A Promise Made Page 3

  By the time I’d reached the hardness of his pectoral muscles, my hands were trembling, and when they reached his stomach, they were shaking. I no longer wanted to think about going back to the Hope and finding someone to bunk with--someone appropriate for me as an Earthforce officer.

  I wanted Jeffrey. I wanted to touch him and I wanted him touching me and I didn’t want anyone else.

  I gazed up into his face. He was no longer smiling, and the look in his eyes told me that he was surprised at my reaction but he welcomed it all the same. He reached forward to caress my cheek with the back of his hand, and I leaned closer to him, giving myself over to the need to be close to him, to feel his warm body next to mine.

  Part of me was bothered by the intensity of this need, but there was another much more basic part that welcomed and was thrilled with it. I put my arms around his waist and moved closer to him, so that we weren’t more than an inch apart. But even that was too far.

  I tugged him even closer, and we fitted together like two parts of a whole.

  Finally I lifted my head and raised my face to his. He was only a few inches taller than I was, so he barely had to tilt his head as his lips met mine. Again we were kissing, only this time I was an active participant. We kissed for several minutes, and then he pulled me into him and held me. I could feel the strength and warmth and hardness of his body next to mine. All we did was hold each other close, for what seemed to be a very long time.

  He breathed deeply as if taking my scent into his body. “That wasn’t what you were supposed to do,” he said, although he didn’t sound upset about it.

  “I guess not,” I said in return, still feeling that wonderful glow of being close to him. “But I don’t think I care very much.”

  “In that case, I don’t care either. However we have a problem.”

  “How’s that?”

  “Well, if you were a Gaian woman, I would be counting myself as the luckiest man on the ship right now. Since you aren’t, I’m not sure what to think.” He released me but still held my hand and sat on the table in the room. I stood next to him, and he put his arm around my waist. Even that small contact made my heart speed up.

  “I’m not sure what will be permitted. I only know what I want to do.” He tightened his arm, moving me to stand next to him. At the juncture of his legs, the long length of cock pressed against my stomach.

  Even now, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to jump into this Gaian’s bed, and I pulled away a bit. “What do you mean by that?” I said, once again uncertain.

  Jeffrey frowned and used his free hand to stroke my cheek again. “Simply this, I want you to be my wife. That’s what we do when we attach and the attachment is accepted. I think you are accepting my attachment, aren’t you?”

  I stared at him. He wanted me to be his wife, just like that? “We barely know each other. I thought you just wanted to sleep with me.”

  He smiled at me again. “Well, yes, of course I do, but not until we exchange bands. Then we are husband and wife.” He looked at me closely. “Would it be a problem for you to be my wife?” he asked, concern suddenly apparent in his face.

  I was saved from answering by a knock on the door. Before I could move away from him, Jeffrey said, “Come in.” The door opened and Bethan and Symon entered. They took one look at Jeffrey’s arm around me, and glanced at each other. Both of them tried to kill the look of elation on their faces.

  “Jeffrey, it doesn’t look to me like you detached,” Symon started. He sounded no less sorry than Bethan looked.

  “I guess not,” he replied, and hugged me closer for emphasis. Meanwhile I was still trying to take in what he’d said before. One minute I was trying to get extra supplies for my ship, and the next I’m engaged to a Gaian doctor. How much more interesting could this day get? I wriggled out of Jeffrey’s arms and reluctantly he let me go.

  “Dr. Karen, what happened?” Bethan asked. “Didn’t you reject him?”

  “I tried to, but when he touched me, I just started feeling funny,” I told her.

  “Funny, how?” she asked suspiciously.

  I tried to categorize how I was feeling. “I’m a bit dizzy, and when I get close to him I feel warm and I start to shake a bit.”

  Bethan almost smiled and shook her head. “What is it?” I asked her. “Have you ever felt like that?”

