Arr came around the corner silently. He stood looking down on Jake's back as he sat in the turret. Jake rotated the turret to grab a tool and came face to face with a kneeling Arr.
"I was talking to the computer," Arr said, displaying an impish grin.
Jake waited for the kid to continue.
"NOSE PLUGS: A pair of objects used to stop up the nose. Prevents the being using them from smelling objectionable or harmful odors," Arr quoted.
Jake smiled back. "We'll just have to find you a pair, won't we?"
Chapter 15
Jake pulled into one of the many bays at the Refitting Station. He stopped just long enough at Outpost #45 to pick up a spacer suit and a pair of nose plugs for Arr. He wasn't going to take any chances. This time he was going to get his drink.
Arr didn't want to wear the plugs. He tried using them the last couple of days aboard ship. He said they were uncomfortable, looked funny and made his food tasteless.
Jake stuffed the plugs in the pocket of the kid's new suit. "If there is another episode like the one at Trade Post #1313 I will personally take my blaster to you," he threatened, half teasingly. "There is no checking of weapons at a Refitting Station."
Jake closed Kay-o in the bathroom of the cruiser with a sink full of water and a tub of food. He hung a sign on the door:
ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!! DAR-DOLF!!!!
He and Arr stopped just long enough with the technicians for Jake to tell them what he wanted done and also to pick out a new color for the ship's upholstery. They decided on a forest green.
The technicians had a close look at Arr, discreetly of course. They learned quickly not to stare at an alien, many took offense to it. Jake smiled to himself. Arr was something new. An alien they'd never seen before. He was a true rarity for these guys who thought they had seen it all. Arr was really impressive in the red spacer suit Jake bought him. Any other guy wouldn't be caught dead in it, just too flashy, but Arr looked like he was made for it with that red/gold hair of his.
When they got into the main part of the space station Arr took a tentative sniff, then a deep breath. "It doesn't stink!" He informed Jake with a pleasant smile.
"I'm certainly glad of that." Jake said in a relieved tone. "It's probably due to the air purification and recycling system of the station. It operates like ours on the cruiser except on a much larger scale." Jake explained.
Jake strolled along nodding and speaking to those he knew from previous layovers here. He was headed to a bar he remembered down Corridor 6, when he saw Timothy O'Malley coming toward them. As soon as Tim caught sight of Jake it was a non-stop conversation, interspersed with resounding slaps on the back and loud guffaws of laughter. Anyone would have had a hard time keeping track much less an alien that only five months ago had spoken not a word of English.
"This is my new Partner, Arr," Jake introduced, as they ducked into the Corridor 6 Bar.
He told a bit of Arr's background to Tim. After that it was as if Arr was part of the bulkhead except for ordering him a very foul tasting and bad smelling drink. Arr really didn't mind. It gave him time to observe his surroundings without Jake's constant narrative. Timothy was telling Jake about the latest on the Helavites. They were a gang of planet pirates who came on a planet, stripped it of all it was worth and then moved on to the next. They sold their goods illegally in black markets that constantly changed their location so the authorities couldn't catch up with their activity and shut them down. The traders usually knew where these markets were located but didn't let on for fear of retaliation on their own planet.
"The pirates just dusted Pita last month. They vanished into space as usual without a trace." Tim tossed back another shot of scotch. The Helavites were always big news. He moved on to the topic of the day. "As soon as my ship is refitted I'm on my way to a sweet little battle. Pays handsomely to the victor. It's goin' to be one of those, go in show'em your stuff and get out. Piece of cake, easy money." Tim assured Jake with one of his winning smiles, his eyes bright with excitement. "You and your new partner are more'n welcome. The winnin' side could always use another good mercenary." Tim knew Jake was one of the best. He'd helped train him along with his father.
Jake got more information on location and special equipment needed. "I'll check with the technicians and see if they can have my cruiser ready in time." Jake shook Tim's hand as the big man rose to go.
