The rest of the command center included two bunkrooms, a storeroom full of rations and uniforms, and a bathroom. Kareena peered into the bathroom, grinned, then flexed cramped shoulder muscles. «Blade, I think I'm going to take the first bath anyone's taken here since the fall of the Sky Masters.»
«I doubt if the water's running,» said Blade, smiling.
Kareena sat down on the floor and started pulling off her boots. «Remember that soap-water in the cans? There should be some more in the storeroom.»
There was. Blade brought four cans of it, and found barrels of distilled water in the back of the storeroom. By the time he'd rolled one of them into the bathroom, Kareena was naked. She ran over and kissed him. With considerable self-control, Blade managed not to put his arms around her. He thought she looked disappointed. Then she frowned.
«Blade, do you suppose there are any ghosts here?»
Blade felt a moment's irritation at this superstition, then remembered his own feeling when he had stared at Mossev's dead towers in the evening light. He shook his head. «I don't think any of the Tower Builders died here. Even if they did, in England we think that to bring life back to a place where there are ghosts drives away the evil ones and gives peace to the good ones.» Cautiously he reached out and laid a hand on the smooth skin of her left shoulder. She did not flinch, and her eyes continued to meet his. «We're alive, aren't we?»
«Yes,» said Kareena. She raised a hand and covered his. «We're alive.» She lifted his hand, held it for a moment, then moved it down onto her right breast. She squeezed her eyes shut, and they stood like that for a moment. Then she raised a hand and began caressing Blade's neck and throat.
«Kareena,» he said. «Do you know what you're doing?» He thought he had his answer in the way her nipple was turning hard under his hand, but he wanted to be certain.
She took another step closer to him. «Yes, Blade. I know. Now both hands went to work, unbuttoning Blade's jacket. He shrugged himself free of it, then ran his hands up and down Kareena's back. He knelt as she struggled to pull the shirt over his head. When she'd succeeded, he gripped her neat, solid buttocks firmly and began kissing her smooth stomach. He ran his lips up over her ribcage and she sighed louder. So did Blade. He'd never expected to find a woman's ribcage a beautiful sight, but there was a first time for everything. When Blade's lips encircled a nipple, Kareena gave a little choking cry. When he ran one hand lightly up between her thighs to the damp hair where they joined, he could feel her trembling so hard he was afraid she would fall.
«Blade.» His name came out barely recognizable. «Blade. The beds.»
He stood up and kissed her lips, pulling her close until he could feel her swollen nipples and she groaned at the feeling of his erection against her thighs. Her mouth flared open and her tongue leaped out to seek him.
«Kareena….»
They managed to get out of the bathroom, but they never got to the bedrooms. Their desire was too strong and one of the reclining couches was too close at hand. Kareena bent down and swiftly unfastened Blade's trousers. It took her a little longer to find the catch on the silver loinguard. Then she would have kissed his erection if he hadn't pulled her away just in time. Blade knew that Kareena's lips on top of everything else would cause him to have a climax then and there. If she was a virgin he was going to have enough trouble controlling himself to give her what she desperately wanted and certainly deserved.
Blade was right about Kareena's being a virgin, but he'd underestimated how eager she was. She practically pushed him down onto the couch, without even giving him time to finish taking off his trousers. She needed no guiding to straddle him, and he needed no guiding to slide smoothly into her warm, damp readiness. The moment of resistance came and went so swiftly that Blade could hardly be sure it happened at all, and Kareena's eyes were already squeezed tightly shut. Her mouth opened, and it gaped wider as she threw her head back. Her body swayed like a tree in a high wind.
Blade hoped he could last. Then Kareena started squirming from side to side as her own control slipped, and Blade knew that his was going to vanish entirely in another moment. So he gripped her by the shoulders and pulled her hard toward him, until his lips could work all over her breasts. She bent over even farther and bit him in the neck so hard he yelled, and thoughts of vampires ran weirdly through his mind.
Then she cried out, too, even louder. Blade felt her writhing and twisting inside as well as outside for one fleeting moment. Then he felt nothing except his own explosive release, as he drained himself into Kareena.
For a short time the ceiling could have fallen in without either of the people sprawled on the couch noticing it. Then Kareena slowly curled herself onto Blade's sweat-speckled chest. He noticed she was very careful to keep him inside her, and he was happy to stay there.
«You said we would do nothing which was not for the good of Kaldak,» he murmured in her ear. «Was this for the good of Kaldak?»
«I don't know what it did for Kaldak,» said Kareena. «But it was certainly good for me.»
Chapter 13
After a while Blade and Kareena felt like moving again. They took a bath, using up most of the spray soap and making a happy mess on the floor. At the finish Kareena was kneeling in front of Blade, sponging off his thighs and groin. At last she threw the sponge away, ran her hands up between Blade's thighs, and followed with her mouth. They quickly wound up on the couch for a second time. Kareena seemed willing to make up for what she lacked in experience, with her enthusiasm and willingness to try anything.
Both of them would have enjoyed a third time, but Blade couldn't forget the long shaft leading to the surface. He was sure the Doimari knew of the defeat of their waldo, and would react to it sooner or later. He didn't want to find them waiting at the mouth of the tunnel, a dozen laser rifles or another waldo ready to fry anyone who came out.
He kissed Kareena, then swung his legs off the couch, and patted her gently on the rump. «It's time we were on our way out of here,» he said. «If we stay much longer, we'll be sacrificing the good of Kaldak to our own pleasure.» He walked over to the packs and started rummaging through them. «Now if I can just find something to use for a booby trap-«
Kareena sat up. «A what?»
«A booby trap.» Although he knew that every minute might count, Blade took the time to explain what he meant. He might be killed, and if he wasn't he would sooner or later be returning to Home Dimension. The more of his knowledge of the fine points of handling Oltec he passed along to Kareena, the better for Kaldak and the Land.
«Watch what I do very carefully,» he finished. «That way you can teach the Kaldakans to do it, if I am not around. You can also warn the Kaldakans who come to this place, so they will not fall into the traps I set for the Doimari. If I can set any traps, that is,» he added. So far he hadn't found anything he could use in the packs. They couldn't afford the time for another complete search of the whole complex, but he hated leaving this wealth of Oltec for the Doimari.
Toward the bottom of Kareena's pack Blade found a ridged metal ball with a ring on top. It looked remarkably like an old-fashioned hand grenade. It exploded like one, too, when Blade tested it by pulling the pin and dropping it down the shaft. The Tower Builders hadn't abandoned reliable older weapons while developing new ones. Blade pointed this out as an example of their wisdom.