Beyond the Stars (26 page)

“Sami, you look
fantastic
,” he beamed. Seeing him look so happy sent a thrill of excitement through my entire body.

“I feel great. I was just with Urit. He said the vaccination is complete. I have a clean bill of health,” I said cheerfully. I decided to leave out the rest. There was no reason to ruffle any feathers.

“
Finally.
” He smiled. “Come here,” he said. He swung me into his arms. “Let me see. Wow! You’re not burning up.” He slid his hand under the back of my shirt to feel my skin.

“I’m just as relieved as you are, trust me.”

“You have no idea how hard it’s been to be close to you and have to behave myself. You’ve awakened a part of me I’ve been ignoring for some time now. But I’ve been worried I might accidently
kill you
if we got too carried away. In truth, I should’ve been worrying more about myself. You’ve been killing me slowly. I could selfcombust at any minute,” he said with a laugh. Then, without hesitation, he leaned down and kissed me robustly. He carelessly let my body push back against the corridor wall and brought himself in tightly against me. I could feel his excitement as he leaned his body into mine. I felt relieved when my temperature didn’t soar. I ran my fingers through his luscious hair and relinquished my self-control—kissing him back with the same fervor. I couldn’t stop myself. He gave me chills. I could never get enough of him. I hoped this corridor didn’t have cameras. He ran his hand up and down my body, caressing my curves. I felt his hard muscles flexing across his back. I wanted to rip his clothes off right then and there. He had to look amazing under these clothes. We were starting to get carried away when we heard people talking while they approached us from around the corner. Gaelan stopped kissing me when the sound of their footsteps drew closer. He let out a giant breath and closed his eyes. He reluctantly released my right thigh, which he had wrapped around him in order to wedge himself between my legs. I didn’t want him to let me go.

“Hmm, we need better timing. This shouldn’t be
so
hard,” he whispered. He rested his forehead against mine as he straddled his arms on both sides of my body to lean on the wall. “I can barely control myself around you.” He groaned before he stepped away from me to fix his clothes.

“Me, either,” I whispered back. I straightened my clothes as well.

“What am I going to
do
with you?” he said in a deep voice while he tucked in part of his shirt.

“I don’t know. Why don’t we go back to our room,” I answered seductively. His eyes brightened.

He quickly gazed down at his watch. “Ahh, there isn’t time,” he moaned disappointedly.

“Fine, I guess we will just have to wait until later tonight … we’ll pick up where we left off,” I promised. Two crew members quickly walked past us without making eye contact. They looked uncomfortable in passing. I looked at Gaelan’s face and grinned as they went by. I wondered how much they might have heard. I didn’t care.

“Later it is,” he said. His face held a dimpled smile. He was breathtaking.

“Hmm.” I sighed. “I can’t wait!”

“Come on, we should get something to eat.” Gaelan motioned his head down the hall towards the café and hesitantly started to walk.

“Okay,” I replied. I could feel the weight of his stare on me while we walked. I briefly looked over at his face and gave him a sideways smirk.

We sat down at a table with Azil and Zaric. Noah and Karis came in shortly after. Apparently, the two of them had become much closer while I was recovering. I was surprised at how friendly Karis was now that Noah was paying attention to her.

“Sami, I’m glad to see you back to normal. I missed picking on you,” Noah teased.

“Life wouldn’t be the same, would it?” I replied. I saw Karis possessively clasp her hands around Noah’s arm. She was like a child grasping onto her new toy. Maybe she wasn’t overly thrilled by my presence after all.

“Gaelan, did you tell Sami about Decca?” asked Noah.

“No, Noah, not yet—I didn’t get a chance.” He smiled at me. I knew he was referring to how we just spent our time on the way to the café.

“Decca, what’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a frozen rock,” muttered Azil, sounding unimpressed.

“Come on, Azil, it’s not that bad,” corrected Zaric. “It’s a planet we stop at for supplies on the way home.”

Gaelan leaned across the table towards Azil. “I suppose you’re not coming?” he surmised.

