Genesis (32 page)

On the other hand, it might not be a red sun at all. The atmosphere might alter the perception of it.

If plant life had emerged, other life had, too. There had to be land creatures--the sea seemed to be teaming with life if these monstrosities the Hirachi had brought up were any indication, but did it necessarily follow that some alien version of dinosaurs were roaming the land? Was there a blue-print for developing worlds? A ‘this must happen, and then this’ sort of absolute? Even if there was, who was to say dinosaurs, or their equivalent would have to evolve here and, even if there was a ‘must’, then it still didn’t necessarily follow that they had landed in that time frame.

She dismissed the speculation after a bit. After they’d been here a little while, they would all have a better idea of what was outside the walls. They would hear them, she felt certain, even if they couldn’t see. Those flimsy shelters weren’t going to prevent them from hearing the noises animals made when they challenged one another, fought, and died.

It didn’t matter anyway except that it would be nice to have some idea of what they’d be facing outside, because this world was what they had to work with. The Sheloni ship remained in orbit. They weren’t going to get the chance to take over it and figure out how to fly it home.

They might just as well try to summon some enthusiasm for being new colonists on a fresh new world.

It was a shame she’d never
wanted
to be a fucking colonist conquering a new world! She’d liked the boring, mostly uneventful, life she’d had, with all the creature comforts she could afford--to buy, not make herself. She didn’t mind homemaking as long as she had plenty of the tools that made that easy.

The men began to line up to get the food long before they’d finished ‘preparing’ it. Bri couldn’t resist glancing at the men to see what they thought about it. A few merely grabbed handfuls and popped the rolled fish ‘cakes’ in their mouths, but most of them looked at least a little doubtful, their expressions cautious as they tasted.

She was relieved that the food seemed to please them--either that or they were just starving from the heavy labor.

She hoped
they
weren’t going to have to eat the raw stuff! Sushi might be a great delicacy to some. It might even be a wonderful flavor, but she still didn’t want raw food. She’d spent way too much time studying the proper preparation to prevent food poisoning to have any interest in trying anything uncooked.

And the worst of it was that none of them had any idea if any of these creatures they were so busy cutting up might be poisonous if eaten.

God, she missed the FDA!

Nobody keeled over. That was a good sign. Unfortunately, it still didn’t necessarily follow that Earthlings could ingest the stuff without keeling over.

Caroline, she discovered, was covertly popping fish cakes into her mouth from time to time. Nice of her to volunteer to be food taster, Bri thought wryly. She didn’t say anything. Caroline had already swallowed one before she could get a warning out.

She was nearly ready to drop with exhaustion by the time the men had all had their fill and the robot guarding them allowed them to leave the food line. A handful of the women who’d been fortunate enough to be far enough away from the butchering end of the table not to be completely revolted, and who apparently also managed to see Caroline eating the fish, decided to try it themselves.

Bri thought she’d rather starve. She was too tired to be hungry anyway. Ignoring Cory’s demand when he saw her pass by on her way to the water, she moved down to wash the stench of fish off. Washing her hands didn’t do the trick, though. She had icky all over. After a moment, she cautiously moved a little further into the water and scrubbed at the gown she was wearing, wishing she was uninhibited enough to just take the thing off.

The threat of almost certain death might have greatly liberated her, but it hadn’t changed her into an exhibitionist. If there’d been nothing but women in the compound, she still wouldn’t have been comfortable wandering around stark naked.

Unfortunately, she was the next thing to naked by the time she’d finished. The plastic-like properties of the material didn’t keep it from clinging when wet or from becoming embarrassingly transparent. Looking down at herself when she waded out, it hit her that she’d been neck deep in the water when she’d gone in after Cory--way too upset to realize how indecent she looked.

Belated discomfort settled in her. No wonder Kole had looked at her like that!

Cory set up a wailing demand for attention when he saw her come out of the water. Bri glanced toward him, holding the wet gown out from her skin, debating whether she had the moxy to stroll through the encampment looking like she did. She saw when she looked around, though, that she wasn’t the only one who’d gone down to bathe. Half naked women in clinging gowns abounded.

