Not that she blamed him. Harper had been skipping the routine maintenance again, leaving little notes to remind himself to repair the power cells and what not. And that was why they crashed. One of the main power relays had blown when she'd tried to lose a stray Drago-Katzoff fighter. Fortunately for them the fighter ran into the mines she'd dropped, but the resulting explosion had fried just about every other system on the ship, and they'd been lucky to reach wherever this was. Breathable atmosphere (hah), some rat-like things and insects, and a hideously unstable orbit around a binary dwarf star system. Probably why there where no colonies. A planet gets ripped apart by tidal quakes every few years and folks just don't wanna know.
"What are you doing out here?"
Beka jumped. "Looking for a date." She'd wandered into the tree ferns a few metres from the ship, and in spite of the crackling ground he'd come up behind her completely unheard. "Do you have to do that?"
Tyr shrugged. He was wrapped in one of the blankets, his breath clouding in the cold air. "I was practising. I shall have to start hunting soon. Again, what are you doing out here? I know that you're not picky but I doubt that you'll find a mate out here. Although, some of those rodents may well be genetically superior to Harper."
"I was admiring the view. " She looked at him, then said "Hunting what?" then the light dawned. "You can't be serious, not those rats!"
"It's them... or you, Captain Valentine. I have considered our future if the heroic Captain Hunt fails to rescue us. We have adequate life support on the 'Maru, and there is a food supply. I believe we should be able to survive until the next close passage to the suns, near seventeen years. Perhaps even longer if that sorry wreck can survive this planet's surface cracking ."
Beka froze. "Uh-uh, no way , no way!" She swallowed hard. Seventeen years alone with Tyr. Eating rats. Alone with Tyr! Suddenly she could feel her cheeks burning, and she couldn't breathe. She sneaked a quick look at him, but he was looking away. She groped for something to hide the thought. " I mean, rats." It sounded lame.
"I've eaten them before, they can be quite tasty if you cook them with some garlic."
Beka was about to snap back at him when she realised he was joking. This was a change from the monotony of "I'm going to kill the little runt" , which was almost all he'd said in the past fortnight. His mood seemed better today. In fact, if she didn't know better she might think that was a smile. "You seem a bit perky for some one whose gonna be eating rat tomorrow. Spill."
"I have fixed the shower."
"My hero! Hot water and everything?"
"Yes, and I suggest you use it immediately. If there are any predators on this world they will be able to smell you from some distance." Again, he was teasing, a hot shower having improved his mood no end. He was very vain and had hated being dirty. "I know I can."
"HEY! Thats no fair. It's a womanly fragrance." She lifted up her face, mock indignantly. Tyr leaned over, suddenly she was reminded just how big he was, she felt dwarfed. Her pulse picked up and her cheeks threatened to colour again. He just sniffed.
"Actually you smell different to how you do on the Andromeda, at least I think you do, under all that dirt. " Then he actually put his face against her hair and inhaled deeply. Her heart nearly stopped. "I can't quite say how though. Are you feeling unwell?"
"Only at the thought of rat stew." Good recovery. Very carefully she stepped away. "So, you fix anything else? Like, the thrusters?" She breathed out, nice change of subject.
"Unfortunately should go inside Beka, get clean.."He drew in a deep breath. "And stay inside, this air's not good for you, it's too acidic for human lungs."Suddenly his blanket was around her shoulders, and so were his huge dark arms as he wrapped her up. Beka jumped, surprised at his sudden closeness, then relaxed when she realized that he was just trying to warm her up. She hadn't noticed until then that she'd been shivering, and only partly from the cold. He was paying no attention to her personal space. He wasn't naive, he had to have noticed the effect he was having. Maybe he just like buzzing her to see the reaction, she never could read him.
Tyr tied his hair back and took out his gun, carefully not looking at her. He had to stop doing that. It was just a male animal reaction to a female, and it was totally inappropriate with a human female. A few weeks ago he'd almost killed some fool she'd been flirting with at one of those dull functions that humans seemed to insist on whenever they met. The real problem was that male DNA is indiscriminate and will do anything to replicate itself, and his was feeling distinctly unreplicated . He kept repeating that every night as he listened to her breathing, and every time he caught her scent. Just DNA.
He realised the silence had become awkward. "I may as well start hunting before we starve. Any preferences?"
