Chapter 5
Scarlet
She was on an artificial, ring-shaped world, about to step onto a miniature recreation of the alien planet to which she held citizenship, and she was definitely not about to puke from the nerves of remembering why she was here.
Scarlet tried to focus on the positive as she followed after Atem and Peony – keeping a close eye on her patient – as they approached and opened the door of the landing shuttle. A retractable gangplank immediately extended, hitting the ground outside with a gentle crunch of fine gravel.
Standing below, waiting for them, was the third alien species Scarlet had ever seen.
“That is a rootavin female,” Havali’s voice whispered in her ear as they descended.
“We actually touched upon her species earlier. Hers is the one that has multiple females grouped around a single male. I don’t see her grouping, so she might be elected to speak for them all on her own.
She will refer to herself in plural, don’t let it confuse you. ”
She was a cat lady. A cat lady with four arms, a fluffy tail, and lupine feet.
“Greetings from the High Imperium, First Domini,” she greeted, a slightly growling tone to her voice as she bowed with her four hands formed in the shape of a square over her belly.
“I, as an individual, am called Fellaseen, Rootavin’s Choice.
Our grouping has been chosen this year to represent the High Imperium.
We’ve decided to break into our fragments to see to our individual tasks today.
We’ve been given the honor of meeting you and… your guests.”
Her eyes, surprisingly big in her head, and flashing green around a slit pupil, focused first on Peony, then onto Peony’s obviously pregnant belly, then onto Scarlet. Her curiosity was undisguised, but she didn’t appear hostile.
And now that the initial surprise of seeing a four-armed, fluffy alien had worn off a bit, Scarlet could actually appreciate the female as a person.
She was covered in a layer of pretty, tawny brown fur, smooth and shining in the brightness of the day.
Darker brown markings, like a tabby cat, marked her entire body.
The fur was thickest around the ruff that poofed around her neck and continued down her chest in a delicate point.
It was too fluffy to see if she had breasts underneath, but she was slender with slight hips that were unmistakably feminine.
She was wearing something like a romper, with flowing legs and a deep ‘V’ at the chest to show off her fluffy ruff.
It had been paired with a cape made of individual lengths of fabric, each decorated with a different pattern, creating a dizzying effect as it moved in the gentle breeze.
Aside from her four, slender arms tipped with delicately manicured claws, her face was the most alien thing about her.
She had an actual muzzle, short but distinctive, with fangs gleaming white poking out at the sides.
One of them even had a little gold band around it.
The ruff around her neck continued up behind her head, like her hair had just grown down and covered her chest – completely leonine.
As fluffy as it was, however, it couldn’t hide the big, cat-like ears on her head – one of which was pierced.
They both moved, tracking the sounds around her as the shuttle was being unloaded by the servants – domini that Scarlet didn’t recognize and knew hadn’t come with them.
The female, Fellaseen, was actually beautiful, in a furry, exotic kind of way.
Her face wasn’t really human at all, aside from having only two eyes, but her muzzle was pliable enough that she still had the ability to smile a bit and speak Universal Standard without an accent – the language Scarlet just had imprinted since it was the language spoken on Holotulle and, really, throughout all Coalition planets.
“You must be the humans,” she said, looking between Peony and Scarlet, then back behind Scarlet as Alanna must have begun to descend. “We heard rumors but… they really did not do you justice.”
“Choice Fellaseen,” Atem interjected firmly but with a polite smile. “My mate is whelping, and she is uneasy being away from her nest. Might we continue this at another time?”
Fellaseen started, her ruff fluffing up as a look of guilt briefly crossed her eyes.
She bowed again, more directly at Peony this time.
“Of course. Forgive us. We forgot how dependent domini are upon their nests. We mean, we heard you were pregnant by… But we didn’t really think that…
Of course, that is no excuse. Please, follow us. We’re honored to show you the way.”
