'I have to tell you I'm not sure I can do this,' she whispered.
'You're a Guild boss wife. You can do anything, remember?'
He leaned forward abruptly and kissed her. It was a hard, fast, rough, thoroughly possessive kiss, and it told her just how much sexually charged tension was zapping through him.
He broke off the kiss an instant later. Heat and regret burned in his eyes.
'Sure hate to waste the afterburn like this,' he said. 'But we've got priorities here.'
He turned to face the quartz wall. She was still trying to catch her breath when she realized that dark light was once again swirling in the atmosphere. Where was Fontana getting the energy to do this? He had to be pulling on the last of his reserves.
The waves of night fire formed a now-familiar whirlpool in front of the wall. With disconcerting suddenness, a large section of solid quartz seemed to dissolve.
Elvis bounced up and down, delighted that Fontana knew how to play this game, too.
A fantastical scene appeared as the gate opened. She had seen photographs and rez-screen videos of the alien rain forest, but viewing it in person was something else entirely.
Her first impression was of a mass of impossibly verdant foliage. Giant ferns, spectacular palm fronds, and trees choked with vines and leaves loomed in the opening. The hues and intensities varied, but all of the plant life she could see was infused with the unique psi green that characterized virtually everything else the aliens had constructed.
Fontana drove through the opening into the jungle. It was as if they had entered another dimension. Heat, humidity, and the rich smells of a giant greenhouse enveloped them.
'Nothing gets out of here into the tunnels,' Fontana explained. 'The gates have some kind of invisible barriers that keep jungle life inside.'
He de-rezzed the sled and turned in the seat. Once again energy pulsed.
Sierra looked back and saw that the tunnel wall had re-formed.
'We're going to have to move fast,' Fontana said. 'I've got maybe ten, twelve minutes, max. Grab one of the supply kits in the back. I'll take the other.'
He climbed out of the cab, gripping the edge to steady himself. There were grim lines at the corners of his mouth. His jaw was rigid. She knew that he was operating on willpower alone now, but he seemed to have a lot of that particular commodity. A bom leader, she thought. But more than that, a man who protected others; Her intuition rezzed faintly, making her understand that Fontana's only objective now was to see her safe. He would keep going until he accomplished that goal or until he dropped in his tracks.
When he reached into the back of the sled and picked up one of the kits, she saw his knuckles whiten with the effort.
She scrambled out and grabbed the second kit. Turning, she saw that he was already heading into the jungle, moving at a steady slog. Elvis scampered along at his heels. She hurried to catch up.
'Where are we going?' she asked.
'Where else?' Fontana said. 'The secret alien temple of love.'
Chapter 24
HE KEPT CHECKING AND DOUBLE-CHECKING THE COMPASS, aware that in his present state of exhaustion it would be all too easy to make a mistake. He had been this way several times in recent weeks, but he knew he couldn't trust himself to recognize the path. Nothing ever looked the same two days in a row in the jungle. New growth was always taking the place of old, altering the landscape. And then there was all the damned psi to contend with. The plants and trees gave off even more energy than quartz, probably because they were living things. The swamp of paranormal waves played tricks on the normal human senses.
His feet felt as if they were made out of solid mag-steel now. It was all he could do to get one thousand- pound boot in front of the other. The effort required to keep his eyes open was painful. The postburn rush was fading fast.
Fortunately, his destination was not far. He pushed through one last web of cascading vines. The alien ruin was there, right where the compass said it should be. Relief nearly overwhelmed him. Sierra would be safe here while he slept off the afterburn.
She came up beside him and halted suddenly, staring in amazement at the strange structure.
'Not a cave,' she whispered, sounding vastly relieved.
'No,' he said.
'I was so afraid it was going to be a cave. This is incredible.'
'I know.'
The ruin was unlike any other that he had ever seen. It was made of quartz but not the usual opaque green variety. Instead, the graceful, circular pavilion was fashioned entirely of a transparent, emerald-tinted stone. Seven clear stone pillars supported the elegantly vaulted, crystal-clear quartz roof. On an earlier visit he had measured the diameter of the transparent floor. Fifteen feet. Plenty of room for both of them.
'You'll be safe here,' he said, aware that he was starting to slur his words. He managed, barely, to haul himself and the emergency kit up onto the transparent floor.
'The clear quartz must have some special properties,' Sierra said, following him. 'This place should have been buried by vegetation centuries ago. Instead, it's as clean as the day it was built.'
'Like the tunnels,' he said. He crouched to open the supply kit. 'You can leave the pavilion, but don't go out of sight of it. Understand? You won't be able to find your way back.'
'Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere down here without you.'
He pulled out the bedroll. 'There's water in the supply kits, but feel free to drink from the stream over there. I tested it.'
'I've heard that all the water that has been found in the jungle so far is safe to drink.'
'So far. Down here you don't make too many assumptions.' He kicked the bedroll open and stretched out, yawning. 'I'll wake up in about three, maybe four hours.'
She was as safe as he could make her for now. He sprawled on the bedroll, turned on his side, and let the weight of sleep take him.
THE HUMIDITY WAS INCREASING EVEN AS THE LUMINOUS green sky darkened with ominous peridot clouds. The long-sleeved turtleneck Fontana had pulled out of the closet and told her to put on before they escaped the mansion had proved to be an exceptionally bad fashion choice. She was so hot in it that she began to worry that she might suffer from heatstroke. To be fair, Fontana had never intended to take her into a jungle tonight.
She opened one of the supply kits. There was a variety of neatly packed items inside, including some energy bars and what looked like one of Fontana's shirts. The shirt was typical Guild boss black with amber buttons. There were also several chunks of amber in the bag. All of it tuned, no doubt.
She started to remove the suffocating turtleneck and then paused self-consciously to make sure Fontana wasn't awake. But he was sound asleep on the bedroll, his back to her.
Hurriedly she removed the garment and tossed it aside. After a moment's thought, she took off her perspiration-dampened bra as well. Constricting undergarments were not comfortable in the jungle.
The shirt was much too big. It hung to her knees and kept sliding off her shoulder, but when she rolled up the sleeves, she was pleased with the result.
'Much cooler,' she said to Elvis. 'Here, let me take off your cape. It can't be very comfortable in this heat.'
He didn't pay any attention when she slipped the rhinestone cape off over his head. He was too busy checking out the contents of the supply kit.
She folded the little cape and tucked it into her purse.
'Hungry?' she asked.
He rumbled.
She removed one of the energy bars, unwrapped it, and handed it to Elvis. 'It's no peanut butter and
