Finding Darkness

Chapter 57 Water

"Captain, you advised me to let you know if any high-level power functions were accessed outside of my normal operations."

"Yes, Central, what have we got?"

"Several hundred square miles of the ship have been energized. Including the access gates to habitat thirty-seven B. I did not begin the sequence and there is no way it could have been initiated outside of my control without outside interference."

"Malachi." Captain Prey muttered. "How in the world is he able to force his way into your systems like that? Neither I nor Joshua can even pry our way past your firewalls. So how is he able to?"

"I have no idea, sir. But he seems to be quite good at it, and getting better as time goes by. I can tell the area he's in by what areas keep lighting up, other than that, nothing."

"You can track everything onboard this ship, but you can't track him or her?"

"Nothing. He won't let any of my scanners pick him up anywhere."

"Great, just great, well at least they're both far enough away they can't cause any more problems. She almost killed nurse Jenkins. Once they're back, she's going to have some serious explaining to do."

"Just tread carefully, sir. She sent you through a wall when you tried to get between them. What do you think he'll do if you try to come down too hard on her?"

"What is this place?" Tamar asked. She could smell the change in the air. There was a new and surprising freshness she could feel with every breath.

"It's a surprise." She got the same answer she'd received the last dozen or more times she'd asked.

Tamar had noticed that the further they walked, the better her man seemed to be. It was more than that. She could feel how his body was healing, every muscle fiber, blood vessel, piece of skin that knitted back together she could feel as if it was happening to her.

"These places are supposed to be kept off limits to the crew, and yes, the captain wasn't happy that I overrode Central's protocols, but I don't care." He stopped in front of a massive door and turned to Tamar.

"I know I was never able to show you what a real forest looks like," he raised a hand and the massive door rose along with it. "So, I thought I'd bring you here."

She was stopped cold. The door slid up and her heart skipped a beat. Before her, for a far as she could see, was an endless sea of green. What looked like light from an evening sun filtered down through the huge trees? A slight breeze blew from somewhere off to her left, and every muscle in her quivered. On that faint breeze was something she thought she'd never smell. Up wind, not far, but if she had to guess about a hundred yards were about three moose. Their scent screamed to her to hunt, to track, attack, kill. Dropping to all fours, she slunk through the door and turned. Malachi just stood there watching her with those soft, light blue eyes. Tamar stopped and stood. She did not want to be seen as a cat, especially in front of this man. So when he motioned with his hand for her to go, she shook her head. He didn't understand, no one did.

"I brought you here so you could hunt. What are you waiting for?" He pointed up wind. "There's four of them that way. Just save some back straps for me, okay?"

Tears welled in Tamar's eyes. He did understand her. He'd known what she would do before they even got here. She shouldn't have been surprised, but she still was. He loved her enough to come after her, and here he was giving her something she'd never expected to have. So with a very girly squeal, she shot off into the trees only to stop about thirty yards away, reverse direction and ran back to him. Jumping into his arms, her head shot forward, and she kissed him hard on the lips. When she was finally finished, she whispered.