Chain Reaction

Chapter Nine

“Night is falling.”

She glanced up at the sky, barely visible through the thick covering of leaves and branches. A moon appeared in the darkening sky, a small golden disk. It had served as their shelter as Nils had modified the Phantom—where she and Nils had come so frustratingly close to making love. Now the moon was a distant sphere that shyly peered through the canopy.

On the forest floor, dusk was already settling, richly green. As the heat began to retreat, sounds of life increased, thousands of creatures calling to one another.

“It’s noisier than Lawaai City,” she said above the din. Citizens of that megalopolis had to wear protective ear coverings every time they stepped outside their enormous buildings.

Nils glowered up at a particularly noisy reptile, chattering as it flew by on leathery wings. “Getting some sleep tonight will prove a challenge.”

“I’m so tired, I could sleep in the middle of the plasma blaster range.” Another admission of weakness, yet she knew now that if there was anyone to whom she could be fully honest, it would be Nils. He didn’t expect her to be anything other than herself.

And as he turned his gaze to hers, she saw empathy and understanding. Warmth filled her.

“Time to make camp,” he said. “If it’ll help you sleep, I can shoot my plasma blaster every ten seconds.”

“Such consideration.”

He made an old-fashioned bow, the kind one might see in a history vid, and she chuckled. As they pushed deeper into the jungle, searching for a good spot for their encampment, she marveled at the transformations they’d both undergone over the course of the mission. Only a solar week ago, she would’ve shrugged off the suggestion that she could find a comfortable camaraderie with anyone, let alone someone from NerdWorks. Yet here she was, in the middle of an alien jungle, danger pressing in on every side, a treacherous objective ahead, and she felt…content.

Perhaps not fully content. The hunger for vengeance still pushed her onward. Marek had to pay for his treachery—preferably with his life.

And there was another, very different appetite not yet sated. As the shadows gathered on the forest floor, she took advantage of the dusk to watch Nils. He’d left off the top of his uniform in deference to the heat and the bandages, so she had tantalizing images of his muscular torso and arms. The tribal tattoo-like markings over his back seemed to dance in the twilight. Dirt streaked his arms, and a smudge marked the crest of one high cheekbone.

He stopped now in a small clearing. She stood beside him and followed his gaze to one of the soaring trees.

“Maybe we should to take shelter in one of these,” he said. “Get off the forest floor and out of the way of potential predators.”

She stepped closer to the tree he indicated. “Someone’s beaten us to it.” She waved him over, and when he did, he let out a surprised hiss.

Insects swarmed all over the tree trunk. Some of them had markings that camouflaged their presence, making them look like bark, and others were tiny, but here and there were bugs the size of Celene’s palm, and their numerous legs made scratching, tapping sounds on the trunk. Each tree seemed to be an entire civilization, containing thousands, if not millions, of insects.

“We make camp in the trees,” she said, “we might wake up tomorrow to find our bones picked clean.”

“If our bones are picked clean, wouldn’t that presume that we’ve died, and so couldn’t possibly wake up?”

She rolled her eyes. “You aren’t always so literal.”

“Only when I’m trying to provoke you.”

“Once again, you’re an overachiever.” Turning away from the tree and its bug-laden trunk, she surveyed the clearing critically. “We could build a shelter, but there are insects on the ground too.” She didn’t fear insects or arachnids, but the thought of serving as a bug highway proved less than restful.

Nils edged toward a clump of plants. He bent his long body, peering closely at the broad-bladed grasses. “This might serve as a solution.”

Night was falling quickly, so she turned on her lys-lamp, clipped to the strap of her pack, and used its illumination to see what he indicated. As she and Nils had entered the clearing, they’d walked through the grasses, snapping some of the stems. Thick blue sap oozed out of the broken plants and onto the ground.

The insects on the ground avoided the sap.

They deliberately went out of their way to keep from contacting it, scuttling away as soon as they sensed its presence. It gave off a faint, vegetal scent, but nothing noxious or unpleasant. Whatever it was within the sap the insects did not like, it had no effect on her or Nils.

“A natural barrier.” She took a sonic blade from her pack and cut more of the grasses. She smeared the sap on the earth. Immediately, all the nearby insects darted off.

