Chapter 14
ADRYEL
Terra North surprised Adryel.
In a good way.
It showcased the Kantenan’s way of mixing their technology with the nature of the landscape. Buildings that were built into mountainsides, trees that held entire neighborhoods up. It truly was a breathtaking sight.
It gave everything a kind of care that Adryel hadn’t really seen on Trinity Alpha Prime. Everything there had just been built on top of the previous layer. Higher, bigger, and nicer. The lower levels had been darker, dank, and less new.
Less pretty or cared for.
This was different. It looked pretty all the way down.
She let her gaze follow a tower toward the surface, seeing how the tree branches and trunks wrapped into the buildings, like they’d grown in together, rather than anything built.
Organic technology, it almost seemed.
“It is quite beautiful,” Janae said.
They all were looking out, and a weird feeling tickled the back of Adryel’s neck.
She glanced around, casually at the view, then back over the platform. Just to see if anyone was staring.
Still, she didn’t see anyone. Though the feeling didn’t leave her.
It seemed almost secure, where they were.
Almost.
Thin atmosphere shielding protected them from the wind, and railings to keep anyone from toppling off.
The difference in physical height between her and the Kantenans was amplified by the solid railing around the platform.
The railing came almost to Janae and Adryel’s shoulders, and hitting the Kantenans just above their waists.
And these were beings who wanted to mate with them?
Humanoid or not, just the height difference alone made Adryel wonder if such a thing was possible.
She glanced at Stron, who wore a neutral expression. One of those faces that revealed nothing. She wondered if that was a product of his station—having to always seem disinterested in everything.
Or was he just that bored being here?
Their gazes met for a moment, but even then, she couldn’t determine his angle. Instead, she turned away and examined the lower levels.
More tree protected the buildings. And then below, it was all vegetation, thick and lush.
“And the lower levels? Where the greenery is? Is that all undeveloped? Like natural terrain?” She asked, gesturing to the bases of the trees, where the mountains started to jut up into the air. Like a fog of greenery at the base of the towers.
“In some areas,” Stron said. “What you see here, it is a mix. There are colonies below. Some materials are only able to be found lower to the ground, so, like many worlds, we have layers of lifestyles.”
“‘Layered lifestyles,’ huh? That’s an interesting way to describe social classes.”
Stron stepped closer to her, or maybe he was just moving away from Khalzin and Janae, to give them some privacy. They seemed to have dipped into a quieter conversation.
“Social classes exist everywhere, and dictate many aspects of existence, regardless of the world you land on.”
“Don’t I know it,” she muttered.
“They can be very binding,” he said.
She nodded. “I can say, Big Red Guy, that I agree with that.”
“Excuse me, did you just call me ‘Big Red Guy’?”
“It’s accurate,” she answered. Where that came from, she didn’t know, but it just popped out.
“I could call you Little Dots,” he replied.
She blinked, and put her hand over her nose, covering her freckles. “What’s wrong with my freckles?”
“I never said there was anything wrong with them.”
“So why—”
The attack came out of nowhere, and blaster fire zipped by. It singed her hair. She brushed it away and turned in time to see Janae hit the ground.
Adryel gasped, reaching for her thinking she’d been hit.
Instead, Stron pulled her against him and shielded her. Armor erupted from his shoulders, wrapping around him and her, protecting them from blaster fire.
“Janae,” she said, and saw that Khalzin covered her on the ground.
“Get to shelter,” Stron said, pushing her away from him just enough to pull his own weapons.
She’d never noticed the blasters strapped to his side under his cloak.
More blaster shots came from across the platform, and she saw more Kantenans, with covered faces, appearing and firing on them.
Stron pulled some kind of blade out, just like Khalzin had, and they charged forward to the attackers.
Janae was frozen staring at everything, like she didn’t understand what was going on. “Come on.” Adryel grabbed Janae's arm and started pulling her away.
Away. They had to get away! Somewhere there had to be a space—there, the hygiene building. That would at least protect them while the others fought.
“There's a hygiene booth over here,” Adryel said, leading her toward the building. They raced toward the hygiene station, moving in a zigzag pattern, to make it harder for them to be hit with blaster fire.
“We're almost there,” Adryel said, ducking as another barrage of blaster fire came their way.
Almost to the door, it swung open, and out came two Kantenans, pointing blasters at them.
“Well, that is where they were hiding,” Janae muttered.
Adryel froze, staring at the weapons.
Seriously? After everything, this takes her out.
It just totally enraged her.
She started to move when more blaster fire darted between her and Janae. Though it was friendly. Or protective.
Stron fired on them.
Both women dropped to the ground, and the Kantenan attackers leaped over them, engaging Stron. Stron's armor, wrapped around him like a latticework, seemed to almost undulate as he moved.
Adryel couldn’t take her eyes off him as he fought. His body moved with a lethal elegance that both terrified her and exhilarated her, knowing that he was fighting for them.
For her.
She couldn’t remember the last time someone risked so much for her.
One of the attackers flipped in the air, away from Stron, but almost landed on Janae. Adryel let out a scream, and Janae moved out of the way.
And the other one remembered that Adryel was there.
He charged her.
Adryel froze, staring at the large red alien with his horns.
How did she get out of—