Page 35 of Fallen from the Stars

She often stole glances at Vasil when he wasn’t looking, admiring the muscles of his arms as he worked, the flexing of his abs with each undulation of his tentacles, and the subtle play of his jaw muscles while he spoke. Shemighteven haveaccidentallybrushed her fingers over his skin on a few occasions. When she’d first seen him, she’d assumed his skin was rubbery or slimy — perhaps both.

She’d been dead wrong.

His skin was the softest velvet, suede over hard muscle. Those stolen touches weren’t enough. She yearned to feel more of him, to rub her bare flesh over his and learn what itreallyfelt like, to explore his body and appease her ever-growing curiosity.

Most nights, she lay awake in the pod, wondering what it would be like to havehimtouchher. Even his tentacles didn’t bother her. She’d come to see them as just another part of his body, not all that different from her legs. That wasn’t to say she never noticed them — how could she not? — but they certainly weren’t distasteful. If she were honest with herself, she found them intriguing. In fact, they only seemed to heighten her desire.

Shemighthave fantasized about them a few times by the fifth day.

Her thoughts were occupied with recollections of those blissful days — and, perhaps, a few naughty tentacles — as she knelt beside the stream while that fifth afternoon burned away into evening.

Kane’s voice blared through the neural link. “Are you sleeping with your eyes open right now, Theodora?”

Theo started, nearly dropping the water container she was refilling in the stream. “What?”

“The jug has been full for over a minute,” Kane said. “Are you still planet-side with me, or are you drifting somewhere in space?”

“I’m here,” Theo muttered with a frown. She lifted the container out of the water, stood it on the ground beside her, and screwed on the cap.

“Physically.”

“My mind is allowed to wander from time to time.”

“Yeah, maybe. But that time isnotwhen we’re in the middle of the jungle. What if a killer leaf dropped on you from above?”

“Then I guess you would have failed at keeping watch, huh?”

Kane scoffed. “You’re not going to blame your hypothetical death onme, Theodora Velenti. We both know my scanner range is limited.”

Theo laughed. “You got one job, Kane. One job.”

“One job?Onejob?” he demanded.

His tone only made her laugh harder.

“I am performing hundreds of trillions of operations per second, I’ll have you know!” Kane’s frustration pulsed through the neural link, but the discomfort was tolerable.“Allyouhad to do was fill a damned bottle.”

“A job well done, if I do say so myself,” she said, tapping the top of the container.

“Yes, you certainly went above and beyond — if we’re talking about the rim of the container.”

Theo shook her head. “That’swhat you came back with? You should stick to your day job. You know, keeping watch.”

“Too bad I can’t commandyouto go to sleep…”

“Don’t tempt me. You’re lucky I need you to watch my back while my mind wanders aimlessly.”

“We both know it’s notaimlessly, Theo.”

Theo’s cheeks warmed, and an image of Vasil flashed through her retinal display. “Sometimes, Kane, I hate that you can monitor my vitals.”

“Yeah, well, you’re not the—”

“Shh!”

Theo ducked down as a yellow bird-like creature fluttered down from the canopy several meters away. Its length was difficult to judge, but she guessed it would be nearly a meter long from beak to behind if it were stretched out. It had a long neck with blue and green plumes on its backside, and a short, curved beak. It turned its head back and forth, surveying the area with large, dark eyes before scooting closer to the stream, pecking at the ground as it went.

“You don’t need to shush me, Theo. No one else can hear me.”

---