“No,” she said sharply.

“Don’t you want to get off the ship? Think of all the fresh air, the wide open space,” he said, trying to coax her.

“No way, I’ve seen enough of that place after the last time. I had wind burn on my face for over a week!” she said, forging a viable excuse.

“Baby,” Gaelan teased.

Zaric grinned. “I just came from the flight deck, and the weather report showed clear skies,” he announced proudly.

Gaelan rubbed his chin. “You’ll miss us when we’re gone and wish you came along,” he said, staring Azil down.

“Uh huh, you guys have fun; I’ll pass.” She shook her head to opt out of going on the trip.

Zaric leaned over and gave her a quick kiss. “Have it your way,” he said. She smiled at his understanding.

Noah looked at me. His eyes lit up in anticipation. “Sami, Decca looks like a ski resort right after a snowstorm. It’s really pretty. You have to go with us. We get to hike up to a cave. It’s so much fun.”

“Would you like to come with us?” asked Gaelan with excitement filling his voice.

“Okay, sure,” I answered without so much as a second thought. “When are we going?” Snow or no snow, I was dying to put my feet firmly on actual ground.

“Right after we eat. We’ll be there in less than an hour,” Noah said enthusiastically.

Great
, I thought,
Gaelan really did mean we’ll pick up where we left off later … much later.
This was disappointing. I was hoping he meant right after lunch. We finished eating and headed to a room I’d never seen. They called it the landing. The room was large and two stories high. It looked like a huge garage. There were six vehicles neatly lined up on one side: three white and three black. I walked over to check them out while the others talked. The surface of the vehicles had a matte finish. I stroked my hand across one of the black vehicles and watched in amazement as the surface took on the color of my skin and sleeve. Gaelan walked over to join me and explained that the alloy was capable of taking on the color of its surroundings in order to function as camouflage for their expeditions. They were triangular and the size of two Hummers put together. They didn’t have wheels. I wondered if they could fly or if they slid across the ground. I would have asked more questions, but I had to get ready to go. Karis was waiting impatiently for me to join her in getting dressed.

Azil held to her decision to stay aboard and forgo the excursion. She seemed to have an aversion to snow. I briefly considered staying with her for one fleeting moment but decided not to back out. Who was I kidding? My choice was clear. I felt uncontrollably giddy to be getting off the ship, even if it was just for a little while. Karis shared my enthusiasm and was thrilled to be going. I think she would follow Noah anywhere. She grudgingly took me with her into a side room off the landing to get ready. We put on multiple layers. I copied how she added each piece. We topped them all off with a white snow parka and boots. How cold was it? I felt like a giant marshmallow. Just then, I felt the ship jerk. My body swayed to catch my balance. “What was
that?
” I was startled by the sudden movement.

“We just landed,” Karis reassured me.

“That’s it? Wow, that wasn’t bad at all,” I said in disbelief. I wasn’t sure what to expect. “How come it was so gentle?”

“We have a self-regulating landing system. It’s the latest technology. The landing gear surveys the land for irregularities and makes the internal adjustments to our speed and landing gear so we have a smooth landing,” she informed me in an arrogant tone.

“Humph.” I marveled at their ingenuity to be able to land such a large mass with such precision. I refrained from asking anymore questions. I didn’t want to give Karis the satisfaction. She didn’t exactly hide the fact that people from her planet were undeniably technologically superior. On the contrary, she flaunted it.

“Let’s go, Samantha—the
boys
will be waiting,” Karis said exuberantly. I think she secretly enjoyed the unevenly exaggerated male to female ratio aboard the ship.

Waiting by the door were Gaelan, Noah, Zaric, and Tyden, along with two other crew members I’d never met. They were both dressed and appeared to be going as well.

We approached Noah. “Here you go, ladies,” he said, handing Karis and me an empty backpack.

“Thanks,” we said in unison.

