Not just because of theadrenaline, he reminded himself wryly. You had some prettyhot dreams about her too, remember?
Those dreams were fading fast, but he couldstill remember the gist of them, mostly involving him playing airpaddle with a pretty, bikini-clad Zia. The game had always devolvedinto foreplay, and then he was sacking her on land, at sea, and inthe air. Interspersed with those adventures had been dreams ofglorious mech combat. Oddly enough, he couldn’t remember any dreamsof clearing his family’s name, or becoming president of the UnitedStates, although those were the logical outcomes of a Stone-ledvictory on Malara, weren’t they?
Stop fixating on that, he orderedhimself as he approached the medical facility where Zia and thehonor guard were being revived. Just focus on your mission:keeping Zia safe from the Vekzori, and convincing the Malarans tolet you pilot a skirmisher. In that order. Nothing elsematters.
At least, not for now.
* * * *
The shower nozzle was a full two feet aboveZia’s head, but the spray was intense enough to reach her withgreat force, helping her focus as she scrubbed away two weeks’worth of stale oils and flaky skin. She felt calm now—rested andalert, although slightly mortified by her irrational behavior withyoung Annur and his staff.
Her only clear memory of the two weeks insuspension were of dreams that had been varied and vivid.Especially the romantic ones. Staring up at Rem during the medalceremony, and then being swept up into his arms, this time with anice, long kiss. Dancing at the hotel, where again they kissed, andthen he carried her off to his room. And they had kissed in thecolossus again and again too.
She licked her lips. Even now, in thisMalaran shower, she could almost taste him. What was it the youngversion of Annur had said?
You hallucinated a great deal.
She smiled sheepishly, wondering what hewould think if he knew the content of those visions. Not just thehot ones, but the others. The ones during their air paddle game,where Rem’s lean, tanned body had begun to change—to form patchesof metal armor, so that he was half man, half mech. In thosedreams, she had feared him, but it wasn’t Zia he wanted to fight,it was Commander Sean Logan, who would appear out of nowhere. Thetwo males would clash, attacking each other brutally while Ziadarted around them, her air boots propelling her forward as shetried to stop the fight before someone was killed.
Like the dreams of love, these had been soreal she half believed they had actually taken place. But that madeno sense. Hadn’t Logan told her to trust Rem? Why would he fighthim? Or rather, why would Zia dream that he fought him?
Because of the “love triangle”? Jenni isgoing to love hearing about this.
Laughing, she turned off the shower, and awarm wind began swirling around her, drying her gently. It waswonderfully soothing, reminding her that the Malarans were a highlyadvanced society. She probably had dozens of technologicalsurprises in store for her.
Sifting her fingers through her hair, sheallowed the breeze to dry it. Then she stepped into the dressingroom and donned her dark gray flight suit and her lightweight,medium-heeled boots.
Her first priority was to find Rem, whichturned out to be easy, since he was loitering right outside thedressing room with Annur.
“Hey, Zee. How are you feeling?”
“I survived. Looks like you did too.”
“Yeah.” He stepped closer. “I was a maniacwhen I first woke up, but I walked it off around Pangua for awhile.”
She eyed him warily. “Did you wear yourO2 mask? And your goggles?”
“Yeah. It’s wild out there. No offense, Doc,”he added quickly.
“For a human, it is indeed wild,” Annur toldhim. “Zia is wise to be concerned.”
“But we’re safe indoors, right?” shemurmured.
“Yes, you can breathe easily in all largepublic buildings, and most homes and hotels. The particles playhavoc with the temperature systems, and so we filter the indoor airdiligently. Also, the military and diplomatic transports you willuse here have filtered air, so you need not worry about thoseeither.” Annur smiled. “I should give you two a chance to chat. AndI should check on your other bodyguards. We finished bringing themout of suspension a few minutes ago.”
“I hope they didn’t give you as much troubleas we did,” she said with an apologetic smile.
“So far, they are quite calm,” he said. Thenhe smiled again and left her with Rem.
“You gave them trouble too?” Rem asked assoon as they were alone. “How?”
She shrugged. “I was disoriented. Nothingworth mentioning.” She hesitated, then asked, “Did you have crazydreams? I did, and they were so real—almost more real than reallife. I think that’s why it took me a few minutes to figure out Iwas safe.”
“You dreamed that you were in danger?”
“Actually, I dreamed you were indanger.”
“Yeah,” he said with a laugh. “I had thatdream too. Alluvans in giant mechs swarming me and my skirmisher.”Stepping closer, he asked gently, “Are you still mad at me?”
She shrugged again.
“I screwed up,” he admitted. “It just took meby surprise when the press secretary invited me to speak. Even atthe medal ceremony, I never had that chance. Then suddenly I had anopportunity to be myself in front of all those reporters. I didn’twant to look like Jared Quito’s lapdog, tacitly supporting him bystaying quiet. You can see that, can’t you?”
“He made an effort to include you. And youthrew it in his face. And my face too.”
Rem nodded. “I tried to limit the subject ofquestions to the mission.”
She sighed. “Those OmniVid vultures don’trespect boundaries.”
“Yeah, I know that now.” He touched hershoulder. “So? You dreamed about me? That’s nice.” His blue eyestwinkled. “My memories are fading fast, but trust me, you were inmine too.”
She had to struggle not to
