Hamartia

Hamartia - Part 6

Mikaela wiped her sweaty brow with the back of her hand. She felt her body wilting in the heat, a condition worsened by the increasing emptiness in her gut. They'd long ago eaten the few salvaged stale ration bars. She scanned the flora, noticing quite a few species contained oversized angiosperms. She moved closer to one that contained red globes the size of her fist. The carpal was shiny and smooth. She dug a fingernail in, revealing white inner flesh.

"Hey, Ty!" she called out. He was ahead, scanning the terrain with the M.U.L.E. When he looked over his shoulder she pointed to the red globes and asked, "Do you think these are edible?"

He moved toward her and inspected the patch of arboribus. "Nature usually uses high-intensity colors as a warning," he said. "These are bright red."

She pulled one red globe from an overhanging limb and sniffed it. It smelled both sweet and earthy. "How much do you think the nanotechnology can absorb if it's poisonous?"

He inhaled through his nose and shrugged his shoulders. "These are small," he said. "At your size, you could probably eat one and be fine. But I—"

Mikaela dug her teeth in and groaned with pleasure. The taste was crisp and cool. The texture was grainy between her teeth, yet it covered her tongue and lips in sweet juice.

"—Would run a sample through the M.U.L.E. before you ate it," Ty said with a laugh. He shook his head. "What does it taste like?"

She spoke with her mouth full. "It's good. Mostly sweet. Little bit sour. Try one."

Ty reached overhead, reluctantly plucking another sample. He turned it in his hands, his eyebrows scrunching together when he noticed a soft circular indentation in the one he'd picked. He turned to the cleaner side and took a bite.

"That is good," he commented, his mouth full. Then he shrieked worse than the Hamartia's failing engine. He tossed the angiosperm on the ground before doubling over, spitting out the contents of his mouth.

"What is it?" Mikaela asked, her own mouth full.

"Something crawling inside!" he yelled.

Mikaela continued to eat as she leaned over to inspect his discarded food. There was a small wriggling creature curling around the angiosperm's core, thrashing its exposed bit sideways in a circular motion. "It's just a little thing," she laughed, turning back to her husband's antics. "Probably good protein."

Ty was busy washing his mouth out with their precious water. "Haha," he mumbled.

She froze mid bite, suddenly looking down at the delicious thing in her hand with new eyes. Ever obstinate, though, she took one last bite before tossing the core into the bushes.

"I've eaten worse," she said, stepping toward her husband. She pat his back roughly as he continued to drink, gargle, and spit. "You've never lived until you've eaten blue-green algae from the lower levels ten days in a row."

"Never had the pleasure," he said, his voice a deep rumble.

He turned and smirked as he wiped water away from his mouth with the back of his hand. With his cheeks flushed red and his lips wet ... he looked rumpled in all the right ways. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. He gently ran his hands up and down her spine as he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

She looked up at him with a grin. "I'll have Ma whip up a batch the next time we visit." She stepped back, cocking an eyebrow. "We'll see how far you can stretch your genteel upper-sector manners."

He stepped forward, pulling her back to him. "I'll eat my whole serving and ask for more, because your mother took the time to prepare it."

She leaned in and kissed him chastely, the barest touching of lips. "Such a gentleman."

He beamed down at her with his patented megawatt smile. Logically, she knew adrenaline was coursing through her system because of the crash. Endorphins from the long hike and the massive amount of serotonin flooding her brain due to the over abundance of sunshine on this planet certainly weren't helping her remember her fears and doubts about their marriage either.

He raised his eyebrows. "The way you're looking at me—"

She bit the inside of her cheek and forced her eyes away from him. "I'm just uncomfortable and itchy. I'm covered in sweat. I need a shower." She said the last words slowly, eyebrows raised.

He didn't take the bait.

"Need me to help you scratch anything in particular?" he asked instead, a smirk tugging at his lips.

She pinned her eyes at him. "You're intolerable."

He sauntered closer, pressing all of him against all of her. "I'm adorable. You've said so yourself many times."

Everything on this planet was boiling hot, including her emotions. She felt like a raw nerve exposed to air for the first time in weeks. She suddenly wanted to rip his clothes off and hers too.

He must have been able to read her expression because his smile grew even wider. "Come on, love, we'll have time for that later at your waterfall."

He took her hand and moved past her, tugging her forward.

"Waterfall?" she asked.

He looked over his shoulder and smiled. "That's what you saw right? Water ... falling?"