“I’ve met all kinds,” said Sierra. “You’d be surprised how ‘human’ some beings can be.”
The Prince laughed a little at that. “I know what you mean.” The valet had by this time climbed from the back of the ferry and taken his place alongside the pilot. Tynan addressed them: “Take Ms. Smith’s bags inside. I’ll see Ms. Smith to the receiving room.”
The two servants nodded and moved quickly to obey. Tynan made a sweeping gesture to a place opposite where he and Sierra were standing, where a large golden portal was set into a wall. The portal slid open and let into an inner alabaster chamber. “This way, Sierra,” said Tynan. And the two of them walked together into the aerie of Nest Moran.
The receiving room was a large, wide, circular parlor; a place of tall windows letting in the light of Catalan and showing the clouds that accompanied the city on its slow voyage across the face of the planet. There were polished marble pillars, potted trees and flowers, a full-service bar, and a central area of elegant tables, chairs, and divans, where four impeccably dressed and groomed Lacertans awaited Tynan and Sierra.
Two of them were dark and strikingly handsome gentlemen between thirty and forty, the older one dressed in burgundy, the younger in black and grey. Seated near them were an older pair, a man in white and grey, a woman in white and shades of violet. A server, female, dressed in a manner similar to the valet who took Sierra’s baggage, came around from behind the bar with drinks on a shining tray.
Through the entrance to the receiving room at that moment, stepped Tynan and Sierra to meet his family.
Gesturing to their guest, Tynan announced, “Mother, Father, Evan, Preston, I’d like to present Ms. Sierra Smith of the planet Earth.”
The Morans greeted Sierra with warm hellos and how-do-you-do’s, and Tynan led Sierra forward to shake hands with each and return their greetings and express her pleasure at being on their world. The parents motioned Sierra and Tynan to seats opposite the table where they were sitting. Sierra and the youngest Prince sat down. The two older brothers—Preston in the wine-colored skin and Evan in the dark tones—remained standing, almost like sentries on guard. The serving woman efficiently passed out drinks and was quickly gone with tray in hand through a portal at the far side of the room.
For a moment, Sierra discreetly studied the two older brothers. Elsewhere on Lacerta were the Earth women they had taken as brides, no doubt enjoying a brief respite from the sexy attentions of these two dragon men who were awesomely handsome and powerfully built predictions of the way Tynan would be one day: a little older, but still figures of sex waiting to happen. If all went well, Sierra would soon be on the receiving end of what those two women were surely getting on a daily basis.
“We understand,” said Moira Moran, “there was a recent unpleasantness in your life.”
Sierra was puzzled at first. “Unpleasantness? I’m afraid I don’t…” Then, she realized: “I was ill, not long ago. Is that what you mean?”
“Yes,” said Moira. “Udarian mitochondrial disease, wasn’t it?”
“It was, yes,” replied Sierra. “But I’m fine.”
“That’s gratifying to know,” Leland said. “I’ve heard of many cases with a very different outcome from yours, unfortunately. We’re pleased that you’ve come through your illness to be here now. It speaks of a strength of body, and of will—a fortitude, if you like. Fortitude is something that will be called for, if we’re to see things go ahead as we hope.”
“With Tynan and me becoming the parents of your grandchild,” said Sierra, glancing at Tynan from the corners of her eyes.
“Our nest is a favored one,” Leland continued, “favored not only in the fortune we’ve built and the position and reputation we enjoy, on this world and in space; but also favored by nature. We’ve earned much and been given much. What we’ve sought you out to help us with is our way of giving something back to this world.”
“‘Favored by nature’?” Sierra asked, repeating his point as a query.
“What Father means,” said Preston, “is that our nest isn’t just one of the richest families on Lacerta. It’s also one of the rarest. Where there is a family on our planet, it’s almost always a family with an only child. Nests that breed more than one son or daughter are the rarest thing on our world. Our nest is the greatest exception to the rule because…I have two younger brothers.”
“Or I have two older brothers, eh?” said Tynan in a sly aside.
“Or I’m in the middle of these two,” Evan added with an eyebrow cocked.
“Birth order notwithstanding, our family is rare, vanishingly rare,” said Moira. “There have always been Lacertans who wanted more children, or any children at all, and spent much of their lives trying, often without success. Having so much of our own blood and seeing so many others with so little, Leland and I have long hoped to change that. Which is why we’ve been so committed to the Proliferon project. And that, Ms. Smith—Sierra—is where we need your help.”
“And let’s not deceive ourselves,” Leland added. “This is not going to be an easy thing—for you, for us, or for our world.”
“With due respect, Mr. Moran, sir,” said Sierra, “I don’t think pregnancy is ever really an ‘easy thing’. I’ve never been pregnant, but I know from friends…”
“I’m not referring to the physical effects of pregnancy; I know those well enough,” Moira gently interrupted. “I mean that there may be other complications—external complications. I’m referring to what this will mean in a larger sense. When we started this project, we predicted that when the news of it became public, not all of our people would welcome it. Some would, knowing that if we succeeded, they might never need to face a childless life. But others would be certain to greet Proliferon with resentment and anger—with resistance.”
