39. THALIA

Thalia sighed and rested her chin on her folded arms and stared out the screen. It couldn’t be comfortable. But she’d ridden most of the way to 25XA like that.

Something was on her mind. She was room-in-ating.

“Tell me about Chess,” she finally said.

“What do you want to know about her?” it struck him as an odd question.

“What’s she like?”

“She’s Human.”

“Is she like me?”

“Not beyond she is Human.” Chess was quite different from Thalia in many ways. Thalia had a temper and wasn’t afraid to get into a fight. Chess avoided conflict and preferred to stab her opponents when they weren’t looking. More like Keiron in that way.

“Do you know anything about her?” Thalia shifted her weight, rolling her breasts into his scales. “Like who she was on Earth, I mean.”

He pondered the inquiry. “The way Keiron explained it to me, she is a highly educated woman by Earth standards. I believe she said she was studying to become some sort of expert on law.”

“A lawyer?”

“That sounds right. She also studied your species’ History before she decided to pursue law. I also know that when she was abducted by the Greys, she had another male she was considering pledging herself to.”

“Married? The Greys don’t take anyone in a serious relationship.”

“He was unkind to her. Or at least not good enough.”

A snort. “Tale as old as Earth time.”

“She is also quite tall for a Human woman, according to her. She is Lady-Scion.”

“What does that mean?”

He hesitated. “I don’t understand the question.”

“So she’s the boss.”

“Don’t fight with her, Thalia.”

“Who said I was going to fight with her.”

“Thalia. She is Lady-Scion.”

“So she’s the boss.”

“I do not sense she wants to be ‘the boss’ any more than my brother is obligated to be Prime Scion because it is his duty.”

“I am not fancy like she is, if she’s a lawyer.”

“What do you mean, ‘fancy’? She is not fancy.” Chess was typically Human and plain. Perhaps Keiron found aspects of her body enchanting the same way he found Thalia’s subtle textures and colors enchanting, but if one was being objective… Humans were anything but fancy.

“I meant, her education. You don’t know, but if she’s already got a degree in history and then went to law school, she’s really fancy. That’s an expensive education.”

“Do Humans consider a ‘fancy’ education as a mark of status?”

“Yes. I don’t have anything like that. It’s hard work, and if you don’t have a family to support you, it’s almost impossible.”

“The same on 25XA,” Ahane said. “I was able to finish my schooling, but my younger brother, Erkus, was not. Before our House’s disgrace, Keiron was a very respected High Scientist in the High Sciences and a commissioned military officer serving on a prestigious ship. So they are both ‘fancy,’ not that Chess can be a lawyer on 25XA, and Keiron hauls scrap.”

“Why couldn’t Erkus go to school?”

“Because Ohade got sick, and we could not afford medical care and school. We couldn’t afford either, to be fair.”

“What, no free medical care and no free college in the Gestalt?”

“There are planets in the Gestalt that offer both, but not mine.”

“So… Space America. Am I getting some freedom and a gun?”

“As a Human, you will get neither freedom nor a weapon.”

She smiled, but it melted into thoughtfulness.

“You have concerns,” he stated.

“Humans don’t live together like this,” she finally told him. “Well, some Humans do. But Humans from our culture—it sounds like Chess is American, like I am—don’t so much. Human pairs live together with their own children and no one else usually.”

He cocked his head to the side. “You all live separately?”

“We live in communities, but you all have your own house.”

The translator informed him that a house was not a House. That a house was the physical structure, generally quite small although some could be lavish. And a community was a collection of houses. Fair enough.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Thalia added, “lots of people do live together because it’s how they afford it, or because someone’s sick and needs care, but not many people do it because they want to. They do it because they’ve got to.”

The translator impressed upon him that got to implied great urgency, comparable to must. But not quite as severe as must. Got in the same way Keiron had to haul scrap. Not because any legal force made him, but because it was the only real option available.

The House itself—which was the actual house and farm too—was too poor to afford for him to move elsewhere to his own accommodations. And that would be very unusual. Living apart from his brothers? That had never been the life he had pictured for himself. The only reason siblings would leave the unit home would be to move into a mate’s unit home. Or some extreme strife.

“What happens when Humans live together and they are not really compatible?” he inquired.

“Eventually everyone hates everyone else. Especially Human females. We get really territorial. We either get along great, or we don’t.” Her eyes were very sad and very bright.

“You don’t want to live with Chess,” he said.

“I know I don’t get a choice. Which is why I haven’t asked before. I guess I just need to prepare myself now that we’re almost there.”

“Chess doesn’t seem to be very territorial.”

“You’d be surprised at how sour roommate situations can go.”

“Well, if you are my perfect cosmic mate, and Chess is Keiron’s perfect cosmic mate, then I would think you and Chess would also be compatible. The perfect cosmic mate should not cause conflicts within a family. That is not my—or Keiron’s—idea of perfect.”

She stared at him, her face seeming not to move, but he sensed the hum of her thinking. “Okay, that’s fair. Cosmos take the wheel.”

