For the most part, it appeared thatthey’d learned how to deal with their bodily functions while theyhad stayed at the camp. It seemed to her, though, that they stilllooked to her for cues—particularly about food and water.Occasionally, they had ‘wardrobe malfunctions’ in dressingthemselves or would ‘forget’ to fasten their fly after they’d peedand, more rarely, either forget to stuff ‘it’ back in altogether orjust sort of bunch it up and push it in their pants in what lookedlike a really uncomfortable wad that made her itch to straightenit.
He frowned, thinking it over, andfinally nodded. “Yes. Would you like to be carried?”
“I will carry her today,”Xi volunteered immediately.
Tau glared at him angrily although hecould not entirely understand why he felt the anger. “She is mywoman,” he said finally.
Xi’s lips tightened.
Quan looked angry if it came tothat.
“She said that we were hermen,” Xi said tightly. “Does it not follow that she is ourwoman?”
It unnerved Ultima to see thembristling at one another like three cur dogs who had all spottedthe same bone at the same time.
She absolutely had not meant thecomment as it seemed they had taken it—because she had not actuallythought of them as men at all, let alone sexual partners. She couldsee very easily, though, that they not only had taken it like that,but they were working up to a battle for possession.
“He’s right,” she saidquickly. “You shouldn’t bear the entire burden. We should spread itaround so that no one of you uses up too much energy—which we canscarcely afford when it’s hard to come by the fuel weneed.
She saw none of them looked especiallyappeased and added quickly, “And I should walk a little today—asmuch as I can—to work out the soreness and begin building mystrength.”
She could see Tau still didn’t likeit, but she also saw that the tension slackened.
Xi stepped up to her. Instead ofpicking her up, however, he hooked a hand behind her head anddragged her toward him, covering her mouth with his.
Inside of two seconds, she realized hehad no notion of what he was doing or even why.
He sucked at her lips lightly,however, as he withdrew and that seemed to touch offsomething.
He hesitated instead of releasingher.
Ultima also hesitated, wondering ifshe should ‘tutor’ him or not. Thankfully, she didn’t have todecide. He picked her up and turned to follow Tau from theirshelter.
“He is forward scout,” Tausaid pointedly when they had left the shelter.
The two of them shared a belligerentlook.
Tau won.
Xi passed her to Tau.
Tau pointed out some sort of tower inthe distance. “I think we must examine that. I believe it may beuseful. You will need to scout a path for us.”
Xi divided a glance between Tau andUltima. “I will cuddle her tonight and keep her warm,” he saidchallengingly.
“I will kiss her first,”Quan threw in. “I have not done that yet.”
“The enemy will hear usand no one will get to experiment with Ultima if y’all don’t stoptalking so loudly,” Ultima said dryly.
They all looked around and wentsilent, but since they continued to glare at one another she beganto suspect they were arguing telepathically.
Xi left shortly afterwards—shepresumed to find the best path to the tower Tau had decided shouldbe their destination.
It was an old one that predated thebeginning of the war by enough years that it wasn’t new when Ultimahad been young. She couldn’t imagine what purpose he had found forit—or thought he had, but as she’d pointed out, it wasn’t safe totalk.
All of the territory was enemyterritory, she thought bitterly.
They had lost ground steadily evensince they had begun to organize and fight back. The maindifference being that they had slowed the deaths of the humans thebastards seemed determined to wipe out.