The hell with it, she decided. Trying not to draw more attention to herself by flapping the gown self-consciously, she headed purposefully toward Cory. Dansk reached him first. The boy let out a Comanche yell as the strange man caught him beneath the arms and lifted him into the air. Spurred by the note of alarm in Cory’s voice more than any real fear that Dansk would hurt him, Bri broke into a jog.

She had a stitch in her side by the time she reached the pair, but the sense of alarm faded when she saw Dansk nuzzling the baby affectionately. Surprised, she stopped a few feet away and watched the two of them. When Dansk lifted the baby slightly away and studied him keenly, Cory simply stared back at him wide eyed.

A broad grin finally lit Dansk’s features. He turned to look at Bri. “Mine,” he said, obvious pride in his voice.

Bri blinked, all at sea. “Yours?” she said, dawning possessiveness in her voice.

He didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he settled in the sand and propped Cory on one knee, still studying him--now with a definite look of pride and possessiveness, and Bri didn’t like either emotion directed at
her
baby. “Kole said he looked like Laayia. I didn’t believe him. I thought he was only saying so because ….” He sent her a look she found hard to interpret. Slowly, his gaze warmed with desire that heated her insides. It died after a few moments, or rather was firmly tamped. A look of regret crossed his features. “I would still have liked … but that isn’t possible, not now.”

Bri still wasn’t certain what he was talking about, but she had the uncomfortable suspicion that Dansk had just ‘broken up’ with her. “We’re … still friends?” she asked hesitantly, but realized that although she’d thought ‘friends’, the Hirachi word that had come to her meant companions. She supposed that was close enough. Mostly she was just anxious to know he didn’t mean he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, have anything else to do with her.

His face brightened. “I was not certain. The Sheloni didn’t allow you to choose … but if you choose me, yes. I would be honored.
Am
honored. Pleased. Very happy.”

Bri couldn’t help but be amused that he seemed to be stumbling for words. Somehow, she’d thought he would be--smoother, a player sort of Hirachi, not shy and awkward. Intrigued though she was, however, there was something about his reaction and what he’d said that made her feel as if they weren’t actually communicating.

Or maybe they were. She wanted to be his friend, but she wanted to be more than just a friend.

But there was Kole. She didn’t want to be just Kole’s friend either.

God she was a slut!

She would never have believed that about herself before, but the plain truth was that both of them had rocked her world, and that wasn’t something she could take lightly or dismiss--not when no man had ever even almost had that effect on her before. She was greedy. She couldn’t bear to think of giving up one for the other or, god forbid, both because she couldn’t make up her mind which man she cared most for.

She wanted more time to decide if she had to decide between them.

She glanced at Cory, who’d become comfortable enough with the man holding him to begin exploring the chest he’d been staring at for several moments as if hypnotized. Bri reddened when he grabbed one of Dansk’s nipples and began trying to pull the ‘button’ off. She cleared her throat. “You think he’s yours?” she asked hesitantly.

He chuckled. “Know. Laayia was my mate this cycle. I thought he had died with the others. He has a strong likeness to his mother. I can not doubt that he is mine. ”

Bri frowned. Kole had said something about cycles. She studied Dansk speculatively for a moment, but how was she ever going to understand the Hirachi if she didn’t ask? “I don’t … we’re different, maybe a lot different. I’m not sure I understand the cycle.”

He looked surprised and then thoughtful. “Kole said that the Earth human females could not live in the water, but no one believed he was serious.”

Bri stared at him, wondering just how damning it was to them that the ‘Earth human females’ were so different. She knew they had already fallen short, literally, because they were so diminutive and weak beside the larger race. Instead of confessing that, no, Kole had not been making a funny, they really, really couldn’t live underwater, she directed him back to her question. “The cycles?” she prompted.

He seemed to shrug. “For us it is seven cycles (years)--supposed to be. After the Sheloni, we discovered the mating cycle made us more vulnerable and easier to capture, because we must leave the sea, of course, and mate on land. And stay until the children are born and old enough and strong enough to return to the sea--four cycles, at the very least. The elders forbade it because of that and the women began to ignore the call when the Sheloni continued to raid us for more slaves, so none of us had actually gotten the opportunity to breed. I’ve passed six cycles myself--everyone here at least that many--Kole seven--since we reached the maturity to begin cycling.”