It must have been a ceremonial thing, her leading them, because even Scarlet could follow the golden stone path that began just off the gravel landing pad to the compound that would be their home for the next few tendays.
But Fellaseen still guided them, keeping her hands clasped together in front of her, only occasionally glancing back at the humans.
Scarlet looked at the others as well, checking on them.
The domini that must work and live here on Holotulle were staring at them with undisguised desire and awe.
Not all that different from being on Turv, really.
Peony remained attached to Atem, and Tuvo had taken his place beside Alanna, guarding her along the way.
Meanwhile, Havali remained close to her. He greeted a few of the servants as they passed and, though he didn’t really pay a great deal of attention to her, he walked by her side like he was escorting her.
Seeing his side profile there, walking proudly beside her but not fawning over her, Scarlet felt a surprising fluttering in her belly.
She nearly tripped over her feet.
Was that… desire?
Oh, no.
No way.
She was not going to be so stupid as to catch feelings for an alien guy in a species that had relations for fun but only had true, long-term relationships with their mates. Havali certainly wasn’t acting like she was his mate, so she wasn’t going to invest in a relationship with him.
Nope. No.
She ruthlessly crushed her own feelings as she forced herself to focus on Fellaseen’s dizzying cape instead of the masculine, woody scent of Havali or the confidence of his stride as he walked alongside her down the golden path.
Definitely not noticing him.
***
There was a whole medical suite, fully stocked with top-of-the-line equipment, in the compound of the Turv Embassy. Of course, there was. Atem wouldn’t let Peony be seen in a non-secure, unknown medical facility by unknown medical personnel.
More surprisingly, Scarlet’s room was next to it.
Literally connected through a door on the inside of her room that was coded only to her so she could enter straight from her quarters into the medical suite without stepping into the hallway.
Her room even came equipped with an alarm loud enough to wake her if an emergency was brought into the medical suite after she had retired.
While the staff were unpacking her belongings, Scarlet was familiarizing herself with the equipment and their locations in the clinic. She was trained on everything and knew all the medication available to her, she just needed to know exactly where everything was in this new space.
It was very well stocked and modern. Scarlet was able to upload the data she had on herself, Peony, and Alanna easily so that their records were already in the system if necessary.
Which turned out to be very soon as Peony and Atem appeared the next morning for a checkup.
After a night in her nest – which had been transported as intact as possible – Peony already looked better.
She still walked clinging to Atem, but she smiled at Scarlet warmly instead of anxiously and she wasn’t carrying one of her nest blankets either.
“Hop up on the table,” Scarlet said, gesturing to the exam bed. It was simple, as these things go, appearing to be little more than a gurney jutting out off the wall. But it was deceptively comfortable and strong for being so thin.
And it wasn’t actually attached to the wall, but instead a computer that took up the entire wall.
The rings that were the actual medical device rested on their mount at the head but, after Peony laid back, the main ring lit up and detached, spinning slowly as it began to move down her body, hovering around her and the bed.
Peony watched it go calmly, her previous phobia well and truly put to rest after so many of these exams.
She was carrying the first hybrid baby in existence. No one knew what to expect, no one knew what might affect her or the baby. She had to be watched carefully. That meant scans every three days to keep track of the baby’s progress. Or whenever there was a change in her environment.
Today, it was because of a change. Peony had enough time to be settled on the ringworld, so they were just checking her over to make sure nothing had gone wrong or altered thanks to the flight or being on a non-planet-based world.
Stress was a factor that they could control, but not always completely eliminate, and they needed to make sure nothing happened to her or the baby because of it.
Overly precautious? Probably. But for the very first hybrid in existence, there was no room for assumption. The ring scanner didn't cause damage like a CT scan or an x-ray, so there were no downsides to looking her over obsessively.
“Did you sleep well?” Scarlet asked as her fingers worked over the touch screen console, her eyes focused on the holo display of Peony’s body that was building in front of her.