“Don’t! It becomes you.” Then he reconsidered, as she had. “You don’t need to tell me of your exact state of mind. A woman is entitled to her privacy. When you—if you—come to want it, all you have to do is kiss me, and I’ll know. Meanwhile, just be yourself. I will respect you regardless.”
She blushed, which was rare for her. “Very close.”
Tod found himself getting aroused. If she was truly ready—
“Is this courtship?” Bem asked. It was close to its original shape and colors. “I inquire because though I know that multi-gendered creatures can have elaborate mechanisms for advising each other of their readiness to copulate, I have not seen it in practice and may misinterpret the signals.”
Both of them made guilty starts. “Yes, I think it is,” Tod said.
“In my frame, humanoids simply come together and interpenetrate. There is very little art to it.”
“You are interested in art?” Veee asked.
Bem made a coruscation of light flashes, evidently laughter. “Our society is made of art. Without art we would not exist as superior beings. I myself am an architect.”
“That’s an art,” Tod agreed. “You build cathedrals?”
It took Bem a moment to assimilate what was evidently an unfamiliar term. “I arrange patterns,” it said.
“I’m not sure that’s the same.”
“It is as close as this common language can make it,” Bem said. “Your architects may construct edifices of stones. Ours dictate patterns of animate flowers.”
“Like sand pictures?” Veee asked.
Again Bem had to assimilate a term that was not quite right. “This may be a fair analogy,” it agreed after a pause.
Veee returned to business. “In our distraction of courtship, we were neglecting you.”
“You were guarding me,” Bem reassured her. “The wolfkeys would have had me by now, otherwise.”
“We made a deal. We are all helping each other.”
“I appreciate that.”
“But if the air makes you sick,” Veee said, “how will you live? You have to eat.”
“That is true,” Bem said. “But a little food is coming to me now, and yet I am improving. Perhaps it was merely a bad section we passed through.”
“Let’s hope so,” Tod said. “You do look better. Are you able to travel again?”
“Yes, though my pace may be slow at first.”
Tod attached his knife sheath to his belt and put the knife in it. He wanted it close at hand as long as the predators were near. Veee’s blade disappeared, leaving him quite curious where, but he decided not to ask.
They resumed motion, and the wolfkeys paced them. What were the predators expecting, now that Bem was recovering?
Now the trail crossed the river and moved into an open grassy plain. Patches of colored berries grew there. Tod and Veee paused to pick and eat some: blue for him, red for her. They were very good.
The predators came through the section, slinking from patch to patch for concealment. They still had not given up. That bothered Tod. Their group had successfully fended off the predators, and now that their ailing member was recovering health, they would be less vulnerable than before. The wolfkeys were surely aware of that. Why, then, were they wasting their time and effort maintaining the chase?
In due course the plain gave way to more mountains, but there was a level access between them, winding around their slopes. Maybe a river had carved it in the distant past. Still the wolfkeys followed, becoming more bold.
“Do they know something we don’t?” Veee asked a trifle grimly.
“It is getting late in the day. We will have to stop to eat, and to sleep,” Tod said. “Maybe they count on swarming us when we sleep.”
“We can keep walking through the night if we have to.”
“But eventually we’ll have to rest.”
“This terrain resembles that of my home world,” Bem remarked. “If so, we will have a safe retreat.”
Tod hoped so.
The route between mountains opened out into a glade replete with many berry bushes. They paused and ate, while Bem seined the air. They caught up on natural functions, then, refreshed, marched on.
So did the predators.
The mountains closed in again. The path became the bottom of a cleft between overlapping mountains, buttressed by sheer vertical walls on either side. They towered some fifty feet to the regular mountain slopes.
Then the trail ended. “Oh, no!” Tod exclaimed. “Box canyon.”
“And the wolfkeys knew,” Veee said. “This is their hunting territory.”
Indeed, the predators had closed in behind them, blocking the retreat. The trap had sprung.
“We can fight our way out,” Tod said.
“There are too many of them.”
“Not for a semi-automatic pistol.”
Veee looked blank, and Bem’s lights rippled in confusion. Neither had heard of this instrument.
Tod brought it out. “It shoots out metal bullets that puncture flesh, strikes key organs or bones, and kills. I can take out a dozen in short order, if I have to.”
“This would not be effective against me,” Bem said. “I have no organs or bones.” It demonstrated by forming several holes in its torso.
That was interesting. Bem was truly a different form of life.
“But you’re our friend,” Veee said.
“Yes. But if the wolfkeys resemble me in flesh, if not in structure, they will not be stopped by it.”
“They don’t,” Tod said. “They resemble us. That’s why they’re wary of knives. If we cut them, they will bleed. I’m sure bullets will hurt them similarly.”
“There is no need,” Bem said. “We can climb the wall where they can not go, to safety for the night.”
“You can,” Tod said. “Not us.”
“My return favor. I will carry you up, one at a time.”
“You really can do it?”
“Yes, now that I have regained my strength.”
“Then take Veee up while I guard the base.”