“Sami,” Noah said. “Pascal and Enos are coming with us as well. You remember Pascal—you met him the same day you met Gaelan,” he introduced us again. Really, I met him? Pascal was a tall, muscular man. He had a bodybuilder physique, solid muscle, with shoulders as broad as an elephant is wide. He was definitely someone you would want on your side during a fight. How in the world did I forget meeting him? Enos was the complete opposite. He was a skinny, young kid.

“Oh, hello, it’s nice to see you,” I said politely to Pascal despite having no recollection of ever meeting him before.

“Samantha,” Pascal replied, accompanied with a friendly nod.

“And that’s Enos.” Noah pointed to the young teenager talking to Gaelan. He paid no attention to us. They appeared to be in the middle of a heated discussion.

“No, no way. We can’t,” Gaelan argued with Enos.

“We’re taking them,” Enos shouted.

“
No
, Enos, we’re not. We have to go by foot. The conditions aren’t right. It’s not safe. Decca is too windy.” I was a little disappointed to hear that we were going by foot. I wanted to ride in one of the cool mystery vehicles parked inside the landing, too.

Enos glowered at Gaelan. “So what, you think it will be better for us to walk around without any protection in a harsh environment?” Enos challenged Gaelan’s decision. Tyden looked at Gaelan with understanding and bit his lip. He appeared deliberate in keeping quiet to avoid getting himself involved in the fight.

Zaric leaned in between Gaelan and Enos. “If we crash, Decca doesn’t exactly have a clean-up crew to remove your mangled body from the wreckage.” He let out a small chuckle.

“This is absurd. You’re afraid of crashing. Perhaps if you
knew
how to fly we wouldn’t have to worry about hurting the precious Levitrons,” Enos moaned as he pointed over to the strange vehicles. I saw Gaelan’s eyes widen in disbelief at Enos’s defamatory insult. He took a deep inhale like he was fighting to maintain his composure.

“We’re walking,” Gaelan shot back firmly. He quickly turned away, leaving no room for discussion. I couldn’t believe how calm Gaelan handled the teenager’s shoddy remark. Gaelan would make an excellent parent. He took my hand and led me down the wide metal ramp onto the snow-covered ground. Everywhere you looked, there was nothing but white—the landscape was barren. It was daylight, but there was no sun in sight. The sky was a clouded silver gray. I turned back to look up at the ship. My jaw dropped open in awe, letting the cold air hit my teeth. I was blown away by its mammoth size. The dark gray hull of the craft looked enormous against the white backdrop. It felt big on the inside, but seeing it in its entirety, it was even bigger than I ever could have imagined. The ship was shaped like a boomerang with perfectly curved, aerodynamically correct angles. Spotlights shined down brightly in a V-like pattern onto the snow below. The ship’s lights made the snow glisten with rainbow prisms, like light shining off diamonds. Mist surrounded the ship as heat evaporated off its hull. It appeared to be cooling down after entering the planet’s atmosphere. I would have loved to see the blueprints on something so extreme. Some of the other crewmen came down the ramp and remote-controlled a three-foot-wide metal pipe. The pipe dropped straight down from the ship and drilled right into the ground. It was practically silent but smelled like hydraulic fluid. I came back to reality and realized the others were already starting to walk away from the ship.

“Wait up,” I called after them. I strode quickly to catch up. I instantly regretted not eating more for lunch.

“Do you like the ship?” Gaelan asked when I came up beside him.

“It’s outstanding,” I complimented.

“It
really
is.” He smiled widely at my appreciation of the technological masterpiece.

“What is that?” I asked, turning back to point to the pipe coming down from the ship.

“We refill our water tanks here. Decca has fantastic water,” explained Gaelan.

Noah pointed to a mountain range that was directly ahead. I gazed up at the tall mountain peaks in the distance. “That’s where we’re going, Sami. You are
mine
,” he declared to the mountain.

“Great, maybe I should have stayed on the ship,” I muttered as I looked up at the imposing wall of white. The land was completely untouched by habitation, as if no one would dare to venture up its tall ranges.

“Are you afraid of heights?” Gaelan asked cautiously.