LASSINDA LUSK --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The next ten minutes were a game of deadly hide-and-seek. The
Curs wandered about in twos and threes, searching all around in
the living quarters. But their loud cursings and stamping feet
always gave plenty of warning.
The woman followed Vail unquestioningly. If Vail ran forward,
she ran forward; if Vail halted, she halted. She moved like an
automaton, as if in a state of shock.
Vail got a surprise the first time she saw her under the lights.
The woman was an exotic, a Si-genotype from one of the outer Q-sector
planets. Skin the colour of fresh apricots, moist dark lips, violet
eyes with a concentric double iris. Surrounded by a flaring mane
of golden hair, the effect was spectacular. Si-genotype women
were generally regarded as the most beautiful in the Galaxy.
No less spectacular was her body, with voluptuous curves but
not an ounce of spare flesh. Both plump and taut, she seemed almost
bursting out of her skin. With every movement, her hips swayed
and her breasts bobbed and quivered. She ran awkwardly, as if
stepping on eggshells, holding her hands protectively over her
sex.
They passed through rooms and passages in an erratic route, zigzagging
to avoid the searching Curs. But Vail headed consistently in one
overall direction. She was looking for the indoor stream that
ran in a channel through the living quarters.
She had already decided their ultimate goal. It was too risky
to venture out into the main valley. But she remembered the tributary
valley on the other side of the living quarters and in that
valley, the small alcove where she herself had once slept overnight.
There could be no better hiding-place.
After countless halts and detours, they came finally upon the
stream, flowing through the middle of a musty-smelling junk-room.
'Good!' Vail turned to the woman. 'We'll be right now.'
The woman stared back with wide violet eyes. Her beautiful face
was clenched and rigid. Vail had the impression that she was on
the verge of a hysterical collapse.
'Hold on now, hold on. Do you want to cover yourself?'Vail offered
the bundled-up cloth she still carried in her hands.
The woman nodded, like an acquiescent child. Vail helped wind
the cloth under her armpits, over her breasts. The woman clung
to the ends of the material as if her life depended on it.
