Chapter Twenty-One

An alluring smell of grilled meat and broth filled the air of Thiago's spaceship. All the windows were open to air out the grill smoke, adding a pleasant tang of charred meat to the atmosphere. The table was elegantly dressed with a sheer tangerine tablecloth, brimming with buffet-style portions of toasted millie bread, juicy prong-horned boar patties, vegetables, gravy, and a large bowl of sproutpea chowder. Ardela and Eden wore aprons and full cooking gear, cleaning up the mess they made in the kitchen.

For once, Hercules neglected to ambush his master upon his arrival. Thiago glanced to his right. The creature was occupied in the living room with a pile of boar bones, slurping up and picking the succulent meat off the marrow.

Thiago tugged at his earlobe as different thoughts raced through his head. He was still upset about Salabar's death, but he knew cooking was the closest Ardela would come to asking for a truce. He'd always loved her prong-horned boar burgers, and she knew it. It was the same meal she had prepared dozens of times before. He absent-mindedly twisted a band around his wrist and cleared his throat.

"You're back," said Eden, looking up at him as she continued to polish the counters furiously.

"Come on and eat," said Ardela, beckoning at him with her freshly painted spider-black fingers. The square tips were each adorned with a single dazzling diamond. "There's plenty of food to go around."

"I see that. It all smells delicious," Thiago admitted, circling the table. He rummaged through the pockets of his satchel and removed a folded piece of rectangular card stock. He placed it on the counter and pushed it forward to Ardela. There was no emotion in his voice. "Here's your fifty percent."

"No," said Ardela, sliding the piece of paper smoothly back across the countertop. "You keep it. I don't deserve it."

Thiago didn't protest or insist that she take the money. "As you wish," he said lightly. He shrugged and slipped the check back into his bag. He pulled up an empty stool and began passing plates around the table. "To be clear, this doesn't mean I'm cutting you any slack on the next engagement."

Ardela and Eden looked at each other gleefully from across the table.

"Of course not," said Ardela quickly. She separated the bread and began creating a sandwich for herself. "Who's our next target?"

"We'll be heading to Glop territory."

Eden snorted. Both Thiago and Ardela turned to look at her. "The name is Glop? Sounds a bit ridiculous, don't you think?"

"No, I don't," said Thiago. "The reward's the same, independent of the alien race's name."

"You're going to get Katakee, aren't you," said Ardela, nodding. "That will be a good payday. Last I heard, authorities were looking to reward up to 750,000 credits for his capture."

"That was a long time ago. The premium has increased now if you can believe it."

"Wow," said Eden, whistling. She dipped a ladle into the soup bowl and served herself some chowder. "This Katakee guy sounds like a real piece of work."

"The greedy traitor sold off classified military information to the Noxx," said Ardela with a sneer, screwing up her nose. "The worst of his charges included the theft and distribution of security equipment and explosives. The Noxx used the missile codes and any bombs they could find to wipe out entire villages for sport."

Eden's lips turned chalky white as Ardela's words registered in her mind. Her eyes flickered across the table to Thiago. He had a look of detachment on his face, but she detected a fleeting blue glow on his forehead. He didn't say anything as he finished assembling a thick burger. He pressed a gravy-soaked bun on top of the sandwich and placed it onto Eden's plate.

"How long has Katakee been on the run?"

"It feels like forever. It must be many years by this point," Ardela replied dully, cementing Eden's suspicions.

Eden bowed her head. The next mission had to play out according to plan. There would be no mistakes allowed. She couldn't begin to imagine what capturing Katakee meant to Thiago. He was probably the one who sold Noxx the lethal munitions used to wipe out Thiago's entire village. The attack killed his parents and everyone he knew and nearly claimed his life in the process as well.

"I understand." Eden finally spoke up. She decided a change of topic was in order. "Ardela let me use the gym on her ship to train today, and I have to say she's not going easy on me. You'd think I was training for the Olympics."

"You have to work hard to see improvement," said Thiago, cracking his first grin of the day. "Are these Olympics training for bounty hunters back on Earth?"

