Alien Caller (50 page)

That had been
Rebecca’s point of no return. Her world had finally collapsed and
she had nowhere to go. She’d taken the last of her money, driven
probably until the fuel ran out and then gone hiking. But it was no
spontaneous holiday as she claimed. She was not a tramper. By the
looks of her feet she had never worn a pair of boots in her life,
nor had her shoulders ever supported a pack. Never having been in
the woods in her life before was the only thing she had said which
he knew she was telling the truth about. She’d had no survival
gear, no tent, no adequate clothing and no hope of surviving more
than a day or two. But then she had never intended to survive.

Somewhere
upstream, and he was pretty sure he knew where, she had stripped
down to her togs and leapt off a tall bank into a cold and deadly
river as the sun was setting. That she had survived the fall from
Dead Man’s Leap which he had no doubt was the place - the name
would have drawn her like a magnet - was a miracle. The ten meter
drop into rapids had killed too many over the years. But there had
been heavy rain in the past weeks and the water level was probably
high enough to keep her from killing herself by hitting the rocks
underneath.

There was a
down side to the river being so full though. When it was in flood
the water simply flew through the narrow gorges and twisted
canyons. The swollen river had carried her like a cork for upwards
of ten miles, probably in less than half an hour, while she no
doubt panicked and started the slow and painful process of
drowning.

Along the way,
as her situation had become more and more desperate and the
imminence of her death had made itself known, she had experienced a
revelation. She wanted to live. David was certain that that much of
the tale was true. But wanting to live when you’re going under in a
twisting, tossing, flood engorged river, is not enough. You have to
have the physical strength and the will, and the cold and choking
water had been swiftly robbing her of both. He wondered how many
others had made that same life affirming decision in her shoes and
never achieved it.

She had
ultimately been unbelievably lucky. When Ayer had stepped in and
literally pulled her to safety, David had no doubt she had been
going under for the last time. It was a miracle she had made it
that far down the river at all. She meant it when she said he had
been like an angel to her, carrying her to heaven. But for her
perhaps, that heaven would hopefully be on Earth.

David looked at
Ayer and knew he didn’t understand. No more did Cyrea, for which he
knew he should be truly thankful. He didn’t want them to
understand. But he also knew that sooner or later, they would have
to. And while for Cyrea that would be hard to accept, for Ayer it
might well be impossible. Yet he had to.

From that point
on, whenever Becky saw Ayer she saw her angel, which was both a
good and bad thing. It was good because seeing him that way gave
her a reason to live, to be happy, and to escape her past into a
fantasy world. The past week was probably the first in her life
when she had truly felt loved. It was also bad because no matter
how decent Ayer was, he still wasn’t an angel. He was a young man
with all the strengths and weaknesses that that entailed. And he
was a Leinian, a person from a totally different culture to hers.
Sooner or later her bubble would burst and she would have to
discover him for who he was. What would happen then, no one could
predict.

But there were
things that could be done to swing the odds towards a better
outcome. Towards keeping them together, and he knew that that was
the key for both of them to have a good life.

It was as
though a corner had been turned in his mind, as he suddenly
understood he needed to do everything he could for these kids, and
that for both of them, the best thing he could do was to keep them
together. At some point he'd stopped thinking of the Leinians as
anything other than regular people. Now, sitting here in front of
him were two people, two children, who needed all the help they
could get, and he wanted to give it to them. Their problem had
become his.

Rebecca had
suffered a life changing experience, for which he was glad, but he
was also old enough and cynical enough to know that such changes
don’t always endure. Sooner or later he knew, her old life would
reassert itself. She would miss her servants or her wealth, maybe
even her friends if she had any left. That could spell disaster for
them both.

For now though,
she was at least clean and alcohol free, being looked after by
someone who actually cared for her, and for the first time actually
enjoying her life. David knew that the longer that happy
circumstance could continue, the better would be her chance of
leaving her old life behind. Also the better would be the chance
for the two of them to grow close emotionally as well as sexually,
and that was even more critical for Ayer. As Cyrea had told him,
Leinians had only one chance to find a mate, and this for the
youngster was clearly it. Becky could move on though it would
probably be a stupid mistake for her as well as him. Ayer
couldn’t.

They had been
asked, well Cyrea had said asked but he suspected the truth was
closer to their being ordered, to bring the two kids back ASAP.
David vetoed that on the spot. He had no reason to return them to
the ship, and every reason to let them continue their honeymoon.
Ayer was no fool, and he knew he was overdue from his holiday if
only by a day, but when he asked if they were there to bring them
back, David told him he’d been given another fortnight off for
having been so brave. Cyrea started squeezing his hand again about
then, wondering what he was doing, but she didn’t openly disagree
with him. He promised her quietly that he’d explain later.

Thinking
quickly David made a short speech about Ayer’s courage, knowing
that Becky listened intently as he spoke about how much danger Ayer
had faced in going in after her into the raging waters. They could
have easily ended up with two dead swimmers. It sounded quite corny
to him and Cyrea and probably Ayer, but they weren’t the intended
audience, Becky was.

The young man
clearly wasn’t quite sure he believed him and he was also modest,
trying to down play the water’s speed, and his own risk. But then
he also knew enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth. Two more
weeks of sun and sex. Rebecca on the other hand was simply
ecstatic. She began a new phase of hero worship on the spot as she
rediscovered the risks Ayer had taken for her, and in any case she
didn’t want her new found heaven to end so soon.

