Tammy
I wake and blink in the harsh white daylight as the automatic window shield reveals the first hours of the day.
Of course El-Frankin isn’t in our bedchamber. Likely hasn’t been all night. I look at the smooth sheets on the opposite side of the bed.
Nope. He hasn’t been.
It’s as though he’s an invisible man. A dream. The occasional apparition who flits in and out of the farmstead.
How different he is now from when we first arrived.
His fascination with me, his curiosity, intense though it had been, hadn’t lasted long.
I stretch, step out of bed and take a shower. The en suite is lavish and filled with everything I could need. I especially like the lapla soap and body cream. I dress in a silvery gown with lavender detail, and scrunch my short pink hair dry.
Maybe, if he’s downstairs he will like the way I look and smell and we can have a calmer conversation than the one we had the night before.
Not that I am taking responsibility for his lack of interest in me.
Before I step out into the main bala I pick up my thread and dial Rachel.
“Hey,” I say when she answers on the second bleep. “How are you?”
“Good, tired. What about you, Tammy?”
“Oh fine. I was just calling to see how you got on at the palace dinner party last night, sounds like fun.”
“Yes, it was, and Visha, you would hardly recognize her as the panic-stricken, hysterical woman they had to drug to get on Vortex One.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well she’s all elegant and polished, a crown upon her head and a glow of satisfaction coming from her skin. It’s clear she is getting on well with King Athos.”
“That’s good to hear.” A twist of envy gets me in the belly. I push it away. It’s not a nice feeling. “He’s nice then, the king.”
“A bit scary, he’s so big and he’s got this piercing stare. I can see why the males here all revere him. He has a certain something. I can’t quite put my finger on it. You can’t help but want his approval, you want to please him.”
“And do you think they have started the breeding program? Visha and the king?”
“From the sparkle in both of their eyes when they look at each other I would say so. He might have calmed her but I think she will still be handful for him. Visha is smart and quick thinking and I get the feeling she doesn’t take fools gladly.
She was not happy when she realized we all had a way of contacting each other and she didn’t.”
“She doesn’t have a thread?”
“I would say she has by now.” Rachel laughs.
“That’s good.”
“So what’s going on at the farm? I didn’t have a proper chance to catch up with Mel. It was all a bit formal at the royal dinner party.”
“It’s busy, well for El-Frankin, it’s the time of year he says.”
“Oh, I see.” She pauses. “Are you getting on well with him?”
I sigh. “We haven’t had chance to get to know each other as much as I would like.”
“That’s a shame, Tammy, I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault.” I blink several times as my eyes sting with tears. “But I’ve put on a nice gown and covered myself in lapla body lotion—”
“Oh I love that! So nice.”
“Right. So maybe he’ll make some time for me today, if he’s at the farmstead.”
“Where else would he be? I thought he was a farmer and most of it is done by robots Tr-Argan said.”
“There’s a…” I wander to the window and stare out at the mountains and the deep rift between two of them. “There’s a barn, or at least they call it that, a translation error maybe, it sounds more like a control center for all the remote machinery.”
“So go there.”
“I did.”
“Go again.”
I hesitate and watch a group of small golden birds flying over the fields of tall sea-grass green crops. They head toward the mountains. “It didn’t go so well when I did that before.”
“Tammy…you’re worrying me.”
“I just don’t know if he wants me, you know.”
“Fuck!” I can hear the frustration in her voice. “Really?”
I’m quiet.
“Why do you think that? You must be mistaken. These males need females. That’s why they’ve gone to all of this trouble to get us here.”
“Perhaps not all of them.”
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Oh I don’t know, just a feeling I guess. I’ve had a string of bad blokes as you well know and it seems I’m still on that roll of the dice.”
“But Planet Hade is supposed to be different. Very different.” She pauses. “Get yourself down there again and have it out with him. Not aggressively, I know you don’t like that, but assertively. Find out what the problem is.”
I hold back from saying that the problem might be El-Frankin’s friend. I’ve said that to Mel and that’s enough of putting that particular horror out into the daylight. “Maybe you’re right. It does look nice out there for a walk.”
“It’s beautiful, the sky is a wash of pink and orange and the mountains are glowing purple. The exercise and the fresh air will do you good and then maybe an honest conversation, on your own, away from the main house, will sort things out. You never know, maybe things will hot up at the bard,
get frisky in the straw, and you’ll start the breeding program.”
“Have you?”
“What?”
“Started the breeding program?”
“Yes, we want to try and conceive as soon as possible. That’s why I am here on Planet Hade…oh and for the excellent multiple orgasms too.” She giggles. “They make it worth the journey.”
I am pleased for her and smile. “I am glad you are having fun, and call me, the moment you find out you are with child, which I am sure won’t be long.”
“I will I promise. And you call me and let me know how you get on at the barn. I’ll be thinking of you.”
“Okay, thanks, Rachel. Have a nice day.”
I click off the thread and slip it into my pocket. In my podule I find soft gray lace up boots and so I put them on. They’ll do me for a walk to the barn, the open-toed ones I wore the time before had rubbed.
The bala is empty, no one home, so I make coffee and order myself toast and fruit.
A note from Mel tells me she has gone with Ar-Hagan to check on the orchards.
As I am eating my toast a swarm of small insects rubs past the window. I peer closer. They are black with big blue eyes and long wings. They are gone almost as soon as they arrive and remind me of a buzzing cloud of bees I once saw in Runcourt.
I head to the door, pausing to slide a pretty silver band up my arm, and then step out into the day.
The air is warm and laced with smells I don’t instantly recognize but are sweet and organic.
My boots crunch on the small stones that lead me to a path through the crops.
When I reach them the tall swishing stalks block my view.
They are half as tall as I am again and the stems are thick like sugar cane.
Atop each one is a cluster of black seeds.
I glance at the suns, they are to my right, and the barn is straight ahead. If I keep that trajectory I should be there in an hour.
Soon I am warming up from the suns and I wish I’d brought some water. I pause and fluff my hair to get some air to my scalp.
It’s a minuscule reprieve.
“Come on,” I mutter to myself. “Nearly there.” Or at least I hope I am. I also hope El-Frankin appreciates my effort…twice.
There is a rustle to my left, several stems sway in the opposite direction to all of the others.
I freeze, heart rate going up a few notches. “Who is there?”
Nothing.
Silence.
Except for a slight rustling breeze.
There is a bang behind me. I spin, my heart tripping along in alarm as a spurt of adrenaline races into my bloodstream.
The path behind me is empty.
“Fuck.” I turn again and hurry along, not quite running but not far off, and glance over my shoulder.
Was that movement?
I’m scared now. I’m not alone. Every instinct in my body, every nerve in my guts tells me that. Call it female intuition.
Danger surrounds me.
I am running now, fisting my gown to free up my legs for speed.
Until suddenly, something…no someone looms out in front of me. Stepping from the tall thick stems and blocking my way he stands hands on hips and feet hip-width apart.
He’s impossibly broad, his horns are long and pointy, and his muscular chest is bare. Around his purple waist is a thick belt holding a long weapon. A sword.
I slam to a halt, a scream catching in my throat.
His eyes pierce mine and I retreat several steps, clasping my hand to my chest. “Who…who…” I stammer, “who the hell are you?”