In silent agreement, she and Nils cut down armfuls of the grass. Working together, they proscribed a two-meter circle on the jungle floor using the sap. They were careful to keep the sticky substance from contacting their skin, in case there was an unpleasant reaction. When they were finished, they had a decent-sized space entirely free of insects, like an island in a sea of bugs.

Building a shelter took a little more time, and called upon both Nils’s text learning and her own memories of camping on her homeworld. Of course, when she’d camped, she and her family had used habitat-pods, not relying on bushcraft to provide shelter. But the principles seemed to be the same. She and Nils now cut down branches and huge leaves, and, after making sure no creatures clung to them, they built themselves a raised platform with a canopy.

“What are you doing?” she asked, planting her hands on her hips.

He held up the long, thin vines he twisted. “The vines act as a pulley, attached to this branch. I’ve fastened these leaves to the branch.” The leaves stuck out like spokes from the branch, which he propped between the posts of the canopy. He tied the vines to one end of the branch, then tugged on them. As he pulled, the branch turned, and the attached leaves stirred currents of air. Creating a fan.

Amazed at his ingenuity, she still felt compelled to ask, “Are we going to have to pull that all night?”

“No!” He shook his head at her ridiculousness. Rummaging in his pack, he produced a handful of metal pieces. Within moments, he fashioned them into a small motor. He attached the other end of the vine pulley to the device. He flicked a switch and the motor hummed to life, pulling on the vines, which, in turn rotated the branch with the leaves.

“It’s not the Pavami Emperor’s palace.” He surveyed his handiwork. “But it should keep the temperature down. A little, anyway.”

She stalked around the raised platform toward Nils. He could only stand there, a startled look on his face, as she took hold of the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. It didn’t take long for him to recover, however, and he returned the kiss with avid intensity, wrapping his arms around her waist.

They were rough with each other, aggressive, as if the jungle had seeped into their blood and they became as fierce as the place itself. It was almost a contest of wills, strength to strength, mouths plundering, their tongues stroking each other, lapping up their essences.

She lost track of time, of place, and only when she pulled back, gasping, did she regain sense. Still, it was difficult to do so when his gaze burned and his hands held her tightly.

“Ought to make rudimentary devices more often,” he said, his voice a hard rasp.

“Just imagine what might happen if you build something truly elaborate.”

His smile unfolded in sensuous promise. “My imagination is extremely active.”

“Let’s finish making camp before full darkness hits. Then you can show me just how imaginative you can be.”

Slowly, they broke apart, busying themselves with the final adjustments to their encampment. A cooking fire was ultimately rejected, in case the light attracted unwanted attention, and with heavy sighs they both ate more sustenance-paks, washed down hastily with more water. Several nutrient capsules formed the rest of their meal, ensuring that they received the proper nourishment after the long, demanding day.

Tomorrow would be even longer, and not simply demanding, but treacherous. The thought weighed heavy on her. It must’ve done the same with Nils, for they both ate their meals and swallowed their capsules in silence. Sitting on their improvised platform, her legs drawn up, arms braced on her knees, she stared out into the darkening jungle. Life teemed all around, from the rustling foliage to the avian cries to the deeper, distant growls of larger animals on the hunt. None of these creatures knew or cared what brought her and Nils to their homeworld. None recognized that tomorrow might be the last day of the humans’ lives.

Oddly, this strengthened her. Everything continued on, regardless of what happened to her. Even the fight against PRAXIS would continue—though maybe not as long as she would’ve wanted. Nothing existed beyond thousands of solar years. Civilizations would die; new ones would emerge. Truth and fact blew away like so much cosmic dust. Permanence was impermanent.

“Where’ve you gone?” Nils asked softly, breaking her thoughts.

“Thinking about the ruins of Volod Rey,” she murmured. “I’ve seen them. They’re half-buried in crystalline sands. At one time, the queens of that planet thought their empire would last until the end of time. Time pushed forward. The queens and their mighty cities were no more, Volod Rey populated by archeologists, not inhabitants.”

She ran her fingers back and forth over the platform. Though she and Nils had built it strong, the jungle would reclaim it within a matter of days.

