Casserine (3 page)

“God, I hope not. It feels like a helium balloon with a rock inside.”

“Follow me.” Byers led him back to his room in their infirmary. She lowered the gurney he had been strapped to, and motioned for Jake to sit down. She proceeded to take the bandage away carefully from around his skull. The special head bandage had worked in healing the skin around the furrow on the side of Jake’s head. His close-cropped brown hair outlined the white scarred furrow.

“How’s it feel?” She asked.

“Better actually,” Jake replied, running his hands over his scalp.

“Want to see it in a mirror? That panel over there opens into a bathroom with shower.”

Jake walked over to the panel, and it hissed open by way of the touch release on the side. He went in and checked out his new scar. Byers followed him in, watching as a smile spread on his face in the mirror.

“What’s funny?” She asked curiously.

“I just thought of how much it resembles the ones on my back.” He pulled down the top of his jumpsuit, and turned to show her.

Whitened scar mounds ran in crisscross patterns over his back. Some were larger than others, as they extended from the tops of his shoulders down past his waist. Byers ran her hand over them.

“You received these scars on Omaha?”

‘Tea, like I said, she opened me up pretty good.”

“Why did they leave the scars? You were on a hospital ship, were you not?”

“We had thousands of casualties who didn’t die, Adrian. I looked good next to most of them. They thought the poison would do for me anyway. Now my head matches.” Jake pulled up his top again.

“And you think that’s funny?”

“I never claimed I was a comedian, just not taciturn.”

Adrian laughed. “Now that was funny. What’s this about poison?”

“Just something they monitor from time to time. I’ve been sending them blood samples periodically,” Jake said guardedly. “I’m glad they left my hair alone.”

“It’s too short to even worry about, next to the potential scarring.”

Jake touched Adrian’s hair admiringly. “I love your hair, but you may not want it long on Casserine. Even tied up or back, it will still feel like carrying around a weight.”

“My hair? You’re joking, right?”

“You’ll see Adrian. I hope your stay there will not be as bad for you as I think it will be; because, I am afraid you will blame me for not making the difficulties clear enough for you.”

“I will never blame you, Jake,” Adrian promised.

Chapter 3 

Casserine

“You bastard,” Adrian grunted as she tried to get off her knees without success. She stayed braced with her arms locked in front of her. They trembled with the exertion to keep her upper body from dropping. Even holding her head in an upright position required conscious effort. She had tried for the first time in the twenty-four hours since arriving on Casserine to move from her bed without Jake’s help. Jake came in from the outer room. He walked over and knelt down beside her. He dipped down so he could look up into her sweating face.

“Hi Honey. Remember, you said you would never blame me.”

“Don’t ever call me honey, you no good, rotten excuse for a man.”

Jake laughed appreciatively. “You may work out here after all. If I put you over in front of my chair, I believe you would make a great foot rest, depending of course on how long you can maintain this position.”

“Oh, you will so pay for this. As soon as I can hold a weapon in my hands, you will be fertilizer,” she quipped tiredly. “Quit fooling around and take me to the bathroom.”

Jake carefully positioned himself under her left arm, gripping her wrist with his left hand, and putting his other hand around her waist. “Okay, are you ready.”

“God, I hope so.”

Jake straightened slowly until he had her upright, and then picked his left foot up and positioned it to push upwards off of. If he did not take this chore slowly, he could rip skin and tendon, causing Byers great pain. He could hear her groaning already, and he took no pleasure in it. He had spent hours the day before they left, explaining in detail how torturous his first month had been on Casserine. She had brightly thanked him for his honesty, but insisted on seeing it through.

Jake stood carefully, taking on her weight, as she clung to him weakly. Tears began streaming down her cheeks. She choked down her sobs. “I am so sorry, Jake. I never would have come here if I had really listened to you.”

He began walking with her, step by step, to their bathroom, letting her move her legs one after the other. “Forget all that, Adrian. It’s not like I have millions of things to do. I do like it better though when you insult me, and my lineage, back to the dawn of time. You were really funny when you first left the ship. I don’t want you to cry, and definitely not for being a burden on me.”

“You can’t nursemaid me for the next three months. You will have to put a knife in me and put me out of my misery.”

“That’s better,” Jake laughed. He admired this woman more than he had ever admired any other living being. He had been afraid she would go into a comatose state once they reached the surface, and he would not be able to help her at all. She had tried gamely for the first few hours to move on her own, finally having to accept his help or collapse.

“You could call them back on a life or death deal,” she said hesitatingly.

