by Robin Roseau
She paused. "Yes."
"Is there a desk in it? Somewhere to study?"
"I'll equip an office for you."
"If you do that, I don't need the other room. Is there somewhere I can relax and read?"
She said nothing right away. "Sapphire?"
"Is there? I like to lie down on my sofa at home. It's different than lying on the bed. I suppose with the visor, I don't need to hold a physical book. But I like to read."
"Did you just invite yourself back into my bed?"
"Am I welcome?"
"Yes." The word was a whisper.
"I want to know you're making my homecoming special. I have thoughts if you want to hear them."
"I would hear your thoughts."
"You might consider taking me to our house. Home. Whatever word you use. Quarters is too impersonal."
"Home."
"All right. You could take me home. You could show me my new home. I'll want a brief tour of the space, then a longer one where you show me the best parts. I work best with an overview first."
"I'd like that."
"It's during the second tour that you can show me which office is mine."
"You can pick which one you want."
I didn't say anything.
"Maybe you want me to select."
"Maybe I do," I said. "And then after our tour, maybe we could stay in."
"In."
"Yeah. And then tomorrow you could give me an overview tour of the entire station."
"Maybe not the entire station."
"Overview first, then details. But I want to see where you work."
"Tomorrow."
"Yes." I paused. "Where do we park?"
"The central hub. It's tricky and complicated."
"So then we walk?"
"No. There are transports. You'll get to see some of the station."
"Will we go past any of the best parts?"
"Maybe one or two." There was a lilt in her voice.
"I wonder if I should see our home first. I wonder if you should turn off my visor so it doesn't ruin the tour tomorrow."
"Maybe I should. I'll have to consider that choice. I only have a little bit more time to give you attention, Sapphire. I'm sorry. This part is tricky."
"One more thing then. There's an Earth tradition, and while it doesn't exactly apply to our situation, you might want to consider it."
"Maybe I will. What tradition?"
"When you get a break, look up the tradition of carrying a bride across the threshold."
"I have no idea what that means, but I'll look it up."
"It's an important tradition."
"Will you be okay for a while?"
"I'll be fine, Moirai."
* * * *
The docking sequence was, indeed, tricky. The station rotated about the central axis. This produced centrifugal force with 'up' always towards the center access and 'down' away from it. From a human perspective, it would be easier to imagine the wheel not flat on its side but standing up like a big Ferris wheel.
Docking involved flying into a doorway in the end of the central hub. As we moved inside the station, the hub -- and the entire station -- slowly rotated around the ship. Bronze flew a careful path to a landing berth.
I watched the entire procedure and was glad I wasn't the one doing it.
But we settled in a berth, the center of the hub now above us, and the large door through which we had entered to our right.
Bronze shut down the ship, and I withdrew my attention from outside. But then she left me in the chair, and I wondered what was going on. She left me there for ten minutes before she asked, "Ready to come out?"
"More than ready."
"I need to warn you of something. Gravity at the rim is slightly over Earth standard gravity. You'll weigh an extra two kilos."
"All right."
"Gravity here at the hub is negligible."
"I did all right in free fall."
"You did. This is harder than free fall. I'm going to have to help you."
"I've suffered through worse."
"I'm going to take you from the chair and to our room. I have an outfit waiting there for you. You'll need help putting it on."
"I think I can dress myself."
"I think you'll find that's harder than you realize when your feet refuse to stay on the floor."
"Oh. All right."
"Here we go."
She was right. She had to help me. She kept me partly anchored in the chair while slipping a bathrobe over my shoulders. Then she helped me from the chair. She was right. My feet didn't want to stay where they belonged.
Hers, however, seemed just fine.
"I don't understand."
"Special shoes," she said. "I don't have a pair for you. I think I'm just going to carry you."
I didn't complain.
In our quarters, she basically pushed me against a wall and told me to hold onto one of the anchor points. Then she stepped away, but when she turned around, she was holding the most amazing gown. It was simple but beautiful.
"It's lovely."
She helped me dress, which really means she dressed me, tugging everything into place. Last was a practical pair of shoes. She tugged me to a mirror, gave me another point to hold on, and then worked on my hair.
"There," she said, her hands on my shoulders.
"Moirai, it's beautiful." I turned to face her and lifted my lips.
It was our first kiss since before arriving at Saturn. I had missed her lips, and I moaned into this kiss.
When we separated, we stared into each other's eyes. Well, she stared into my visor. I stared into her fake eyes. I laughed.
"We have a romantic moment, and you laugh?"
"The romantic moment was staring into each other's eyes. But you're staring at this." I touched the visor. "And your eyes aren't your own eyes. Humans have a saying that the eyes are the gateway to the soul. Where is your gateway?"
"Lower."
And then we both laughed loudly.
"Yours is, too," she added.
"It is not!" I said.
We teased each other for another minute. Then I asked for -- and received -- another kiss, delivered with a fair amount of caressing.
