Sybil nodded, feeling like she might throw up.

'With your permission, I'll carry you.'

There was no warmth in his eyes or in his voice. It was as if he was speaking to a complete stranger. Sybil felt like crying. 'I can manage, thank you,' she said stiffly.

Uttering an impatient sound, he scooped her up despite her protest. 'I told them that you would speak to them in the next thirty minutes,' he said tightly. 'It will take you far longer than that to hop down to communications. In any case, I need to take you to see Powell so that you can accurately report his condition.'

Sybil set her chin at him, but she was far more hurt than angry and looked away almost at once. She would've almost preferred being drawn and quartered, though, to being lugged around by a man that acted like she'd betrayed him! Or taken his his virginity! She didn't know why he was behaving like a complete a.s.shole! virginity! She didn't know why he was behaving like a complete a.s.shole!

It occurred to her after a few minutes to wonder if he was angry about the virginity thing. She didn't know why he would be. Although she supposed he might've been disappointed in her performance, his behavior seemed a little excessive. He'd still gotten off, d.a.m.n it! She'd washed the evidence off and she wasn't ignorant just because she'd never actually had s.e.x! Maybe it hadn't been all that great from his point of view, but it wasn't as if she'd left him hanging!

Their arrival at the room where she'd been taken upon her arrival effectively distracted her from her personal problems. Powell looked awful. Anka set her on her feet-correction foot foot-and she used the side of the gurney Powell was lying on to help her balance as she hopped closer to look at him. 'Major Powell?'

'Sybil?'

He didn't open his eyes and he'd barely moved his lips, but at least he was conscious and he recognized her voice.

'You look like h.e.l.l, Sir.'

'I feel like h.e.l.l. The son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h cracked my d.a.m.ned skull.'

'Ank Commander L'Kartay told me they were going to get you home so you could get the treatment you need there. I'm going to speak to the base commander now.'

He opened his eyes a slit. 'Watch yourself, Lieutenant.'

She studied his face for a long moment. 'He's going to demand to know what happened.'

'I know.'

'I'm not going to tell him a lie, Sir.'

Anger flickered across his face. 'I didn't suggest that you should. I'm just saying watch it.'

'Understood, Sir.'

'Do you?'

'I believe so.'

'I'm depending on your discretion, Lieutenant.'

'I'll do my best, Sir.'

She debated with her urges for a moment and finally reached to squeeze his hand rea.s.suringly. 'You're going to be alright.'

Anka was studying their hands when she turned, his expression unreadable. As soon as she started toward him, however, he met her and lifted her against his chest again. She looped an arm around his shoulders that time. It was too uncomfortable to do otherwise, even though she disliked the sense of intimacy. She was sorry she had when they reached the communications center. All eyes turned to the door when they entered and there was no doubt in her mind that n.o.body missed a thing.

With every appearance of being completely oblivious, Anka crossed the room and set her down on a chair. He turned to look at the man seated before the console as soon as he'd straightened away from her. 'Is the channel open?'

'Yes, Sir.'

'Put it on speaker.'

Meaning she wasn't to have a private conversation-not that she'd expected to! She wouldn't have minded being monitored. She just didn't appreciate the fact that everyone in the room would be listening.

'We have Lieutenant Hunter,' the communications officer announced.

'Lieutenant?'

'Yes, Sir. I'm here.'

'What's this about Powell?'

Sybil's belly clenched. 'I didn't witness the entire episode, Sir. I was in my quarters when I heard the argument. When I came out to try to prevent it from escalating, Cpl. Spencer exploded and attacked the major.'

'Cpl. Spencer?'

'Yes, Sir.'

There was a prolonged silence. 'You're being monitored.'

It wasn't a question. It was a statement. The hair on the back of Sybil's neck p.r.i.c.kled. She chewed her lower lip, refusing to look at any of the Sumpturians around her. 'Not that I know of, Sir,' she lied.

'Never mind. We'll get to the bottom of this once you're all back. We've arranged with the Sumptrians to transport you all back to base.'

Dismay filled her. It should've been a relief. 'All of us?'

'Yes. They've agreed to release all hostages.'

Shock travelled through her at that. She supposed, after a moment, that that was exactly what they were but it was certainly not an att.i.tude that was going to make it easy on either side to come to any kind of peaceful agreement. 'We're not hostages, Sir. We're guests of the Sumptrians.'

There was another prolonged silence. 'We'll debrief you when we have you safely back at base.'

Joy! That was something wonderful to look forward to! 'Yes, Sir.'