“I will not do that unless you want me to, Adrian. I gave you myword.”

“I release you from your oath, Marine. You can turn me in for the incompetent boob I am.”

“What, and miss all of this stimulating company. No way. Will you be okay from here?” He asked as they entered the spacious bathroom facility.

“Yea, but I will need your help getting back to my room, and I am sure in no position to demand privacy. I’m glad you talked me out of wearing jumpsuits down here.”

Jake laughed again as he moved to the door. “Just call me when you want me again.” He left, shutting the door behind him.

“Will ‘hey, you bastard’ do?” She called out through the door.

“Tea,” he laughed, “that’ll do.”

Jake returned to unpacking the supplies they had brought down with them from the base. A few minutes later, he heard the bathroom door open. He looked around in surprise as he saw Adrian clumsily crawling out of the bathroom, her arms trembling with the effort. She made it all the way to the table Jake used for meals. Smiling crookedly, she looked up at him with sweat running down her face. Her pullover shirt clung wetly to her.

“Not bad, huh?”

“Fabulous,” Jake said. “Can you make it over in front of my chair? I’ll be right over.”

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrr…”

“Would you like a cup of tea, Honey?” Jake asked cheerfully.

“That sounds wonderful, but do I have to drink it down here?”

“No, would you like to try sitting upright in a chair?”

“It would be preferable to my hands and knees, thank you.”

Jake walked over and helped her into a chair, where she sat exhausted. He wet a towel with cold water, and came over to wipe down her face, neck, and arms. She smiled her thanks. Leaving the towel with her, he finished fixing their tea. He placed a cup in front of her. Adrian scooted more upright in the chair, and shakily took the cup Jake had placed a straw in. She sipped it noisily, making Jake laugh.

‘You’re lucky I left it only warm. Otherwise, you would have a burned mouth on top of everything else.”

“I watched you, Jake. Why didn’t it affect you when we touched down. I hardly see any difference in the way you move here and the way you moved on the base.”

“I feel it, but like anything else, it takes believing you can do it. Your strength will build up, and then you will believe.” “Just like that, huh?” “Yes Honey, just like that.”

‘You plan on continuing to call me honey, don’t you?” “Yes Dear, at least until I stop getting a rise out of you. Would you prefer Lieutenant?”

“I guess I can allow terms of endearment. Shall I call you sweetiepie?”

“On second thought, Lieutenant Byers, perhaps we do need a more formal relationship.”

Byers laughed appreciatively. “You don’t look like the type to be called sweetie pie anyhow.”

“The tea helps, doesn’t it?” “Yes, I think I need an IV drip of pure speed.” “It won’t work. When you come down, it will be twice as bad, and you can hurt yourself without realizing it. The tea helps in a few different ways. I put sugar, spice, and vitamin mix in it.”

“Why can’t they make the inside station into a regular gravityzone?”

Jake sighed. “I told you, it would kill you going in and out of the station. You would be unable to function whenever you had to go outside, or between storage areas. I could probably build you your own little earth gravity room, and you could stay there all the time.”

“I just wanted to hear the exasperation in your voice, when you told me why again,” she chuckled, as she slurped the rest of her tea.

“I better get you some more to drink. You lost a lot of fluid practicing to be my footstool.” He took her cup, and went to fill it with his tea mix.

“I like it when you call me Honey.”

“Then I guess I will have to switch to lard ass then.”

“You beast. It stays between thirty degrees Fahrenheit at night to sometimes fifty degrees Fahrenheit during the day around here, right?”

“Pretty close,” Jake acknowledged. “It cools off a little more than that seasonally, but we have a very odd rotational arrangement with this section’s fireball. Because of the density of Casserine’s core, we have a number of moons cluttering up our orbit. The atmosphere, because of being denser and more humid, keeps everything in a state of almost frost. It holds nearly all of the heat it gathers from the fireball during the daylight hours. If you feel up to it, I’ll take you outside to see something you might like.”

“One more cup of your elixir here, and I will almost be able to crawlout.”

She sat bundled up on the makeshift porch chair Jake kept outside. Although a little harder to breathe on the porch, the sky glowed in a type of crystalline rainbow of flowing colors. The many satellite moons, within Casserine’s orbit, highlighted the spectacular sunset canvas. These multicolored globes finished the task of stealing whatever breath a person had left from fighting the gravitational pull. She felt Jake pull up a chair next to her as he placed another cup of tea in her hands. She sipped the concoction gratefully.

