He was marching behind her, determined not to fall behind the rapid and steady pace she set, which didn't seem to vary when the path became steep, even though she wore sandals. It didn't hurt his motivation to be watching, beneath the pouch, her delectable derrière wiggling in the fashionable rips of her jeans. She'd removed the blouse she'd worn in the hotel, revealing a tight bikini top, so only a thin string crossed her otherwise bare back.
Still, the trail was tough going, mostly uphill from the trailhead, winding around through small stands of forest alternating with grassy slopes where the sun beat down on them. She stopped at a promontory to take another reading, which she'd been doing along the way, giving him a chance to take a drink from his pack. "How's it going?" He handed her his bottle to share.
"Not quite yet."
The cylinder she studied at these times was a new one, a bit thicker and longer than the others. She just stared at it resting on her palm. It didn't even light up like the other one.
"Maybe if you explained something about what you're looking for," he tried. Again.
"I wish I could. I really do."
They trekked on. It was mid-week, early afternoon, warm and sunny, on one of the longest trails in the park. There'd been some cars in the lot, but they'd encountered no one for at least half an hour.
At a big, flat rock at the center of an outcropping near the peak she said, "Ah, that looks good. Olivine. That's good enough."
He didn't know why that rock, or any rock, would be especially suitable, but when she climbed up onto it he followed, happy to sit on the hard, warm stone and get his pack off. He lay back and relaxed, staring up at the sky. He'd been working nonstop for months. Yes, Manitoba was as green as anyone could ask for, but the observatory, as they called it, was still a construction site. So mostly mud and noise. This spot was blue and green and quiet, except for some crows.
And scratching sounds. Nearby. He lifted his head up to see her squatting and staring down as if she'd found an interesting bug or wildflower. She scratched across the rock with a stone. He lay back down. He had no idea what she could be doing, but knew his questions would only meet with short, unsatisfying answers. His phone beeped. Herk had sent him a meeting invitation for tomorrow morning. Probably wanted an update. Fine. He accepted. The cost reductions he'd been forced to make on his concentrator could also benefit the LASSO detector, which Herk would like. He spent some time mentally listing them. Maybe he dozed.
A shadow darkened the light above his closed eyes. He opened them to see her squatting over him, smiling down on him. "Come on, let's go."
"Great!" He reached one hand to her breast and the other up a thigh to her crotch. He'd been wanting to touch her the whole time he'd been following her.
"Yeah, I'm horny too," she said, "but we need to keep going." But instead of standing, she sat on him, rubbing herself on his crotch through her jeans. "Okay, just for a minute." She scooted down his body a bit and opened the zipper of his jeans. "I have to say, zippers are a pretty cool invention. That sound they make." She fished out his still soft cock and took it between her lips.
He tensed immediately. His hips rose on their own to get more of himself into her. Her tongue seemed to be all over his shrunken penis as her suction pulled blood into it and made him swell even before his brain told it to grow. He groaned and ahhed out loud. He seemed to get an especially detailed picture of the inside of her mouth, maybe because she was squishing his temporarily soft flesh into her in a new way. Always previously he'd been hard, or almost hard, before she took him between her lips. Just being around her made him hard. His soft cock now learned how rough her palate could be, how strong her tongue muscles were when they flexed against him, and how her tongue's texture made her licks extra delicious. She was not the first woman to fellate him from completely soft. He'd been awakened more than once by a girlfriend in the morning, or even in the dark, with some affectionate attention. Or a surprise blow job while cuddling on a sofa after a movie. Yet once again there was something special about her, some way in which she stimulated and pleasured him in ways that no other woman had ever discovered.
His cock felt electric. She had to lift her head to keep doing whatever she was doing to his cockhead as he swelled and lengthened. She sucked him enthusiastically, as if she were starving for him. He felt succulent. He was ready right now to give up his cream for her.
But she stopped. "I really want to sit on this thing," she said, "but I know where that will lead and I need to get this done." She stood. "Sorry." He sat up on his elbows, his cock still pointing straight up into the blue sky. "Awake now?"
He closed his eyes. "Not quite." He yawned, not totally a fake. "Maybe a bit more."
A whack on his cock startled his eyes open. She poked his ribs. "That help?" But she didn't wait for an answer. She gave him a few more sucks. His body involuntarily jerked with each one. "That will have to do for now."
He stood up awkwardly, having to keep himself straight in a way that didn't make his jeans stress his erection in what was now a tight hole.
