Maybe it would be enough.
A man and woman arrived, clothed in the outfits worn by the other medical people she’d seen. They seemed surprised to see Garran there, muttered respectful greetings to him, which he returned. Sarah glanced at the wall chrono and realized that it was near the hour of the start of first shift.
The night was over and it was a new day--a day to spend with her husband and see if she could find some answers to her troubled questions.
Garran took her hand. "Come with me to breakfast?"
At least that was a question she had an answer for.
"I’ll be happy to."
Chapter Eighteen
His Sarah was a neat eater. Garran watched as she carefully emptied her plate of baked cholumb, managing the task without losing a single morsel from her fork. The rich crumbly cake was more nutritious than it looked, or tasted, but it did tend to make a mess. His plate, for example, was covered in bits and pieces. But Sarah was more careful, making sure every bite made it into her mouth where she virtually purred over the taste.
Her undisguised enjoyment over such a small thing left him pleased and confused. Pleased because every time she found something about Gaian lifestyle that she liked, he figured it made it that much easier to convince her to stay. Confused because he couldn’t understand why such simple things would make her happy. She was trained physician and a good one. Surely her life had included access to good food and drink.
Take the way she drank javi. He’d have thought she’d had enough already, but she relished this mug as much as the one that had preceded it. The mug in front of her was on its second refill since they’d taken seats in the small mess hall he’d directed her to after leaving the medical center.
Maxxa hadn’t been happy at them going to a public place for breakfast, but had been moved at Sarah’s fervent request that they not return to Garran’s quarters just yet. Garran thought that maybe a neutral place would make it easier to talk to her and supported her request.
Reluctantly the bodyguard had acquiesced with the proviso that Sammul be added to the party. The hulking pair had installed themselves at a nearby table, leaving Garran and Sarah alone. The good news was that they spent so much time looking for possible enemies that Garran had all the privacy he wanted.
He examined the half-empty mug in front of her. Two mugs of javi and that wasn’t counting what she’d had at the center. Of course he didn’t blamed her. With her profession she’d probably drunk hundreds of cups of javi--that is coffee back on Earth, attempting to stay alert while delivering babies at all hours of the night.
He eyed the mug in front of him. If he was going to be married to an obstetrician he’d probably better get used to drinking more as well. Her hours would become his as well.
Not that he was complaining. Today’s early morning rousting had been a wake-up call in more ways than one. She was a doctor and according to Jeffrey, a damn good one.
Garran sighed at that. Yet another member of his staff eager to make certain that his marriage was successful...Jeffrey so he’d have access to a skilled physician.
If only his bride had as much interest in their relationship as everyone else did.
Although, something had changed. He’d noticed it when they’d left the medical center, how she’d allowed him to take her hand without comment. He couldn’t say that she’d welcomed his touch, but she hadn’t shied away either. It was almost like she was testing herself.
She was watching him, too, as if she was questioning something in her own mind. The look was too contemplative to be idle curiosity. Something was on her mind and it involved him. Probably involved both of them.
A happy thought occurred. Maybe she was coming over to his side? Garran mused over that, his attention on the dark wood of the table.
"This is delicious."
Her comment broke through his thoughts and Garran looked up to see her smiling at him, the expression so beautiful it caught the breath in his throat. Her smile was almost what he’d seen yesterday before she’d realized his identity. He’d though he’d never see it again.
Heart pounding he leaned over the table toward her. "It’s a favorite breakfast cake with Gaians. My wife used to make it every day...." His voice trailed off when he realized what he’d said. Horrified he watched her smile fade and the watchful look return.
She played with her fork, turning it over and over on her empty plate. "She cooked, your wife?"
"She was a very good cook," he admitted.
She raised her fork to her mouth, still not looking at him. Instead her gaze seemed fixed on his plate, between them on the table. "And I can’t cook at all."
What did that mean? "I didn’t marry you for your domestic skills. We can hire a cook, Sarah."
She laughed, a sad little laugh. "It’s not that. It just that I don’t think I’m much like your wife was."
"I’m not making comparisons. Sarah, does it bother you that I was married?"
She tapped her fork on his plate as if making a point. "Not the way you think. You loved her and she loved you...and you had a child...." Her voice trailed off.
"This is true. Do you worry that I could not love you or any children we could have? Trust me, Sarah that will not be an issue. You are exceedingly lovable--half the ship is enamored of you already," he said wryly.
She seemed to catch his attitude of chagrin and amusement glinted in her eyes. With her fork she gathered a few of the cholumb crumbs on his plate and lifted them into the air.
"I guess you’re now getting pressure from all sides on keeping me around." Sarah thrust the pile of pilfered crumbs in her mouth and Garran’s heart pounded with feral glee at the sigh of pleasure that erupted from her.
"None more than from myself. I want you, Sarah." That was one fact that was getting harder and harder to ignore.
"Because you attached to me?" Her fork snagged a few more of his leftover cholumb crumbs.
"Because I attached, yes. It’s the way of us. You represent a future for me, of companionship and family. I’d be a fool to give that up--and I’ve never been accused of being a fool."
