Part Three

For Disclaimers see Part One

 

Chapter Eleven

Eight Months later…

 

Rachel sighed as she heaved the last of the crates onto the stack she had created. She stood and wiped the sweat that was running freely down her face, on the sleeve of the shirt she was wearing. She had forgotten just how hot it could get in the tropical regions.

Looking up toward the rest of the small group, she saw that they were suffering as much as she was. Maybe I ought to call a break; don't want anybody collapsing from heat exhaustion. "Okay, guys, everybody take ten and make sure you get yourselves a drink."

She sat down on the pile of crates she had built, staring at the tall sentinels she remembered so well from her previous visit here. Things hadn't changed much. The trees were maybe a little taller. The compound was wildly overgrown, but salvageable with a little hard work.

She jumped as somebody settled down next to her, and smiled as she saw Lisa's grime-covered face. "You look a little hot."

Lisa groaned and gave Rachel a complaining glance. "You'd think we would be used to this." Lisa was referring to their time on the expedition force. Then, depending on the assignment, they had thought nothing of moving from continent to continent, or planet to planet, three or four times a year. Packing and unpacking had been everybody's least favourite job, but it had been a task that everybody had participated in. The equipment and stores required for this four-person team were nowhere near as intimidating as those required for a full expedition team.

A comfortable silence settled between the two friends as they sat and absorbed the atmosphere of the magnificent rainforest before them.

"I never really thought I'd get back here." Rachel's voice was almost a whisper and Lisa wasn't sure she realised she had spoken aloud.

"I did. I knew you'd get back here," said Lisa, looking intently at her friend.

"Really?" Rachel's voice held surprise at Lisa's statement.

"Really. I know the war sort of took everybody's attention but every now and then I'd catch you staring into space, looking back the way we'd come. I knew then you were already making plans to get back here. That look had such determination in it that I never doubted you would get back." Lisa smirked. "I'm surprised you got the powers-that-be to agree to this trip, though."

"So was I," replied Rachel quietly. "I guess Sue thought she owed me." The sparkle in her emerald eyes dimmed slightly as she remembered when Sue Rodgers had first made the announcement to the crew: she wasn’t taking her ship and her escort into a known hostile environment; she was heading them into the deeper reaches of space.

Rachel had known immediately where they were going. The thrill of returning to the planet she had so desperately wanted to get back to was quickly overshadowed by the responsibilities that were given to her. After her announcement, Sue had requested Rachel's presence in a meeting of her command crew. For the next five days they had pored over all the data they had on the planet, relying heavily on Rachel's and Lisa's first-hand knowledge.

Rachel had desperately wanted to suggest the fringes of the rainforest, but she knew that really wasn't the ideal spot. Eventually, they decided to set down on the edges of the savannah grasslands in the lowland hills that sat at the base of one of the mountain ranges. The climate was perfect there and it had other benefits. The grasslands would provide game for hunting and areas could be cleared for farming and crops. A nearby spring would satisfy water requirements. The encampment had been running for six months now.

Rachel knew that as soon as it was possible for her to get back to the camp they'd left at the rainforest, she'd go. The pull of her elusive watcher was just too much to resist. This wasn't a spur of the moment trip; Rachel had spent most of her spare time planning how to approach her secretive watcher. After talking for some time with Lisa and some of the other surviving scientists, she had realised that she couldn't expect quick results. A period of surveillance would be needed before any approach to her could be made, and that was only if they could entice her into showing herself.

The plan so far was simple: for the ten days that they had available Rachel would take up her daily walks and try to establish whether she was in the area. Lisa had managed to find some of the old exped equipment in Kingdom's holds. This evening, after they had set up camp, they would walk the trail, placing still cameras that would be activated by sensors calibrated to heat, movement and size. Which would, hopefully, stop them from being activated by anything other than their target.

Once they had pictorial evidence of her existence, Rachel expected to be able to organise a longer expedition to find the woman. Lisa and Rachel hadn't sat down and discussed what Rachel would do if they were not successful in catching her watcher on film, but Rachel knew that she would be back here no matter what happened on this trip.

"Come on," said Lisa, nudging Rachel from her reverie. "We still have a lot to do before night falls." A startled yelp from behind caused the friends to turn and look over their shoulders. "Oh lord, what has she done to herself now?" muttered Lisa. She got up and walked over to the medic who was vigorously shaking her hand and cursing to herself.

Rachel watched with an indulgent smile as Lisa reached the medic and took hold of her hand, inspecting the damage. She had been seriously worried about Carrie, her medic. After the death of Mike, she had fallen swiftly into depression as she recovered from fractured legs and a serious head injury.

When Lisa had appeared on the Kingdom, however, the two women had developed an instant rapport. Rachel had found Lisa spending most of her spare time in the sickbay, chatting with the young medic. As Carrie's injuries healed, the zoologist took an active interest in her physical recovery, helping with her physiotherapy. She provided Carrie with the shoulder she needed to lean on, the friend she needed to pull her from her depression. The two were close; Rachel wasn't sure just how close but, if pushed, she would have to admit that she thought of them as a couple. Looking around, she noticed that there was less left to unpack than she had originally thought and she quickly got back to work.

Night fell quickly as it always did in this region. After an inspection of what was left of the mess hall had proven that eating in there would be a health risk, they had decided to have a campfire. Lisa had nominated herself and Carrie for the cooking duties, so Rachel took the opportunity to go walking.

Lisa, being Lisa, and remembering well their last jaunt in this particular rainforest, insisted that the fourth member of their party accompany her. Rachel knew that arguing with her friend would be no use at all. So, she sought out the young woman and asked for her company on a short walk in the outer fringes of the rainforest.

The fourth member was also one of the survivors of their previous trip into the depths of this rainforest. Rachel had been surprised to see the young woman when they first made planet fall. She hadn't been on Kingdom, that was for sure; she would have known. So, it was obvious that she either had been on one of the escort ships, or had been picked up along with many of the other refugees.

Tasha Adams was now a full corporal, sporting the extra stripes on her sleeves and scars on her body; a reminder to all those about her that, although young in appearance, she had enough experience to make her worth listening to. And that helped immensely when they had first landed on the planet. People quickly forgot how to work together, that the needs of the many had to come before their own needs. And while most of them were prepared to argue with those in authority, put them in front of the battle scars and temperament instilled by front line duty and they soon lost their nerve.

Rachel had rapidly acquired the young woman's aid in setting up the medical facilities. When she had gained approval for this trip, and was told that she would need at least one member of the team to be armed, she immediately asked the corporal to come. Even though they had a job to do here, they were all looking at this trip as a small vacation. After the hard work of the last few months, everybody needed one.

It took Rachel and Tasha a little time to find the old trail that the doctor had used for her early morning walks when the expedition team had been sited here. But after getting her bearings they were soon on their way. Rachel pointed out things she had discovered on her previous walks and the changes that had occurred since they had left. Tasha listened intently, learning things that she hadn’t had time to learn the last time and looking for areas where the cameras could be positioned.

In one section of their walk, a couple of the large trees had fallen, creating a small glade-like area. Both of the women thought it would be the ideal spot to site the cameras. Tall trees surrounded the glade and there was plenty of access for their stranger. The lower foliage would enable them to set up the cameras at varying heights that would, hopefully, give them a range of views, providing they could actually entice the woman into showing herself. About an hour and a half later, they walked back into the camp, greeted by the smell of food cooking and coffee brewing.

Lisa handed two mugs of coffee up to the returning walkers. "Did you have a good walk?"

"Yep, not bad at all." replied Rachel, taking the coffee and sipping. "Think we might have found a place to site the cameras. Couple of the trees have fallen and formed a nice little glade about halfway along the trail."

"Sounds promising. Carrie and I will check it out tomorrow and if it is okay I’ll start placing the cameras. Food shouldn’t be long now.  Are you going to contact base and let them know that we feeble females have managed to survive out here for a whole day without them?”

“Lisa, sarcasm is so unbecoming of you,” Rachel chided gently.  “But I guess you’re right I had better let them know that we’re okay; we’ll have the whole security force heading this way if I don’t. Be back shortly.”

“Tell them all we really miss their company!” Tasha yelled to Rachel’s retreating back.  “Not!”

Rachel smiled as she heard the laughter break out behind her.

********************

Rachel opened her eyes and stared into the diamond-speckled night sky. She sat up and looked around the camp, trying to figure out what had awoken her. The proximity alert hadn’t sounded, that would have woken everybody, so no animal had gotten in. Lisa and Carrie lay across from the fire where embers were still glowing brightly and Tasha was just to Rachel's side, all three of them sleeping peacefully.

