After a half hour, Lori began to despair of ever leaving, but Hunter rescued her, pointing to his watch, telling Phe to explain they must return to their home trees, cannot stay longer this time. Sayo’s appearance drooped, but she recovered, and joined the other natives in a soaring song of farewell. Within minutes, Lori flew them up and away, heading southwest, again, down to more southern latitudes, flying low and fast over seemingly endless forested hills and valleys, everything new to them. On the far horizon, Phe pointed out a volcano, a wisp of steam rising from its summit.
“I wanna name that after me,” Dayu said.
“Too late,” Phe told him. “Already named–it is the Bueto Mountain.”
“Need to head home yet?” Hunter asked Lori.
“Not unless you do. Anyone?”
“I wanna pee,” Nif said.
“OK, lake up ahead, we’ll land on the shore, near that inlet stream.”
Everyone stepped out to stretch their legs, and Lori noticed everyone relieved themselves, too. Nothing much seemed to be stirring in the waters, just small wavelets coming in and out, the kits looking for things, and finding little. Hunter scratched around in the sand, and held up a small nugget.
“Gold here,” he said. “Probably in quantity, if it’s laying around on the beach.”
Lori flew them up and over the lake, not large, actually, and back along the edge of a steeper series of hills, probably volcanic. She turned and twisted, rose and fell, worrying someone might get air-sick. No one did.
“This is what I love to do,” she said. “Exploring with Eagle One. And my good friends, too, flying along in a totally alien and unusual, and unexplored, planet. This is great.”
They approached the terminator, made all the darker by the far off but oncoming image of Kali, rising to meet them, looking to hit them head on, but not really. The vapor umbilical trailed off well to the north. She turned east, drifting along, looking below at the hills and vales, and lakes scattered about in deepening dusk. Not really enough time to land at them all and name them, but they did stop at five, and named those, even one for Phe, over his reticence to be so honored. Lori noticed another, circular lake, at the base of a small volcano, the water a pure pastel blue. She stopped, and walked to it, stuck her hand toward the water, and immediately pulled it back. “Hot, she said, “Very hot. But lovely, this one will be Lake Tarue.”
With the day now well along, relative wise for the travelers, Lori announced they would overfly the South Pole on their return trip, and told Eagle One to go there. She told the story of her stopping at the North Pole on Ixixil, and naming a mountain there, standing ankle deep in the snow, while Eagle One flew around her. Eagle One played the video, to the kits amazement.
“I never knew you did that,” Hunter said.
“Good. If we find one here, we’ll name if for you.”
“Do I have to go out and stand in the snow naked?”
“Go out and stand on the land, yes, that’s the rule. But naked is optional.”
Shortly, Eagle One began circling a spot below, daylight to the east, and darkness to the west.
“There it is–half day, half night,” Lori said.
“That is indeed incredible. Few have seen this, save in videos or pictures,” Phe said, taking photos himself. “Do, let’s land, may we?”
Lori told Eagle One to land at the exact pole, and it dropped to settle on some firm, if not deep, snow and ice. None lasted long here, but this day held the remnants of the latest storm. Everyone jumped out, to stand in the snow, leaning into a stiff, cold breeze.
“Nothing much worth naming here, this is just empty plain,” Hunter said, even if the land showed stunted and scraggly trees growing individually and in clumps.
“Such it shall be,” Phe said. “Hunter’s Plain.”
“Great, you get a mountain, I get a plain,” he grumbled.
“Name it for me, then,” Nif said, and Dayu said the same thing.
“No, once named, so it shall stay,” Phe said.
“Should we look for a peak for you?” Lori asked Hunter as they climbed back into Eagle One.
“No, no matter, this will do. Pretty neat, actually, having a pole named after you. Yes, OK. My folks will be impressed.”
