Or Die Alone

"Good for you, I'm not in the habit of getting intimate with Persian rugs."

"I'm from Siberia, I told you that already."

"I'm insulting you, I'm calling you an overgrown, walking carpet with tits."

She sighed, blowing his hair, then muttered something in Russian that ended in 'mudak'.

He realized that they were already warm, really warm, it would have been downright lovely if he hadn't had to share it with his unruly companion. It was coming from her body, her metabolism must be working in overdrive to digest all of the food that she had eaten, cranking out almost enough waste heat to make him break a sweat. The temperature was starting to make him sluggish and compliant, his outrage becoming more difficult to maintain as the warmth permeated his muscles like the soothing fingers of a masseuse. Lorza didn't smell half bad now that he was used to her alien scent, and her fur really was fluffy and soft. He was still uncomfortable pressed up against the Polar, but the day's exhaustion and the warmth were overcoming him.

"You seem more relaxed than usual," she murmured, her breath tickling his ear.

"Don't pay attention to how relaxed I am, go to sleep," he grumbled in response. She chuckled, her ample bust shaking distractingly.

"You're usually facing away from me, what changed? Are you starting to warm up to me?"

She laughed at her own pun as Boyd scowled up at her.

"No, you're just so fat that I can't turn around, so I'm stuck like this."

She shifted her weight around a little, her belly pressing against him like an exercise ball, the fur of her giant hand soft against his back. He could feel it through his suit, as thin as the fabric was, warm and silky. They really were being baked inside the sleeping bag, under other circumstances it might have been too warm to be comfortable, but considering the freezing cold they had endured for the better part of a week it was a welcome change.

"So warm..." Lorza whispered, her blue eyes turning down to examine Boyd. "Your face is red, little human."

"Because I'm hot," he complained.

"If you say so..."

She was always trying to get under his skin, every chance she got to test his resolve or probe for a chink in his armor, she took it. Did she think that she could manipulate him into doing what she wanted? Wrap him around her clawed finger by batting her eyelashes at him? It wasn't going to work, Boyd was made of sterner stuff than that. She seemed to notice that he had tensed, leaning her head down to hover with her full lips an inch from his ear.

"Why don't you just relax? You're so uptight, always on edge, is it that you're afraid of me?" She ended that last accusation in a sly laugh, and he scoffed at her.

"Afraid of you? I've already beaten you in a fight, if you remember. I'm not afraid of you, I just don't like you."

"I remember things a little differently," she murmured, and raised the hand he wasn't lying on to caress his face. Her palm was fluffy and soft, with pink, fleshy pads that protruded through the silky fur for grip. She cupped his cheek in her hand and ran the pad of her thumb over the healing scar on his face, a relic of their most serious falling out. Boyd squirmed away, glaring at her.

"Why can't you just keep your hands to yourself?"

"Oh come on, we're trapped in such close proximity, I don't have any choice but to touch you."

"Yeah but you don't have to do it like...that."

Lorza cocked her head at him, returning her hand beneath the plush sleeping bag.

"You know, I can usually read people pretty well, influence them. But not you. You're opaque to me, I can never tell what you're thinking or what you're planning. You don't respond to anything that I try to test you with."

"Well it's good to know that you've been probing me for weaknesses like I'm some kind of lab rat."

"No," she protested, shaking her massive head. "That's not what I mean, in my society we resolve all of our conflicts through social maneuvering, we talk to each other and work it out. We get a read on what someone wants, and try to sate that desire, or we find a way to get a person to behave in a manner that benefits us."

"That sounds like manipulation to me, it sounds despicable."

"Better than clawing each other to ribbons or 'glassing' people who don't see things your way."

"I would disagree with that, violence is honest."

"It's destructive, a waste of resources."

"You're quite the pacifist for someone who tried to murder me a few hours ago."

That cut her deep, and her brow furrowed.

"Only because you refused every diplomatic solution that I offered, don't blame me when you pushed me to the last resort in order to survive."

"You think you're so sophisticated, but under that fur you're just like your hot-blooded cousins, if I shaved you nobody would be able to tell you apart."

