Solarian Down

The fourth day they went back to the shuttle and began the salvage. Most of this was stored in his tool room but the missiles went into the secret nook. They covered it with the ice block and tucked it behind a wall of fur.

They were exhausted when they sat down to supper.

“Not very talkative tonight, Ben?”

After a moment’s pause, he shrugged. “B Been a long c couple of days.” He smiled before he took another bite of his meal.

“You never told me…” She said as she picked over her meal in thought. Ben looked up at her. “Why is it you do not have anyone special waiting for you?”

He watched her a moment before speaking. “D D Do elves expect the man to m make the first move?”

Her eyebrows went up as she laughed. “How does -that- answer my question?”

“It d doesn’t.” He smiled.

Ben stood up to put away the dishes. Lenaga stood up to help when Ben grabbed her and pulled her close. She was a little disappointed in herself when she immediately kissed him. But not as disappointed as she was when she wrapped her legs around him. Ben held her off the ground while she tried to squeeze every inch of her body against his.

“Not all those who wander are lost.”

- J. R. R. Tolkien

Lenaga woke as soon as Ben slipped back into bed. It took her a minute to remember she didn’t have a bed. She opened her eyes carefully. Ben was curled up next to her with his arm wrapped around her pulling her close. Nuzzling her neck. They seemed to have burrowed into a mound of giant gorilla fur. It was nice and warm and she was sleepy.

“What time is it?” She asked.

“I wanna say bout 8 am-ish.”

“Well, crap. What time is that?”

He sighed. “Morning time. W Why? Are you l late for work?”

“No.” She snuggled back into him. He kissed her behind the ear which elicited a purr from her. “Why do my toes hurt?” She asked when he stopped kissing.

She could feel him shrug. “Not sure b but I ache all over too.”

“No. I mean specifically, my ‘toes’ hurt. What did we do to them?”

She couldn’t see his eyes get big as he tried to think. “Uhhhh, I’m not sure.”

“I remember the table.”

“I should h h hope so.”

“And I remember the bench.”

“W Which time?”

She craned her head to look at him. “Which time!?”

“Yeah.” He nodded. “After the table w when I bent you over or w when my back was about to give out on me after the w wall and I had to sit down?”

“I do not remember you sitting down.”

“Oh.”

She turned to face him. “I do not remember the wall!”

“Oh n n no. You -have- to r r r remember the wall. THAT’s the k k kinda shit you tell your grandkids about!” He was smiling.

“You never held me against a wall.” She was shaking her head.

“Y You weren’t against the wall. I w was.”

She was stunned. “How?!”

He looked like he couldn’t believe she didn’t recall this. “Y You had y your thighs on my shoulders and your f f f face between my legs. R Remember?”

He smiled when he saw, “Ohhhh. I thought we were on the floor.” He was shaking his head. “-That- is how I hurt my toes.” She said in realization.

“Excuse me?”

“I was kicking the wall.” She looked at him and gave a knowing nod. “You know? Whenever you made me…” He brows went up with a leading expression on her face.

“Ohh. That’s w w why you were saying “Ow.”

“I was saying “Ow” and you did not stop?”

He chewed on his cheek in thought. “It - didn’t - seem - important - at - the - time?”

“Really.”

He looked concerned. “If it w w wasn’t important enough t to make you stop then it sure w w wouldn’t have gone over w well with you if I had.” He was nodding in what was obviously false confidence.

She let him off the hook and kissed him. “You hungry?” She asked when she pulled back.

He nodded so they slowly spelunked themselves from the landslide of furs. Getting dressed and cooking seemed to take longer today. There just seemed to be more distractions for the both of them.

“I noticed you have a few tattoos.” She commented. He nodded. “Some of them -seem- military.” He smiled and nodded again as he took the food to the table. She brought the drinks as she sat down a little closer to the corner where their benches met. She smiled as he seemed to do the same. “So, you were a Marine?”

He looked at her with a dead expression. “ I was - NOT - a Marine.”

“I am sorry.” She said as she raised her hands in defense. “Some of them looked like infantry tattoos so I assumed…”

He shrugged it off. “It’s OK. I’m j j just touchy about it.” He said sadly. “The Marine corps has a brutal B B Boot camp and I c couldn’t even get in to it.”

“Was it your stutter?” She asked gently.

He shook his head at the table but took a moment before looking at her and sighing. He formed his hand into a ring and kept bouncing it off the top of his head. “C Couldn’t get my head in the jar!” He smiled broadly. She looked at him in confusion as she slightly shook her head. He waved it off in disappointment. “N Nevermind. It’s an o o old joke.”

He bowed his head and mumbled to himself again. When he finished she asked, “You were in the Navy then?”