  She did smile at that. “Oh, yes. Every time Symon walked into the room for quite awhile after we were married.” She looked over at her husband, total affection in her face, but then returned her attention to me.

  “You are having an attachment reaction. It would be perfectly normal, if you were a Gaian.”

  “But I’m not a Gaian, so why am I having it?” I asked. “I mean, he’s talking about our being married, and I don’t even know him.” Bewildered, I sat in one of the chairs, as far from them as I could get. When I looked back over at Jeffrey, he too seemed lost in thought.

  Symon was the one to break the silence. “We don’t know why you are reacting like one of our women. We don’t know why Jeffrey here has attached to you. As far as we knew, this was all restricted to our own people.” He looked straight at Jeffrey until he had his full attention. “You are still attached to her?”

  “Yes, I am,” was the firm reply. “Now more than ever.” And he stared at me until I had to look away from him. He slumped forward. “Unfortunately it seems to be one sided. Maybe it would have been better to have gone straight for the ladattach,” he said morosely.

  That caught my attention. “Ladattach?” I asked, horrified. “You use that stuff? We use it to chemically castrate criminals on Earth!”

  “Well, on Gaia it is the only drug we know of that can force a detachment. And most of the time it doesn’t leave a man unable to reattach,” Bethan said in reassuringly tone that did nothing to reassure me.

  “Only most of the time?” Now I was outraged. “You can’t do that to him? I mean....” I stopped talking. Jeffrey was staring at me again, and I walked over to him and took his hand. He almost smiled as we looked at each other. He wanted me, and I already knew I wasn’t exactly opposed to the idea. “What can we do?” I whispered.

  Bethan and Symon just looked at each other. Finally, Symon spoke. “Well, if it was up to me, I’d just say get some bands.” Jeffrey smiled and grasped my hand tighter.

  “But,” Symon continued, “it isn’t up to me.”

  “Or me,” Bethan added. “Even assuming that Karen was willing to do this.”

  “Why not?” Jeffrey spoke up. “Why can’t we join? Just because she’s from Earth and a member of their military? That didn’t stop me from attaching and her from accepting, why should it stop us from marrying?” Then he looked at me. “If you’re willing, that is.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say. After all, how many times does a woman get a marriage proposal? Almost never on Earth, and I’d never expected to find someone I wanted to settle down with. I felt like the entire universe was spinning around and making me dizzy as a result.

  “Well, I can think of one big reason,” Bethan began before I could answer.

  Just then the door opened, and General Garren came in. He glared at me as if I were personally responsible for everything bad that had ever happened to anyone in the entire universe, including the war.

  I suddenly knew just what everyone was talking about, the big reason Jeffrey couldn’t stay attached to me.

  The General was the big reason.

  Chapter Four

  On the view screen of the Hope he had been impressive in his basic black uniform, so unlike the pleasant blue the other Gaians wore, but in person he was huge. As big as I am, he must have been six inches taller, taller even than Jeffrey. His black shirt outlined his broad shoulders and chest and showed how powerfully built he was. His size was only emphasized by his attitude, which seemed to be perpetually angry.

  “Here you are. I’ve been looking all over for you,” he told Symon and Bethan, his voice rough with irritation even though
he seemed to be trying to be pleasant to them.

  Then he looked me in my Earthforce uniform, and all pretense of good humor left him. “What is this person doing on this ship?” he demanded.

  At the sight of him, I’d backed away, and his shouting made me cringe. But then Jeffrey grabbed my hand and jumped in between us. He stood toe-to-toe with the General.

  “Don’t shout at her, Garren. She hasn’t done anything wrong. You don’t need to bully everyone around you, you know!”

  I’m not sure who was more surprised, me for the way Jeffrey had leapt to my defense, or the General that he was being defied by one of his own people. Garren turned his glare at Symon and Bethan. “What is going on here? First an Earthforce officer is inside our security, then my Chief Medical Officer starts defending her.”

