Further up.......

Calvo knew that to venture higher meant risking the **** cold of a Tau-Ceti night.....and worse. Tha native flora and fauna of the planet had barely been studied, exept for that tiny section that had been cleared for the prison. There were even rumours and wild stories of Indigenes, intelligent life forms hidden among the enourmous, planet-spanning forrests of Tau Ceti Two. Still, to go down again,toward the beach and the prison, was he felt, to invitie certain capture. The only way was onward and upward, and hope to clear the top of the ridge before night fell.

......................................................................................................................

It felt like months later. In fact, it can only have been hours. Calvo lay in a small cleft, gentle snow begining to settle around, and over, his barely moving form. The cold no longer seemed to bother him. Earlier the wind had seemed like a cruel knife, cutting easily through his clothing and his raw skin, to chill the very marrow of his bones. Now, the keening wind was almost soothing. The clear thinking part of his mind, the cold, rational, voice of logic, told him that this was a bad sign, that he should try to move. But he could summon neither the energy, nor the desire.

Calvo's eyes glanced round at the slope on which he would die. Well, at least he had cleared the top of the ridge.

Someone was standing over him. How had it...she?...got so close. Skin like...like blue porcelein, the shade of the seas on this world. Hair of a black so deep, it shaded to purple, running in a ridge over her head, like a mohawk, then down her slendern back. Almond shaped, slightly slanted eyes of pure midnight, no whites or irises...full lips of a deeper blue than the skin....Calvo wondered how they tasted. Her clothing seemed to consist of one strip of satin-like cloth, would first round her slim neck, then around her large, beautifully high breasts, barely covering her nipples, once about her hips.

""You.....you're not real......"

Darkness swallowed him.....