Close Encounters (29 page)

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” I gestured toward Thor and Ghost, who had moved up to flank Claudia and me. “Orpheus Two belongs to the Buri.”

“For now. But we both know they aren’t capable of reproducing in significant numbers. And even you can’t change that. Not in the time you have left. What is it, three more weeks? You’d need a miracle.”

She didn’t know about the Limantti. Relief surged through me, and I grinned. “I wouldn’t be too sure of myself if I were you, Dorn. Miracles happen all the time. As a matter of fact, I’m getting closer to saving them every day. Wouldn’t surprise me at all if every female Buri on the planet weren’t expecting a little bundle of joy soon. Well, except Auntie Em. I suspect she’d be a tiny bit peeved if she ended up pregnant at her age.”

A chuckle erupted from Thor at the image he’d picked up from me. Ghost asked him what was so funny, and when Thor told him, both Buri laughed.

Dorn’s expression suddenly turned frantic as her gaze cut from me to the two males and back. “You’re lying!” Her voice came out shrill and furious.

“Am I? Well, stick around a few more weeks and then you’ll know for sure.”

Her lips thinned for a minute, then she spun on her heels and stalked away without another word.

“Wow,” Claudia breathed. “I’ve never seen anything ruffle Quilla’s feathers before. Not sure I want to be in the area if it happens again, either.” She glanced at me. “She’s really going to be gunning for you now, Kiera.”

“Do I look scared?”

She took a longer look at me and then smiled. “No, you look like you’re hoping she gives you an excuse to beat the crap out of her.”

“Bingo.” I responded to her smile with a broad grin.

“Now, let’s get you to the village and settled in.”

When we started off again, Crigo split away from us to follow Dorn. He didn’t trust her any more than I did. I took the opportunity to converse silently with Max.

“Did the boss see the part about the file Dorn has on Gertz?”

“Yes, and he’s infuriated,” the ship replied. “He says he wants that file and he wants it yesterday.”

“Uh-huh. And did he mention exactly how I was supposed to get it? I kind of doubt Dorn will stand by and let me stroll in to make copies. Not unless we want to recreate the shoot-out at the OK Corral first.”

“I did bring that point up. He’s working on it. Alien Affairs has an entire department of computer experts on staff. Since Dynatec’s ship is so old, he’s hoping their computer is outdated also. With the proper assistance, I should be able to hack into their system.”

My jaw nearly hit the ground. “The boss? The boss wants you to hack into someone else’s computer? We are talking about Dr. Daniels, right?”

“I told you, he is upset.”

“Yeah, but…” I trailed off and shook my head. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. If I live to be eight hundred I’ll never understand Naturals. Just when you think you’ve got one of them pegged, they do something totally out of character.

On the other hand, if the boss wanted to break the law, who was I to stand in his way?

“Be sure to tell him Dorn has an alert of some kind set up. It’s the only way she could have known Claudia was rifling through her files.”

“He knows.”

Of course he did. In my estimation, only the Goddess rivaled the boss in intelligence and the ability to ferret out information. And most of the time, she wasn’t paying attention. The boss always was.

My thoughts were interrupted by a horrible cacophony intermingled with laughter as we stepped out of the jungle into the village. It was so bad I was tempted to clap my hands over my ears to protect my hearing.

It didn’t take me long to locate the source of the noise.

Redfield was singing. And to make matters worse, Brownie was trying to help him.

Sheesh. We’d only been gone an hour. How drunk could they get in that amount of time?

I eyed the empty jugs littering the area and sighed. Apparently they could get pretty soused in an hour. “Max, how much Panga ale do we have on board?”

“Seventy-five gallons.”

“Seventy-five
gallons
?” I repeated in sheer disbelief.

“It was on sale.”

There was a distinct sniff in his tone, and I rolled my eyes. “Well, at least we can replace the wine Redfield and Brownie have consumed. And have enough ale left over to serve all the Galactic Federation troops stationed on Centauri.”

“What’s going on?” Claudia asked, wincing as Redfield raised the volume. Behind us, Thor and Ghost were chuckling in amusement.

“Brownie has a grudge against Redfield. They’re settling it by trying to drink each other under the table.”

“Sweet Goddess.” She rubbed her forehead. “What is he singing? And I use the term
singing
loosely.”

I tilted my head and listened closer. “The tune sounds kind of like ‘What Do you Do with a Drunken Sailor’, but I don’t recognize the words.”