“It’s like there’s no consequence,” she continued. “I can unleash my full fury tomorrow against Marek. With no promises to keep, the fight becomes everything.”

“You don’t have any concern for the future?” asked Nils. It was too dark to see much now beyond the suggestion of his form, yet she felt acutely aware of his presence, the physical space he occupied and the resonance of his self.

“I want victory for the 8^th Wing. I want to dance at the next Night of Masks, but, ultimately, the only meaning anything has is that which we assign it. And that meaning vanishes when we disappear.”

“Significance goes on, past the lifespan of one creature. Past the stretches of measured time.”

“Why are you angry?” she asked, for his voice had taken on an edge. “I thought the engineer in you would appreciate the intransience of human existence. The triumph of physics over societies. The persistence of the universe.”

“You’re asking me to contemplate your death, to consider that the loss of my life and yours is essentially meaningless, and then ask me why I’m angry?” Though he didn’t raise his voice, it held fury, tight and cutting.

She’d witnessed him in combat several times, and seen his anger, yet this aspect of him caught her by surprise. “Nils—”

“I don’t give a sipkaswine’s ass what happens to the universe,” he rumbled. “Physics can go fuck itself. I care about you, Celene. And I won’t be unmoved about the prospect of your death. Thinking about it feels like my insides have been torn out with rusty ion forceps.”

She gathered him close, and felt the tension slowly leave his body as his arms wrapped around her. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

He sighed, and touched his forehead to hers. His breath fanned warmly over her.

“I can’t be cavalier about death. Mine or yours.”

She gave a humorless laugh. “My word on the Three Sacred Tablets, I have no desire to wear the pala wreath.” Her hand came up to trace the side of his face, feeling the bristles along his jaw and tracing the contours of his mouth. “There’s too much in the realm of the living.”

He started to speak again, but she silenced him with her lips. Resolute, yet tender. She explored his taste, his feel, learning him anew every time. Being able to kiss him now, when so much had stood in their way or interrupted them, was a rare luxury she fully intended to take advantage of.

Even with her reputation as Stainless Jur, she hadn’t hidden her sensual needs. She never saw the necessity to play coy, or pretend that she didn’t have sexual desires. Yet with Nils, she felt herself utterly letting go, giving full power to the demands of her body—and heart. She leaned back, pulling him with her, until they lay on the platform. Her hands moved up the tense sinews of his arms, raking her nails along his skin, and he groaned into her mouth at the sensation.

Fevered with wanting, she gripped his shoulders, feeling the bunch and play of muscles. He moved so that his body lay atop hers, his legs between hers. She hooked her ankles over the backs of his thighs, so that they were locked tightly together, hip to hip.

She barely felt the platform beneath her. Her awareness clung only to the weight of Nils, the feel of his body, the taste of his mouth. She tilted her hips and moaned at the sensation of his fabric-covered cock sliding over her. They rocked together, a delicious, maddening tease. Her hands drifted from his shoulders to run over his slick, straining back. The bandages frustrated her—she wanted to feel every part of him—yet they reminded her of the courage he demonstrated again and again. He never retreated. Like her, he met every challenge.

And, at that moment, their clothing was the challenge. They both struggled partially upright, tugging on the fastenings of their uniforms. She sighed with relief as she peeled back the clinging fabric, pulling her arms from the sleeves and pushing the uniform top down to her waist. Then lower, taking the one-piece garment down her legs. She hesitated for a moment.

“Don’t stop,” he urged. “I want you naked.”

“I want to be naked. But I’m not sure what to do about my boots.”

“Right.” He glanced at the surrounding jungle. “Hostile environment.”

“Might need to be dressed and running at a moment’s notice.”

“And we’ve seen what’s crawling across the jungle floor.”

She growled. “Damn.”

He grabbed her hand, kissed it. “It’s all right. I want you however I can have you.”

It wasn’t going to be elegant or pretty, but she pushed her uniform down so it gathered around her calves. “If I’m going to look this ridiculous, you do too.”

His eyes gleamed in the darkness. “You don’t look ridiculous. You look…real.”

