Chapter Seven
Tuh-Kar had not found the freedom on Chud-Loo to enjoy the pleasures he’d experienced on Hool in the Disobedient’s movement. Constant work left him little energy and less time for sex with partially ripened females. Besides, even though there were as many females as males, they seemed to gravitate to the company of the male leaders of the Disobedient, Wod-Jur and his hierarchy.
I’m stuck on top of this mountain with an ugly female. He wanted a female with some bulk, one who would completely cover him, one with some size. He didn’t want one who was a bag of bones, and Di-Nah was truly a bag of bones.
“Tuh-Kar, I know what I want and I want it now.” Ever since assigned to work with Tuh-Kar, she knew she would mate with him, for her urge was strong. He was her only chance.
“Do you know what you want?” Tuh-Kar looked up from the adjuster at the base of the guy wire.
“Yes.” She moved behind him. “I do.” Di-Nah touched him in a way that gave him an unmistakable message. “We can go inside and be together.” She touched him again.
Tuh-Kar looked up as though gauging the sincerity of her words. “Do you mean that?”
“Yes. I don’t want to wait any longer. Let’s go inside the shelter. No one else is here.”
He glanced at the shelter. He hated working on the mountain. It had been a long time since he’d had the company of an unattached female. “Well, most of the guy wires are adjusted,” he said. “It should be safe from the wind.” Di-Nah’s offer was the best he’d heard in a long time. It was the only offer. Her offer made him overlook her appearance.
Di-Nah didn’t even glance at the tower. “Let’s go. I need to get warm. There are more important things to do.”
“Well, all right.” He pointed to the shelter.
Di-Nah ran for the air lock.
Inside, Tuh-Kar peeled off his breathing pack and savored her scent, his arousal evident. It was warm in the metal dome. Its light was like that of a hive. Its walls muted the sound of the rising wind. There were even fabrics covering the metal floor and its denser air gave him energy.
Di-Nah coaxed him into the position of abasement favored by Hive-Mothers and quickly consummated their relationship. She imprinted him with her hormones and bonded him to her. As she finished, she sighed with satisfaction. Finally, she thought, I’m going to be a mother, a real Hive-Mother.
Tuh-Kar had already fallen asleep.
How typical of males, she thought.
I wonder, she thought. How strongly he is bonded to me? Where can I get more Chosen-Males? And food? I need to bulk up. She knew she needed to increase her size to make her toxins deadly.
Outside, the wind howled about the radio transmitter. A fierce gust of wind caught the dish and twisted it, stretching an over-taxed guy wire. The dish began to oscillate. Now, when it tracked the orbital radio navigation beacon at the boundary of the asteroid belt, the vibration caused an intermittent break in its signal.
Wod-Jur needed the transmitter operational. Two years ago, the deep space supply ship had hit a small rock on its final approach to Chud-Loo and been damaged, losing some of its precious supplies. As a result, they’d built the transmitter, which would function as a beacon for the arriving supply ships. The construction project taxed their resources even further. They desperately needed items that only came on the supply ship.
Wod-Jur often regretted making the decision to accept Zak-Joh’s compromise for exile on Chud-Loo. He’d found the only resources it had in abundance were isolation and privation. He knew the past had no flexibility. Only the future could be shaped to one’s desire with enough effort and willpower.
“When will the transmitter become operational?” Wod-Jur asked. “The supply ship will reach the asteroid belt in three planetary rotations. It must arrive safely.”
“All components of the system have been tested and are functioning,” the chief engineer said. “I’m waiting word the transmitter tower is secured. Then we can transmit the signal to the orbital beacon to provide a guide path for the spacecraft. I’ve also added the enhancement to the system you requested. Its radar beam is so powerful it will illuminate the uncharted asteroids. It’ll be a supplement to the radar on the supply ship. It’s many times more powerful than the ship’s radar.”
“When will the beacon start operating?”
“As soon as the tower is secured.”
“When will that be?” Wod-Jur erected his breathing flaps and emitted the sour odor of disapproval.
“Tuh-Kar can answer that question. He’s at the transmitter,” the chief engineer said. “I’ll contact him and find out.”
“Good. Let me know when the beacon will be ready.”
“Tuh-Kar, wake up, Tuh-Kar. Someone wants to talk to you on the communicator.” Di-Nah poked a spine between two plates of Tuh-Kar’s skin.
“What? Who is it?” Tuh-Kar had difficulty focusing his thoughts. He wanted to sleep.
Di-Nah poked the spine deeper and harder. “Wake up.”
“Ouch.” Tuh-Kar was now quite awake.
“The communicator, answer it, now.” Di-Nah’s voice was like a Hive-Mother giving a command.
Reflexively Tuh-Kar obeyed. “Hoo-Lii.”
“Hoo-Lii. This is the chief engineer. Tuh-Kar, answer me.”
“What do you want?” Tuh-Kar said in a voice filled with belligerence. Di-Nah’s jab had hurt.
“Is the transmitter tower ready? We need to test the system as soon as possible. The supply ship will arrive soon. Wod-Jur is worried about it. You were supposed to have the tower finished several planetary revolutions ago. Have you been staring at the sunset again? I didn’t send you up the mountain to gawk at the view.”
“If you had contacted me earlier, you would have learned the tower was stabilized one sleep period ago,” Tuh-Kar said. It was a lie, but he didn’t want a reprimand, or worse work assignments in the future.
“I see. Can we test the system now?”
“Yes. It’s ready now.”
“Are you sure?” the chief engineer asked. “If it is, I’ll inform Wod-Jur the navigation beacon can be turned on to guide in the supply ship. Check it again.”
“Believe me, it is not safe to leave the shelter,” Tuh-Kar said. “The wind has risen to the point it is dangerous to go outside.”
“I see. Wait until the wind eases and then check it.”
There was an element of the truth in Tuh-Kar’s report, the wind was strong, but it was always strong on top of the mountain. He wanted the privacy of the shelter for a while longer, for as he spoke, Di-Nah was arousing him.