Her senses prickled but she saw nothing that would have woken her from her own slumber. She allowed her eyes to roam the darkness of the rainforest just beyond the camp. The night animals were in full voice; as far as she could tell, nothing had disturbed them. Rachel was just about to settle back down when a shiver of sensation went through her. A slight grin tugged at her face. She knew what this was. Slowly, so as not to frighten, she crawled out of her sleeping bag and stood up, allowing her watcher to see her.

Rachel knew that she had no chance of seeing her watcher unless the woman wanted to be seen. She’d even managed to avoid showing up on their scans the first time Rachel thought she was being followed. Still, she thought it a wise move to show the woman that she could sense her presence.

Rachel wasn’t sure whether the woman just sensed that there were people present, or that she sensed a particular person. Her heart started beating harder as she felt a ripple of anticipation run through her. Her watcher was still here, and this time she wasn’t going to leave until she’d met her face to face.

A rustle in the trees caught Rachel’s attention and she stepped forward, past the sleeping forms of Carrie and Lisa, so that she stood just beyond the warm glow of the embers. A glimpse, that’s all she wanted, just to reassure herself that she wasn’t imagining the sensation and her presence. Maybe her silent watcher could read minds, or maybe she could sense Rachel’s feelings, but all that was missing as the figure stepped from the forest into Rachel’s awed gaze was the moonlight.

Magnificent was the first word that came to Rachel’s mind. She was tall, much taller than Rachel had imagined her to be, but perfectly proportioned. She was naked, except for a breechcloth of skin, and even at this distance she could see the definition of the muscles that rippled across her body. She stared over at the doctor for some time and Rachel wished that she were close enough to see the colour of her eyes.

"You okay, Rach?" A sleepy inquiry from Lisa startled her and she quickly whipped her head around, raising her finger to her lips to keep the zoologist quiet. She turned back but the woman was gone, unnerved maybe, by the interruption. The doctor sighed and turned back toward the camp. "Rach?"

"She’s here, Lisa." A smile lit up her face. "She’s still here."

After her night time visitor, Rachel had been unable to get back to sleep, her mind kept turning over all the possibilities of how the woman had come to be alone on this planet, and why she had chosen to show herself this time. Lisa had stayed awake for a while, talking to her, asking questions, putting forward her own theories but eventually she had settled back down for the remaining hours of darkness.

Rachel waited impatiently for dawn to arrive, wanting desperately to go into the forest to see if the woman were still in the vicinity. She was almost certain that she had been recognised, why else would she have shown herself? They had been here for months, before, and had never seen her, so it didn’t follow that she would suddenly appear to strangers, unless she knew one of them. It sent a thrill through her that maybe she had stayed in the woman’s mind as much as the woman had stayed in hers. She also felt that it rather proved that the woman could sense individuals or at least pick individuals out from a group.

The more she thought about the woman, the more questions she raised and the more frustrated she got. Despite the fact that she now knew the woman was here, it didn’t alter the probability that getting to meet and know her would be a long, drawn-out process.

The night sky eventually gave way to the ruddy glow of dawn. Rachel stoked and fed the embers, getting the fire burning again and putting the kettle on to heat. She liked the back-to-basics feel of the camp, though later today they would make one of the abandoned accommodation huts usable. Tasha would see if she could salvage the kitchens at all, otherwise they’d unpack the portable oven once they had the generator working.

They had hoped that the equipment that had been left behind before would be able to be brought back into working order quickly; most of it was built to last. Normally though, when an expedition force left a planet all equipment was removed or disposed of, so although in theory it should all still work after a little servicing, there were no guarantees. The smell of brewing coffee brought the first of her companions around. Adams’ head poked above her sleeping bag, hair dishevelled.

"Morning," said Rachel, much too awake for Tasha by the look on her face. "Coffee?" she offered as she poured one for herself.

"Yeah, please," came the groggy reply. "You been up long?"

"Yep, couple of hours at least."

Tasha groaned. "No wonder you're so chipper. Thought you said this was going to be a vacation?"

Rachel grinned and stood up, walking over to hand Tasha her coffee. "Once we have everything set up and running it will be. You think you will be able to sort the kitchen out today?"

The still sleepy woman sipped the hot brew, savouring its strong flavour. "Don’t see why not. Should just be a matter of cleaning and oiling. Do you want the whole mess hall habitable?"

"It would be nice, but just do as much as you can. After all, I did promise this would be fun." The doctor looked over to the forest. "I’m going to go for a walk. I’ll be back in a little while, okay?"

Tasha smiled. She liked this doctor but still thought that they were on a wild goose chase. "Gonna see if your mystery woman is around, huh?"

"Oh, I know she’s around. She was here last night," said Rachel, eyes still on the forest. "Just want to get back into the routine of early morning walks. She is used to my doing that."

Tasha sat up, nearly spilling what remained of her coffee. "What do you mean, she was here last night?" Her voice was tight. One of the reasons she was here was to see to the protection of the group, and the fact that someone or something had been near the camp last night didn’t please her one little bit.

Rachel looked down when she heard Tasha's tone of voice. "Hey," she said, trying to reassure the corporal, "she wasn’t in the camp. I woke up thinking I’d heard something, just got this funny feeling. Then all of a sudden I looked over to the forest and there she was, just beyond the tree line, watching us."

"Really?" Tasha knew she sounded a little incredulous but nobody else had ever seen this person, or even felt her presence, so she thought a little bit of disbelief was called for.

"Yes, really. I might have gotten her to come nearer if Lisa hadn’t chosen that particular moment to wake up." Rachel paused for a second, musing. "You think this is a figment of my imagination, don’t you?"

Tasha didn’t know what to say. "Well, I, err, lets just say I’d like a little more evidence before I make a judgement on that." She hung her head, expecting an angry reply, and was astounded when the doctor laughed.

"I guess if I can convince you she is real, then getting the powers that be to sanction a longer project here will not be a problem. I’ll be back in a little while. You might want to wake the two snugglebugs, shortly." She nodded at Lisa and Carrie.

Carrie had migrated the small gap that had been between them in the early morning and now slept snuggled half on top of the zoologist. I guess that answers any questions I had about whether they were actually a couple. Wonder if I should torment them a little? Nah, Lisa would kill me and Carrie wouldn’t talk to me for weeks. Still the thought of teasing the pair was tempting. Tasha looked over and grinned. Uh-oh, maybe their torture will come from someone other than me? "Be kind." Rachel shook her finger in mock severity at the corporal.

"Yes, ma’am," came the teasing reply. Oh lord, thought Rachel, it isn’t going to matter what I say. Lisa and Carrie are still going to think I put her up to whatever she does.

Sky-blue eyes, high in the boughs of the tree, were watching silently through the cool, damp, green leaves of the canopy. They never left the blonde as she exited from camp, and a warm smile creased the stranger's face. She remembered this small one well. The faces of two of her companions were familiar, but this one she knew. When the woman left long ago, she had missed her effusive chatter in the mornings, but she had somehow known that she would return, unlike the others who had lived and visited her. As the woman stepped into the trees, the blue-eyed watcher swung down into lower branches to follow.

She’ll talk to me, I know she will. She saw me last night; she recognised me. I could feel that. The strong heart picked up its pace as its owner raced through the trees to get ahead of the walking doctor. Soon she reached a turn in the path. Before, when the woman had spoken to her, she would start to speak here. She sat, arms clasped around her leg, head resting on her knees, eagerly awaiting the doctor's arrival.

********************

Tasha drained her coffee cup and rose from her sleeping bag, careful not to disturb the still sleeping Lisa and Carrie. The pair had been amusing her for the last few months, trying to keep their relationship quiet and fooling no one in the process. Tasha knew that there were still some bigots in the society they were creating, but they were by far outweighed by the more liberally minded. People had let the couple think they were being subtle because, quite frankly, it was much more amusing that way.

Tasha knew that Carrie would be mortified to find out that her midnight trips to Lisa’s quarters had been observed on a regular basis by the night guards at the main camp. The two women would no doubt curl up and die it they knew that one of the surveillance cameras had caught them kissing just before Lisa had left for the Kingdom on a supply flight. Carrie’s rather tough reputation had kept the detractors from voicing their opinions and the rest of them knew that her recovery from Mike’s death and her injuries was in no small part due to Lisa. And they were just so cute together.

Now that Carrie had shown her hand, as it were, the temptation to let them know that everybody else knew about them was just too great. The thing was, how to go about letting them know? Should she just wake them up and act like she hadn’t noticed Carrie’s position, or should she make her squirm a little? Decisions, decisions.

********************

Rachel stepped beneath the cool shade of the canopy and into the familiar earthy smell of the rainforest. Her feet automatically retraced the path Tasha and she had walked last evening. Her eyes scanned the surrounding planet life while her senses strained to find that tingle that warned of her watcher's presence. She walked for nearly ten minutes before she knew she was being watched. Her eyes took on a sparkle of pleasure and her smile lit up the surrounding shadows.

