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He turned back to Cadma
He sat down, leaving Cadma
Cadma
"Listen to us. The only thing we can agree on is that something is happening here. I say that until proven otherwise, we make the simplest assumption—that there is an unknown life form, and that we have invaded its territory. Now if you put me in charge of a small group of hunters, I can—"
Zack shook his head. "This has all happened too quickly, Cadma
"Spoken like an accountant," Carolyn McAndrews said stridently.
Cadma
Zack blew air. "This is uncalled for. Both of you, cool down. For the time being, I think we should sit tight, on our home ground. After all—" Zack smiled—"this camp is our territory. Let's make it come to us, all right?"
"Damn it!" Cadma
"Cadma
"Wait? All right. You hurry up and wait. None of you understand—" Cadma
Behind him, Ernst stood. Silent, impassive as a golem carved from ice. He studied their faces as if memorizing, judging, weighing options somewhere in the cra
When the doors had swung shut behind them. Terry said softly, "I think maybe someone should keep an eye on him. On both of them."
Mary A
Cadma
She was no stranger here. She had actually left some toiletries on his dresser, and a few items of clothing in his closet. Still she waited for permission before intruding.
"Cadma
Can't I come in?"
His words were leaden with disgust. "Mary A
That was probably as much of an invitation as she was going to get.
She opened the door.
The only light was a pale halo surrounding a holographic Earth globe, a half-meter sphere of sparkling blue ocean and drifting clouds that revolved above Cadma
He laughed flatly, self-consciously. "A sovereign remedy for homesickness, they say."
She sat next to him and reached for his hand. He lay back, kicking his feet up onto the blankets, not bothering to take off his shoes. His shirt was open halfway down the great corded barrel of his chest; wisps of silver hair reflected the spreading light. Her urge was to bury herself against him.
There was a movement in the corner of the room, and she saw Ernst's enormous bulk perched on an incongruously tiny stool. He watched her expressionlessly, and seemed to her like an engine idling in neutral, waiting for Cadma
"My grandfather came from Wye Valley," Cadma
"Well," Cadma
Mary A
"What do you mean by that?"
The barest trace of a smile flickered on Cadma
"Just... what I said. That's all. Really."
"Cadma
A line of shadow fell on Cadma
"Cadma
She rose from the bed unsteadily and crossed to Ernst. He looked at her incuriously. The angle of his head only changed as she knelt beside him and took one of his huge callused hands in hers.
"Ernst," she whispered to him. "Please—leave us alone for a while?"
"Oh..." He gri
That fun." His ice-blue eyes clouded for a moment as if searching lost memories. "You make rub with Ernst once. I remember! On ship. Maybe sometime—"
He blinked, as if something sad had suddenly occurred to him, some flash of understanding that was intensely, profoundly depressing, and the great craggy expanse of his face went slack. "No. I forget sometime. Good-night, Cadma
Mary A
Dawn broke over a miniature Asia: the Himalayas glittered, flamed white. The China Sea was a riot of warm blue diamonds.
She was riding his hips. She saw the sudden delighted surprise in his face, and he said, "Earth mother."
She didn't know what he meant, or care. Only afterward did she guess how she must have looked, her face and shoulders glowing within the globe of the Earth.
Like all of the times and all of the ways that she had made love to Cadma
It was different because she knew there would come a moment when he would smile as she kissed him, and then they would laugh together. The barrier would crumble for a while, a fragile crystalline moment, and Cadma
Later, long enough later for any tears to have dried and any tremors to have ceased, he held her softly, as if afraid that she might shatter. Gazing at her, he ran his thick blunt fingers over and around the curves and shadows, touching, soothing. Finally he sighed, laid his head gently between her breasts and fell into a deep, soundless sleep.