Back again in the air, flying quickly again, Lori missed the closeness to the ground, but time went on, she wanted to get ahead of the approaching terminator, and finally rose to suborbital altitude, and raced back to the Blue Hole Hotel, traveling at a speed comfortable for her native guest, as she had all day. Along the way, they watched the Twin Planet Kali rising, an impressive sight from this height. Everyone took photos and videos, not realizing at the time the value they would hold back on Earth.
Tarue met them in the dining room, the kits excited about the day, and showing the places they’d named on the trip. Duly impressed, especially when the kits told her one was named for her, and showed it to her on the viewscreen, she asked, “The kits were not too much trouble, then, not bored and whiny?”
“Not at all,” Hunter said. “Good company, in fact.”
Over dinner, with Phe invited, they told of the meeting of the southern flock, and the big deal Lori and Phe negotiated with Sayo. They asked if Tarue made any progress on her dealings with the natives.
“Yes, much, I would ask if Hunter could look over the details, see if they are in order. But I bet you achieved the better deal, out exploring, and returning with an order for countless air cars. Well done, Lorelei,” Tarue said.
In the evening, while Hunter reviewed Tarue’s contracts, mostly for intellectual or professional services, teachers, doctors, engineers, designers, and some business experts, Lori, Phe, and Eagle One prepared for departure the next day. She called her company factor and told her of the new customers awaiting in the southern hemisphere.
Elisa Salvas, her rep, frowned and sagged on the screen. “Lori, we can no where meet demand up here, how will we ever add another territory to the mix?”
“Talk to Phe, he’ll help, and deal with the locals. Oh, and we’ll need to hire a translator, too, can’t understand the lingo there. We’ll need him to sort out the price, too, but they’ll pay in gold. And they know they’ll be expensive. Soon as they get some, they’ll be coming up here to pick up new orders. That will be something, north and south, well isolated now, in commerce and trade. Bound to be interesting. Oh, and Phe will fill you in on an idea for some adventure travel to the Empty Lands in the west–amazing terrain. Ask him to allow people visiting it to name physical features they discover–you know, hills, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, what not.”
Elisa looked at her on the screen. “He, they, I mean, the geographical powers that be, will allow that?” Her voice rang with doubt.
“Might. Let’s see what they say, what they’ll do for the,” and she chuckled, “Sky Lady. I’ll advertise it as a perk for say, the first thousand visitors. Maybe more, if it works out. Be a real attention getter, I’ll bet, great for tourism, bring in a lot of money to the planet.”
“Yeah, it will,” Elisa said. “OK, I’ll start on it right away. Next transport is due in four weeks or so. Want some of those air cars to go south?”
“Yeah, five at least. I’ll try to increase the allotment, but we’re pretty well maxed out now.”
“Good. Well, everyone says you make things happen when you arrive somewhere, and I see that is still true. I’ll keep in touch. Have a good trip home.”
“Thanks, we will.”
Phe, listening in on the conversation, said he would visit Elisa on the morrow, and see about developing the projects Lori wanted. “How I wish you could remain longer, Sky Lady,” he said. “Many wish to see you again, and sing their songs of praise.”
“I know,” Lori said, but really, she’d heard the songs already, and saw no need to stand by and listen to them again. “I must return, a grand marriage ceremony awaits me and Hunter at home, so there I must go. But I will return in due time, to visit my great friends on my favor
ite planet.”
Phe looked at her, she wondered if he perceived the little white lie, or at least exaggeration she offered. He gave no indication, just saying, “A grand farewell is planned at four in the afternoon, at the space port. Will that be satisfactory?”
“Yes, we will be pleased to attend. But short, OK? Long farewells distress me.”
“I understand.”
The departure time arrived, and Lori, Hunter, Ameca, Phe, and Tarue and the kits were suitably impressed by the ground covering throng that awaited them. Lori let the Anawoka out, they would not accompany them to orbit and the awaiting space yacht. She left, too, with Hunter and the Damai, to sign the departure log, and offer a brief and warm thanks for the wonderful hospitality of the Anawoka on the Planet Lucipara. The soft, low melody of bird song rose as they returned to Eagle One, and with one last wave, Lori sat, and began the onerous job of getting into a P-suit in the confines of Eagle One’s cabin while four other people did the same.
