Chapter Three
Sam woke to the gentle sounds of rain pattering on the windows. She drew in a breath, taking in the clean smell of the sheets and blankets surrounding her. She opened her eyes as she smiled. She felt better than she had in a long time. She stretched before sitting up. She looked up at the window and saw water on the glass. It was still raining.
She threw the covers off and dressed in some fresh clothes before she looked at her wheelchair. She loathed the machine, but knew that she still would need it for the time being. With a sigh, she pulled herself into the chair and started it up. She opened her door and peered out. She blinked as she looked up and down the hallway.
"Kyle? Sophie? Are you there?" Sam called. There was no response. Carefully, she went down the hall and into the living room. Since it was day, she was better able to see her surroundings.
The living room was plain, but also comforting. The same brown timbers ran across the ceiling. The walls were white. There was a mantle and several shells of various types sat in it.
A beautiful painting hung over the mantle, a watercolor of a ship in a storm, returning to port by the light of a lighthouse on a cliff. Sam smiled. She noticed a few other things hanging on the walls.
Some nets, buoys and floats and other things associated with fishing and the sea. Sam looked over and saw a sofa sitting against a wall, another painting above it. This one, also a watercolor, was of a beautiful meadow, bathed in golden sunlight, surrounded by a forest and bursting with flowers. Sam moved over to look closer at it.
As Sam looked at the painting, she noticed something in her vision. She looked up and was a little startled to see Sophie in the hallway, looking at her. At least, she thought she was. Since Sophie didn't have eyes, it was hard to tell. "Oh, uh, good morning, Sophie," Sam said. She watched as Sophie approached, then opened a drawer in a small table next to the sofa and pulled out a pad of paper and a pencil. Sam watched as Sophie scribbled on the paper, then handed it to her. Sam blinked as she took the pad and looked at it.
GOOD MORNING SAM. Sam was amazed. The handwriting was so elegant and flowing.
Sam smiled as she looked up at Sophie, who returned the smile.
Sam and Sophie spent the next hour or so talking and getting to know one another. Sophie had retrieved a touch-pad and used it to type. Through all of it, Sam couldn't help but marvel at the amazing being she was talking with. She smiled at the sight of Sophie, curled on the sofa like a cat, the touch-pad in one of her large hands, seeming the picture of tranquility and calmness.
Then, Sophie looked up and purred. Sam looked up and couldn't help a giggle at Kyle's messy hair as he walked in.
"Good morning, you two," he said as he approached. Sophie purred louder as her tail extended out and curled around him and pulled him close as she sat up. Sam watched as Sophie pulled Kyle into her lap and purred happily as she wrapped her arms around him as she nuzzled his face. Sam thought they were the cutest couple she had ever seen. It was obvious, just at a glance, how very much in love they were. Kyle smiled his usual soft smile as he looked at Sam. "I'm glad you're feeling better." Sam nodded.
"Yes. I was just telling Sophie." Kyle smiled further.
"I know. I'm glad Sophie has a friend." Sam watched as Sophie purred and held Kyle so lovingly.
"I'm glad, too. She's a wonderful, sensitive person." Sam noticed Kyle's smile turn a little mischievous at that.
"Oh, that she is," he said as he reached down with his hand and his fingers lightly tickled the sole of Sophie's foot. Sophie hissed and jerked her foot away from Kyle's dancing fingers. His smile grew. Sam giggled as Sophie gave a soft, stuttering hiss as she tightened her grip on Kyle. Sam would never have guessed that a creature like Sophie would be ticklish.
Kyle watched as Sam giggled and he smiled. Her eyes sparkled and her mocha skin seemed to glow with warmth and life. A part of Kyle's mind registered that Sam was very beautiful, but it was in the back of his mind. Sophie never needed to worry about competition, because she had, in Kyle's own words "Ruined me for human women." as he had put it. Sophie was his one and only. Feeling his thoughts, Sophie purred as she tightened her grip on him gently, a long finger brushing a strand of hair from his face.
Sam, for her part, watched with warm amusement as Sophie cuddled Kyle.
"I can't begin to thank you both enough." Kyle smiled his usual, soft smile, and Sophie's lips turned up at her thanks.
"You're welcome, Sam." Sophie softly moaned her agreement. As Sam looked at her legs, she thought of a question she had forgotten to ask.
"I wanted to ask you, how did you fix my spine?" Kyle blinked as he looked up at Sophie.
Should we? Kyle asked. Sophie gently brushed his face with her fingers.
