“Beck sure is something, isn’t he?”
Adria jumped and spun so quickly she lost her balance and stumbled into one of the chairs in the waiting area. Dr. Juna, the human physician, stood behind her, grinning.
“I don’t know what you mean. I was admiring the morning sun rising over the trees.”
The doctor glanced at the window then tipped her head first one way then the other. “Funny. I don’t see the sun at all. Looks like a storm is brewing.”
She spun, taking in the sky, but saw only pink and no clouds at all. The woman had tricked her.
Juna chuckled. “There’s no harm in appreciating a thing of beauty. And Beckett Kincaid is a whole lot of that. You should see where that takes you, Adria. He’s a really great guy. Not only is he easy on the eyes, he’s funny, intelligent, kind—”
“I’m not looking for a mate,” she cut her off before she listed all his qualities. “I’m here to learn as much as I can in the next six weeks so I can pass my physic exam and begin practicing.”
“I thought you might be interested in a long-term assignment here. Beck would certainly make your stay more pleasurable.”
“Dr. Juna!” she exclaimed, her face heating with embarrassment because the other woman’s thoughts mirrored her own.
“I meant in the fun and friendly sense. A girl can never have too many friends, male or female.”
“Oh, well, as to that, he is easy to talk to.”
Juna patted her arm. “Exactly. If it leads to more...” She waggled her eyebrows. “A girl shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. She needs to jump all over that, especially with a man who wears a pair of Levi’s like nobody’s business.”
“Uh...” She hesitated in her response while trying to decipher all the strange things her mentor had said.
The doctor laughed. “Levi’s are a brand of blue jeans, which are denim pants! Surely, you noticed his fit him really well.”
With her face flooding with heat because she definitely had, Adria headed toward the back. “I don’t know what you mean,” she repeated, then rushed through the door to get ready for their first patient who was due in at nine o’clock. She ignored Juna’s amused chuckles wafting in behind her.
Chapter Two
With only a few patients coming into the clinic that morning, time dragged. It wasn’t surprising with such a small population, but that would change quickly over the next several years as more colonists arrived from Earth. For now, the lull gave Adria a chance to study. Since the arrival of the Odyssey and its crew of three hundred females, the physics’ curriculum had expanded to include human anatomy and physiology. It was a lot of new material. If she was going to pass, she needed to know it frontways, sideways, and every which way.
Unfortunately, instead of concentrating on her notes from a recent lecture on the treatment of cardiovascular disease in humans, she kept getting distracted by memories of twinkling blue eyes, an entrancing smile with perfect white teeth, how Beck’s muscles worked in his jaw when he chewed, and the way his Adam’s apple, noticeable predominantly in human males, bobbed up and down when he swallowed. After he laughed at her incorrect use of a common Earth phrase, she couldn’t get the low, rich, stirring sound of out of her head.
More than his appealing face and form, something about him haunted her thoughts. If he were Primarian, and she was in search of a mate...
She quickly stopped that line of thinking. Those two ifs would never come to pass. And to mate now, if it were even feasible, would send the plan she had for her life careening off course.
Her path had been decided two decades ago. It led to a career in the healing arts, and, through her successes, she hoped to open doors so other Primarian women could follow in her footsteps.
This was a difficult time to be a physic. Not only must they care for the health and well-being of their own people but rise to the monumental task of treating the new species integrating their society. The new breed of half-human Primarians that grew in numbers every day brought unique challenges. To be ready to rise to those challenges, which meant passing her exams in a few short weeks, she’d have to keep thoughts of Beckett Kincaid out of her head and focus on the task at hand.
Despite her inwardly directed motivational speech and her renewed determination to save the world, the afternoon was much the same as the morning—slow. Working under the supervision of Dr. Juna, they only saw two patients after lunch: a construction worker with a sizable shard of wood deeply embedded in the heel of his hand and a mother who rushed in with her crying two-year-old daughter.
The former took less than half a time cycle to treat, including locating a pair of sterile tweezers to extract the splinter. No skill in that. The sick child took slightly longer, since there were essentially two in need of care—she and her frantic mother.
“She’s feverish and keeps tugging on her ear, saying it hurts,” the woman explained, bouncing the fussy toddler on her hip.
“Let’s take a look, shall we?” Juna proposed, running her fingers over the child’s flushed cheeks. It was a caring gesture, but Adria knew her touch assessed the child’s skin at the same time.
While the doctor kept the child occupied by peering into her ears, which made her scream at the top of her lungs and rather helpfully facilitated an examination of her throat, Adria used the digital scanner to get her vital signs. At least her task was non-invasive, consisting only of running a wand over her back, close but not actually touching.
“Her heart rate is slightly elevated,” she advised, speaking loudly to be heard over the little girl’s ear-piercing cries. “All the other signs are normal, except for her temperature, which is 312.”
“What?” the worried mother screeched.
“That’s 102.6 in our world, Shannon,” Dr. Juna explained in a calm, reassuring tone.
“Yes,” Adria agreed. “My apologies. On your Fahrenheit scale, her temperature is four degrees above normal.”