With everyone suited up, she rose, told the passengers to wave, and regretted that, and keeping the canopy open.
Even before they climbed ten meters, the air shuddered with the downbeat of thousands and thousands of wings, as the entire flock around them rose into the air as one. The air seemed like it could not support the mass of the crowd, almost groaning itself, and a wave of wind beat against Eagle One, rocking it a bit till it steadied, it caught in a cone of noise, vibration, and song. Lori rose faster, getting a bit ahead of the cloud of Anawoka rising around her, then slowed and let them catch up, and continue to climb with her. Knowing that is hard work for the birds, she slowed some more, enjoying the sight of masses of colorful natives flying in formation all around. Out beyond those flying, a scattering of silvery air cars circled slowly, reflecting the late afternoon sunlight. Hunter took videos continuously, to back up those being taken by Eagle One. She closed the canopy and said, “Helmets on, Hunter check everyone.”
When they entered the clouds, fairly high overhead, and beyond the reach of the flying natives, a wing of air cars, their strobes winking, joined her, and accompanied them to the jump off point up to the space station. Lori watched them stop, hold for a time, and slowly turn to return to Kalimanta. In her heart, she wanted to go back, too, never really satisfied enough with the exploration and flying she did in the skies of Kali. She sighed, asked Eagle One to swing around so they could see the Twin Worlds as they flew to orbit.
Approaching the station, the kits said, “There is no one there, no ship for us.”
“Yes, there is, my worried friends, it is just a small one. We will see it soon,” Hunter told them.
The station, rather small by galactic standards, an addition being assembled by scores of illi-illi space workers, grew in size, but still no starship. The kits pointed at the illi-illi, remarking there were a lot of them.
The illi-illi, native to the hot and dry planet Ixixil, were often called “Bugs” due to their superficial resemblance to insects on Earth, and other planets. They were uniquely suited to work in space, with six legs, or four legs and two arms, depending on how they were counted, so could move at ease, even in the vacuum of space, if not for long. Their round head, with two large eyes and a smaller one in between for close up vision, and many small appendages beneath and around a stout bi-lateral mouth, was encased in a helmet. Another suit enveloped the short abdomen, providing air to their breathing spiracles. The broad thorax needed no protection, their hard exoskeleton doing the job of the other species’ P-suits. They usually wore radio and control devices on top of that. Of all the aliens, Lori thought their traits most resembled human’s, knowing they laughed, cried, and tried hard to please everyone, even those that disliked them, and many exhibited that bigotry. That they looked so different seemed to doom them to suspicion and fear.
“Sky Lady, did the ship leave without us?” Dayu said.
“No, they are waiting, still, Captain Shamel is a patience man,” Hunter said. “We should see it soon, on a lower level.”
“They’re all low,” Tarue said, and pointed at a winking strobe. “Is that is?”
“Good spotting,” Hunter said. “I believe it is.”
They flew along, the air car decelerating, the harnesses pulling at their P-suits, and approached the sleek space yacht.
“This is like no other starship I have even seen. Does it land on the planets?” Tarue said.
“No, never. It is designed to please the owners, has no need to maximize internal areas, does not haul much cargo, and is outfitted for the comfort of the passengers.
Lori glided Eagle One into a well lighted open bay door, and stopped immediately inside, the area not large. Double doors slid closed, blocking out the sight of the Twin Worlds below, and red lights flashed at them from the wall. The lights turned amber, and finally green, and Hunter said, “OK, everyone, welcome to the Beautiful Swimmer, P-suits off, we can embark. Next stop, Planet Earth.”
Even before they removed their suits, three crew members entered the bay, with a small bouquet for Tarue and Lori, a bottle of wine for Hunter, and some video books and games for the kits. Hunter introduced them, and they headed up to the observation area, adjacent to the ship’s control center.
Captain Shamel asked, “Are you ready to depart, or would you like lunch or to settle in your cabins?”