"I hope it works out. We haven't worked together for a while. It'd be like old times. Mercenary work with you isn't like working with some of these young kids comin' into the business lately. You can't count on 'em under fire." Tim took his leave and went to recruit some more men at the end of the bar.
Jake huffed into his drink and glanced over at Arr. "Do I look old to you?"
"No, you look experienced," Arr replied. Arr was playing with words again.
"You should have someone to train you as a politician. I really think it's your true calling," Jake said, with a smile. "Finish your drink. I want to show you something."
They strolled along from corridor to corridor. The station was much bigger than it looked from the outside floating along beside it in the cruiser. They just started down Corridor M when Jake stopped at a door labeled "ARBORETUM".
"This is it!" Jake broke the light ray on the threshold. The large double doors came open with a swoosh.
Arr couldn't remember ever having seen anything so beautiful. It was breathtaking.
"It's a duplicate of a tropical rain forest," Jake said, with pleasure brimming over each word. He obviously was impressed with the place as much as he knew Arr would be. "We used to have some very large ones on my planet. They were decimated down to only a few thousand acres. Before that happened some smart people with pull got some of the plants and wild life shipped into space. Now through the plants and animals natural regeneration almost all Refitting Stations have one of these arboretums. We all use them to relax in an environment that is more conducive to man and not so prefab."
Jake led the way into the forest, Arr close at his heels, with the sound of waterfalls, bird and small animal calls, and Jake's continuous running narrative falling on his ears.
Chapter 16
Jake and Arr were at Refitting Station Terrell four days. Jake and Tim spent most of the time in the bar planning for the little skirmish as they took to calling it. Occasionally they would break long enough to check the status of their ships' repairs. There was no need to push the refitting crews. They worked round the clock shifts so they could get the cruisers through and the bays empty for others coming in all the time. They were paid by the job, not by the hour.
The second day when Jake and Arr were checking on the progress of the communications system repair aboard ship one of the technicians invited Arr to join her for dinner. She was a human like Jake with chestnut colored hair. She wore it in one long plait that hung half way down her back. She had a melodic voice, large round brown eyes and she smelled good. Arr looked to Jake for guidance in this new development, but Jake just smiled and told him to go along. He'd take care of the ship.
The rest of Arr's stay aboard the station was a delightful blur. He found to his joy that the female named Carrie wanted to spend all her free time with him. After dinner the first night Carrie asked Arr if he had seen the rain forest. When he replied in the affirmative she asked him if he liked it. He did his best to express his wonder of its beauty. That led her to asking if he would like to see her favorite spot in it.
She led him to a remote corner of the forest. In fact it was so far back in the trees and undergrowth that you could see patches of the outside bulkhead through the tangled vines running up the wall. There was a cool, clear pool fed by a trickling spill of water over a jumble of moss covered rocks.
"How about a swim?" Carrie suggested invitingly.
Arr hadn't been swimming since they left the planet. The pool looked cool and appealing. He started to shed his clothes.
Carrie smiled sweetly at this innocent, uninhibited
action and dropped her own suit.
The water was refreshing. He had not felt this good since leaving his home. This female was as wonderful as this place. When they finished their swim and lay naked on the grass at the pool's edge, she reached over and ran her hand across the fine red/gold hair of Arr's chest.
"You're beautiful," she uttered softly, with a tone of awe in her voice. He really was a magnificent creature, not only in looks, but in actions as well. He seemed totally free from civilization's moral inhibitions, yet he possessed his own inner rules, these included gentleness and truth.
He took her hand in his and nuzzled his lips against the palm where her tattoo would have been had she been Henu. "You should have been a Henu. You would have been admired by all the finest of my people".
She leaned down and kissed his chest.
Her touch was unsettling. When he turned face down in order to give himself time to think about what his actions should be she started rubbing his back. All the uncertainties fled his mind. He reveled with each stroke of her hand.
He was gentle with her as they made love even though she excited his body as it had never been excited before.
Nor and Arr talked about mating. Since neither had ever done it, it was all only speculation. The act was better than Arr or Nor ever imagined in their wildest dreams.