“Get on my backside,” Bem told Veee. “Hold on to the skin. You will not hurt me.”
Veee took hold of its skin. Her fingers sank in, gaining firm purchase. She raised one leg and dug in a toe, then the other. “I’m ready.”
Bem glided to the wall and pressed its front side against it. Then it glided on up, carrying Veee.
Tod shook his head, bemused. This was a bem carrying a maiden away, and she was going willingly. The sci-fi junk he had seen would have a fit. Not that he had ever understood why bems chased luscious human damsels; what could they want with them, other than to consume their tender meat? Yet wouldn’t that mean they would carry away fat folk instead? They never did.
The wolfkeys, seeing their prey unexpectedly escape, howled and charged.
Tod aimed his pistol and fired. The lead predator fell, but the others continued advancing. He shot again, and a second fell. Then a third. They were definitely made of flesh, bones, nerves, and blood.
They finally got the message, and retreated, leaving their companions to die alone.
Meanwhile, Bem achieved the top and deposited Veee there. It then compacted into a ball, rolled off the ledge, and plunged to the canyon floor. Tod stared in helpless horror as it bounced and settled. What a horrible accident!
Then Bem reformed into its normal shape, unharmed. “A faster descent,” it explained.
“You were not fooling about having no bones or organs!”
“True. I cannot be damaged by impact. But if the predators had consumed my flesh, I would have suffered.”
Surely so! Tod climbed onto Bem’s backside, grabbing comfortable handholds, and they proceeded up the wall.
Tod had never been particularly nervous about heights, but did feel exposed as he rose up the vertical slope. Could Bem really hold securely onto the blank face of the cliff? Obviously it could, because it had carried Veee up. Still, it seemed pre
carious.
He craned his head to look back and down. The wolfkeys were gone, except for the three dead ones. They had learned the hard way about this particular prey. So the three travelers had not been doomed, regardless of Bem’s ability. Still, it might have been a long way around to recover the trail without climbing. Assuming the trail was still here.
And there was a mystery: why would they be invited to follow a trail that dead-ended in a trap? Surely there were easier ways to foil the wolfkeys. No, they must have strayed from the trail and taken an offshoot. In which case they might have to retrace their route to locate it.
They reached the top. Bem slid smoothly around the bend and Tod was clinging to a horizontal blob. He let go, stepped off, and stood. “Thank you,” he said, somewhat inadequately.
“It was the return favor.”
“Maybe we will exchange more favors in the future.”
“To mutual benefit,” Bem agreed.
Veee was there, disheveled but pretty. Tod had not been impressed by her appearance at first, but of course she had been puking her guts out. Now she was a woman he knew and increasingly respected. That made a subjective difference. She was gazing at something. Tod looked.
The ground here was a moderate slope. And on it was the trail, plainly marked. Which meant they had not strayed; this was the correct route.
“What do you make of this?” Veee asked.
“I’m not much of a believer in coincidence. It seems we were intended to climb the wall. Whatever brought us here is putting us though our paces.”
“This is my thought,” she agreed.
“And mine,” Bem said. “We have been rendered interdependent.”
“Dependent on each other,” Tod agreed. “As though we are members of a team that can’t fully function with any of us missing.”
Veee nodded agreement. Bem flashed a band of light that seemed to concur.
It was getting dark. Tod unpacked the little tent. He did not ask Veee whether she wanted to share it, knowing she would. With luck she might even conclude that their time had come, though that seemed doubtful in the presence of another sapient entity.
“What are you doing?” Bem asked.
“It gets cold at night, and sometimes rains,” Tod said, though he had not yet seen rain here. But if there were rivers, there must be falling water. “We prefer to sleep in comfort, so I am putting up a shelter. I doubt there is room for you also, but we can try it and see.”
“There is no need.”
“Then just the two of us.”
“No need for your shelter,” Bem clarified.
Tod had learned to take the alien seriously. “Why not?”
“Because I can more readily provide what you require.”
“How so?”
“Dispose yourselves for your slumber, and I will demonstrate.”
Tod exchanged a glance with Veee. Then they lay down on the top of the unassembled tent, in their clothing, side by side.
Bem glided up, thinned, and spread itself over them like a thick soft warm blanket. “This is relaxing for me also,” it said. “It is my estivation state.”
Amazed, Tod took Veee’s hand. She squeezed it, sharing his surprise. Obviously there would be no sex, regardless of their preference, but this was so easy he didn’t mind. Then they slept, in perfect comfort.
Chapter 3:
Vampire
Tod woke refreshed, still holding Veee’s hand. Had they never let go of each other during the night? They must have, to turn over, so as not to get cramped. That suggested that she had taken it again. Which in turn suggested that she had come to her decision.
He squeezed her hand lightly, in a kind of query. She squeezed back more firmly, in a kind of affirmation. Yes!
Bem drew itself off them and coalesced into its normal shape. Todd noticed that its color was now sand gray, emulating the ground on which they lay. Bem had camouflaged itself and them, protecting them from observation by possible hostile flying creatures. This was one versatile creature.
