14. Thalen
THALEN
Imanaged to keep enough physical distance between us the rest of the night, despite Evan’s obvious disappointment.
“But why?” he pouted, peering up at me coyly through his lashes. “Jason is asleep, and while the bed isn’t big enough for us both to sleep in comfortably, we can do other things.” His gaze dropped meaningfully to the erection I was sporting beneath my jeans.
“Because we both know if we go in there and get started, I’ll end up claiming you.”
“And if I want that? I’m all in this thing with you.”
That my mate was as dedicated to me and our little family and homestead as much as I was only served to remind me why waiting was best.
“We only ever get one first claiming, and I wish for it to be in the bed where all others will follow. I want to be able to worship your body and afterwards, to hold you as we rest our bodies, and to wake up to your face beside my own.”
He stared at me. “Well, shit,” he blurted out.
“That’s the most romantic thing you could have possibly said, and damn, now I’m gonna have to give in and cockblock my own damn self ‘cuz you’ve gone and made me really want that too.
” He reached up, pressing a brief peck of a kiss against my cheek before quickly stepping away, turning so his hand was on our bedroom door.
“I best go on ahead in there, or that’s not gonna happen.
And just so you know? I’m changing my answer on what my favorite color is.
It’s now purple, followed by red.” He blushed furiously, dashing into the room and closing the door before I could reply.
A slow grin spread across my face. My mate’s favorite colors were that of my own person.
He was the truly romantic one, not me. I simply treated him as he should be.
That he found it romantic was a bonus, but it definitely did not cast a good light on the male who’d courted him before.
A low growl broke free from my throat just thinking about the unworthy ones who’d lusted after my star given mate.
“Duke?” Jason’s sleepy voice called out. “Whassa matter, boy?”
I turned to crack open his door.
“It’s okay, it’s just me. I thought of something annoying, and it made me mad.”
“Okay,” came the sleepy reply, and then he was away, gliding amongst the updrafts of the Winds of Dreams once more. Benny looked up at me from the end of the bed, raising his head and thumping his tail gently.
I smiled at the picture of domesticity they made, a kit and his pet safe and secure in their bed.
Benny lowered his head back down, and I took that as my cue to close the door.
I turned to take the few steps that led to the next closest bedroom, where Evan had decided we should place my old bed.
The sheets and a pillow were on a shelf in the closet, and I made short work of readying it.
A scratching at the door had me opening it to find Duke and Tim and Tam standing there.
“Come on in,” I told them, stepping aside.
The two felines raced straight to my bed, immediately making themselves at home in the middle of the bed.
Duke flopped down on the runner next to the bed.
It had covered the strip of floor in my old galley kitchen but was now equally suited to providing a warm place for the feet after getting out of bed.
I made a mental note to replicate a matching one for the other side of the bed and some for our bedroom as well as Jason’s, to complement the decor there.
I was just about to climb into bed when I heard a soft mew outside and grinned, shaking my head.
Eloise wanted to join the rest of my furry companions.
I opened the door once more, and she stood there looking at me for a moment, as if to say, “You should have waited for me before closing the door.” Then she swished her tail once and sailed on in, tail now held high.
I chuckled softly at her antics, my amusement not failing me even when I turned to discover her lying regally upon my pillow.
I sighed. “Guess we’ll be sharing that then,” already having learned from the files Bob had sent every colonist that it was considered sacrilegious to move a cat from wherever it was sitting, unless said position placed it in peril.
Sacrilegious to humans, and backed up by numerous images from ancient times where humans had worshiped them, so now, codified into the laws of New Haven.
Likewise, dogs had legal rights to roam, and if they desired a flitter ride when their owners were going on one, said owners were required to oblige.
The humans had a rather interesting relationship with their two most popular companion animals, but it kept the animals happy, which meant the owners could be happy that they were happy, thereby creating an entire positive biofeedback loop which both Xeranos and Bob had confirmed, much to Jesse’s amusement during the colony wide vid cast explaining the new animal rights laws.
And recalling the official colony vid feed and Jesse reminded me of the vid channels Evan mentioned.
My erection had gone down enough to no longer be painful, but I was still semi hard, which was not very conducive to getting a good night’s sleep.
I could take care of it with my hand, but quickly dismissed the idea.
