“It helps?” the woman beside her asked doubtfully.
Bri glanced at her in surprise. “It really does. You want some?”
She hadn’t actually intended to share it with everyone if sharing meant she wouldn’t get anymore, but she saw it was too late to object. The women passed the thing along the table so quickly that it was gone before she could say more.
Mildly irritated, she dismissed it and focused on her work. She could ask Kole to bring her another and hope he could catch one.
The task was fairly mindless once one got over the revulsion of it, and her mind wandered to the gun powder for a time while she considered first one thing and then another that it might be used for and possibilities for collecting it and refining it. The more pure it was, the more bang they’d get, she knew.
She hoped the teacher knew the correct ratios of the components. She hadn’t learned, or just couldn’t remember, how to actually make it. All she remembered were the ingredients used to make it--which was still invaluable even if they ended up having to experiment a little.
That thought brought her mind back to the sea creatures. The Hirachi would be as familiar with the terrain and animals below the sea as Earth people were with land animals and plants--which might or might not do them any good. But Kole had recognized the thing he’d brought her. This world and its inhabitants must be more similar to his world than hers. She wondered if there was anything, plant, animal, or otherwise, in the sea that would have other useful properties--like acid. Methane deposits like had been found on Earth’s sea floors? That would give the Sheloni a hell of a bang!
Lifting her head, she studied the robots stationed about the compound speculatively. She’d thought they were in a pretty hopeless situation after Angie had died, because they couldn’t hope to overcome the robots that guarded them. Acid, though, the right kind, could disable them--could burn up whatever kind of electronics the aliens used. They wouldn’t
have
to figure out the alien technology.
And without the robots, the Sheloni would be virtually helpless.
The Sheloni might still escape them, though. They were never in the compound. They observed from a safe distance--the walls above them--and if the Sheloni escaped to the ship orbiting the planet that might mean the end of all of them. They could be blasted from space without ever knowing what had hit them.
So they would have to figure out a way to hit everything at once, or almost at once. That was going to take everyone working almost in concert.
She was so deep in thought, she didn’t notice when Kole returned until he shoved a fish cake under her nose. She jumped back instinctively, her gaze flying upward to connect the hand under her nose to the face that went with it.
His expression was stern. “Eat.”
Bri’s lips tightened. She looked down at the cake again, feeling her stomach execute a flip flop. Feeling like a difficult child balking at medicine, she sucked in a breath and held it and then took the thing from his hand and took a tiny bite, swallowing it before she could taste it. Her stomach revolted anyway. The thought alone was enough to make her feel like throwing up.
“Eat!”
“I will!” she snapped testily, her teeth clenched as she fought to keep the morsel down. “It’s not going to help if I throw it back up!”
A look of sympathy flickered in his eyes, but he squelched it. “Promise?”
Bri nodded. Have to, she kept telling herself as she struggled to take the thing down one minute bite at the time until she’d finally eaten the whole thing. She didn’t feel a lot of triumph when she managed it, because her stomach was still threatening to revolt, but it settled after a while.
She still couldn’t say that she felt any better, or any stronger, but she knew she was being childish about it. She hadn’t eaten enough to help that much. Her stomach still felt as if it was caving in upon itself--which was a bad thing, she realized. Kole was right. If she didn’t eat, she would quickly reach the point where she couldn’t. She hadn’t realized it, but he was right about her lack of stored fat, too. The food had been so tasteless on the ship that she’d had no interest in eating it, and she’d grown too thin to have much in the way of reserves. She supposed that was why poor Caroline looked deflated. She’d lost too much, too fast, and her skin wasn’t shrinking as quickly as the fat reserves.
It was a damned good thing, she thought with wry amusement, that most of the women captured had had some reserve fat or they would all have been looking like starved third world citizens by now.
The amusement left her as it dawned on her that they
were
seriously third world citizens now--having a little reserve fat for hard times wasn’t a luxury or a matter of beauty, or lack thereof. It could mean the difference between surviving, or not.
