Saviors 101

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

A bright Saturday afternoon, most of which Dana had spent trying to read up on being a Messiah and finding no useful references in any of her books, had turned into a cool evening with a red-lit sky better than any she could simulate in her planetarium.

She met Sam at the Kirsten building where the aeronautics department hung out. Dana had never wandered around this part of campus before, though it was only a half-dozen buildings from her own, it stood in a curious campus cul-de-sac. It was a two-story monolithic brick cube. There were a few windows in the corner, and fuzzed glass on the door, and that was it. All the rest was featureless brick.

Not quite her idea of an ideal spot for a tryst, but Sam seemed to think it might do well. How much of it was because it was “his turf” and he’d feel more at ease here? Was she being metaphorically dragged back to his cave? Maybe it was best not to think too much.

His hand was warm in hers, so perhaps, just perhaps she really didn’t care where he led her.

“This is one place I can guarantee we’ll be alone.” He punched in a six-digit key code to unlock the front doors.

It was like walking into a tomb. The weight of the place was immense. The sheer volume of concrete that must have been required was unreal.

“Was this ever a bomb shelter?” Her voice didn’t even echo in the narrow hallway.

He led her through another locked door and up a flight of steel stairs without bothering to turn on a light. It was totally dark except for a few small console lights. That, at least, was comfortably familiar from her planetarium work.

Then he started flicking switches on various systems. As each panel lit up more controls were revealed. Far more than she was used to. Without hesitation he popped a few last switches and spun a large, graduated dial to ‘5.’

A gentle sound filled the room, coming from the solid concrete wall behind them. An engine started. One of the two giant fans he’d told her about.

He fished a couple of blankets and a bright pink book light out from behind a console. So, he’d made preparations for her visit, just as she had for his two night’s ago. That was very encouraging.

By the console’s light, she finally realized she was facing a window and a heavy steel door on the opposite wall. It looked as if it belonged on a submarine. Large steel bars were notched down into equally serious fittings.

“What are you doing?”

“Well, I don’t have any stars.” He grunted as he unlatched the door and swung it open. He dropped a board into the crack that would prevent the door from closing.

“But perhaps I can offer you a summer’s breeze.”

She followed him through the heavy door and out into the wind. Indeed, if she closed her eyes, it was the gentle flow of warm air just like a perfect summer evening. The glow of console lights through the window did little to light the space. He offered her the book light.

Switched on, it revealed a room the size of her bedroom, done in gray and white concrete. Except it had no windows other than the ones back into the control room.

It was also missing two walls. To the left and right the room faded into darkness.

At the center was a pedestal which held aloft a gangly object that looked like an articulated wing. Like a massive, nasty wing that should be attached to a body. With a skeletal hand that threatened to reach out and grab her throat from less than a yard away.

She was seriously considering a scream when Sam caught the fixed direction of her attention.

“We’re doing a flight test for Paleontology. It’s a life-size mockup of a Pteranodon wing. That’s the big brother to a Pterodactyl. We’re testing it at speeds up to sixty mph for lift trying to determine its most likely flying speed and glide distance. Isn’t that one of the slickest things you’ve ever seen?”

She studied the great wing apparently shaped of bamboo and painted cotton. It was nearly the width of the wind tunnel, so accurate that she found herself ducking to avoid the wing beat. It gave her the absolute creeps.

“Okay, not the most romantic setting, but I don’t have the stars of the universe at my beck and call, just the winds of the world.”

He led her upwind until the wing had faded into darkness. The faint whoosh of the fan carried to her. Though it was too steady to be through trees, it was a nice gesture.

He spread the blankets and took the book light from her numb fingers and set it facing into the interminable darkness of the tunnel. If she really squinted, ignored the concrete beneath her feet, and the perfect steadiness of the wind, she just might imagine they were off together in some exotic locale that wasn’t totally and completely unromantic. No flower, food, or drink. Book light instead of candle, but maybe flames weren’t allowed in here, and creepy as hell Pteranodon wing.

Clearly he needed a bit of education on how to charm a woman, but he was making the effort, which was better than any other man her friends had ever mentioned. So, she lay down beside him on the pile of blankets and let him stroke her cheek and neck in the gentle twilit breeze of the Kirsten Wind Tunnel.

When she brushed her hand through his fine hair, she could feel it flutter and tickle across the back of her hand. Maybe this was better than she’d first thought.

It was easy to let herself sink into his arms. To close her eyes and let herself go.

A very clouded part of her mind shouted that he’d better have bought a lot of protection, as her collection still rested beneath the repair kit in the planetarium console. The rest of her simply reveled. His touch. His lips through the thin material of her blouse. His long hair tickling her cheek and neck as she dragged him closer. His hands kneading her back right where the muscles were often the tightest.

The foggy corner of semi-rational thought considered telling him that he didn’t need to take his time, she wanted him now. But what he was doing now was so spectacular, she didn’t want that to stop either. She dug her heels into his behind as she struggled to drive her body closer to his.

Her eyes fluttered open for a moment as he moved lower along her body. His hands cradling her buttocks, nice strong hands. And his mouth testing the fabric of her jeans where—

“s**t!” She’d have jolted upright if it hadn’t been for the way Sam held her at the moment.

A woman stood looking down at her.

A tall woman.

A tall woman with long, dark hair down past her shoulders.

A tall woman with long, dark hair down past her shoulders, and a smile that showed very white teeth.