Chapter Nine: Bjorn Hellborn
"I can't believe I'm shoveling snow," Charity grumbled, heaving another heavy load over her shoulder. "Me, a Beta Minus clerical assistant!" A sudden gust whipped more snow into the little redhead's freckled face, and the sound of her words was instantly lost in the howling wind.
Charity had been shoveling out the cargo bay since dawn, and now she was tired and hungry and frozen down to her toes. If only she hadn't agreed on making this ridiculous trip to Greenland! She loved her old friend and mentor, Dr. Edith Beddington. But Dr. Margaret Carlton was another matter.
"Tired of toiling away like a dumb Delta or an Epsilon Minus?" The big cargo door had opened with a pneumatic whine, and there was Dr. Carlton herself, looking trim and chic in a smart red and black nylon snowsuit that insulated her body from the cold while accenting her slim, athletic and annoyingly perfect female figure.
Charity rested her tired arms on her heavy shovel, her hoarse panting breath making fluffy white puffs in the icy air. "I told you . . . puff, puff . . . told you before, I'm here to locate Dr. Beddington, and not . . . puff, puff . . . to sleep with all your silly Alpha Plus friends!"
"You can see my funding's been cut off, and I have no maintenance or support staff," Dr. Carlton pointed out. "We're short on supplies as well. Marx Thompson and Bukharin Jones are both perfectly nice boys, and you didn't have to dump snow on them when they wanted to have you after their inspection tour last week!"
"That was an accident! I was just showing them how to use the snow plow." Charity couldn't help grinning even as she stamped her feet in the cold. The two Alphas had pawed her in a way she didn't like and she'd retaliated. Afterwards Bishop Babcock had kissed her and called her his brave little girl, though in front of Dr. Carlton he's scolded her for being rude. Something about Dr. Carlton's long legs and smart figure just turned the elderly bishop into a mindless slave!
"A snow plow's no good without fuel," Dr. Carlton informed her. "And now we need fuel and food and other supplies as well, and there's no place to go but the weather station. Come on, we're taking the tracked snow vehicle."
"I'm not sleeping with any boys," Charity grumbled. Sleep conditioning made her add, "but of course I would if wanted to have them. Everyone belongs to everyone else."
"Not up here, they don't," the black-haired doctor said grimly, her red lips forming a firm line. "Up here you belong to me."
"Humph." Charity didn't say anything more. What could she say when the raven-haired lady doctor was the only one who could help her locate her friend?
The weather station had all the supplies they needed, but Dr. Carlton had to sign for everything over and over. Charity got bored and wandered off looking for someplace to get warm. Suddenly a huge male paw landed on her shoulder.
"What in Ford's name are you doing here? This is my place!"
"Your place?" Charity had never seen a male like this one before. He had golden fur all over his face, and he was taller than any Alpha. And yet he had muscles from heavy work.
"Bjorn Hellborn, get away from that young woman!" Sharp as the crack of a whip, the voice of the pale, skinny Alpha female in charge of the weather center snapped the tension.
"Who on earth was that?" Charity asked later, as she was helping Dr. Carlton load the big tracked vehicle for the return trip.
"That big fellow was an unfortunate mistake," Margaret Carlton answered, giving the little redhead a wry smile. "You've probably guessed that Dr. Beddington and I have been experimenting with working outside the normal bounds of engineered birth and industrial breeding techniques?"
"Um, yes, I mean, we didn't discuss it in detail, but I . . . I know Edith has been doing rituals and stuff that are forbidden." As she finished her labors and climbed up into the snug, heated cabin of the tracked vehicle, Charity felt very foolish. She also worried that she was saying too much.
"Well, the two of us made our first project the creation of the perfect male. One who was unconditioned by sleep teaching and could take one mate or many according to free will. Unfortunately the brute chose not to take any mate at all!" Dr. Carlton laughed as she started the powerful engine of the tracked vehicle, turning up the cabin heat to maximum.
Charity frowned, not seeing what was funny about failed experiments and brutes running wild and scaring people. Why had Bjorn Hellborn been so angry with her? Why did Dr. Carlton not try to help him? It was already growing dark, and the short arctic day was nearly over. Charity closed her eyes, shutting out the disturbing image of Bjorn's bearded face. She tried to focus on her missing friend Dr. Beddington, but after such a busy day she soon fell asleep.