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Victoria’s lips tightened. “We don’t leave our people behind. You shouldn’t have felt you had to ask. You know me better than that!”

Sylvia got up. “Stop it! This isn’t going to help anyone. Let’s just focus on right now or there might not be a later for anybody!”

As if her outburst were their cue, the alarms connected to the motion detectors went off.

“They’re back!”

Victoria raced to the command station they’d rigged up, which had a feed from the security videos. At first, she didn’t see anything at all. When she used the control to zoom in for a closer shot, however, she could see the cover to the access pool was moving ever so slightly. After a moment, she realized it wasn’t the cover that was moving. “Shit! They’re slipping through the cracks!”

“I thought you said the damn things were as big as a grown man?” Brown snapped. “How could they get through without breaking the cover?”

“They’ve done it!” Victoria snapped. “You, you and you,” she snapped, pointing. “Grab your weapons and get over to the elevator shaft. Raphael, Quinton, we’ve got the door. And set the lasers on low!” she added as an afterthought. “We don’t want to burn anymore holes for them to slip through.”

They waited tensely, watching the clothing that had been stuffed under the door, hardly daring to blink. Quite suddenly, the door latch rattled. Victoria’s heart seemed to stand still. Her eye lenses seemed to focus in on the latch, like the zoom on a camera. It was then she saw to her horror that it hadn’t been locked. She leapt forward, throwing her shoulder against the door just as something bumped the door and it widened a sliver.

Something was wedged in the door. She couldn’t get it closed. She pounded the door with her shoulder a couple of times, trying to force it closed. Next to her, Raphael threw his shoulder against it, as well. The obstruction cleared and the door slammed to. Victoria flipped the lock and looked around. Quinton was aiming toward the ceiling, following something with the site on his rifle.

Grabbing up the rifle she’d dropped, Victoria squinted her eyes, searching. The overhead lights glinted off their still damp bodies and she spotted three swooping, dipping closer and closer to the crew members huddled near the floor. She fired. Around her she heard the high pitched whines of several other lasers as Quinton and Raphael fired. The Kaymon she’d fired on dropped on Tuttle. She screamed, threw it off and dashed for cover, scrambling under a table. Victoria leapt toward the downed Kaymon, blasting it twice more for good measure, then kicked it. When it didn’t move, she turned to look for another target. To her relief, she saw that Quinton and Raphael had taken down the other two.

“I think we’ve got them on the run,” Brown said, watching the screens.

Victoria moved to stand beside him. “More likely they had to go back. They probably can’t survive out of the water long.”

She turned away from the video screens. “Who left the god damned door unlocked?”

Everyone stared at her wide eyed, but no one spoke up. After a moment, she set her rifle down and scrubbed her hands over her face. “We’d probably have to weld the doors shut to keep those damned things out.” Her shoulders slumped.

“What now?”

Victoria massaged her tense neck muscles and glanced at her watch. It was mid afternoon. “It’d be nice if the kitchen staff would round us up something to eat,” she said, smiling wearily at the kitchen staff.

Clarence, the head cook, perked up at once and scrambled to his feet. “You heard the boss,” he said to his three man staff. “Let’s get to work.”

Victoria looked around and finally spotted Barbara. “Anything else from the contact?”

Barbara shook her head. “It’s gone dead. Something must have happened to the lead. You want me and Caroline to run up and check on it?”

Victoria thought about it for several moments but finally shook her head. “Too risky right now. Later maybe.

“Quinton?” She turned to look for him. “It looks like it’s clear right now. Get these carcasses out of here. I’m not completely satisfied they’re dead—and if they’re anything like jellyfish, they could still sting after death, so don’t touch them with your hands. Brown, take a couple of people and see if you can come up with something better to seal the doors with.”

Brown looked at her a little doubtfully. “You want us to weld the doors?”

Victoria was on the point of shaking her head, but it occurred to her that the elevator shaft could be welded. They couldn’t use that anyway and it would eliminate one point of entry. Of course it was also leave them with only one escape route. On the other hand, there didn’t seem to be much point in having two exits when they were likely to be besieged at both. “You know where an arc gouge is?”