It was hard, but she gritted her teeth and did what she knew she had to do to survive. She ate as many of the fish cakes as she could make herself eat without bringing it back up. She despaired of growing accustomed to the diet, though. It did not have a strong or even repulsive taste. It was the texture that revolted her and the knowledge that it was raw. Sight, smell, taste, and texture all played a part in the appeal, or lack, of food and the fish cakes were lacking in all areas as far as she was concerned.
She was still exhausted when they were finally allowed to rest that night, but she didn’t feel as if she would drop at any moment. Either the food helped, or she was starting to adjust, and since she doubted she could adjust to the labor that quickly, then it had to be the food.
It also helped that she wasn’t burned worse. In fact, as disgusting as the stuff was she’d had to smear all over herself, it seemed to have helped heal the burn she’d already gotten.
Kole met her as he had the night before. She felt more capable of fighting him, and she was still irritated that he seemed to take it as a foregone conclusion that she was somehow his. On the other hand--who was she kidding? She hadn’t merely accepted him and endured when the Sheloni had tossed her to him like a prize. She’d reciprocated his passion. He had every reason to believe she wanted him.
Not that she felt energetic enough for
that
! He made a hell of a substitute for a blanket/heater, though. And he’d been thoughtful enough of her welfare to make sure she had protection from burning and that she’d eaten.
She couldn’t remember the last time anyone had shown concern for her welfare, let alone her comfort.
When they’d settled beside one another in the shelter, she not only didn’t make any attempt to place any distance between them, she snuggled closer in the shelter of his body. She felt his cock harden against her backside as she wiggled her butt against his pelvis, though, and a mixture of warmth and irritation warred inside her. She
was
tempted, but she was too tired to have that much interest. She began to feel put upon, to mentally berate him for his lack of consideration for her exhaustion.
To her surprise, he didn’t make any attempt to push the issue, however, and, contrary creature that she was, she began to feel insulted that he didn’t. Did she look that bad, she wondered? She
must
look awful!
She hadn’t realized that the fucking Sheloni had pampered them on the trip over until they were dumped in this godforsaken place with nothing. She had no way to groom herself beyond the most primitive methods--finger combing her hair to try to keep it from being a complete rat’s nest, using her finger to clean her teeth. She was sunburned. Kole himself had remarked about how thin she’d gotten.
He probably found her completely unappealing now!
She lay perfectly still for a while, hardly breathing, stirring her resentment.
Kole stroked her arm lightly. “Go to sleep, dear one.”
A knot about the size of a baseball swelled in her throat. Tears stung the backs of her eyes. She was
such
a bitch! She’d been thinking all sorts of nasty things about him, and he’d called dear!
She cleared her throat as the tightness eased. “I’m not pregnant,” she offered tentatively, since it had occurred to her that he might not want to touch her until he was certain she wasn’t carrying Dansk’s baby.
His arm tightened around her. He dragged in a halting breath. “Don’t tempt me, dear one. It is best if you’re not.”
Bri frowned. From what Dansk had said she’d thought Kole must be desperate to breed his child on her. She’d thought that was why he’d taken her into the shelter with him. “Why?” she asked finally.
She heard him swallow.
“I will take you from this place. But I don’t know how long it will take to find a way and make arrangements. I don’t want to risk that you could be heavy with child and in danger because of that.”
A stillness settled over Bri. Was he saying he loved her? Or was it just that he was that sort of man, careful and protective? Was there any real distinction between the two when it was her welfare that seemed of utmost importance to him?
She tried to turn in his arms. He held her, gently but firmly. There was wry amusement in his voice when he spoke again. “You can not know how hard it is to deny myself or you wouldn’t be tempting me.”
“But … won’t your fertile cycle pass?”
He stiffened, and she thought the question had disconcerted him. “The gods willing, there will be another and a safer time. If you chose me next time, I will be honored. I would … not sever the companionship if you chose Dansk instead.”
