Chapter 19: Eureka

Time: March 14, 9570 6 PM UCT

Eliana woke from her bad dream with a start, her eyes popping open in the pitch darkness. "Danger!" her mind was screaming. She fought to control her breathing and to understand what was going on.

The creature! It was here, in the room with her! She had heard it searching. How had it gotten into the station?! And she could sense it now, glaring at her and hating her in the darkness. Trembling with nightmarish fear, her hand reached out into the unknown and sought the light control. She almost whimpered when her hand touched the knob, and she gave it the tiniest of turns.

The dim light brought back all the familiar outlines of her bedroom, and for the first time she sensed Basel lying naked curled around her back, his hand resting lightly on her hip. Eliana lay there motionless and felt all sense of impending peril fade away as she continued to wake up. There was no one in the room with her except Basel. There was no creature.

She rose out of bed as silently as she could and then turned to look at her husband, watching him sleep in the dim shadows. "My Holy," she thought, "our first fight, and it's causing me nightmares. Why did I ever have to say those things? I almost yelled at Basel to sleep in his own bedroom. I'm so glad I didn't. This is his bedroom now, his as much as mine. He owns me! How could I forget my promises?"

Eliana grabbed a thin robe to cover her nakedness and slipped from the room. Still feeling disturbed by her dream, she climbed up to Level-2 control and checked the station logs. Everything was secure.

She glanced over at the master communications console. It was still displaying the security lockout warning, with the time-lock now at 113 days, 5 hours, and 52 minutes and counting down to zero.

"Our test is more than a third over," thought Eliana. "Less than four months to go. But July 7th still seems so far away. Such incredible news the world will get... Oh Basel! How could I have treated you like that? My sweet husband! You let me mount you, accepted me into your body, let me possess you,... My orgasm was incredible. And then I had to spoil everything and talk about a woman's right to anal mount her male! Stupid!"

She tried to check another console, but her memories were making her feel more and more guilty by the moment. "And Eliana, don't forget! Did you really have to call him a men's libber?! Stupid!"

There was a sound on the ladder. Basel was climbing up from their living quarters. "Everything okay?"

"Oh, hi Basel. Yes. I was having trouble sleeping and decided to check the sensors and station logs. Everything's fine."

"Ah, that's good." He came near her and gave her a shy smile, and then seemed to study another console for a while. "Eli?"

"Yes?" Eliana squeaked. She felt herself tensing. "Now don't be surprised that he's not even looking at you," she admonished herself silently. "You deserve this."

He turned to her. "Eli, I'm so sorry."

"Huh?!"

"Last night. I'm sorry I was so dogmatic. I was way out of line."

Eliana stared at him without comprehension. "What?"

"Of course women can expect to get sexy with their husbands."

"Basel, you are being too kind. That's not what I said."

"You said something innocent, and I jumped on you."

"Basel, I have no right to gender bigotry!" Her eyes pleaded with him. "You're not angry with me?"

He shook his head. "I'm just hoping we can put this matter behind us." They were in each other's arms a moment later.

"Come on," whispered Eliana in his ear. "Let's go back and lie down."

They were soon cuddling. Eliana nudged Basel to lie on his stomach. She massaged and licked his sac and the back of his thighs for a long while. Almost asleep, Basel felt her separate him and her delightfully soft tongue began to lap his anus. He sighed in deep contentment. "Ah, that feels so nice..."

"You deserve this... I didn't hurt you last night, did I? I really got wild when I orgasmed."

Basel just sighed. "Hmm?"

"That's okay, just rest. I love you."

"Love..." sighed Basel. He fell asleep a moment later.

Two days later...

Time: March 16, 9570 1:30 AM UCT

An hour after sunrise, the CAT drove onto the pile of densely packed snow directly above the impact crater. They activated their PATH scanner to sweep the area within 150 meters of their position, and then started to tunnel into the ice with their new probe. After an hour of work manipulating the controls, Basel took a moment to stretch and said to Eliana, "Well, definitely an improvement over our last version. We should be at the central object in another few minutes."

Eliana nodded and stared at the images from the snow-penetrating radar and active acoustical sensors. "It's definitely a craft of some kind. It's amazing how it looks so recognizable. The bulk of it is definitely a light-burner engine, no question. I'm surprised..." There was a long silent pause.

Basel finally looked up from his remotes. "Huh? Surprised about what? Eli, you okay?"

She whispered, "I think we have company."

"Oh... How close?"

"I don't know."

"Close enough for the PATH scanner to pick up?"

Eliana shrugged. "It hasn't signaled anything yet."

Basel nodded and sighed. "Pity I can't reduce the four-minute delay."

She shrugged her shoulders. "There's no particular reason for us to stop. Why don't you keep on working?"

Basel went back to the remotes. The time passed quietly for a while, and then he asked, "What's it like?"

"My sensing? Right now it feels a bit like being embarrassed or hated. It feels as if someone were glaring at me, really loathing me."

"Is it always like this? I mean if other people were watching you..."

Eliana shuddered. "No! Being stared at by this creature is unique. I get a sense of deep hatred."

"Uh huh..." He continued to work the controls. "How can you know such a thing just from secondary shadows?"

"I really don't know. But the hairs on the back of my neck are standing up. It's a very unpleasant feeling. I'm fearful, and my brain wants to flood my body with adrenaline."

Basel nodded in sympathy as he worked the controls. "That must be exhausting after a while."

Eliana sighed. "I'll survive."

Ten minutes later, Basel drilled through the last of the ice and began direct observations of the meteor. "Look at this! This is so fascinating! No wonder the meteor didn't ablate during reentry. It's coated with some sort of heat shield."