Page 34 of Right on Time
The gate swished open, startling them both. A boy rushed out, half running and half flying.
“Good day, Subcommander! My lady!” the little Gaenthian shouted over his shoulder but did not slow down. Were his wings strong enough at this age, he would be entirely flying, no doubt.
“Watch it, Biriniel J!” Nitiel shouted after Biriniel’s son. With only a handful of teens on the station, Nitiel knew all of them despite having spent a limited time here. This one, in particular, kept getting into trouble.
“Who was that?” Loe asked, looking in the direction in which the kid had disappeared around the corner.
“A future warrior. If he learns to stick to the proper discipline.”
“He will be a soldier? But he looked like a… fledgling!”
Nitiel found himself smiling. “Biriniel Junior is far from ready to fight. It will be at least a year until his wings are strong enough to be subjected to the warrior tournament.”
“Oh?”
Nitiel’s smile broadened: he had piqued her interest, her desire to argue forgotten. “We do not allow our offspring onto the battlefield without testing their might first. Tournaments are held several times during the solar year. Until then, the boys train wherever their parents see fit. Biriniel of the Downward Horn Clan chose this station as his son’s training ground. The Arboretum offers good flight training opportunities both with your own wings and on the back of a cibiri. Come, let me show you.”
Loe followed him inside the garden with eyes wide open. He smirked at her slack-jawed expression upon taking the Arboretum in.
“This place… The sheer size… The trees… The colors… Awesome!”
Nitiel grinned. He had gotten the shine back in Loe’s eyes, and without doing anything but bringing her to a garden.
He tried to imagine how this place would look like to a Terran. Trees with pale-blue trunks so broad three Gaenthians holding hands could not encircle them. Pink-colored canopies so high one had to crane their neck to see where they were almost touching the transparent domed ceiling. Flowering shrubs in vibrant colors attracting the birds and butterflies that scientists had carefully selected from various planets to build a unique ecosystem right here, in space. There was no one in sight, so the place was like a wild forest under the natural light of Jupiter.
Loe’s eyes followed the mating dance of two butterflies over a bed of fluorescent-green flowers. Then she observed the chuncachoo perched on a tree and singing its mating song; the bright-yellow bird half Loe’s size was a sight to behold. “My God, Nitiel… I love this place!”
He chuckled. “I can tell. Come, let us take a walk. The main path will take us straight to the cibiris’ enclosure. I think you will like them as well.”
“Those are riding animals, right?” she asked as she took his offered hand. He hadn’t planned to touch her again, but the path was uneven and her Terran shoes looked too flat for comfort.
“We ride the cibiris, yes. But unlike the creatures your kind ride to war, like horses, camels, and elephants, our cibiris take us to the air.”
“They’re like Pegasus, then! I can’t wait to see them. They won’t try to eat me, will they?”
Nitiel chuckled once more. “Do not worry, the cibiris are herbivores and they’re well-trained. The younger ones are wilder, but that’s why they are held in a special enclosure, not roaming freely like the adults.”
“Oh, good. Because I’ve had enough contact with dangerous animals on this station.”
“No, no more dangers for you, Loe.” Just the danger that his desire posed. But Nitiel would not let it get the better of him ever again.
CHAPTER 17
To Hell with Panties
Chloe couldn’t stop gaping at the colorful surroundings. This was like a tropical paradise on another planet, with purple, blue, and pink vegetation and bizarre-looking insects and birds. For some reason, seeing Jupiter through the window hadn’t made her feel so far from home as walking through this alien forest did. Perhaps it was because here she could touch and smell the otherworldly, be completely immersed in it. It felt strange yet exhilarating.
She hadn’t meant what she had told Nitiel: that he had wasted her time by bringing her to the station. Though her business plans had been postponed, coming here was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. A unique chance to explore an alien space station. Beside a Gaenthian who drove her nuts with his mixed signals, but still. Staying here wouldn’t have been the same without Nitiel.
“There they are. The cibiris.” He guided her to a peephole among the tall blue hedge through which moving figures could be seen. “From here you can observe them without them noticing you.”
She peeked through the leaves, and he placed his face right next to hers to whisper in her ear about the cibiris. Her knees went wobbly. Was she hearing what he was saying? Absolutely not. She was caught in the magic that his voice was weaving. And the sweetest thing was that he was not doing this on purpose, like some player taking advantage of the situation. He was simply being… Nitiel.
“… closer, Loe?”
“Uh?”
“Are you ready to get closer?”