"Companionship and family? What about love, Garran--Do you think you love me?"
Love? Love followed attachment...that’s what he’d been taught. It was the natural order of things. He knew Earth people put a great store on developing an emotional attachment to their spouses prior to marriage, but they didn’t have to contend with the overwhelming physical reactions Gaians did on first meeting. There wasn’t time for love to develop yet.
At this point it was hard for him not to just throw her over his shoulder and haul her off to bed. Maybe he didn’t love her now, but he would when everything settled down.
He waited too long to answer and she shook her head. "I didn’t think so. Just as well."
She might say it was "just as well" but he could tell it wasn’t. Her forced smile told him as loudly as words--Sarah needed someone to love her.
"Don’t give up on us loving each other yet, Sarah mine. Love is something that grows between people when they allow it. All Gaian couples I’ve ever known would tell you they were in love...even it if took a while to happen."
Amused Garran watched Sarah glean the last crumbs from his plate, an intimate act to be expected of a wife. He wondered if she knew what she was doing.
She swallowed the last mouthful. "So you think we will grow to love each other?"
"I believe so, yes. We will spend our lives together. Most Gaian couples live and work side-by-side. It’s the way of things."
A troubled look crossed her face. "Gaian couples always live together? But your wife was.…"
Chills ran down his spine and it was all he could do to not clench his fist. Why did she need to bring this up, now? "Yes. She wasn’t with me at the time of her death. I was working on this ship and she and Sallia were at the school.…"
Sarah held up one hand, dismay in her face. "I’m sorry, Garran. I didn’t mean to.…"
&n
bsp; Her look of apology was all he needed. Immediately his anger cooled.
Garran grabbed and held her upraised hand. "I know. You didn’t mean bring up bad memories. It’s all right, Sarah." He pulled it to his lips and kissed her fingers. "You are my wife now."
She pulled her hand away, but there was a smile on her face. He gestured to their now empty plates. "If you’re done with breakfast, maybe I can give you a tour of the ship."
Sarah put her fork down and finished the last of her javi with a satisfied smile.
"I’m ready when you are."
* * * *
Garran took her first to his personal domain of the ship, the engineering laboratories. It took nearly an hour to walk through the large rooms, each filled with specialized equipment to develop new and improved versions of Gaian technology. Dressed in simple coveralls, the technicians and engineers worked at their stations, although Sarah could tell they were working shorthanded today, several of the work areas empty.
Many of the young men had found brides and were taking a few days off. Only a few unbanded men were there as well as the married Gaians, men and women wearing bands and working side-by-side.
When he’d moved into space, Garran hadn’t stopped directing his engineering staff. Instead he’d moved them all onto his battleship.
"Didn’t they worry about being destroyed during the war?" Sarah asked.
Garran simply smiled, a bit of the General evident in the sardonic upturn of his lips.
One of the other engineers gathered round them answered her. "This ship?" he laughed. "We’re safer here than on Gaia. There’s a story about how The Promise got its name. Since it was a converted passenger liner, an Earthforce Admiral asked how we could consider ourselves a threat to them." The young man nodded proudly to Garran. "The General here replied, ‘I don’t consider us a threat--instead we are a promise. If you come after us, we promise you will be sorry.’"
The man grinned at Garran. "And he was sorry, wasn’t he. His was one of the first ships we took.…"
"Enough talk of the war." Garran interrupted, leading Sarah away. "Over here is something I think you’ll really like."
She looked back to see a perplexed look on the man’s face. Surely he knew better than to brag about destroying ships in front of her.
Garran let her linger quite a while in the medical equipment lab, admiring their latest efforts. Once more she was tempted by the desire to be able to use such state of the art tools.
She glanced at Garran, his handsome visage firing her passions again, and felt the reaction in her face, cheeks burning. When she felt this way about him, why couldn’t she believe that love would follow?
At one point in their tour, several engineers engaged Garran in a technical problem of some sort. Sarah tried to follow the conversation but was lost in seconds.
Bemused she glanced about for other entertainment and another piece of equipment caught her eye, being assembled on a large workbench with a number of loose electronic parts piled up on it. Garran’s attention engaged for the moment, Sarah wandered over to get a better look.
There was a media-screen displaying a diagram and a young man intently matching equipment parts to the apparatus on the bench, apparently based on the display. Like many of the young men in the room, he did not have a marriage band and when Sarah asked about his project, his head nodding about like a child’s toy, his eyes wide with excitement over her notice.
Beaming at her, he indicated the apparatus on the bench. "I’m building a prototype of a new remote controlling system."
"A new remote controlling system?" Sarah puzzled over what this could be.
The young man’s Adam’s apple bobbled up and down like a child’s toy. "Oh, yes. An improved model. You see, the current system relies on known input systems and wavelengths, so we must be very careful to be within the correct distance to the target and can’t always rely on the system being within parameters. The new system will be much more flexible, and not subject to interference of some sorts from misalignments like infrastructure metals on hidden tangents and such…."
He spoke so fast that Sarah found it hard to follow his explanation, but after listening for a couple of minutes she thought she’d worked out the purpose of the device. "So you can use this to remotely control other computer systems? Like the systems on other ships?"
