10. Falling in Love in a Wrong Place, in a Wrong Time

The next morning opened cold and rainy on Planet Yrmh. Notwithstanding, Zarah and Warp slept convenient. They had found a very nice cave with plenty of room. The fire had crackled joyfully the whole night and made the cliff hole very snug. She was not forced any more to sleep under his arm, but had found a nice corner with soft sand as her mattress.

 As they had both yawned the remains of the sleep dust away, Warp decided that the weather was way too bad to continue the trip. He had namely no waterproofs with. Of course, they both fretted the phantom menace, but tried to keep the mood lightsome with conversations. Occasionally the atmosphere turned quite gloomy, though. Warp kept asking a lot about Zarah's past, in his admiration he was eager to know more about her. Nevertheless, as he had come to know her a bit through her palm book diary, he was now faced with similar stories; a sad saga of a woman that had seen only sorrow and loneliness. It hit him deep, making him wrinkle his forehead and look solemnly at the ground. On the side he reflected his own life, how wasted it felt, now. Years of serving Zurg, his whole, brilliant youth mislaid for robbing and violence... What could he have been, if he had chosen otherwise? Would it be too late to start a new life, still... he was not a very young man, any more. The years approached his thirties; the dawn of the life would begin sooner or later.

 It was some kind of alleviation for Zarah to dig up the more obscure facts of her existence. She had never actually talked about them, not let the light despair of her loneliness echo to anyone's ears. She subconsciously believed that she had found some kind of a soul mate to listen to her, videlicet similar emotions she had as Warp, while she hearkened him.

 Towards the afternoon Warp did again some ventilation to his upper body. Luckily, the atmosphere was merrier, again.

Zarah chuckled as she observed his comic-looking commissions. "What kind of preserving jar is that space suit of yours 'cause you need a wrench?"

"It's just this shoulder part and the flank shield of my right arm... then it's just take-it-over-your-scull..." he tweaked the tool.

"Sorry to ask, but why was that weapon attached to you? Isn't it quite troublesome to do daily things with that kind of body part?"

"Well... ya can get used to ev'rything..." he sighed. "I had to learn to be quite much left-handed. But... there are times that I've regretted the loss of a normal arm, like now..." his expression was reasoning.

Zarah was quiet for a while, but her eyes got brighter as Warp next sat down on the rock with his tank top on. A wide smile spread on her face as she evaluated his muscles. Fortunately, he watched elsewhere. She actually now considered him quite handsome, though at first she had been so afraid of him. She liked well-build men and he if who was definitely in that category.

"Um... sorry, gotta change my shirt, too..." he out of the blue said and gave a glance at her, facing her cunning smirk.

"Eh... what did you say...?" she woke up from her dreams and looked totally perplexed.

"Nothing... I guess it doesn't tease you if I change my shirt..." he said back a sparkle in his eye. He knew exactly what that smile had meant and as he was furthermore egoistic, he received it self-satisfied.

"No, no, just do as you want!" she raised her brows and was just ready to achieve more feast for the eyes. This time she still was a bit more careful with her open expressions.

 By the night, Warp invented that they could grill their rations in the campfire. Zarah thought it was a fun idea and sat beside him to put the protein cookie into a stick. As they grilled there, Warp began to feel the itches in his abdomen. She sat very close, giggling to the roasting food. He sensed his heart beats getting faster when he slowly extended his left hand towards her shoulders. A gleam ignited in his eyes, the refection of the fire that excruciated his inners. How much he wanted to close her into his arms, kiss her lips so fervently that she would pass out. His fingers approached her long braid and he let it slide through his hand.

Zarah winced a little and turned her questioning regard at him.

"Um... I just... wondered... could I do you a new coiffure...?" he rapidly made a fake story. He certainly did not want to scare her the way he had previously done.

"Go ahead, if ya wonna. It's messy after the night. Still, I thought ya wan'ed to have a snack", she responded and gnawed her grilled meal.

Dreamingly he unbraided her hair slowly, tenderly. When he had gathered the locks again to make a new hairdo, his hand did not obey his brain synapses any more. Instead, he just stroked her soft hair, soon slid his fingers to her neck, beginning to fondle it. He could almost instantly feel that she quivered a bit under his touch. This was the end of his dummy play, he moved to sit closer to her. As he reached her expression, the fire in him only increased. She squatted there her eyes closed, her arms lazily lying on her lap. She inhaled deep, seemingly rapt of his caresses.

"My li'l poor Zarah..." he whispered barely hearing into her ear. The girl who he had endeavoured to conquer, was suddenly completely molten in front of him? Closing his arms around her, he lifted her up to sit in his warm lap.