Hunter looked at Lori and Tarue, his eyebrows raised in a query.
Shaking her head, Lori said, “Let’s go, I’m anxious to get home, and get married.” She smiled at Hunter, he took her in his arms for a hug and a quick kiss, as the kits cheered.
“Yes, let’s go, let’s go, then we want to see this ship, all of it,” the kits said.
Captain Shamel led the way to the small lounge, settled everyone in, as his first officer announced on the speaker, “Undocking. Clearance secured for vectors out of the system. We will pass the Twin Worlds, but not close. Engine sequencing in five minutes. Stand by for acceleration.”
“But we are sitting. Should we stand up?” Dayu said.
“Oh, no, it’s just an expression, meaning ‘Wait for acceleration,’” Hunter said.
Talk of various American expressions, and what they meant, keep them occupied, until they saw the station drifting away, and felt the brief rumble of engines coming to life. Everyone looked outside, to see the wonderful sight of the Twin Worlds and their unique umbilical, slowly move past them, Kalimanta eclipsing Lucipara, it reappeared, and they both began to diminish.
The speaker announced luncheon in one hour, and the third crew member, Kelly Gama, arrived to lead them to their cabins, and show the rest of the ship, the kits knowing it was not that large.
At lunch, Tarue asked what was next.
“On Earth, first we need to finish work on the wedding ceremony. How was that coming along, Hunter?” she said.
“OK, I guess, the moms had it all under some sort of control, my sister is ecstatic, but you really don’t want to know the details.”
Lori frowned at that, but went on, “Then, Tarue, we will plan on a return trip to Uta, to return you in glory and fame, and bring all the wonderful trade good you have ordered.”
“Yes, that will be something. I hope I will be up to it, and not castigated for plunging my entire planet into endless debt.”
“Fear not, all is in order, and will work out well, for all, especially your citizens,” Hunter said to her.
“On to Earth,” they all said, raising glasses for a toast.
Chapter 11 - Tarissa
With evening discussions and wedding planning details running late nearly every night, Lori found getting to the office by 9 a.m. almost impossible. Usually everyone else was there, working at their stations, and glanced up at her, and waved or called a greeting, but took no obvious notice of her arrival times. As she walked in, using the back entrance, she wondered if they knew of the many days she worked late, often the last one to leave, sometimes greeting the Kobi cleaning crew when they came in at 9 p.m.
This day seemed little different, until she noticed the Kobi sitting at Leta’s work station, eyes fixed on moving files on the screen. Strange. Looking closer, Lori stopped, heart pounding, and whispered to herself, “Leta.” But though the shape and appearance were similar, the fur color was off, and the height a little short. But who was it? And what was it doing here? She shook her head, recovering.
Inside her office, before she removed her coat even, she called Lauren Eicher, her administrative assistant, on loan from her father’s office, and said, “Who’s the Kobi?”
Lauren said, “You don’t know? I thought...I’ll call security.”
“You don’t know who it is?”
“No, she arrived this morning, said she was expected, she had the codes, and everything, knew where to go, and the computer recognized her, or at least her vocal prompts, and she’s been busy there ever since. I thought you’d hired her. You didn’t?”
“No.”
“I have security on the line now, they’ll be right here.”
“OK, I...” and Lori stopped, as the new Kobi appeared in her doorway, tapping on the frame. A vague recognition teased in her mind, but nothing clicked.
The Kobi said, “Forgive me for not greeting you, Sky Lady. I failed to notice your arrival. That shall not happen again.”
The voice, that voice, it screamed “Leta” at her, and Lori lowered the phone, and leaned back, resting her bottom against the desk. “Who are you?” she said.
The Kobi stood up straighter, and said, “I am Tarissa Melody Ismone, of Kalimanta, Senction Providence, Village Rommorssion, daughter of Euphor.” She stopped, then added, “And sister to Valleta Ismone. I sent you a message of my arrival yesterday.”
T-47 Book II (Saxon Saga 6) Page 17