Yes. We can trust her. With that, Sophie uncurled from around Kyle and flowed gracefully down the hall and out of sight. Kyle smiled at Sam.
"She'll be back in a minute." Sophie returned shortly, carrying a small glass tube. Sam blinked as Sophie held the tube out to her. She took it as Sophie returned to her position on the couch as Sam studied the contents of the tube.
Inside was what looked like some sort of crystallized substance. It was white, but had a quality to it that reminded her of Mother of Pearl. The crystal was about the size of her thumbnail. Sam blinked as she looked up at Kyle and Sophie.
"It's very beautiful, but what is it?" Sophie softly moaned as she held Kyle, gently stroking his hair.
"This is Life-Jelly. This is what healed your spine." Sam gave a soft gasp as she looked at the tube in her hand. Sam stared for a few moments before she looked back up at Kyle and Sophie.
"Where did you get this?" Kyle smiled warmly as he stroked Sophie's face.
"You have Sophie's people to thank." Sam blinked.
"You mean this came from her?" Kyle lightly shook his head.
"This came from one of the other eggs that Reinhardt found, but Sophie's was the only one that hatched." Sam looked closer at the crystallized jelly in the tube. Kyle watched as she studied it, turning the tube in her hands. "The closest analogy I can come up with for it is the Royal Jelly of bees." Sam looked up at Kyle, eyes wide.
"Wait, do you mean . . . that this came from a Queen?" Kyle smiled and Sophie purred.
"Exactly." Sam blinked as she processed everything. She looked at Sophie and smiled.
"Wait, if they're like bees, that means that they're all-" Kyle's smile turned into a grin.
"Yes. They're all female." Sophie purred as she nuzzled Kyle happily.
"Then you must be something special for her." Sam giggled. Sophie wrapped her tail around Kyle as she purred louder.
Oh, he is. He is . . . said Sophie, letting the warmth of her mind flow into Kyle's. The young blonde smiled as he felt his cheeks warm. Sam looked at the tube once more before she handed it back to Kyle. "So, this came from one of the other eggs? Does that mean that all eggs with Queens in them have this in them?" Kyle nodded.
"Yes. Sophie and other . . ." Kyle trailed off as he frowned in a thoughtful manner. Sophie touched his face gently as she hissed so softly, it was almost inaudible. He smiled as he looked back at Sam. "Warriors, like her, can produce it in small amounts in their throats as well." Sam blinked.
"Do they feed it to the babies when they hatch?" Kyle frowned ever so slightly and shook his head.
"No. When a Mother, a Queen, dies and there are no eggs with other Queens in them, the Warriors can feed the Life-Jelly to a host that already has an embryo implanted, which will change it into a Queen." Kyle explained. Sam was surprised. She looked at the glass tube in Kyle's hands in thought. She looked up at him.
"Did Reinhardt know what it is?" Kyle smiled softly.
"Thankfully, no. He knew from his research that it's a powerful immune-booster, but other than that, he had no idea what it was." Sam sighed with some relief.
"I can only imagine what that madman would do with it if he had known what it really was."
"Even though he didn't know fully what it was, he had some plans for it." Sam eyed Kyle with some alarm. "From what I read in his files, he theorized that it could be used as a protein-base for engineering viral weaponry." Sam sighed and shook her head.
"Not surprising. Something wonderful that could help people, and they want to weaponize it." Sophie hissed her agreement as she tightened her grip on Kyle gently. Sam shook her head and smiled as she looked up at Kyle and Sophie. "Changing the subject, where are you from originally?" Sophie gave a hiss as Kyle felt his stomach tighten at the question. Kyle closed his eyes and took a breath.
"I . . . grew up in the ghettos on Berren Prime." Sam felt like someone slapped her across the face.
Berren Prime was one of the harshest, most unforgiving mining worlds in colonized space.
Exposure to the rampant heavy metals and other toxins, coupled with the dangers of the mines meant that the average life expectancy for a man was thirty-five. Children died at rates of hundreds every month.
Just as the phrase "Tough as nails" had carried a meaning of exceptional resilience in previous centuries, the phrase "Harder than a Berren" had an even harder edge. It was the kind of world where, if you could leave, you would. Only the strongest, most exceptional individuals dared to stay, and they were in a class all their own.
Sam was left reeling from this revelation. She watched as Sophie moaned, cuddling Kyle and caressing his face lovingly as she comforted him.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean-" Kyle smiled and shook his head, despite the tears.
