Farthest Space: The Wrath of Jan (7 page)

Stars, her skin had tasted so sweet.
 
An ancient line from Earth ran through his mind:
Sugar and spice and everything nice.

With a violent effort, he dragged his mind off sex and did his best to listen what she was saying.

“There is no intelligent life in this system, according to the charts,” Vaish said in her chilliest tone.
 
Evidently she’d noticed his mental drifting.
 
“It’s not used for any sort of refueling or mining that I’m aware of.
 
And unfortunately, our beacon won’t be detected from beyond this star system.”
 

That was Vaish, Steven thought.
 
Always harping on the negative.
 
“So can we boost the signal?”

“I don’t have sufficient energy reserves to do that,” Fred said.
 
“The lifepod is not designed for long-term use.”
 

“Doesn’t this thing use solar energy?” Vaish asked.

“It can’t generate enough energy to run the instruments and computer over the long haul,” Steven said.
 
To himself, he thought,
Note to self
:
If we ever get back to civilized space, design a better lifepod.
 
“Hell.
 
I don’t know what the answer is.”

“Forty-two?” Vaish suggested.

Steven ignored her.
 
“How much energy do you have, Fred?”

“Approximately enough to operate for twenty-eight days.
 
After that, you will be on your own.”

Steven sighed.
 
They needed the shelter of this lifepod to survive.
 
They needed Fred, damn it.
 
“And we’re absolutely certain this planet is uninhabited?”

“Scans showed no signs of intelligent life.
 
However…”

At Fred’s significant pause, Steven straightened and scowled at the ceiling.
 
“What is it, Fred?”

“I’ve found a few anomalous readings that suggest there may in fact be intelligent life on this planet, or at least that intelligent life has visited here.
 
A few traces of human DNA, a few skeletons of the indigenous lifeforms that appear to have been killed by human weaponry.”

Steven frowned.
 
“If there are people here, where could they be hiding?”

“There are caves all over the surface that have heavy metal components, making it impossible for me to scan.
 
My guess is that if anyone else is on this planet, they are in those caves.”

“It is highly unlikely a civilized society would live in caves,” Vaish said.
 
“If there are humans or humanoids on the planet, they are very probably quite primitive.”

“A reasonable hypothesis,” Fred said.
 
“Except that the skeletons I’ve scanned appear to have been killed by blasters.”

“That makes no sense,” Vaish said.

“I don’t know about that,” Steven said, swallowing the last of his coffee with a wince.
 
“This is the kind of planet someone interested in steering clear of the Patrol might hide.
 
Uninhabited and relatively unknown, with caves that are conveniently impossible to scan.”

Vaish sniffed disdainfully.
 
“You mean a criminal might be concealing himself in the caves?”
 

“It’s a possibility.
 
Might not even be a criminal, but just someone who doesn’t want to be found for some reason.
 
And if there is someone on this planet, he might be willing to help us get off.”

“If this hypothetical person doesn’t want to be found, it is highly unlikely he’d help us find a way off the planet.
 
He would be much more likely to kill us.”

“Good point,” Steven admitted.
 
Undaunted, he grinned.
 
“We’ll just have to make sure he doesn’t have a choice, then.”

*****

Vaish tried not to grumble as they set off into the warm, humid morning light.
 
Once again she was armed only with a length of heavy pipe, and she was almost certainly going to end up as some huge feline’s breakfast.
 
All because there was a tiny, incredibly faint chance that there was someone on this planet who was highly unlikely to help them anyway.

Steven seemed cheerfully oblivious to her dark mood.
 
He marched along, humming under his breath, for all the world as if they were out for a pleasant stroll in the country.
 
She thought longingly about clubbing him in the head with her pipe, but realized that might be a trifle difficult to explain if rescue ever came.

What happened to Captain McNeill?
 
Oh… I’m sorry to say he fell and hit his head on a rock.
 
Very unfortunate.

She didn’t feel in the least like humming, conscious as she was of her uniform sticking uncomfortably to her body as sweat oozed from her pores.
 
She knew she had looked and smelled better.

Not that it mattered, she amended hastily.
 
After all, there was no one to see her but McNeill.
 
And she certainly didn’t care what
he
thought.

She was annoyed to see that he looked revoltingly attractive despite the oppressive heat.
 
Perspiration had glued his uniform to his body, revealing the strong muscles that bunched and rolled beneath the ebony material.
 
He’d pulled his long blond hair back into a ponytail, and sweat glistened on the nape of his neck.
 
She had the ridiculous urge to lick it off.
 
He even smelled good in the heat, a musky masculine scent that made her knees weak.