"Yuck. Just make sure the little critters are dead before you bring them into the 'Maru. And you can cook them. I'm going for a shower, maybe then I won't offend your Nietzschean senses. Happy hunting."
With that, she stomped noisily through the frozen ferns back to the ship, glancing back as he padded noiselessly into the ferns, impossibly feline and graceful for a man so big. She couldn't help wondering , yet again, if he was that big all over. Well, he was supposed to be a physically perfect specimen. Hmm, maybe she needed a cold shower, not a hot one.
A little while later and a lot cleaner, Beka was up to her elbows in the Maru's guts, having another go at the thrusters. If uber could pull a repair out of thin air then so could she. An hour later she was swearing and throwing the hell was Dylan? Why hadn't Trance pulled the "lets try *that* one" trick, and found them, like she'd found Dylan that time he'd been dragged off to prison. And if she ever caught up with Harper she was going to help Tyr kill him, in the slowest and most painful way....
Beka was shaken out of her fantasies of maiming Harper by the hatch hissing open. There stood Tyr, his hair and clothes sparkling faintly with frost, and four large vermin in one hand. "The mighty hunter returns. Find anything yummy?"
"You'll be relieved to know there's a small lake with some fish, and a few edible looking plants next to it. I've eaten some to test them for you, and since I haven't reacted yet they are probably non-toxic to humans. " He dropped the rats onto the bar, and started stripping off the button-sleeved jacket he was wearing. "I'll test these too. You'll have to wait till tomorrow to see if I react ."
"Fine by me. Hey, I thought you couldn't get food poisoning. How will you know if it's gonna make me sick?" Beka tried not to stare as Tyr stretched and flexed, shirtless, then looked away as he began skinning his prey.
"Although Nietzscheans are immune to a wide range of poisons, we generally know if we've eaten something toxic. I have much more sensitive taste buds, and I can feel my body counteract it. If it's something lethal to you, I might get indigestion. So far I'd say that the plants were fine, and these creatures smell non-toxic too.I think I shall name them 'harpers'." Tyr's eyes narrowed as he gutted a harper with more strength than was really necessary.
"Nice name. Since we're on the subject, do drugs affect you at all? Can you get drunk?" Beka had always wanted to ask this, but couldn't think of a valid reason to in the past.
"Yes, not that I would ever be that foolish. It would leave me vulnerable, and the universe has a habit of throwing danger at you at times like that. It would take a lot of alcohol, it wouldn't last long and I wouldn't suffer after effects, or addictions . Museveni made us well." Tyr looked at her for a moment when he said 'addictions', then went back to cutting.
Desperately avoiding the subject of her flash habit, she said, "Since we are on the subject of Nietzschean design, I've always wondered why Museveni senior didn't make it impossible for humans and Ubers to interbreed. If he was so stuck on genetic purity why didn't he tweak your chromosomes?" Damn! That was a stupid, stupid subject to bring up when you're the only male and female for a light year in any direction.
Tyr stopped what he was doing and looked at her in surprise. He couldn't think of a word to say, and he certainly wasn't going to admit that this had not occurred to him before. He recovered a moment later and went back to gutting the rats. It was a good point. It would have been simple to make some alteration to make interbreeding impossible. So why hadn't it been done?
The silence began to draw out. She had to say something, and quick. "So why aren't we up to our necks in little halfbreeds? I mean, since so many Nietzschean males are never chosen by Nietzschean females, and you believe the only reason to live is to reproduce, you'd think that halfbreed children are better than none. And another thing, if you're all so perfect, how come there are so many bald, ugly ubers around?" Not bad. Lets see him come up with an answer to that.
Tyr suddenly laughed, a rich sound that broke the tension."You mean the Drago-Katzoff! All of the original Nietzschean specimens were perfect, but flaws do slowly creep in if a clan's females aren't too picky. There have even been rumours of desperate families buying mixed ancestry female slaves for their childless sons, and passing the children off as purebloods. Oh, it happens, but really only in the clans that keep slaves. The Drago- Katzoff have probably been contaminating their gene pool for centuries. Keeping slaves weakens them in more ways than one." he continued smiling, any excuse to insult them.
"I thought Nietzscheans DNA tested their mates for quality." Now this was all new to her. Beka had known a couple of hybrids, but they'd been hiding in the human population, spurs pulled out.
"Only the males. Why? Are you interested in crossbreeding, Beka?"