Bri’s jaw dropped--mostly in dismay. “You only have sex every seven years?”

Dansk burst out laughing, but warm promise filled his eyes. “We only
produce
every seven years. The women choose companions as they like, of course, but for the breeding there can only be one chosen and until he has produced she doesn’t allow her other companions to touch her. In that way, we know our lines.” He studied her expression speculatively. “This is not your way,” he said with conviction.

It boggled the mind, or hers, at least. She still wasn’t certain she had fully grasped his explanation. “The women--they’re only fertile every seven years?”

He looked surprised. “Yes.”

Uh oh. Problems. She supposed the Hirachi must be laboring under the belief that the Earth women were in cycle, too, and continued until they produced.

The other Earth human females weren’t going to be happy about this. No birth control and men who thought it was ok to screw any time--Wait! That was like their human counterparts.

Realistically, it changed nothing. The damned Sheloni had taken everyone’s birth control. That was a down the road problem, though. It looked like they were going to have to go to plain old abstinence if they wanted to have any kind of control over their reproduction. It sucked a big hairy one, as Caroline would’ve said, that they hadn’t gotten the same kind of natural birth control the Hirachi women apparently had!

She discovered Dansk was frowning at her. “You said, only every seven?”

Bri plastered a fake smile on her lips. “It’s a little different with us,” she hedged. “How long does it usually take the women to bear their children?”

He frowned thoughtfully. “Almost a full cycle.”

Which could mean the same gestation period as humans or possibly somewhat longer, maybe even shorter. It could be a good thing or a bad thing. It was going to be a disaster for everyone if they gestated their usual nine to ten months and the babies weren’t mature enough to survive. Their cycle could be shorter for that matter, she realized. A Hirachi year could be anything, she supposed, but it was unlikely that it would be the same time frame as an Earth year. God only knew how long the year was on their world. For that matter, she thought uneasily, she wasn’t entirely certain that he
meant
a year when he said cycle. It had translated as year, but then something seemed off on the references, and she began to wonder if cycle was a generic sort of term for them--day cycle, week, month, year--all shortened just to ‘cycle’ and the meaning clear to them only because of the way they used it. It wasn’t impossible. In fact, given the way so many Earth people shortened up the language in just that way, it seemed probable.

They had no control over their own body cycles, though. None. Whatever happened, happened. She just hoped the Sheloni had thoroughly researched before they’d decided breeding the two species would work. Otherwise, life was going to be really rough.

“You’ll accept me as one of your companions after …?” Dansk asked, somewhat hesitantly.

Dragged back from her thoughts, Bri stared at him blankly. “After what?”

“Once you’ve bred with Kole.”

Blood gushed into Bri’s face. Her jaw dropped. Heat that wasn’t embarrassment flooded every other part of her body. She went catatonic while her shocked brain wrestled with unfamiliar information. Apparently, it had somehow been settled that she was Kole’s for breeding purposes and afterwards she could screw either or both to her heart’s content. She didn’t know whether she was comfortable with this new set of rules or not. Wicked creature that she was, though, her heart leapt at the thought.

She could have both, she thought with a mixture of delight and doubt?

It was just as well the robots signaled the end of the rest period. She had way too much food for thought.

Dansk looked upset that she hadn’t given him a firm commitment. She smiled apologetically.

He seemed to take that as a yes. Handing Cory back to her, he caressed her cheek and finally leaned down to kiss her briefly on the lips. “I have missed you,” he murmured.

Kissing, then, Bri thought, thoroughly bemused, was acceptable even though it seemed to have been settled between Kole and Dansk that she was to ‘save herself’ for Kole for the time being? Irritation filtered through her shock. Dansk had implied that women made these decisions. How had it come about that
they
were doing all of the damned negotiating over which of them got to fuck her and in what order? She’d been Kole’s breeding partner first--and their baby had been taken. Dansk was apparently convinced he’d produced. So, it was Kole’s turn because of both of those circumstances?