"Hello, again." She didn’t raise her voice because she was sure the woman could hear her without having to resort to shouting. "It was good to see you last night. Last time we were here, when we were rescued by our friends, I saw you on the cliff. I wanted to thank you for your help. You saved those of us who survived. I’m only sorry I didn’t understand earlier what you were trying to tell me. Then maybe we would all have escaped."

She didn’t understand what the blonde woman was telling her but that voice sent a shiver through her; she could listen to it for hours and not tire of hearing it. If only she could reach out and touch her. The blonde was standing a matter of meters away, just below the branch that the blue-eyed woman was sitting in.

The need in the woman built until she had almost decided to jump down from the tree to the path so that she could be nearer the beautiful voice that calmed her soul and filled an emptiness that had been there for as long as she could remember. Her memory was long; still there were some things that had happened so long ago that she wasn’t sure whether they were memory or dream. For instance, she could remember the fires of hell raining down from the sky, the heat of them throwing her to the ground as they destroyed everything around her.

She vaguely remembered the masses of people who had lived here, but she had no memory of her parents or family. She knew that she had once had words like the blonde below her, but that she had not used them in so long that they had disappeared from her mind. She was now more adept at communicating with the various animals that lived on the planet, than with these people. Still, the longing was there; she was just unsure of how to do it. Others had run from her, or hunted her down, if they discovered she existed. None of them had ever spoken to her like this woman.

She desperately wanted to trust her instinct and believe that no harm would come from this woman, but what of the others with her? She forced down the urge to show herself. She had done that last night when the woman’s companions had been asleep. The need to see the woman, after so long, had been too much to bear and she hadn’t been able to see her from the tree, without moonlight. It had been unexpected that she had been awake, but she had not sensed any fear, only curiosity. But, for now, she would have to satisfy her need by staying hidden and just listening to the blonde lady.

********************

Carrie lifted her hand and swatted at the annoying tickle on her left ear, settling down again as the annoyance disappeared, only for it to return seconds later. This time she opened her eyes and sat up, rubbing hard to rid herself of the aggravating tingle. She heard a chuckle and turned to see Tasha sitting just to her right, holding a long piece of grass, spinning it between two of her fingers.

"What was that for?" she asked, her voice tinged with anger at her wake-up call.

"I didn’t see why you should get to lay in, since you also had the most comfortable bed to sleep on last night." As hard as she tried, Tasha couldn’t keep the amusement from her voice. Carrie swung her head around to see what the corporal was talking about and saw that, overnight, she had moved across the few feet that had separated Lisa and her, and had ended up sprawled across her partner.

Uh oh. "Well, I, er, well, oh hell." Carrie dropped her head and bashfully hid beneath her fringe. Tasha laughed out loud, disturbing the still slumbering Lisa who rolled and flung an arm across Carrie’s lap. Which, of course, only deepened Carrie’s consternation and Tasha’s amusement. Carrie reached out a hand and gently shook Lisa’s shoulder, already knowing the woman wasn’t the easiest to wake in the morning. "Lisa, wake up." Her hand shook the shoulder harder and her voice took on a little more urgency. "Lisa!" Eventually, her companion stirred and groggily cracked open her eyes.

"What?" Carrie looked at her, then at where they were both situated, then over at Tasha who was still chuckling, though at a much lower volume. Lisa’s eyes opened wider and she sat up quickly. She went to move away from her close proximity to her partner, but Carrie’s hand clasped hold of her arm.

"Too late." Carrie smiled. "Secret's out."

Lisa wanted to relax and enjoy the fact that she and Carrie would no longer have to creep around hiding their relationship, or at least they wouldn’t have to here. "You okay with this?" Lisa leaned around her partner, looking at Tasha.

"Each to their own, my friend, each to their own. Besides, it’s good to see someone happy," replied Tasha, not having the heart, after all, to tease over something they were so obviously worried about.

"Any idea how Rachel feels about this?"

Tasha shook her head. Now she knew the phrase ‘love is blind’ was true, because these two honestly didn’t know how obvious it was to everybody else that they were an item. "I don’t think you will have a problem there." She saw both of the women relax at her statement and decided that maybe she ought to tell them that nearly everyone at the encampment knew. "You know, I hate to spoil anything or make you feel uncomfortable, but just about everybody already thinks of you two as a couple."

Carrie’s face blanched and Lisa went suddenly still. "What do you mean?" Lisa’s voice came out harsh and Tasha honestly wondered whether she should have said anything, but she’d already spoken now.

"I mean that maybe you haven’t been as discreet as you think you’ve been. Carrie has been spotted going to your quarters and every time you look at each other it’s obvious to anybody with eyes that you are hooked on each other. Nobody begrudges you your happiness. Most people are just glad that somebody can be happy."

"Are you trying to tell me that we have been everybody’s favourite topic of conversation? And for how long?"

This time Tasha did grin at Carrie’s inquiry. "Yeah, that is what I’m telling you and it has been for about three months now. We were wondering when you’d figure out that everybody knew, and stop creeping around at night."

********************

A rustle of leaves, the chatter of insects, the constant drip of water surrounded Rachel as she walked slowly, talking to her invisible watcher. As on previous occasions, the doctor was frustrated that the woman wouldn't show herself. But she knew she was close by and she realised that her appearance last night wouldn't be a common occurrence.

Rachel kept up the cheerful banter, filling the woman in on all that had happened to them since they left the planet, not sure whether her words made any sense to the woman or it was just the tone of voice that attracted her attention. Rachel strung the walk out for as long as she dared, knowing the others would get worried if she stayed away too long.

Exiting from the shade of the forest into the now brilliant sunshine blinded her for several seconds, before her eyes adjusted to the glare. A glance at the camp showed her that Lisa and Carrie had risen and that Tasha couldn't have been too nasty to them since she was still alive. With a springy step to her gait, she strolled over to join them for breakfast.

********************

When the woman said her final words and left the confines of the trees, the sense of loss she felt was immense. She pulled herself into the higher branches so that she could watch the woman for a few minutes more, reassured when she saw that they had made no move to leave the area yet. With a final yearning look she turned and rapidly disappeared deeper into the forest.

Lisa and Carrie left to place the cameras as soon as breakfast had been cleared. Tasha made her way over to the old mess hall to begin the clean-up operation there and Rachel went to her old accommodation shack to make it ready for habitation again.

Carrie clambered over the fallen tree that marked the boundary of the glade that Rachel and Tasha had discovered the previous evening, and jumped to the ground. The glade wasn't large, by any means, but Lisa said it was ideal for their purposes. Its small size would allow them to place a few cameras on the trail to and from the glade.

Carrie really hadn't any clue as to how this was going to work but Lisa was excited about the opportunity and happily explained what they were trying to achieve. The chances of Rachel's watcher showing herself to Rachel were slim, but those chances decreased even more when you factored in other people. It was hoped that, if Rachel spent her time in or around the glade, the watcher would begin to associate the glade with her and might show herself, possibly while Rachel was absent or, better yet, when she was present. With the use of the still camera link, however, if she showed up they should get photographs. They thought about setting up a video link as well but the equipment was scarce. They decided that it would be used only if they actually coaxed the woman into the open.

"Lisa?" Carrie yelled, trying to locate the whereabouts of her partner. "Lisa?"

"Hmmm?" Lisa's head popped up from behind a tangle of matted bushes.

"I got that one in place along the trail. Where do you want the next one?"

"You think you can get it in the tree just behind you?"

Carrie looked at the tree. There were a few lower branches that she should be able to get into without much difficulty. "Yeah, how high do you want it? And what setting do you want it on?"

"As high as you can get it, please, and set it for panoramic. Get as much of the glade in as you can." Lisa looked up from the piece of equipment she was fiddling with, to watch as her partner began to climb. "And don't fall!" She grinned as Carrie stopped her climb and threw a scowl her way, then went back to scaling the tree.

Grabbing the branch above her head, Carrie pulled herself up, kicking her legs to get that extra bit of lift required to settle herself. She was about twenty feet above the forest floor, giving her a perfect view of the area below. Glancing around, she tried to find a place to secure the camera. Noticing scuff marks and a wearing of the bark around her, she bent to take a closer look. "Hey, Lisa?"

"Yeah?" Her voice drifted up from the other side of the glade.

"Come have a look at this."

"What?" Lisa pushed her way through the brush and wandered over to stand beneath Carrie's perch, still fiddling with the equipment she was trying to get working.

"Honey." Carrie gazed down fondly at her partner who was totally engrossed in her tinkering.

"Hmm?"

"I'm twenty feet above you and unless you've suddenly sprouted wings, you're going to have to climb."

Lisa stopped messing with the camera part and leaned her head back to look at her partner. "You wouldn't be making fun of me now, missy? Would you?"

