Ouroboros 2: Before (7 page)

Cadet Nida Harper

It took her a long time to wake up. She’d been having a very strange dream. It had involved powerful flashes of light racing over a landscape, destroying absolutely everything in their path.

It made no sense, and as she rose, she placed a hand over her eyes, trying to blink away the remnants of the dream.

‘
You’re awake,’ Carson announced from her side, then, almost immediately he added, ‘and guess what? You talk in your sleep.’

She took a moment to understand his words.

She blinked heavily. ‘Sorry? I talk in my sleep? I do not,’ she rallied.

‘
I’m afraid you do. At first it was something about you being very, very hungry, then a couple of names. Speaking of which, who is Harry?’ he asked, interest tightening his tone.

She blushed. She’d dated a cadet called Harry Sinclair in her first year at the Academy. It had never gone anywhere though, and they’d broken up quickly.

So she was damn sure she wouldn’t have talked about him.

‘
I do not talk in my sleep,’ she chose to repeat again in a determined and proper tone.

‘
Sure, just like I don’t snuffle,’ he added.

She shook her head. Then she realized that the forest around them was lit by a gentle, early-morning glow. She looked up through the thick canopy above, and could see the brilliant colors the sun cast over the horizon as it peaked out from behind the trees. ‘How long did I sleep for?’

‘
You needed to rest,’ he pointed out firmly, ‘somehow the entity has provided me with the ability to speak perfect and fluent Vex. I have no idea how that works, and it sounds like the badly conceived plot of one of the books I used to read as a kid. But the point is, you expended energy last night, and you needed to recoup it.’

She simply nodded.

Feeling a little cold, she brought up her hands and ran them over the long sleeves of her top. She couldn’t help but smile. ‘The Vex are a strange race, I’ll give them that, but they do make some very beautiful clothing,’ she commented as she assessed the embroidery on her top.

Carson sniggered.

There was no other way to describe it.

She pressed her lips together and looked at him enquiringly. ‘What? Do you have a problem with embroidery? Is it too soft for the heroic Carson Blake?’

He shot her a steely look, but promptly shook his head and sniggered again. ‘I think I figured out why that guy from last night was . . . inappropriate,’ Carson managed, his voice growing stiff.

She shivered slightly, but tried to hide it by tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘Why?’

‘
Because you are dressed like a prostitute,’ Carson said blankly.

She spluttered. ‘Excuse me?’

Carson picked up the scanner that was beside him, and started playing with it. ‘I’ve been amassing as much information as I can from radio and television waves, and the scanner has been doing its best to put it all into a navigable database. And a Bride of the Sun,’ he cleared his throat properly, ‘is a high-class prostitute. When you concocted that disguise at the building, I shudder to think what you used as a reference.’

She could feel her cheeks turning incandescent red. ‘You’re making this up,’ she challenged.

He shook his head, and started laughing again. ‘I wish I was, but I’m not.’

She crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest, as if she was trying to hide it, which was dumb, considering she was exceedingly well dressed. ‘I am clothed from head to foot. That’s hardly the garb of a . . . prostitute,’ she finally said.

‘
Maybe not where we come from, but here, I’m afraid it is. We might have to look into getting you another set of clothes.’

‘
So if I’m dressed as a prostitute, what are you dressed as? A gigolo?’ She looked at him pointedly.

‘
No, I’m dressed as a simple farmer boy, merchant, or man of the lower socio-economic class.’ Carson shrugged his shoulders.

She still had her arms crossed defensively in front of her chest, and suddenly felt like it would take a crowbar and a team of muscle bound aliens to pry them free. ‘You better not be making this up,’ she warned.

‘
I’m not,’ he said in a serious tone. ‘Because I wouldn’t,’ he added.

He was no longer laughing, he wasn’t even smiling cheekily, so Nida gave up and sighed.
‘
I guess I am the worst recruit in 1000 years. I thought I’d done a good job with these disguises,’ she sighed again.

‘
Don’t beat yourself up,’ he said smoothly. ‘We all make mistakes.’

She spluttered through a laugh. ‘I’m sure we do, Carson Blake, but I really doubt you have ever gone to an alien planet and dressed up as a prostitute.’

He conceded her point with a shrug. ‘My point is, this is a complex situation, and we’re just getting used to it.’

She let his words mollify her, then she finally uncrossed her arms and let them rest next to her as she played with her hands.

‘
Now we have a better idea of their culture, and we can miraculously speak their language, it’s time we head to town,’ he managed, breathing heavily through his words as if he were trying to garner up the courage to say them.

She looked at him sharply. Though she had been the one to convince him they had to interact with the people of this planet to complete their mission, now she wasn’t so sure.

Last night had left her unsettled.

Maybe Carson could register her hesitation, because he scrambled to his feet and walked over to her. Without a word he held out his hand.

She looked up at it silently.

‘
I’m not going to bite you,’ he said. Then he paused, looking momentarily cheeky as if he were about to make a joke, but he swallowed it.

No doubt it had been ridiculously inappropriate, and though Carson Blake was many things, she was starting to learn he was decent.

So she took the hand and let him pull her to her feet.

‘
How are you feeling?’ he asked quickly as he took a step back and appeared to assess her.

‘
Like I really want to get this mission done, head back to the Academy, and eat pasta,’ she moped.

He offered her a kinked, half grin. ‘Well then, we better get back to saving the universe.’

Despite herself, she returned his smile.

Then they both slowly headed out of the small section of forest they’d been resting in.