Evan was just down the hall, and patience would grant me the release I truly desired on the morrow.
I ran a hand over my face. My mind was so all over the place, I hadn’t even noticed until now that I still had on my shirt and jeans.
“Idiot,” I muttered to myself, quickly stripping out of them to my undershorts. “Well, while I’m awake, I can always look up those vids he was telling me about.”
I slipped out the door to quickly grab my datapad from the low table in front of the sofa, returning to my room moments later.
“YouVid,” I murmured, recalling the name of the streaming service he’d referenced. Bob Net quickly found it. “Bob?”
“Yes, Thalen?” came the soft reply.
“Is there some way for me to find the channels on YouVid that Evan follows? Starting with the ones he watches the most.”
“He’s saved his account information to the family Bob vault, so simply tap to sign in. His faves should be at the top of the listings.”
“Thanks. I want to take a look at the farming machinery he mentioned and see how they work.”
“Is there something about them I should know?’
“Yes, actually,” I said, logging in and perusing the top result on the homepage. “I’d like to import a tractor and harvester for him from Earth. He told me the model numbers, but I forgot them. I’ll know when I see the model numbers again though.”
“They’ll need to be converted from their original combustion engine configuration, but that shouldn’t be an issue. Comm me when you have the specifics, and I’ll set things in motion. The cost will be covered easily by the additional family claim allowance.”
“I’d like to reduce that by contributing some matter for conversion,” I replied. “I want him and Jason to be able to use as much of that as they wish for things they may need later.”
“We can do that. Five fields’ worth over two years and an additional assignment to your agricultural efforts will cover it.”
That was steep but fair. “And if I agree, how much of their allowance would be used?”
“None, and you can keep the produce from the experimental crop. I’ll have the plants and the supplies to grow them sent over tomorrow. How much space do you have in your greenhouse?”
“It’s half full. The other half is completely empty except for the watering apparatus across the ceiling, which is turned off on that side. There’s not any tables or trays or anything. Just floor.”
“Not a problem.”
“What will I be growing?”
“Blueberries. They arrived on the freighter and cleared this afternoon. They are in stasis, bare root.”
“He mentioned something called bananas and pineapples. Are those on the permitted list?”
“Ohhhh! I do believe we can accommodate those, but no, they are not yet. I will have to check their requirements and compatibility and have a sample of each sent for a lunar scan. If the small craft is allowed to proceed with landing, we can move forward with sequencing them and verifying they will not bring a disease here that will harm the other plants. Then if everything looks good, we can have some imported.”
I knew already that anything that left the spaceport was first determined to be disease and insect free, but the system was in place to provide a triple lock of safety.
The lunar scan wasn’t something we could simply decide to skip, either.
The outpost the Ancients left scanned every ship that arrived, and if something was aboard that violated the sanctity of the planet, said ship found itself held in orbit, unable to do anything until said item was beamed out and destroyed.
So far, it had only happened once, and it had caused a stir when it did.
The Ancients had some incredibly detailed scanning equipment, that was for certain.
“Okay. Put us down for testing those once approval is granted, if it ever is.”
“You betcha! That would reduce the matter to a field’s worth over five years, if you’ll accept various varieties of heritage bananas and include plantains.
We’d provide the extra field space and greenhouses for them.
They are endangered back on Earth but provide an exceptional nutritional source of potassium and other vitamins, as well as fiber.
Also, bananas are naturally sweet, and they and pineapples are often used in various desserts. ”
I chuckled. “Okay, you’ve sold me. I’m sure Evan will be thrilled if you can get us all those.”
I paused, looking at a vid caption. “Using my IH McCormick B275”. That was it. That’s the one he’d mentioned. I scrolled through the streamer’s other vids, spying further down the list one called “Harvesting” with my 403’.
“Bob? I’ve found the ones he’d like.” I rattled off the model numbers, then gave him the YouVid streamer’s channel name and each vid’s identifying serial number. “Got it. I’ll get right on it. I’ll let you know when we have made progress.”
“Thank you.”
A yawn cracked my jaw, and I rubbed under my nose.
“Goodnight,” I said to Bob and the animals, despite most of them already being asleep. I put my datapad down on the bedside table and carefully slipped under the covers. Eloise shifted to generously allow me part of the pillow, her purring quickly lulling me into slumber.