fresh ones dampen her dusty cheeks. I try to let her go to see if she’s injured but she clings to me, still crying.
I can’t tell if she’s physically hurt. There’s no blood on her from what I can see. She didn’t limp while walking to me and her arms feel strong around my body. I hold her close, too, and murmur words about how she should have gone with them. She’d be safe and warm. How the Gharians might be bad to me, but they’d be what’s best for her. The words coming from me are painful to utter, yet too true.
Jessica pulls away without releasing her grip and looks up at me. I wipe her face again, smiling when she grins at me. I can’t stop staring at her, at those eyes which make me homesick for Ghar. I place my palm against her cheek, trying to be gentle against her soft skin. “I’m sorry I can’t do more for you.”
She lifts up on her tiptoes and presses her lips against mine. A nanosecond or two passes before I realize she’s kissing me. Jessica, I send even though there’s nothing in her to receive. I close my eyes, letting all of my sensations be limited to where we touch. I don’t want to scare her as I deepen our kiss, but I’m desperate for more. For more from her. No wonder my system matched us. She’s perfect in my arms.
When she moans and runs her tongue across my lips, my cock is instantly hard. Did she mean to arouse me? She’s reaching up and puts a hand to the back of my neck, fingers buried in my hair. We don’t match to people who find us unappealing, yet I am surprised to be so completed by an Earther. A breeze blows in, bringing the Gharian ship’s broadcast in her language to me.
The air also carries her scent and I smile while kissing my way to her neck. She needs a shower, something to clean her teeth, fresh clothes, but nothing matters right now. I love her scruffy smell and breathe in deep, wanting her molecules to spread throughout my body. A mistake, because she laughs and now the spell is broken.
Jessica pulls away from me, covering her mouth. She says something in Earther, her cheeks red. I step up, not letting her even suspect I regret anything, and kiss around her forehead bandage. I intertwine my fingers in her amazing hair, enjoying the curly softness.
The Gharian ship stirs the trees, blowing leaves into the cave. “We need to leave,” I say.
“I don’t know what the pless you’re doing here in the first place,” Quin says, sliding into the cavern much like Jessica did earlier. “This is one of those times I wish I were as cold-blooded as Nilt, literally.”
“What are you doing in the open?” I ask. “She’s here because the ship is calling for her in Earther, but you? Tell me you weren’t flying around out there.”
“I’d thought about it,” Quin says. “About going to the wreck and seeing the progress but there’s too many people still around. Ships are all over, running search patterns, fighting when Kostan ships arrive.”
“I’ve heard.” Which I have, but the skirmishes have been small and distant enough for me to ignore. Nilt strolls in with our water container like he’s invisible. I groan, saying, “And speak of a fleegan. There he is.”
The Gharian-Khscc hisses a laugh. “Your mother is a fleegan. I had to get water.” He holds up a rounded stone, letting the facets gleam in the dim light. “And even better, I also found a new specimen for my collection.”
Jessica steps closer to look at it. Her eyebrows raise and she holds out a hand. Nilt shrugs and lets her have the stone. She holds it up to the entrance’s light before wiping it on her shirt. She brings the rock to her mouth and before I can stop her, she licks it.
“What the pless?” I gasp as Nilt and Quin stare at her. She grins, then frowns while staring at the rock before licking it again.
Quin and I are still in shock while Nilt laughs. “What did you teach her, Cinq? To lick everything she sees?”
When Quin snickers, I’m ready to insult them both when Jessica wipes the stone on her shirt again. She hands the rock to Nilt who takes it back. He grimaces even though I’m sure the stone isn’t wet anymore, saying, “Thanks, I think.”
She replies something as if giving a lecture, pointing to the stone he holds and to the ceiling. After making a motion to follow her, she goes to the tunnel, picking up an ordinary pebble along the way.
“I wonder what she said,” Quin says, falling in line behind her.
Nilt snorts, following Quin. “Maybe she was telling us how much she loves eating rocks and to stop feeding her real food.”
I go along with them, since the Gharian ship is gone. Plus, I’m eager to know why Jessica wants us inside the habitat.
Soon, we’re in the main living area. S’Tou is still engrossed in his game, not even looking up when we come in. “Anything new or are we still under lockdown?”
The three of us who understood him give each other chagrined looks. Nilt sets the water in its place and puts his new rock on the shelf with his others. Quin sits at the table next to S’Tou. So do I, keeping a watch over Jessica as she goes to Nilt’s collection.
She watches him and begins picking up a rock, then putting it in a pouch she’s created with the bottom of her shirt. He doesn’t do anything but frown. She takes another, gently places it with the first.
He glances at me when she does this a third time. “What should I do?”
“Have a seat. See what she does with them,” I respond, ready to fish one out of her mouth if she decides to snack on them.
Soon, Jessica has all of Nilt’s collection in her shirt. She comes over and sits, placing each stone on the table, grouping them by color. There are three small groups she’s arranging in a precise way. We’re all spellbound, even S’Tou, who’s paused his game and set aside his datapad. She sits down. So do they and everyone is quiet.
