GALLANT (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 3) (13 page)

She was determined to figure it out if it took the rest of the trip to Zoenid. In the meantime, he would get a surprise the next time he tried to switch cubes on her and discovered nothing but air in the secret pocket of his vest. She could hardly wait to see his reaction.

That thought made her reflect on his
reactions
when he saw her in the chamber. He had covered his eye rather than his body. Although none of the Noronians she knew were overly modest, it still seemed to be an odd response, especially considering just how strongly, and
quickly,
he had responded. The other curious thing was, in the split-second peek she had, his left eye had appeared to be normal... which was more than she could say about the rest of his extraordinary body.

All of a sudden she felt pressure build up in her ears and she automatically yawned to pop them. The sensation of pressure went away a moment later, followed by a drastic change in the sound of the ship.

Quickly, she hid the cubes beneath the mattress and hustled to the bridge to find out what was going on. There, she immediately saw the reason for the change. Looming some distance ahead was a large, rusty brown sphere. Awareness that it was her first glimpse of a planet sent every other thought out of her head. "Is that Zoenid?"

"Yes," Dot answered. "It would be advisable if you were seated somewhere when we dock."

Not wanting to disturb anyone further, but hoping to get the best view possible, she went in front of the control panel and sat down on the glass floor.

Cherry thought she heard Gallant make a groaning sound, but she was too fascinated with the view to be concerned with him at the moment.

The color of the planet didn't improve any as they approached it. She had assumed it would look like satellite photos she had seen of Earth. Instead, the surface was nothing but a never-ending desert. Where were the oceans? Mountains? Forests? Where was the
civilization
? "Do people really live down there?" she asked aloud.

When Gallant didn't answer, Mar did. "Not generally. But there are some small oases in the southwestern quartersphere where some species reside. We will be coming around that side of the planet very shortly."

"Species?"
She looked back at him but he had returned his attention to the navigational monitor.

As promised, it was not long before they began a vertical descent toward the section Mar had spoken of, but Cherry wondered how he could have used the word "oases" in connection with what she was seeing.

At least a hundred boxlike structures, of the same rusty brown shade as the land, encircled a green, bubbling mass that could have been a cross between quicksand and nuclear waste. Had she not been looking closely, the various-sized buildings might have been thoroughly camouflaged. Here and there along the otherwise barren landscape, clusters of tall straight sticks jutted upward, making Cherry think of stands of bamboo trees that had lost all their leaves.

About a quarter mile from the buildings, however, was an even stranger sight—space ships in a variety of shapes were lined up in rows like some futuristic parking lot.

"You've got to be kidding," Cherry challenged Gallant as they touched down. "I distinctly remember your saying Zoenid was
a fascinating little planet.
What do you call hell—a tropical resort?"

Gallant stood and came around the panel to where she was seated. "Did you notice the bog as we were coming in?"

With a sarcastic laugh, Cherry rose to her feet. "If you mean that sea of slime, I could hardly miss the only spot of color on the whole planet."

"That
slime
is known as the elixir of life around here. Not only does it provide necessary fluid, it has rejuvenative properties. A few glasses of the stuff takes years off a person's life, heals the sick and mends the wounded."

"If that's true, why hasn't anyone bottled the stuff and marketed it?"

"Because it only works after it's been drawn out through the tube plants, and those plants can't survive anywhere but here. And before you ask, the place isn't overrun by youth-seeking tourists because the residents value their privacy and keep it a secret. There are dozens of oases in the quartersphere but this is the only one where I'm assured someone will recognize me."

"You
want
to be recognized?"

He shrugged. "It would help. Strangers aren't exactly welcomed with open arms in places like this."

Cherry didn't care for the sound of that. She still wasn't certain Gallant would keep his promise to return her to Earth anytime soon. Since she learned he was a cheat as well as a liar, the odds against his keeping that promise had gone up drastically. If the natives were hostile, catching another ride home would be next to impossible. Until she had a better handle on her situation, she decided to play along with him as if she didn't know he had won her promise to cooperate under false pretenses.

"Where are these privacy-loving residents?" Cherry asked when she realized no one had investigated their arrival.

"Inside the shelters, probably just waking up. The sun here is too brutal during the day for anyone to move about. It will be dusk any minute now and then we'll go have a look around."

"Don't you think it's about time to tell me about this acting gig you want me to do?"

Mar cleared his throat and Gallant threw him a warning look before saying to Cherry, "Yes, it is. If you would come to my room with me, we'll leave Mar-Dot to complete the landing check and secure the ship."

Cherry had been doing a fine job of not thinking about him or his incredible body but being closeted in that cramped room with nowhere to sit but his bunk had her traitorous pulse picking up speed again. She remained standing with her arms crossed beneath her breasts. "Shoot." Apparently one glance at his bed convinced him to stay rigidly upright as well.

"The first thing you need to know is that just about every being out there has come here to hide from something—usually the law. Some of them would incinerate you just for looking them in the eye. Others might not be murderers but they're still capable of doing you harm. An attractive, humanoid female has a number of uses in a place like this."

"You're making this planet sound more delightful by the minute," she said with a sneer.

"I only wanted to warn you in case you had the urge to befriend someone out there. You have nothing to worry about... as long as you stay with me."

Cherry cocked her head at him. "If everyone's so hostile, how can you be sure they'll put up with you?"

He paused and rubbed his chin. "As I said before, I should be recognized."

