Chapter 14
Han
Even though Talins only had one meal a day and preferred to eat in the evening, it seemed Rensom and Sandar had read up on human and Ugarian eating habits and acted accordingly. By the time she and Zeph emerged from the emergency shelter the next morning, there was food ready.
“Welcome to a new rotation,” Sandar called out.
Han blinked, unprepared for Sandar’s greeting as she emerged from the cool dark of the shelter. “Uh, good morning.”
Zeph sounded a soft rumble of amusement. “I’ll inform them about your lack of awareness in the mornings,” he murmured.
“All of you are odd for waking up so…so…awake,” she grumbled, making her way to where everyone was gathered.
“I thought we could all sit outside while it’s still cool,” Sandar said as she sat heavily on one of the chairs next to a small two-person table.
There were platters of steaming food on the table along with several canisters of drinks. Tumoro was already sitting there and eating fast enough to make Han worry he might choke.
“This is so nice, thank you,” Han said, sitting across from Tumoro. Zeph made an unhappy sound and she looked up, confused. “What’s wrong? You said you weren’t hungry earlier.”
“I’m not interested in food.” He rubbed a hand over his head. “Uh, that chair looks uncomfortable.”
She chuckled and stood up. “You’re right. You’re a much more comfortable seat.”
With a purr, he picked her up so he could take the seat with her in his lap. She needed to remember that being close and touching her was imperative for him. She didn’t mind, but it was going to take some getting used to.
“Perfect,” she said, wiggling a little in his lap.
“This is really good!” Tumoro said, mouth half full of food. “Rensom made it fresh without a reconstitutor!”
“It smells amazing,” Han said, looking over at Rensom as he sat down next to Sandar with a mug of tea.
“I looked up what humans can comfortably digest,” Rensom said, handing the mug to Sandar. “All that should be both palatable and nutritious for you.”
Their chairs were close together. As she watched, they leaned their heads together, rubbed cheeks, then straightened up. Aww, Rensom and Sandar were adorable.
“Thank you for making all this for us.” Before Han could reach for any food, Zeph picked up a round of flatbread, scooped up some food with it, and held it to her mouth.
She was getting used to the way he liked to feed her, but she could tell it was going to be hard on him when they got back to Inneeko and she wouldn’t let him do it in front of her family.
Her sisters and cousins would never let her live it down! Not to mention all the sour looks her Aunt Gilla would give them. No, he could feed her in private, but not at family gatherings.
“I received a message from the port,” Sandar said. “The supplies are still on schedule to arrive today.”
Han swallowed and held a hand over her mouth to keep Zeph from feeding her so she could talk. “Are you going to stay here?”
“No, we are going with you and Zeph to Inneeko,” Rensom said. “Sandar and I spent most of the night talking about it. The empire has a long reach, and the Ilgorian Empire offers a level of safety we won’t find anywhere else.”
“We’re going to empty out most of the supplies and use the crates to move the things we don’t want to leave behind,” Sandar explained.
“What about this place?” Tumoro asked, waving an ear to indicate the compound around them.
Rensom answered him. “We’ve already sent out several inquiries to Leemron research groups to see if they want to buy us out. It’s dangerous and difficult to set up compounds here, so many groups would be highly interested in acquiring an already established facility, even if it’s a little small.”
“I’m slightly disappointed to leave. This place is fascinating,” Sandar murmured. “But I’m worried about my child. I want access to medical professionals more than I want to finish our research.”
Han squeaked with excitement. “You guys could study the grasslands!”
Rensom and Sandar sounded questioning rumbles at the same time.
For the first time, Han didn’t have her pack on her shoulder, so she couldn’t pull out her information square to show them.
“I can show you images later, but Inneeko has this area no one can live in. It circumnavigates the planet along the equator.”
Sandar let out a negative rumble. “I’m sorry to inform you, but that’s not special. Dead zones are common.”
“I misspoke. None of us can live there. It’s green and thriving, full of this grass that won’t die, no matter what you do.
The plant is so tough it’ll punch through just about any material and will grow several feet in a single night.
The Ugarians that first settled the planet tried everything but finally decided not to build in that zone. ”
“The grasslands haven’t been studied before?” Rensom asked.