"It's all right. With Sophie's help, I'm getting over it." Sophie gently kissed Kyle on the cheek as she purred softly, lowering the sound into the comforting thrum that was so familiar to his ears. "I grew up in an orphanage. I left the very day I turned eighteen. Ironically, it was Weyland-Yutani that offered me a way off." Sam nodded in understanding.
Sophie brushed a strand of hair from Kyle's eyes, her thumb wiping a tear away as he continued. "I'm so grateful to Sophie, because she helped me remember my parents." Sam watched as Sophie held Kyle's hand as she seemed to gently rock back and forth with him in her lap. "I was about three when they left me with my Grandma. They were aid-workers. They went to help people in the Malera Conflict." Sam gasped at the name.
"Oh my god . . ." Sam could hardly believe what she was hearing.
"As you have already guessed, they never returned. My Grandma took good care of me, but she was old. She died in her sleep. I was so small, I didn't know why she wouldn't wake up." Sam watched as Sophie comforted her mate as he told the story. "Then I was put into the orphanage. I was there until I turned eighteen." Sophie softly nuzzled Kyle's face as she thrummed. Kyle looked at Sam, his eyes sparkling with tears. "I had almost forgotten my parents."
Kyle smiled as he touched Sophie's face, leaning his head against hers. "She helped me to remember." Sam couldn't help a tear of her own. "I'm ashamed to say, for a long time, I thought they abandoned me." Sophie thrummed deeper and louder. Sam could hear it from where she sat. Sam smiled sadly at the tale.
"I know they tried to get back." Sam offered. Kyle smiled at her as another tear streaked down his face.
"Yes. I also know they somehow had a hand in guiding me to Sophie." Sophie nuzzled her mate as she stroked his hair lovingly. Sam sniffed as she wiped a tear away.
"I'm so sorry I brought it up, Kyle. I didn't mean to." Kyle smiled and shook his head.
"Don't be sorry, Sam. You didn't know. I don't blame you, and neither does Sophie." Sophie shook her head gently. Sam smiled as she took a fistful of her pants.
"I know very well how bad the Malera Conflict was, because I was there, too." Kyle gasped and Sophie hissed with surprise. Sam looked at them, her amber eyes filled with tears of her own.
"I was a doctor, just fresh out of medical school. They needed any medical personnel they could find." Sam laughed mirthlessly. "I saw more unusual injuries and horrible things in my first day than most doctors see their entire careers." Sam frowned deeply as her grip on her pants tightened. "That was also where I was paralyzed." Kyle frowned as he listened, Sophie gave a sad moan.
Sam sighed as she looked elsewhere. "Our field hospital was hit by artillery, and friendly fire at that. I was trapped under the wreckage of the mobile hospital unit." Kyle stared at Sam as she told her own story. "At first, I was afraid I would be burned alive by the fire, but it died out. I yelled for help until I was hoarse, but nobody came. Nobody, that is, until Mac found me." Kyle smiled ever so slightly.
"That was how you met your friend." he observed. Sam nodded.
"He carried me to a safehouse and had my wounds treated, but my spine had been broken.
Mac had been there to deliver cargo of supplies to civilians and other people in need. But the United Systems Military caught them and accused them of aiding rebels and shipping weapons. They lined his whole crew up, including his younger brother, and shot them all. In cold blood." Kyle was aghast. Sophie hissed angrily hearing it. "Mac was trying to escape when he found me."
Sam sighed as she ran her hand over the metal of her wheelchair. "Since I was just a civilian doctor, the United Systems Military said they didn't need to pay for a spinal to fix my paralysis. After that, Mac took me with him. That was how I ended up here. He helped me get my feet under me, so to say, and find a boat and I've been doing that ever since." Sam sighed as she looked up at Kyle and Sophie. "And that brings us up to date." Kyle smiled sadly and placed his hand over Sam's. Sophie moaned softly as she placed her hand over both of theirs.
Kyle gripped Sam's hand and Sophie held theirs. Sam smiled at Kyle and Sophie. "I can't begin to tell you how much it means what you've done for me." Kyle smiled as Sophie gently curled her tail behind Sam.
"We're not done helping you. We're going to fix your boat, and we're going to help you walk again. You're our friend. That's what friends do." Sam smiled as new tears welled up. Sophie moaned softly as she looked at Kyle. Kyle's smile grew as he looked back at Sam. "Sophie agrees. She says if you need anything, anything, don't be afraid to ask her." Sam looked at Sophie as Kyle's mate smiled.
"She also says she's going to help you walk again." Sam blinked.
