THE EDEN DILEMMA by Tucker Spolter
Chapter 5
Krista woke from a dream where she was surrounded by roan-colored, blunt-horned, beasts who hummed and bared cloven hooves. She reached for the cat. He was gone. What’s the adage? Early cat gets the furry meal?
Krista took a small slice from a bellberry. No adverse effects so far and they’re even better for breakfast. She placed a slice on top of a chocolate power bar and climbed the ramp into the shuttle. First on the agenda are some more appropriate clothes. Tropical. Feminine.
Outside the cat mewed and bounded into the shuttle. Ah, Cat, you're just in time. It’s always nice to have a second opinion. Krista held her dark blue, regulation trousers up to her eyes. These are comfortable, durable, and utilitarian. And since I am no longer a ship’s officer. . . And these trousers are better designed for men than women anyway, Krista pointed to the crotch and looked at the cat. If you know what I mean.
Cat mewed.
Krista stared. “Was that a response?” Krista found a pair of medical scissors and cut the pant's legs. “What do you think?”
The cat blinked.
I might be losing it. I'm discussing my wardrobe with a cat. She trimmed above the knee and eyed her work. Not bad. On the shortened hems, she cut a triangular pattern finishing with a sexy slit up the left leg.
Now, curled at Krista's feet, the cat looked up.
“What do you think? Iuama fashions by Krista?”
The cat mewed.
“Maybe I should send off a few pics to the World Oversight Council. We women in the service could use —” a pang of loneliness hit hard and fast. Tears fell from both eyes.
Cat rose and did figure eights between Krista's ankles. Purring sympathetically. Stopping occasionally to rub Krista's bare leg with a furry paw.
It took a took a while for Krista to regain her composure. She used the remnants of material to dry her eyes. “Okay. Okay. That's over.” Krista lifted the cat and walked about the shuttle bay with the cat cuddled in her arms. With her free hand, Krista fiddled absently with this and that. Doing nothing, until returning to her sewing project. She put the cat down and gave him a look. “You're gaining weight.”
The cat headed for the shuttle door.
“Wait. Hold it. Stick around. I apologize. You have a good . . . Well, a cats-eye for fashion.” Krista laughed and brought the scissors to her powder blue Erebus pullover.
The cat sat on its haunches and watched.
Krista cut the sleeves below the elbow and snipped again from the waist to a modest length below her breasts. Never know when a tall dark stranger that looks like. . . Well, Hanar . . . sorry Dominic Ziggant, but you’re a couple of millions of miles away by now —. And Hanar is handsome and so humble and polite.
Krista's mind flashed back to her meeting at the Council of Equals. When Sagra chastised Hanar for using drugs and sedating her, Hanar stood with a guilty, childlike expression and said, 'I didn't know if you were alone or armed. I didn't know if you were about to attack us.' He bowed his head
politely and promised to improve his behavior.
Krista's thoughts quickly turned erotic. Mostly of images of Hanar, but former lovers soon entered her mind. She was fifteen the first time she let anyone else explore her breasts or between —. She fought the urges for a bit and then succumbed to pleasure. Darius was so cute. So clumsy. But when you're young and in love, it doesn't matter.
The cat bounded out of the shuttle door and down the ramp onto the beach.
#
After a time, Krista joined him outside the grotto. This is embarrassing. Never going to get anything done if I keep letting myself go like that. She looked to the ocean where a particularly large wave slammed the shore. A plume of foam shot ten feet into the air. The smell of salt reached her nose as she stepped further out of the shuttle's grotto and into the morning sunlight.
A long line of pentapods clicked their way along the ocean’s edge. The gull-fliers dove into and flew out of the cresting waves. This whole planet is wonderfully erotic. Her mind jumped to Dominic and Santa’s Sleigh. He was naked. He smiled. Krista started to succumb. No way. Not again. Time for a run, she laughed.
In her newly fashioned shorts and tank top, Krista headed for the shore. The cat bounded beside her.