"Would I do a thing like that?" asked Carrie, watching as Lisa started her climb.

"You bet your behind you would."

Carrie laughed, her vibrant tones echoing through the forest. "Ouch! Your scathing comment wounds me deeply."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Keep it up, Miss Walker, and I'll show you wounds."

"You can try." They kept up their bantering chatter, neither noticing that they were no longer alone.

She heard voices in the forest as she returned to the fringes of the trees and even knowing that it wasn't the blonde, she was curious. These voices weren't the same as the blonde lady's, serious and playful all at the same time. She decided to follow and find out what they were doing. She was now high above them, lying flat on a wide bough, gazing down, blue eyes staring intently.

She recognised the dark-haired one as the companion of the blonde lady when they got into trouble with the creeper. But the shorthaired woman with her was unfamiliar. They were both sitting in one of the smaller trees, from which she used to listen to and watch the blonde. It had become a favourite haunt of hers. If she were lonely or scared she would come to this place, and remember the lilting voice of the stranger who had come to mean so much to her. She found the memories reassuring and even when the fierce storm that had raged for days had taken down some of the trees it hadn't spoiled the atmosphere.

They had finished in her tree now and had climbed down, the darker-haired one pointing out something to the other and gesturing. They had been playing with several small, shining objects. She had already inspected one that the short one had put in a tree further down the trail. She hadn't touched it, just looked. She had learnt, over time, that the stuff left behind by travellers could hurt. Still, she had quite a collection of things she had found or acquired that had attracted her interest. The two women were leaving the glade. She followed for a few minutes, until she was sure they were heading back to the camp, then she disappeared back into the darker depths of the forest.

Rachel threw out the last of the debris that had somehow accumulated in the closed, and supposedly sealed, accommodation units they had left behind. She found it weird seeing things she had left behind nearly four years ago, though the animals that had gotten in had destroyed some of it and some of it had gone altogether. Apart from that, the units had held together well and would provide a home for them while they were here.

She left her cabin to the end, knowing that she would have more trouble throwing out stuff that she owned than she would that of others from the rest of the cabins in the unit. All the mattresses and bedding had been removed and Rachel would burn them later.

She pulled in a sterilising unit from the shuttle and set it to work on the first cabin she had cleaned. That would be finished shortly, and she would tell Tasha she could move her stuff in. Initially, Lisa and Carrie were going to have separate cabins. Now that everything was finally in the open, she hadn't seen any reason for them not to share, so she had set the second cabin up as a double. They would use the spare as storage space, hopefully insuring that none of their equipment would go amiss during their stay. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Rachel decided to take a break and go see how Tasha was doing in the mess hall.

"Tasha!" Rachel poked her head around the swinging door that led to the kitchen.

"Yeah?" A muffled reply came from the depths of a nearby oven.

Rachel walked into the kitchen, letting the door swing closed behind her, crouched down by the oven and looked in. "Would it be considered stupid to ask what you are doing in the oven?"

"Yes." A filthy rag came sailing out and hit Rachel in the face. "Rinse that for me, would you?"

"Sure," said Rachel, looking for the bucket and rinsing the cloth, before throwing it back in and hearing a satisfying wet slap as it hit Tasha.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. How is it going?"

"Good. This is the last one, then if I can get the generator working we will have refrigeration and the use of the ovens." Rachel heard scuffling, then Tasha's oil-covered face appeared. "And I think that all the generator needs is a service, a few new solar panels and maybe a change of storage cells. How are you doing on the sleeping arrangements?"

Rachel stood and reached down to help Tasha from the oven. "Nearly done. Just have to sterilise the room and replace the bedding. Time for a break, I think."

The two women walked outside, grabbed cold drinks from the cooler by the shuttle and sat down in the shade of the vehicle. Both were quiet for a few minutes, enjoying the chill the cold drinks brought to their bodies.

"So, you were nice to Lisa and Carrie this morning?" Rachel looked over for Tasha's response and saw a smile cross her face.

"Couldn't bring myself to tease them. They were both so worried about what people's reaction would be that it didn't seem fair. Besides, I figured they'd get enough ribbing when we get back to town."

Rachel laughed. "You're just a big softy at heart, aren't you?"

"Like you're not? Hello, here come our intrepid wanderers." Rachel followed Tasha's gaze and saw that Lisa and Carrie had left the forest and seemed to be deep in some animated discussion.

It didn't take long for the pair to cover the ground between the forest and the camp. Carrie was the first to slump to the ground, after stealing Tasha's drink from her, which left the corporal spluttering. Lisa was much politer and grabbed two fresh ones from the cooler. "We got everything set up and Carrie made an interesting find."

"What was that?" inquired Rachel.

"We…" Carrie elbowed her in the side. "Sorry. Carrie climbed up one of the smaller trees to place one of the cameras. She found a lot of scuffing and general wear and tear, as though some animal was using that particular spot to observe something below." Lisa smiled at Rachel.

"You think it's her?"

Lisa shrugged, taking another sip from her drink. "Could be. The area was quite large and there was no fruit or anything we could see in the area that would attract a feeding primate down. If the trees hadn't been felled in that area, it would have been on the bend of the trail which, you said, was where you used to start talking to her, anyway."

"But wouldn't any evidence have long since disappeared? It has been nearly four years since Rachel was here." Lisa looked over at Tasha.

"Yeah, you have a good point there, and we haven't been back here long enough for fresh marks to appear. But there is new growth around them, which would tend to indicate that they have been there for some time."

"Which means," pronounced Carrie, "that if it is her, she's been keeping an eye on this place for four years." The medic raised an eyebrow. "Seems you made an impression, Rach."

Rachel silently contemplated Carrie's words and let a small smile grace her face. Not half as much as she made on me.

**********

Joshua Kent stuck his head out of the door and peered into the street.  “I thought the met office said it wasn’t going to rain today?”  He turned and faced his assistant.

The young, blonde female produced a strained smile.  “Well, sir, just because we are on a different planet doesn’t mean that the forecasters have got any better.”

“I should fire them anyway.”  He sighed then looked out of the door again.

The assistant closed her eyes in exasperation. It was bad enough that she had to work for the idiot, but having to soothe his ego made the job that much more repulsive. Still a job was a job.  “Sir, if we don’t leave now we will be late for the meeting and you know that Mr. Aston will make an issue of it.”

Kane Aston was the second remaining member of the ruling council, Jodia Rider being the third and by far the best of the bunch in Alison’s opinion. Before the war, the confederation council had been made up of thirteen members, with one having been elected President.  Now only three remained but it had been decided that elections to fill the other seats would be put on hold until such time as they were secure on the planet.

The council still made most decisions but now they had to do so in conjunction with the remaining military commanders, the most senior of whom was Captain Sue Rodgers of the Kingdom. They were lucky in that respect; more military ships had survived than they could ever have hoped for.  Eight battle cruisers, ten destroyers, a handful of raiders and, perhaps more importantly, several construction ships. The survival of the ships meant that they could successfully defend the system and begin construction of more ships as soon as they had mined the planet and surrounding moons for the ores they required. 

Those civilian vessels not required for the mining and cargo carrying would be converted to military use.  This meant that, eventually, they would have supply and hospital ships that could support a fleet of military vessels outside of the system. Today the council was to discuss how rapidly they could rearm the fleet and whether they should construct a planetary defence system.

“Very well, let's get over there.  I don’t think I can stand to listen to Kane’s moaning today.”  Kent threw on his coat and walked through the door.

As if you don’t do enough moaning for all of them, thought Alison as she followed her boss.

Kane Aston and Jodia Rider were already seated in the town's meeting room when Kent and his P.A arrived.  Alison quickly walked to the outer edges of the room to talk to the other two P.A’s, while Kent went to sit at the table.

“Nice of you to join us, Joshua.” Kane Aston smiled sarcastically at the younger councillor as he sat down. “Weather wasn’t to your liking, I take it?”

Jodia Rider tried hard to hide the smirk that Kane’s comment brought about.  The whole community knew about Kent’s dislike of the weather on this planet. He came from Simpson IV, which had been one of the first terraformed planets the confederation had instigated.  The planet had become one of the main agricultural centres because its climate control provided it with a year-round growing season.  And of course weather control meant that it rained only at night.

“Come on, gentlemen, we have work to do.  Let's not get into a bickering match shall we?” Jodia said after she got her amusement under control.  The two men nodded, opening the folders in front of them.  “First on the agenda is planetary defence.  Captain Rodgers will be in communication range in twenty minutes so I suggest that we come to agreement on that before we present our proposals.  Any objections?”  Aston and Kent shook their heads.  “Good.  Let’s start then, shall we?” 