“If he doesn’t pass out soon, I may help him along. My ears can’t take much more of this.”

The words were no sooner out of her mouth than Redfield cut off mid-word and slumped sideways, a beatific smile on his face. Brownie continued for another stanza and then stopped to eye his fallen foe. With a grunt of triumph, he slid down until his chin rested on the table. Before he’d taken two breaths, snores were emanating from his throat.

“Brownie wins,” I declared.

All the Buri cheered while Auntie Em rounded up some of the males to carry the combatants off to bed.

“This way,” I told Claudia, gesturing toward the stone building. “You can stay with Thor and me for now. We have plenty of room.”

“That’s your home?” Her eyes were big as saucers. “You are
so
lucky.”

“Uh, yep. That’s where I live, all right.” And why did it make me so uncomfortable to refer to the building as home? I truly did love it. If I’d designed a home for myself, it would have looked just like this one.

But deep down I knew why. I was scared silly that I’d get attached to the place and then have to leave it. That would hurt almost more than I could stand. So for now, it would remain merely the stone building to me.

Ghost and Thor followed us inside, then went into the small sitting room while I showed Claudia to the first bedroom on the left. It wasn’t as big as the master suite, but it had its own bathing pool.

“You should be comfortable enough here,” I told her. “If you want privacy, just shut the curtain over the doorway. Are you hungry?”

“No, thanks. Your cat kept us in meat, and Ghost went out at night and picked some berries.” She peered around the room in awe. “This beats my quarters at camp all to hell. That pool looks fantastic. I’d kill for a bath right now.”

“No need to get violent. It’s all yours.” I hesitated. “How do you feel about wearing Buri clothing? I’d offer you my jumpsuits, but they’d swallow you whole.”

“You mean those loincloth things?” She looked doubtful for a second. “Do you think they could rig me something for up here?” Her hands bounced in front of her breasts. “I just can’t get used to the idea of going half naked in public.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out. Might even start a fad.” I moved farther into the room and sat down on the sleeping platform. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

“Oh?” She strolled over and sat down beside me. “What’s that?”

“Ghost, and why you can’t sleep with him.”

A rosy tint climbed into her café au lait cheeks. “I was wondering about that.”

I turned toward her a bit more. “See, here’s the thing. If you have sex with him, it’ll kill you.”

Her mouth gaped open. “He’s that good?”

An involuntary snort of laughter escaped my lips. “I have no idea. In this case, it’s not his technique and experience that causes the problem. Have you noticed the earrings he wears?”

“Sure. Two black stones in the same ear.”

“They’re called Rellanti, and when Ghost is intimate with a female capable of forming a mind bond with him, the Rellanti try to complete the bond. If the female isn’t properly prepared, it will kill her. Once she is, and the marriage ceremony takes place, they’ll be mated for life.”

She stared at me. “You mean he…I…we…
married
?”

The last word came out a shriek and I grinned. “Exactly.”

Thor sent me a questioning thought from down the hall.
The Claudia is in pain?

No, she’s in shock. I just explained to her about the mind bond.

Good. Ghost wishes the ceremony to take place in the next sevenday.

Unaware of our conversation, Claudia continued. “But what if he doesn’t want to marry me?”

“Take my word for it. He wants to marry you. The mind bond has become very rare for them. When they find someone capable of sharing it, they hang on with both hands. Ghost is making plans for the ceremony with Thor right this minute. All you have to do is agree.”

“Yes. I mean, I agree. When?”

“Sometime in the next week.” Joy flowed from her in such intense waves that it was making
me
a little giddy.

“Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” She clapped both hands to her cheeks. “I can’t believe this is happening to me. Not only do I get to stay on this beautiful world, I get to marry that gorgeous hunk. I feel like I’ve won some grand, universal lottery that I didn’t even know I’d entered.”

“Maybe you have.” And I couldn’t help being a little envious. It must be nice to be so certain of your future. At the moment, mine was on pretty shaky ground.

With a small sigh I stood and walked to the door. “Why don’t you go ahead and slip into the bathing pool while I find you something to wear.”

“Okay. And Kiera…” Her expression sobered. “Thank you for protecting me from Dorn. Thank you for everything. I won’t forget it.”

Emotion choked me until I couldn’t speak. Hers, mine, it didn’t matter which. With a nod of acknowledgment, I pulled the curtain down over the doorway and headed to the front of the building.