"That's a lie and you know it." She had tried to mess with his head, and he turned it right back around, the ball was in her court now and she had been taken off-guard by his swift return. "I don't know why you're such an ass all the time, Boyd. You're just making this harder than it needs to be, harder for both of us."

"Yeah well my line of work doesn't afford me many friends, I'm used to operating on my own and I prefer things that way."

"Ah yes, the solitary life of a miner, you're one to talk about honesty. It's not my fault we're stuck here together, in fact it's entirely your own. I wish you would understand that I don't want to be here any more than you do, I'm just trying to make the best of a bad situation."

"By manipulating me into 'behaving in a manner that benefits you'?"

She laughed at that, and he looked up at her, confused by the reaction.

"You don't know what you're missing, mudak."

He shifted, trying to get his face away from her cleavage, it seemed almost as if she was going out of her way to bury his head in the supple flesh. He didn't have enough room in the cramped bag to turn away from her, if he wriggled further down then they'd envelop him completely, any further up and they'd be face to face. He didn't like the way she scrutinized him with those icy, blue eyes. He settled for resting his head in the nape of her neck, if he closed his eyes he could almost imagine that he was in some fluffy bed somewhere, were it not for the musky smell of the female Borealan bringing him out of it. It made him sleepy, downright Pavlovian.

"Stop fidgeting," she complained.

"I'm trying to find a comfortable position where I don't have to stare down your cleavage."

"Oh, enough," she grunted. She pulled him closer to her with the arm that he was lying on, bringing her second around to trap him in a tight hug, one hand behind his head to press it into her breasts and the other in the small of his back. He struggled and fought, but he couldn't get his legs up to kick her, they were trapped by her rotund belly and he could barely move them. She pinned his arms to his sides, his whole body enveloped in her cushy fat and her velvet coat, her musk filling his lungs as he breathed in her scent.

"Let me go you fucking..." He loosed a frustrated snarl that made her chuckle wryly. He wriggled and bucked with all the strength that he could muster but she merely held him, squeezing him up against her until he eventually exhausted himself and lay still. He was livid, fuming, but he had no way to break free. She was just too damned large and strong.

"Enough of this," she repeated, "get used to me and do it fast. We have to live in close proximity so stop complaining and get it all out. You have to touch me, you have to smell me, that's your lot now so deal with it."

He lay in her arms, simmering, not wanting to admit how pleasant the sensation of her soft hand on the back of his head felt. The way that having her cradle him like this relaxed him, the warmth of her body like a beacon to him in the freezing air. She smelled good, he realized that he liked her scent, and the texture of her delicate fur was soothing on his cheek. He hated that she was right, but there was no point wasting energy on this subject any longer, no amount of his complaining would change the fact that they relied on each other to survive the cold nights.

She felt him relax a little, and loosened her hold on him slightly, Boyd exhaling a frustrated sigh.

"Usually people bond in a crisis," she said, "I wish you'd just let your armor down for a while and stop acting like making friends is the worst thing that we could do. You'll never see me again once we get off this rock, so what does it matter if I know your secrets? Would it really be so bad? Would it kill you to lighten your mood for just a few days so that we might treat each other like people and make this situation slightly less terrible?"

He was silent for a moment before replying, his eyes closed as he gave in and let her hold him.

"You're always pushing my buttons, trying to get inside my head, like you're some kind of enemy agent trying to extract information without me knowing it. I can never tell if you say these things because that's how you really feel, or if it's just one step on the road to tricking me into letting my guard down. I've...had some experience in that field, suggestion and interrogation, manipulating people into doing things that aren't in their best interest. From day one you've been trying to play me, and failing. How could our relationship by anything other than adversarial? You've never treated me like anything other than a mark."

"That's just my culture. I have no excuse, but you've taken your frustrations and your stress out on me since we crashed here. You never wasted one opportunity to throw an insult my way."

"Maybe we really do deserve each other."

They lay together in silence for a while, their breathing growing rhythmic and regular, before Boyd finally spoke up about something that had been bothering him.