"How?" Sophie's tail gently wrapped around Sam's waist as her eyes grew wide. Sophie purred as she lifted Sam upright, her feet just barely touching the floor. Sam looked down and laughed as she saw her feet planted on the floor. Kyle smiled from where he was in Sophie's lap as Sam smiled the happiest, most brilliant smile he had ever seen on another human.
XXX
For the next week, Sophie helped Sam to relearn how to walk, using her tail to help keep Sam upright and let her get her legs used to being used again. Sam got tired very quickly, but she was making good progress. Sophie also made sure that her friend didn't overdo it in her eagerness to walk.
Sam couldn't stop giggling when Sophie held her with her tail and waved the tip of it in front of Sam's face in a tsk-tsk manner. Kyle also helped. He also cooked food filled with good protein to rebuild atrophied muscles and helped in any other way he could.
The weather forecast had been right, as the storm passed in the week they had stated. Sam was excited to see outside, as she had never seen the interior of Eramore Island. Going outside with Kyle and Sophie, she was stunned at what she saw.
Kyle and Sophie's house sat in the middle of a grassy clearing in the forest. The trees were at least a hundred feet tall. She recognized most of them as Zerichs "Swamp Oaks", although they actually weren't oaks at all. She could smell the sea on the fresh air as a soft morning breeze blew through her black hair. Sam smiled as she looked around. Kyle smiled as he watched, his hands in his pockets.
"Cozy, isn't it?" he asked. Sam smiled as she looked at him.
"It's beautiful." Kyle nodded as he and Sophie walked around their white house to a small greenhouse. Kyle scoffed as he opened the door and entered.
"Oh, you . . ." he said, a slightly exasperated tone to his voice before he reemerged, holding a black and white rabbit in his arms. A fat one, at that. At the sight of Sophie, the rabbit wiggled free of Kyle's grasp and leaped towards Sophie, extending its legs and gliding over to her open arms with the flaps of skin between its legs. Sam stared, amazed. It was one of the genetically engineered rabbits that had been brought into space and colonial worlds and had gone wild.
Scientists had attempted to engineer rabbits and other creatures to be more adaptive. The "Flying Rabbits" were one of the successes. Sam watched as Sophie gently petted the rabbit, who looked completely at home in her arms. Kyle smiled from where he was at the doorway of his greenhouse.
"That's Josey, Sophie's pet." Sam looked at Kyle, a warm smile adorning her face.
"She's cute. How'd you find her?" Kyle chuckled as he rearranged things in the greenhouse.
"Sophie found her, wounded in the woods after a storm. She was more than a little bruised from the winds." Sam came closer and watched as Kyle clipped a few plants that Josey had nibbled on.
"Sophie brought her in, we fed her and kept her warm, and she's stayed ever since." Sophie purred softly as she stroked Josey, who closed her eyes. Sam smiled.
Kyle chuckled as he stood up, hands on his hips. "As you can see, the little chub can barely fly, she's so well-fed." Sam giggled. Sophie purred once more before she set Josey down, who hopped over and settled down next to a bush near the house. Sam took the time to admire Kyle and Sophie's home.
It was a white house, two stories tall, with brown shingles. There were shutters beside each window, lending it a gentle, country atmosphere. Kyle smiled as he stepped forward. "We have to go check our aqua-farm and to do some harvesting. If you like, you can come with." Sam smiled and nodded. With that, Kyle led the way, Sophie following. Kyle looked back over his shoulder at Sam as he spoke. "Some of the paths we'll have to take are kind of narrow, so Sophie will have to carry you." Sam blinked as Sophie looked back at her, her lips curled upwards in a soft smile.
"I don't mind." Sam replied. Kyle nodded as they walked down a path through the forest.
As they went, Sam looked around and took in the sights, sounds and smells of the woods as they traveled through the Foggy Forest. Sam could see where it got the name. A layer of mist covered the ground. It wasn't very thick that day, but Sam could easily see it being thick enough to obscure the ground. The trip was fairly short, as they reached another clearing.
Sam looked up and stared as she saw her boat, The Bogart, resting on the grass. Kyle smiled as he looked back at her.
"See? I said your boat was OK." Sam moved forward and inspected the damage. There was a large hole in the left side. She also could see where the glass of the cabin had been shattered by the Coralyte that had trapped and almost killed her. Sam touched the hull and looked back at Kyle.
"Thank you. So much." Kyle smiled and Sophie gave a soft moan. "How did you get it here?"