 Choi could not comprehend at all, what it was with her. Why did she suddenly feel like this, after all the horror and panic this alien had caused her? She went now completely feeble just because of those little caresses. Her whole being jerked, when she felt his lips caressing her cheek. Again, her name was whispered into her ear, so mildly, so softly. She was taken slowly into his embrace and lastly was granted with a long, profound kiss on her lips. That was something that made the little woman absolutely lose the sense of time and place.

 But, an odd and cold fear suddenly filled Warp's heart. He knew the cruel fact; the fact that he would have to part with her, even quite soon. How long would he feel her beside him? As they would reach the capital, he would have to disappear, for her and his own safety. He was now a double outlaw, hunted by two warriors, everywhere he would go. His only hope would be to sink under the ground, to find a place of similar wretched refugees as he was. And she... he did not know how he would explain this to her. And the best way for that definitely was not this, not the kissing and flooding of tender words. So he loosened her from his clutch and wished her good night, curling up alone to his own sleeping post.

 Poor Zarah was now under false anticipations. With a wistful smile, she sat in her corner, grazing the spot on her cheek where Warp's lips had lastly been. She had felt so safe in his strong arms, like there was not the ruthless world at all surrounding them. She went on thinking with her wild imagination what would happen when they would reach the destination. He would come with her, certainly, maybe they could start something together... she was quite naïve in her thoughts, maybe because he was the first man ever in her life who had given her such tokens of affections. In her lonely orbit of her life, she had remained totally solitude; she had had no crushes, or was it her shyness that had prevented that? In every case, she had to admit in her heart that she had fallen for Warp, just in this little time. Her eyes had opened just today to think what was actually his role. He had exposed his life for just to save her. He had left his whole existence behind him, just to flee the evilness he could not stand any more. She knew she was deeply indebt, and the emotions only grew stronger through that, at the same time when she noticed the care and fondness he allowed her.

 Next morning the rain continued still its hubbub. Warp structinized his coordinate locator and pointed out that they had only a plentiful ten kilometres left. Zarah was jocund like a little bird on a warm day, kept chirping and laughing at every word he said. He watched back at her with a painful sorrow smile. Now she was so happy, happy to be with him... But, tomorrow, if they could continue the travel, it all would end...

 In the night as he was sitting beside the fire, she came to him and on her own sat very beside him. Anguish maimed his soul, was it now that for the worst possible moment she had started to feel like this? No, no... why did the time and hap had to treat them like this, Warp asked himself. Now he wished that she would be still afraid of him, so that the farewell would not be that poignant. She seemed to be so agog and eyed him with shy, but mellow regards. He did not have the courage to awaken her from her dreams; he would leave the explanations for the last moment. And of course he wished the best, that some kind of chance would happen so that she could stay with him...

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 The reinforcements gradually approached Xaneda and its second moon. Team Lightyear was given now other instructions; they were not needed to supervise the guard troops. Commander Nebula sent them to the proximity of the Zeta Quadrant, for he had certain expectations.

"You report any activity in the near space of Zurg's Empire!" was the rigorous order.

"Sir, the Zeta Quadrant is very large. Do you believe that we could scan..." Mira answered to the comm. channel while Buzz set going the acceleration engines.

"I have a feeling that your presence over there is needed sooner or later... Let's check it out for a few days if anything happens. I'm still surprised that there has not been any contact from the dark side. Usually the friendly face of the Emperor appears on my comm. screen in a few hours he has woven his cobwebs. But, you keep an eye on him!" the Commander finished.

"Yes, sir."

"Okay, XR, warm up the radars." Buzz informed before the jump gate to the warp was open.

 The borders of the Zeta Quadrant were cold and silent. Buzz remembered from old experience that shuttles of Zurg commonly lurked behind asteroids and guarded the edge areas of the Black Empire.

"Odd. It has never been this silent here", he frowned through the windshield.

"Maybe Zurg takes a nap!" XR commented lazily from his corner and got everyone to roll his or her eyes.

"Androids do not sleep, according to my knowledge", Booster noted.

"Who knows what that monster is? At least he didn't sleep when he killed my father!" Buzz disapproved.

"At least zero stuff in radar. No folks around. Unless the cloak guy has invented a way to by-pass it. Um... not even energy traces from last 48 hours... this goes over my circuits", the robot added.

"Let's fly a bit further... there's something odd here, now..." Buzz gripped the controllers and turned the ship into move.

