eight
Molly
An hour later, Molly had everything for dinner ready. When she sampled it, it felt like time and space had dropped away. It was a meal she could see making again and quickly becoming a favorite. Now to test it on the crew.
She used her wristband to alert the crew.
They were there in minutes, looking hungry.
Molly felt a pinch of nerves run through her, even though she’d fed enough brothers to know they weren’t the most critical of audiences.
Very soon, after several helpings apiece, Molly was rewarded with six large men leaning back in their seats, groaning.
“Cap’n, I think we need to hire this’n,” Haze said. “You can’t expect us to go back to powdered dreck after this?”
“Molly, it is — as Haze implies — a wonderful meal,” the captain said. “You honor us with sharing such gifts as these. You are a Vradasa, a chef of the bounty.”
Molly felt her cheeks warm. “I’m glad you liked it. Haze was so helpful to find the food and items I needed. I hope I can continue doing this. It feels a little like being home.”
“You were a Vradasa at home?”
“I wanted to be… I was going to be but then-” Molly tried not to look at Oz, “-this happened.”
“You will have to let us know whatever you need. I can certainly commission Haze and Xain to collect things on their missions. I’m sure they won’t mind. Now, if you will excuse us,” he said, standing up. “Men, I believe we have some cleanup to do.”
Chairs squealed as the men pushed back to gather plates and serving dishes on their way back to the kitchen.
Molly started to stand, but Seban raised his hand. “Please, Molly, sit. The least we can do, after such a feast, is make it so that you might prepare one for us again.”
“All right.” She settled back into her seat as they disappeared into the kitchen.
Oz and Molly listened for a moment to the clatter of dishes, spray of water, and guffaws of laughter from the kitchen.
“I hope they don’t break anything. I’m not sure I’ll be able to find another of whatever that was. Perhaps I really should help them?”
“Molly, actually, I stayed behind because I wanted to talk to you. I was wondering if you might be open to a little adventure with me? Just to take your mind off things.”
“Adventure?” Molly grimaced before she could stop herself. This whole thing had been adventure enough already.
“It’s not far. It’s kind of a secret actually, but I wanted to share it with you.”
Hmm. Secrets again? At least it was one she could be part of, for once. Plus, it didn’t hurt the way he looked at her, or the thrill it set off in her belly.
~
The first part of the secret involved heading back to the Xeo, but this time they took one of the shuttle crafts docked on the bottom level of the ship. Oz brought a large, black bag on board and stowed it behind them. The cabin fit two people in front, two bucket seats in the back, and control panels throughout. Oz explained it was so that the craft could be controlled from any station, if needed.
“Here.” He handed her a small pill. “My guess is that you’ve never done warp travel before. The doctor said it will help prevent nausea. Fraska- water! I knew I forgot something.”
“I’ll make the best of it.” Molly swallowed the pill fast.
Oz leaned over, reaching for one of the straps. “Let me help you with these.” He smiled, and she blushed as she remembered tying them together during the space battle. It felt like a lifetime ago.
Oz adjusted the straps with sure hands, pulling them tight, and clicking them together. She breathed deep of his earthy scent and closed her eyes while he was distracted. It hurt just to look at him.
She opened her eyes and he was looking at her with a half-smile on his face. “I think we’re good to go now,” he said, sliding back into his seat.
Molly blushed.
Oz fastened his own straps, crosswise over his chest, explaining as he went, “Mostly these are just to reach speed, but our trip is only a couple of minutes, so we can just stay in harness for the return to normal speed.”
“Ready?” He punched some settings into the control panel, and her body pressed into the seat as they made the jump to light speed. A strange motionless came over her as time seemed to pause. The feeling passed in an instant, and she was back in synch with the world.
“Not too bad, right?”
Hesitantly she nodded. Everything felt okay.
Oz handed her a plastic bag. “Just to be safe?” He smiled. “Xain is a bit sentimental about the Vritz.”
The panels beeped after a couple minutes. “Coming up on approach. Hold on Molly.” Oz clicked around. The viewscreen showed burning red, and the craft bounced a little as they broke into atmosphere. He pushed the thrusters forward, and they leveled out and flew gently into a small lagoon-looking area that broke from the surrounding mountainous rock like a beautiful mirage.
He circled around the small area before settling down in a small cleared-out spot.
“Vrayelea,” he offered.
The word translated to Molly as ‘dream’. “Vrayelea,” she repeated. “It’s a good name.”
Oz unhooked his harness and stood up, hunching over to help her. He stretched out a hand. “Yes, she is our little baby world. This is an asteroid floating around an uninhabitable planet. We have created a little paradise here with the help of a bit of Terra-forming. We come here sometimes to rest and relax.”
As they walked out of the shuttle, Molly could barely believe what she was seeing. “You can create a world, like this?”