She took his cock in her hand and kissed him, Frenching wetly. "I know this all seems crazy. I really appreciate your help." She squeezed him hard.
He was about to suggest she just bend over and let him do her, but he was distracted by the scratch marks she'd made. While he'd been napping, she'd scrawled geometric shapes over the rock in several clusters, connecting the clusters with lines. Some kind of diagram that reminded him of petroglyphs.
He had to undo his pants to pull his cock back into his underwear. She rubbed him through his jeans when he'd put himself back together. "I was taking notes," she non-explained. Then she turned and climbed off the rock.
"Wait. Should I take a photo?" He pointed at the diagram.
"Huh? Oh." She tried and mostly succeeded in keeping the condescension out of her voice. "Thanks. I've got it." She pointed at her head.
He picked up the pack and followed her. He expected to have to keep going up to the summit but she headed back down the path.
At the parking lot, she said, "Can I see your phone?" She went to the map app and scrolled around in it. "There. That's our next stop."
"Um." It was a big green patch by a northern lake. "That's a bird sanctuary."
"Birds won't bother the readings."
"Good to know." He wasn't sure she'd picked up on his sarcasm. "Let's see. Open today. Long drive, though."
"Then let's get started."
# # #
They drove down the park road to the highway.
Earlier, as they'd left the hotel, he'd seen her transfer the contents of the small bag the agent had given her— more gray cylinders— to her pouch and then press one to her forearm. It looked to him as if she was injecting something, although the cylinder was blunt-ended and didn't leave a mark.
"I'm going to take a little nap," she said and tried to make herself comfortable in the seat. He showed her how to put the back down, a feature that pleasantly surprised her. She'd gone to sleep soon, and stayed asleep on the highway and the winding road up to the park until they pulled into the park's parking lot.
Now, awake and watching the drive down the winding road, she grew tense. "Is something bothering you?" He put a hand on her shoulder.
"No! Keep your hands on that thing!"
"The steering wheel? It's okay, we're perfectly safe."
She waved her hands around. "You could go over the cliff any second!"
It wasn't much of a drop-off and there was a guardrail. At the bottom of the mountain the road became straighter and level, which helped, and soon they were on the freeway. She looked all around desperately, as if trying to find a way to jump out of the car.
"Don't worry."
"But— but— all these people." She waved at the cars in the other lanes. "They could just—" She waved toward the lane they were in.
"Crash into us? They won't. And I'm watching." He laughed at her, doing his best to imitate the condescending attitude she liked to display at some of his questions.
She side-eyed him as she continued to monitor the traffic, which wasn't bad yet.
He put a hand on her leg to reassure her. Which gave him an idea. He ran his fingers over her stomach, playing with her navel. She didn't protest and seemed to relax a little. He worked his hand into her jeans, entirely by feel as he kept his eyes on the road, and soon could feel her clit through the cloth of her panties. She slouched a bit, which gave him better access. He glanced at her and saw she hadn't panicked, so he kept going. Soon her hips were matching the rhythm of his rubbing and hands moved from the armrest to her crotch, over his hand. Her eyes closed.
He had to take his hand out a few times to change lanes, but she let him back in each time. Her underwear moistened. She made small sounds of pleasure. He thought perhaps he could make her come, but he didn't want to. It was better to just help her enjoy the ride.
When he pulled up to the entrance booth, he patted her leg as a signal. She opened her eyes and looked around. He paid their admission and handed her the brochure. She studied the included map while he found a parking space.
"I'm so fucking horny," she said, "I'm ready to jump you right here." She put a hand between his legs and rubbed him. He spread his legs as much as he could in the driver's seat and turned toward her, but she'd already pulled her hand back. "Sorry, no, need to get this done." She got out of the car.
They walked down a wide path to an observation point where a group of people were observing distant birds in a marsh. "What?" she asked, pointing at the birds.
"Herons."
"Amazing. Do you think anyone has sequenced their DNA?"
"I imagine so. Why?"
She watched them for a minute, not answering him, then kept on, up a slope into trees and through to a grassy area, then went on a side path, through more trees, into a meadow with a large outcropping. She took out the new device; he sat on a flat rock nearby. Soon she was drawing more petroglyphs with a stick in a muddy patch.
She came back to him sooner than he'd expected. "Finished already?"
"More data," she said, as if that answered his question. "Phone?"
He took it out of his pocket and gave it to her. She put her other hand on his crotch and fondled him through his jeans while she worked the phone one-handed. "Here," she said, after a minute or two of fondling and gesturing.
He looked. "A beach?"
