legs a little. It’s okay, just do it. Good. Stand still.” I walk behind her, bend down, and put my head between her legs.
Then I stand up, she squeals in surprise, and she’s sitting on my shoulders.
“Oookay,” she says, holding clumsily onto my forehead, struggling to keep her balance. “This is kind of familiar. A little awkward, maybe.”
I hold onto one slender ankle. “You can let go of my head. You won’t fall. If there are enemies here, I’ll smell them before we get anywhere close. But just in case, keep your gun in your hand.”
I start walking, and now I can go faster because there’s no need to wait for Averie to catch up. The pipes don’t bother me much.
“Zaroc.”
“Hmm?”
“There’s a good chance your grandmother is right and you should get rid of me somehow. But don’t leave me alone. If I can’t be cured, or if you see that something bad is happening... you know, from the inside. Please kill me. Don’t let me become a Fentrat.”
I almost stumble in surprise. “You knew what we were saying?”
“I didn’t understand the words. But the tone was obvious. Now promise to kill me. If necessary. To spare me the suffering.”
Touched by her bravery, it takes me a moment to collect myself. “I promise.”
“Thank you. Do it quickly.”
Her words alarm me. “Are you in pain anywhere?”
“No. That’s what worries me.”
It worries me, too. I speed up a little, heading straight for the distant pillar. At the same time, I look out for other possible ways down, but all I see is Elder machinery and trash on the ground, the signs of looters that have picked this shell clean over the millennia since this moon was first found.
The pillar is a different material from the shiny machinery everywhere. It was made to be strong, not pretty.
At the foot of it, I bend down to let Averie off. “Did you enjoy the ride?”
She gives me a little smile. “It was nice. Like I was two years old again.”
I slap the pillar. It’s round and five hundred paces thick, but much, much longer. The floor around it is smooth and curves up into the pillar as one piece.
I can’t see where it is attached to the sky. It just vanishes into a point. “Let’s walk around this, see if your theory is valid.”
Exactly halfway around, we come upon a portal.
“This has to be it,” Averie observes and goes in. Right inside is another round wall, a pillar inside the pillar, creating a curved hallway wide enough for fifty big warriors to walk abreast.
After another half revolution, we reach another portal leading back out.
I scratch my chin. “Is that the same portal? We haven’t gone downwards. It’s just been level.”
Averie peers out. “Doesn’t look like it. I think this is the next shell down.”
On the outside of the portal, she’s obviously right. Everything is different. The pillar has another color, even.
I stop in my tracks and look up. This pillar also vanishes into a point, so far above it might as well be an infinite distance. “We traveled that far down without noticing. That’s impressive.”
Averie looks around. “Is it really that much more weird than the elevator in your spaceship?”
I think about it. “Yes. It is.”
She smiles. “If you say so. I can see another pillar over there. Shall we?”
I hide a smile, really liking how she’s able to be this chipper and active despite her desperate situation. “Yes, let’s go over there.”
This level is less metallic, but still machine-like. The materials are a brilliant white, but the structures are as mysterious and outlandish as on the outer level. Here there are no pipes along the floor, so it’s easier for Averie to walk.
I saunter behind her for a while, letting my crotch get a chance to calm down. The sheer presence of her, and the vivid memory of her female attractions, have a strong effect that I’m trying to hide.
I lost myself in her back there, in the hold. I couldn’t keep myself off her anymore, and her welcoming response encouraged me further. Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to only explore her with my senses, not with anything else. It’s strange, though. I normally am not someone who gives the female pleasures without getting something for myself. But this time, it felt like I was the one getting the most pleasure, even though I’m sure she climaxed.
I shake my head. There is something about this female, something that makes me feel things