by L P Peace
‘We have energy barriers keeping the inhabited areas safe, but we’ve also ensured all of the wild areas are connected so the animals can range.’ Ronin took Sophia’s hand. ‘You’re safe here.’
‘And with that, it is time for us to retire.’ Ronin’s mother stood. ‘I have to be up early to receive packages.’ She gave Ronin a pointed look, then looked at Sophia, her face softening. ‘I’ll see you early in the rote.’
‘See you tomorrow,’ Sophia said.
‘You’re so small, Sophia,’ Adiette said.
‘I’m not that much smaller than you guys,’ Sophia said.
‘My sisters are on the shorter end for Kerisian females,’ Ronin said, looking at his sisters with affection. ‘And Calla is not yet grown. She is only fifteen solars old.’
‘Fifteen!’ Sophia looked at Calla. ‘I’m tall for a human woman from Earth. Martians are taller, but they don’t often leave Mars. They can’t really cope with heavier gravity.’
‘There are two races in your system?’ Calla’s eyes lit up.
‘No, they’re human. We colonised a second planet, but the gravity is much lower, so they grow taller. Taller than me. I haven’t been the shorty since I was a kid, err, child.’
‘What were you like as a child?’ Calla practically bounced as she asked the question. ‘I bet you were so adorable.’
‘There’s that word again,’ Sophia said, looking at Ronin with a grin. Ronin growled and rolled his eyes.
‘Don’t encourage her with talk of adorable,’ he warned.
‘She is,’ Calla protested. ‘What were you like?’
‘I don’t know… Shorter, more annoying. When I was young and discovered something new, I’d insist on doing it over and over again until I drove my family crazy. When I started doing gymnastics, I’d practice tumbles for hours. Sometimes, I’d insist on family helping me while I found my form. The only one who ever had the patience was my older sister, Rosie.’
Sophia let out a sigh and yawned, stretching. ‘I hate to be a killjoy, but I just hit a wall.’
‘What? When?’ Adiette looked around, genuinely concerned.
‘Sorry, human saying. It means my energy levels just crashed. I… I really need to go to bed.’
‘I’ll take you to my suite,’ Ronin said standing. He led Sophia through the home to his own suite, which was on the second level of the house.
Leading the way into the guest room of his suite, Ronin stood in the door as Sophia, quiet and grim, took a seat on the edge of the bed. Exhaustion seemed to have set into every line of her face and body.
‘Are you well, Sophia?’
‘I am. Thanks, Ronin. I just really need to sleep.’
‘If you want to talk, I’m across the main room,’ he said, pointing to the door that led directly across from hers.
Sophia looked past him and nodded.
‘Sleep well, Sophia,’ Ronin whispered.
Sophia stood and walked towards him. Ronin stared at her as she took hold of the door and moved it towards the frame. ‘Night, Ronin.’
The door clicked into place, shutting her off from view.
Outside, the sun was still kissing the horizon in its ascent. Ronin was already showered and dressed. He'd hardly slept, and as soon as first light touched his window, he was awake and up. Now he looked outside and took in a deep breath, thinking about all of the things that lay before them.
Passing by the room where he'd left Sophia, he could hear her breathing steadily through the door. He listened for a moment; mind filled with the things his father had told him. She was his mate. Now he had to choose what that meant to him. Would he accept his place, forever an outsider to his people? Or would he walk away, go on with his life without her by his side? Something about that felt wrong, yet he was reluctant to accept it.
'You look tired,' his mother said as he joined her in the kitchen. She stood at the counter, preparing an early meal for three and steeping a hot drink. 'Is Sophia joining us?'
He walked behind the counter and pulled her into a hug. 'Not yet. I came up with a plan last night for getting to the IGC without being captured.'
'Would you like to go over it with me?'
'Yes,' he said.
By the time Sophia entered the kitchen, Ronin and his mother had gone through the plan several times. By this time, all of their deliveries had arrived but the suit.
'Hi, sorry. I think I was supposed to be up a while ago.'