Pressing her lips to her baby’s temple, she resumed bouncing and swaying, trying to soothe her. “Another ear infection. That’s what I thought. Why does she keep getting them? This is the third time this year.”
Shannon’s worried gaze fixed solely on Juna, and she directed her question to her. Adria didn’t take offense. The residents didn’t know her; it would take time to earn their trust.
She lightly ran her hand over the child’s bright blonde curls. “Molly’s eustachian tubes, which run from her ear to her throat, are still flat. This is normal for her age. As she grows, they will, too. By the time she’s five, they should be more angled and drain more efficiently, so, she’ll most likely grow out of this.”
“I couldn’t have explained it better,” her mentor told the mother. “We’ll give her a long-acting antibody stimulator by injection today, and, in a few days, your little girl will be her sweet, happy, playful self again.”
“What do I do until she’s five? Can’t recurrent infections cause hearing loss? A lot of my friends at home had a laser drainage procedure when their kids got recurring infections.”
“That’s always the last resort,” Juna cautioned.
“Do you put her to bed with a bottle?”
The mother flushed at Adria’s question, giving the answer before she spoke. “Sometimes that’s the only way I can get her to sleep.”
“I understand. Try elevating the head of her crib—thirty degrees should do. The sugar pooling in her throat can lead to bacterial growth, which can move up the tube into her inner ear, causing infection. Instead of milk or juice, unsweetened flavored water is better.”
“I hadn’t thought of flavored water.” Shannon looked at Adria with new respect. “Do you have kids?”
A pang gripped Adria’s chest. She tried to keep her features neutral but must have failed because the woman immediately apologized. “Oh my, I didn’t mean... I’m so sorry.” Plainly appalled by her slip, she looked as though she might burst into tears. “I haven’t slept more than an hour in the p
ast two days, or I wouldn’t have been so insensitive.”
“No need to apologize.” She patted the distressed mother on the shoulder then told Dr. Juna, “I’ll go prepare the injection.”
On her way out the door, she heard Shannon whisper, “I’ve had friends who struggle to get pregnant, but at least they had treatment options. I’ve heard their biology only allows them to breed the old-fashioned way, and with their destined mate. How awful it must be for all of them to be affected.”
She didn’t know the half of it. In the twenty years following the catastrophic meteor storm that killed half the females and left almost all of those remaining infertile, only a handful of children had been born on Primaria, and all of them male. Since the treaty with Earth, there was hope for a bright future. While a cure to their sterility would have been the ideal solution, she and the other affected females had accepted it wouldn’t come. Facing extinction unless their males mated outside their race, they were grateful to the human females who assured the continuation of their species.
Their arrival was bittersweet, however, especially since being a mother and caring for the family was the primary role of women in their society. Being unable to do what they believed their Maker created them to do left many of the women feeling lost and useless.
Adria was more fortunate; becoming a physic allowed her to contribute to society in a worthwhile capacity. That didn’t mean she didn’t wonder what her life would have been like if a giant meteor hadn’t slammed into her world and changed everything. And it didn’t make it sting any less when reminded how much so.
After administering the injection to the child and scheduling a follow-up visit in a week, it was time to close for the evening.
“Are you all right?” Juna asked as they were on their way out.
She nodded, busying herself with activating the lock and door alarm. “I’m fine. I’ve known the truth of my situation since I was old enough to understand, and accepted the fact I couldn’t have children long ago.”
“Yes, but it must be difficult to be reminded.”
“I imagine it’s worse for those at home surrounded by hundreds of breeding females. Nonetheless, it is a fact of life that cannot be changed.”
“Still, it’s gotta suck,” Juno agreed.
Despite the serious topic, Adria let out a little huff of laughter at her frankness. “That’s one word of Earth slang I understand, thanks to the prima.”
“Would you like to go to Milton’s with me for dinner?”
With the clinic secured, she turned toward the street and the warrior who waited on the other side. She nodded at him in greeting. “No, thank you. My escort is waiting to take me home, and I thought to stay in and get to bed early. I haven’t been sleeping well with these allergies.”
“Did you take the medication I gave you?”
“Yes, but it wasn’t much help.”
“We should run blood tests and check to see if we can isolate which of the local flowering plants or grasses is causing the reaction. Then we could start a series of desensitizing injections.”
“No,” she stated bluntly.
Juna looked at her in surprise. “Why not?”
“I’d prefer being on the giving rather than the receiving end of a hemeosmotic quantifier.”
“You aren’t afraid of a little osmosis, surely? It doesn’t hurt.”
“Not afraid, more like averse. I had test upon test when I was a child. More than I care to recall. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to be a physic, so I could order and prescribe rather than suffer and submit.”
“I can’t imagine what you went through. You were just a baby.”
“I was younger than Shannon’s daughter during the Rain of Fire, but the testing lasted for years.”
“Are you ready to go, Adria?” Having gotten impatient, Tarus had crossed the street. Older than her by several years, the warrior was one of Primaria’s elite guards, and she knew him well. He or his twin brother, Remus, walked her home most days. Where Tarus could be gruff and surly, his twin was the opposite—smiling, outgoing, and easy to talk to. She was fine with either since a familiar face was welcome on an alien world.