Thor stepped out of the sitting room to meet me, a worried look in his eyes. “You are upset.”

“No.” I smiled at him. “Not upset, just a combination of happy/sad. It’s a girl thing. Hormones running wild and all that good stuff.” I peered around him into the empty room.

“Where’s Ghost?”

“He has gone to set the preparations for the mating ceremony in motion.”

“Okay. Who’s in charge of providing everyday clothes?”

“Lurran.”

I took his hand. “In that case, I need you to come with me so you can translate. Claudia needs something to wear, and she’s too modest for a regular kechic.”

We were almost out the door when Max stopped me.

“Kiera?”

“Yes, Max?”

“I’ve finished the DNA analysis on the Buri plants.”

“And?”

“Of the twenty-five varieties you brought me, nine match the DNA of the Ashwani plants exactly.”

I’ll admit, it took me a second. Head tilted, I thought over his results. “How many Ashwani plants do you have DNA for?”

“Nine.”

Abruptly my spine stiffened and I spun to stare at Thor. A resigned look flickered through his ebony eyes as I dropped his hand and confronted him. “Your people are not indigenous to this planet, are they? You’re colonists from Ashwan.”

“W
ere you ever going to tell me, or where you just going to let me go on thinking this was your planet of origin?” I couldn’t stop the glare I shot him. Damn it, it hurt knowing he didn’t trust me.

He lifted a hand to touch me, but I dodged. With a sigh, he lowered it again. “It is not you we don’t trust, but the others of your kind. And yes, I would have shared this knowledge with you when it was safe to do so.”

“The Ashwani tapestry. You recognized it, didn’t you? That’s why you reacted the way you did.”

“Yes. It belonged to my sire. It depicts my grandsire and his sire on Feastday. The last time I saw it, it hung in my sire’s great hall. If possible, I would wish to have it returned.”

“Take it up with the Galactic Federation’s Alien Artifact Museum.” I squeezed my eyes closed briefly in disgust. “I suspected you were descendants of the Ashwani, but it never occurred to me you were physically
from
their planet. All the clues were there, I just didn’t put them together. Ashwan has a heavier gravity. That’s why you’re so big, why your bones are denser.”

“Yes.”

“Wait.” Suddenly my mind was racing in fifteen different directions. “How long have you been on Orpheus Two? For that matter, how did you get here? Max found no trace of a spaceship.”

“Come.” He turned and stepped through the door.

I grabbed his arm to stop him. “Come where?”

“With me. It will be easier to show you while I explain.” He kept walking, forcing me to either let go or get dragged. I hesitated a second and then raced to catch up.

By now, it didn’t even surprise me when he headed toward the mountainous area the Buri had previously banned me from entering. Even in the dark his steps were sure and confident, as though he’d trod this path so many times he knew every leaf and stone by heart. And he probably had.

We walked in silence, staying close the sheer bluff that loomed over the village, and at one point I recognized the fissure leading to the cave with the giant geode, where I’d been taken to prepare me for the mating ceremony. From there, the rock wall began a gentle curve to the right, and fifteen minutes later we came to another opening. This one was larger and showed evidence of tool marks on its face.

Flickering light spilled from inside, almost blinding me after our walk through the night. In its brilliance a moving shape took form and I realized it was a Buri male I’d never seen before. He physically blocked the entrance with his spear held across his body, until Thor shook his head.

Uncertainly, the male lowered his weapon and moved aside. Thor and I stepped across the threshold together, but then I came to a screeching halt, not believing what my eyes were showing me. Deliberately, I blinked twice. The action didn’t help. It was still there.

Part of me had expected a ship. More than part, really. What I hadn’t expected was a SHIP, capital letters. The entire interior of the mountain was hollow, and if the vessel had been two feet longer, or another inch taller, that mother of a ship never would have fit inside.

Back in the days when Old Earth had first started colonizing other star systems, they’d built big ships to travel in. But they’d built them in space, not dirt side. It would have taken more energy to pull them free from Earth’s gravity than could be generated. To see one nearly as big, here, inside a mountain, stunned me silent.

I took a hesitant step forward, then another. When I was close enough, I put out a hand to touch the hull, still not trusting my eyes. My palm hit warm metal, but even as I watched, the color shifted, changed from iron gray to copper.

