“Shall we go have that dinner now?” Tairan kissed my hair, not letting me go anywhere. “You must be hungry.”
“Now more than ever,” I agreed.
He leaned away from me, finally releasing me, and I struggled to stay upright as my legs still felt as if made of cotton.
Tairan fixed his pants quickly and helped me locate my underwear then lifted me up in his arms. “Where to?”
“Couch. Unless you want to have a more formal dinner at the table?”
“No.” He lowered me into the cushy seat gingerly, as if I were made of glass, as if he hadn’t just fucked me hard against the wall.
“Your dinner is served,” Gran announced brightly, rolling from the window to the compartment to get a food tray out.
Tairan glared at the robot as it approached with another salad plate in its wiry arms. With a step behind Gran, Tairan bent quickly and flipped the robotic smiley face to the side.
“What . . .” I managed, surprised when Tairan slid open a small panel under Gran’s top disk and shifted a few silver rings inside.
The lights of the smiley face went out and the stringy arms dropped down limply, sending the plate with salad crashing to the floor.
“We don’t need tonight’s dinner recorded for anyone, do we?” Tairan muttered, taking out a small flat ring from the robot and sliding it into his arm device. A milky-white screen with black charts and characters extended from it, and he punched in something.
“Do you think the robot has been spying on me?”
“It is a part of its programming.” He inserted the flat ring back into Gran then rolled the disabled robot to the closet and shoved him inside, closing the door panel behind him. “I’ll make sure to get it out later.”
“If he was recording, wouldn’t they see that it has been interrupted?”
“Not until tomorrow morning or whenever they decide to check it. And that’s only if they spot that I’ve added some footage on a loop to make up for the missing time.” He gave me a smile. Complete with the teasing glimmer in his eyes, the expression made him look younger. “The technical skills of the security personnel on this station are not the greatest. None of them went to the Academy as I did, or have any experience with the Defense Forces.”
“Sounds like you have some useful skills.”
“Necessary to make life here bearable.” Tairan moved his gaze to the mess of green leaves I had picked up from the floor and piled back onto the plate. “Was that supposed to be your dinner?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “Now that you’ve disabled the robot, maybe you could use your wicked skills to order us some food?”
With a nod, he moved on to the wall with the food compartment and punched a few times into the dark glass door. Similar to the one on the closet, the door lit up, turning into a screen.
“Oh, I didn’t know it could do that.”
“Has the robot been feeding you all this time? It never showed you how to operate this?”
“Nope.” I got off the couch and came closer, eager to learn what he was doing. “Is there something like a menu?”
Tairan scrolled through pictures with writing in English under them. “Does anything look appetizing to you?”
Steamed tilapia, boiled quinoa, a small variety of green salads—everything unseasoned, with no sauce or dressing.
“Not really.” I shrugged. “But I’m hungry, so I’ll eat whatever.”
“Just give me a moment.” Tairan punched something into his armlet, extending the screen again.
From up close, I realized that the screen was holographic, there was no hardware behind it, just the image of the white panel hovering in the air. Tairan swiped through several black-and-white diagrams that appeared and disappeared off the screen, touching some and punching something in.
The screen on the compartment door flickered, the pictures of the bland foods wavered, replaced with monochromatic images of unfamiliar items with unknown-to-me written characters lined up under each.
“Would you like to try some Kealan food?” Tairan asked, lifting an eyebrow.
“Would I?” I perked up with interest. “I’d love to!”
A smile curved up the side of his mouth.
“Let’s see then.” He scrolled through the pictures, selecting some, dismissing others.
“We’d better eat at the table, after all,” I said, watching the amount of his selections growing.
He laughed with a nod, the sound making something light up inside me, glowing warm.
The compartment dinged, signalling the arrival of the first portion of Tairan’s order.
“That was fast!” I made the table descend from the ceiling, the way Gran had showed me, followed by a pair of seats. Suspended by thin chains, the chairs reminded me of swing seats.