  Then he stared at the way Jeffrey was holding my hand, and a kind of sick look crossed his face. He turned back to Symon and Bethan. “He attached to an Earth woman?” He made it sound like something disgusting had taken place.

  Bethan was the one who spoke up this time. “Yes, Garren, that’s exactly what happened,” she said forcefully. “And she tried to reject him and couldn’t because she’d reacted to him. They’ve matched!”

  “Matched?” Garren said, then looked back at Jeffrey who now put his arm around my waist and drew me closer to him.

  “Yes, sir,” Jeffrey said, firmly. “We are matched.”

  Garren looked at Symon who simply shrugged. “It looks that way to me.”

  I said nothing. I still hadn’t made up my mind what I wanted to do here. It was all very well that I had a quivery sensation when Jeffrey touched me, but to go from that to being his wife was a bit much take in all at once.

  I was quiet so the General zeroed in on me right away. “So, you want to be a Gaian?” he asked.

  “No, not particularly,” I answered nervously.

  He narrowed his eyes and an expression of hate went across his face. “Well then, what are you doing? Do you want to be his wife, stay here with us? Are you ready for that?” he sneered at me and stepped forward menacingly.

  Suddenly I became alarmed, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. “No!” I shouted at him, and I pulled away from Jeffrey. “No, I won’t be his wife.” I looked at Jeffrey and repeated it. “I can’t do this, no.”

  Jeffrey closed his eyes, and his breathing seemed to stop. The blood drained from his face, and when he started breathing again, it was slower. He swallowed and then opened his eyes. For a few seconds he looked like he was all right, then he buried his head in his hands.

  Bethan approached him and put her hand on his shoulder. He raised his head and gazed at her briefly, his face reflecting disappointment and regret.

  “It happened. I’m released.” Then he looked over at the General’s triumphant face. He didn’t look at me at all.

  “So, you win again, Garren. Congratulations,” Jeffrey said. “No big bad Earth women will be made wives on this ship.” He got up off the desk, and stood, wavering.

  My heart broke to see the intense sadness in his face. I looked away from him, but I heard him continue to talk to the General in his soft deep voice. “Garren, I’ve been told that you no longer are able to understand what it means to care about someone, and I am beginning to think that might be true. Just because you lost your love....”

  His voice failed him and he shook his head. “If you need me, I’ll be in sickbay.”

  He started for the door but then stopped near me. He reached out his hand and touched my cheek again. I had to look him in the face then. He still looked sad, but he almost smiled as he stared at me. “Goodbye, Dr. Karen, it was....” His voice trailed off again. “It was wonderful to have met you.”

  Then he left, and I felt more miserable than I’d ever been in my life. Yes, I wasn’t comfortable with being his wife, but I hadn’t really meant to reject him that way. I slumped down into a chair.

  While I sat there, dejected, I heard Bethan speaking quietly to the General.

  “Well, that was a pretty piece of work. Didn’t it occur to you that we might have finally had an answer to this problem of ours?”

  “Answer? Earth women? You can’t be serious,” the General replied. “They would be completely inappropriate mates for our men.”

  “Oh, really. He attached, she responded, what more would you want? You know we need to look elsewhere for women, why not Earth?” Bethan indicated me. “She certainly seemed appropriate before you got involved. It was Jeffrey’s choice, not yours,” she said pointedly.

  The General stared at me and some of the animosity left his face. “Who are you, anyway?” he demanded.

  I drew myself up and faced him. I would simply not allow myself to be bullied by this man anymore!

  “My name is Lieutenant Karen Masters, M.D., and I am Medical Supply Officer on the Hope, the hospital ship you just captured. Your captain was kind enough to offer us medical supplies for our ship before you ground us forever, and I came over here to get them.”

  A grimace crossed the General’s face. “And that’s when my Chief Medical Officer attached to you?”

  I nodded in reply.

