Page 5 of Fall

But the rest of him was so unkempt it was hard to tell if he was sapientor not.

He leaned forward as he studied her face. Then he took some of her hairin his big, dirty hand and peered at it. Her hair was blond, and it seemed toconfuse him. It couldn’t have been the color, since the Neanderthal had beenblond as well, so maybe it was just that her hair was mostly clean and untangled.He was snuffling a lot, and he’d occasionally grunt out a monosyllable.

Then he looked lower, down to her body. Lenna didn’t stop him until hebrought a hand down to her shirt, as if he were going to pull the fabric awayand expose her breasts.

There were limits to the extent she’d accept a courtesy inspection bysome sort of grunting, snuffling caveman.

He looked briefly annoyed when she swatted his hand away, but then heappeared to lose interest in her completely.

He’d turned back to the dead Neanderthal when Lenna glanced out to the grassyplain and noticed more humanoids approaching. Some were too far away to seeclearly, but the two closest ones looked a lot like the Hairy Man—one’s hairwas graying, and the other was shorter and even more revolting.

When those two arrived, they all began to grunt at each other, and Lennarealized that they weren’t wordless Neanderthals after all.

They seemed to be speaking a real language. It wasn’t one she couldunderstand, of course, but they appeared to be using organized speech and notjust grunting and gesticulating as a pre-lingual species would do.

As she was concentrating on the guttural, incoherent conversation,another man approached without her noticing.

When she heard a fourth voice from behind her, she almost jumped. Shewhirled around to look at the newcomer and jerked in surprise.

It was one of the most beautiful men she’d ever seen in her life.

Unlike the other ones, this one wasn’t covered in hair. He wasclean-shaven, and his long dark hair was restrained in a sleek braid that felldown his back. His skin was smooth and tanned, and the muscles of his arms andlegs—which weren’t covered by the animal skin tunic he wore—rippled gorgeously.

The two other men who followed were also well-groomed, although not asattractive as the first one. Lenna couldn’t tell if she was dealing with twodifferent species of humanoid here, or if half of them cared about hygiene andhalf didn’t.

The Gorgeous One gave her a dismissive glance and turned to say somethingto the Hairy Man.

The Hairy Man responded, gesturing toward the slain Neanderthal.

Lenna couldn’t understand anything the men were saying, although shelistened carefully, trying to detect any familiar words. They looked so muchlike humans that she couldn’t believe they were a true alien species—at least,not completely. But, if they were human or part-human, they would have had toget to this planet somehow, long enough ago for any memory of civilization tohave vanished.

Lenna couldn’t recognize any words at all, so she had no evidence oftheir ancestors originally speaking an Earth language. But she was able todiscern that they were discussing the death of the first man. The Gorgeous Oneeven stepped over and spit on the body.

It wasn’t a hard gesture to interpret—on any planet.

Lenna was starting to wonder if she’d been rescued at all. No one seemedto care that she was unharmed. Maybe the Hairy Man had killed the first manjust to kill him. Not to save her life.

She was glad to be alive—whatever the motivation for her rescue—but shewould prefer for someone to acknowledge her presence. After all, she was hopingthese strangers might be of some help to her.

She was so distracted by the conversation that she didn’t notice theshort, revolting one had approached her from behind, until she felt his handson her shirt. He pulled away the torn fabric to reveal her skin, making a noisethat was recognizably one of sleazy interest.

Lenna gasped in surprise and reacted instinctively. She turned on herheel and kicked out her right leg, hitting him squarely in the groin with herfoot. At least, itshouldbe his groin, if he was made like a humanmale.

Apparently, he was. He huffed out in pain and bent over, just as any manon any planet in Coalition space would have done.

Lenna was used to taking care of herself, and she wasn’t about to put upwith any victimization, even if she was abandoned and alone on this freakish,primitive world.

But, after she’d lashed out, she realized how vulnerable her positionwas. She had no protection here, and she’d just struck one of the six malessurrounding her. The others might not appreciate it. After all, by allappearances, these hunter-gatherer types had rather old-fashionedsensibilities.

But the others didn’t defend their comrade. They looked over curiously,and the Gorgeous One sneered at the man she’d kicked, muttering somethingsnide.

The Hairy Man made a series of snorts and huffs. It wasn’t until shelooked in his dark eyes that she realized he was actually laughing.

Evidently, seeing his revolting companion hit by a female amused him.

Lenna looked back suspiciously at the one she’d kicked, who was stillbent over and moaning. She figured he’d be mad about being so humiliated, andshe had no idea how he’d react.

She tensed when he straightened up and snarled at her, taking two stepsover with obvious aggression.

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