Kelly fished out the other anchor. He went over the side and waded it ashore. He went about ten meters up on shore and planted the anchor in the sand. Tammy tied the anchor line off and brought a cooler up from below. She passed it over from the bow to Kelly and went back for more. Kelly carried it up above the anchor and set it down. He went back to get a small cooker and put it next to the cooler. She said she could get the rest.
Kelly looked around at the island. It was about a kilometer square in size. A rock escarpment about 15 meters high dropped down into the water on the southern side of the cove. Some sort of yellow moss clung to the rocks and trailed down into the water. Above that was a small copse of trees that looked like pine trees, or their Antarean cousins. There was a break in the trees about ten meters wide, where the escarpment ended in the middle of the island. Beyond that were some local deciduous trees with trifurcate branches evenly spaced from ground to tip. Tammy came up with the last of the gear and proceeded to set up camp.
“Is there anything I can do?”
She looked up at him and said, “See if you can find some dead fall wood. We can burn that. Don’t break any live branches off the trees. That’s against regulations and the local wood really, really stinks if you burn it when it’s green.”
Kelly went up the slight slope to the trees and started gathering wood. He came back with an armful and went back for more. When he’d amassed a pretty good supply he went into the water to wash off the wood bits and leaves. The water was nice and cool. He swam out a ways and dove down. The water was clear and he could see the bottom a few meters below. He was going to swim down to the bottom when he saw something large move to his right. He didn’t know what it was, but it was big and black. Not knowing the local water creatures, he beat a hasty retreat to the beach.
“Tammy, what are the local fish like?”
“There are trout and bass brought from Earth, but they don’t do too well here. The indigenous fish are the wing fish, the Antarean eel, and the black sleeper. The wing fish looks like an eagle flying under water. It has these huge fins sticking out to each side. The Antarean eel looks like a snake with fins. The black sleeper is the catfish of Armstrong. They lie on the bottom where a current flows and filter nutrients out of the water. They usually don’t move unless you disturb them.”
“I just disturbed one. He disturbed me a bit, too. Thanks.”
Kelly turned to go back into the water. Tammy came over to him, handed him a mask, and put one on her face. Each mask had a small light attached to the head strap. They both went into the water together. Her hand found his and pulled him in after her. She pushed off from him and dove down into deeper water. Kelly followed behind, admiring the view. Tammy was a strong swimmer and Kelly had to work to keep up with her. They both came up for air and she told him to follow her.
She dove down toward some rocks and Kelly stayed close behind. She stopped, turned toward him, and made a dive under sign with her hands. Kelly followed her down. As he got to the bottom of a rock wall, Kelly could see an opening. Tammy went in and motioned for him to follow. He went in behind her. She switched on her light. Kelly fumbled with his light until his came on too. As he looked up he could see the quicksilver appearance of an air pocket far above him. Kelly was already treading water in the air pocket. He came up beside her, stuck his head up into the air pocket, and took a cautious breath. The air was cool and fresh.
“This is kind of neat. How did you find this place?”
“I came out here with breather units once and followed my nose. This chimney comes out on the island somewhere. I’ve looked but never found it. Come over here.”
Tammy swam over to a shelf along the far wall and climbed up. Kelly followed her.
“Kelly, did I kiss you last night?”
“As a matter of fact, you did, right before you passed out.”
“Good, I planned to kiss you. I’m glad I succeeded. I just wish I could remember it. Do you suppose I could kiss you again?”
Kelly took off his mask, leaned over to her, and said, “It would probably be easier if you took off your mask.”
Tammy pulled her mask off, and Kelly leaned into her and kissed her.
Tammy closed her eyes and leaned back, breaking the kiss. “I don’t see how I could have forgotten that. May I have another?”
Kelly pulled her close and kissed her again. She melted into his arms, but gave back as good as she got. Her wet body felt soft and warm against him. She was a good kisser. Kelly’s breath got a little shallow.
She broke the kiss, looked around at the size of the rock shelf, and dropped back off into the water. She said, “This shelf is a little small for the large ideas I’m getting. Let’s go back to the beach. Watch your head when you come out of the cave.”
Kelly followed her down the tunnel and back out into open water. She broke the surface to take a breath and then dove down a meter below the surface, swimming to shore. Kelly did the same. When they reached the shallows, she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the shore. They went over to the blanket and threw themselves down. She passed him a towel so he could dry off.
She dried herself off, made a swipe at drying her hair, and wrapped the towel around her head like a turban. She leaned over and kissed him again and drew back.
“Kelly, I like you. I like you a lot. I would like to have you as a lover, but only on certain terms.”
“Terms? What terms?”
“I plan to make a career in the Fleet. I want to see how high I can go on my abilities. I’d like to be an admiral some day. I know I’m only a planetary shuttle pilot now, but this is only my first assignment and I am a pilot. I’ve got a lot of future in front of me.”
“I’m telling you this because my plans don’t include a husband and children. We can have a lot of fun together, but I’m not looking for a home and family.”
Kelly looked at her for a bit and said, “I understand and support your ambitions, Tammy. I feel the same. I don’t know if I’ll make it to admiral either, but I want the opportunity to try. My own situation as such right now is similar. I’m going to be out on patrol or deployment for weeks to months at a time. I’m not looking for a permanent relationship, either. So, I respect your ambition and support you in your drive. I do have one question.”
“What’s your question?”
“Does this mean we can’t have sex?”
She smiled and said, “Ask me this evening.” She then pushed him down and lay on top of him, giving him a long deep kiss. Things progressed from there.
Later, they lay in each other’s arms, luxuriating in the warmth and feel of their bodies. Tammy looked at Kelly and said, “Kelly, if you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll understand. What did you do that got you on General Bugarov’s bad side? Cas has been telling a tale he heard through scuttlebutt. I’d like to hear your side.”
Kelly rolled his eyes. “Cas, what a wonderful individual. What has he been saying?”
“I don’t believe any of it. He’s been saying that you screwed up on a training exercise and almost got some of your squadron killed. Cas doesn’t like you, so we’re all convinced he’s lying.”
“Well, Cas isn’t even close. Quite the opposite happened. I hope you are in the mood for a long story.”
She looked up into his eyes and nodded her head.
“Tammy, are you familiar with the Wall of Fire tactic?”
“Yes, I read about it at the academy, but that’s ancient. Nobody uses that anymore.”
“General Bugarov liked it. She thought of herself as the reincarnation of Marshall Ney, Napoleon’s cavalry chief. She was always reading about ancient battles and drawing all the wrong conclusions from them. She thought she had rediscovered the Wall of Fire tactic and saw it as her master stroke.”
Kelly rolled away from Tammy, onto his stomach and up on his elbows, “I still feel that General Bugarov’s early experience in the planetary defense forces, where most of her combat training was done in the atmosphere, made her too two-dimensional in her thinking and in the tactics she enforced on her fighter units. I once tried to discuss other tactics with her during a post-drill critique and had my head handed to me.”
“Second Lieutenant Blake, when I want your opinion, I will give it to you. As long as I am the Fleet Fighter Commander, we will use the tactics I prescribe. I have spent more time fastening my flight harness than you have in the service. Sit down!”