'You needed to sleep,' Ronin said, his eyes roaming over her face. She joined them at the counter as his mother heated their food and the three of them had breakfast there.
There was a knock on the door.
'Finally,' his mother said, disappearing and reappearing a few minutes later carrying a box. She opened it on the kitchen table and pulled out the suit.
'The updated model,' Ronin said, immediately wanting to don the suit.
'The final prototype,' she confirmed. 'It has everything the new suit has. This was the approved version.'
'How did you get permission for me to have this?' he asked, taking it from his mother to examine it closely.
'I didn't ask,' she admitted. 'It sits on a dummy in my office, so I had my assistant replace it with an older prototype and bring it over. No one will even notice it is gone, and while you're off helping Sophia, I'll get the permissions.' She smiled up at Ronin. 'It is yours. Do what you have to do.'
'Thank you, Vernaya.' Sophia's voice was tired but grateful.
'Go to the atolls,' Vernaya said, pulling Sophia into a hug. 'I will make the arrangements,' she looked at Ronin pointedly, 'and by the time you leave, everything will be ready.'
The sand on the beach was warm yellow and went on as far as she could see. This early in the morning, the beach was mostly abandoned, though there were Kerisians here, some emerging from the surf. It felt like any beach on Earth until she looked at one of the inhabitants.
For a moment, Sophia wanted her surfboard. She wondered if the Kerisians had something similar, then imagined what it would be like to introduce them to it if they didn't.
Ronin was around thirty feet away at some beachfront stall, buying a breathing unit for Sophia, among other things. She was wearing the suit which, thankfully, was temperature controlled.
'This way,' Ronin called to her. He held out a breathing unit to her, and she took it off him and inspected it.
‘How does this work?’ Sophia asked, holding up the breather.
‘It filters air from the ocean,’ Ronin said.
‘Yeah, we have similar on Earth, only we bite on them to keep them on and I don’t see that.’
Ronin grinned. ‘I forget you’re an advanced culture sometimes,’ he said, taking the breather off her.
‘Yeah, could you tell that to the Bentari and Fedhith sometime?’
‘Put this end over your mouth and press both sides. You release it the same way.’
Sophia placed the filter over her mouth and pressed down. It suctioned to her mouth, and she tested it, taking a breath. Air passed through easily. There was a small clip for her nose, and it moved into place and pinched her nostrils shut. Taking another deep breath, the air passed through unhindered. Pressing the sides, Sophia took it off.
‘That works.’
Sophia followed Ronin up the sand towards a small platform. A small one-carriage transport sat on the tracks, the doors opening as they approached. Once inside, Ronin tapped in their destination, and the door closed before setting off.
It ran over the sand and sank into the water.
'Cool,' Sophia said as she looked out of the windows as the Kerisian waters swallowed them.
Just like when Sophia had gone scuba diving, everything seemed to slow down as soon as they were fully submerged. Her perspective of the world narrowed to what was on the other side of the glass. She walked over to it and looked out.
'Cool?'
'Incredible.' She looked at Ronin and smiled. He was watching her with an odd look on his face.
'It’s slang. You can also use it if a person kinda takes everything in stride, ya know. Like, they don’t get thrown by stuff. Stuff that would make other people lose their shit.’
‘Lose their shit?’ Ronin’s head tipped to one side as he watched her. ‘Similar to the way you reacted when we met? You weren’t surprised. I expected you to be.’
‘I like to appear cool, calm, and confident.’ She smiled, raising an eyebrow. ‘Do you have underwater cities?’
‘Not cities. But there are small towns or individual dwellings under the waters. Usually near coastlines, though there are a few farther out.’
‘That’s so cool. After The Violation, humans considered moving to underwater cities. A few even did, but it never worked out. We’re creatures of sunshine and being underwater left too many people depressed.’
‘Would it have made your people safer?’
