“Morning,” she whispered, tracing her finger along his jawline.
He caught her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm. “Your heart rate increased. Were you watching me sleep?”
“Maybe.” She smiled, feeling the heat spread across her cheeks. “It’s strange to see you so… relaxed.”
“My systems were running diagnostics, but I was aware of you the whole time.”
She moved closer, pressing her body against his. “How aware?”
His body responded immediately. “Very.”
“Show me,” she breathed, her hand closing over his thick shaft. It vibrated against her fingers—an unexpected benefit of his cybernetics—and she shivered in anticipation.
“Gladly,” he said, and covered her body with his.
Afterwards, they lay curled together, her head on his shoulder.
“Zach?” She traced circles on his chest.
“Hmm?”
“I never thought I’d find this here. On Mars. With you.”
He was quiet for a moment, gently stroking her hair. “Neither did I. After the transformation, I thought that part of me was gone forever. I thought I shut down every trace of human emotion.”
She pushed up on one elbow to look at him. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
The sudden chime of an alert from the main console shattered the moment. He was up and moving before she could even react, grabbing his pants and pulling them on in one fluid motion.
“What is it?” She scrambled for her own clothes, yanking her shirt over her head.
He was already at the console, quickly scanning the monitors. Then his shoulders relaxed. “The storm is finally breaking up.”
She joined him, staring at the atmospheric readings. After days of howling winds and zero visibility, the pressure systems were finally stabilizing. The worst of the dust storm had passed.
“We’ll be able to head back soon. Maybe as soon as this afternoon.” An unexpected pang of regret hit her at the thought. These days in isolation had created a bubble around them, a private world where only they existed. Going back meant facing reality—their jobs, their separate lives, other people’s opinions about a human-cyborg relationship.
He seemed to read her thoughts, tugging her gently against his side. “Let’s check the sensor array one last time. Make sure we haven’t missed anything.”
He knew the best way to distract her was to give her a task to focus on—well, the second best way—and she smiled.
“Let’s get to work.”
They spent the morning reviewing the data from the expanded network of sensors they’d deployed throughout the tunnel system. Roland had helped by placing tiny monitoring devices in the smaller cracks and crevices. They’d also spent some time in the lichen caves, recording as much data as possible—temperature, air composition, moisture levels, and even seismic activity.
But despite the extensive data on the lichen, they hadn’t found anything to indicate the creature had ever existed, nor any sign of others like it.
“It’s like it was never there,” she murmured, scrolling through the data for the third time. “Do you think we’ll ever know any more?”
“I don’t know.” He moved to the window, gazing out at the landscape as visibility slowly improved. “I’ve been thinking about our plan to limit the information we share.”
“You’re having second thoughts?”
“Not at all. I just want to make sure we have our stories straight. Since I’m not a scientist, I can claim ignorance on a lot of it, but my cybernetics mean I’ve stored a certain amount of data.”
She nodded. “I’ll talk to Alina first. She’ll understand the scientific implications without jumping to conclusions, and she can help us analyze the samples without attracting attention. It’s closer to her area of expertise as well. I’d like to be prepared when we go to talk to Dr. Montgomery and the Judge.”
It wasn’t until after she spoke that she realized she’d assumed they would go together. But would they? What would happen between them once they returned to their normal lives? The question continued to haunt her as they started packing up the equipment she’d brought with her.