**********

The small camp had settled into a routine over the last few days. Each of the women took turns monitoring the pictures from the cameras. Still, as each day passed, the frustrations mounted. Although Rachel was pretty sure that her watcher was in the area, they hadn’t managed to tempt her in front of the cameras. Each morning, Rachel faithfully walked her trail, talking into thin air. She made it a habit to stop and sit in the clearing, but if the woman was there, she was avoiding the cameras.

On the sixth day, they were sitting in the mess hall, finishing breakfast and discussing the reason for the failure to capture the elusive woman on film.

"She is definitely around, I can feel her. And most mornings when I walk, she is near," said Rachel.

"We know the cameras are working, Carrie and Lisa have checked them twice." Tasha picked up the dirty dishes and took them over to the counter to be washed after the meal.

"That might be the problem," Lisa said thoughtfully. "Maybe she saw us placing the cameras and maintaining them. Would she go near them?"

"I’d have thought she would be curious," stated Carrie who was sitting next to her partner.

"Maybe. We’ll give it another day then we’ll try a more direct route." Lisa stretched her arms above her head and looked over at Rachel. "Could you check camera four on your walk this morning? The pictures are a little fuzzy and I think it may have slipped in its bracket."

"Yep, not a problem. You want me to check the others?" asked Rachel as she twisted her hair up into a band that trailed her hair between her shoulders in a tail. Lisa nodded and smiled. "Okay, I’ll be back in an hour or so. See ya!" She gave a wave and disappeared from the mess hall.

"You know," moaned Tasha as she started dirty dish duty, "I reckon the reason Rachel likes her walks so much is that she doesn’t have to wash the dishes."

Carrie and Lisa grinned at each other and handed their dirty mugs over to the corporal. "You got that right."

Rachel started her leisurely walk, humming a tune. She played with a long blade of grass she had picked before she entered the forest. At regular intervals, she would stop and peer up at the cameras Lisa and Carrie had placed, brushing fallen leaves and debris away from their field of view. Normally, this would be the job of one of the others; they tried to keep Rachel from contact with the cameras because they didn’t want to let the watcher know that she was being spied on. Not that they had caught her on film, yet. If Lisa was right the woman most probably knew they were there, anyway. Rachel started to talk aloud as a familiar tingle shivered down her spine, explaining to her companion that they would be leaving in a few days, and what she would be up to today.

Lisa, working at the small science station in the shuttle, reached up and pushed her long, black hair away from her face for the fourth time. It was hot and humid despite the air conditioning. Sweat trickled down her face, gluing her hair to her skin. Every time she pushed the hair away, it would fall back within a minute or so.

Carrie was over at the communication console, watching pictures from various cameras and telling Rachel, through a one-way mike, in which direction to adjust camera four. From along the trail, four screens showed different still pictures, which would cycle through each camera every four seconds. The cameras were always monitored when Rachel was out walking, or if the doctor felt the watcher nearby. They had gotten so used to watching that Carrie nearly missed the flicker of camera one. Forgetting about Rachel for a second, the blonde quickly tapped in several commands so that three of the four screens showed a progression of pictures from camera one.

"Lisa!" Hands still flying over the controls, she widened the view as she felt her partner come up to her shoulder. "Look," she said and pointed to what had attracted her attention. In the first picture that Carrie pointed to, she could just make out a pair of filthy feet dropping into the picture from above. The next picture showed the whole of the lower extremities and the next, a torso.

But the last one nearly made Lisa’s heart stop. It was a full-frame picture of the woman’s face. Blue-black hair, matted in places, framed a young, strong-featured face. Lips were full and a dark shade of red, but most startling of all were the eyes. Lisa had never seen anything like them. They were blue, but of such crystalline quality as to take the breath away. "We are recording this, aren’t we?" Carrie nodded her head. "Where is she in relation to Rachel?"

"About three hundred meters. Rachel has just finished adjusting camera four; she’s at number one." The next picture from the camera appeared and the figure was gone.

"Scan the rest of the cameras. See if you can pick her up again. And let Rachel know what is happening." Lisa moved to the door of the shuttle looking for Tasha. Although this mysterious woman had shown no aggressive tendencies toward any of them, Lisa thought it better to be safe than sorry and Tasha was supposed to be security for the team. Seeing the woman sitting in a patch of brilliant sunshine, she left the shuttle. "Tasha!" The woman lifted her head at Lisa's yell. "We've spotted her." Tasha scrambled to her feet and ran over toward the shuttle.

Rachel listened intently as Carrie's tinny voice told her that they had the woman in sight. All other sound faded as her heart picked up its thudding beat. Her head turned slowly, looking back the way she had come several minutes earlier. The sweat that had beaded her forehead ran swiftly down her face. She took a deep breath and forced her trepidation beneath the surface. This is what she had been waiting for, so why was she so nervous about getting what she wanted? Looking around, she saw she was only a short distance from the clearing and decided that she would feel more comfortable meeting the woman, if it were going to happen, with a little space around her.

Both women crowded Carrie at the console as she scanned through the images. "Wow," yelled Lisa, poking her finger at the screen. "Go back one. There!" Her finger tapped on the screen. "Which camera is that?" Lisa's finger had pointed out the arm of the woman coming into the frame from the right.

Carrie read the information on the small screen near her hand. "Camera two. I'll speed up the frames." Sure enough, as the still frames came through to the shuttle the woman moved into view.

"Hell on earth," remarked Tasha. "She's big." She looked over at Carrie. "Can you widen the picture so we have something to reference her against?"

"Sure can," replied Carrie, widening the perspective.

"Six feet," said Lisa.

"At least." Tasha leaned forward, peering at the face of the woman on the screen before her. "What is she doing?"

They looked toward Lisa, who was frowning at the screen. "I'm not sure. I can't make assumptions without studying her movements and routines. She's gone again. Carrie, keep scanning for her, see if there is some sort of pattern to this. Can you tell me where Rach is?"

"Hmm," said Carrie distractedly, still scanning the pictures on the screen. "Yeah. Rach just entered the clearing. Got her, she's at camera three."

"She's copying," Lisa suddenly blurted

"What?" the other women asked together.

"The reason we haven't seen her before now is that she is mimicking Rachel. Rach ignored the cameras, avoided acknowledging they were even there, so she avoided them, too." Lisa growled in frustration at herself. "As soon as Rachel looked at them, so did she."

"Is she any threat to Rachel?" asked Tasha.

"I don't believe so. She hasn't shown any behaviour that would suggest that and she has previously helped us."

"But you can't guarantee that."

"Of course, I can't," replied Lisa, looking at the corporal.

"And she's heading in Rachel's direction?" Tasha looked at Carrie for confirmation.

"Yep, she's at four now," replied Carrie, gazing over her shoulder.

"Right. In that case, I’m going to circle around to the other side of the clearing and keep an eye on what's happening. That way, if something does happen, I’ll be close enough to do something about it." Tasha grabbed a small holdall from a concealed compartment and pulled out a hand-held firearm, quickly checking its charge and the firing mechanism.

"Hey!" Lisa grabbed her arm before she left. "Don't do anything stupid. I mean it. You go into this situation with a threatening nature and you could be the cause of the problem. Watch and wait. Don't jump in feet first, you could make the situation worse. Okay?"

"I hear ya, Lisa. I won’t do anything to provoke her," Tasha said, then turned and left at a run.

"Carrie, honey, tell me I didn’t make a big mistake letting her go?" Lisa slid her arms around her lover's neck and hugged her closely.

Carrie lifted her right hand and soothingly stroked Lisa’s forearm. "You did the right thing. No matter how benevolent this woman may seem, we don’t know enough about her yet to be too trusting. Just imagine what the reaction would be back at town if we went back with Rach hurt, or worse?"

"Thanks. I needed that." Lisa hugged tighter for a few seconds. "Can you bring the clearing up on the screens? I think that is where the action will be in a few minutes and I want to check and make sure Rach is okay."

"Your wish is my command…well, on this, anyway." Carrie’s hands flew across the keys once more, changing the scene in front of them.

She sat silently as she always did, watching from a short distance as the golden-haired woman walked into view. Her breath quickened as the sun caught her golden locks and made them glow all the more. She was fascinated by the sight. In all her vast memories she couldn’t ever remember seeing hair that colour before, or the way it caressed the woman’s face. She ached to touch it, to hold it in her hands, to feel its softness, but she sadly recognised that was not possible.

She sighed and swiftly moved amongst the branches, keeping the woman in sight, then stopping suddenly as the woman ceased walking and stepped up to one of the tiny little boxes with shiny coloured lights that flickered. The others had placed them some days ago. The woman before her reached up to the box and moved it slightly, then smiled and moved on.

Her curiosity had been roused when the other two had placed the boxes. But past events had taught her that the things these strange people sometimes left could be hurtful and dangerous and so she had resisted the urge to look and touch. Now, though, since the woman with the lilting gentle tones in her voice had touched and even smiled at one, her curiosity could not be denied.

