She wore four, two tucked up in the helix of each ear, because she liked the balance. This way, she could mix and match them to go with whatever outfit she was wearing as was expected, but none of those was her actual link. That was tucked just behind her left ear lobe. It was discrete and easily reached. It also matched her skin tone, just as Jamis’s did, but hers was for communications only since she didn't need a translator.
"You’ve made sure the air is heated?" she heard him ask and watched as rage filled his expression. "Because I ordered you to! The second being is Earthan. She’ll never tolerate such extreme temperatures! You have one standard-minute to correct that!"
"Rukking idiots," he muttered as he moved to get his legs under him.
"Problem?"
"It is being corrected," he told her, then found himself reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, his fingers grazing her cheek as he did. "But it will affect the amount of time we have."
The small caress surprised Cali. It didn't seem very 'Jamis-like,' but what surprised her more was the way her skin tingled where he touched, so she pulled away from him. "Then we'd better be ready." She hated how husky her voice had become. "How do you want to do this?"
Jamis just stared at her for a moment, not liking the way she pulled away from him, then responded, "I will exit first. Once I'm confident you can tolerate the temperature, you will then exit, and I will steady the ladder while you ascend."
Cali opened her mouth to argue, but he had already unsealed the shelter, and cold air rushed in, causing her to shiver. Obviously, the ship's crew wasn't aware of what were tolerant temperatures for Earthans. Still, she moved forward and crawled out after Jamis.
"I told you to wait inside," he growled when he stood, then turned to find her behind him.
"I'm not good at taking orders. Just ask my family. Now we're wasting time. Where's this ladder?"
She knew Jamis would have spun around and stomped away if the tight confines of the tube hadn't made that impossible. Instead, he had to turn sideways and shuffle his feet to get between the outside of the shelter's light-weight fabric and the rigid tube encircling it. Cali quickly followed him, her shoulders barely brushing either material and found the flex ladder erratically swinging, striking first the tube and then the shelter.
"Climb," Jamis ordered, grabbing the ladder to stabilize it.
Cali barely heard Jamis's order to grab the ladder over the recovery ship’s engines and the roar of the wind. But she didn't need to; she knew they were running out of time. She could see the tube was being lifted from the ground by the force of the wind.
Reaching above her head, she grabbed a rung in a firm grip. Instead of stepping straight onto a lower rung, as most would, she pulled the side of the ladder between her thighs and quickly began to climb.
Jamis watched, somewhat shocked, at how quickly she was able to ascend the ladder. He never thought she would know that climbing that way would help stabilize the ladder. Or that she would have the strength to ascend so easily. He found his eyes locked on her ass.
Halfway up, she turned to look down. "Are you coming?"
His attention returned to the task at hand as the tube started to twist and slide along the ground. They were running out of time. Reaching up, he began to climb on the opposite side of Cali, hoping his weight wouldn't throw her off balance.
Cali had just made it to the top and was reaching for the hand, held out to her by one of the crew kneeling beside the opening, when the wind picked up and destabilized the ladder. Jamis tightened his hold and locked his knees as he yelled. "Get her in!"
A crewmember caught Cali's wrist in a crushing grip and jerked her up into the ship, then flung her across the hard deck without care.
"Asshole," she bit out, pushing herself onto her knees.
Turning, she expected to see Jamis climbing in behind her. Instead, four fingers were visible gripping the edge of the opening, with the asshole crewman on his knees, his hands wrapped around Jamis’s other wrist.
"Ruk!" she swore and lunged toward the opening. Squatting, she grabbed Jamis’s other wrist, shocked at what she was seeing. The ladder was gone, and the tube was whipping around Jamis’s legs,