And suddenly I remembered the report Max had given me while we were in orbit. He’d said there was an anomaly in these mountains. Veins of metal that seemed to change from copper to iron, and then to zinc.

As a camouflage device, it was sheer genius. Neither Max nor I had even considered the possibility that it might be an alien ship. Worked metal wasn’t supposed to change properties all by itself. Whether it was deliberate or accidental didn’t much matter. It had succeeded in hiding the ship from our scan, and Dynatec’s too.

Lowering my hand, I stepped back and looked as far along the side of the ship as I could see. The majority of its bulk vanished into the distance, but torches lined the walls of the cavern so the front of the ship was clearly visible. That’s when I noticed the scars and burn marks on the hull.

Now that my brain was finally functioning on all cylinders again, it wasn’t hard to put two and two together and come up with four. There had been no meteor angling across the planet, burning all the vegetation in its path. It had been this ship, and obviously something had gone wrong, something that made it crash.

Thor had been standing patiently beside me, waiting for me to accept what my senses were telling me. Now he moved farther down the ship and put his hand on a panel set into the hull. Silently a door slid to one side, letting artificial light spill out of the opening. No wonder the technology on board Max hadn’t awed the Buri. They were used to it.

Come.
With the one-word order, Thor stepped through the hatch, and I followed him, the slightly metallic scent of canned air assaulting my nose. Behind me, the door slid shut with a faint whirring noise.

The area we stood in was an airlock, but the inner door was wide open. Through it I could see what had to be the command center. It took up the whole front section of the ship, and every wall was lined with electronic equipment. Thor moved confidently to a console filled with blinking lights, paused a moment to survey them, made a slight adjustment to one of the controls and then glanced over his shoulder as I joined him.

“This is the ship that brought the last of my people to this world. We arrived fifteen of your cycles ago, after hundreds of cycles traveling through space. But the ship had suffered damage from space debris, and instead of going into orbit as it should have, it crashed. The Limantti kept the ship from disintegrating, and managed to protect it by hiding it inside the mountain, but part of its programming was destroyed. It did not awaken me until it detected the approach of another ship.”

“Awaken you?”

He turned to another console and pushed something. A screen sprang to life, and a gasp escaped me as I stared at the image it showed. Row after row of Buri-sized deep-sleep units hummed and gurgled quietly as they went about the business of keeping their occupants alive.

Here, finally, was the source of that bright clump of strands I hadn’t been able to identify. Great Goddess. At one point I’d actually thought the clump might be more Buri and then got distracted by the individual strands. Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees.

I swallowed hard, twice, before I could speak again. “How many?”

“Three thousand made the voyage. It was all the ship could hold.”

“How many females?”

“Half.”

Abruptly, adrenaline shot through my veins, hard on the heels of a wild surge of elation. With a whoop of excitement, I grabbed Thor and did a fast jig on the metal deck. “Do you know what this means?”

I didn’t wait for an answer. “It means that Dynatec can’t file Chapter Twenty! You aren’t the indigenous species. You’re colonizers. Dynatec can’t touch Orpheus Two, because when it comes to an unknown planet without a sentient species in residence, by Federation law, it’s finder’s keepers. The Buri found it first, so the planet belongs to them.”

My feet took off on another exuberant dance before I got them under control. “I can’t wait to see the look on Dorn’s face when she finds out. You have to wake them up. All of them.”

Thor had remained silent throughout my antics, his expression inscrutable. Now he merely shook his head. “No.”

“No?” I stopped bouncing and glared at him. “If it’s housing you’re worried about, the boss can have a load of Quonset huts here in three days, as well as enough food to support them until you can get more crops ready to harvest.”

“No, I will not wake them. Not until I know it is safe, or unless a particular skill is needed now. And only the ones who possess the skill will be awakened.”

“But—”

“You believe the others will attack my people,” he interrupted me. “You said our weapons are no match for theirs, and you’re right. But as long as most of my people are here, safely hidden, the others cannot destroy us. The ship’s program has been repaired. If a code is not entered once every four sevendays, it will awaken my second in command.”

“So the village is a decoy?”

“It was, yes. I needed to know how your people would react to us. But it is also our home, and we will fight for it. If those of us now awake die, then my second will set the ship to only awaken him again after a hundred cycles have passed. And so it will continue until he deems it safe to bring out the rest of my people.”