"You wouldn't really eat me, would you?"

"Only if you end up being more useful inside me than out."

He didn't reply, suspecting that perhaps she really had been messing with his head all long, and eventually he fell into an unsound sleep.

When Boyd woke up the next morning, he found himself trapped under Lorza's bulk, she must have rolled over on top of him during the night. She was so goddamned heavy, it was a miracle she hadn't crushed him. He might have suffocated if it wasn't for his rebreather.

He pushed his hands against her fat, sinking deep into her soft breasts in an attempt to gain enough leverage to move her off him. It was hopeless, she probably weighed as much as a small car. He noticed that her belly had shrunk back down to approximate the size it had been when they had set out, still chubby by human standards but based on what he had learned about her kind it looked healthy. She had filled out all over, her thighs were thick and meaty again, and her breasts looked somehow even fuller. She had regained her layer of insulating fat after a single, monstrous meal, her body had somehow converted those hundred pounds of meat into fat overnight.

Boyd did his best to wriggled his way out from underneath her, but between her weight and the confinement of the sleeping bag, he found himself unable to escape. Whatever, at least he was warm, might as well have a lie-in until she woke up.

Lorza rubbed her eyes, finding herself resting on top of a struggling human, his head lost in her cleavage. She planted her hands on either side of his head and lifted herself off him, looking down at the angry little creature. She straddled him, laughing at his impotent rage.

"I'm sorry Boyd, could you not get out?"

"Would you just get off me?"

"Fine, fine," she chuckled, unzipping the bag to release him.

He crawled out from under her and set about brushing himself off with his hands.

"Better get your sleeping bag packed away, we have another long day ahead of us."

He walked over to where his stash of meat was resting against the wall of the cave, crouching to retrieve the rope he had fashioned from his rucksack and tying it to his belt. Lorza stretched her long arms above her head and yawned loudly, Boyd catching her giving his stock of food a sideways glace.

"Oh no, don't you even look at this meat, I told you yesterday to bring your own and you didn't so you'll not get so much as a morsel from me."

In turn she saw him looking her up and down, and she realized that the pressure in her stomach was gone and that she had filled out again, returning to her usual weight. If not slightly more, the monster's meat was a good source of fat it seemed, perhaps it needed it to brave the cold just as she did.

"Looks like I won't need any more food for a while, you can stop worrying Boyd."

He didn't buy it, scowling at her and dragging his makeshift sled towards the entrance of the cave. She rolled up her sleeping bag and returned it to her pack, jogging to catch up with him as he emerged from the mouth of the ice cave and into the daylight.

"No storm," he mused, "wind is low. Looks like it might be a nice day for once, and that cursed creature isn't hounding us."

"As good a day as we can expect from this moon," Lorza replied, nodding as she adjusted her pack. "How long do we still have to go?"

Boyd tapped at his computer for a moment.

"About a hundred miles by my calculations, two more days of walking should see us to the oxygen farm." That seemed to lift her spirits, Boyd caught a genuine smile on her face that wasn't sarcastic or wry. He had to admit that things felt less bleak now, he had food, the alien monster was no longer stalking them beneath the ice and they were closer to getting off this rock than ever. "We're gonna make it Lorza, we're not far off now. We'll beat this."

She nodded, fresh determination on her face, and they set off into the snowdrifts.

CHAPTER 7: FRATERNIZATION

The weather was good enough that the wind didn't carry away their voices, and they didn't have to fight against the elements just to walk. Were it not for the freezing temperatures it might have been almost pleasant. Lorza tried to make small talk, and for once he didn't spurn her, their proximity to salvation and the clear sky putting him in an unusually good mood.

"So are you ever going to tell me what you really do? You're obviously not a miner. I'm asking honestly, not trying to get under your skin or anything like that. After all we've been through I figure maybe I deserve to know."

He considered for a moment, she knew enough about him to see that his story was a cover. She was perceptive and sharp, it probably wouldn't do any harm to tell her a partial truth. He couldn't tell her his true vocation, nor his mission, not only would that put him in danger but she would become a target too.

