Beyond Heaven's River by Greg Bear Read Free Book Online

“Loytnant,” she said, “unless it violates your creed, I’d much rather have something warmer than just a sleep-field.”
“I —” He hesitated, knowing his barriers were down, and not particularly caring. “So would I.”
“Thank you, Mr. Elvox.” She fitted herself against his back and put her arms around him. “You’re a gentleman and a scholar.”
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Beyond Heavens River
Six
It was a terrible time. Alae marched back and forth in their cabin, screaming at Oomalo — though he knew very well she was only screaming in his direction — and twirling a piece of bedding like a banner.
“Why should we have given up? There’s nothing here, and if there is,he has it — a damned savage! What do we end up with? Nothing!”
“Our job was over anyway,” Oomalo said softly. “When the signals stopped. We don’t need any more money. Our employers could care less where we are or what we’re doing now that the job is over. They might relocate us if we make up another contract — and that isn’t likely. But it all amounts to the same thing.” The disappointment hadn’t hit him as deeply, but resentment still gnawed at him. “It isn’t all over yet,” he said, aware he was contradicting himself. “We may still have a claim. We have to wait until the Centrum ship arrives.”
“I’d rather leave now before we go through any more humiliation.”
Oomalo shrugged. “We’re bolted down and we can’t leave until the storm passes. I suggest you relax and —”
“It was peaceful out there,” she said. “With the routine, the jobs that always needed doing, and no way we could ever lose our home or get into trouble. It was secure. We traded that for this. For concrete and emptiness and a foul little man who wouldn’t even tell us where he came from!” She flung the sheet away and sat hard on the sleep-field frame. “We should have killed him. Hidden him or broken him down in the lander waste units. We’re just not ruthless enough.”
Oomalo nodded and sat across from her on a pile of bedclothes. “We didn’t do it, and now it’s too late. It just takes patience from here in …”
Alae lay back and stared at the overhead blankly, her gray eyes wide. “Toys,” she said. “Baubles. The most dangerous things imaginable. Passion and need.” She straightened up. “How long has it been since we conjoined?”
“I don’t know.”
“Years. Even that passion had left us.”
He lifted up his hands and shook his head. “It was no longer needed.”
“It was a poison. But you know that it’s returned? Don’t you feel it? It’s come back to add to the misery.”
He wasn’t sure he felt anything. Alae’s femininity had never been very strong, and in time he had simply blanked out the fact that they were man and wife. They were companions above and beyond anything else.
“I even needthat now,” she said.
Oomalo took a deep breath, put his hands down to lift himself off the bedclothes, and hesitated. Alae looked at him almost fiercely. She untied her robe.
The ship vibrated in the wind, and a weird whistling noise made Oomalo open his eyes. Alae was breathing through her teeth as she rode him. Abruptly he sat up and held her around the ribs, squeezing with all his strength. She exploded a breath and struggled to take in another. He didn’t let her. “Damn you,” she grunted. “Let me breathe.” He rolled her over and pinned her against the yielding sleep-field with an arm across her neck.
“Are you done with the histrionics?” he asked. Her eyes widened and she groaned, twisting her hips against him. “Are you done?”
“No,” she wheezed.
He pulled his arm up and felt the anger getting stronger in him. He didn’t know who or what he was trying to hurt. With typical restraint he didn’t hit her hard. For both of them it seemed to work. She screwed her face up and screamed into his breast. He felt nothing as he came in her, but his tension subsided.
Outside, the rain