"Thank you," she whispered to me. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes. But I want to know why your feet stick to the floor, but I feel like I'm on ice."
"My shoes are magnetic, and the decking has enough metal running through it for me to stick. But I can be dislodged if we are overly energetic."
"When do I get shoes like yours?"
"You won't need them. You'll begin to feel like normal as we descend from the hub."
"Oh. Right. I should have known that."
After that, I let her see to my safe passage. She escorted me to the ship's airlock. Passage was brief, and then we were in the space station itself.
The alien space station.
I grabbed a handhold on the wall and brought us to a stop.
"What's wrong?"
"We're on a space station."
"Yes. This shocks you?"
"An ET space station that traveled a thousand light years-"
"217."
"Fine. That traveled 217 light years to arrive here. We're on a freaking alien space station hanging out in space one and a half billion kilometers from anything else at all."
"This is indeed a momentous occasion."
"That better not have been sarcasm."
"It was not, Sapphire. I assure you."
"Good. Because it is a momentous occasion, and maybe I'm not the first human woman to stand here, but I'm damned rare."
"You are unique. But yes. This is not something very many humans will ever experience."
"We need to mark the occasion."
"I agree entirely. How?"
"Well, there is an age-old human custom for marking occasions such as this."
"Oh. I don't think I know this custom."
"Self
ie!" I patted my non-existent pockets. "Damn it. We have to go back. I forgot my cell phone."
"Sapphire..."
"Wait. I bet you have a phone. Give it here." I held my hand out.
"I don't have a phone, Sapphire."
"Well, you have those fancy eyes of yours. Pop one out and give it here."
"Sapphire!"
"Fine. But tell me you can take my picture."
"I am recording video."
"Oh, you are not."
"Of course I am."
"Turn it off."
"No."
I considered putting up a fuss. "Fine. You can have your stupid video. But I need my picture taken." I moved backwards along the wall, handhold to handhold, until I was beside the airlock controls. "Right here."
"I can share the video with you."
"I don't want none of that newfangled video stuff all you aliens are into these days. I want a good, old-fashioned photograph." I pouted for a moment. "It should be a selfie with both of us, but seeing as how you didn't let me bring my phone, I guess you're left out. And a hundred years from now when I'm showing our photo album to our grandkids, and I'm talking about my arrival on this space station, they're going to ask, 'Where is grandma?' and I'm going to say 'She wouldn't let me take a proper selfie with both of us, so there are no photos of her'. And they're going to wonder what kind of grandma you are that you won't allow a proper selfie."
"Sapphire..."
"The sooner you take my picture, the sooner we can move onto the next human custom for such a momentous occasion, second only to the selfie. That you won't let me take."
"Fine, fine," she said. "Say 'cheese'."
"Cheeeeeessse!" I said. I paused. "Did you get it? I can't smile forever."
"Is that why humans say 'cheese'?"
I laughed. "Yeah. I didn't realize you would know that one. Did you get a photo?"
"Yes. I got six."
"Well, let me see. Send them to my visor."
"Um."
"You didn't get a photo. You're just doing video, and you're going to pull out six stills later and give them to me. I want a proper picture. Can your eyes do that or not?"
"Fine, fine," she said again. "I think so."
"You think so?" I shook my head. "What kind of camera do you have there? I tell you, if you'd let me bring my cell phone, we'd be done with this part by now, and you'd be in the selfies besides. You know, for our grandchildren. But instead, there is going to be this big blank page titled, 'Grandma Moirai's arrival on the space station'. And they're going to wonder if there was a power outage."
"Sapphire."
I smiled sweetly. "Yes, Moirai?"
"Are you really that nervous?"
"Oh, yeah. Can you take a still or not?"
"Yes."
"Good." I posed with the airlock controls.
"Got it."
"Another." I pretended I was going to manipulate the controls.
"Sapphire!" she screamed.
"Oh relax, I'm not actually touching it. Wait. I want one with my real eyes." I shut down the visor and pulled it off. I couldn't see a thing, but I pointed to the airlock controls. "Tell me when you got it. Take a few in case the first one is bad."
"Got it."
"Great. I hope you're really fast at pulling stills from your video, because I expect them waiting for me when I get the visor back on."
I almost lost control of the wall and had to scramble to hang on. But I got the visor back on my face. As soon as it powered up, I dived into the menu, looking for the photos she said she had taken.
"Oh, nice one!" I said a minute later. I turned to her and smiled again. "Thank you, honey buns."
"Honey buns?"
"Your turn!" I said. "Cause, you know, we can't do proper selfies and all. Switch places."
She shook her head, and then she helped me stand where she'd been standing.
"Okay, good," I said. "Except I can't see your feet." I looked down. "Now you're head is chopped off."
"Sapphire."
"Relax. I'm just messing with you." I accessed the controls and told the visor to take a series of still images. I took a half dozen then smiled again.
"Thank you for humoring me."
"You're welcome. I think. Are you going to do this every step along the station?"
"Probably. Got a problem with that, Stretch?"