“What wheel? We have no wheels.” He gave her a playful swat with his tail. “If you cannot share the same space as Chess, I will ask my brothers how they feel about me building you a little house on the farm. It would be odd, but…”

“That’s right. Just tell me how odd we are. I’ll add it to the list. Along with how much of my bodyweight is bacteria and my DNA is ancient viruses.”

Ahane sighed. “I should distract you.”

“Oh?” She brightened. “What did you have in mind?”

He grinned. She knew exactly what he had in mind.

And it was one last attempt to bind in her as well…

25XA became moreblue-and-brown dot and less point of light as we approached. Space also became increasingly less infinite darkness and more busy shipping channel. There were all kinds of ships trundling to and fro from the planet, from massive boxy situations to sleek teardrops that I could barely see. And a lot of smaller shuttles just like ours, tiny econobox specks among the 18-wheelers of the sky.

A gentle ping started, followed by a female voice. “Transponder acknowledged. State desired point of entry.”

Ahane took a breath. “Temple City.”

“Nature of visit?”

“Returning home,” he said, “this vessel is salvage.”

“Welcome home, pilot. Name?”

“Ahane, House 8.”

An uncomfortably long pause. “Understood. And you are claiming salvage rights to the vessel?”

“Yes.”

“Is the vessel stolen?”

What the hell kind of question was that? Sure, let me just confess to grand theft shuttle.

Ahane didn’t miss a beat. “Vessel was found abandoned.”

Technically,that was true. We’d found it, and the Greys had abandoned it.

Another long pause. “Docking clearance granted. File preliminary salvage claim immediately upon arrival. Secure your vessel for potential extended parking while the claim is processed. Welcome home.”

Ahane coiled his tail around my wrist and tickled my palm with the tip. “One obstacle cleared.”

I curled around him to sit on his lap and nuzzled his neck. I felt his hearts beating with a deep, worried thump that matched the color of his scales. “We’re not going to be allowed to just saunter off the dock into the city without passing through customs or something, are we.”

“No.”

“It’s okay that the binding didn’t happen.”

He brushed his cheek along the top of my head.

“Are you having doubts?” It gutted to even ask, but if he was having doubts and had decided he didn’t love me, now was the time to speak up.

“About?”

“Us being mates.”

“No, of course not. Are you?”

“No, but I’m Human, and it can be one-sided for us.”

“I love you, Thalia.”

I sighed as the High Dialect coursed over me. He traded my name for the name of an ancient and extinct Gestalt fairytale flower, and the pet name conjured the taste of honeysuckle and spring in the back of my throat every time he said it.

“It would be one less obstacle if I could claim I bound inside you,” he murmured.

“Sure wo—” My attention was swiftly taken by the planet. I tried not to plaster myself to the window. “Whoa. Holy fuck.”

All my travels through the galaxy and this was the first planet I’d actually seen. And it was amazing. It had huge expanses of blue ocean and then brown landmasses and massive ridges of snow-capped mountains twisting and lacing across the planet and even up out of the oceans. Were the oceans very shallow, or the mountains just that massive?

And while there were miles and miles and miles and miles of open land, there were also massive cities and roads that snaked across the surface. 25XA was so much bigger than Earth, and not as vivid, but it was so clearly not Earth.

Ahane gave me a smack on the ass. “I have a plan.”

“Does your plan involve that tail and my ass?”

“Oh, now you want my tail in your ass.”

“Fly the ship, big guy. Don’t want you to crash us into one of these other ships and they catch a Human with a 25XA tail in her ass. Dead Human found with tail in ass, seems to have died from humiliation, details on buttteeth unclear. More information at 11.”

Breaking through the upper level clouds and coming out over an alien city was mind-boggling. Temple City (Ahane confirmed that that was its official name, although it did have an older 25XA name that nobody called it because tourists and all) was a massive multi-tier situation, with an upper and lower city and it sprawled across a massive plateau extending in every direction.

The architecture looked just as alien, and yet oddly familiar. Sort of Soviet brutalist blended with sci-fi lens flare and a weird take on art deco. It was chaotic and, well, not ugly, but kind of uncomfortable and very alien, even though each individual piece looked familiar.

“Down,” Ahane said. “Stay hidden.”

I crawled back into my spot on the floor as the ship descended lower and closer to other ships.

My heart started to thump as the shuttle changed angles, slowed, and then made a soft clunk as Ahane and the AI maneuvered it to its designated mooring.

Ahane peeled himself out of the chair and twisted around me. From outside the cockpit, he said, “Stay down and stay hidden. Do not let anyone see you.”

“Where are you going?” The color of his scales sent throbs of fear through me. Shit was real. Fourth quarter. All the marbles.

“To file the salvage claim and get a look at how we exit the docks.”

“Do you know where we are in relation to the temple?”

He knelt down next to me and kissed me gently. Then he spoke in High Dialect. Something about he’d come back to me. To be patient. And he loved me.

I curled up in the corner of the cockpit to wait.