“I need to stop by the store on the way home,” she told him.
Like most men, he didn’t appear thrilled at the prospect of shopping. As long as Trask insisted she have a shadow after dark, and with the Terra Nova twin suns having already set, he’d have to go where she did. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Dr. Juna.”
“Just Juna, please, Adria. We’ll soon be peers, and I’m not one to insist on the title.”
“All right, then, Just Juna,” she replied with a smile. “Have a pleasant night.”
The woman was friendly and made work enjoyable, unlike Tarus who didn’t say a word as they walked to Pete’s PX, the only store in town.
Before entering the large nondescript metal building, she paused to consider the sign. “I’ve puzzled over the acronym.”
Her guard grunted. “The owner told me it stands for post exchange.”
“Then shouldn’t it be PE?”
“Pete says it’s what they call the shops on military bases where they sell food and household supplies at a discount.”
“He’s a former military man, I presume?”
“Something called a jarhead, but please, whatever you do, don’t mention it to him,” Tarus cautioned vehemently. “I made that mistake, and he talked my ear off about which branch of the eight on Earth is the best.”
No wonder he looked horrified. Talking wasn’t one of the warrior’s favorite pastimes. “They have more than one army?” she asked when what he said clicked.
“I found that surprising, too. They aren’t one people, but broken into many tribes. Each has its own leader with different styles of government. They are often at odds with one another, which has led to war and many of their current problems. Can you imagine?”
“Fighting among themselves to the point of war, you mean? After our recent problem with the purists, nothing surprises me. Although Max Kerr would never allow it to go so far as civil war.”
She glanced at him, surprised by the length and depth of their conversation. Since he was giving her an opening, she went with it. “Despite their tumultuous society, I find many things about the human world fascinating, don’t you?”
His scowl returned. “Be fascinated another day, Adria. I have other duties once I see you home.”
And that quickly, the gruff and surly warrior returned. “I won’t ask Pete any questions, Tarus. I just need to restock my kitchen. Lana’s refrigerator was practically bare.”
Seemingly resigned to the side trip, he held his arm out in the direction of the PX and started them walking.
“Why don’t you eat at Milton’s like everyone else?”
“I’m an oddity, evidently, because they tend to stare. Mainly because I’m one of the few women here, but I think it’s also to do with my eyes.”
“What’s wrong with your eyes?” he demanded brusquely. “They are distinctly Primarian and very beautiful.”
“Thank you, Tarus, but in a sea of brown, blue, and hazel, teal is an oddity. One man told me I reminded him of his cat.”
“What is a cat?”
“I wondered about that, too. From what he described it’s like a purrada only on a smaller scale.”
“The human was disrespectful,” he declared. “Point him out the next time he’s around, and I will educate him on manners.”
Honorable, capable, and loyal unto death, elite guards were assigned special duties that couldn’t be entrusted to anyone else like protecting one of the leaders or their leaders’ families. One of only a few selected out of thousands, Tarus had to be the most rigid of them all, a warrior through and through. She could imagine how his lesson with the human would go. In the interest of continued peace on the colony, she’d keep the man’s identity to herself.
“I don’t think he meant to offend. At least, I didn’t take it that way.”
“I find your eyes comforting. They remind me of home.”
“Maybe he felt the same way. Don’t you get homesick, Tarus?”
He glanced her way. “Explain this term.”
“A longing for home and family during an absence can bring on a host of physical symptoms—lack of sleep, poor appetite, irritability.”
Perhaps, more than allergies, that was the reason she tossed and turned at night.
“I haven’t been away for long. And even if I was, this home sickness doesn’t factor. I serve my princep, my general, and my people however and wherever they need me.”
As she said, a warrior through and through. “Weren’t you hopeful of being matched and mated?”
He grunted again. “I have years to serve ahead of me before I’ll be ready to take a mate.”
“What about your brother?”
“Remus may have had other thoughts, but we were called upon to oversee security on the ground here, and as warriors, our duty comes first.”
With only three pairs in every one thousand live births before the Rain of Fire, twins were extremely rare among her people. The brothers were close, nearly inseparable, unless duty required otherwise. Nearly a decade younger than Trask and her cousins Ram and Kerr, who were in their prime and just now first-time fathers, she supposed the twins had time before they settled down. Many became warriors to defend and serve their people, but also for the opportunity to explore the heavens, see new worlds, and meet people. If they hoped to find adventure on Terra Nova, they’d be disappointed. Other than the mine explosion, which occurred before their arrival, earaches, splinters, and dust were the extent of the excitement around here.
Once inside the PX, she quickly made her selections for her impatient guard’s sake. She had located everything except bread and was rounding the last aisle with her basket when she slammed into a wall, or at least that was what it seemed like because it had no give to it at all. Cans and boxes went flying, as did she, landing with a thud. Unfortunately for her backside, the hard cement was equally unforgiving.
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