Return to Eden (9 page)

On foot, particularly since she was
barefoot, that seemed an almost impossible feat. Even before the
bug-things that seemed like they would eat everything and the
monster bugs and the huge monster beasts, if she’d been stranded in
the woods like she was now, she could’ve wandered for days or maybe
weeks without finding another living soul. With all those things
out there and nothing to eat or drink or protect herself with—when
everybody that was left was probably hiding—she didn’t think her
chances were good at all.

It occurred to her that there was one
surefire, or maybe surefire, way of getting Aidan out of his
clothes, but she wouldn’t be a lot better off with his clothes and
boots and the little bit of rations he had in his pockets. And that
was assuming he wasn’t in any condition to fight her for the stuff
afterwards and she didn’t see how she could count on that without
making some kind of plan to bash him over the head or otherwise
incapacitate him.

It dawned on her abruptly that, as far
she knew, he didn’t have a weapon of any kind on him.

What kind of invader invaded a place
without weapons?

Was she completely wrong about his
purpose in being here?

But how likely was it that those things
would arrive and start destroying everything and an alien from
another place would arrive at the same time?

Maybe he’d expected everything and
everybody to be wiped out before he landed? Did that really make
any sense, though? Surely, he’d have to be familiar with the
weapons and would’ve known there hadn’t been time?

It occurred to Anya when Aidan nudged
her and handed her a piece of the nasty rations he was carrying
that there could be other explanations to what she’d been swept up
in. She’d only explored one possibility—well, sort of fixated on
it. The problem was, as certain as she was that her life could well
depend on figuring it out, it was a puzzle that seemed beyond her
ability to sort into any kind of order.

She was very much afraid
that she was leaning more and more toward trusting Aidan, though,
trying to come up with reasons why she should, because she
needed
him for
survival.

Exhausted, emotionally and physically,
she dozed off almost before she’d finished eating and swallowing.
Aidan nudged her again and handed her the water pouch. That revived
her a little, but she discovered she’d reached the point where she
didn’t want to try to fight sleep. She wanted to embrace
it.

Aidan said something. She was sure he
was trying to get her up and moving again, but she ignored him,
shifting in an attempt to find a more comfortable position to
sleep. “I’m tired,” she muttered. “Just a little nap,
ok?”

He bumped her again, rousing her
slightly, but when she realized he was curling up next to her, she
drifted off once more, huddling a little closer to the warmth he
exuded.

Aidan didn’t actually
intend to doze off. He wasn’t certain how he had. The hard surface
was damned uncomfortable and he was chilly without his jacket—to
say nothing of the fact that curling around Anya for warmth made
him far too aware of her sexually to be particularly comfortable.
He did doze off, however. Waking a little later with a jolt of
consternation, he checked his wrist computer. It was a relief to
discover that the nap had been a brief one, but it didn’t
particularly ease his conscience.
“We have
to keep moving. Time isn’t on our side,”
he murmured as he shook Anya awake.

She groaned, trying to
snuggle closer as he tried to ease away from her. The effect was
harder to dismiss that time. His body reacted on a purely primal
level. The urge to ignore everything beyond her effect on him was
strong, so strong it made him dizzy. Gritting his teeth resolutely,
he gripped her small shoulder and pushed her gently away.
“
We have to get that thing and get to my
ship. The gods only know what’s happening up there, but I guarantee
it isn’t pretty.”

Anya had roused enough by that time to
begin to feel the beginnings of embarrassment. It wouldn’t have
been so bad if she could’ve pretended she was clinging to him as a
pretext to seduce him to her will. She’d been too far gone—and she
was certain he knew it—to salvage her pride in that way,
though.

Straightening, she struggled with her
discomfort and the aftereffects of fatigue and too little sleep
while the alien got up, turning in first one direction and then
another as he studied the device on his wrist with frowning
intensity. “Ned go dat vay,” he said finally, frustration evident
in his voice as he studied the pipe that lay before them, neither
end of which seemed to be pointing in the desired
direction.

She didn’t like the way he
was studying the situation. It seemed to her that he
might
be considering
finding a way to the surface. Well! If he was he could damned sure
count her out! No way in hell was she going back out there with the
things roaming around that she’d seen!

If that wasn’t distressing
enough, it was really unfortunate that his choice of words had
struck a chord.
She
needed to go! All he’d had to say was ‘ned go’ and right
straight her bladder had begun to complain!

What the hell was she going to do about
that?

She was still struggling to figure that
out—or blank her mind to the need—when he stepped away from her,
unfastened his trousers and dragged this huge thing out that looked
a lot like a dick—except bigger! She gaped at it, feeling heat
blast into her cheeks when he began to urinate.

Almost worse than the fact
that she’d followed him—naturally enough since she didn’t know what
the hell he was doing!—was the effect him emptying his bladder had
on
her
bladder.

Realizing that was the end of any
possibility of control, she hurried away and squatted with her back
to him to relieve herself.

It felt absolutely orgasmic! She hadn’t
realized just how desperate she was.

Well, great while it lasted. Damp when
it was over. Cap that with the fact that the asshole had come to
stand over her and it just made her day!

“
Go?”

She sent him a drop dead
look as she straightened. She thought he looked amused, but she
told herself it must be just her imagination. His mouth
did
curve upward
slightly at the corners, making him seem to be on the verge of
smiling all the time. It heightened the feline appearance and gave
him a pleasant sort of expression except when he was pissed off.
Then that shadow of a smile made him look all the more unnerving,
kind of demonic, to her mind.