"Well, since we're being honest," he began. "I'm UNN, a kind of cop if you like. My job is to investigate criminal organizations like those who rule Hades. When I told you that I needed your help to escape I was being truthful, even if I had to use a cover story to protect my identity. I didn't know who was friend and who was foe, if I had told the wrong pilot that I was trying to flee the Syndicate then they might have just turned me over to them."

He waited for a scathing remark, but none came, and he looked around to see her blue eyes wide with wonder.

"So you're like a detective or something?"

"No, no, more of an undercover policeman." It was a lie, but he had to keep his clearance level secret. The UNNI were an elite organization, and she wasn't need-to-know.

"So who are the Syndicate? They're the criminals you were escaping?"

"That's right, they're an alliance of mobsters, pirates and petty criminals who are in control of the colony. I don't want to tell you much more, it might put you in danger."

"You already put me in danger," she joked.

"Yeah, I guess so. I regret that. I genuinely didn't know that things would turn out this way. I saw you in the spaceport and knew that you were my best chance to get off Hades, you stuck out like a sore thumb, someone who didn't belong and wouldn't be on the Syndicate's payroll. I'm sorry about your crew, but know that they died to potentially save millions. That is if we can get off this rock and back to UNN controlled space, so I can deliver the information that I uncovered."

"So I'm like your deputy?"

He laughed at that, why hadn't they just relaxed and had a conversation sooner? She was pretty fun when she wasn't trying to kill him.

"I suppose so, but I don't have a badge for you."

"So what do you have to do to become an undercover cop?" Lorza asked, slowing her long strides to match pace with him so that she could walk beside him in the snow.

"Well you need to be good in a fight for a start, most of us are ex-military, usually UNN Marines. You need to have a natural talent for subterfuge and manipulation, it requires steady nerves and an unwavering commitment to your role. If you so much as give someone the wrong look it could put your life and the success of the mission in jeopardy. You could be operating in hostile environments with no hope of backup or extraction, so a familiarity with survival techniques and outdoorsmanship is a must, along with physical fitness of course."

He realized then that he was basically describing Lorza, she was all of those things and more, along with being a wildcard due to her lack of association with the UNN. She might even make a good spook. God knows she had been grilling him for information like a seasoned interrogator from the moment they had found themselves stranded here.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Boyd?"

"Just daydreaming, doesn't matter."

"That must be why I can't read you, then," Lorza continued.

"What do you mean?" Boyd asked, looking up at her as she loped along beside him.

"I couldn't get a bead on you, like I said last night, you're opaque to me. I've never met a human who can out-maneuver me like that before, it's...refreshing. I can't work out what you're thinking, and I can't persuade you, it's like losing one of my senses."

"And that's a good thing?"

"I didn't think that way initially, I was just frustrated that I couldn't get you to behave the way I wanted you to. But there's something to be said for it, everything that comes out of your mouth is a surprise to me, and I'm not accustomed to that."

"That's how humans normally interact, welcome to the club."

They walked in silence for a while, some of the tension that had been building up over the last few days dissolving. It felt good to just talk to someone, even Lorza. As much as they had fought and argued they had gotten to know eachother more intimately than good friends. They had been through a lot of shit, roughed it together, survived together. Maybe he should give her more credit, lay off some of the jibes and teasing.

"What about you?" Boyd asked her. "What's your job like?"

"Oh, nothing so exciting, I'm just a cartographer. I make maps, usually of unexplored planets like this one, I help the surveyors find minerals and useful resources for exploitation."

"I don't think that's uninteresting, you told me that you had wanted to get out into the galaxy and see other worlds when you had left Borealis, right? That sounds like a good way to do it, you must have seen more planets than I have."

She seemed taken aback, giving him an appreciative look.

"You really were listening? I thought...never mind," she said, shaking her head. "Yeah, I've been all over, mostly unexplored planets. Ninety percent of worlds are just gas giants or barren terrestrial planets, but sometimes we find one like this that can support life and has exploitable resources. Though I've not really encountered any fauna quite so...hostile, not since I left Borealis anyway."