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Sazahk felt pleased yellow spill down his temples. People had said such things to him before with varying levels of hostility and disdain, but Garin’s voice didn’t possess a trace of sarcasm. Sazahk suspected that he meant it in the most positive way possible. He took his own blood sample and set them both aside. If his suspicions were correct, then the pollutants that had been building in their systems since their first night in the Dead Zone would have plateaued the moment they entered the caves. He looked forward to testing that theory.
“For you to consider me intelligent is more flattering than for you to consider me handsome, anyway.” Garin checked the sharpness of a blade against his thumb.
Sazahk finished his ration bar and zipped his wrapper in a bag so a Fauna A wouldn’t get at it. “I consider you both.”
Garin’s thumb slipped and a bead of red appeared on the skin. “Shit.”
“Are you okay?” Sazahk straightened and reached for Garin’s hand, but Garin shook his head, a blush staining his cheeks and ears.
“Fine, I’m fine.” He smeared the drop of blood away with his forefinger and an awkward chuckle. “Just, uh, you’re laying it on a little thick today.”
“I’m merely stating opinions backed by observable evidence, but I apologize if I’ve embarrassed you or made you uncomfortable.” Sazahk bit his lip. Of course, he’d made Garin uncomfortable. “I should have monitored the verbalization of my opinions more closely, especially considering our recent, dubiously consensual sexual activities.”
Garin’s blush darkened to something vaguely concerning and Sazahk wondered at the surface temperature of the skin on the top of his ears. “It’s, um, it’s really fine, Sazahk.”
Garin stashed his multi-tool and unpacked an unfamiliar contraption from his bag. He shifted his hips as he did, twisting them away from Sazahk, and Sazahk’s eyes fell to his groin. He cocked his head at the tightness pulling the front of Garin’s pants taut.
“Are you feeling any lingering or recurring sensations of arousal?” Sazahk sat up on his heels, suddenly concerned that Garin might have been suffering silently for hours.
“No,” Garin shook his head, and plopped the box-like device down between them, hiding his hips. “Nope.”
“Are you sure?” Sazahk peered around the device, but Garin shifted to keep himself obscured.
“I’m very sure, Sazahk, I’m fine.”
“You’d tell me if you were having anything that might be a reaction to our surroundings, wouldn’t you?” Sazahk studied Garin, his blush, his eyes pinned on the keypad he typed into, his hunched shoulders.
“I would, yes.” Garin hit a button, and the machine whirred to life. “I promise.”
Sazahk eyed him a moment longer, then nodded and sat back to untie his laces. “Alright, I believe you.” He kicked his boots off and curled and flexed his toes, working the blood back into them. “What is that thing?”
“This is a portable atmospheric water generator.” Garin tapped the top of the box fondly. It was about a foot tall, but had a footprint of only a few square inches. “It takes forty-eight hours to extract any useful amount of water and it shouldn’t be moved while it’s working, so I haven’t taken it out yet. But I’m assuming you’ll want to stay in this area for at least a couple of days.”
“That’s a safe assumption, yes.” Sazahk shimmied his legs into the sleeping bag for warmth. The caves didn’t have the same extreme temperature fluctuations as the surface. They just stayed cold.
“Perfect. I’ll feel better with replenished water stores.” Garin pressed a few more buttons, then puttered about with his bag, organizing and setting things to rights, and pushing a Fauna A away when it tried to stick its snout into his pocket. Finally, he settled on the ground with his back against the disruption rod and his tablet propped on his knees.
He stuck an earpiece in one ear, then the flickering light of a video lit up his face. Sazahk watched him smile at whatever he saw and familiar curiosity, along with something unfamiliar and bitter, piqued inside him.
What was he watching?
There were no broadcasts here, no news to keep abreast of. And besides, news never made anyone smile. Whatever Garin was watching, he’d downloaded it before their excursion, meaning he’d known he’d want it.
Sazahk pulled the blankets up around his torso and under his chin as the chill crept across his skin.
The light reflected on Garin’s face changed color as Garin swiped the screen to another video. What sort of videos would Garin have downloaded onto his tablet to carry with him wherever he went? What made him smile like that? What eased the lines around his eyes and softened his lips?
Sazahk tightened the blanket around himself. He knew he wasn’t the sort of company that people sought out, but he was still here in the flesh, which was more than could be said for whoever or whatever was on that screen Garin had his eyes glued to.
The word ‘flesh’ shot an idea into Sazahk’s brain like a bullet.
Pornography.
That was the obvious thing for a virile man to download onto his tablet before isolating himself from others and the internet for an extended period of time. Sazahk swallowed. The unfamiliar bitterness on his tongue coated his throat and he realized what it was.
Jealousy.
It burned down into Sazahk’s stomach, even as he tried to douse it with reason. Garin was entitled to his fantasies and his types and his preferred sexual outlets and the idea that Sazahk could be an acceptable replacement or stopgap for him merely because he was physically present was ludicrous.