"I'll show you." Sam followed Kyle and Sophie to the edge of the clearing, where a tall spire of rock and Coralyte stood up, almost above the treetops. A huge cave was carved into the spire. As Sam wheeled through the large mouth of the cave, she stared at the craft sitting idle. "This is The Talon. This is the ship Sophie and I escaped in." Sam looked at Kyle as he looked at the ship. "It may not be the biggest ship, but it's fast, and more than we'll ever need."
With that, Kyle led the way through to the back of the cave where the path began to curve downward. "This is where we need to leave the chair." Sam nodded as Sophie curled her tail around Sam and pulled her onto her back. Sam could feel the dampness of the rock and Coralyte around her as they went deeper. She could hear the crashing of waves and the calls of birds and animals. Then she could see light as they found the exit and entered one of the most beautiful lagoons Sam had ever beheld.
The sun was shining as the sound of waves echoed all around on the high cliff walls. Colorful flowers and plants bloomed from the cracks in the rock and Coralyte. The water was a deep, pure blue, but Sam could easily see the floor of the lagoon. She saw racks and cages filled with clams and oysters, prawns and even Albarrs, the famous "Zerichs Abalone".
She blinked as she looked out at the opening of the lagoon, and saw the opening had been covered with Coralyte that had countless holes carved in it, like a latticework. She smiled as Sophie purred under her and walked to the edge of the water. Kyle smiled as he took a deep breathe of the sea air. He looked at Sam and smiled as Sophie gave a soft moan. "She says she wants you to swim with her." Sam smiled.
"I'd love to." Sophie purred as she slid into the water, Sam on her back. She let Sam float off as she kept her tail around her waist. Kyle slipped into the water and swam over to look at some of the cages of prawns. Sam could hardly believe the bounty she was seeing. The water was fairly shallow, about fifteen feet deep at the most. Sam was able to remain at the surface as Kyle and Sophie tended their aqua-farm. Sam smiled as she kicked her legs, exercising the muscles and getting them used to being used again.
The day seemed to pass all too quickly. By the end of the day, they had harvested a veritable feast. Kyle and Sophie transferred their harvest to a small four-wheel drive rover and carried it back along the path to the house. Sam could hardly remember a time when she had more fun. Kyle and Sophie were happy, too.
When they got home, Sophie helped Kyle to clean and prepare the clams and Albarrs for Kyle's "Eramore Bisque", a dish Sophie loved. Sam giggled when she saw Sophie taking tastes of the bisque as Kyle was cooking, to which he would mockingly scold her. Sam had never seen such wonderful cooking. The bisque was rich, creamy and had just the right hint of tomato in it, without it conflicting with the other flavors. When dinner was over, Sam couldn't help a contented sigh as she stood from her chair with Sophie's help.
She had asked to sit at a normal chair this time. "Kyle, Sophie, I can't thank you two enough. You've helped me more since we met, than anyone has in all my life." Kyle smiled and Sophie purred. As Sam looked at her feet, she was shocked when she saw Sophie's tail wasn't around her.
She was still standing up.
Her eyes grew wide, as did her smile. She looked up, just as she wobbled. Sophie's tail shot out like lightning, catching Sam before she could fall. Sam smiled as the tip of Sophie's tail chided her as it twitched back and forth. Kyle got Sam's wheelchair for her.
"Take it easy. Don't rush it," Kyle said gently as Sophie set Sam down in her wheelchair.
"I know. Thank you both." Kyle smiled, as did Sophie as Sam went down the hall and to bed.
Kyle sighed happily.
I'm so glad we could help her, Sophie. Sophie purred her agreement as she wrapped her arms around him.
So am I, Kyle. She's a nice person and a good friend. I like her a lot. Kyle sighed softly as he closed his eyes. Sophie leaned her head against Kyle's as she purred deeply. Kyle shuddered as Sophie gently pulled him tighter against her and pulled the neck of his shirt aside as her lips gently kissed the base of his neck, just where it met the shoulder. Kyle shivered and gave a shuddering moan as Sophie caressed his sensitive flesh with her lips. Her tail wound around his waist as she very gently grazed the skin with her teeth.
Not to hurt. She would never hurt her Kyle.
The touch was soft as a feather and twice as gentle. Sophie softly traced the line of his jaw with her fingers as she did her best to drive him out of his mind in the best of ways.
"Sophie . . ." he gasped softly, barely above a whisper. Sophie gently touched his cheek with her tongue as she pulled him off his feet.
Kyle . . . She softly placed a gentle kiss on his jaw as she carried her mate towards their bedroom. I want you . . . Kyle shuddered again at the low moan Sophie gave as she entered their bedroom, shutting the door behind her with her tail.