Or at least she had been resting in. Carson had probably stayed up the whole night. Which wasn’t a good thing. While she did need her rest, so did he. He was the only thing she had to rely on in this time, and she couldn’t bear the thought of something happening to him. And hey, maybe even if she didn’t have to rely on him, she wouldn’t be able to bear the thought of any harm coming to Carson Blake. Which was a very strange notion to consider when she paused to remember that several weeks ago she had concluded that he was nothing but an annoyance.

‘
While we’re walking, I’ll try to fill you in on what I have gleaned of the Vex,’ he said as he waved her on.

‘
Hold on, I want to find some proper, appropriate clothes before we head to town,’ she announced in a high-pitched voice.

‘
Appropriate?’ he questioned, almost wheezing as he did.

‘
Yes, appropriate. I don’t want to look like a prostitute,’ she shook a finger at him.

‘
Well, you know how I said there are some striking cultural differences between the Vex and what we’re used to?’ he began hesitantly.

She stopped. ‘Carson, what are you trying to say?’

‘
That here prostitutes wear all the clothes, leaving not that much for everybody else,’ he quipped dryly.

‘
What exactly is that supposed to mean?’ She hooked her hands onto her hips.

‘
Okay, fine,’ he brought up the scanner, typed something into it, and seconds later a small hologram appeared over its surface. It showed what appeared to be a Vex woman wearing . . . well, not much at all. Some scraps of fabric and some straps, and a couple of adornments here and there.

‘
You better be joking,’ she stared at it.

He shook his head, and though it appeared as though he was trying to look serious, he couldn’t stifle a chuckle.

‘
That isn’t clothing; it’s a handkerchief tied together with string.’

Now he couldn’t help it, and began to laugh. ‘They look quite sturdy. I mean, those straps are relatively thick,’ he tried.

She walked up to him and hit him on the shoulder.

He didn’t even bother shifting back. ‘Come on, it won’t be that bad,’ he tried.

She was still close to him, and she suddenly looked up into his eyes.

And then he blushed.

Yes, Carson Blake blushed.

‘
You’ll be fine,’ he said in a wavering tone.

‘
I’ll be practically naked,’ she said, gratified that her own tone didn’t waver. ‘And nobody wants to see that.’

Her comment was open to reply, but no reply was forthcoming. Instead, Carson very quickly turned his attention back to the scanner and the small hologram slowly revolving above it. ‘I’ll try and see if there’s . . . something else. The database isn’t complete yet,’ he managed.

‘
Good, you do that, because I am not walking around this planet in a loincloth and a handkerchief,’ she said firmly.

‘
And straps, sturdy leather straps,’ he added.

‘
Carson,’ she raised her voice.

‘
Fine, I’m looking into it,’ he promised.

‘
Wait, hold on, don’t bother. It’s easy. I’ll just dress up like a man,’ she clapped her hands together, surprised she hadn’t thought of it before.

‘
No you won’t,’ he said firmly.

‘
Excuse me?’ She locked her hands on her hips again. ‘Why not?’

‘
Because that particular crime is punishable by death. I’m afraid to say we have found ourselves in an ugly, chauvinistic, male-oriented society. Or at least this particular province is. As far as I can tell, the rest of Vex is a lot more enlightened.’

‘
Punishable by death?’ she repeated disbelievingly.

He nodded, and unfortunately he looked completely serious. ‘But like I said, I’ll continue to look for an alternative.’

‘This place is ridiculous,’ she suddenly announced. ‘I thought the race that had once lived on Remus 12 was meant to be sophisticated. Technologically advanced or something, wasn’t that what we learnt aboard the Orion?’

He glanced up from his scanner, twisting his lips together as he did. ‘Do you really not remember the briefing? At all? Commander Sharpe and I went to a great deal of effort to go through all of the known facts about Remus 12.’

She looked at him tersely. ‘I’m sure I logged it at the time, but considering what happened to me afterwards, I don’t remember it anymore. So just tell me. Wasn’t this race meant to be advanced?’

He nodded. ‘They are, or they will be,’ he said, finally closing his scanner, ‘but just not yet. We are in the past, and if my estimation is anything to go by, I would say we are approximately 4000 years from our own time.’

She froze on the spot. ‘4000 years?’ she whispered.

He nodded caref
ully. ‘Don’t worry though; we will get back,’ he promised her.

‘
I just have to dress up in leather straps first,’ she sighed, blowing a breath of air against her fringe. ‘When we do make it back to the Academy, I’m going to leave that out of my briefing. Nobody is ever going to know,’ she warned.

‘
I won’t tell a soul,’ he nodded demurely.

‘
Good, otherwise I will spread to your groupies that you snuffle while you sleep.’

‘
I’m sorry, my groupies? I don’t have groupies,’ he stated flatly.

‘
You do. Cadet Farley is their leader. They meet in the cafeteria every Tuesday at 6 PM. They go over your recent mission notes, and sometimes, I’m told, they even re-enact them,’ she said with a completely straight face.

Carson looked mortified. ‘They do not,’ he tried, ‘please, please tell me they don’t re-enact them.’

She tried not to giggle, but it was very hard. ‘They do, every Tuesday,’ she repeated.

He looked at her, then slowly his mortified expression stiffened. ‘You’re joking.’

She couldn’t hold her flood of laughter in any longer, and let it all out. ‘I am. You should have seen your face. But I’m not entirely joking. You do have groupies, and Cadet Farley is their leader. They just don’t re-enact your mission notes.’

He didn’t blink as he considered her. Finally he shook his head and muttered something under his breath.