She waited until the woman had disappeared, then crossed the trail until she was in the branches overhanging the strange box. Looking intently at it, then checking to make sure the woman had not returned, she grasped the limb she was resting on and lowered herself down to the forest floor. Standing quietly for several seconds, she listened to the forest. There was nothing near that caused her any concern, so she slowly walked up to the box with the flashing lights.

Tentatively, she moved in front of the box but nothing happened. She cautiously reached out with her hand and touched it, sharply pulling it back in anticipation of pain, or some other such punishment, but received none. Her renewed confidence made her bold and she gently ran her hands over it, mimicking the blonde-haired woman’s early motions.

Finding nothing more of interest, she returned to the trees and hurriedly went on to the next box. Maybe that one is broken? Maybe the next one will do something. Is that why the pretty lights are flashing? Her thoughts swirled around her mind as she contemplated her discovery that the boxes didn’t hurt and how much fun they would be to play with.

Rachel slid down into a crouch at the base of one of the large trees, making sure to keep herself in sight of the cameras at all times. She was now wishing that she hadn’t vetoed Lisa’s request that she carry a transmitter, as well as a receiver. But she thought that the woman might be frightened away if she seemed to be talking to someone other than her. Still, it would have been reassuring to be able to ask what was going on and where the tall, dark-haired stranger was at this moment.

Carrie’s voice appeared in her ear again, telling her that Tasha would be nearby soon and should anything happen, she was to call for her help. Then she absentmindedly told her that the woman was less that fifty feet away, on camera six, just outside the clearing.

Rachel desperately tried to calm her breathing, showing her anxiousness and fear to the woman would be a mistake. She hadn’t shown any whilst on her walks and if she did finally get to meet her up close, showing it now might be seen as a sign of weakness. She could feel a trickle of sweat run down her spine, and shifted uncomfortably. Seconds seemed like minutes, minutes like hours, as time rolled slowly on.

The boxes were all the same, except the lights on some flashed faster and one made a humming kind of noise. She was disappointed. She had wanted something, though she didn’t know what, to happen. She pulled herself higher into the trees and made her way to the clearing where her talkative friend had spent most of her time recently.

A movement in the trees below her brought a sudden halt to her journey, and she peered down into the undergrowth. Nothing was there, but her senses were prickling at the unseen threat. This forest, with all its vagaries, was her home. She knew its creatures well. Very few of them posed a threat to her but one or two were dangerous enough for her to avoid, if possible. The awareness of the possible threat stayed with her, refusing to budge, as she settled into her usual perch to watch the clearing and the woman below.

The routine had changed today. Normally, the woman sat on the fallen tree. Today, she sat at the base of one, her back resting against it. I wonder if she senses the forest's unease and is protecting herself from approach from behind? She sat and watched with interest. Unlike other days, the woman wasn’t talking and she missed her soothing tones. Today, though, much as she herself was doing, the woman sat in silence, waiting.

It was a long run. Tasha, as fit as she was, was still soaked with sweat and heaving in great gulps of thick, humid air, as she reached the forest near the clearing. She had had to run up the forest edge to the exit of Rachel’s daily walking path and then double back toward the clearing.

Carrie’s voice in her ear calmly told her that Rachel was still safe in the clearing, and that her watcher had disappeared from sight. Her next thought had turned to how close she should get to the clearing. Ideally, she wanted to be able to see Rachel but, unlike the mystery woman, she didn’t have command of the trees. Although they had mapped this area pretty thoroughly, she really didn’t want to stray off of the trail; it was her quickest way of getting to the clearing if Rachel should need her. And, of course, there was Lisa’s insistence that her presence there at all might cause a problem. Aiming for a compromise with her own wishes, she stopped and made herself comfortable, short of the clearing but near enough that she would be able to hear easily, if needed.

Rachel sat waiting. She knew she was near and normally, at this point, she would start talking to her audience. But if Lisa was right about her voice being the draw to this woman, then she was going to force the issue and see if she could entice her into view by remaining quiet.

The wait was driving the watcher mad with anticipation. She desperately wanted to hear the familiar voice, but sensed that that wouldn’t happen today. The woman wanted something in return. She moved position until she was directly across from her and nervously settled into place. She didn’t show herself as a rule. Others had sent sharp, stinging, hurtful objects at her before. It had taken her several weeks to recover from some of the wounds that had been inflicted on her. Still, these people hadn’t shown her any aggression. She had almost made up her mind when the decision was taken out of her hands.

She rose to her feet, preparing to descend to the clearing below, when her nostrils flared and recognised the feral scent. Her brow furrowed as she tried to pinpoint the location of the danger.

Rachel tensed as she felt the change in attitude. She stood up, letting her eyes roam. Something was wrong but she didn’t know what. Her stomach started flip-flopping and she felt a tangible urge to flee, but didn’t know where to. She suddenly swung her head round and yelped as a figure flew toward her, then past her, and crashed into a furred body that had appeared out of nowhere.

The tall woman stood before her, arms warding off the muscular, cat-like creature that had pounced at Rachel’s position from the undergrowth. Then, grunting with effort, she threw the creature from her. Rachel immediately noticed the flow of blood from the deep gouges the cat's claws had made in her saviour's arms. She took a step forward but was roughly pushed back against the tree she had been resting against.

The woman was continuously looking out into the surrounding undergrowth. Rachel stood where she was and looked, suddenly getting the feeling that they were being watched by many eyes. Uh oh, I think there was maybe more than one of those creatures. Oh, yeah, and I told Lisa not to bother with a transmitter; like I wouldn’t give the earth to call the cavalry in right now. I could always yell for Tasha, oh yeah, and that won’t bring these creatures at us any sooner, will it?

She had moved as quickly as she could but it almost hadn’t been fast enough. Her arms ached and stung where the feline's claws had raked her, but the danger was far from over. These cats were pack hunters. The first attack was just a probe. Normally, she would just run, using the trees as an escape route. But this woman wouldn’t be able to do that and just climbing wouldn’t help since they were very adept at that. She tensed as she felt movement to her side.

Tasha was in motion as soon as she heard Rachel’s cry. She was only fifty feet or so away, but the yowls and screeches that were coming from the clearing were terrifying. She drew her gun and armed it, running straight into the clearing. Instinctively, she found a target but it wasn’t what she had expected to be firing at. Cat-like creatures, the size of dogs, were swarming towards a tree at the far side of the clearing. Rachel had been pushed behind a tall, raven-haired Amazon of a woman who was batting the creatures away with her bare hands. Tasha began firing, thankful that she had made sure to have a full charge before leaving the shuttle.

Lisa and Carrie watched in awe as the creatures attacked en mass. The woman just stood there, protecting Rachel, without thought to herself. She grabbed one out of mid-flight and snapped its neck before they had realised how close it had come to Rachel. Then, quickly, they forgot the screens, grabbed the shuttle's medipac and spare weapon, and ran from the shuttle.

It was a bigger pack than she had anticipated and she was conscious of the woman behind her and her undeniable need to protect her from danger. She knew immediately when one of the woman’s companions came to their aid. The stocky woman she had seen around the camp shot beams of light out from a small object she held in her hand. The light was very powerful and the felines it touched fell twitching to the ground. Still, there were plenty that the light didn’t touch and she felt the rake of claws across her skin many times. One of the cats got past her guard, pouncing at the blonde woman. Not as helpless as she looked, she dodged out of its way and, with a fallen branch she had picked up, slammed it against the tree she had been backed against.

Lisa was barely ahead of Carrie as they ran at full speed toward the clearing. Lisa had the spare firearm and had charged it and readied it for firing. Carrie had the medipac bouncing on her back. They weren’t far from the clearing and could hear the ferocious sounds of battle. The whine of Tasha’s weapon could be heard, above the screeches of the animals that attacked and the occasional shout of warning from Rachel.

Unlike Tasha, Lisa pulled to a halt before she entered the clearing, not wanting to suddenly appear in front of the corporal and get zapped for her troubles. She eased out of the trees, taking in the scene before her. There were seven or eight of the creatures within the clearing, still alive or conscious. They obviously hadn’t intelligence enough to know when they were beaten. Tasha, with her firearm, and tall, dark and -- from the bodies scattered around her -- deadly, had decimated the pack that had attacked. Rachel was wielding a hefty branch for protection and had held her own against the few that had gotten past her tall, dark protector. Swinging the weapon she carried, Lisa carefully aimed and disposed of one of the remaining cats that had been readying itself to launch onto the stranger's back. She immediately acquired another target and began picking off the remaining attackers with precision.