Eden sighed. "Not exactly. Every four years perfect physical specimens on Earth gather together to test their skills against one another and determine who is best."

"Psh," snorted Thiago, shaking his head. "That sounds stupid."

"Sorry, Eden, I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Thiago on that one," Ardela agreed, tossing her glossy hair away from her face to eat her food.

Eden tilted her head forward, an inquisitive eyebrow raising at their cluelessness. "Really, guys? Their job descriptions don't seem familiar to you at all? I'm going to let you two sit on that one. When I think about it, you two would be perfect candidates for the Olympics on Earth."

Ardela and Thiago feigned awkward coughs as Eden sat back, hoping for vindication.

"Eden, I'd been meaning to ask you something. What time do you think you'd be finished training with Ardela today?"

"I'm not sure. Probably a little before dinner. Why?"

"Let me know. You should probably change into warmer clothing. You'll need it where we're going."

"Just the two of us? Where exactly are we going?" asked Eden, fighting to hide a giddy smile.

"It's nowhere special. I don't want you getting your hopes up just to be disappointed. You'll just have to wait and see."

"Eden! Are you ready yet?"

"Just one minute!" Eden called out, craning her neck towards the closed bathroom door.

She turned back to the bathroom mirror and slanted her head upward. Flowering patches of her breath fogged up her reflection as she held up an eyeliner wand borrowed from Ardela. As her luck would have it, it was the one brand Ardela owned that irritated human skin. The uneven feline flicks on either side of Eden's eyes were going to be difficult to salvage.

Still, Eden didn't have to look too hard to find a silver lining. She was positive this would be Thiago's idea of a real first date. Eden wasn't about to postpone it. Ardela didn't have any way of knowing about her skin reaction, did she? The alien woman had already apologized profusely and promised the swelling would go down in the morning.

Ardela had also done a decent job with concealer on Eden. It covered up the blotchy red marks around her eyes. Instead of looking like she'd just spent hours in a tanning booth powered by the sun, frying her pasty skin to a crisp with cancerous islands of sunburn, she looked like she was trying to cover up hours of weeping.

"Screw it. This will have to do," Eden muttered hoarsely, blinking away the tears intensifying smudges of her failed eyeliner experiment.

Her makeup horror show was precisely why she opted for a nude face when possible. Not only did she lack the makeup skill other women seemed to be born with, but the hassle was too much. Flattening the ample volume of her flaming red ringlets, she did a final once-over in the mirror and plodded out of the bathroom.

"Finally," Thiago groaned. He waited for her in the living room of the spaceship. He crossed his arms and legs as he lay reclined on the couch. Hercules was curled up on the floor next to him. The creature lifted his head, whinnying idly in agreement.

"Relax, I haven't kept you waiting that long," said Eden dismissively. She accepted the helmet Thiago handed to her and looked down at it questioningly. "Are we training before the evening begins?"

"No. Put it on."

Eden placed the helmet on her head and followed Thiago out the front door of the spaceship, bidding Hercules a doting farewell with a kiss to his face. Stepping out onto the dusty ground of the campsite, she flipped up the visor of her helmet, gawking in astonishment.

A sports bike coated with frost-white paint and platinum gold finish was parked just a few feet from the doorway. In place of the oil tank was a massive puranium fuel tank. The footrest was a platform built around both the driver and passenger's seat, with extra straps and buckles to put on one's feet. Thiago dramatically checked the air pressure on the ridged tires and climbed onto the hover bike, peering over his shoulder at Eden expectantly.

"Why are you waiting? Hop on. "

"Where'd you get this?" asked Eden breathlessly, hopping onto the leather cushion of the bike. She strapped a seatbelt over her waist as Thiago leaned over to adjust her foot straps.

"It's a rental, but we're going to need it," answered Thiago. He cracked his neck from side to side, flicking switches and revving the ignition before resting his hands on the clutch. "You're probably going to want to find something to grab tightly."

"Is this thing fast, or..."