'When will we be leaving?' she asked Anka when the communications officer closed the com unit.

'Drs. Rains and Kushbu are already aboard the craft. They're transporting Cpl. Spencer and Major Powell now.'

Sybil nodded. Sighing, she got to her feet. Anka slipped an arm around her. 'I think I can walk,' she said tightly.

'I think you won't,' Anka retorted grimly, lifting her up and carrying her from the communications room.

Sybil warred with her pride and her hurt as he strode down the corridor with her. Finally, the hurt won out. 'Won't you at least tell me why you're angry with me?'

His lips tightened. He seemed to wrestle with himself. 'I'm not angry.'

Sybil sighed. 'Fine! Don't tell me. I don't suppose it matters anyway.'

Anka muttered something under his breath, but he needn't have bothered. He spoke in his language. 'What happened last night between us shouldn't have.'

Sybil felt her chin wobble threateningly. 'I don't see why not!'

'It shouldn't have because I'm trying to prevent a war here, Sybil.'

She sniffed. 'It was a beautiful thing'

'Don't!' he said harshly. 'Don't romanticize it. It was s.e.x, Sybil. It was never going anywhere and we both knew it-at least I thought you understood.'

As if she was some starry eyed kid! 'I'm not romanticizing! It was great s.e.x.'

'Thank you,' he said tightly.

She noticed he didn't say it was great s.e.x for him, d.a.m.n his hide! 'Well, if it was just s.e.x, then I certainly don't see the problem. People do that all the time.'

'It isn't going to be a problem for you when you get back? The fight between the other two officers had nothing to do with the festival?'

Put that way, he had a point. 'Well, it's our problem, d.a.m.n it!'

'It's our our problem! Do you think your people won't use it as an excuse to start a war with us when we return you and more than half the crew is injured? problem! Do you think your people won't use it as an excuse to start a war with us when we return you and more than half the crew is injured? All All of the military personnel who took part in the mission.' of the military personnel who took part in the mission.'

'You think we're going to try to blame this on you to save our a.s.ses?' Sybil demanded angrily.

He sent her a look that made her long to punch him in the nose.

'It amazes the h.e.l.l out of me that you even wanted to make love to me if you thought I was that kind of person!' she said angrily.

's.e.x.'

She narrowed her eyes at him. 'Fine! Have it your way! But let's not get too nicey nasty about it! f.u.c.k me!'

She thought she saw a flicker of amus.e.m.e.nt in his eyes. It made her angrier and she subsided into silence, glaring at the s.p.a.ce in front of them until she saw that they were approaching a ramp. That distracted her, particularly once she realized that it was actually the ramp into the ship-docked directly into the corridor.

The bottom seemed to fall out of her stomach. He'd said they were going now, but she hadn't really registered it, she realized in dismay. She swallowed several times convulsively and managed to keep from yielding to her emotions, but she was relieved beyond measure when he carried her into a small compartment and set her down. When he'd steadied her, he reached down and grasped the bunk that she'd thought was attached to the wall. With no more than a couple of pulls, he'd transformed it from a bunk to a chair. He helped her into it and pulled safety harnesses over her, fastening them.

'Where is everybody else?'

'Separate compartments.'

Her dismay increased. She should've just been relieved that she didn't have to deal with her crewmates at the moment, but it was no comfort to be taking off in an alien craft, without any protective gear, alone. He straightened. 'We'll be taking off in a few minutes. Don't remove the safety harnesses until we break free of the planet.'

Feeling a little faint, Sybil nodded wordlessly, lifting her hands to grip the restrains. He studied her for a long moment, looked like he might say something and then turned abruptly and left, sealing the door behind him.

Alone with her thoughts, Sybil considered giving in to her emotions for a while, but she was just angry enough, and just worried enough that she might be under observation, to hold it back. She thought it might have made her feel better if she'd indulged, but she had no idea how long the trip would take-not as long as their trip out had, she was sure.

She hadn't realized she might not get another chance to speak to Powell! It occurred to her forcefully now, which meant they were probably going to be separated before they had time to get their stories straight!

d.a.m.n it!

She sighed. Well, she'd told Powell she wasn't going to lie and she'd also promised to *watch herself'. He would be expecting, or should be, that she'd told them he'd had an argument with Spencer that had resulted in the fight. If he hadn't already thought up a reasonable lie to explain it, he would surely be thinking long and hard on the trip home. In any case, she'd told the truth. She hadn't heard the argument, just the loud voices. She didn't know what it was about. She thought she did, but she didn't have to lie about that.