“Well, what do you think?. . . Like the new me?” Krista spun around.
The cat mewed.
“I'll take that as a mew of approval,” Krista smiled and pulled off her starship boots. “Time to toughen up the feet,” she explained.
The cat nodded.
“Cats do not nod.”
The cat blinked one eye.
“Okay, you're the exception. Care to go for a jog along the beach?”
Again, the cat gave a nod.
“Right, and you jog too.”
The cat rose and glanced down the beach.
“Okay, cat, let’s do it.”
Krista tip-toed over the harder stones until she reached the finer crimson sand. To the south, past the waterfall, were scattered beaches separated by cliffs and intricate coves.
Need shoes to run that way. She turned north. The beach extended at least several miles before bending out of sight. A wave crashed on her right. Gotta watch out for sleeper waves. And with the size of this planet's normal waves, they should be called ‘Wipe-You-Clean-Off-Your-Feet’ waves.
Krista started to run then turned back to the cat. “See you later cat,” Krista shouted and took off down the beach.
In a flash, the cat was easily bounding alongside. Cats do not jog, she thought. Between breaths, she looked at the cat. The cat looked back. But it’s nice to have company.
At one end of their run, Krista went into a series of vigorous aerobic exercises including a few martial arts kicks and thrusts. The cat watched with fascination.
Now covered in a fine sheen of sweat, Krista stripped and dove into the fold of a large wave. The cat didn’t hesitate. He followed her into the surf and hurriedly cat-padded over a swell and joined Krista in the calmer water beyond.
Later, Krista used her new shorts to pat herself dry. The cat purred, arched his back, shook the salt water from his fur, and disappeared into the high grass and reeds along the shore.
For a while, Krista waited for his return. He’ll find his way back, she reasoned. But what if he doesn’t? . . . I'd miss his company. . .The cat. . . Hell, Super Cat, has been a nice addition –
Without thinking, Krista sang the first verse of ‘Gentle Skies,’ a sad childhood favorite that gave her comfort when she was alone or afraid of the dark.
Gentle skies. sunlit, quiet, and free.
Winds make the leaves ripple like the sea
Rain makes the flowers grow.
The sun warms together / you and me.
She stopped abruptly. This was where everyone used to whistle like the wind and wiggle our fingers mimicking the rays of the sun and we
would — Krista looked up and down the beach. I don't know how much longer I want to be alone. Krista fought off the feelings of isolation, but it took longer. Loud mews from the cat helped, though he was nowhere to be seen.
Let’s see how smart this feline is, Krista thought. She dressed and started back down the beach. After a hundred yards, she stopped and looked back for the cat. Here goes. She curled her lip and pressed her tongue forward. Krista's whistle was shrill and high.
Almost instantly there was a rustle of leaves and a snap behind her. Krista turned. On a boulder above the red sand sat the cat. He gave Krista a quizzical look and mewed twice.
Weirder and weirder, she thought. My cat responds to a whistle? I guess you are my cat now. Krista laughed. “You’re sneaky but clever. How about I call you Cat for the time being.”
The cat mewed twice.
Krista held out her hands. “Okay then. Come here Cat.”
Cat leaped off the boulder, bounded across the beach, and into her arms.
#
After a day of taking notes and pictures of her immediate surroundings, Krista sat at the control panel of the shuttle and reopened her observer account. As soon as the pencil-thin mic extended from the top she began.
“To: Current members of the World Oversight Council
“From: Krista Aanya Tay - Ob5-MD
“I will dispense with star dates in this and further reports.
I believe the reader (s) will find it easier to understand events as they occur.
Ergo: This is Iuama Day 2 – 1800 hours.
Two turns. Seems like two weeks, she thought as she recorded her early experiences with the pentapods, anunu, and bell-berries. Today Cat and I –
[Observers side note 3]
If the crew of the Erebus is wondering what happened to their mascot. He abandoned ship and is with me.