Eden's sentence cut short as the hoverbike blasted forward. As her body jerked forward from the sudden acceleration, she frantically bear-hugged Thiago from behind, clasping her hands together. She buried her face into the thick black coat he wore over his jumpsuit. As the wheels of the bike slowly peeled off the floor, her heart beat rapidly against her chest.

The bike tipped backward and shot into the air, climbing thousands of feet above the ground. At this elevation, a new problem presented itself. Eden's teeth rattled in her mouth as icy gusts of wind made her start shivering. Thiago kept one eye on a computer monitor and another on the surroundings. He swerved past other airborne vehicles and accelerated to beat the building traffic.

Eden didn't know how long she clung to Thiago, but eventually her curiosity got the better of her. She braved the harsh weather around her and peeled herself away from Thiago's back, sticking her head up to peek over his shoulders. Beyond the fading clouds zipping past them was an extraordinary range of violet mountains capped with lace-white snow. She gave Thiago an ecstatic squeeze around the waist.

Eden's stomach twisted as the bike began a choppy descent. Thiago steered the vehicle toward the mountainside. He parked directly beneath the snowline near the edge of a broad mountain shelf.

"That wasn't as exhilarating as I imagined," Eden remarked. Tiny clouds of frosty breath wafted from her lips as she spoke. Eden climbed off the bike and pushed up her visor. Feeling chilled to the bone, she hugged herself in a futile attempt to keep warm.

Thiago reached into Eden's coat and pressed a button concealed in the collar of her jumpsuit. In an instant, Eden felt better about the weather. A draft of toasty warm air began to seep through the lining of her clothes. Eden exhaled blissfully. She stretched out her arms and legs, allowing the warmth to penetrate every inch of her body.

"Do all my jumpsuits have this feature? Why am I only learning about this feature now?"

"Yes, and I have no idea."

Thiago retrieved a thick blanket from the bike's storage compartment. Unrolling the blanket, he pinned it open and lay the woolen fabric on the ground, inches from the brink of the cliff. Eden joined him on the blanket as far away from the cliff as she could get. She tucked her legs underneath her as she inched closer to him for warmth.

She gazed over the edge, her mouth opening as she looked at the panorama of rainbow lights dotting the ground-level cities and floating pods. The view of the alien landscape was wonderfully picturesque against the dark late-night canvas.

"Is this where you go to cool off? The sights here are amazing," Eden marveled. She nudged him with her elbow playfully. "This isn't where you bring all your girls to get them in the mood for love, is it? Is the view one of your 'moves'?"

"Moves?"

"What you do when you want to get a woman to sleep with you."

"I've never needed any 'moves'. Women tend to sleep with me as soon as I bring them back to my ship."

"Well, good for you," said Eden bitterly, humphing.

"I suppose it is. But you're the only one I've ever brought here, if it matters to you."

"Really?"

"Yes," said Thiago, slipping a hand into the pocket of his coat. He pulled out a small black box, placing it on her lap. "Before I forget, this is for you."

Despite the frigid cold, beads of sweat formed in the creases of her palms as she picked up the container and snapped open the lid. A pair of bright, pearl-sized earrings sat on the velvet lining. It looked like a flurry of captured starlight danced inside the small baubles.

"I know it's not as flashy as any of Ardela's jewelry, but I saw these in one of the stores when I was out the other night, and I thought of you, human."

"Are you kidding?" breathed Eden. She yanked off the backs of the earrings and pierced the posts through her earlobes. "I don't know what to say. Thank you. These are the most gorgeous things I've ever seen."

"I highly doubt that, but I'm glad you enjoy them."

"Thank you so much," said Eden, flinging her arms around him in a tight embrace. "I love them."

She pushed up his visor and kissed him softly, her cold lips thawing instantly against his. Thiago kissed her back. His arms softened at his sides when her lips slowly and sensually pulled away. Eden rested her head against his shoulder, nuzzling him as she interlaced her fingers with his.

The pair gazed peacefully into the still horizon.