I put my hand on his arm and spoke earnestly. “Thor, there’s no need for these elaborate plans. The second we leave this cave I’ll contact Max. He’ll let the boss know what’s happened. Dr. Daniels will then arrange to have Dynatec’s application for a Chapter Twenty denied. If necessary, he’ll send Federation troops to forcibly remove them from the planet. Dorn can’t take action against you after that or she’ll end up spending the rest of her life imprisoned on Inferno. By this time next week, everything will be over and your people will be safe.”

He didn’t bother taking the time to think about his response. “Then next week, when the others have gone, I will reassess the situation and make a decision based on the new circumstances.”

The man’s middle name was
stubborn
. Come to think about it,
stubborn
could have been his last name for all I knew. Not that I blamed him. If the only members left of my species—assuming I
had
one—were in deep sleep on a spaceship, I’d be a tad overprotective too.

Good grief. The things I didn’t know about him and the Buri were legion. The very thought of everything that had brought them to this point was staggering. Add that to the information I wanted on the Limantti, and I didn’t know where to start.

We will start by returning to the village. I will answer your questions there.

“All of them?” Okay, call me suspicious, but he hadn’t exactly been forthcoming up till now.

“Yes, all of them.”

He ushered me back into the cave, then turned to seal the hatch closed. I noticed the unfamiliar male staring at me, so I waggled my fingers and gave him a big smile.

“Hi there. I’m the new Shushanna.”

He just looked blank until I said
Shushanna
, and then he glanced at Thor, one brow arched in question.

“She is Shushanna and my bond mate,” Thor confirmed.

Immediately the new guy bowed his head in acknowledgment. Oh, yeah. That was much better than being stared at as if I were a dangerous and exotic critter on display in a zoo.

I strutted the rest of the way to the cave’s entrance even though I could feel Thor’s amusement. The guard followed us and took up his previous stance as we exited.

As soon as we were clear of the cavern walls, I relayed everything I knew to Max, told him to get the information to the boss, and then continued my questioning. “You said you’d traveled hundreds of cycles. Do you know exactly how many?”

“No. The chronometer on the ship was part of the program destroyed.”

“Interesting. Humans discovered Ashwan two hundred and fifty cycles ago. The atmosphere was gone and the buildings were covered in a massive layer of ice. It takes ages for that to happen. You must have been in deep sleep for thousands of cycles, instead of hundreds.”

He winced. “I do not wish to think of it.”

Couldn’t blame him for that. It was giving
me
a headache and I hadn’t lived through it. Or maybe I should say slept through it.

Shaking off the image of thousands of Buri, sleeping in those boxes for a seemingly endless number of cycles, I changed the subject. “Did you deliberately head for this planet, or was it an accident you landed here?”

“The Limantti chose this planet even though it was a great distance from our home. She indicated this world had everything we needed to survive and prosper.”

“So the rock told the Shushanna—” I stopped and grimaced. “That sounds like the beginning of a really bad joke. Maybe we should wait until we get back to the village, and then you can tell me the whole story from the beginning.”

“Without interruption?” He was smiling when he spoke.

“Hell no.” I shot him a glare for knowing me so well. “If I have a question, I’m asking.”

“Yes.” He sighed. “I know.”

We walked the rest of the way in silence, brushing against each other occasionally, either by accident or intentionally. When we reached the village, Churka was leaving the communal kitchen, heading toward her house, and it reminded me I hadn’t arranged for Claudia’s clothing.

Since Lurran had already gone to bed, we stopped Churka and explained what was needed. With a yawn, she assured me she’d get together with Lurran first thing in the morning and work something out, although she seemed a bit puzzled by Claudia’s desire for a covering. For that matter, so was Thor, but I could tell he just chalked it up as an unexplainable female mystery.

Apparently males were males regardless of species.

As soon as we entered the stone building, I mentally checked Claudia’s status. She was sound asleep, but I could still feel satisfaction oozing from her, and I smiled.

With his palm resting on the small of my back, Thor ushered me past her room to our own. Once there, I took a jug of wine from a shelf and poured two wooden glasses full before joining him at the small table. Just to be on the safe side, I took the jug with me.

He’d lit two of the oil lamps, and in their dim glow we made ourselves comfortable on the pillows. From the doorway to the terrace a gentle, fragrant night breeze wafted, making the lamp flames dance gracefully.

“Okay,” I said quietly. “Tell me how a people whose most advanced weapon is a sword can build a spaceship complete with computers and deep-sleep chambers.”