The Abyss of Time

Chapter Thirty Three

"I think I've still got darker skin than you," said Zanele the next morning, standing in front of the bowl of dirty, soapy water as she looked down at herself. "Wish we had a full length mirror so I could see myself properly."

Her whole body was gold now, from her head, under its crown of clean, flyaway black hair, to her toes. They all were, Miller saw as he stood to examine himself. Beside him, Alan and Connie Felgin were still asleep, having exhausted themselves with their scientific investigations into the gold microbes long after their mutually agreed sleep period.

"I'm harvest gold," Zanele continued. "You know, the colour we almost agreed on for the nursery when I was pregnant with Jack, while you're more summer gold. Look." She placed her arm alongside his. She was right, he saw.

"Well, all that melanin is still there, in your skin," Miller reminded her. He took her hand in his and turned it palm uppermost. "You're still lighter here," he said, stroking her palm with his finger. "Just the way I like it."

She took him in her arms and kissed him. "You say the nicest things," she said, staring into his eyes. Her eyes were gold as well, he saw, although it was a dark, brownish gold. And even the whites of her eyes had a slight tinge of gold to them. The thought of all those tiny bugs swarming around in her body bothered him, but there was nothing he could do about it. All he could do was hope that it was the blessing it seemed to be.

"Ugh," said Lucy lazily, rolling over and looking at them. "Get dressed before the Felgins see you like that."

"Don't be silly," said Zanele with a smile. "They're practically family now." She disengaged herself from her husband, though, and pulled on her coveralls.

They had a quick breakfast, Miller waking up the bleary Felgins so they could eat as well, and then they put on their surface suits. They'd patched the tiny holes the midge-things had made in them, just in case, and Miller examined the repairs carefully. Even if it had been an unnecessary, wasted effort, it still made him feel better to see the tiny circles of triple weave still adhering firmly to the outer skin. The more barriers they put between themselves and this planet that was constantly trying to kill them, the better.

Going outside, they saw that the others had had the same idea and were collapsing their tents, loading all their equipment back onto the mules. Felgin looked ruefully at all his newly printed laboratory equipment. There was no way they'd have room to carry it. "I suppose all this goes back in to be recycled." he said, looking sad.

"I'm afraid so," Miller told him.

Felgin nodded reluctantly and began breaking the equipment down into chunks small enough to go into the printer's input hopper, where it would be broken down into its individual elements. The rare elements would be kept, put back in storage, while the common elements were dumped. There would be plenty in the environment all around them the next time they needed to make anything.

Soon, the scientist only had his bio-analyser left, which he slung over his shoulder in its satchel. "I feel naked without the rest," he admitted sadly.

"When we get to the Alpha site you can have all the equipment you want," Miller promised him. The botanist nodded with a small smile.

"And now," said Sam, "we need to be getting on. We've got a lot of time to make up. Off you go, lads."

Matthews and Dundee nodded and raced off on their quads. Miller had decided to keep Jack and William Bradley, his two best fighters, with him, riding slowly alongside the main column on their quads, in case he had any more trouble from Buford, although the security man seemed unusually subdued at the moment. Perhaps he was feeling guilty at firing at the teardrop. Whatever the reason, Miller was grateful for it as they trudged along behind the two quad-riding scouts, the four mules trundling slowly behind them.