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 Zurg was slowly returning from Planet Varl. He was very disappointed to the work of his ally. There had not been a single trace of Darkmatter or the disappeared engineer. Only some disturbing reports had come from the probe droids that had been sent to Yrrz, the signals of the five of them had been lost because of a reason or another. Hence, for Warp and Zarah's luck, the Emperor was no able to suspect anything in the cost of the one blasted droid.

 A black thundercloud shadowed Zurg's mind even more as he had not been able to contact his Star Command base spy devices or the infiltrators. For some reason the frequencies the technology of Varl used, were not sufficient to get any transfer rate from the direction of Capital Planet.  And what waited for him on his home planet, got his vessels dilate for boiling blood. Nothing was in order, none of the broken devices worked yet. For him the hours were now croaking, grub-grilling and sitting testy in his throne.

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 The next morning the forest refugees woke up to face the friendly rays of the sun. When Zarah was back against Warp, he engraved his face into his palm and moaned in emotional despair. Ten kilometres... it would take maybe six hours. How much he now wished that he could just take her on his shoulder and run away, far away...

 She was now a lot stronger and spry after two days' rest. The metres seemed to go as if she had flown; her little being was very energetic and wiry when she was in her condition. Her emotions affected a lot her state; the brighter, the tougher she was. Little by little, the forest grew thinner, and a nebulous city could be distinguished far in the horizon. Zarah kept asking Warp why was he in low spirits, but she did not get a proper answer. He only seemed to steal a glance at his timer every two seconds.  

"What is it, Warp?" she inquired.

"Zarah... I tell you... when we are there." He pointed forth with his finger.

 The last cliff was now climbed. Under the travellers spread a valley with buildings, tensing towards the core of the capital, in the distances. Coldness filled Warp's heart as he inspected her jubilant expressions. It was the time to tell her the truth, leave her, let her wander alone to the destination. He stepped beside her, offering the palm book.

"Here you will find all the information you could ever have about Zurg Tower, armaments of The Itchy Izzard, the spies in Star Command... whatever ya wanna know, it's here. I've programmed it there just for you. So... when you make the drill, you tell your boss about the traitors and so on..."

"Okay, then, let's go!" she exclaimed him with bright eyes and was to pick up his hand. But she met his grave face and got her mouth open for wonder.

"What... is it?" she astonished.

He just pointed at the valley with his blue finger.

"You go on now, Zarah... you'll be safe, there", Warp looked down to her. He cried in his mind, the emotional crowding reflecting from his eyes.

"But... what about you? Are you... not coming with me?" she gazed at him suspiciously.

"No... You just go. I'll find a place somewhere, I'll be alright."

Zarah's eyes suddenly got wet and she sniffed her nose. "Why...? Oh, my goodness, I have not even thanked you for saving my life and now you tell me that you're going to leave me? But why? I thought you wanted to..."

Warp kneeled in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders. He looked deep into her eyes his forehead wrinkled with agony. "Zarah... please try to understand...I'm an outlaw. I could possibly not come with you. It would predispose you to danger as well as me. I will be hunted by two quarters for this on; I'll be safe nowhere in the outdoors. If I'd come with you..." he sighed deep "...I'd only find myself in jail. And that would be the best place for Zurg to find me. No. I'll sink under the ground, I won't exist any more."

Zarah broke to tears and pressed her head under his chin, wining her arms tight around his neck. "NO! You can't tell me that you..."

"No, I won't take my life if that's what you think... I'll find a place to hide... I just won't exist as me any more... And... I beg you to give me one favour. Please don't mention me with a single word when you go on. Don't tell anyone about me. Just say you fled alone. That's for the safety of the both of us." After his sorrow-filled sentence, he took her into his embrace and held her long there against his chest. She sobbed like a little girl who had lost her mother into a concourse. Suddenly he remembered something and loosened her a bit, delved his collar and picked out the heavy steel necklet he had. He unlocked it and pressed it into Zarah's palm. "You keep this... in case you want to remember me..."

"I'll... never... meet you again...?" she pleaded him with her eyes not to say the words she did not want to learn.

"I'm afraid so... but maybe, maybe some day, who knows..." Warp whispered and took her back into his clasp. He pressed his lips hard on hers and caressed her fierily for a moment. She answered sobbingly to his kisses, the woe of falling again into her loneliness in her mind. She admitted herself that he was more than a friend to her, more than a brother, more than a life-saviour. And... she would again be rejected in her own sad world, only a remembrance as her company.

As Choi left him and began to traipse towards the town, he heard her last teary words echoing long in his ears: "I will never forget you, Warp..." He sat long on a rock on the cliff and watched her turning to a small spot beneath the downhill.