‘No.’ Sophia didn’t even consider it. ‘We’re safe because we’re out in our system defending it. If we had retreated under the water, we would have left it wide open to invasion. They would have found us underwater, and we’d have been enslaved and sold generations ago.’
Ronin nodded. ‘I believe you are right. It is better to face things directly.’
‘I don’t think you’re the kind of Kerisian to shy away from things, Ronin.’
Ronin stared at her intensely for a few moments before looking past her out of the window. ‘I don’t like to believe I am. But perhaps I have been. Do you believe a person can change their nature?’ He looked at her again, more intensely now.
‘I...’ She hesitated for a moment. Whatever was going on with Ronin, it seemed like this question and her answer mattered to him. ‘I think not our natures, but our actions. But I guess it depends.’
‘On what?’ Ronin said, prompting her when she fell silent.
‘On whether the nature needs to be changed, or just accepted.’
‘I see,’ Ronin said, staring out through the window. He gestured to Sophia to look, and she turned her head. As she did, she saw the edge of an underwater ravine come up before suddenly the edge dropped away and she was staring into an unfathomable gulf of water.
‘Wow!’
The water was crystal clear, so Sophia could see everything, including the bottom several hundred feet below.
‘Please tell me these tracks are sturdy?’ Sophia asked.
‘Very.’ Ronin smiled at her. ‘Maintenance is performed on them constantly. There hasn’t been an incident on them in over a hundred solars.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Sophia said. She couldn’t help but think that the tracks were overdue for something to happen.
‘Time to change. The atolls we are visiting are coming up.’
Sophia nodded and shrugged off the backpack Ronin’s family had given her earlier. Her own was folded up inside. ‘So what’s with these atolls then? You guys build a track system to take you to them. Your family were adamant this is where you were going.’
‘It was where I planned to take you,’ Ronin admitted. Sophia looked up and saw him grinning at her, a chagrined look on his face. ‘I just hate being predictable.’
‘Your family know you so well,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing wrong with that. It means they care. I’ve seen families when they don’t. You’re better off this way, trust me.’ Zoe standing an awkward distance from her family during the launch party came to Sophia’s mind. The way they glared. Their open hostility to everyone, the vile words her own brother had said to her before he walked away.
Tara gripped Sophia’s arm and held her in place, stopping Sophia from chasing the smug bastard down and putting him on his ass like he deserved.
She took off the suit, revealing the swimsuit underneath. It was black and gold and showed off the soft golden brown of her skin. Standing, she was folding the suit when she realised Ronin was staring at her.
His eyes met hers, and there was definite heat there. Sophia felt her body react to him, to the need on his face, to the need in her own body.
Behind him, the ravine disappeared. A pinging filled the pod, followed by the room filling with a dark green light.
‘We’re almost there.’ Ronin’s voice had gone hoarse.
‘Better put this on,’ Sophia said, retrieving the breather from the floor of the carriage.
‘It’ll be a couple of metri yet. The pod will begin filling with water soon. I recommend putting the breather on when the water is around here.’ Ronin reached out and touched her sternum, just below her clavicle. Sophia nodded, ignoring the jolt of awareness that went through her at the feel of his fingers on her skin.
Sophia knelt, quickly packing the suit away before she shrugged the pack back on.
‘On Earth, humans have these things we wear on our feet, flippers. They go on our feet and spread out,’ she spread her fingers out, ‘except like if my fingers were webbed. They give more resistance in the water and use them the way fish use fins, to move quicker.’
‘That’s an excellent idea.’ Ronin was still kneeling on the floor. He had taken off everything except for a speedo like pants, making his body sleek for the water. The spots on his stomach were still glowing gold against his green skin. He reached up and handed Sophia something. She looked down and saw a pair of black flippers.
‘Oh, you guys have them too?’
‘You’re not the only non-semi-aquatic species to have visited our world, Sophia.’
Sophia slipped the fins on. Like the suit, they adjusted to fit her. ‘Cool.’
‘This means I don’t have to slow down by much so that you can keep up with me.’