“Then you’d better get real, Lieutenant Calder.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Nils also partially undressed, and in the dim radiance of the moonlight, she saw his narrow, uncovered hips, his bare legs. And his cock, upright and thick.

“Gods,” she breathed, “what I wouldn’t give for a full-sized lys-lamp. Even simu-candles. I want to see you.”

“It’s said that other senses compensate when one’s diminished. Touch, for example.” He reached for her, and she went willingly as they pressed together tightly.

She gasped at the feel of his bare cock rubbing against her. Some minor shred of modesty had kept her panties and tank top on, but the synth-silk fabric of her underwear was far thinner than her uniform, and it was almost like naked skin against naked skin. She felt the heat of his shaft, the smooth head, even the tiny droplet of moisture gathering at the tip.

With his clever engineer’s hands, he pulled off her tank top in a swift motion. And when those same hands gathered up her breasts, both Celene and Nils groaned in pleasure. He traced her nipples, bringing them to hard beads, and lightly pinched them. On a moan, she arched up.

“My senses are replete,” he rasped. “I feel you everywhere. But, gods, I’ve fantasized about this for so long. And now that I really have you, I can’t see you. I don’t even know the color of your nipples. They could be light or dark, and I’ve got no way of knowing.” He all but growled his words.

“Dark,” she managed to gasp as he plucked on them, sensation traveling straight between her legs.

“The color of flame plums, or açaberries?”

In the haze of her arousal, Celene had to laugh. “Trust you to remain fixated on quantifiables.”

“Want the full range of experience.” He bent his head and circled his tongue around her nipple, drawing forth another moan from her. “You taste sweet as an açaberry.”

“Tawnyfruit,” she breathed. “My nipples are the color of tawnyfruit.”

“My favorite.” He sucked the peak of her breast into his mouth, and she threaded her hands through his hair, holding him close.

“Lucky for me.”

“Lucky for me. But you could’ve named any fruit at all. Whatever you said would be my favorite.” Then he stopped talking, his attention fully focused on bringing her pleasure.

And he did. She’d been touched before, by men and by machines designed for pleasure. But nothing felt like this. With his incisive mind and skillful hands, only Nils could draw such pleasure from her body. They had been wanting this for far too long, and she felt his freed desire in every caress. She writhed beneath him as his mouth and hands moved over her in hot, lush exploration.

But she was a pilot, and not without her own sense of discovery. She touched him everywhere—wide shoulders, lean arms, the hard musculature of his back and lower. Beneath her palms, his buttocks tightened, and she gripped him hard. At some other point, she wanted very much to sink her teeth into that delicious ass, but that would have to wait for another time. Right now, she was famished, and the means of sating her hunger lay tantalizingly close.

She edged back enough to give her hand room for more journeying. Traced the ridges of his abdomen and the muscle that ran from each hip. Following that muscle led her to his cock, and he hissed in pleasure when she wrapped her fingers around it. He was marvelous in her hand, the living energy of him. She stroked him, up and down, giving a little twist at the head that made him groan and clench his teeth.

One of his hands dipped beneath the waistband of her panties. Finding her wet, he murmured words in a language she did not recognize, only judging by the tone that they were words of worshipful praise. She tipped her head back and made a breathless, pleasured sound. They touched one another like this, his long fingers caressing her, her hand stroking him. With his free hand, he continued to toy with her breasts, and she thanked the countless deities that he excelled at multitasking.

She felt her climax gathering. Yet abruptly he took his fingers from her. She growled her protest, though it died when she felt him tugging down her panties. She widened her legs as much as she could, and pulled him closer. He resisted, however.

His large hand covering her pussy, he murmured, “Taste. The most powerful sense.”

“No, no.” She tried to twist away. “We’ve been stomping through this inferno all day. I haven’t…” She felt herself blush. “I need to bathe. A UV shower, at least.”

Nils rolled away, and she heard him delving into one of the packs. The sound of tearing foil made her frown in curiosity.

He rolled back and held up what appeared to be a rectangular piece of fabric. “Cleanse-cloth.”

“That’s for cleaning weapons.”

She felt his smile. “Works on people too. I’ve done tests.”

