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“The Hivemind won’t be driving those cars,” I said.
“Right. Well, regardless of whose driving, we’ve got two Khetar men, one human woman, andat leastfour babies.”
“Most people don’t have cars, Tschenkar. The cities are dense enough you don’t need them. The trains have room even for your big Khetar cock. And you don’t have to worry about rotating any levers or adjusting engine states.”
“Sounds good to me. Speaking of Khetar cocks though, Love, I’ve gotta go melt some snow.”
“Huh?”
“My piss is hot.”
I nodded. “Me too.”
“Are you a fan of pissing together, or—”
I shook my head, suddenly worried he’d be upset if we didn’t piss together.
“Thank God,” he said, “I’m into some kinky shite, don’t get me wrong, but the only fluids I ever want you to see coming out of my cock is, well, cum—”
I smiled. “Yeah, I’d thankfully never—ever—thought of pissing in a sexual context, but I’m glad you’re not that filthy, Tschenkar. You’re just the right amount of filthy to me.”
He grinned. “I’ll go this way then.”
We went our separate ways, and just as I was starting to pee, I heard a scream.
I didn’t realize just how slow my reaction time was until I saw Tschenkar. Because while my body was still processing the sound, and asking “was thatreallya scream?” Tschenkar had already tree line to action. I saw him run past my field of vision in a purple blur. The only detail I managed to make sense of was the fact that he wasn’t wearing any pants.
I felt dumb and useless, because I had to finish peeing. I couldn’t stop. Then I pulled my pants off, and I started running in the direction I’d heard the scream, and in the direction I’d seen Tschenkar running.
I ran into Julia. She looked at me wide-eyed, though neither of us said anything. Instead we both just pointed in the direction, and then we moved together.
There was no question of going back and taking the car. The scream had come from deeper in the tree line, and the Humper simply wouldn’t be able to penetra—to get through—that foliage.
We stayed close, almost shoulder-to-shoulder. Most women in Eden had been forced to go on sporadic two-week self-defense courses—in theunlikelyevent of a male invasion of Eden—every decade or so. Julia and I knew without discussing it that I should keep my gaze focused left, while she should look right. This would give us the best overall field of view.
So I trusted her to keep her eyes on the tree line, where it would be harder to spot anything even close up—like a pirate or two popping out—and I kept my gaze toward the sparse tundra further out, often letting my eyes run hundreds of kilometers to the far horizon, squinting and looking for something like a vehicle heading toward us.
Neither of us remembered to look backward.
Tschenkar came at us from behind, perfectly silent as he stalked through the snow, and I didn’t even see him until he was right at my side.
I jumped in shock, and Julia yelped, but caught herself quickly with a hand over her mouth.
“No sign of her,” Tschenkar said.
“Why didn’t you keep looking?” Julia asked, pointing toward the tree line.
“My priority is protecting Engineer Eve. I’ve probably got at least four of our babies in her belly, so if Cleopatra screamed and disappeared, it means I’m not letting Eve out of my sight for fear she’ll be the next to scream and disappear. Is that a problem?”
From having felt so much jealousy recently, I recognized the feeling in Julia’s eyes as she looked at me while Tschenkar spoke of his fierce protective instinct over me and our future babies. I tried very hard not to gloat even in my head at how good it felt to hear that, like an instant soothing salve for the burning jealousy I’d felt back in the Humper.
“We need to find her,” I whispered.
“No,” Tschenkar said. “Too much risk.”
“Fine,” I hissed. “You wait in the car then.”
“Too much risk to you, Love,” he said, tightly squeezing my shoulder, as if he was worried I might bolt off into the forest right away.