Brown looked surprised, but he nodded.

“Get it. Then weld the elevator shaft only. If we have to get out that way, we’ll have the arc gouge handy to cut a new exit. But find something else for the door. I’d rather not be completely shut in until and unless we find it necessary.”

When they’d left, she slung her rifle over her shoulder and went into sickbay. Tuttle was checking the vitals on one of her patients. “Any change?”

Tuttle shook her head. “If this works anything like wasp venom, though, they might begin to come out of it in a day or two.”

Victoria looked at Tuttle, then glanced down at the young man she was standing by. She’d named him Richard. It was odd how young he looked, caught in the unnatural sleep. As the others did, he’d appeared to be in his late twenties or early thirties. She’d supposed that was their physiological age. It certainly wasn’t their chronological age. If he’d been allowed to develop naturally, he would not even have been born yet. She brushed his hair from his forehead, then looked up at Tuttle self-consciously. “They might not have that long. You’ll have to watch them for tissue degeneration due to prolonged exposure.”

Tuttle bit her lip. “What’ll I do if I see it?”

Victoria rubbed her neck. “I don’t know. I’ll have to think of something.”

Sylvia poked her head in at the door. “Chow’s ready.”

“You go,” Victoria said, looking at Tuttle. “I’ll keep an eye on them while you eat.”

She didn’t realize Sylvia was still standing in the doorway until she looked up as Tuttle left. “It’s a habit with you, isn’t it?”

Victoria lifted her brows questioningly.

“Watching over us.”

Victoria wasn’t certain how to take the comment. “I’m senior officer,” she said noncommittally.

“It wasn’t that, though, that made you feel the need to name us, to check our progress, was it? You do realize we’re only here because of you? If you hadn’t been so determined to make sure nothing went wrong, they would have terminated us en-route.”

Victoria bit her lip. “I guess you all hate me for that.”

“You’d be guessing wrong,” Sylvia said, smiling faintly. “Don’t get me wrong, I think most of us, when we first found out, thought we would’ve been better off if we’d died before ‘birth’, but then we realized we were angry because we wanted to live and we were afraid that would be taken away from us. So, why be angry with you for working so hard to give it to us?”

“You don’t ... hate me, then?” Victoria said hesitantly. “None of you?”

Sylvia’s smile widened. “Raphael loves you ... we all do.” She thought about it for several moments. “Not the way he does, of course. Sort of ... like you were our mother.”

Victoria was taken aback. She didn’t know how she felt about that comment.

“It makes you uncomfortable.”

Victoria smiled wryly. “No. Yes. It makes me feel a little strange, that’s all. You’re all ... grown, physiologically around my own age.”

Sylvia frowned thoughtfully. “The care giver. The one who nurtures and guides. Isn’t that what mother means?”

Victoria looked at her in surprise. “I’d never thought about it, actually.”

Sylvia nodded. “I just wanted you to know ... well, just in case I don’t get another chance. Thank you.”

A hard knot formed unexpectedly in Victoria’s throat, making it difficult to swallow. “We’re going to get out of this.”

Sylvia nodded. “If anyone can do it, I know you can.”

Victoria stopped her before she could leave. “You’re sure Raphael doesn’t think of me as ... uh ... as his mother?”

Sylvia laughed. “Does he act like it?”

Victoria blushed. “No!”

“He’ll kill me for putting that idea in your head,” Sylvia said wryly.

“I’ll have to keep him from finding it, then, won’t I?” Victoria responded, both relieved and amused.

Sylvia shook her head. “You didn’t really understand when Raphael told you he’d mind-melded with you, did you? You are as two halves of a whole, together in mind, body and spirit. He’s been trying to release you. That’s why he withdrew. That’s why he seems so distant. He’s trying to sever the tie so that when you go you’ll not feel as if you’re no longer whole.”

“Strangely enough, that’s not what I want,” Victoria said, controlling the urge to burst into tears with an effort.

“But it’s what’s best for you,” Sylvia said gently. “That’s what you do when you love someone, isn’t it? You try to do what’s best for them?”

