"Well, I might as well take advantage of this while it lasts." She began unfastening the back of her dress, then stopped to glance at Rick, whose mouth was a big O. "Ahh, Rick…"
"Oh! Um. I, uh, guess I better go scout around a little, hmm?"
She grinned, nodding. "And don't peek. Would you push that over here so I can use it as a shower curtain?" He lugged a big hunk of sheet metal into place across the open passageway hatch as he retreated.
"Thank you!" she called over the splashing water. He noticed a small hole in the sheet metal and bent to inspect it, just checking of course, putting his eye to it.
Minmei shrieked. Rick was back on the other side of the partition in a split second, visions of menacing alien giants daunting him. "Minmei, what's wrong? I'm coming-"
He slid to a halt. She was gazing at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes, long dark hair plastered flat against her by the falling water, arms folded, still wearing her dress. "I thought I saw something, there by the shower curtain."
"Your imagination, maybe?" he said weakly.
"Su-uure." She nodded sarcastically.
"Yeah." He coughed. "Well. Excuse me, I-" He turned and hurried off.
Minmei lost track of time, singing and humming, luxuriating in the feel and taste of the water. Then she heard a sound, too faint to identify.
She, too, thought of alien giants. "Rick? If that's you, stop playing tricks!" She felt a wave of panic. "Rick, you answer me right now."
A small roll of cloth was tossed through the gap in the makeshift partition. "Brought you some fresh clothes," he called. "It's an extra work shirt I had in the Mockingbird."
After Rick grabbed a quick shower, they started back for the plane, guided by his inertial tracker and the markings he'd made at various passageway junctions in the course of their explorations.
Rick tried not to be too obvious about ogling Minmei. The shirt was baggy on her but barely covered the tops of her thighs. Her lovely, coltish legs seemed to go on forever.
She was in high spirits-it seemed to be her natural state. "That was just what I needed! I feel a whole lot better now. And thanks for the shirt, Rick."
"You're welcome-"
"Even if it is a bit big." She flopped the empty cuffs around to demonstrate, giggling.
Minmei capered over to a highly polished metal panel, which reflected her image like a dark mirror. She made a comical face, sticking her tongue out and crossing her eyes, waggling the overlong sleeves. "'The Creature with No Hands! Nyyah!" She laughed.
They'd come back to the compartment where the Mockingbird hung suspended. Rick went over and sat beneath it, on a pallet improvised from shipping crate padding he'd scavenged. He picked up a couple of flat cans.
"I dug out my emergency rations. Here: This one's for you." He tossed it to her.
"Oh! Thank you!" She looked delighted, as she so often did. Minmei found more delight in life than anyone Rick had ever met.
She watched him detach the fork that came with the can, trigger the lid release, and peel it back. "Let's see if this stuff's any good." He dug into the brownish concentrate paste, making approving sounds.
Minmei didn't follow suit, suddenly looking troubled. "Shouldn't we be conserving these in case we have to make it last?"
"I'm not worried." He shoveled in some more. "We'll be out of here soon."
"Yeah, but what if we're not?"
He tried to sound confident. "I used to be a Junior Nature Scout; I'll get us out of here."
She looked at him archly. "Well, I'll bet you didn't get any merit badges for pathfinding, did you?"
"Now, stop worrying," he told her, around a mouthful of food. He swallowed. "I promise you I'll find a way out of here." He suddenly lowered his fork, looking down despondently at the deck. "But that was one badge I didn't get," he confessed.
She made him jump by giggling into his ear. "I knew it!"
"Hey, what's so funny?"
She was laughing into her hands, unconcerned with their plight for the moment, making him smile involuntarily.
"I was sick the day they gave the test! At least I know what a compass looks like!"
Minmei laughed harder and harder. Rick couldn't resist and joined in.
Later they sat on the padding, backs resting against a crate, under Mockingbird. "I'm real worried about my family," she confessed.
"Don't be. I'm sure they're safe in the shelters," he insisted, making it sound as positive as he could.
She was blinking sleepily. "Oh, I hope so. Y'know, there was a shelter right next door to our house."
"Well, there you go; they're all fine."
She yawned against the sleeve-covered back of her hand. "I suppose." Her head settled against his shoulder.
Rick was so surprised that he didn't move or speak for some time. "Um. Are you going to sleep?" She was breathing evenly, eyes closed. She looked more enchanting than ever.
"Wake up. You can't go to sleep like this; you'll get a stiff neck."
He reached around her shoulders from either side, about to ease her down into a more comfortable position. His elbow brushed against something alive that was poised behind him on the crate.
With a shrill chitter, a fat gray mouse bounded across Minmei's shoulder, scampered along her arm, and ran down the length of her bare leg, springing away into the dimness. Minmei awoke with a scream, to find Rick's hands on her shoulders.
"Ah. Um."
She gave him an appraising look. "Hmm. Maybe I'd better move. You stay here, and I'll sleep over there." She rose lithley and went to another pile of padding a few yards away.
"Hey, it was a mouse," Rick protested.
"Mm-hmm." Minmei ignored him. She was young and very, very attractive; she'd learned that she had to be careful. She kneeled to pull aside a fold of the padding and rearrange it more to her liking. As she did, a fat, furry gray form bounded out of hiding and went racing off into the darkness.
"There's a mouse!" Minmei covered the distance back to Rick in a single hysterical leap.
He sniffed. "You don't say. I seem to recall mentioning something about that, but you didn't believe me."
She hung her head, then looked at him again. "I'm really sorry, Rick. From now on, I promise I'll believe you."
He struck a noble pose. "In that case, fair lady, I shall defend you from these fearsome creatures!"
"Oh, thank you." Minmei stifled another yawn.
"I think we'll be all right for tonight," he added, looking around the compartment as she rested her head on his shoulder once more. Her eyelids were fluttering tiredly. "They're more scared of us than we are of them."
What's more important, he didn't say out loud, so as not to discourage her hopes of escape or rescue, if they can survive here, we can. He tried to fight down the feeling that their situation wasn't very promising.
"So if you want to sleep-" he started to say, then realized she was dozing, snuggled against him.
"I'll be darned. Wish I could fall asleep like that." He made himself comfortable as best he could, leaning back against the crate, concentrating. He considered every option and plan he could think of, certain of only one thing.
He wouldn't let Minmei down.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
If Breetai and company were confused by human behavior as applied to war, one cannot help but wonder, in light of subsequent events and Zentraedi responses, what they would have thought if they could have looked into the remotest corner of SDF-1 and observed the behavior of two castaways.