“Here it is.” Tairan placed the first tray, laden with several small plates, on the table. “Start with this one.” He put one with what looked like thick slices of salami in front of me and took one for himself before taking the seat opposite of mine.
“Do I eat it with my fingers?” I asked, not finding any utensils on the tray.
He nodded, taking a piece from his plate and taking a bite.
I picked up a disk too. On closer inspection, it looked more like a slice of orange, complete with segments, except that it had the colour and texture of smoked meat. I brought the piece to my nose.
“Smells good, like beef jerky.” I bit a piece off.
The savoury taste was pleasant, the texture a little grainy but definitely that of meat. The flavour was delicious, rich and meaty.
“Really good.” I stuffed the whole slice in my mouth and reached for another one.
“You like it?” Tairan gave me a wide smile, the radiance of which rendered me speechless for a moment—I’d never seen him this obviously enjoying himself.
“Do I?” I laughed, too, clearing my plate. “This sure beats the plain green leaves they’ve been feeding me. What is it?”
“Bruk worms,” he said brightly. “One of my favourite foods.”
“Worms?” I swallowed the piece I had in my mouth, and it went down slowly.
“These don’t grow that big, just about the size of my arm,” Tairan explained casually. “We marinate then dehydrate them a little, then slice the meat the way I saw in videos you slice sausage.”
“I see.” I stared at the half-eaten piece in my hand. It still smelled really good, and the taste of it in my mouth made me salivate despite the image of it having been a part of something that once crawled the dark caves of another planet. “You seem to have a lot of worms on Keala,” I said slowly.
“Insects, worms, centepedes, and spiders are the only life forms indigenous to our planet.”
“Sorry, but that does not exactly make Keala sound like a nice place to visit.” Still feeling hungry, I glanced at the piece in my hand again. The mouth-watering smell was incredibly hard to resist.
Tairan tilted his head, staring at me intently. “Do you fear worms, Isabella? Or are you disgusted by them? I’ve seen some videos of humans eating crickets and scorpions, but I couldn’t exactly figure out the common attitude towards the insects on Earth.”
“It depends, I guess. There are places where people eat insects. Personally, I don’t think I’m afraid of bugs unless they are venomous. I don’t lose my head when I see a spider, especially if I have something hard to squish it with nearby. But I certainly never thought of eating one before.”
Giving in to the appetizing smell, I took a tentative bite off of the piece I held—it was still delicious. Trying to think of it not as a worm but a slice of a deli cold-cut, I was able to finish it all.
“Spiders on Earth are not big enough to eat,” Tairan nodded, thoughtfully. “The research team has a small farm here on the station if you want to try one from Keala.”
“Um, thank you. Maybe later.” I shook my head, with a small giggle escaping me. “I’m sure it’ll taste like chicken.”
“The
farm spiders are about the same size as your chickens.” Tairan put another plate in front of me, this one with long, brown chunks, like thick noodles. “Not a spider,” he reassured me. “Fungus, similar to your mushrooms.”
I carefully lifted one and sniffed it. It smelled earthy, very much like marinated mushroom, in fact. I bit off a piece, chewing slowly. The texture proved to be a bit rubbery, but still enjoyable. “It’s good.”
“I’m glad you like it. Although, personally, it’s not my favourite.” Tairan reached for a plate with what looked like a fist-sized rock, covered with slime. “Sorry, you can’t have this one,” he warned. “This type of mould has been found to be toxic for humans.” Lifting a curved utensil off the plate, he scraped the thick, greenish growth off the rock.
“Oh, that’s fine,” I assured him, watching him eat the green blob of mould with evident pleasure, as if it were the world’s finest ice cream. “I don’t think that would be for me, anyway. But you enjoy it, by all means.”
After I’d tried a few other things off the newly-arrived tray, Tairan asked, “How are you feeling? Any stomach ache at all?”
“No. Why?”
“This is a lot of new food.” He waved at the empty dishes. “I tried to order things for you that are closer to human foods and generally milder. The last thing I’d want is for you to get an upset stomach.”
