Infinity Beach - Jack McDevitt [132]
Even though they were alone on the ship, Kim always took care to close the bedroom door. On this occasion, however, Solly carried her in and tumbled her among the sheets, and so the door remained open.
The night went on and on, with occasional downtime for him during which they talked of the future. And then Solly came for her again, and she delightedly gave herself to him.
He was inexhaustible that night. Even with a body that was effectively twenty years old, he seemed to be performing above and beyond the call. But she stayed with him and there came a moment when he was lying with his head toward the foot of the bed and he brought her down atop him, turning her on her back, spread-eagling her.
She luxuriated in the sensation of his body beneath hers, his lips against the nape of her neck, his hands exploring her. The illumination in the ship had dimmed to nighttime levels, which meant the passageway behind her was dark save for the soft glow of the security lights.
Her head was thrown back in ecstasy and she was groaning and sighing, partly because she was inclined to do so, partly because she knew it inflamed him. Her line of vision went through the open door into the corridor.
And she saw something move.
It was a glimmer, a shadow, something at the far edge of awareness. Yet it was there.
She was immediately trying to get Solly to stop. But he was at full throttle.
Something was taking shape back there.
A pair of eyes. From the darkness near the top of the doorway, just outside in the corridor.
Suddenly she was back in Kane’s villa, terrified in the cool emotionless gaze of the thing in that other passageway. Solly’s hands were still holding her, playing with her. She pulled them away and rolled off onto the floor and, without taking her eyes from the apparition, got Solly to understand something was wrong and began feeling around for a weapon. The best she could find was a shoe.
“What’s the matter?” he asked, startled.
The eyes were the same emerald color, but flecked with gold. Vertical irises. Cat’s eyes. Cool, dispassionate, surgical. Very much like the thing in Kane’s villa. But she saw no madness here. Only malevolence.
The eyes were disembodied.
They floated a few centimeters from the ceiling.
Solly was staring down at her but she held a hand against his back, trying to get him to stay still. She found the remote, which was on a side table, and touched it. The lights came on.
Solly looked at her. Looked out into the passageway.
It was empty.
“Kim?” Solly looked down at her. “What’s wrong?”
She was weak, unable to move. “It was outside the room.”
“Outside? What was outside?” He padded into the corridor and looked both ways. “Nothing here,” he said. “What did you think you saw?”
She tried to describe it but it just came out sounding hallucinatory.
“All right,” he said, when she’d compared it to the thing in the lake. “Let’s find out.”
She got into her clothes and Solly pulled on a pair of shorts and detached a lampstand to use as a weapon. Then they examined each room on the third floor, Solly doing the actual search while Kim stayed in the corridor to ensure that nothing got behind them.
He looked in closets and cabinets and behind beds. They moved with deliberation, and Kim was pleased to see that, despite the absurdity of her claim, he took her seriously rather than simply trying to argue what he must have thought: that she’d been seeing things.
They went down to the second floor and repeated the process, and then finally they searched the bottom of the ship. Long windows allowed them to see into all of the storage areas and the launch bay. He even climbed down into the lander through the open cockpit. The lander itself was attached to the Hammersmith’s underside. They inspected the areas given over to the recycling systems, water tanks, and cargo. They looked in the engine room. When they were finished he turned to her. “Kim, there’s no place left to hide.”
It didn’t matter. “I saw it,” she said. It was impossible, and she wanted to