Tyr could have hit himself. What madness had made him say that? He looked at her, blonde hair coppery in the emergency lighting, normally pale skin rosy, face shocked. He'd gone too far, DNA overriding cultural programming and sanity for a moment.
"I... er, I gotta fix the thrusters." and she vanished into the engines, heart pounding.
Ten minutes later her heart was still racing. This was stupid, they were both adults, she had been around the track more than a few times, and it was stupid of her to nearly faint at what was probably a throwaway remark. Or was it? She couldn't stop the thought running round and round in her head; what if he was serious? They could well be stuck here for a very long time, maybe he was just being practical, and she had raised the subject first. But it wasn't just sex. Do it with him once and thats it; forever, babies, commitment, all the things in life that scared her. Nietzscheans don't do recreational sex...
Beka went cold. It had finally dawned on her why she smelled different lately. She'd had the standard one year contraceptive implant every year since god knows when, and the last was over a year ago. She was fertile, and he could smell it like an animal. Her stomach started tying itself into knots. That explained a lot. She was in heat and he could smell it
She took a few deep breaths, and began to calm down. It was allright, Tyr would never be interested in her, she was sub-standard, a donkey next to a thoroughbred. Dylan might still find them. This planet could blow up in the next few minutes...Get a grip Beka. Try not to think about it. With him. Those huge arms locked around her, clothes being torn off, him inside her. She bit her lip to distract herself, took a few more deep breaths. Okay, so it wasn't that bad an idea. Just not a good one. Just calm down and find a way to fix the goddam ship!
A little while later there was the surprisingly good smell of cooking meat, and he appeared next to her. She was stripping down a fused circuit, and had found something she could actually use. It took a few seconds before she noticed him.
"Anything useful?" Tyr crouched next to her, a bronze mass of muscle, all male and impossibly beautiful, just a touch too close in the confined engine area.
"Yes! If I can find three more of these, we may actually have a hope in hell of takeoff. So, how was your fried harper?" Keep to neutral subjects Beka. Play safe.
"I've tasted worse. How long before we can leave?" Tyr was still bare chested, a light sheen of sweat gleaming on his muscles. Funny, she didn't think the galley got that warm.
"Tyr, there's no guarantee that we're going anywhere, and I'm going to have to strip the Maru down to the metal to find what I need. A week or two. know, if I hadn't got angry and smashed that conduit earlier I would never have spotted that this micro-relay was intact."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" His sounded oddly tense.
"Mmm? Yeah, find me the nano-welder. No, wait I see it." Beka stood up,and stretched over his head for the tool, not thinking.
It was an innocent movement, but standing like that had put her belly on a level with his face, and stretching had lifted up her leather gilette, exposing her skin. A wave of warm scent engulfed Tyr. For a moment he froze, then an involuntary growl escaped, and his head jerked towards her as if it were pulled by a leash, the animal taking over. It was all he could do not to bite her, and he stayed there, unable to stop growling and unable to move. Magog venom couldn't have paralysed him better.
Beka looked down at the sound, and every muscle in her body locked. She'd never heard him make that noise before. After a few seconds her breath came back, but she didn't dare to speak. She drew in a ragged breath, and Tyr's head jerked forward rested his lips against her taut abdomen, hands holding her hips, thumbs caressing her gently. He breathed deeply, and with one fluid movement stood and pulled her against him, one hand grasping the hair at the back of her head, forcing her face up so that she was looking into his eyes. It was terrifying. She could see all thought was gone, animal instincts only in his eyes, no control. She couldn't stop him if she tried.
She was held still for a long second, Tyr looking down at her captive body. His skin was burning hot against hers, the veins on his neck pulsing. He half lifted her, and pulled her head to one side, the other huge arm squeezing the breath from her. Beka managed to wedge her arms against his chest and tried to pry herself loose, muscles finally working, panicking.
"Tyr!" She lost her voice again as his teeth sank into her neck. She gasped with shock, then pushed as hard as she could. "Tyr, stop!" Something about this was very wrong, this wasn't Tyr, all the control in him was gone. Just the most basic needs, consuming him.
Tyr let go of her hair, and ran his hand up to her breasts, ripping open the gilette and vest beneath in one tear. He didn't even seem to notice her struggling. The other arm went around her, and then they were on the cold metal floor of the Maru, his weight crushing her, tearing at her trousers. One of her arms came free, and Beka hit him as hard as she could with the nano-welder.