Now, Arr stood once more at the rear viewport. He watched as Refitting Station Terrell receded to a mere dot in space. Arr and Carrie had a lingering parting broken only by Jake's threat to leave Arr behind if he didn't get a move on. When the boy came aboard ship Jake elbowed him in the ribs. He said, 'Love'um and leave'um, I always say.' Arr didn't really understand. He only knew that parting from the female was painful. Even the excitement of the coming adventure did not seem to ease it.
Chapter 17
In spite of his thermal suit Jake was freezing. The snow was over the top of his boots most of the time. Occasionally he had to fight through waist deep drifts.
He and Arr were taking turns breaking trail. Kay-o had given up. The dar-dolf started out at a run, dropped to a trot, now he was bringing up the rear at a lumbering walk. His hair was so heavily caked with ice that he could hardly keep up. Jake was glad he remembered the dar-dolf's boots or the poor beast's feet would have been frozen by now.
Why were they out in this? How could you fight an enemy you couldn't see? When he got hold of the guy who said this would be a 'piece of cake,' he intended to strangle him.
Jake came to a halt. Arr advanced slowly up behind him.
"You want me to lead for awhile?" He volunteered.
"No! I want a blistering cup of coffee and a hot bath," Jake snarled into his re-breather mask. Even above the howl of the wind Arr could hear Jake's teeth chattering.
Jake petulantly put a gloved hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't take it out on you. I'm just so damn cold." He turned resolutely to lead on.
They had broken up into teams to do the mop-up work after the initial battle. Jake was pleased with Arr's performance. Even in the clumsy thermal suit he executed himself admirably. The kid was going to be good - maybe as good as Jake himself someday.
The enemy was not an organized group. When the mercenaries knocked the starch out of them they broke up and ran. Tim was right about that. All the team had to do was show them their stuff. But, now it was like guerilla warfare. Jake hated to take the fresh kid into something like this on his first mission. On top of that they had to deal with this miserable weather. There was no telling where the enemy was hiding just waiting to ambush you. In this storm it was hard to see even ten feet in front of you.
Jake came to another abrupt halt. He was having a hard time with his mask fogging up. It was just too damn cold.
Arr plowed his way up behind him. He clapped Jake on the shoulder to get his attention over the howling gale. "Let's stop for a moment. There's a notch in the outcrop over there." He pointed to a small crevasse to their right.
Jake couldn't see the outcrop Arr spoke of, but he had learned in the short time on the Henu planet that the boy's eyesight was considerably better than his at night. He took the kid's word for what he saw and assumed his eyes were better in adverse weather conditions as well.
"Good idea," Jake replied. "We can't see anything until it clears a bit anyway."
Arr led the way deftly clearing a trail the width of his own body, which was not quite wide enough for Jake or Kay-o.
Jake found to his relief that the crevice was large enough to protect the three of them from the biting wind. He pulled Kay-o up close and told Arr to huddle up for warmth. The snow fall and wind were already covering their tracks. They'd be safe here even if the inhabitants of the planet moved around in this weather, which he doubted. Yeah, he thought, they'd be fine as long as they didn't freeze.
Jake tapped Arr's mask to get his attention. "How you doing kid?"
"Okay and you?" Arr looked with concern up through Jake's fogged face shield.
"Cold, I think my suit has a leak." His teeth were chattering so violently that Arr could hardly understand him.
Arr unexpectedly started to unzip his suit.
"What are you doing?" Jake screamed above the roar of the wind, as he leaned over frantically trying to stop him. "It must be 60 below out here!"
Arr huddled closer to Jake. "Come closer to me," he ordered.
When Jake moved in Arr removed his gloves much to the mercenary's chagrin. He put them up to Jake's face under his mask. Jake's surprise showed as a broad smile broke across his pink cheeks. They were warm, toasty in fact. The thermal suit couldn't be working that good.