She tried to get her mind off McNeill’s inexplicably attractive perspiration.
 
After all, this was a dangerous planet, and she needed to be alert.
 
“Precisely how many caves did Fred say there were near here?”

“Fifteen, ranging from one to five kilometers from camp.
 
All together, the interiors of the caves comprise over a square kilometer’s worth of ground to cover.”

“It’s going to take a long time to explore them all thoroughly.”

“I don’t have much else to do,” McNeill said with that irritating cheerfulness that made her long to swing her pipe.
 
“How about you?”

Vaish strove for a professional tone.
 
“Since this planet has never been explored, cataloging the local flora and fauna would be the best use of my time.”

“You’re kidding, right?
 
You think it matters to civilization whether or not you catalog dandelions?”

Vaish felt her hackles rise, metaphorically speaking.
 
“That is my
job
, Captain.
 
I am an exobiologist.”

“News flash, sweetheart.
 
Your job description just changed.
 
Right now you’re a hunter and gatherer.
 
The only cataloguing you can do that’s worth a damn is finding out which plants in the area are edible.
 
But before we start wasting our time looking for edible plants, let’s devote ourselves to hunting for an intelligent life form that can get us the hell off this planet.”

Vaish sighed, mentally conceding the point.
 
Unless they got off the planet, exploring this planet’s biosphere was quite simply a waste of time.
 
And if they didn’t get off the planet… well, she’d have plenty of time to explore later and determine what plants could be used in stew.

They had marched off across the vast meadow, according to Fred’s directions.
 
McNeill’s communicator beeped, and he pulled it out.
 
“Hi, Fred.
 
Are we still heading in the right direction?”

“Pretty much,” Fred’s voice answered.
 
“But you might want to go in another direction.”

McNeill frowned.
 
“What do you mean?”

“There’s a cat headed your way… in a big hurry.”

*****

Hell
.
 
They were sitting ducks out here, McNeill thought as he ran at top speed toward the lifepod, Vaish on his heels.
 
She had long legs and was a remarkably fast runner.
 
Of course, the threat of being eaten for breakfast was enough to put wings on anybody’s feet.

Suddenly Vaish stumbled and fell, and he heard her give a muffled yelp of pain.
 
Swerving back, he bent, scooped her up, and kept running.
 
She struggled in his arms.

“I’m fine, Captain!”

He doubted it.
 
Nothing less than excruciating pain would have wrung a yelp from this stubborn, proud woman.
 
He barreled on, grateful that she was fairly light.
 
Not a featherweight by any means, but her lithe, graceful body had little extra fat.

And then she lifted her head, gazing over his shoulder.
 
“Oh, no.”

McNeill turned his head and saw an enormous, tawny creature bounding toward them.
 
“Stars,” he said under his breath.
 
“Look at the size of that thing.”
 

It was too close.
 
They weren’t going to make it to the lifepod.
 
He slid to a halt and put Vaish down, none too gently.
 
He didn’t have time to be gentle, although he regretted it when she hissed between her teeth and collapsed to the ground.

He yanked his metal pipe from his waistband and ran toward the creature.

“Are you
crazy
?”

He heard Vaish’s indignant voice behind him, but ignored it.
 
If he failed to kill the creature, there was a faint hope that if he drew it far enough from Vaish, it wouldn’t notice her.
 
With an injured leg, there was no way she could defend herself.
 

When the cat was almost on him, he stopped and braced himself.

Stars, but the thing was big—the size of a pony, with two curving ivory fangs that really did bear a startling resemblance to sabers.
 
He didn’t stand a chance in hell of killing the thing without a blaster.

Which he regretted, because it meant Vaish wasn’t going to survive, either.

Not that he cared for Vaish in any sort of romantic way.
 
It was just that they’d worked together for five years, and he thought of her as… a friend.
 
Sort of.
 
A friend that irritated him like excessively tight underwear.
 
A friend that got on his nerves and argued with him unnecessarily.
 
A friend with a really gorgeous body.

A body that was about to be eaten, if he didn’t get his mind back on this situation right now.

The cat slid to a halt, so close that he could smell the strong, musky scent of it, and studied him.
 
Steven stared back at it, not sure what the hell was going on, but not liking it much.
 
He had braced himself for a fight, and now the creature was just… standing there.
 
Weird.

Its green eyes shifted behind him, and Steven heard a rustling of grass.
 
He risked a quick glance over his shoulder and saw Vaish limping toward him.

Damn
the woman.
 
She never did what he told her to do.
 
Really, he was going to have to have her court-martialed.
 
Assuming they survived, which seemed pretty damned unlikely at this point.