The last comment sent a jolt through her. Stunned, Bri wrestled with the comment. Dansk had mentioned companionship, too, but she’d thought he was talking about friendship--friends with benefits, actually. The way Kole spoke, it sounded like something more … permanent. The Hirachi version of marriage, she wondered?
She realized there were no words for love or marriage in the language. Obviously, they didn’t actually form family units, at least not permanent ones. Maybe seven year cycles? They’d come together to produce a child, rear it together until the next cycle and then change partners?
Bizarre as it seemed to her, she supposed it wasn’t that farfetched. Humans tried, with varying degrees of success, to mate for life. Very few animals in nature did. Mostly, they mated, reared their young to maturity together, and then parted, searching for a new mate when the season came for it again.
She didn’t especially dislike the notion, but then again, she realized she wasn’t too keen about Kole deciding to change partners for the next dance.
Except that he said, now, that he wouldn’t. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t, though.
It occurred to her that now would probably be a good time to explain that Earth human females weren’t like Hirachi women, but she decided he didn’t need that to worry about. In any case, the Hirachi seemed to cycle together from what she understood. It wouldn’t matter whether she was fertile or not if he wasn’t.
Seven cycles was a long time to ask him to wait, though, when he’d been deprived of the children he wanted so many times before.
He was right about a pregnancy making it harder on her, though.
The other women didn’t have the option of saying no. Most of them were probably already pregnant considering the breeding program the Sheloni had instigated, at least half of them certainly were.
They couldn’t wait long or they ran the risk of a real disaster with the pregnant women slowing everyone down.
She sighed. “Thank you for bringing me the icky, disgusting stuff. It helped.”
She felt him shift and thought he was looking down at her. Amusement threaded his voice when he spoke. “I will bring you more icky, disgusting stuff tomorrow since you shared with the others.”
Bri thought she detected a note of censure. “They were burning, too.”
He settled again. “
You
are the one who is dear to my heart. Their men can look after them.”
A smile curled Bri’s lips and warmth filled her. She hadn’t exactly been fishing for that, but it pleased her no end. He
did
care for her!
As much as she wanted to explore that, she let it go. “I was wondering if there was anything down there that had other … interesting properties?”
He tensed. “Like what?”
She rolled onto her back, but she discovered she still couldn’t make out his features in the darkness. His eyes glowed eerily, though, and she doubted he was similarly challenged. “Something that would corrode the stuff the Sheloni use to make everything.”
Even though she couldn’t see his expression, she felt the tension in his form that told her she had his full attention. “We need to disable the robots. They’re too strong even for you Hirachi. We lost our programmer on the trip down--otherwise I’d hoped she could reprogram the things. We wouldn’t need to, though, if we could find something that would eat up their circuits--or whatever the Sheloni have used to animate them. It would mean getting up close and personal, but those bladders would work to direct a stream of acid ….”
He placed his fingertips over her lips, halting her mid sentence.
Bri’s heart skipped several beats. She’d been so excited about her idea, she’d been careless. Had she given everything away, she thought, dismayed? Ruined all the plans she’d worked so hard on?
He lifted his fingers after a moment. “It’s passed.”
Surprised, Bri was silent for a moment. “What passed?”
Her question surprised him. “The beams they use to see and hear us.”
“You can
see
them?”
Obviously, he realized it was a rhetorical question. “What would this
acid
be like?”
“It would burn your skin. Everything the Sheloni make is made out of the same stuff, though, I’m almost positive. We could test it on the materials in the shelters until we find something that seems strong enough. Then someone would have to try it on one of the bots, I’m afraid. Otherwise, we wouldn’t know for sure that it would work. We have to work out a plan that would take down the bots quickly so we could attack the Sheloni. Otherwise the Sheloni could escape, and we wouldn’t be able to stop them from using the ship to attack us.”