They were going to ask her what she thought had started it, though, she realized. She thought she would stick to the night before when Spencer had behaved so badly he'd been removed. It was the truth and it was enough to have sp.a.w.ned the argument, particularly when Powell had threatened to bring charges against him in front of all of them.

She would've felt a lot better, however, if she could have discussed the matter with the entire group-everyone except Spencer, anyway. Neither Dr. Kushbu or Dr. Rains were military personnel, but they'd been attached to a military operation. They'd be questioned, too.

She was so busy worrying with her thoughts that it was several moments before she realized the faint vibrations she could feel beneath her feet must mean that the ship was preparing for launch. Her belly tightened. Closing her eyes, she focused on breathing slowly and deeply to ease the tension trying to take hold of her. The vibrations increased steadily and then, so abruptly she didn't have time to brace herself, she felt her stomach drop as the ship shot skyward. A wave of nausea washed over her, but she realized the pull of G's wasn't even close to what she'd expected. Surprise flickered through her. Venus' gravity wasn't quite the equal of Earth's but it should still have produced a h.e.l.l of a force against her.

Either they hadn't taken off at the speeds she was used to in a launch, or the ship had some technology that prevented the occupants from feeling the effects as they should have.

She wasn't likely to find out which, and realized abruptly why she'd been taken immediately to the small compartment. They weren't taking any chances that she might see anything she could report-which was also why she would be confined for the duration. Opening her eyes, she looked around the tiny compartment, wondering just how long she could expect to be confined in it. Days? Weeks?

She shook that thought. If there was anything at all to the old UFO reports, they had the capability of exceeding the speed of light. They surely wouldn't use that kind of speed within a solar system, though, especially if it included folding s.p.a.ce-which everyone had always a.s.sumed it must. So would they make light speed? Or would they be traveling at sub-light? It only took the sun's light eight minutes to reach earth, so half the speed of light from Venus to Earth 'This is Commander l'Kartay speaking. Please return to your seats and fasten your safety harnesses. We will be landing at moon base in five minutes.'

Having located the speaker by the time he'd finished his announcement, Sybil glared at it. She hadn't even taken her d.a.m.ned harness off!

Maybe it was his idea of a joke?

He hadn't seemed in the mood for humor.

She was still convinced it was an exaggeration until she felt the ship settle with a definite thump against something solid.

The door opened while she was still trying to figure out how to unfasten the harness. Anka approached her and crouched in front of her, pushing her hands away. It took an effort to resist the urge to ask him if they had arrived, but she managed it. She wasn't about to let on how impressed she was if it killed her!

'There is no docking facility here to accommodate our ship. You'll need a suit for the trip to the airlock.'

Rising, he moved across the room and opened a locker. The suit he removed was much like the one he was wearing-very much like the suits they all wore in their Venus base. It hadn't occurred to her that they were protective gear. They didn't look anything like the clumsy suits they had to use for protection on the moon-because of the lack of atmospheric pressure.

'Aren't these for the conditions on Venus?' she asked doubtfully.

He shrugged. 'They are for any conditions not conducive to life. It will protect you,' he said, extending it toward her.

Still doubtful and uneasy, she took it. She paused in the act of pulling it on, however, and decided to discard the clothing he'd provided. Not only did she not relish the thought of being seen in it when she went in to decontamination, she also didn't want it around as a reminder. Anka, who'd been occupied with searching for gauntlets, boots, and a helmet, did a double take when he glanced at her.

She ignored the look, removing both the skirt and the top, although she was actually a little reluctant to discard the latter. She also didn't like the idea of having nothing but her panties beneath the suit, but the thought of having the top around as a reminder was enough to bolster her decision.

The suit was far too big. It didn't surprise her. The ferils ferils were a tall race. Anka was no more than average among his own people even if he was d.a.m.ned tall next to humans. 'I hope the fit isn't going to be a problem.' were a tall race. Anka was no more than average among his own people even if he was d.a.m.ned tall next to humans. 'I hope the fit isn't going to be a problem.'

'It won't be,' he said grimly, holding out the rest of the gear she needed.

She took them and pulled the boots on, taking care to seal them with the suit and then took the helmet and fastened it, leaving the gauntlets for last. Anka checked the fittings behind her. She resented it in a way, but she wasn't certain enough she'd done it right to bet her life on it.

'Wait here.'

Sighing, she sat down on the chair. He returned a few minutes later wearing his helmet and gauntlets and her belly clenched. 'You're going to escort us inside?'

'I am.'

Sybil felt her throat close. 'Do really think that's a good idea?'