Jane moved around the room slowly.
“What’s the first treatment?” Ajaya asked.
After a brief interchange with the computer, Jane replied, “A shower. Or, more precisely translated, a waterfall, in this recess.” She gestured limply. “It says it’s a slightly-acidic, lipid emulsion with a variety of salts, mineral oxides, and clays, all naturally and sustainably mined and harvested from unadulterated worlds.”
Ajaya nodded. “That sounds like calamine lotion. I think it sounds harmless.”
The voice spoke again. Waiting for the translations was getting really old. One of the first orders of business was going to be learning this language. Jane and the computer voice had an extended exchange. Bergen shrugged in his clothes. He wanted to get on with it. The stuff was eating through to his skin in patches and was starting to burn in new spots.
Jane was acting uncomfortable. “It expects us to shower together to conserve resources.”
Ajaya raised her eyebrows at this. “Really, Jane? You can’t talk it out of it?”
Was Jane blushing? He probably shouldn’t be looking so hard, but it was a pretty awesome predicament from his point of view. Except for Varma hanging around, of course.
“No. It just keeps saying it’s waiting for us to disrobe.”
Her expression was completely forlorn. Geez. Was it really that terrible? It’s not like they hadn’t seen each other before. Sure, he knew he wasn’t supposed to be peeking, but she wasn’t innocent of that either. He’d caught her looking before. More than once.
He tried to look blasé. “Look, I’m sorry, Jane, but this shit hurts.”
He turned his back to her to put her more at ease, and kicked off his boots while tugging down the zipper on his flight suit awkwardly with his left hand. He peeled off everything, including the wrappings on his hand, and stood there, covering up his junk with his hands to keep her from freaking out. Just getting the flight suit off was a relief.
He heard some rustling. Then Jane said, “Paratiso.”
There was a sound of rushing liquid coming from the alcove nearby.
He turned slightly to see Jane stepping under a running curtain of a milky white liquid that disappeared into a grate in the floor directly underneath. He followed, keeping himself turned away from her. It coated his body in a chalky film that was instantly soothing.
“How are you doing, Alan?” Ajaya called.
“Great. Feels great.” Damn, it felt good to be in a shower, even if it was some weird alien fluid. It was warm. It felt fantastic.
The flow shut off. He was dripping from head to toe in what looked like milk of magnesia. Now what? He glanced at Jane. Her back was to him. Her hair was saturated with the stuff, grey and stringy. She…damn, she has a nice ass.
Ajaya was wandering around the room, testing various projections on the walls. A drawer slid out at her touch. “I’ve found something that resembles towels,” she boasted.
Jane translated the newest set of instructions. “We’re supposed to stand here for a few minutes and then we can rinse and wash before the next treatment.” She peeked at him timidly, over her shoulder, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Jane, I’m not going to jump you.”
“I know that!” she retorted.
Better change the subject. “So, ah, how can you be so fluent in this language, Jane? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know. I only know what he told me, which isn’t much. It feels like I’ve always known it, somehow….”
She looked so vulnerable, standing there, hugging herself with her head bowed, her hair dripping, hiding her face. He wanted to reach out and touch her, reassure her, but that probably wouldn’t be wise.
“Are you cold?” Ajaya asked.
“No,” they replied, almost in unison. The floors were heated or something. He was pretty comfortable, for being covered in wet, chalky goo.
He gestured at her, though she wouldn’t see it, “Maybe you have—always known it, I mean. On some level. If it’s really some kind of genetic thing. Do you think we all have it? Or just you?”
“He made it sound like all humans have it, that it just has to be woken up.”
The shower sprang back to life. It was a thin sheet of water, this time, rinsing most of the other stuff away. It was the perfect temperature. He forgot everything else for a minute, turning his face to the ceiling, letting the water flow over him.
“There’s some kind of soap here, Alan. It doesn’t suds up, though.”
He turned. She was pointing at a boxy object, poking out of the wall. He strode over next to her, trying to keep his eyes to himself. “How does it work?”
“Put your hand under it.”
Ajaya spoke up from behind them, “I’m going to track down Ronald. He’s got your clean flight suits. Don’t start the next treatment without me.”
A layer of fine crystals sifted onto his hand. When they touched his damp skin, they swelled to form a dense mat. He rubbed it over himself experimentally. It was like a slippery, soapy glove that seemed to dissolve the residue left by the chalky substance. He wiped himself down then stuck out his injured hand, coating just his fingertips, and concentrated on his hair, which hadn’t really been thoroughly washed for almost a year. He snuck a stealthy look at Jane. She was working the cleanser through her hair too. Her back was still coated in a fine sheen from the chalky shower and she seemed to be struggling with her hair, which had grown really long over the last year, despite the fact that she’d just lost a good chunk of it. He stepped back under the waterfall to rinse off.
“Ah, Jane?”
“What?”
“Need any help?”
“Definitely not.” She sounded exasperated, maybe with a hint of amusement.
He grinned. “Oh, good. My back…a little help?” He thumbed at his own back.
He could hear her grumbling under her breath, but he couldn’t make out what she was saying over the rush of the water. He clamped his own mouth shut.
“I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine, eh?” she said sarcastically.
“Maybe,” he said noncommittally.
She touched him then, tentatively at first, then with quick broad swipes. He immediately realized his mistake. Things were getting tumescent—way more than he wanted or could have anticipated. He cursed mentally and took a step forward. “Thanks,” he said in a clipped tone and dived away from her back under the water. He hadn’t felt that awkward since he was a teenaged boy. He contemplated asking her if she could make the water colder, but that would be too obvious. He’d better just get the hell out of there. Thank God Ajaya was still gone. She’d left a couple of fabric-looking things lying nearby, so he stepped out and grabbed one.
“Hey,” Jane called playfully. “What about me?”
He held the soft cloth in front of himself as casually as he could. “Oh, you want me to—”
“Well, yeah. I’m sure my back looks just like yours did.” She smiled shyly over her shoulder. Oh, God. If she only knew how enticing she looks….
She turned her attention back to her hair, tipping her head back under the water. She seemed to have miscalculated her angle as she stepped over the inclined floor under the flow of water. She was in profile now and that wasn’t helping his problem in the slightest. She’d lost most of her Rubenesque roundness after the conditioning in Houston and the long flight, but what was left of it was still in all the right places. He couldn’t help it. He was mentally filing the image away. It was just more fuel for the fantasies that filled his quiet moments.