“Continued: Although I've only observed a minute part of this world, it promises a bounty of animal and plant life. I will wait until I contact members of the populace before I enter their given names. I thought it might help the reader to visualize some of the creatures by the monikers I've given them today on an exploratory outing with my cat.
Krista continued for an hour describing water, air, and land creatures she had seen. Including the parrot beetle, bush whiner, helmeted-flier, purple beaked ground bird, star-nosed fish, stinger-crab, and the Cat-Snack mouse creature Cat brought to last night's dinner.”
“Respectfully submitted, Krista Aanya Tay Ob5-MD.”
Krista rolled her shoulders, stretched, and rose. ‘I think I’ll give it a few more days before I return to Lakal and find out what all the fuss and drama was about. Though I'll test the waters on vid-com before landing.
She exited the grotto to a setting sun and a rising moon and spent some time improving her campsite. Hell, I’m not moving in, Krista looked at the ocean. Time for another swim.”
During an extended waterfall shower, Krista was rained on again. This time by an anunu and a smaller blue fish with a dark green stripe extending to a barbed fin. It fought when Krista tried to trap it in her hands. Flipping out of her grasp, back into the pond and swam down the stream into the ocean. Fought like the devil, she thought. Christening the creature a 'Devil-Tail.’ Note to self. Make a net. Plenty of fish available here from the river and the ocean.
From the leafy walls above came aye aye cries as two gull-fliers returned from the ocean with silver fish-like creatures in their bills. 'Scrambled eggs for breakfast,' she decided while grabbing a handful of bellberries.
That night she and Cat enjoyed a feast, even raiding the shuttle's food rations for a fruit drink for Krista and a bowl of powdered milk for Cat. Earlier Cat had disappeared and reappeared several times with different contributions to dinner. A feathery creature, when plucked and shish-kabobed over the fire, Krista found delicious.
Though, Cat’s webbed, hard-shell contribution, Krista found malodorous and repugnant to her taste. Cat finished it in two bites, wiping the tip of his pink tongue over his lip in satisfaction.
“Okay, you like it. But what’s dinner without dessert? How about a treat?” Krista peeled off the shell of a bellberry, squished a bit of pulp onto a fingertip, and offered Cat a taste. "Tomorrow you and I are going to do some serious exploring.”
Cat leaned in, gave the bellberry a lick, and turned his head away.
“Fine. More for me. They’re delicious.” Krista swallowed the bellberry and peeled the shell from a second. “What do you think? Shouldn’t three days be enough time for everyone in Lakal to calm down?”
Cat mewed. Krista shelled a third bellberry. This time chewing slowly savoring each bite. She pulled Cat onto her lap and ran her hand up and down his flank. "Still can’t figure out what was going on that day.”
Krista looked up at the two moons and a sky splashed with stars. But I can’t spend the rest of my days alone. . . or talking to a cat, she thought.
Cat turned his head. The slits in his eyes flashed yellow-green as they opened and closed. He mewed.
“What? Are you reading my thoughts now?” Speaking of thoughts, Krista looked at her mem-cam I should be recording my night observations . . . though . . . feeling awfully sleepy. . . Krista lay back looking at the companion moons. So beautiful. Like a couple dancing. Cat curled in next to her. Automatically Krista began to stroke him. Cat purred contentedly.
The first pang of pain struck Krista just after midnight. The second pang minutes later. Krista turned with a gasp, clutching her abdomen as a series of razor-sharp stabs traveled from one side of her body to the other. She gagged and turned on her side convulsing violently. Her body buckled. She heaved and vomited over the side of the cot. A sheet of sweat covered her skin. “Water.” Krista lunged for her water bottle. She heaved again. Then again. Krista fought to rise. One leg dropped out of the cot. She pushed upward. Her foot slipped in her vomit. Flailing her arms, she fell forward unconscious. Krista never heard Cat's mews of concern. She never saw her cat disappear.