Tasha, recognising she had company and seeing that Lisa was more than capable of clearing up the few cats that remained, began to edge around the clearing until Rachel was within reach. She noticed with a bit of concern that Rachel hadn’t totally avoided injury in the short, but intense, battle with the animals. She had a nice long gash down her right arm that was bleeding freely, and a small trickle of blood indicated a wound to the scalp. The strange woman they had been searching for, on the other hand, was a mass of wounds. Still, she showed little signs of weakening and was dealing out death to the animals with ferocious intensity

An eerie silence descended over the clearing as the last whining shot from Lisa’s weapon faded and the last cat dropped lifeless to the ground. Lisa placed a hand on Carrie’s shoulder, preventing her from rushing toward Rachel, her eyes riveted on the bloody woman before them. The danger wasn’t yet over. Lisa knew that the woman herself, seriously injured from the looks of her, could be more of a threat to them than the animals had ever been. She had been in similar situations before with injured animals but, try as she might, she couldn’t think of how to approach this one.

Rachel held her breath as the frozen tableau continued. The tall woman who stood several paces in front of her had her head cocked, listening intently above her own ragged breathing. Beyond her bloody saviour stood Lisa and Carrie, welded to the spot, waiting for some indication that it was safe to approach. Just to her side, she could hear the heavy breathing of Tasha. The woman before her suddenly moved, swinging round to face Rachel. To her side and in front of her, Tasha and Lisa raised their weapons, just in case. Rachel held her breath, watching, waiting.

The fighting stopped. She drew deep breaths into her overexerted lungs, trying to calm the adrenaline-induced thrum of her heart. She listened intently to the forest around her; most of the pack lay dead or unconscious around her, but there was a chance that one or two still remained within the shelter of the surrounding trees. The sound of the battle would draw the scavengers out quickly, and the smell of blood would draw the other rainforest predators.

Nothing threatening was close by except for the two bipeds holding their light-throwing objects. She turned, staring intently at the woman she had instinctively rushed to save. She inhaled the air around her, catching the scent of the woman’s blood and sweat. Her eyes lifted and scanned the trees, looking for her escape route. Now that the adrenaline had stopped coursing through her blood, her mind was slowing down. The pain of her multitude of injuries began to make itself known.

She needed to get to her shelter before night fell. The blood from her injuries would make it easy for the denizens of the forest to track her. She had no wish to become bait for any more of the forest's creatures. With a final look at the woman, she launched herself into the air, catching hold of the branch above that would lead her to the relative safety of the treetops.

Rachel saw the decision to leave in the eyes of the woman and she desperately wanted to reach out and stop her from going, but she had no idea what the consequences of that would be. She watched as the long muscles in her thighs bunched and launched her into the air. Wow, the strength it must take to do that! And those injuries can’t be helping any. I really wish I could make her stay and at least treat them. Rachel’s mind was so focussed that it wasn’t until the woman crumpled to the ground in front of her that she realised she’d heard the whine of a weapon. She immediately swung round to Tasha with a questioning gaze.

"Hey, don’t look at me. I wasn’t the one who fired," cried the corporal with her hands raised. Rachel turned her accusing stare to Lisa and Carrie who were moving rapidly across the clearing.

"Come on," Lisa said anxiously. "We don’t have much time."

Carrie appeared at Rachel’s side, inspecting the wound on her arm, but Rachel shook her off. "Lisa, what the hell did you do that for?"

"Rachel," Lisa replied tersely, "we are in the middle of a rainforest, we hardly know what animals are about us. But I can tell you one thing from experience. She wouldn’t have made it far in the condition she is in. The scent of blood would have drawn predators from miles around and most probably already has. We need to get her back to the camp and cleaned up, quickly, before more of these creatures appear."

Carrie grabbed hold of Rachel’s arm again and quickly wrapped it, stopping the bleeding with little problem. A cursory glance at the head wound showed it to be nothing more than a shallow graze, which had all but stopped bleeding. Treatment for that could wait until they got back to the camp.

With the need for expediency on her mind, she turned her attentions to the unconscious woman. At first glance, she hardly knew where to start. Bloody claw marks were across nearly every part of her body. So, Carrie returned to the old fashioned principles of a,b,c and made sure her airway was clear, and that she was breathing. Then she started to arrest the more serious areas of bleeding.

The job was made a lot easier when Rachel overcame her anger at Lisa’s action and got down on her knees to help. By the time they had finished, the woman was swaddled in bandages and plastic skin and, still, some areas bled quite freely.

They briefly considered building some sort of stretcher from the branches of the trees but Lisa vetoed the idea, saying that it would take too long. So Tasha and Carrie hauled the woman to her feet, slung her arms around their shoulders and began to drag her toward the camp. Rachel took the lead, holding Tasha’s weapon. Lisa kept hold of hers and brought up the rear. The trek back to the camp took longer than it ever had before. Tension was high; every little sound was a threat and adrenaline kept pumping through everybody’s system, keeping each of them hyper alert.

Carrie and Tasha were breathing hard from the exertion required to move the woman. She was taller than either of them and her musculature made for heavy going. If their rush to the clearing and the fight hadn’t tired them out, the walk back would exhaust the pair.

Despite their worries, they made it back to the camp and the shuttle without being accosted by any of the forest denizens. Rachel had Carrie and Tasha take the woman to the mess hall; she could use one of the tables as her work area. She sent Lisa to the shuttle to get what little medical equipment remained there, and she went to her old sickbay to get hold of equipment she knew she had stored there. Hopefully, she would have enough medical supplies to effectively treat the woman here. Otherwise, it may mean packing up shop and returning to town, taking the woman with them. And that was something she really wanted to avoid, if possible.

Tasha volunteered to fetch and carry for the doctor and her medic, rushing in and out of the kitchen for heated water to clean the wounds with and clean cloths. Lisa has gone off to the shuttle to keep an eye on the cameras and make sure that they didn’t receive any unwanted visitors. Rachel had given her blood and tissue samples to put through the analyser. The doctor and medic spent the better part of the rest of the day repairing, to the best of their ability, the tattered skin of the woman who had undoubtedly saved Rachel.

Carrie had quickly set up an IV line to administer antibiotics and to start fluid to replace the lost blood.  “Rachel?  Is this stuff going to be okay to give her?” She looked over to the doctor.

“What?” Rachel had begun closing the deepest of the wounds; some were left open, after being scrubbed and cleaned, to prevent them from splitting should infection set in. Reluctantly, Rachel had sedated the woman, keeping her unconscious when she showed signs of rousing, so that they could treat her without the danger of her causing them injury.

“Are these antibiotics and fluids going to be compatible with her?” Carrie asked again.

Rachel frowned.  She hadn’t actually considered that their medicines might cause more harm than good, but it was too late now to worry about it.  “We’ll have to take that chance.  We haven’t got the time to test it on her so go ahead.”

“You got it, boss.”

Rachel held her breath as Carrie started the drip and administered the first of the antibiotics.  When there was no adverse reaction within a few minutes she felt a little better. She wasn’t entirely happy with what Lisa had done but her reasoning had made sense. If any of them knew about animal behaviour, it was Lisa, and questioning her area of expertise was not something Rachel was about to do. Still, they now had an interesting problem. They could let her wake up and see how she reacted, or they could return her to the forest before she awoke. It was quite possible that she would understand they were helping her. It was also possible that she could react with violence, which is what most animals did when cornered and hurt.

Eventually they had done as much as they could for the woman and left her sleeping, covered in a tightly tucked blanket. While running in and out of the kitchen, Tasha managed to get some hot food together and, after getting Lisa from the shuttle, they sat down several tables away from their slumbering guest. Silence reigned while they consumed the badly needed sustenance.

"I guess that was one way to get to meet her," said Rachel as she slumped tiredly back into her chair.

"I have to admit I expected a rather less action-packed get-together myself," replied Lisa as she poured herself a drink from the pitcher Tasha had put on the table.

"I wonder where she comes from?" Carrie turned her head toward the table. "If they are native to this planet then there can’t be many of them; we’d have seen them."

"Yeah, I agree. They are either very adept at hiding or there are so few of them we haven’t been able to find them. The question is," Tasha said, while keeping an eye on the restlessly moving figure across from them, "what do we do with her now?" All eyes turned to Lisa.

Lisa, knowing they all expected her to answer, considered her words carefully. "Normally, bringing a subject of this kind of study back here would be unthinkable. However, this is, under no circumstances, normal. An animal would not have defended Rachel in the way this woman did. It would have run, and this situation would never have arisen. I think it is obvious to us all that this woman is intelligent, and is most probably capable of communicating with us if she so chooses. Our problem is that we have all but forced that on her now."

"Then, why didn't you just let her go?"

She paused and took a breath, staring straight at Rachel. "I shouldn’t have prevented her leaving, if that is what she chose to do. But, in my opinion, with wounds like she sustained, her chances of survival were slim. And if we take her back to the forest in the condition she is in, I doubt those chances will be any higher than they were this afternoon.