He clapped his hands in excitement. "Oh yes, that’s right! We can control other ships this way. Like the life-pods you came in on? I worked on the remote for that one. It was harder in some ways because a life-pod is so stupid, you can’t rely on its computer entirely, or you wind up shutting off the life-support and that would be bad, you know?"
"Yes that would be bad," Sarah agreed, thinking about her own experience. Last thing they’d have needed was absentee life-support. She had wondered at how they’d managed to seize the life-pods and control them. Tractor beams usually jerked more. Apparently this young man had been one of the reasons for the smoothness of their ride that morning.
"Varra, what are you telling Sarah?" Garran joined them, his voice intent.
"Oh sir, I was just telling her about the controller for the life-pods, and how it needs to be smarter than the pod is."
Sarah sensed Garran’s relief in the young man’s answer and wondered. Why would Garran be concerned that she learn about a remote ship-controlling system? They had one to control life-pods, an interesting use but what else might it be good for?
Hmm, Sarah thought. Controlling ships other than life-pods? Garran pulled her to another part of the lab before she could ask any more questions of Varra, and became intent on showing her a system for purifying air, making it even cleaner than the air of Gaia, an interesting device in itself.
But it was the remote ship controller that kept coming back to Sarah’s mind.
* * * *
Sarah leaned against Garran in the corridor and pulled her left foot out of her black slip-on shoes, rubbing her toes gingerly. Her feet actually hurt after their "brief" tour of the ship laboratories.
Garran slipped a supporting arm under hers. "And what shall I show you next? Would you like to see the gardens?" He ran a hand along her braid. "Maybe you’d like to see the roses. I think there are some of the Earth Flame variety."
Gardens? Sure, why not. Sarah nodded at him and he grinned as he guided her along the corridor, Sammul in close pursuit. Since leaving the labs, the bodyguard had been vigilant. When Sarah looked behind his beetling scowl took in everyone along the way.
At least he didn’t stare at her in the same way. She’d apparently moved off the big man’s enemies list.
The corridor grew wider as they moved into the more public part of the ship and the mid-day crowds picked up. Sarah saw faces she recognized amongst the women, walking with their new husbands. Sometimes one would take in Garran and stare with eyes wide, having recognized Earth’s nemesis as the man holding Sarah’s arm.
When that look of horror turned to pity as the Earth woman returned her attention to Sarah, she just shook her head and smiled her denial. Garran might not be a man she could love, but Sarah could no longer see him as the monster he’d been portended to be.
Finally they reached an open doorway over which was written "Gaia Remembered". Sarah looked into the room beyond and gasped in astonishment.
It didn’t look like a room at all. In fact it didn’t look like a part of a spaceship. As they passed inside, Sarah could have sworn they’d moved outdoors, onto the surface of a planet, with an aquamarine sky above and earth beneath her feet. They stood on a stone path, and everywhere she looked was green. Thin-bladed grass carpeted the ground in all directions, dotted here and there with benches surrounded by bushes bright with blooms or small beds of flowering plants. Many of the benches held couples too engrossed in each other to notice anyone else.
To Sarah’s Earth-born eyes, it looked like paradise, not a stretch of concrete as far as the eye could see. She took a deep breath and smelled the unfamiliar aroma of fr
esh vegetation and warm earth. The richness of the air made her dizzy and she clutched Garran’s arm for support. He helped her to a bench near the path, moving across the soft springy lawn to reach it. Sarah resisted the urge to reach down to the ground and pet the waving blades of grass beneath her feet.
Behind them Sammul padded, then took up a position to one side, watching the peaceful garden for signs of trouble.
Once seated, Sarah struggled to take shallower breaths and some of her dizziness faded. Too much oxygen, she told herself. The air in the room was rich with it, a byproduct of the plants. That’s all it was. She’d been in an oxygen-enriched environment before--this wasn’t that different.
But nothing compared to the rich bouquet of the thin breeze that flowed through the room, the fragrance from the nearby plants nearly as heady a side effect as oxygen.
Garran’s arm steadying her, Sarah raised her head for another look around. There didn’t seem to be an end to the space. Far off in the distance was a bordering line of tall trees, surrounding the garden. Looking back at the entrance she saw a stone border around the doorway, through which she could still see the ship’s corridor from which they’d entered. The sight of people passing outside gave her disoriented senses a measure of sanity. She’d not been transported planet side--they were still on the ship.
Above the doorway she could see that the wall was painted in pale, mottled aquamarine color and on either side trees and bushes were planted, the surface behind them dark green. The wall above curved up into the ceiling about three stories up, and Sarah could see the way the design tricked the eye. The room was a giant bowl, created to give the illusion of being outdoors.
When she looked at Garran, he was grinning at her, pleased with her reaction. "We spend so much time in space, it’s good to have something of our home world with us. Too much time spent in narrow corridors, or closed rooms, isn’t good for humans. We need to see the sky every once in a while...even if it isn’t a real sky.
"During the third shift we dim the lights and project on the ceiling simulated star fields and a pair of moons that keeps phase with the moons of Gaia."
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