hot as the richest Demarian cream. Halvo did not even mind
the faint, lingering taste of heskay tea on her tongue. Perri
moaned softly, pressing closer to him, and Halvo’s senses spiraled
into a mad clamor, demanding instant gratification.
He could feel her breasts crushed against his
chest and he longed to caress them. He wanted to see her nipples
standing up hard when he touched them. He stroked her thighs and
ached to feel them opening beneath him.
Halvo realized that he was standing. He had
drawn Perri upward from her bunk because he instinctively knew what
would happen if he lay down beside her. He would not be able to
stop himself from taking what he so desperately wanted.
Frantically, he told himself that Perri was
too young for him, too innocent. She was emotionally wounded at the
moment and therefore incapable of making a rational decision as to
whether she really did want him or not – as if desire as intense as
theirs could ever be rational! Lastly, and far from an unimportant
matter to Halvo, was the fact that they could enjoy no privacy.
The mental image of Perri and himself naked
on her bunk, with Rolli appearing in the open cabin doorway to
observe them from those calm, blinking blue eyelights, was what
gave Halvo the strength to set his hands upon Perri’s shoulders and
hold her away from him.
“Don’t you want me?” she whispered, her face
flushed, her lips bruised by his passionate kisses.
“We have more important things to do than
roll around together on your bunk,” he said. He saw her face close
into the tight, expressionless mask she had shown to him on their
first meeting, and he almost cried out with grief and longing for
the softer, sweeter Perri he had just deliberately banished with
his own harsh words. But Halvo had not become an admiral by giving
way to unseemly emotions at the wrong times.
“I did not come to your cabin to make love to
you,” he said through set teeth.
“Didn’t you?” Her emerald eyes were
altogether too brilliant. Halvo was certain she was trying not to
cry.
“I just wanted to reassure you that you may
begin your piloting lessons whenever you feel ready.”
“How kind of you. If you don’t mind, Admiral,
I would prefer to be alone for a while. It is why I retired to my
cabin in the first place.”
She sounded as if she would like to kill him,
which was just as well. If she had wept or tried to touch him,
Halvo wasn’t sure he could have resisted her in spite of all the
sensible reasons for self-restraint that he rehearsed in his mind
over and over again on his way back to the cockpit.
“Did Perri drink her tea?” Rolli asked when
Halvo slid into the copilot’s seat.
“Yes.” To Halvo’s surprise, the robot did not
turn its eyelights upon him after that terse response.
“She is not ill then?”
“Perri is going to be just fine.” Halvo
resisted the impulse to smash his fist down on the control panel,
or into the robot’s smooth, metal face. “Perri is a survivor. I am
the one who may not live through the next few days.”
Chapter Seven
“What we are searching for,” Rolli said,
reiterating the conclusions reached during a long discussion of
their situation, “is a planet or a large asteroid with an
atmosphere acceptable to human physiology. As you have previously
noted, Admiral, a place with a friendly, technologically advanced
civilization would be the ideal, but if necessary, we can make the
required repairs ourselves so long as conditions permit us to work
outside the ship and take our time about it.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t locate any suitable
planets in this sector.” Halvo was acting as navigator and he was
making one of the periodic tests he and Rolli had instituted as
soon as the ship’s instruments were operating again. “I can’t swear
to the accuracy of the findings on these sensors, but there does
appear to be a definite lack of inhabited, or habitable, territory
in this area of space.”
“We still
the faint, lingering taste of heskay tea on her tongue. Perri
moaned softly, pressing closer to him, and Halvo’s senses spiraled
into a mad clamor, demanding instant gratification.
He could feel her breasts crushed against his
chest and he longed to caress them. He wanted to see her nipples
standing up hard when he touched them. He stroked her thighs and
ached to feel them opening beneath him.
Halvo realized that he was standing. He had
drawn Perri upward from her bunk because he instinctively knew what
would happen if he lay down beside her. He would not be able to
stop himself from taking what he so desperately wanted.
Frantically, he told himself that Perri was
too young for him, too innocent. She was emotionally wounded at the
moment and therefore incapable of making a rational decision as to
whether she really did want him or not – as if desire as intense as
theirs could ever be rational! Lastly, and far from an unimportant
matter to Halvo, was the fact that they could enjoy no privacy.
The mental image of Perri and himself naked
on her bunk, with Rolli appearing in the open cabin doorway to
observe them from those calm, blinking blue eyelights, was what
gave Halvo the strength to set his hands upon Perri’s shoulders and
hold her away from him.
“Don’t you want me?” she whispered, her face
flushed, her lips bruised by his passionate kisses.
“We have more important things to do than
roll around together on your bunk,” he said. He saw her face close
into the tight, expressionless mask she had shown to him on their
first meeting, and he almost cried out with grief and longing for
the softer, sweeter Perri he had just deliberately banished with
his own harsh words. But Halvo had not become an admiral by giving
way to unseemly emotions at the wrong times.
“I did not come to your cabin to make love to
you,” he said through set teeth.
“Didn’t you?” Her emerald eyes were
altogether too brilliant. Halvo was certain she was trying not to
cry.
“I just wanted to reassure you that you may
begin your piloting lessons whenever you feel ready.”
“How kind of you. If you don’t mind, Admiral,
I would prefer to be alone for a while. It is why I retired to my
cabin in the first place.”
She sounded as if she would like to kill him,
which was just as well. If she had wept or tried to touch him,
Halvo wasn’t sure he could have resisted her in spite of all the
sensible reasons for self-restraint that he rehearsed in his mind
over and over again on his way back to the cockpit.
“Did Perri drink her tea?” Rolli asked when
Halvo slid into the copilot’s seat.
“Yes.” To Halvo’s surprise, the robot did not
turn its eyelights upon him after that terse response.
“She is not ill then?”
“Perri is going to be just fine.” Halvo
resisted the impulse to smash his fist down on the control panel,
or into the robot’s smooth, metal face. “Perri is a survivor. I am
the one who may not live through the next few days.”
Chapter Seven
“What we are searching for,” Rolli said,
reiterating the conclusions reached during a long discussion of
their situation, “is a planet or a large asteroid with an
atmosphere acceptable to human physiology. As you have previously
noted, Admiral, a place with a friendly, technologically advanced
civilization would be the ideal, but if necessary, we can make the
required repairs ourselves so long as conditions permit us to work
outside the ship and take our time about it.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t locate any suitable
planets in this sector.” Halvo was acting as navigator and he was
making one of the periodic tests he and Rolli had instituted as
soon as the ship’s instruments were operating again. “I can’t swear
to the accuracy of the findings on these sensors, but there does
appear to be a definite lack of inhabited, or habitable, territory
in this area of space.”
“We still
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