  “Dr. Karen, have they explained what marriage means to us? When we choice a mate, it’s for life, we don’t just love each other and run. On Gaia, we expect marriages to last.”

  I thought about it. “And you believe that just because I’m from Earth, I couldn’t handle a marriage like that? That might be true for some people from Earth.”

  I could tell he liked that answer, so I turned my finest glare on him. “But on the other hand, I doubt that I’m one of them. My parents were married for over forty years before their deaths. My mother died first, and my father couldn’t seem to manage without her--he only lived a few months longer. If that isn’t dedicated enough for you, then I don’t know what to say.”

  My answer must have given him something to think about. He got up and paced the room, Bethan and Symon watching him. Finally he looked over at them. “What is it you two are thinking?”

  They looked at each other. I could tell that these two must often understand each other perfectly. I wondered at that kind of closeness, and my rejection of Jeffrey became a fresh wound. What if I hadn’t fallen for the General’s baiting and had accepted Jeffrey as my husband? Would we have had this kind of relationship, where I would know his mind so closely, and he mine?

  Symon answered for them, speaking carefully. “Garren, I know that you don’t necessarily approve, but if it did work, it could very well be the answer we’re looking for.”; He pointed to me. “Suppose she isn’t unusual, that there are others like her and we can find them on Earth. We need to replace Carras. We can’t do that by refusing to look beyond our own kind.”

  “I don’t understand,” I told them. “What is Carras, and what problem do you have?”

  Silently the General glared, but Bethan answered. “Carras was a girls’ school on Gaia. Earthforce destroyed it six months ago, and several thousand young women were killed. This has left us with many men who won’t be able to find wives of Gaian birth.”

  Horrified I stared at her. “You’re serious? A girls’ school? That’s horrible.”

  “Perhaps. But it happened all the same.”

  Not for the first time all I wanted was to rip my uniform off my back and never put it on again. In addition I understood what they were talking about. “So, if a Gaian man like Jeffrey can attach to someone like me, then there might be a chance of other mixed marriages, Gaian men and Earth women. But you didn’t know he might attach to me, did you? This wasn’t some kind of test.”

  “No, Karen, we didn’t.” She folded her hands and leaned forward, speaking earnestly. “We would never have simply sprung an attachment on either of you. We are very protective of our men and women.”

  “Besides, how were we to know Earthforce would send a woman onto our ship?” Symon added. “You might have noticed we don’t have many women aboard.”

  “S
o this was as much a surprise to you as it was to him,” I said thoughtfully. I leaned forward and looked at her. “Once he did attach, did you hope I would accept him? Is that why you asked me to come in here with him?”

  “Honestly, we didn’t know what would happen,” she told me. “It was true that without your help it would be difficult for him to detach. But if you had accepted him, then that would be even better from our point of view.”

  She looked angrily at the General, who didn’t meet her eyes. “You see,” she continued, turning back to me, “we trust the attachment instinct to select our mates for us. It rarely fails us. When Jeffrey attached to you, it spoke well for you, and as far as I’m concerned, you would make him an admirable wife.” She patted my hand.

  The General snorted and looked disgruntled, but before he could say anything more, all hell broke loose. Around us a deep shudder shook the ship, and through the door came a series of loud roars, the sound of explosions coming from the hangar deck. Symon, Bethan, and the General were on their feet immediately, and without thinking I followed them out the door and into the chaos that waited beyond.

  Chapter Five

  When I got there the blackness of the hangar deck was punctuated by flames. For a moment it looked like an image from hell, but then the emergency lights flickered on and the flames faded into the background, and I could see the actual damage.

  There was smoke and a blackened area of deck and hull, but the latter was fortunately still intact. Several ships were on fire near where my shuttle had been parked. My shuttle I didn’t see at all and that shook me. I took one moment to wonder what had happened to it and to the men I’d left here. The only uniforms I saw running around or lying on the deck were Gaian blue, not Earthforce gray.