The Fall of Eva Pryor Ch. 02

"You don't reflect enough, Benjamin, on the processes that underlie things. I was under great tension, up there in the void. Every physical capacity, every sense I possess, was fully engaged. Afterwards I needed to release and re-ground that energy, as electricity is released from clouds in lightning and grounds itself in the earth. That's why I do this thing." She shifted again, a motion that drew me irresistibly towards her. Before I could approach, however, she added quickly,

"I don't need your help for my release. It is not a...shall we say, pairing impulse. I am simply managing my own powers. Observe the causes, not the just the effects."

"Yes," I managed, "Though the effects are striking, to say the least."

She smiled in relief.

"So he has his wits about him after all. Well then. I may not need your help for release, but if you can act on wit and not impulse, I would ask you to kindly hand me the calf-brace I've dropped. The rest I can deal with myself. I'm accustomed to getting into and out of this position, just not in such a cramped space."

"Certainly, Miss Pryor," I said, bending to fetch the brace from the floor.

"Eva. Not Madame. Not Miss Pryor. I'm Eva. Don't call me by my Christian name only when you think I'm about to die."

"Eva," I whispered. I placed the brace into the hand that lay loosely next to her thigh. The heat of her body caressed my skin. I could smell the scent of her, evidence of the pleasure she had let me glimpse.

Suddenly her hand seized my wrist in a grip hard enough to stop me, though the rest of her form was so softly passive.

"Observe only. Do you understand me?"

Her tone was firm, but her eyes were pleading. She did not wish to have to say aloud what I knew already from her writing: that she did not crave another's touch. That she did not crave mine. That she wished to take her pleasure from her own hands.

"I understand. You are safe with me. I too am a scientist, if only of linguistics, and though I act on impulse betimes, I hope that my impulses are always honorable and never work against your desires."

The pressure of Eva's hand slackened and became something else: a squeeze of gratitude, or perhaps a handshake sealing our deal.

"Again, I thank you."

And so I returned to the bridge. After some searching I located a sonophone and a few canisters on which to play a little music. Though I took Eva's invitation to observe to heart, I did not think I could stand to hear her sigh as she drew the piston out from inside herself. She had her limits, and I knew mine. Besides, I still had some pages of her writing, in time of need. I contented my Imp with that.