"Stretch?"
I gestured to how tall she was.
"No. No problem," she said.
"Relax and come get me before I float away on this ice rink. We have another human tradition, then we can move on."
She stepped up to me, and I smiled.
"What tradition."
"You agree this is an important moment."
"Yes. A very important moment. For which we took several selfies."
"Don't judge. You're going to like this part of the tradition. We have to do something momentous together. We arrived together, after all, right?"
"Yes, we did."
"Good." I lifted my lips and ordered, "Kiss me like I've never been kissed before."
* * * *
It was a short walk, and then a branch until we arrived at a curved passageway -- curved up. That was disconcerting at first, and I thought I was going to get dizzy.
"I'm not sure this is a good idea. Everything looks weird."
Bronze understood what I meant. She turned me to face her. "You're pale."
"I know. I don't feel good."
"I'm going to pick you up. Try to hold it together." Then I was in her arms, mine wrapped around her neck. I buried my face in her neck and closed my eyes.
"Please hurry. I don't feel good."
She didn't run, but I could feel as she hurried.
"So much for my momentous moment."
"You'll feel better soon. I promise."
"I hope you keep your promises, or you're going to be wearing my breakfast."
She didn't say anything. It's possible she hurried faster.
We arrived at an elevator. A glass elevator. And I immediately understood the significance. "It's two and a half kilometers to the bottom, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"Oh god."
"I think perhaps it's best if I turn your visor off."
"I think you're right, and this thing better not move too fast, either."
She turned off the visor, but I kept my face pressed against her and breathed deeply. Pheromones, don't fail me now!
The elevator did, indeed, move too fast. I gave a squeak, but she held me tightly to her.
"We're going to stop halfway down," she said. "And let you settle. There's a bench to sit on, just a short walk. But I don't want you to see, so I'm going to keep you blinded."
"All right," I said. "I'm sorry."
"Just a few minutes, Sapphire. I promise."
"Tell the elevator to slow down gradually or I know I'm going to lose it. Can you do that?"
A moment later she was speaking in Temier, or whatever language it was. I couldn't tell if someone was talking back, but she went back and forth a few times. "All handled," she said after a pause.
"Thank you. Who did you call?"
"The stationmaster. I didn't want to mess around."
"Thank him for me, too."
"Her. I did."
"What species is she? Wait, don't tell me. Catseye."
Bronze rumbled a chuckle. "Yes."
"Will I meet her?"
"You have a thing for Catseye. I'm not sure letting you meet her is a good idea."
"You said it was my idea if I wanted a threesome." I think I was starting to feel a little better. I breathed in more of her pheromones. I felt protected and safe.
The elevator slowed and came to an exceedingly gentle stop.
"Thank her for me," I whispered again.
Bronze carried me from the elevator. Then it was a two or three minute walk before she lowered me to a bench, sitting down beside me. I wanted to curl against her, but I wanted to stop feeling dizz
y first. I leaned forward, my head halfway to my knees, and grew very still.
I felt light. I understood that. We were only halfway to the rim. I didn't know if the gravity grew evenly as we descended, but I felt light.
"Wouldn't it be easier to live here instead of out at the rim?"
"The gravity here isn't strong enough. You wouldn't get enough exercise. Your heart would grow weak. Your bones would grow weak. It begins pretty much right away. Your astronauts have to work very hard to maintain shape, and they still come down far weaker than they went up."
"But that's no gravity at all."
"So it just takes longer. This might be good for people whose health is already failing, who want an easy last year or two. But it is not good for a healthy adult to live in gravity much lower than she is evolved."
"I'm feeling better. You can turn my visor back on."
"I'm going to leave it off. This will be part of your tour tomorrow, and I don't want to spoil it. You're in no shape to appreciate it today."
"I'm sorry I'm so much trouble."
She squeezed me lightly. "You're not any trouble."
I leaned back, but I captured the hand across my shoulders, holding it in place, then leaned against her. "Can we sit here a little longer? And will you talk to the Catseye and make sure the elevator starts and stops slowly?"
"She is programming the elevators specifically for you."
"She is?"
"They'll go as fast as they do, but they'll start and stop more gently when you're onboard."
"That's very kind of her." I paused. "I suppose that was your idea."
"Hers, actually. I don't know if you would like her. She's very... efficient. If you do not work for me, then the next choice is to work for her."
"I thought you didn't want me to meet her."
"The idea grows on me."
I laughed. I was feeling better.
"Let me smell you again," I said. I pulled myself towards her and inhaled deeply. "You always smell so good. Why do you smell so good?"
"I am Temier. How else would I smell?"
Uh huh. I didn't say anything.
"Is it safe for me to walk here?"
"With care. Simple steps, and hold my arm." She pulled me to my feet and then she let me walk around a little.
"I'm ready to go now, I think. But I want to smell you some more."
I held me to her in the elevator, and I filled myself with her scent. I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was probably a bad idea. But I was stuck here. I may as well enjoy it, right?