Mmmmm…Tarzan.

Confusion surged through her brain as she stared at the new world around her. If not for the magnificence of the view she could have been terrified. But how could one be frightened when staring up at this lush green canopy? This foreign jungle spread for countless miles in every direction. Whoever was complaining about the shrinking rainforest had, clearly, never seen its vast size.

The nearly deafening din of monkey chatter and parrot squawks suddenly ended, as if the conductor of this tropical orchestra had waved his baton for silence. A rustle in the overhead branches told her that not all of the instruments were so willing to be silenced.

Unless, she thought, this was the master conductor.

The terror that had not bothered to enter her mind now consumed it. She was unarmed in a foreign world, about to meet that world's master. An unnatural feeling arose inside her; she wanted to run.

The rustling overhead ceased, all was still. She wanted this to be relieving, but it only heightened her fear. Every animal in this jungle was staring at her, the intruder. The tension was so unbearable that she was grateful when the branches overhead shook violently and an animal leapt out at her.

She fell to the ground to avoid the attack. The animal landed at her feet, its back to her. In her shocked state, the girl did not have the sense to escape, but lie there on the leaf-covered floor staring at her attacker. In the brief second before it turned to face her, she studied the animal's back. It was an ape, huge and hairless. She could trace the muscled in its back and could clearly see long lines of scars from where this ape had fought with leopards. The leopards had left souvenirs, but what had this creature given in return?

There was no time to contemplate the gruesome response; the ape turned its sight on her. It…no, he. He stared at her from under his lowered eyebrows. His eyes were dark and intelligent; they surveyed her fallen form before moving closer.

He walked with his knuckles, like a gorilla, his shoulder blades jutting out from his back, making him look larger than he actually was. Even if he was not as larger as she initially thought, he was till larger than she. The muscles flexed under his tan skin; they were enormous muscles, made to look even larger by the dirt tracing under them like heavy shadows. How easily could he snap a lion's neck? Surely, it would take far more effort than to break a human neck. The thought kept her frozen as he approached.

He was by her side now, leaning nearer to her. When she saw him shift all his weight to his legs, freeing his hands (for the kill?), she clenched her eyes tightly closed. She did not want to see the attack that would end her life. She waited, and nothing came. She considered opening her eyes, but was far too terrified. And then it came, finally, but not quite as violently as she had expected.

The movements were gentle, even if the skin was rough. His hand was on her face. It traced the line of her lips, her jawbone, and moved down to her neck. She relaxed under his touch. His other hand joined in pushing the hair from her shoulders so that they might better trace the line of her collarbones. She felt something brush against her face, tickling her skin. She cracked one eye open. This ape-man was still concentrating on her throat; a curtain of dark curls veiling his face.

Knowing full well that it might be a stupid idea, but not really caring, she slowly moved her arm. Yes. It was a stupid idea. The ape-man jumped at the movement, grabbing her arm in his vice-hand.

"I'm sorry," she grasped. "Please let go!"

He consented, releasing her from his grip. Rather that return it to the ground, she let her arm hang in mid air for a moment before slowly, carefully inching it toward him again. It was painstakingly slow. He frequently flinched at her approach, forcing her to top and let him accept the proximity. Eventually he realized he was not a threat and allowed her to come near. It seemed to take hours for her fingers to finally touch his face. She moved his hair away from his face, tucking it behind his ears; always her movements were slow, always gentle. He allowed her hand to linger on his face. His skin was warm, moist from sweat and gritty with dirt.

His almond eyes watched her intently as she finally removed her fingertips from his skin. The dark orbs seemed to glisten with an emotion she could not quite place; though she would soon be able to guess what it was as he moved close and buried his face in her neck.

Looking up from the control panel she was currently working on, Tanya noticed Billy staring off into space. His eyebrows were lowered in both confusion and concern. Tanya followed his eyes. He was looking through the open infirmary doors to a bed where Melanie was taking a fitful nap.

"Billy," Tanya poked his shoulder.

"Is she…" he looked from Tanya to Melanie, searching for the right word.

"She's fine." Tanya assured him.

"But, then…"

"Trust me," she smiled, her eyes mischievous. "It's just Tarzan again."

"Tarzan…" He looked back at the girl, thrashing in her sleep. "Here I would have expected her to be dreaming about Adam."

Tanya giggled. "She is."

Billy looked across the Power Chamber to where Adam and Andrea were squatting in front of a service panel, fiddling with wires. Adam's long hair was tucked messily behind his ears, a smudge of grease on his face. All too easily could Billy see him as the Tarzan of Melanie's dreams. He shook his head violently, dislodging the image before it permanently warped his view of Adam.

Tanya giggled again, loudly enough that Adam looked up from his work. He saw the two turn away quickly, giggling conspiratorially, and he knew.

"Tanya!" he shouted. "You promised!"

"I couldn't help it," she pointed at the infirmary.

"I'm going to go put on a parka!" Adam declared, and marched from the Power Chamber, metal doors slamming shut behind him. Billy wasn't sure how a pair of mechanical doors managed to sound so angry as they closed.

Without a word, Andrea got up from her crouched position and followed behind Adam, the doors closing much quieter this time.

Tanya and Billy paused, wondering if they should apologize. They decided against it, and chose, instead, to burst out laughing. The sudden ruckus woke Melanie from her sleep. The dejected look on her face told them that they had woken her at the most inopportune moment. This only made their laughter worse.

"Where's Adam?" This was not the question to ask.

Billy pointed to Tanya as he doubled over with laughter. Tanya had to hold her side for a moment. And gasping for breath, she managed to say: "He's over there."

"Why is he in there?"

"He's," she gasped again, "getting a parka…"

"So we won't," Billy was finally able to speak, "see him as……as……."Laughter overtook them again as they attempted to say the name.

"See him as what?" Melanie thought she knew, but was hoping Tanya hadn't told.

"TARZAN!" Billy blurted. And the pair collapsed one the ground.

"Tanya!!!"

Melanie stormed from the Power Chamber, hoping that they were too busy to notice that she was making her exit into the room where her Tarzan was hiding.

"Oh…." Tanya gasped. "I don't know who's worse: Melanie or Andrea!" She giggled again, but she was the only one this time. Billy was silent, looking at her like she had just broken his favorite mass spectrometer.

"Billy…"she started, wanting to explain what she had meant. But the man was up and gone from the Power Chamber before she got the chance to figure out how to explain herself.