“Resistance,” Leland clarified, “to the fear of losing what has become a part of the Lacertan way of life.”
Sierra now understood. “Because of how important the Lotteries have been.”
“That’s right,” said Evan. “You remember how it was in Earth history, don’t you? People thought marriage was what civilization and life were about. They didn’t want the institution changed in any way. They hated the idea of anyone not being married, and they hated the idea of anyone not marrying someone of the opposite sex.”
“It wasn’t just that they thought marriage was the way to create an ordered society where everything was structured and maintained,” Preston added. “Marriage was something that made them feel important, like their lives had meaning and value. Take a thing like that away from people or make them feel as if it’s going to be taken away, and they’ll try to push back.”
“And then add the fact that the Lotteries are about having kids, creating families, creating the future—creating your own immortality, in a way,” said Tynan. “We live a lot longer now than people did on Earth before interstellar travel, but that hasn’t taken away people’s need to have some part of themselves live after them or have some claim on the future. For most people, that still means having kids.”
“And their kids having kids,” Preston said.
“I know you had to think about all those things before you started this,” said Sierra. “I’ve been thinking about them too—just maybe not in the same way you have. I’ve been looking at all this…a little differently.”
“How so?” asked Moira.
“It’s hard to explain,” Sierra replied. “I had to take some time sorting it out for myself. But it started when I got sick and nearly died—and then had to recover. Almost losing my life put my whole life on hold. And then, for the first time in…a lot of years, I’ll put it that way…I had time to think about how I’d been living, and what it was for, and what it was really about.
I’ve been happy with my life. I’ve never had any regrets. I’ve had great friends, great lovers…,” she paused ever so slightly and did not look at Tynan when she said that last part, “and I’ve always tried to treat other
people the way I’d like to be treated. Well, except when they were chasing me or trying to kill me…” This time she purposely studied the reactions of the Morans. She looked from Tynan to his brothers and saw them smiling, understanding.
Of course, they would be. They’d been members of the Corps; they’d served in uniform. It’s natural they would have some insight into a life lived with risks. Leland and Moira simply looked at each other as if in some unspoken understanding of their own—perhaps the shared understanding of parents whose sons had faced danger and come through it.
Sierra went on. “The point is, I’ve done well for myself, I’ve done well for others. I think I’ve been a good person. It’s just, since I almost died, there’s been this other thing. Everyone imagines what it would be like to have at least one child at some time in their life. You see yourself with a son, or a daughter, and you see yourself doing things with that little person, talking to him or her, telling that little person about life, about the world.
You see yourself teaching a child, explaining things to a child, helping a child understand life. And, you hope, helping that little person become someone good when he or she gets bigger. When I was in recovery, I started to think that if I had died, I would have never had the chance to know what any of that was like. I would have never even had the choice to try to find out. And I realized that I didn’t like that. That’s when I found out about what you were doing.
I could have just gone looking for a lover or a partner, or I could have even just gone to a fertility specialist anywhere. But when I learned about your project, I thought maybe it would be a chance to do what I would have never been able to do if I’d died—and maybe be a part of something bigger too; something bigger and something important. I thought about so many people on your planet having that same chance. And…I guess that’s why I submitted myself. It sounds like I’ve been rambling a bit, just pouring out my thoughts here. Does any of that make any kind of sense?”
“It does to me,” said Tynan.
Sierra looked over at the youngest Prince sitting next to her and saw that he did indeed take her meaning. She hoped that the rest of his family did, but something warm unfolded in her heart knowing that he did.
“Under the circumstances,” Leland spoke up, “it makes the kind of…’sense’…that it ought to make. We could hardly ask for anything more sensible.”
“Then I don’t sound…selfish?” Sierra asked.
“Anyone can be ‘selfish’,” Leland replied. “And everyone has a self-interest. “I believe that what you’ve explained to us is more in the way of a self-interest. And frankly, hardly the worst self-interest I’ve heard. It’s the kind of self-interest that anyone ought to have when facing the prospect of bringing a life into the world. It is, I would say…the right reason, or a right reason, to become a parent.”
“Yes, I agree,” said Moira. “And under the arrangement you’ll have with us, if we should all decide to take it to the final step, you’ll be able to do exactly as you described. If your relationship with Tynan is only sharing a child, it’s a relationship we’ll do everything to encourage and support. We won’t expect you to become Tynan’s mate. We won’t demand that you marry him. But we will take every measure to make you, as our grandchild’s mother, a part of his or her life. It will be the best thing for the child…and for all of us.”
“I’m glad to know that,” said Sierra.