Waiting was boring.Really boring. Super boring. Extremely boring.

I moved into the back of the shuttle to wait since it was possible to see down into the shuttle if one was tall enough, and I did not want to see how tall tall could get. So I tucked myself in the way-way back and stared at the wall while I waited.

“He went to the DMV,” I told myself over and over. “He’s going to be a long time. Take a number. Fill these out in triplicate.”

What if he didn’t come back?

He’ll come back.

The suns shifted while I waited.

Finally, he came back, quickly closing the airlock behind him and practically crackling with energy.

“What happened?” I demanded.

He knelt down beside me. “The expected level of bureaucracy. The salvage title has been filed. Now the last known owner will be contacted to claim this ship, which will require paying me fair market value for it. If no one comes forward, it becomes mine.”

“I’d say that sounds like a win. What’s the fair market value of this?” I pointed to the Grey-built not-for-retail-sale cockpit.

He chuckled.

I uncurled myself. “Now what about getting to the temple? Do I just stay here and you try to get a priest?”

His scales smoldered the color of ancient rubies. “You can’t stay here. Now that the shuttle is officially accepted at dock, they will start scanning for life forms or power traces. Sleeping on docked ships is not allowed, and I have no way to force the High Priest to see me, and I’m not going to involve my brothers in this.”

“So are we just going to walk through the gates?”

“I considered it. I also considered putting you into my bag and carrying you?—”

“I am not that small!” I shoved him.

“Get on my back,” he said grimly. “We’re going to make a run for it.”

“You’re kidding. Running through the city is your plan.”

“It’s a little more detailed and dangerous than that. But essentially… yes.”

“After all our sneaking through the system and being smart, we are going to cap this off with a stupid mad dash through a tourist trap city while I holler hey, everyone, I’m HUMMMAANNNN.”

“You shouting is optional.”

I grabbed his hair fronds and hauled him in for a deep kiss before I shoved him away. “You love it when you make me scream. Let’s do this.”

We left everything behind.I wore my cloak and Ahane wore me like a backpack. He was barefoot.

The gravity was heavy and my eyeballs felt a little squished in their sockets. I squinted as we approached an official-looking gate at least four Ahanes high and with three 25XA wearing armbands featuring official-looking insignias and bandoliers and weapons and wielding tablets.

Beyond the gate was the bustling city.

“Fuck me,” I whispered. There were busses that looked like happy eggs, a glittering array of 25XAs going about business, sounds, buildings, sunlight…

“Focus,” Ahane hissed as we fell into line behind a tourist-looking group of three articulated and a 25XA who probably was their tour guide, from the way they were speaking to the gate-keepers.

“Right. Focused.”

Ahane released my legs, and I slid down his back. My legs almost didn’t want to hold my weight, but one look at the guards kicked my survival mode into gear.

I stayed very close to Ahane, hand clutching my cloak and ready to throw it off for my mad sprint to freedom.

Or certain doom.

Ahane’s scales were a smoldering, composed, poised shade of ruby that shone sunset and roses in the light of the second sun. Two guards watched us while the third contemplated his tablet. He was quiet a bit too long. His pewter scales shifted shades of pale, muted violet with an emotion I couldn’t name but didn’t care for.

“You’re from House 8,” the guard told Ahane.

“Yes.”

“Your brother is Prime Scion Keiron. The one with the Human mate.” His tone and scales conveyed exactly what he thought of that set of facts.

Ahane responded with a brutal, “Correct.”

I nearly giggled at how haughty his tone was, and the other three sure as fuck felt it.

The guard pointed at me. “Who are you?”

“She is my mate.” Ahane’s tone and scales said fair warning. His tail drew along the stones as it audibly sharpened into a triangular spear tip.

No going back now.

“You don’t have a mate, according to official records. Or a pair-partner.”

“I do now.” His tone conveyed menace and warning. “She is my mate. Her name is Thalia.”

The air seemed to hum with tension. “According to this, you are not in possession of a trinket, by Temple records.”

“We all know Temple records are not updated quickly.”

“You are also not wearing a trinket,” the guard stated, like Ahane was the worst kind of idiot there was.

Ahane’s tail tapped the ground and sounded like bells in my brain.

I threw off my cloak.. “Hey, guys. How’s things?”

The Guards, for one heartbeat, stared at me in shock while their translators probably informed them LANGUAGE DETECTED: ENGLISH (HUMAN).

My instincts screamed run, run, RUN.

I held my ground.

The one to my left broke first and lunged at me. His claws raked my bare shoulder and drew fine lines of blood.

Okay, now run.

I bolted as Ahane ducked behind me and stabbed his tail into the guard’s shoulder.

“Human!” the third guard shouted. “Human!”

Ahane flung the guard he had skewered on his tail into the other two as his scales audibly sharpened and extended and he flashed red and gold in the sunlight and the light shattered in brilliant red spots across the street. Ahane finished his ruby-alligator death roll, lunged off one foot after me, sprinted, scooped me up onto his back, and hauled ass down the road.