“The conditions were right, but it was only possible because it is so small. We have two domes that we transitioned through on our approach. They help to keep the atmosphere in. This asteroid is rich in a special mineral that allows us to do many wonderful things.”
“Is that the mineral you collect, the big secret?” Molly tried to think how that made her feel. Even as beautiful as it was, was it really worth pissing off the Suhlik every day?
“It is valuable and useful, but no. Frankly, we don’t normally have time for such trivial things as planet-making. There are enough habitable worlds in the universe already.”
Oz guided her to a cleared area overlooking the pristine water. “We found this favorable spot while we were scanning, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity. I’d never created a habitat before; the science of it alone intrigued me. Without Seban’s help, I never could have gotten the levels right. Everyone agreed to try it. It’s just, sometimes a man needs dirt under his feet, sky overhead, fresh air to breathe, even space men as we are.”
“It’s amazing.” Molly glanced around. “You’re sure it’s safe though?”
Oz glanced at her mockingly. “You are not very trusting, mate.” His face sobered. “Not that I don’t deserve it, I suppose.”
Molly thought fast to change the subject. “So, how long have you been in space anyway?”
“Five years now. When everything started back home, I was already in space at the Vargys-Mahdfel academy, and I just stayed there.”
“Vargys-Mahdfel? Right, so Vargys is the name of your mom’s planet. Do you mean your planet Vargys was just attacked by the Suhlik too? Or wait… So, the Mahdfel found your planet and then the Suhlik attacked?” She broke off confused.
“My mother’s planet was never actually attacked by the Suhlik. The Mahdfel and my mother’s people traded resources and found they also had some compatibility for mating. The matches are actually more common than it is for your kind. For the Mahdfel, there is no more valuable resource.”
“If it wasn’t the Suhlik, what started back home that now you never go back?”
Oz sighed. “I— it’s not something we talk about… with…”
“—outsiders,” Molly finished for him and looked away. There was that word again.
“Yes, we’re under orders. We can’t risk word getting out to the rest of the Mahdfel.” He paused. “It’s my mother’s planet — Vargys — where I was born. There was an outbreak. Our doctors call it the Telorex Syndrome. The women — our mothers, really any Vargys females — are dying slowly of a lingering, wasting disease. The mineral we’re collecting is the only thing that slows the progression.
“We quickly ran out of the mineral on Vargys. Our doctors, Seban and others like him, have been studying the disease, but they haven’t been able to find out why it’s happening or even what’s happening.
“If word ever got back, the Mahdfel would cut off our planet Vargys completely. None of the Vargys-Mahdfel would be allowed to Match. Our race would die out. First, because the Vargys would have no females left alive, just as the Mahdfel do. Second, the Vargys-Mahdfel, like me, would be given no more opportunities to mate.
“To the Mahdfel — in the larger scheme of things — it wouldn’t matter. But to us? It’s everything.
“We’ve all stayed away from the planet, anyone who was not there at the time we realized what had happened. We’ve all been very careful to make sure we did not have the issue. So far, it’s only affected women.” Oz glanced at her quickly. “There have been other matches and no female — that didn’t go to my planet Vargys — has shown any signs. We don’t seem to be carriers either.”
“It’s only affected women? That seems a little strange, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. They are trying to find out how it’s possible. Our doctor said that, since every male also carries the female chromosome, men should at least be carriers, but it doesn’t appear to be the case.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been able to keep this secret. No one knows?”
“You know now. I want to assure you, we keep very strict quarantines. We teleport items one way to the planet: resources that will keep them alive a little longer, until Seban, and others like him, can find a cure. I would ask you, please, not to tell anyone, not your family or Earth.”
“But what if an Earth scientist could save your planet? Or the Mahdfel: they have so many resources, so many minds. Don’t you worry that you are dooming your planet to a slow, hidden death?”
“I do, to be honest, but it was a decision of the Vargys council. We do what the council decides. Mostly. They don’t exactly know how far afield we hunt for the Varstath mineral. Even the Vargys do not wish to bring the Suhlik upon us. They wouldn’t believe the risk was worth our lives or the chance that we’d bring the Suhlik to them somehow. They’d want us to seek in safer places, but, in the sector we were assigned, we found only traces. In the Yrastomus cluster, where we were attacked, I located enough Varstath to last my planet for many years, maybe hundreds. We — the crew and I — made a pact to do whatever it takes to save our people.”
“And that’s why you stayed there, even though you didn’t really know we were safe?”
“I’d hoped I was right, but yes, there was no way to know. As it turns out, it wasn’t safe. The cluster is too close to the Suhlik border. I’m afraid that, more and more, the Suhlik will have the only available supply of Varstath. I’m not sure how much longer we can keep harvesting and evade notice.”
And so, this was why.