“I imagine Ricread would have a fit if that happened.”
A dark shadow moved over his features at my mentioning the professor.
“Tairan.” I moved aside an empty plate and leaned across the table to him. “Tell me, why are you part of this? Please.”
He had never seemed to be fully behind the idea of saving the population of his planet. I sensed bitterness and even resentment in him about Ricread’s work. Yet, until tonight he had been following his instructions, even making me follow them, too.
“Why? To save the race, of course,” he said flatly.
“Then why don’t I believe you?” I watched him closely. “They’re doing things to you here.” I was convinced the procedures they performed on him each morning were definitely not pleasant, even painful. “Yet you keep going along with it all. Why?”
He leaned back, stretching his neck slowly.
“Isabella . . .” he started.
I rushed in before he stopped me, “You had a career back home—”
“You’ve done a search on me?”
“Of course I have. You won’t tell me much, and they . . .” I gestured towards the corridor, as if the whole research team stood out there. “They all view me more like a lab rat than a human being anyway, Ricread included. Especially him.” I winced at how perfect that allegory was. “A lab rat in a comfy cage, fed a perfectly-balanced diet for my species.” I rubbed my forehead. “I come from the conquered planet. It was easy enough for them to take away my rights . . .” With my gaze, I searched his eyes for a reaction to my words as his expression darkened. “But what happened to you? Unlike me, you must have had a choice? Why did you leave your job? I can see you’re resentful about being reduced to—”
“Some choices are worse than none,” he snapped, cutting me off. Rising from his seat abruptly, he moved away, letting his chair crash into the table in a wild swing.
“Tairan!” I leaped up, too. “Please.”
He silently paced the room, not looking at me, but there was nowhere to run. No matter how either of us got here, we were both trapped now.
“We’re in this together.” Standing at the table, I nervously twisted the wedding band around my finger. “For better or for worse, you are the only one I have.”
He came to me. Hands on my shoulders, he leaned his forehead to mine.
“I have no power, Isabella.” His voice softened, his breathing evened out slowly. “None. The City Defence Forces lost their influence long before I left. The Science Group took over every aspect of life on Keala.”
“Why?”
“Because we’re dying, Isabella. Preserving the race has become the biggest political priority. Ricread has the authority to do as he pleases—bend any rule, break every law—as long as he delivers results in his research to perpetuate our species.”
“This is awful.” I wrapped my arms around his middle.
I understood the urgency and desperation of a dying race trying to save themselves, but it felt as if the lives and freedom of Tairan and I were being ground under the wheels of this grand purpose.
“This is our last night.” He ran his fingers through the curls on my head.
“What do you mean?” I gazed up at him in alarm.
“After tonight, I won’t get to see you until next month.” The way his arms tightened around me, reminded me about the frantic passion he had taken me with as soon as he arrived. Was that because he knew we’d have to part?
I desperately tried to recall everything that had been said to me about this. “Ricread said three nights of sex,” I protested, grasping at straws in denial. “He never mentioned we won’t get to see each other for a whole month.”
“For him, the only purpose of us getting together is sex—insemination.”
“Not for me, though. Not for you either.” I dared him to disagree.
He didn’t. His eyes on me, violet blending with midnight blue tonight, he stroked my hair again. “For what it’s worth, I’m glad it was you, Isabella.”
His words curled tight around my throat, my eyes prickling with tears which I blinked away.
“Are you saying goodbye already? Because it sure sounds like it.”
“No, not yet.” He tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “We haven’t had dessert yet, remember?” He smiled in an obvious attempt to cheer me up.
“Good, because I’m telling you right now, Tairan, I’m not going to sit and just let them separate us.”
“What will you do?” Curiosity flashed across his face.
“I’ll talk to Ricread again.”
His chest rose with a sigh. He obviously didn’t have much faith in that plan.
“It worked this morning, didn’t it?” I reminded. “You are here now.”