“I will never ask you again why you wish to stay on Casserine,” she whispered.

“When you see the sunrise, you will know why I balked at even a medical leave on the base.”

Byers turned and placed a chilly hand on his warm one as it lay across his armrest. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

He put his other hand over hers. “I didn’t know how,” he saidsimply.

They sat in silence within the tapestry of the Casserine sunset.

Jake felt a hand on his shoulder, and smiled. After three months on Casserine, she had not allowed him to sleep through a single sunrise.

“Come on goofy, I have your breakfast ready out on the porch,” Adrian said brightly. “What did you do in the morning before I came down here?”

“Well, for one, I slept through a sunrise once in a while, and lived to tell about it.” Jake left his bed with practiced care. Adrian would wait now until the last minute, and if he did not get up on his own by the appointed time, she woke him with the same mantra, and handed him his clothes, one piece at a time, until she made sure he would not return to his bed. Even a detour to the bathroom would bring a look of consternation to her face. She could never get enough of their time on the porch now.

Jake slowed down on fastening his boots as if he were having trouble. This brought a quick, playful slap to the side of his head. “I know you do this on purpose, Jake, now don’t make me hurt you.”

He smiled to himself as he fastened his right boot, thinking of her steady progression over the time since their arrival. Jake glanced up to see her, hands on hips, glaring down at him. “Don’t hurt me, Honey. Why don’t you go on out this morning by yourself for a change?”

Adrian’s mouth dropped open for a moment, as Jake had broken with their little ritual. The thought of him not sitting next to her at sunrise could no longer be thought of as a disappointment, but of an unbearable longing. He had nursed her along through the torturous first month; insulting her, cajoling her, and even carrying her like a baby, when she could go no further. He had cooked her meals, cleaned her clothes, and helped her to get clean. The man, smiling playfully while he dressed, had never even touched her in an inappropriate manner. As she looked down at his scarred countenance, she suddenly realized what he meant to her. She dropped down on her knee next to him, placing her hands gently over his left arm. The look on her face tore the smile from his.

“What’s wrong, Adrian?” He asked, quickly finishing his boot fastening, all thought to his ribbing now gone.

“Nothing, only please come out to the porch with me.”

“Of course, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’ve gotten so used to kidding around with you, I guess I forgot about joking around at sacred sunrise.” He stood up, bringing her with him.

“You really are a beast,” she smiled. “Now come on.”

They sat together sipping their tea, munching on the breakfast Adrian had prepared, and kept warm within the small-insulated box, she had talked Jake into placing on the porch. In between the dusky sunset on

Casserine, and its sunrise, lay a red gold wonderland of crystalline majesty, as light turned the heavy air into what ancient scholars must have envisioned paradise to look like. This particular morning, Adrian kept hold of Jake’s arm as they drank their tea. He sensed some change in her, almost fearful in its nature.

“We will have to go up to base tomorrow,” Jake reminded her, thinking that was causing her sudden wariness. “I hope it won’t upset your balance here very much. I talked to Colonel Risling, and he gave me permission to cut short our furlough as soon as we check out, that is of course, if you still wish to come back here.”

She set her teacup down, and gripped his arm with both hands. “I never want to leave here, Jake. I…I love you.”

His teacup dropped from his suddenly nerveless fingers, spilling the little bit of tea into his lap. Ignoring his now wet left thigh, he turned to face her in the glistening dawn, cupping her face with his left hand. “But Adrian, we hardly know each other.”

She laughed, and grabbed him around the neck, drawing him to her. “You unrepentant beast of a man. You would zing me even now, and I love you for it.”

Jake slowly pushed her away, until he could gently press his lips to hers. The shock of this first journey into intimacy raced through them both, product of weeks fraught with gentle looks, and simple kindness. When finally he pulled away, he whispered, “I love you more than my life. I never want you to leave me. I have longed for you all of my life, and only now did I know it.”

She leaned against him, as they watched the finish of their first sunrise, joined in spirit and reality.

“Jake, I feel like I can fly,” Adrian informed him as they disembarked the cruiser to begin their medical furlough.

“It will be bad when we go back for a short time. Keep that fact inmind.”

“No it won’t, because it will not be unknown, just like you said.” “I want to stop at the base store before we report in to Colonel Risling,” Jake said casually. “What for?”

“A ring,” Jake replied. “I want to marry you.” She turned and jumped into his arms, hugging him with all her might. “You never said a word,” she whispered. “You don’t have to do this.”

“Yes I do, if you will allow me to.”