"She probably has some form of shelter nearby and would have tried to make it back there. If we could return her to her shelter, then she would have a higher chance of survival, but I doubt any of us could find it. So, that really leaves us with only one option, and that is to keep her with us until she is well enough to leave and survive by herself."

Lisa paused again to see if anybody had anything to say. Getting no response, she carried on. "This in itself could pose more than a few problems. We have no idea how she will react to my incapacitating her this afternoon, or to her waking up here surrounded by us. Still, I think we have one thing in our favour and that is her seeming obsession with Rachel. It is quite possible that, with Rachel near, she will react favourably. Anyway, those are our choices, as I see them." She took a sip of her drink. "We just have to decide which one to take."

"Do you think they are all like that?" asked Tasha. "I mean, if there are more of them and she isn’t the only one?"

"What do you mean, 'all like that'?" inquired Lisa.

"I mean, all built like combat marines. She is all muscle and that bone frame is designed for combat. The drill sergeants would go crazy over a recruit with her physique."

"Well, look at the conditions she has been living in. That forest isn’t exactly the most welcoming of places, is it? And I doubt there are more of her kind about. The way she’s been following and looking after the doc, I can’t see them being solitary creatures." Lisa pondered her thoughts a moment longer and looked at Rachel. She was just about to speak again when Rachel spoke.

"I don’t think she’s native to the planet. As you pointed out, Tasha, her bone structure and musculature are prominent features. This body type doesn’t develop on worlds like this. I’d expect an athletic structure, sure. But her body type is normally associated with heavy gravity worlds. My guess would be she’s been stranded here."

"But we know she has been here at least four years. If she were a heavy worlder, wouldn’t you expect a loss of body mass in that time? It isn’t as if she has gym facilities to weight train, and just day-to-day living wouldn’t be enough to keep the muscle she has," replied Lisa.

"That gives us something else to figure out then, doesn’t it?" Rachel grinned.

"Okay, time for a stupid question here, so no laughing, okay?" Carrie glared at them all sternly before she went on. "Is it at all possible that she is all that remains of some civilisation that once colonised this planet?"

"When we were here first time around, we found no evidence of civilisation, technological or otherwise. There were a few anomalous readings and places that we didn’t get to investigate, but we would have expected to find ruins of some sort," said Lisa.

"Or," interrupted Rachel, "we had thought that she could be a unique species, a genetic mutation if you like. But it would be very unusual and I’ve never heard of it or seen it documented anywhere. My favourite theory is definitely a survivor of some vehicle that crash-landed here. She could have been just a child when it happened. Maybe others survived long enough for her to grow and learn to survive by herself.  But hell, anything is possible."

"In that case," said Tasha, leaning back against her chair, "I say we keep her with us. If she is a survivor of some crash, then she has been amongst people at some point. Once she gets over the initial anxiety of being around us, she should adjust quickly."

"What makes you say that?" Carrie raised her eyebrow.

"I was thinking of troops with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and those that have been released after being taken prisoner of war. Their first reaction is normally fear; but that settles after a few days of adjustment, when they realise that they aren’t in danger anymore. What do you think, Rach?"

This time, all eyes turned to Rachel, who shrugged her shoulders. "I don’t think we’ll be the ones making the decision. She’ll make her own choice, once she wakes up."

"When will that be?" asked Lisa.

"Couple of hours. Depends how long it takes her to metabolise the sedative. Could be sooner, could be longer. Somebody will need to be here around the clock."

"Make that two people." Tasha’s voice brooked no argument. "I agree, she isn’t likely to harm any of us after her display of protectiveness this morning but, as Lisa said, she's injured and might react badly."

"Fine by me," replied Rachel. Lisa and Carrie nodded their agreement.

"Tasha, why don’t you and Carrie take first watch," Lisa suggested. "Those samples I ran through the analyser should be about done now. They might throw a bit of light on our mystery woman. Rachel and I will be in the shuttle; give us a yell if you need us."

Tasha grinned. "Sounds like a plan to me."

*******************

Rachel peered at the screen, intently brushing her hair back behind her ear and tapping a pencil on the desk before returning it to her mouth to chew. "Nope. I can’t put my finger on it but there is something not right with what I’m seeing." She was looking at the blood tests that Lisa had run on the samples she had taken from her protector. "How much longer before the tissue samples are complete?"

Lisa punched a few buttons and waited for the reply. "It’s thinking about it."

"What?" Rachel turned and looked through the dimly lit shuttle. They had closed the hatches so that the cool air from the conditioners didn’t escape into the sweltering heat.

"I said the computer is thinking about it." Lisa kept her eyes on the screen, watching as more test results flashed by her, and occasionally looking at the screens that monitored the cameras.

"Can they do that?"

This time Lisa turned to look at Rachel. "Do what?"

"Computers. Can they think?"

"Well, obviously, since that is what it's doing."

"Oh, okay." They both turned back to their respective screens. Rachel sighed and rubbed her eyes. This was getting her nowhere. "Lisa, I’m gonna go over to the mess hall and let Carrie or Tasha get out of there for a while." Lisa grunted in reply.

The heat hit Rachel like a brick wall as she left the coolness of the shuttle. A quick glance around assured her that all was well. The sun, well past its zenith, would soon be setting for the day. Rachel stretched her arms and rolled her head, trying to get rid of the tension knots that had anchored themselves at the base of her neck. Several minutes later, she stepped through the doors of the mess hall. Carrie was sitting at the table they had used for lunch earlier, feet up on the tabletop, reading. Tasha was nowhere in sight but the occasional clanking from behind the kitchen doors assured Rachel that she wasn’t far away. Carrie looked up and smiled as she stepped in.

"How’s it going?" inquired Rachel. She looked over at the still-sleeping woman who was now curled up tightly, hugging the blanket that had been laid over her.

"Not a peep from her. She’s been a bit restless, but that’s about it. I didn’t think we had given her that much sedative."

"I doubt we did, but she lost quite a bit of blood and is most probably exhausted from the fight. I would expect her to sleep for a long period, just to recover from that."

"Hmm." Carrie dropped her feet to the floor and stood up. "One thing I think you’ll find interesting, come have a look at this." The blonde medic led the doctor over to their sleeping patient. "See that wound we left open?" Carrie indicated one of the gashes on the woman’s arm. Rachel bent to have a closer look. The skin surrounding the wound looked pink but not inflamed, and no heat was being generated that would indicate infection. The wound itself looked remarkably clean. They had some difficulty getting all the debris from some of the wounds and at this early stage it showed signs of healing that wouldn’t normally be present. Granulation of that degree indicated healing of a period of days, not one. Rachel thought back to the information she had seen on the computer that hadn’t quite made any sense, but that was now starting to add up.

"You going to be all right here for a while longer? I need to check something out."

"Yeah, sure. No problem."

Rachel hurried from the mess hall, ran back over to the shuttle and burst through the door, startling Lisa. She threw herself back into her chair. Lisa stood and walked over to peer across Rachel’s shoulder. "You got something?"

"Maybe. I’ve just had a look at our guest. She is healing unbelievably fast."

"What does that mean?"

"Normally I’d just put it down to the fact that I don’t really understand her biology, but something about these bloods was bugging me and now I think I know what it is. Are those tissue samples done yet?"

"Yeah, the computer spit them out just after you left. Here." Lisa tapped out a few commands and the results of tissue typing, DNA screening and various other tests scrolled across the screen. Rachel ingested the information then sat back. "Well?" prompted Lisa.

"She’s not human," Rachel said quietly.

"We already knew that, Rach."

"No. I mean this woman wasn’t conceived in the womb."

"So, she’s a test tube baby. It’s a little old fashioned but nothing new," Lisa said, getting a little exasperated with Rachel’s vagueness.

"What I mean, Lisa, is that she wasn’t conceived at all. She was built chromosome by chromosome; she was genetically engineered." Rachel looked back over her shoulder toward Lisa. "This type of work takes a vast amount of technology, Lisa. We can’t build anything near this complicated yet. Sure, we can alter embryos, but they built her from the ground up."

"Then why is she here on this planet? Surely, if you spent so much time constructing her, you wouldn’t just leave her here. Even if she is a survivor of some crash, wouldn’t they look for her?"

"Lisa, it is very difficult to do even basic genetic manipulation on the scale that we are capable of, and in this day and age failure rates are still high. Mistakes are made all the time. I can’t even begin to think of the problems you would come up against, trying to attempt something on this scale."

"Sorry, I’m not really following you."

"What if she isn’t the survivor of some crash? What if they left her here for a reason?" Silence echoed in the shuttle as the women looked at each other, both of them wondering just what they had stumbled onto.

 

 

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