He let out a laugh. “M Most people, w when they find themselves i i in a hole, try to c c climb out. B B But YOU pre pre prefer to grab a shovel and d d dig that hole j just a little bit d d deeper.” He smiled. She shrugged in exasperation. “I was in the Army.”

She took a bite of food. “Your people still have those?”

“Mm hm.” He nodded.

“My people converted to just a Navy and Marines ages ago.” He nodded his understanding. “What does your Army do that your Marines cannot?”

He thought a moment. If this had been a bar in Texas he would’ve said “Win!” But she was asking a serious question. And it wasn’t like she knew anything about the United States. From her perspective all Solarians were a united people. And she probably thought they had one happy government ruling the whole system. Hell, even Mars didn’t have one government and it had started out as only eight colonies. Now, it was eight independent nations.

He swallowed his food. “So, the Marine corps is resp resp responsible to safeguard the Navy and it’s assets. As w w well as be an infantry force f f f f for the Navy. Ship boarding actions, rep repelling boarders and so on. The Army is there to to to take and hold ground on p planets.

So, your Marines do not take and hold ground?” She said more than asked.

“Yeah they do. P P Pretty damned good at it t t too. Not that you’d ev ever hear me tell em.”

“Why not?” She smiled.

He looked offended. “It’s j j just not done, d dear.”

She shook her head with a smile. “OK. The Army cannot take ships or repel boarders?”

“Don’t be silly. That h happens all the time.”

She threw her hands up in exasperation. “Then they should just be shoved into one unit!”

“Non Non Nonsense. Think of h how h hurt those poor little jarheads w would be when they’re told th th they’re being forced into the Army?”

“They would not be upset at all because your -Army- should be forced into the Marines.”

Ben set down his fork and pointed to the doorway. “G G Get outta my house.”

She laughed and took another bite. “I do not see the logic of three branches.”

“Four.”

“What?!”

He was nodding. “Army, N Navy, Air Air Air force and Marines.”

“...WHY?!”

“The Air force handles support of the Army and Marines inside atmosphere. While the Navy handles support in space.”

“Your Navy vehicles cannot go into atmosphere?”

“Sure they c can. Support the infantry that w way all the time.”

She hung her head and groaned. “BUT!” She looked up excited. “Your Air force does not have ships equal to your Navy’s and cannot possibly handle the same duties as they do in space.”

“Sure they do.” He nodded. “Happens all the time.”

She hung her head again. “Sweet Sersira give me strength.,, How are we at a stalemate with you people?”

“M M Maybe you’re more screwed up than y y you think.” He smiled.

When she looked up with a frown he stopped smiling and went back to his food.

“Why did you not go into the Marines? Honest answer this time.”

Ben shrugged. “My father w was Army. So was g grandpa and g g g great grandpa. I hear it’s the the the same for many of those M M Marine boys. PLUS, they’re too new.”

She was surprised. “Really? How so?”

“Well, the Air Force or originally formed out of the Army and g got their own branch about forty years later. But the Ma Ma Marines, despite bleedin and dyin for my country for almost 500 years now. Didn’t get their own branch until 10 years ago. See? They’re too new.” He smiled.

She nodded. “I get it. You do not like Marines.”

“That’s n n not true. M Matter of fact,..” He looked off in thought. “I don’t think I ev ev ever met a jarhead I didn’t like… Huh.”

“Then ‘why’ do you talk so poorly of them?” She gave an incredulous smile.

Ben pointed at himself with his fork. “Because th they would lose resp p pect for me.” Then he pointed the fork at her. “But -not- as m m much as I w would lose for m myself.” He nodded sagely.

“...Well! Between the sex and the conversation, my stay on Ice hole will not be boring.” She gave a huge grin.

They finished breakfast and started clearing the dishes.

“Did you ever meet an Army man you didn’t like?”

“They’re c c called “Soldiers.”

“Ah. Did you ever meet one you did not like?”

“All th the time. Called em Rangers.”

She didn’t get the joke but his dead tone made her laugh. “What did -you- do?”

“Me?” He looked at her. “Conscientious Objector: M M Man of non-violence, l l love and peace. That’s m m me.” He smiled as he washed the dishes.

“Trully? That is funny. Because you have this skull with wings tattooed over your left breast. And it looks kind of…” She cringed.

“Symbole o o of love for m my people.” He nodded. She did not look convinced. “F F Fine. You know what a para para parachute is?”

“You still use those?!” He nodded. “But you have anti-gravity plates. Why would you still use those?!”

Ben shrugged/ “They’re cheap?”

He laughed at her dumbfounded expression. She clearly had a lot to learn about humans.