Kate wasn’t sure what to do. If she told Houston what had happened, it would set up exactly the scenario Hunter had warned her about. If she tried to lie or whitewash the situation, her career would be over and history would never forgive her.
She knew she’d have to play it by the book. Tell them what’s happened and let NASA sort it out.
“Uh, captain.” Ally was bent over the scope.
Kate didn’t really want to hear any more bad news. “Yeah?”
Ally looked up. “The away team is on the move.”
“What! They had orders to stay by the pod, so if they’re moving, they’ve just violated my direct or—”
“Or they’re not going of their own free will,” Ally said quietly.
Kate closed her eyes. “Get the camera onscreen.”
In seconds, they were looking at the landing site, covered with trees. “Overlay the transponder signals.” Three yellow dots appeared, close together, among the trees. Kate watched with morbid fascination. If they were moving under their own power, they were sure going slow.
“Reyes’ report said the commander had a badly sprained knee, right? Maybe they’re helping her to walk,” Kate said, grasping at straws.
“It’s possible. But why would they leave the pod?”
“Perhaps an environmental situation? Some sort of hazard?”
“They would’ve told us, sir. No, what happened to them was sudden and overwhelming.”
“You don’t think—”
“One way to find out.”
Kate nodded. “OK, let’s send a bioprobe right down on their heads, see if we can pick up any humanoid readings.”
“And we thought we were in trouble with Hunter before…” Ally said as she readied the probe.
Kate shook her head and dialed up the radio link to Earth.
Hunter threw the headphones down. “I knew it!” he roared to the room full of hushed mission controllers. “Send a bunch of girls out and what do they do? They drive into a tree, get themselves dragged off by animals for all we know, then expect us to bail them out! Well, it’s not going to happen. I told Congress this was a bad idea. Phillips!”
The mission commander appeared at his left side. “I want options! I want to know how much trouble they are in and just what we can tell the press about it. And speaking of the press, where’s that PR flack? Hepler!”
Bill Hepler, the press liaison, came up, visibly trembling. He wasn’t sure at this moment who he was more afraid of, the irate Hunter or the ravenous mob of journalists just across the hall from the control center. “Sir, the press is anxiously--”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass about the press. I care about what I’m going to tell the president and those yahoos in Congress! Give me some statement that makes it sound better than it is.”
Hepler blanched. “I-I don’t know if ‘spin’ is a good idea right now—”
“Did I ask for your opinion?” His gaze was icy.
“N-no, sir.”
“Good, then go write something. And make it snappy!”
Miserably, Hepler slunk away.
“Admiral Hunter?” Another aide stood by, quivering.
Hunter wheeled around, ready to eviscerate whoever dared interrupt him. Before he could spew forth, the aide said quickly, “The president is on the line for you.”
It was Hunter’s turn to blanch. He nodded at the aide and sat down at his console. Picking up the phone, he put on his most respectful voice. “Good afternoon, Mr. President…”
“Captain, with all due respect, it’s not a good idea.”
“I know it isn’t, No. 1. Unfortunately, they’re all lousy ideas right now.”
“Someone has to stay aboard. We can’t both go down there,” Ally said. “Besides, if you go with me, that’ll mean I can carry just one person back.”
“No, I’d stay. You carry Hanson and the doc back, then return for Smith and me. We’ll have a better chance than one alone in getting to the first pod.”
Ally had to admit that made sense. “Sir, I have to remind you, if something goes wrong with the pod, there will be no way to get back to the ship. That means there’s no way to get the ship home.”
“Someone will come along sooner or later, you know that.”
That was true. It may take a year or more, but Earth would respond, if for no other reason than to study this amazing planet.
Ally was secretly glad the captain planned to go. She was afraid to go down alone. Still, she was also fearful of abandoning the ship, having no one left to radio messages to her and to be in touch with Earth.
“They’ll say we abandoned our posts.”
“NASA will have to understand. I want my crew back. I can’t go home without them. And I can’t send you down alone to fight off their kidnappers.”
The bioprobe had confirmed that the away team was in the company of two large humanoids. Considering Greta’s injuries, they probably were being carried or were riding through the woods. They appeared to be heading to a pass over the ridge and, ultimately, to the village on the other side, across the plain. Kate was determined to stop them.
Ally nodded. “Aye, aye, sir, I’m convinced. I suppose we need to get NASA’s permission, though.”
Kate hesitated. She knew her commander was right. She couldn’t avoid telling NASA, just because they wanted to solve this themselves. But she was afraid of what Hunter might say.
“OK. I’ll call. But we’re not waiting any more than two hours for a response. I think we need both of us down there to rescue them and that’s what I’m going to recommend to Houston.”
Chapter 11
Jorja awoke to find her world had suddenly gotten smaller. She was lying on her back in a wooden cage on a cart, being led through the woods by one of those donkey-like beasts they had seen from the air. The cage was only about four feet high.
Beth’s face appeared in her vision. “You all right?”
Jorja couldn’t help but notice that the doctor was naked. She tried to sit up and found her hands were tied in front of her. What’s more, she was naked too. Beth, though similarly tied, helped her to a sitting position. She looked over to see a nude Greta leaning against the cage wall, her eyes closed, her bound hands resting in her lap. “I’m fine. What-what the hell happened to us?”
“We seem to have become guests of the planet’s residents.”
“But why are we naked?”
“Apparently, these guys don’t like to see women in clothes.”
“Jesus. You don’t think—“
Beth waited. She could imagine the worries that were flickering through the engineer’s mind. She dared not tell her what had happened while both women were unconscious. When the humanoids stripped off Beth’s clothes, he appeared to be fascinated with her hairless body. He touched her all over, letting his big hands roam her breasts and cunt. Despite her fear, Beth became aroused.
Lumpy had touched her wetness, then smelled it on his fingers. His large tongue licked them and his eyes widened. He reached down again and Beth had tried to pull away, but the slender native stood right behind her. She felt so small, so helpless sandwiched between these giant-like creatures. She also felt incredibly turned on for some reason. She looked down to see Lumpy’s animal skin stretching into a tent.
They spoke to each other in a strange language over her head. Beth felt like an object they were determining the value of. Skinny reached around and touched her heavy breasts. His fingers danced over her nipples, causing her knees to weaken. She could feel his erection as well, poking through his loincloth into her back.
Oddly, instead of being terrified, she sensed that they considered her to be quite a prize and should be handled carefully. She no longer feared for her life—now it was a question of, would they rape her? And if they did, would it be so bad? And they do look a lot like humans…she mumbled to herself..
“You don’t think they, uh, mate the same way humans do, do you?” Jorja’s voice interrupted Beth’s thoughts. “That would be an impossible coincidence.”