“Smart man, your general,” she agreed.
Alvians were tenacious but strict followers of logic. Their cold adherence to risk-benefit analyses had led to their current problems—including the mess their geneticists had created and the unforgivable choice to proceed with crystal seeding of a planet when there was some evidence of an advanced culture already living there.
“General Yeager was the absolute best. There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t pray for him.”
“Then he’s still alive?”
“I don’t really know. He went out on a mission and never came back. He’s either dead or captured. Otherwise he would have come back. He cared for our wellbeing more than his own life. He was a great man.”
Gina made a mental note to ask the Patriarch to search the Alvian databases for news of this General Yeager if possible. If he was a captive, the Zxerah might be able to get custody of him and put his experience and his warrior’s heart to good use in the fight for human freedom. Every honorable man they could find was one more who would aid their cause. This one had the added benefit of proven leadership abilities if he was still the man Wally remembered with such respect and admiration.
Finally they arrived at the transit level and got off the last elevator. They had to take a few flights of stairs down further, but it wasn’t far. During their journey through the complex, Jim’s lieutenants had worked out a duty roster and Jim had given them some last minute instructions while she talked with Wally. The scientist had integrity. She could tell by his words and actions that he was concerned for his fellow man. He still had the eager mind of the scientist he’d been in the old world and the love and pride he had for his son was obvious to anyone who bothered to look.
Gina had a sense of satisfaction that here, at least, humans were living and thriving in family units…as it was meant to be. Too many humans had been ripped from their homes and families. Here was a small group that managed to stay together and help each other. It reminded Gina in a very tangible way of what they were fighting for. It was a good reminder.
Wally gave them some last minute instructions on how to operate the small pod. It wasn’t a train, per se, but rather a sort of bubble on rails. The nose was pointed, probably for aerodynamics, and it was relatively small. There were two seats up front for a pilot and co-pilot like an airplane, and an area in the rear of the small pod meant for passengers. There were spare seats and tables made to lock in place in a utility area off to one side, and Gina was reminded that top brass had used this method of travel. They’d probably left the driving to the grunts while they worked or held meetings in back. But Gina and Jim took only two extra seats—in case anybody from the Canadian facility wanted to make the return trip with them¾and a few items of gear that had been packed by someone beforehand.
There was a tent, some camping equipment and more food. A quick glance at the piles of stuff that had been tied down in back told her that much. Jim motioned her into the pod and took a moment to say goodbye to his men. Wally and Dex were at the end of the chamber, Wally standing at a console, flipping switches, his brawny son muscling open a blast door that worked on some kind of hydraulic crank.
She settled into the co-pilot’s chair and waited. Jim hadn’t said much to her since they left the conference room, but she figured they’d have plenty of time to talk on the trip. His standoffishness didn’t offend her. In fact, she would rather have a little distance between them than the uncomfortable closeness of the night before.
Gina wasn’t one to fall into intimate situations with men. Her days running in the wilderness had made her leery of most human men, except for the ones tested and accepted into the Zxerah Brotherhood of course. But those fellow warriors were more like brothers. She hadn’t been sexually attracted to any of them, but then, she had always been rather picky about who she dated and who she became intimate with. Since the cataclysm had changed the very fabric of her existence, she hadn’t really gotten involved with any man, much less two.
And now in the space of a few days she’d been approached by two attractive males who both managed to devastate her with the slightest touch and made her yearn for more. Circumstance had taken her away from the mysterious Alvian Prime and thrown her into Jim’s arms. Jim was larger than life. He was the man she remembered, but now he was even more. He’d filled out and grown hard, his life’s experiences forging the young blade he’d been into the finest of tempered steel.
He’d brought her more pleasure than she could ever remember experiencing—except with Grady Prime. It had been so long since a man had given her that kind of pleasure, she’d almost feared she’d never find a man she was attracted to in that way. Now there were two of them and though Grady Prime wasn’t in her life now, he was still in her mind. Jim, though, was much closer and much more frightening.
She would be alone with him for days on this journey and she had no idea what his expectations were. For that matter, she didn’t know what she expected either. Would she throw herself into his arms at the first opportunity? Or would she be too afraid to take the leap of faith that would lead her straight into his bedroll?
Even she didn’t know the answer to that.
Thankfully, she was distracted from her whirling thoughts by the crackle of an intercom that she could faintly hear echoing outside in the rest of the chamber. She was safely ensconced in the co-pilot’s chair as Jim sealed the hatch on the side of the vehicle after taking leave of his men. He settled into the pilot’s chair at her side, brushing her arm with his muscular thigh as he maneuvered into the small seat.
“Everybody clear the track area and stand back on the platform,” Wally’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker.
Gina watched as Dex jumped clear of the track to stand next to his father by the control console. All the others were standing farther back on the low platform from which they’d boarded the pod. The platform wasn’t strictly necessary to board, Wally had explained, but the actual stations had them installed to make getting on and off easier.
“I’m powering up the rails in three…two…one.” Wally flipped the switch, and the lights in the tunnel station dimmed for just a second or two as the rails hummed to life. The pod lifted and swayed slightly before stabilizing, and Wally gave them a thumbs-up. “And we have levitation. Have a good trip, folks!” He waved them on with a huge grin as Jim hit the accelerator.
The pod started slowly out of the station, gliding above the electrified rails. The magnetic field generated by the electric current allowed the pod to hover in a frictionless adherence. Gina didn’t know how it all worked, but once they got going, the ride was smooth with only a little sway side to side as they followed the gentle curve of the rails and gradually picked up speed. They left the station and the people behind and were soon out into the old tunnel, lit here and there by a string of widely spaced light bulbs.
Jim concentrated on getting the pod going at first, but then switched it over to automatic drive. Wally had assured them the path was clear of obstructions for at least the first two stops. Scouts had been in the tunnels as recently as a few days ago, so there was little to worry about.
Gina felt Jim’s eyes on her as he shifted in the pilot’s chair to watch her. She wanted to resist the pull of his gaze but was powerless against his allure.