Chapter Sixteen

Victoria was thoughtful as she ate, trying to push personal considerations to the back of her mind so that she could concentrate on the problems at hand. It was not something she had ever had to do before. In general, she was completely focused on her job.

She’d cleaned her plate before anything useful occurred to her. “Brown, do we have any kind of explosives?”

Brown looked at her in surprise. “I don’t know. The construction crew might have. We use the laser cannon on the mines. What’re you thinking?”

“The CAT’s air tight. I’m thinking it’s doubtful those things could get inside of it.”

“The seals are rubber,” he reminded her. “They might be able to push past them.”

“It’s worth a try though.”

“What’s worth a try?” Raphael asked.

“Using the CAT to get close enough to blow the damned things to hell,” Victoria said. “The construction crew would’ve had explosives to blast out enough rock to set the foundation for the habitat. The laser cannon is great for precision work, but slow. If there’s enough left, we can use the CAT to plant a row of explosive on either side of that valley and blow it. Between the explosions and the cave in, we should be able to take care of most of the damned things.”

Brown frowned. “Sounds like a plan, but we’d have to go outside to get the Cat, rig it outside, too.”

“They keep retreating, though. I’m thinking they don’t want to leave their young, or their eggs, for very long. They chased us all the way back to the habitat, then withdrew. They didn’t try again for several hours. I think we’ll be able to count on at least a small window of opportunity after the next attack. Have we got anyone who knows anything about explosives?”

She looked around.

“I could probably figure out how to wire it if I had a manual,” Xavier volunteered.

“See what you can find in the computer. Brown, take a half dozen volunteers and scour the habitat. See if you can locate the explosives.”

He looked at her a little sheepishly. “They’re in the warehouse. Level three.” At the look she gave him, he stammered, “I just figured you’d give up on the idea if we couldn’t find explosives.”

“You don’t think it’ll work?”

He shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. I’m not sure it’s worth the risks involved, that’s all. What if the seals on the CAT doesn’t keep those things out?”

“That’s a chance I’m willing to take.”

Brown glared at Raphael. “That’s exactly what I figured you’d say. Tell her she can’t do it.”

Victoria looked from one man to the other, then frowned. “What’re you talking about?”

Raphael shrugged. “If I say no, she’ll do it in spite of hell.”

Victoria glared at him before returning her attention to Brown. “Get the explosives. We’ll worry about who’s going if and when we get the CAT rigged. Xavier’s already volunteered. The CAT holds four.”

Brown and his group managed to retrieve the explosives, but they had to fight a running battle to get back as the Kaymons came at them in a fresh wave. By the time the second battle was finished, Victoria had to concede that the possibility of getting to the CAT and setting it up was about nil considering night was falling.

When she’d caught her breath, she walked around the room and tapped four on the shoulder. “First watch, second, third, fourth. Everybody else, find a room and get some rest. You’ll have to double up. There are only six suites on this level.”

* * * *

Victoria was standing under pelting hot water when she sensed she was no longer alone. She opened her eyes slowly and met Raphael’s gaze for a long moment, then, without a word, she stepped toward him. Placing her palms on the ripple of muscles that formed his abdomen, she slid them slowly up his chest, over his shoulders and finally locked her fingers behind his head, swaying closer as she did so until her skin brushed his. Lowering her head, she kissed his shoulder, his throat and then brushed her lips lightly against his.

His arms came around her, tightened almost painfully a moment and then relaxed fractionally as he opened his mouth, covering hers, plunging his tongue into her mouth. The heat of his mouth warmed her. His taste and scent were as heady as strong wine, sending a wave of languor through her. The caress of his tongue along her own, the brush of his flesh against her flesh, made moisture gather in her sex.

She broke the kiss at last, wanting to taste and touch him everywhere at once, to feel him inside of her, to feel him wrapped around her. He lifted her, carrying her in the room, laying her on the bed and following her down. She shivered at the chill of the air on her wet skin, but his lips and hands chased the chill away, quickly replacing it with heat.

Spreading her thighs, she welcomed him. “Now,” she whispered. “I want you inside of me.”