"And accepted as one of them?" she asked warily.

"In a manner of speaking."

She had thought he looked dangerous but she hadn't considered the fact that he might have a criminal background. What had Dot told her?
Compared to Frezlo, the captain was a good guy.
The key words now seemed to be "compared to Frezlo." Cherry's need to pace was building but there was no place to go.

"You look worried," Gallant noted with concern. "Don't be. I'll protect you."

But who will protect me from you?
Cherry was tempted to ask but held her tongue. "What do I have to do?"

"Nothing... except to let yourself be seen with me. Although one of the ships out there looks like Frezlo's, I'm not positive it is. I have no way of knowing if he's at this camp or another. Questions about someone's whereabouts aren't tolerated any more than snooping around the shelters. I need Frezlo to come to me."

"What if he's not here?"

"If I offer the right... incentive, he'll hear about it wherever he is."

Cherry's puzzle logic clicked into gear. "Incentive? Like something you have that he might want?" His mouth shifted from side to side and comprehension hit her.
"Me?"

"It won't—"

"You son-of-a-bitch!" She crossed the room in a flash and delivered a solid punch to his gut. Whining, he backed up to the door. "You planned to use me as bait all along, didn't you?"

"That's not true."

"You wouldn't know the truth if it walked up and bit you on the ass!"

It looked as though she was preparing to strike him again, so he grasped her wrists and secured them against his chest.

She started to pull away when a sudden tingling in her robotic hand distracted her enough to keep her from moving.

"I did
not
intend to use you... until after Mar-Dot touched your mind and came up empty. I couldn't think of anything more effective to lure Frezlo than to let him find out the Weebort had told you something important before he died."

"I don't believe you." She could tell he was getting angry and she didn't care. It was all she could do to ignore the peculiar sensation of warmth creeping up her right arm. "Tell me, were you including beast bait as one of the
uses
a female might have around here? I bet, with a little effort, I could find someone with a use for me that wouldn't put my life at risk."

He inhaled sharply. "You want the truth, Cherry?
This
is the truth." In a heartbeat, his hands moved to brace her head and his mouth came down on hers.

As before, there was no warning, no build-up to the explosion of passion. He was instantly devouring her and she was driven by an urgent hunger of her own.

They dove headlong into an age-old struggle of need and dominance, with neither combatant willing to be the first to surrender, yet both desperate to do just that.

It was wrong and right at the same time. She was furious with him,
and
she wanted this devastating kiss to go on forever.

But recalling how unsatisfactorily their last bout had ended gave Cherry the willpower to retreat a bit. Perhaps he had been thinking the same thing because his attempt to draw her back was easily discouraged.

He retained a firm grip on her shoulders to prevent her from moving further away while he caught his breath. After a moment, he spoke in a raspy voice. "I will admit that I intended to use you as bait for the last couple days, but believe this—I'm the
only
one on this godforsaken planet that's going to use you... for anything."

With her own breathing barely under control, she simply stared up at him. For once, she had no doubt he had spoken the truth. For better or worse, he had appointed himself her protector and, for the time being, she was dependent upon him.

Slowly, he released her, but another few seconds passed before she moved away and shook the tingling out of her arm. She wasn't sure what happened to her each time they came into physical contact but she definitely noticed that it was the only time her arm acted up. Whatever
it
was, neither one of them seemed anxious to talk about it, but sooner or later, she was going to discover more about the phenomenal chemistry between them.

Taking another step back from him, she reminded him of why they were in his room. "You said I needed to do a little acting. What role am I supposed to be playing?"

The question returned Gallant the rest of the way to sanity. He rubbed his chin as he tried to come up with a way to ease into what she had to do. After her offhand threat to seek someone else's protection he really had no choice but to follow through with his original idea... for her sake as much as his own. But he knew she wasn't apt to be complacent about it.

He walked over to a storage cabinet in the wall and said, "I've tried to give you a fair picture of the kind of beings that inhabit this area. If there was any way I could draw Frezlo to me without your help—"

"You're repeating yourself, Captain. Get to the point."

He opened the cabinet door and took out her peasant girl costume. "I held on to this. You need to look the way you did when Frezlo saw you last."

"And what if I say I've changed my mind about helping you?"

He raised his eyebrow. "I thought you were in a rush to get back to Innerworld. If you refuse to play along, it could take weeks to ferret out Frezlo. And then there's the little matter of our wager. You lost, remember?"

She opened her mouth to protest that he'd cheated to win that game then resealed her lips. If she told him that, she'd be giving away her only chance to get back at him later on...
if
she was still dependent on him to get home.

Despite Gallant's numerous deceits, Dot had convinced Cherry of the seriousness of his mission and genuine need of her assistance. Besides, she could see the logic involved in using her to speed things up. "Okay. Give me the damn costume."

He waited patiently for her to don the sackcloth gown over her jumpsuit and arrange the braided, blond wig on her head. "Good. Now there's just one more item to add."

She watched him remove something else from the same cabinet, but as he turned around to her, he managed to keep it behind his back.

"Understand, this is the only way I can positively ensure your safety."

Cherry groaned. "Spit it out already!"

"First, close your eyes."

"Absolutely not. Whatever you've got planned, I want to see it coming."

He frowned with the knowledge that he hadn't yet earned her trust. "All right, but at least stand still for five seconds."

She gave him three but it was all he needed to get the collar around her neck and lock it.