They foraged for breakfast, while Bem returned to its candy stripe colors and stood and seined the air for its own sustenance. There were fruiting trees in the vicinity, with an array of colors. Tod gathered blue, Veee red, and it was all right.
“When we have time alone?” he inquired as they returned with their burdens tucked into their shirts so as to leave their hands free. It made her look remarkably full breasted. He was determined to give her complete freedom of choice, though he was now desperately eager.
She did not need to guess his meaning. “I desire, but am not sure it is wise. It is not easy to ask. It would be easier if you simply required it. I would have no trouble obeying.”
“That would nullify the point by eliminating your decision.”
“Yes. But I am not accustomed to making such a decision for myself. My options have been limited to trying to avoid some men and being available to others.” She flashed a self-disparaging smile. “Not always successfully, in either case. It is difficult for me to take such a step.”
And he wanted that step. “When you are ready,” he said, concealing his disappointment.
She took his hand. “I am I think teasing you, and I do not wish to do that. I know you want me, and I want to oblige, but I can’t quite say it. Not when I am bound to mean what I say. Maybe I could more readily do so after you took me.”
“That would be cheating, for us both.”
“Yes,” she agreed forlornly.
Soon they resumed traveling along the trail. It wound down the slope into a marsh where some crocodile-like creatures eyed them speculatively but did not venture onto the dry path. Was another predator trap approaching?
In the center of the swamp another branch of the trail intersected theirs. “If I understand this correctly,” Tod said, “Each branch brings another participant. If we wait a bit, we may discover who or what comes along this one.”
“It might not be friendly,” Veee said.
“Then I’d rather meet it face to face, and deal with it immediately, than have it behind us.”
She nodded. “You are bolder than I, and more sensible.”
Tod glanced at Bem. “What do you say?”
“You wish my opinion?”
“You are one of us. We have shared favors. We trust each other. Yes, I want your opinion. It may be better than mine.”
“I appreciate your confidence. I agree with you. I suspect it will be a creature unlike the rest of us, not hostile, but perhaps perplexed by the novelty of the trail. We may be able to assist it in understanding the cautions. Then perhaps we will become a party of four.”
“To befriend it,” Veee said. “As we befriended each other.”
“We all face an unknown prospect,” Tod said. “Something evidently wants us here, and wants us to work together. I am more curious than apprehensive. I want to resolve the mystery before I return home to my own world.”
“My life at home was dull, often burdensome, even before my shame,” Veee said. “Gathering tubers, carrying them in to the village pot. Serving any man who wanted. It has been otherwise on the trail. I think I do not want to go home.”
Tod looked at her. “Whatever the mission or challenge we face here, if you remain, I think I want to remain too.”
She blushed. “No man ever said that to me before.”
“No woman ever expressed the interest in me that you have. I’m not handsome or rich or smart.”
“I’m not delicate or high-breasted with fair hair.”
“You are strong, useful, and look good enough.”
“You warmed me when I was cold.”
“You were very pleasant to warm.”
“This courtship protocol is fascinating,” Bem said.
“I guess you have nothing like it,” Tod said, vaguely amused. “Being nonsexual.”
“That is not true. We do have sexual interaction, as each individual is capable of mating with another.”
“Bu
t no courtship?” Veee asked.
“When one of my kind encounters another, we decide rationally whether we wish to form a union,” Bem said. “If we do, we do. It is straightforward. There is none of this charmingly oblique dialogue. Why is it that you do not come straight to the point?”
Tod considered. “To us, a marital commitment is no casual thing. Each person has myriads of aspects of individuality that may or may not be compatible with another person. So we come at each other subtly, trying to establish our needs and feelings and abilities, so that we can ascertain how suitable we are for each other without making a premature commitment. Sex is an important part of that, so we are especially cautious there.”
“So if an esthetic female of your species offered you immediate sex, you would not indulge?”
“Exactly. Men always want it, but the implied commitment may be considerable. I will not be casually seduced.”
“As I have ascertained,” Veee agreed. “It becomes you.”
“Bullshit.”
Tod and Veee whirled around, and Bem’s band of light circled its head to orient on the newcomer. They had been distracted by the dialogue, and not continued to observe the intersecting trail.
A woman stood there. She had what was best described as an hourglass figure, black hair so voluminous that it framed her whole tightly clothed torso, and a pretty face marred only by bright red pupils and formidable fangs. “Did you say the ugly word I thought I heard?” Tod asked.
“Bullshit is bullshit however phrased. What you said is completely and naively false. I, or any of my kind, could in the course of fifteen minutes enchant you, seduce you, drink your blood, and make you forget it ever happened, temporarily or permanently.”
Tod took a breath and opened his mouth, uncertain what caustic response was about to emerge.
“Perhaps we should introduce ourselves before this proceeds further,” Bem said diplomatically. “I am Beobrumemmik, of Snalliverti, colloquially known as Bem.”
“I am Tod Timmins, of contemporary Earth,” Tod said, following Bem’s lead. That was probably best.
“I am Veee, of a land I can’t identify because I do not know how it relates to the others.”