I couldn’t stand it any longer. I ran a finger from her cheek, between her breasts, down her stomach, and stopped when I found another knot. I made like I wanted to untie it. Instead, she grabbed both sides of her robe and broke the last two strings holding her robe together.
“I want you,” she whispered. “Now.”
She tugged at my uniform, trying to figure out how to undo my belt. With one hand, I unbuckled it and removed everything beneath it. With the other, I explored her body. I started with her breasts, which were round, full, and silky-soft. I ran my hand down her muscled stomach and discovered that it was unlikely she’d ever shaved anything. When I found her folds, she thrust her pelvis against my hand, gasping in pleasure.
That settled it, then. I picked her up, carried her to the cave, and we lost ourselves in a primal, instinctual kind of comfort.
Afterward, I lay on my back, and Enra had one leg straddled over me.
“Will you take me back to my people, the Ish-Nul?” she asked. “I miss them. They are probably looking for me.”
“Yes, of course,” I whispered. I wondered if this was her way of saying goodbye.
“And maybe you can stay for a while? Or visit? Often?”
I smiled into the darkness. “And what would I do if I stayed or visited?”
“Me,” she purred.
The bush concealing the cave entrance moved aside, and we both jumped a little. A vrak-shaped silhouette filled the mouth of the cave, and Skrew’s whiny voice filled my ears.
“Skrew brought—what are you doing?” he hissed. “No, please tell Jacob didn’t—” He couldn’t finish his thought because he started gagging. I heard him stagger a short distance away. Between gags, he managed to squeak out words like “gross,” “disgusting,” and “horrifying.”
“Thanks, Skrew,” I growled.
Enra giggled, nuzzled my neck, and whispered, “Maybe he will stay away longer if you take me again.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice.
Chapter Twelve
The next morning, I was woken by the sound of bird-like creatures fluttering and skittering through the trees outside the cave. I took a deep breath and noticed the sweet scent of Enra’s hair as she curled up in front of me between the blankets. In the late hours of the night, she’d shown me to a nearby natural pool to bathe in, and she’d gathered flowers to scent her hair. Now, her body radiated warmth as she clutched my hand between hers and pressed my fingers against her soft breasts.
As much as I enjoyed the moment, something was wrong. I felt another presence in the cave as well. It was warm. And it had its hand around my waist.
“Skrew?” I said through gritted teeth.
“Hmm?” he responded.
“If you don’t get out of this cave in two seconds, I’m going to rip your arm off and beat you to death with it.”
Skrew yawned and stretched. “How long is two seconds?”
I rolled over as fast as I could, meaning to strangle him until he was half dead. Then I meant to allow him to recover before doing it again. Corporal punishment was something I was familiar with. Skrew vanished in an instant, and it turned out a scared vrak was even faster than an angry—
I paused in the middle of the thought. An angry what? Was I still human? Was I an alien? Something in-between? Was there even a word for it yet?
I left the questions aside as I searched for my clothes. I found them just outside the cave entrance. It had rained during the night, so they were cold and wet. Enra joined me outside, still naked, and stretched both arms toward the sky.
Damn, she looks even better in the daylight.
She caught me looking, put her hands on her waist, and gave me a shy smile. She pulled her robe over her shoulders and worked at the short strings to get the rags tied again. She tugged gently at the edges a moment later and nodded in satisfaction.
In the meantime, I’d also dressed and was grateful for the cold clothes against my body. The temperature was already beginning to rise, and the evaporating water would help keep me cool for a while.
Enra worked the edge of her hood, lifted it halfway onto her head, paused, and looked at me. “I don’t care if Skrew says I am ugly. I know you do not think I am ugly.” She smiled, revealing her perfect, white teeth, and my heart melted again.
“Which way to your people?” I asked.
Enra was the first human I’d met on this alien planet. A village or tribe would provide a good temporary base of operations and an opportunity to gain more intel. I’d discover more about this planet by taking Enra back to the Ish-Nul and have a far better chance of finding the lost crew members under my command.
Although I’d assumed the temperature would continue to rise, the further we traveled, the colder the air became. As the jungle gave way to forest, the sky took on the color of steel. Gone were the tropical leaves and drooping branches. They were replaced by tall, straight conifers a hundred meters high—some taller than that. It was a marked difference from the jungle I’d first appeared in.
Some of the trees were 30 feet wide. I guessed the biggest could have been a few thousand years old—maybe older. None of the species looked familiar to me, but they all resembled the trees in the domed greenhouses on Mars. The major difference besides their size was their color. Where evergreens still had green needles, brown trunks, and colorful lichen attached here and there, the forest I found myself in was devoid of all color except black, white, and various shades of gray. This planet’s flora and fauna was truly a patchwork of different ecologies