“Threatening Ricread has never worked for me.” A bitter note tinted his voice. “Be very careful, Isabella. He is spiteful and can be creative at finding ways to take revenge.”
“What else should I know?”
“Like I said, they don’t tell me much.” He paused, his forehead wrinkled in concentration. “Here is what I know from living here for over four years now. There are cameras and microphones everywhere in the corridors and public areas. One safe place to speak would be in the gardens, near the pond. There is a large blind spot to the left of the waterfall and the noise of the water covers up voices. I’ve tested that.”
“Where are the gardens here?”
“On the other side of the landing hangar. It was made to resemble a piece of Kealan underground landscape, similar to the cave gardens we have back home.” He added, “You may like it there if they let you take walks.”
“Are you allowed to go for walks?” I asked, hope already building in me.
The prospect of spending a month completely on my own, save for the company of the robot and possibly visits from the research team, felt grim and oppressing.
“I love walking in the gardens,” he said, a barely-there smile touching his lips. “Especially in the afternoon, just before dinner. The waterfalls are my favourite part.”
I grinned wide in return, throwing my arms around his neck. “Thank you. It’s a date then.” Relief flooded me at the possibility of continuing seeing him during the month we were supposed to be apart.
“I may even carry a luldai egg in my pocket while walking,” he said cheerfully. “If you tell me you like it.”
“What is a luldai egg?”
“The dessert I brought.” With a small kiss on the tip of my nose, he went to get the egg and salt crystal from the bedroom.
“I’ll put the salt here.” He opened one of the cabinets
next to the food delivery unit. “Here is the grater for it.” He showed me something resembling a cheese knife that he took from one of the trays and put in the cabinet next to the salt crystal. “Now hold this.” He placed the egg in my hand and gave me a small spoon. “Crack it open. Tap at it lightly, it’s pretty fragile.”
Sitting down on the couch, I did what he said, breaking the shell of the egg, which seemed to be a little thicker but more porous than that of a chicken’s egg. The inside had the appearance of whipped cream with a light purple tint, and I took a spoonful in my mouth.
“Oh. My. God.” I moaned, closing my eyes as soon as the sweet, fragrant substance hit my tongue. The taste was unbelievably good—caramel and vanilla buttercream with the heavenly-light consistency of whipped egg whites. “This is the best!”
“You can eat the shell too.” He leaned in, breaking a piece off the shell, then placed it on my tongue when I stuck it out for him.
“Just like a meringue!” The shell melted in my mouth, leaving a delicious buttery aftertaste. “Egg meringue is baked on Earth. How do you make these things, without using an oven?”
I turned the egg in my hand, admiring its perfect oval shape.
“We don’t make them. We gather them off the ceilings in caves. You have to get them within two days after the mother lays them. On the third day, the eggs mature and fall into the water where the shell soaks up the moisture and forms a gelatinous mass for the larvae inside to feed on.”
I paused with my spoon over my deliciousness, which suddenly didn’t seem as heavenly anymore. “Larvae . . .”
“They turn into fully-grown water centipedes within four weeks,” Tairan explained casually then paused, obviously catching my startled expression. “Is something wrong? You liked bruk worms. Is centipede unacceptable to you? Like a spider?”
“Um, no . . . I mean not really. Not unacceptable,” I muttered, not wanting to insult Kealan’s food culture or offend Tairan in his best intentions to feed me a yummy dessert. “It’s just that, come to think of it, there are quite a few aspects about insects after all that I do find . . . um, unappetizing. At least initially.” I stared at the spoonful of glossy, purplish-white substance in my hand, inhaling a whiff of its aroma. “But since it does taste really good . . .” I bit my lip, turning the spoon to admire the fragrant, cream-like swirl. “Who cares where it comes from, right?” I shrugged, shoving it in my mouth. The dessert melted on my tongue, coating my mouth in sweet joy. “Centipede or not, this is so freaking tasty.” I quickly took another spoonful.
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