‘Charming,’ Sophia said. She was staring through the glass of the pod now, eager for the swim ahead and to show Ronin how fast she was in the water.
‘We’re coming up to the slope,’ Ronin said, standing.
Sophia couldn’t help but notice the lack of a bulge in his pants.
It’s internal!
‘Slope?’ She focused on his words.
‘Yes. The atolls were created by erupting volcanoes. The lava formed that.’ Ronin pointed. In the distance, Sophia could see a vast slope a hundred feet high.
The green light went off, and water began to fill the carriage and quickly reached her hips.
‘It’s won’t be long. Do you have the breather ready?’
Sophia nodded as the water hit her waist and continued rising.
‘We’re coming up on the side of the island we’ll be staying on. We’ll set up, then I’ll go fishing for some food.’
‘I’ll come with you.’ Sophia held up the breather.
When the water hit the spot where Ronin had touched her, Sophia put the breather on. The water rose above her head; it was another half a minute before the much taller Ronin’s face was submerged. He grinned down at her as his tendrils moved in the water around him. She could see his chest moving as he took in the water to breathe, but she still felt a shock of concern and panic that he might be drowning.
Less than a minute passed, and the roof of the pod opened.
Ronin took Sophia’s hand and pulled her through the opening and into the ocean.
The atoll was less than a hundred feet away. The fore-reef slope stretched out ahead of them, a behemoth of seamount rising towards the surface. Sophia had a vague memory of her scuba instructor telling her about them when she got her licence. Under the atoll was an extinct volcano. She was swimming up the side of what was thousands of years of underwater volcanic eruptions that had built an island. Eventually, most or all of the island sank under its own weight leaving reefs behind which grew out of the water until they turned into sandbanks capable of sustaining some growth.
The atolls she had seen as they flew over the ocean told of millions of years of volcanic eruptions between the northern and southern continents of the planet.
As they rose, Sophia saw strange alien fish swimming around them. A fish swam up to her face, tracking her as she rose. Its scales were patterned in bright and dark
turquoise and as she watched, the scales changed colour and even glowed. It swam around her head a couple of times, then its inspection done, it swam away.
Sophia grinned under her breather and looked at Ronin who was staring at her, amusement in his eyes.
They continued up the slope, finally coming to the coral reef. As she watched, a many-limbed creature darted away then disappeared, blending into the coral. Sophia moved a little closer to it, kicking her legs to get a better view. She felt a tap to her shoulder, and Ronin signalled her to follow. She gave him a thumbs up and almost laughed when he frowned at her, staring at the digit. Instead, she nodded and followed when he turned.
A few minutes later, they emerged from the water and walked up the sand to a small island on the atoll.
Enlivened and exhausted at the same time, Sophia shrugged off the bag and collapsed to the sand.
‘That was so much fun!’ she hollered.
Ronin stood over her, a grin on his face. ‘It was. It is not usually something I share with people. Many hold parties out on the atolls, or family gatherings. I come here alone. I’ve never brought anyone here, but I enjoyed sharing this with you.’
Sophia smiled. ‘Aww, thank you. I enjoyed sharing it with you too.’ When Ronin continued staring, she patted the sand. ‘C’mon, sit down for five minutes. Then we’ll set up and get the fish.’ She patted the sand again like she was tempting a cat to take a seat next to her. ‘C’mon. Sit.’
Ronin dropped the pack and sat down next to her. He watched her for a moment before turning and looking out to the ocean.
‘I do my best thinking in these atolls,’ Ronin said, his voice quiet like he was talking to himself. ‘After Tessa, my employers chose to disgrace me, afraid the truth would come out. Afraid it would be discovered that they had accepted an illegal contract.’ Ronin let out a sigh. ‘I spent a cycle here, living simply. I considered staying, as some of the males of my people do.’
‘Why do they live out here.’
‘For some, they do not like the modern world. For others, they are avoiding the fate of my father.’ Ronin grew tense. Sophia could see he wanted to avoid the question, as much as he wanted her to ask it.