“A little, but mostly to see if the grasses could be either killed or used for something. After they realized the plants were unstoppable, inedible, and useless for fuel or building, they basically ignored the grasslands. There’re bugs and animals living there that haven’t even been named. We just call them the grassies.”
She had both Sandar and Rensom’s full attention.
“How many species of bugs and animals do you think live in the grasslands?” Sandar asked.
Han frowned. She might’ve grown up only a few miles from the grasslands, but they’d always been a place in the background. Somewhere kids went to have adventures but nothing you really thought about outside of that. It was just there.
“Um, I don’t know,” she said with a little shrug.
“Maybe a couple dozen types of beetles? I mean, there’s a lot of different colors, and we used to collect them during flying season, but I don’t know if the colors mean anything.
Then there are the pancakes. They are these flat creatures.
I don’t know what they are, but they sort of move by wiggling their edges.
They’re kind of slimy and get stinky when you touch them, so no one messes with them.
Anyway, I think I’ve got some of Inneeko’s UniBase on my information square if you want to look at it. ”
Sandar and Rensom sounded loud rumbles of agreement.
“After you finish breakfast,” Zeph said and urged her to eat another bite.
“Of course,” Rensom agreed. “We’ll have plenty of time to study on the journey to Inneeko.”
Han grimaced as she chewed. She was quick to do the hand in front of her mouth thing again. If he wanted to keep feeding her, they were going to need to work on allowing her to talk.
“It’s going to be a crowded trip. Zeph’s ship is pretty small,” she warned them.
“How small?” Sandar asked.
Zeph told them the size using some measurement her INT couldn’t translate.
“That is going to be uncomfortable!” Sandar responded with an amused rumble.
Rensom bumped her shoulder with his. “It reminds me of when we first got here and had to sleep in the trundle.”
“Don’t remind me,” Sandar said. “Remember when the temporary powercell for the fence failed and we had to wait in the trundle for two rotations before someone from the port could bring us a new cell?”
They continued to chat about the early days on Misorm while Zeph fed her. Tumoro had finished shoveling food into his maw. He put an elbow on the table and rested his head in his hand, his ears half folded with contentment.
“Are there any formal schools on Inneeko?” Tumoro asked. “I’m really good with children. I was in charge of my younger siblings before I went to work for Nelsha.”
“Inneeko has an Ugarian Base education system,” Han said. “Last time I visited, one of the schools needed extra minders. Maybe they still do.”
“Did you go to an Ugarian school?” Sandar asked.
“Everyone on Inneeko can access the education system free of charge,” Han said.
“Not all places in the Ilgorian Federation do this, but most do. It’s highly encouraged for children to attend and get at least the Base 1 level education.
I got to Base 3 before I got bored. There’s no upper-level education on Inneeko, but our sister planet has three upper-level institutions to study at. ”
“It isn’t required for the children to go to school?” Rensom asked.
“No,” Han said. “ It’s up to the family. Some of the schools work hard to accommodate the families by setting attendance hours different for different ages.”
Sandar let out a surprised rattle. “The children don’t live at the schools?”
“Not unless it’s a special type of school,” Han said. “Some programs are immersive, but even then it’s usually for a limited number of days.”
“That’s so different from our empire.” Sandar rubbed a hand over her belly. “I look forward to being in this child’s life.”
“This child and any other children you decide to have,” Han agreed.
“If only that was true,” Sandar said with a sad rumble.
Rensom reached over and placed his hand over hers. “I know you want to collect Rishmun and Lirsum, but we can’t risk it.”
“Who are Rishmun and Lirsum?” Tumoro asked, his ears perking up.
“Our children,” Rensom said. “They’re in a cresh on Blish Colony within the Talin Empire. We could easily pull them out under the guise of moving them to a closer colony cresh, but we can’t risk Sandar being seen.”
Han tilted her head. “You both have to show up to get the children?"
“It’s required for this type of move,” Sandar said. “The empire doesn’t like it when children are moved from one cresh to another. They would want to interview both of us for the records.”
Han shifted a little in Zeph’s lap. “There’s got to be a way around that. We can’t leave your kids behind!”