I glance back towards where I left Alice. It's not a far walk. Maybe ten, fifteen lazy minutes, five if I sprint. It's just that this is the farthest I've been from her in the last month or so, and I don't like it. It wars with my need to get that adrenaline rush, my need to take care of her.
I'll make this fast, then.
I move toward the tree, flexing my arms, and then pause. Something about the churned earth near the roots makes me scan the ground, and as I do, I see it.
A footprint.
I take a hesitant step forward, and then another. I bend down, and the mud here is nearly dry, the print my foot leaves behind slight.
The footprint at the base of the tree is a humanoid foot even larger than mine. It's got four toes, unlike my three-toed one, and it's dug deep into the mud. That means the owner was here recently and weighs a kef of a lot more than I do…or he wasn't here recently and the footprint is old.
Either way, it's bad news. We're not here alone. Someone else is on this planet with us.
39
ALICE
Kaspar's in a weird mood when he comes back. I finish braiding my newly cleaned and wet hair, using a bit of wire to tie off my braid. "Good news and bad news," I tell him cheerfully. "The bad news is that my clothes are totally trashed. The good news is that you're gonna see a whole lot of titty in the next while."
My joke makes him crack a smile, but only a small one. "That is excellent news."
"What's eating you?" I ask. "What did you see?"
Kaspar smiles brightly. "Good news and bad news."
Uh oh. It's never a good sign when he lobs my jokes back to me. "What's the bad news?"
He purses his lips, studying the stream, his arms crossed over his chest. "We cannot stay here."
"Oh." I look around. I don't suppose it surprises me, given that we haven't seen anything in the area other than Sterre. If there's game, it's not exactly teeming. The stream doesn't have fish. The only thing around here are stinky berries, and I don't want another run-in with them if I can help it. But staying near a source of water is better than other options, considering we have the tabs. "Why not?"
"Bugs."
"Bugs?"
Kaspar nods. "I saw a bunch of them over in the clearing. Bugs that make our friends near the pod look like babies. I think if we go south, we can avoid them."
I shudder at the thought, because more gigantic bugs gives me the heebie-jeebies. "South it is, then. Should we go in the morning?" I yawn, raising my fists in the air in a deliberate way that makes my tiny boobs prominent. Sure, we just fooled around a short time ago, but I'm looking forward to round two. Who wouldn't, with a tongue like that?
My companion shakes his head. "Actually, I think we should leave now. Just to be on the safe side. Get your things."
"It's that bad?"
"It has the potential to be that bad, yeah." He pauses, looking over at me. "You want me to show you?"
I shake my head. "I'm good. If I don't see another oversized bug for the rest of my days, I'll die happy. So tonight, huh?" I pat my bare boobs. "Remember what I said about my clothing being trashed? I've got nothing to wear. Kinda makes me feel exposed."
"That's an easy fix," Kaspar says confidently.
"Is it?" I let out a sigh of relief. "Oh good, because I was starting to get worried there. You going to work your magic with some more cords? I'm just not sure where we'll get…the…fabric…?" I trail off, confused, because Kaspar is busily stripping his own pants off. "What are you doing?"
"Getting naked. So you won't feel exposed." He flings his pants to the ground and then puts on his boots again, grinning. "There. Now we're both equally exposed."
"Not the answer I was looking for, but all right." I glance around the fern-littered clearing. "We're both doing this nude, I suppose. So what's in the south?"
"Hm?" Kaspar looks up, finishing with the auto-fasteners on his boots.
He's a little distracted tonight, isn't he? It must be because of my feminine wiles. The thought makes me feel rather smug, and I can't help but eye his dick again, because I really enjoyed teasing him with my mouth. I enjoyed it to an obscene level, actually. It makes me sad that he's committed to being a space pirate, because if he said he wanted to go with me to the farm planet, I would absolutely not turn that mouth—or the rest of him—down.
I sigh.
"What is it?" Kaspar shrugs on the makeshift pack, which looks more makeshift by the hour. "What's wrong?"