It all sort of clicked together. There was very little difference, in this, from what Joe and every other human soldier had done for their families and for Earth. Joe had risked and lost his own life to give Earth just a little longer.
“So, you can’t go home either?”
“In the most likely scenario, I will never see home again, excepting the small movie of it I can watch on the viewscape in my room. All we can do is try to delay things, keep our pact to risk everything to hunt down the Varstath mineral, so we can send it home and give another month of life to our mothers and the other women on our planet.”
“That’s terrible. I can’t believe you didn’t tell me before.”
“I just ask that now you forget what I’ve told you. Don’t be sad because then you’ll remember it. You might say something to someone, and they’ll tell someone. We want at least some piece of our race to survive, even if it can only be the Mahdfel version.”
“Your people must be so scared.” Molly sat closer to Oz and put a hand on his arm. “I won’t say anything to anyone, I promise, but I think it’s a stupid decision.”
Oz smiled. “We are one in that, mah lo ma.”
Molly smiled and leaned into him, her head against his chest. “And don’t call me Outsider anymore. It’s— mean,” she finished lamely.
His chest rumbled with his laugh. “Yes, mah lo ma, I will not do so again.” He wrapped his arms around her and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You should stay where it’s safe. Stay at the station. I could arrange to come back more frequently.”
“You don’t really think I could stay there alone do you? All that time. No, there’s just no way I could do that.”
“I don’t really think so, no.” He squeezed her again, holding her against his chest, his arms still wrapped tight around her.
“Grr, I can’t really bear to think of you anywhere but within easy reach.” He kissed her on top of her head. “Swim with me?”
“Swim?” She leaned over to peer into the water, stars reflected over the surface. “We can swim in there?”
“Yes. I took a reading as we landed. It’s completely safe.”
Molly scooted to the edge and dipped in a toe. It felt pleasantly warm. “I didn’t bring anything to wear,” she said regretfully, glancing back at him.
“I think we can manage,” he responded with a grin as he pulled his shirt over his head, revealing his chiseled chest.
“You don’t mean?” she asked, glancing around, clutching her shirt to herself. At the same time, she couldn’t take her eyes off his naked chest.
Oz’s grin widened as he tossed his shirt to the ground. “We are alone.” He stood up and gestured to space above. “No neighbors for quite a distance. I can calculate if you like?” His hand reached for his watch, but instead, he moved to slide his pants from his body.
He walked over to her like some naked Adonis, hard muscles everywhere. She tried not to look. Was she allowed to look?
He kissed her neck, his lips sending heat zipping across her skin. He pulled at her shirt, freeing it from her pants. She still had her hands locked around her body.
“I can’t do it here,” she pleaded. “It’s outdoors.”
“No, you couldn’t do that.” His hands played at the patch of naked skin revealed by her untucked shirt. He kissed her again, caressing until his hands dipped under her shirt. At the same time he was kissing down her neck, trails of fire left in his wake.
It felt so good that she was panting.
His hands stroked at her skin while his mouth sucked at her breast through her shirt’s material.
She moaned louder.
His hand pushed up further, pushing her bra up, so that only her shirt hid her breasts from view. His tongue continued to track hot circles around her nipples.
“Oh god, yes,” she called out, not even knowing what she was saying.
With one hand he kept one side of her shirt down, but his head snuck under the other half of her shirt, and then thank god, his tongue was on her actual nipple. She cried out, arching her back, leaning into his mouth.
Her thoughts scattered as his mouth traced a pattern around her nipple and across her skin as he moved to her other breast, tracing fire and making her nipples hard. He kneaded her other breast with his hand.
He pulled her shirt up to her neck, his hand strong against her naked chest, then his other hand was unbuttoning her jeans. She grasped down, trying to still his hand, but his teeth tracked across her nipple and she gasped, her struggles dying. He pulled her jeans down leaving her in only her panties. She tried to lean her legs to the side, but his hands were at her panties flicking her nub.
She jerked, her resistance fading and scattering. He pulled her panties to the side and shoved his finger hard into her entrance. He rubbed at her insides, finding all the pleasurable spots inside, then pulling out and pushing back in. He made her jump and pant and shake against him.
“I know you need it, my mate. You want it. Open for me.”
She moaned and tossed, her hips rocking up to meet his hand.
He ripped her panties down her body then his tongue was at her nub, working at her with a frenzy. Her body vibrated with need. He worked his tongue across her nub, up and down, until she was rocking into it.
His mouth came off her and she lifted her hips off the ground to chase him, her legs spread wide.
“So much better,” he said.
Slowly he unbuttoned her shirt. She panted, starting to close her arms back around her body to hide.
He pulled her arms up over her head, holding them there. His other hand he reached down to push inside her, making her jerk her legs open to receive him, her hips coming back off the ground. He went back to working at her shirt, one hand still holding her arms above her head.