"Take your gloves off and put your hands in my suit." Arr began to unzip the suit again. When Jake hesitated Arr frowned at him. "Come on, I don't bite, I only growl and you're cold. Your beard's even frozen." To prove his point, Arr reached under the re-breather and broke a piece off in his hand. "See? Now do as I say!"
Jake stuck his arms around Arr inside his suit. Arr moved in even closer and put his arms around Jake trying to give him the most body warmth. Kay-o curled up at Arr's back. The kid was warm, but Jake knew with all this cold around him, his suit half unzipped, he wouldn't stay that way long. The feeling was so comforting though his teeth almost ceased to jar in his head. His hands were finally beginning to warm, when a shiver went through Arr. Jake started to pull his hands free with the intention of zipping the kid's suit back up, but the boy pinned his arms to his sides with his own.
"It's all right. Just wait a minute." Arr coached patiently.
Jake felt a vibration around Arr's rib cage and then heard an audible purring. Immediately the surface temperature of the kid's skin went up ten degrees. Jake just sat staring dumb founded at his new companion. Kay-o cuddled closer to the source of the heat.
"All Henu over the age of five are able to warm themselves by purring. When Nor and I were trapped in the water's edge when The Others came he kept me from dying of the cold by hugging me and purring," Arr said, softly purring beneath each word.
Within a few minutes Jake drifted off into one of those light dozes that men who are accustom to being under fire for long periods of time, can muster easily. Should he need to move into action he would be ready, but he was just so comfortable and warm. He hadn't been this content since they hit this chunk of ice two days ago. Arr soon followed his example and fell into a fitful sleep.
*****
It was snowing back on his home planet. Arr was delighted by the fall of flakes almost as big as your palm. He stopped by the lake and reached down for a hand full of snow. He crushed it into a ball and lamented the fact that there was no one here to play with. All at once the snow came alive. People all dressed in white rose up out of it and started to shoot at him. They weren't using blasters. They had some primitive weapon that didn't stun or disintegrate, but blew big gaping bloody holes in your flesh. He started to run toward the trees, but before he could get there one of the white people shot him in the leg. He crumpled down on all fo
urs and screamed in pain. The enemy advanced. When he looked up from the wound in his leg he was looking into the man's face. The man leveled his weapon at Arr's head.
Arr woke in a cold sweat to Jake holding his blaster in one hand and his other covering Arr's mouth under his mask. He motioned for Arr to remain still and silent. Then he disappeared with Kay-o into the dusk, down the length of the crevasse.
It had stopped snowing and the wind had died down to a mere breeze. Arr strained to hear something, anything. The only sounds were those of his own frantically beating heart. When there was a movement a distance to his right, he clutched his blaster tightly and came to attention. Kay-o came out of the gloom with Jake at his heels.
"Come on kid," Jake called. "I ran into Tim out there. I guess we missed all the action. They found their last stronghold. We're out of here." He came up to Arr and patted him on the chest. "Hell of a hot water bottle you got there."
Arr zipped up his suit and started the long trudge back to the ship behind Jake. As he plodded along through the knee deep drifts he wondered why he ever looked forward to seeing snow. He didn't care if he ever set foot in it again.
Chapter 18
Jake plotted a course toward Outpost #68. Outposts were a floating version of the planet bound Trading Posts. They were great places for the latest information on what was happening in their small piece of space. Jake received more than one job tip from talking to an Outpost bartender. If they didn't find anything interesting at Outpost #68, they would just skip to the next and so on until something presented itself. Jake was in no hurry. He'd squirreled away enough shiny stuff to last him a lifetime. After his dad was killed Jake dealt with the crisis by burying himself in his work.
Arr TOOK to prowling the ship at night. Jake figured he was having nightmares over his first battle. The mercenary tried to approach him one night, but the kid was reluctant to talk. Jake told him there was no reason to be ashamed of his feelings; even Jake had bad dreams now and then. It came with the territory.
The boy needed some time to adjust. Jake decided he wouldn't take another job for a while. Let the kid rest and hope the demons passed.
Chapter 19