Of course he had. And she certainly appreciated his thoroughness when he dipped the cleanse-cloth between her legs. The fabric was cool, moist, and it felt like the next incarnation of ecstasy as he slowly, sensuously stroked her with it. She thought she might feel embarrassed to have someone tend to her personal hygiene, but the way Nils touched her destroyed awkwardness and left only pleasure.

“Give me…one of those…cloths.” She wanted to perform the same service for him.

He shook his head. “Another time. Right now, I’ll go nova unless I taste you.”

The cleanse-cloth disappeared. And was replaced by Nils’s lips.

She pressed a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her moan. But she found herself unable to stop the wild, hoarse sounds that broke from her. She couldn’t hold herself in. Nils devastated her.

He didn’t lick at her pussy, nor press kisses there, as other men might. No, he ate at her, using his whole mouth—his lips and his tongue—to devour her. Drinking, nibbling. Feasting on her. He took her clit between his lips and sucked. He lapped at her, greedy and delicate, as if she was the most delicious thing he had ever tasted. The tip of his tongue circled and dipped into her opening, firming to enter her. He fucked her in savage reverence with his mouth. Over her own furiously muffled cries, she heard groans of pleasure deep in his chest.

Her hips rose, and he pinned her down, commanding as he adored her. With her free hand, she clutched a slat of the platform, her grip tight enough to make her hand ache. She didn’t care. She was the center of the universe, all heat and pleasure.

Release tore through her. An explosion of sensation that left her a charred husk, shuddering and breathless.

But not utterly spent. Even as the last tremors shook her, she recovered enough strength to pull him up for a deep, open kiss, tasting their flavors intermingled.

“Now it’s my turn to take the controls,” she growled.

He smiled against her mouth. “Ma’am, yes, ma’am.”

“On your back.”

He did so. It took some negotiating, with their uniforms tangled around their legs, but she had skills as a pilot, and maneuvered herself to straddle him. She felt more than saw the intensity of his gaze as he stared up at her, his hands on her hips, his whole body taut with need.

“If anything interrupts us now,” she breathed, “I’m going to lose my mind.”

“Nothing can stop us.”

“Better not.” She pressed her hands against the hot contours of his chest. “I want you. So much.” She’d never known need like this, that drove away all thought. All boundaries.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, hoarse.

“It’s too dark to see.”

“In the darkness or the light, you’re beautiful.”

She squeezed her eyes shut, her heart too full and aching. The demands of her body wouldn’t let her retreat, however. She angled herself to precisely where she needed to be, and then sank down, taking him inside her.

The sensation… It engulfed her. She couldn’t hold in her sounds of pleasure as he filled her. He made feral noises, deep, masculine growls that traveled in waves through her body. They both kept still, as if stunned into immobility by the wonder of him within her, the feeling of their bodies intimately joined. Immobility couldn’t last, though. Not when an even greater pleasure arose as they moved.

He was thick and hot within her, and as she lifted up and moved down, radiating pleasure suffused her. At first, she moved with slow deliberation, savoring each slide of him. Her pace soon quickened, and he bent up, thrusting into her with deep, full strokes. She lost herself in sensation, freed from expectation, knowing she could be entirely herself with him.

She bent over him and rode him hard, just as he drove up with an unrelenting strength, and she could see enough to watch his head thrown back, the column of his neck and underside of his jaw, as his mouth opened on rough exhalations of pleasure.

Her orgasm stole thought, and seemed to obliterate the confines of her body. She felt herself everywhere, in every thing, in herself, in Nils, in the living jungle, and the sky overhead and the stars and planets scattered throughout. And as she expanded outward to encompass everything, he joined her, groaning out in release.

How much time passed, she couldn’t measure. There was only before making love with Nils, and after, and she found herself at some point carefully dressed, tucked against his side. They lay together on their platform, looking up at the star-filled sky.

She had a brief, panicked desire to grab him by the hand and drag him back to the Phantom. They could find a tiny, barely inhabited world and make a home for themselves there, hiding from PRAXIS, from the 8^th Wing. Alone and alive.

But she pushed that desire aside. It was a fantasy, a dream that could never happen, for even if they could somehow evade the 8^th Wing and PRAXIS, neither she nor Nils could turn their backs on duty.