He spread the flaps of her shirt apart and bent down and traced a soft tongue across her naked breasts.
“Isn’t this better?” he whispered into her ear. He shifted, and his shaft was poking at her entrance. He rocked slowly into her, sending bolts of pleasure through her. He stroked at her nub making her thoughts scatter as the lightning raced through her, and his shaft filled her.
He leaned back to smile at her. “That’s right, mah lo ma, pant for me.” He grasped her waist, increasing his pace until he was pounding into her. He panted something, and she could not make out the words, but she didn’t care. She was going to come, it was so close. The heat rose in her. Her body built to its crescendo, tightening until it crashed around her, leaving her moaning and shaking around him.
“Yes,” he said. He paused, staring at her with a mischievous grin, then rocked hard into her, increasing his pace again until he was coming. When he finished, he released her arms. His mouth was on hers, his tongue dancing against hers.
“I’ve been waiting forever for you,” he whispered into her ear.
She leaned into his mouth, wishing to hear it again and again.
He chuckled then, a soft, warm sound in her ear. “Now, may I tempt you to swim with me?” His hand played absently with a nipple.
“You are a demon,” she whispered.
“A demon?” He paused. “Ah, we have worse.” He lifted her to him and sunk into the water with her pressed against him. He rolled a soft tongue around her nipple. “Is this not so much better naked?” he asked.
She leaned close to him, hiding her chest against him.
“You are so shy when you are not hidden in our room. In our room you are a wild faerlun. I’m not sure how you would take to Vargys.”
He pulled her body against him and swam out to the center on his back, so that she could just cling to his neck, his hard shaft pressed against her thigh.
As they floated he traced patterns up and down her back.
“In Vargys, you would do it outside?” she asked.
“In Vargys, they do it everywhere. During the mating rush, you can’t walk anywhere without encountering some couple or group locked in naked embrace.”
He kissed her neck. “I am still hungry for you,” he said.
She slid off into the water, swimming away from him. “First you’d have to catch me,” she called back.
He sunk into the water staring after her. Then he swam toward her, his body cresting the water like a fish, his movements swift and sure. His hands grabbed quick about her body. “Got you,” he said, pulling her toward him. He pushed between her legs and pushed his shaft inside her. She gasped in surprise.
He pumped fast, jerking into her in fast succession, rising quick, and calling out.
He panted against her. After a moment, he said, “I don’t know what happened. I…” He kissed her neck. “Let’s go back.”
He swam slowly to the shore, bringing her back with him.
He pulled her up to sit on the ledge beside him. “I have something I want to show you; I’ll be right back.”
He left, scooping up their clothes as he went.
In only a few minutes, he returned with a soft, fuzzy towel wrapped around his waist. He draped another about her shoulders.
He seemed nervous as he put down the large black bag which he’d stowed earlier on the shuttle. He pulled out a strange device, entering some readings from his watch into the device, then passed a small view screen to her.
The viewer was focused on a small dot of light. Apparently the device was some type of telescope that passed signals back to the viewer she held in her hand.
“Is that… is that my sun?”
“I’m afraid the angle isn’t right, but this star is at the edge of one arm of your galaxy. It’s part of what we call the Neviera cluster. It’s as close to home as I can get you tonight.” He rested a hand on her shoulder.
“Sometimes I actually think I can just go home, like there might be a bus stop nearby.” She glanced at him hesitatingly.
“You mean like our portal?”
“About that…?”
“I can see what I can do,” he offered, his voice tight.
Molly felt a chill rush through her. Suddenly, it was the last thing she wanted. “I mean, couldn’t I just come back every weekend? Do the long distance thing?”
He shook his head. “We have the portal on secret assignment. We couldn’t use it too often within the Mahdfel-to-Earth network before they would start wanting to know why we have one. More than that, the Suhlik have been known to track portal transmissions, so it’s not something we can do that frequently anyway.” He hesitated and placed a hand on her belly. “The baby — if there is one or was one later — wouldn’t survive the trip inside you. But I don’t want you to stay here against your will. I could see what I can do for you, if that’s what you want.”
A feeling of loss and terrible choice coursed through her. She leaned toward him, causing his hand to slide around her waist under the towel. She kissed him as hard as she could, forcing him down onto the ground. She didn’t want to make the kind of choice he seemed to be offering her.
Molly straddled him, surrounding his shaft, gasping as he speared her again. She rocked up and down his shaft, controlling the pace, building and building, throwing her head back and arching her back as she came. He finished inside her soon after. As his heart beat, strong and fast against her chest, she closed her eyes, trying not to think about what she wanted.
He was so perfect for her that her heart squeezed. But, if he really meant to give her a choice, and if she wasn’t pregnant, could she really give up the chance to go home again?
His tail was wrapped around her waist possessively.
When had the tail stopped even registering for her?