Page 10 of Legend of Scorpio
“You know I’m going to do it anyhow.”
Again, she exhaled loudly. “Don’t break anything.”
As if he’d be so clumsy.
She exited through a draped doorway for another section of the temporary habitat leaving him alone, and he did indeed snoop. The very sturdy tent he was in appeared to be for meals and storage. The crates along the sides held food supplies for the most part, but some contained equipment as well. Tucked in a far corner, almost unseen for the tarp heaped atop, he found a duffel bag and, wonder of wonders, clothes inside. Men’s clothing from a less-than-sizable fellow. A rifle through the items had him able to cobble together an outfit of snug track pants and a T-shirt that stretched.
He left the domed tent for the next one, where scientific equipment had been set up along with some computers. Sweet.
He sat down and moved the mouse to wake the device. To his surprise, there was no login screen. Then again, who would be snooping on the doctor’s computer out here? It had an internet connection, mostly likely via satellite, seeing as how he’d seen a receiver outside. He opened a browser window and logged onto the website Aries finally agreed to—not easily. It took Aquarius a decade of badgering before the boss let them get with the times.
The casual observer who happened across the website Zodiacsforworldpeace dot org saw a graphic claiming “website coming soon.” Scorpio clicked on the corners of the screen, top right, then bottom, bottom left, then top, then middle.
A box popped up flashing,Username?
He typed it in with his passcode and then answered his three security questions. Favorite show?Archer. Color? Black, duh. Best restaurant? McDonalds. The screen changed to a page with symbols, one for each of the crew. He clicked on the curled horns for Aries and reported.
Arrived in Antarctica and was observed by the doctor, who is a girl! Could have mentioned that. Says she has no object. Not too crazy about me either. Doesn’t believe a word I say.
He leaned back in the chair and waited. It took a few minutes for a reply.
What the fuck do you mean she saw you arrive? I gave you coordinates that should have been a mile from her camp.
So, I might have messed up my math a bit. I landed a few feet away from her, in my birthday suit.
A short pause then,Sage claims she didn’t see a future where you didn’t get there naked.
He didn’t know if that should make him feel better or not. Was he really that inept at calculations?
Aries kept typing.She says to stay close to the doctor. The object will reveal itself shortly, and when it does, that will trigger a chain reaction. Expect possible hostiles.
And him without any weapons.
Don’t suppose you could beam me over a kit?
Can’t. Sage says this first part of the mission has to be done by you and you alone. I’m sure you’ll figure something out.
Well yeah, he would. Because if Sage had faith, then so did he. That faith still had him scrounging for weapons and coming up empty-handed. He sure hoped he didn’t face off against any guns, or worse, though, because he doubted anyone would be intimidated by the tripod he’d split and sharpened into spears.
You know who else wasn’t intimidated by him? The doctor.
She woke and walked into the dining tent, saw him, and drawled, “And here I’d hoped the seal returned to finish you off.”
CHAPTER 4
When Rebecca left Scorpio—whoreally took the whole Zodiac theme to the limits—she truly believed she dreamed. None of what he said made sense. Men didn’t appear out of nothing. Or wrestle seals barehanded. Or claim they needed her to help them on a quest that would save the world.
Any second she’d wake up, and realize she was alone, that the whole thing had just been a vivid hallucination. Only, the next morning, she walked into the dining tent and saw him, clad in a ridiculous outfit.
Did her libido care his T-shirt molded his upper body and left his naval uncovered or that the track pants ended mid-shin? Nope. She saw the hunk of man and suddenly had a hankering for another kiss.
Despite her less-than-pleasant greeting, Scorpio smiled. “Do you always wake up so cheerful?”
She glared as she stomped for the coffee pot already full and steaming, obviously set on a timer. “Only when I have uninvited guests.”
“I’ll leave as soon as we find?—”
“The artifact. Yup, I remember. But I hate to break it to you: I’ve got work to do, so you’ll have to go scrounging on your own.”