“I wouldn’t…,” Tynan began. “We wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“Hear, hear,” said Preston, raising his glass.
Evan did likewise, as did Tynan. The parents simply smiled. Sierra lifted her glass as well and took her first taste of the nectar it contained. And she looked again at Tynan and found in his eyes and his gaze a look of approval—and perhaps something more as well.
For a while, Sierra sat and drank with the Moran family. The two older brothers took seats with them, and they spoke of different things. The Morans told Sierra of the people they knew in the highest places in Lacertan life, including the Alpha Dragon of the Ruling Aerie and his wife and daughter, and some of the bravest of the mighty Knights of Lacerta, including Sir Coram Dunne, who had been at the human Leanne Shire’s side against the return of the High Chimerian.
Sierra told them of her adventures across the quadrant and the people for whom she had sought out the treasures and rarities of space, and the dangers that she had overcome in the pursuit of her work. And she was pleased that they all seemed impressed, especially the three brothers, and most especially Tynan. They seemed to have the sense that she might actually be the mother of a proper dragon. She was sure the feeling she was getting from them was real; she had been around enough to know when someone was being insincere or dishonest, and these Morans, in her experienced judgement, were sincere.
At length, Moira and Leland put down their glasses and stood up, a cue for the others to do the same. The parents took one another by the hand and Leland said, “We’re going to excuse ourselves now. It’s time, I think, for Sierra and Tynan to have some time alone. The final decision of how we’re going to go forward rests with them, after all. But I for one have been encouraged by our talk today. I think we may all have reason to look forward to whatever may come next.”
“Agreed,” said Moira. “Tynan, Sierra, we’ll see you whenever you need us. We’ll be about. The two of you, take your time. Learn about each other. It’s learning that makes the future we want. Use your time well and come to us when you’re ready.”
“Thank you, Mother…Father,” said Tynan.
“Yes, thank you,” said Sierra, and she actually caught herself bowing her head slightly, as if she were speaking to the royalty that Tynan had told her his family was not.
The rest of the Moran family made their exit the way Tynan and Sierra had come in. His two brothers cast smiling, winking, eyebrow-arching looks at him on their way out, which Tynan returned with mock scowls and frowns. And with his family gone, it was now only Tynan and Sierra in the receiving room.
“So,” Tynan said to her, “having seen as much of the galaxy as you have, you’ve probably been to a floating city before, I suppose.”
“That’s true,” Sierra answered. “I have.”
“Well, this is your first time here in Nimbus City and we’re very proud of it. I’d like to show it to you.”
“I’d like to see it,” Sierra smiled.
Tynan gestured to the threshold and led Sierra out.
CHAPTER FIVE
Tynan took out one of the family’s topless hovercars, which Sierra noticed at once had the same body-contouring safety seats as the ferry ship that brought her down from the spaceport. He piloted the car from the Morans’ private hangar and flew them out into the interior of Nimbus City. As they exited the hangar and swerved away into the air, Sierra looked behind them and saw the outside of the aerie of Nest Moran. It was one of a myriad of structures set into the inner wall of the city’s upper dome. Looking at it, Sierra thought of an ornament from an ancient Christmas tree, not hung on the bow of some pine from a forest but sculpted into the inner shell of a colossal egg. The ornament-like dwellings, the equivalent of row upon row of mansions, covered the arc of the inner dome in a display of the beauty that wealth could buy.
It became clear to Sierra at once that Nimbus was a city with a theme: circles, spheres, and arcs. Everything that she saw was built or arranged in circular shapes or patterns, as if to suggest a place without corners. Where there was a tower or a spire, it was broad at the base and tapered upward not in a straight vertical line or a slope, but in a curve; or it was a cylinder rather than a polygon. There were domes and bowls, arches, spheres, eggs, anything but straight lines. The trees were planted in curved rows.
The homes, offices, and shops sat on streets laid out in curves and circles. At regular intervals up and down the walls there were windows the size of the houses themselves, and the uppermost part of the dome was transparent, the better to let in the sunlight during t
he day and show the stars at night. As was to be expected of a Lacertan community, images of dragons were everywhere, in murals and statues, gargoyles and fountains.
The only straight lines to be seen were those of the traffic, the flying vehicles guided along by a gridwork visible only through the special glass of the windshields of the craft. The citizens and visitors who took to the air with their own wings seemed unconsciously or intuitively to follow the curved and circular patterns of the city’s layout. The psychology of it fascinated Sierra. It was as if the city plan “herded” the people living, working, and visiting there to conform to it.
After making a circuit around the city, pointing out things of interest and places he especially enjoyed (with Sierra quietly trying to guess all the places where he might have had sex), Tynan set the craft down in a landing lot near a park with a fountain, and they climbed out for a walk. As they strolled along on the grass they saw people sunning themselves, both in human form clad in thongs, and in dragon form sitting peacefully with wings folded.
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