Doctor Who_ Beyond the Sun - Matthew Jones [109]
‘It was good sex. I mean it was kind of strange but I enjoyed it.’
Her heart was sinking faster than an express elevator. ‘Thank you. I think.’ Suddenly she just wanted the conversation to end. Perversely, Scott seemed to be warming to it.
‘Emile said – ’
‘Never mind what ’Meel says. He doesn’t know – ’
‘– that you were in love with me.’
‘– shit.’
There was a pause. The words hung in the air between them. Tameka swallowed. She was going to kill that boy. To Death. ‘Oh yeah? And when exactly did he say that?’
‘Back on Ursu, when I asked him why you were behaving so differently.’
‘He said that I was in love with you?’
‘No, he just said that you had fallen in love.’ The way Scott pronounced ‘fallen in love’ suggested that he hadn’t heard those words put together like that before.
‘So why did you think it was you?’
She was about to tell him exactly what kind of conceited bastard she thought he was when he added, ‘Well, because he gave me three guesses.’
Hoo boy! She was going to have to kick that boy’s chubby ass good and proper!
She was trying to think of a smart reply when a Sunless appeared around a bend in the rocky tunnel. Tameka was desperately trying to work out whether it would be better to try to bluff it out or just make a run for it, when she realized that it was only Bernice sans hair. Her tutor looked scrawny and much older with a skinhead cut. Tameka ran her hand across her own bare scalp.
Her stylist was going to be furious.
‘Are you going to stand around chatting all day?’ Bernice demanded. ‘Or are you going to come and risk your lives for an insane and improbable cause? On second thoughts don’t answer that.
Come on, Jason’s found a ship.’
Jason Kane crouched close to the entrance of the burrows. The pale red light leaked weakly into the tunnel. From where they had secreted themselves he could see the huge curved supports of the nearest Sunless ship. With its six bowed legs and bulbous nose, the craft reminded him of a giant black housefly. Freezing scarlet mist blocked his view of the other ships, which he knew were out there beyond the first. He took a final deep breath from the respirator and handed it back to Bernice, who had just joined him at his side. Without the benefit of the respirator, the air was thin and chilled his lungs uncomfortably. However, there were six of them including himself and only four respirators. Bernice and he were sharing, and the pretty Mexican girl with the sexy, husky voice – Tameka? – had volunteered to share with Scott. He forced himself to focus on his breathing in the long moments when Bernice was using the respirator. Otherwise it threatened to spiral out of control as he tried hopelessly to take air into his lungs.
He still wasn’t absolutely sure why Bernice had brought her students with her on this rescue mission, but he didn’t want to appear critical by asking. He was just pleased that she had come for him, and felt a total cad that she had needed to in the first place.
He was worse than a cad. He was a rat. He’d made a mess of everything. As usual. Bernice had risked her life to come and find him and what had she discovered? That he had fallen in love with someone else.
Everything he touched in his life seemed to crumble.
Earlier, when Bernice had gone to search out the two missing members of their party, he had seen Iranda leave with a group of Sunless, heading out into the storm to climb aboard the nearest ship. Their ship.
The months they had spent together had been among the most exciting of his life. He’d enjoyed being her travelling companion as they travelled from system to system, searching out artefacts and negotiating with disreputable dealers as well as some of the most prestigious art historians in the galaxy. Iranda adapted completely to any situation. She was a consummate con artist: they had rarely paid for hotel rooms or travel. Iranda could bluff her way into or out of anywhere. She was only consistent in her steadfast determination