So far so good
David thought, but there was also a catch. The pair had to get past
their initial lust and fantasy somehow. Not so rapidly or cruelly
that it burst their bubble of joy and left them sad and angry, but
gradually so that the fantasy and reality merged as gently as
possible for them.

He asked Ayer
to bring Rebecca back to the Leinian base at the end of their two
weeks so she could have a proper medical and so they could explain
their mission to her. To Ayer that at least made perfect sense, and
Becky was simply too happy at the thought of another two weeks with
her angel to even think about the future. But in time David hoped,
it would start triggering her curiosity. With each day as they came
closer to the base, her questions would grow together with her
uncertainty. Ayer would automatically reassure her, and in learning
about the Leinians, he hoped she would learn about Ayer.

It wasn’t much
of a plan, but the best he could do at such short notice. He hoped
to be able to improve the chances later by involving the Leinians
themselves, and making sure they watched the couple closely. The
latter at least he was sure they’d do. Perverts as Cyrea and he
thought of them, could still have their uses.

Cyrea finally
started to look as though she was going to object to all the
changes he was making. David quickly kissed her and then stood up,
complaining his backside was sore from sitting on the ground. When
she looked as though she might want to stay where she was, he
picked her up and carried her back to the flier to hoots of
laughter from the youngsters. Cyrea was caught once again off
guard, but didn’t protest too much he noticed. Maybe it was a
technique he’d use again. Besides she was a wonderful warm weight
in his arms.

While he
pretended to be rummaging around in the flier, looking for a
cushion to sit on, he managed to tell her a little of his thoughts.
Mainly he told her that he believed it was vital for both kids that
they have as long and untroubled a honeymoon as possible, if they
were to stay together. And Cyrea, after some more kissing for good
measure, gave in.

They returned
without a cushion, but with a travel blanket they’d thoughtfully
thrown in before they left, and a packet of coffee. No-one human or
Leinian went camping without coffee, and David had been sure that
their supplies would be running low after a week. He’d planned on
using it to break the ice anyway.

They ended up
sharing a pot of coffee, cooked on the kid’s fire, while David and
Cyrea told them how they had met in turn. They guessed that the
kids had probably been interrogated enough for one day, and that
they might want to ask some questions instead of answering them.
And David knew the last thing he wanted was for them to be upset.
Not now. Not before their bond was stronger. Besides, he wanted
them both to know that a human Leinian relationship could endure.
It might give them hope.

As such he gave
them as full an account as he could of how Cyrea and he had changed
their lives to be together. Knowledge is power as they say, and
every mistake he and Cyrea had made he hoped the kids could learn
from. And every joy they’d found, he hoped they would learn from
too. It hurt knowing that every word they spoke would be heard by
the perverts back at the base, but it was also wonderful to be able
to tell it to people in a similar situation. Besides he hoped it
might give them the wisdom to look beyond the immediate physical
gratification of their needs to something more long term.

In the end it
seemed to go well. The kids both listened intently, curious rather
than prying, but for all that, fascinated. Oddly they hadn’t even
considered most of what David and Cyrea had agonized over. The fact
that they were different peoples from different worlds was nothing
to them. Politics and world security was irrelevant. Diseases and
pregnancy forgotten a second after being thought of. Once they’d
met, once they’d discovered that attraction, nothing else had
occurred to them. Nothing else had mattered. The innocence of youth
and the lust of teenagers. It was a powerful combination.

They discovered
they could all find common elements in their stories. The way that
touching seemed to be so powerful in bringing out their desires,
the unbelievable power of their sexual hunger which simply
dominated them, and the way that once their urges had been
satisfied, they could find so much peace together. The similarity
they had with each other, regardless of where they came from. But
was that really something peculiar to human Leinian relations, or
just to young love?

Before they got
back in the flier, Cyrea and he promised to look for Becky’s gear
as they flew back, though David knew he would not be returning it
to her for some time to come. The longer she physically depended on
Ayer for her survival the better he figured. Likewise the longer
she spent in her bikini, driving Ayer’s young hormones crazy, the
better. They also promised to come back with some camping equipment
and food, the next day.

As they flew
away, David took the time to watch them talking and holding hands,
no doubt amazed by their good fortune. He wasn’t fooled by their
modesty though. He had seen them eyeing each other up, growing
fidgety and becoming more and more impatient while they shared
coffee and stories. He knew the second they were out of sight the
two of them would be at it again like rabbits, which seemed
entirely for the best. But afterwards, perhaps they’d think on
their words.

They flew the
path of the river slowly, tracing Becky’s swim, while David
explained to Cyrea what he believed the truth was, and why he’d
done what he had. For the most part she tried to accept his version
of events, if only because he was human and should therefore
understand other humans better, but she found it hard, and they
could still find no evidence. It was hard for her to accept
something so horrible without at least a shred of proof. It was
just as hard for him to have to tell her.

That was when
they reached the top of Dead Man’s Leap and found her clothes
sitting there, neatly piled under a tree even after a week in the
open, just in front of the barrier that stopped people getting too
close. The barrier she had stepped over only a week earlier. Cyrea
stared at it for the longest while, almost accusing it of
destroying her world, and he had to hold her close for a while.

Then when she
approached the barrier, looking for her guilty footprints, David
panicked and quickly gathered her up in his arms and pulled her
firmly back. The cliff wasn’t just dangerous for people who wanted
to jump. It was treacherous even without the will. The grass sloped
ever more steeply underfoot, all the way down to the edge, and in
the rain it was certain doom. It was a nightmare to see Cyrea so
close. He silently promised himself that he was going to come back
to this place soon, with a few sticks of dynamite. Someone should
have done it long ago.