If he was amused it didn’t last long,
though. He set off at a pace Anya had trouble keeping up with. The
impression was that he was making up for time lost while they
rested. Anya just couldn’t figure out what the sense of urgency
denoted.

It struck her, though, as soon as that
popped into her mind that she’d felt that from the beginning. He
wasn’t just running in a random flight to find a safe harbor. He
had a goal and a purpose and apparently a time line.

“
Where are we going?” she
asked a little breathlessly as she hurried to catch up to
him.

He glanced at the wrist thing when she
spoke and then shook his head. Not enough data to respond. He
wasn’t even sure that the computer had translated her question, but
the tone certainly suggested a question. “Go-ning were ting.” He
stopped, frowning and finally just used his hand to simulate
something falling.

Anya frowned, trying to put that
together and then felt a surge of excitement. “Your
ship?”

He looked completely
baffled so she tried some pantomime herself. She wasn’t sure if he
got it or not. Just about the time she began to think he was
getting the idea, though, it occurred to her that she was an idiot
for jumping to that conclusion. Surely he’d left his ship somewhere
around where she found him? She’d heard
something
crash close by. Of course
that might have been another of those things.

She saw that he was shaking his head,
but then he frowned and stopped moving.

“
Shit! You’re right!
That’s what comes from being too damned focused
!” Aidan muttered.
“I need to forget
about that satellite. Probably a lost cause in this amount of time
anyway. We need to get to the ship. It’s the only chance we have of
stopping the genesis.”

Not that he believed there was any real
possibility of stopping the process anyway, but he had to try
before her and her people and their entire civilization was wiped
out by the terra-formers.

He glanced at Anya and saw
that, naturally enough, she hadn’t understood one word he’d said,
but he didn’t have the patience to even try to explain.
“
Yes, ship. Go were ship fall.”

“
But that isn’t what you
were talking about before, is it?” Anya said, more confused than
ever since he seemed in as big a hurry now that he appeared to have
changed his destination goal.

But then maybe she hadn’t figured it
out?

She was abruptly sorry that she hadn’t
attempted to learn a little of his language. It went beyond
frustrating to have no idea what he was saying!

Between the low light levels and their
hurry, neither of them had the faintest idea that they’d found
water until they fell in it. The shaft they were in widened
abruptly—in every direction—they stepped out and found water
instead of the hard bottom of the pipe—very cold water! Anya sucked
in a sharp breath as the cold enveloped her and strangled.
Fortunately, it wasn’t deep. She surged upward to escape the
torture of icy water as quickly as she found the bottom, but she
was coughing so hard and so shocked by the abrupt dousing that she
couldn’t find her bearings.

Aidan grasped her upper arm and hauled
her to the edge where they found a narrow ledge just above the
water line. She was shaking so bad her teeth were clacking together
by the time they managed to hoist themselves out. Aidan’s teeth
weren’t chattering, but he was shivering with the cold.

And he was still more interested in
that thing on his wrist than anything else. He seemed to relax
after a moment and looked around. “Dis place?”

Anya had been wondering about that
herself—with a good bit of dread. She realized she’d sucked in a
sizable sample, however, and she could pretty well dismiss the
horrible possibility that had first entered her mind. It definitely
wasn’t a sewage treatment pool!

Well, she thought it was probably just
rain runoff until her and Aidan had taken a piss a couple of
culverts back.

She wished to hell she hadn’t thought
about that because she was damned thirsty!

She shrugged. “Something to help
prevent flooding, maybe?”

He frowned, clearly confused. She went
back to the pantomime, fluttering her fingers to try to give the
impression of rain. “Rain water runoff.”

He began digging around in his pockets
after a few moments and finally pulled something out that looked
like a narrow tube—or a very big drinking straw. He removed the
packaging, examined it and then leaned down to put one end in the
water.

Anya was torn as she watched him. She
hadn’t had more than a few sips of water in hours and hours—she
didn’t even know anymore. But as thirsty as she was, she was still
very reluctant to drink from the mud puddle.

Especially since she’d pissed down the
tunnel a little ways.

She was desperate enough, she began
trying to convince herself that she really didn’t have to worry
about the urine. It wasn’t as if either of them had produced enough
to flow this far! It had probably just seeped into the
concrete.

She certainly didn’t recall walking
through it.

Aidan handed her the tube. She examined
it as he had, discovering that it was some kind of filtration
device—not merely a tube.

Closing her mind to the possible
origins of the water and/or anything it might have run over or
through on its way to this spot, she drank as much as she could
hold and then passed the straw back to Aidan. He leaned down to
drink more and then offered her the device. She considered it and
decided to top her tank off since there was no telling when they
might find water again. While she was working on trying to make
like a camel and fill her storage tank, Aidan got up and explored
the ledge that ran around the pool.

“
Here! Dis
ting!”

Anya peered through the gloom and saw
he’d discovered an access ladder. She looked up as he flicked his
light toward the ceiling. He had highlighted a hole the ladder
disappeared into, she saw, but it was too dark beyond to see
anything.

She was willing to bet the ladder
didn’t go much higher than what she could see, though. She got up
reluctantly. “You know those damned things y’all sent here probably
ate the ladder,” she said crossly. “Just how do you think we’re
going to get out when we run out of ladder?”

He summoned her imperiously with a
gesture. She contemplated shooting him a bird and refusing, but he
didn’t seem to have lost his determination to hang on to her and
she wasn’t up to trying to outrun him.