The Lost Colony, DM Arnold [ebook reader for laptop TXT] 📗

Nyk nodded and gave the desk clerk the two-fingered Floran salute. He strolled outside, along a promenade lined with blossomed shrubs and found the room.

It was carved into the side of the hill, with a transparent, domed roof. The walls were solid rock oozing groundwater, which cascaded down to a catch trough and into a stream cutting the room in two. He crossed a footbridge and headed toward the sounds of falling water. “Suki,” he called.

“In here,” he heard her voice. He turned a corner and saw her sitting in a pool filled by a ceiling-high waterfall. Steam from the pool was vented through an opening in the domed roof. “Look at this!” she exclaimed. “The pool is filled with geothermally heated mineral water. It never stops flowing and the temperature is perfect. This feels SO good. Come on in.”

Nyk stripped off his tunic, tested the water with his toe and then waded into the knee-deep pool. He sat in the water and held her.

“I've been in here since I arrived,” she said. “My fingers are all crinkly.”

“We can't have that.”

“Oh, yes we can.” She snuggled against him. “Nykkyo -- I'm sorry I haven't had the time to give you the attention you deserve.”

“It's all right -- really, it is. I'm delighted that you're happy and successful. It pleases me beyond happy.”

“I know when one partner is successful and busy, a relationship can suffer. I saw it with Mom and Daddy.”

“Suki -- if you find yourself growing to the point at which you don't need me ... or that I become a burden... You're free to go your own way.”

“That sounds like you came here expecting the kiss-off.”

“I was afraid ... with all your amften...”

“Nykkyo...”

“...I saw how the practice changed Senta -- how I became no longer her one-and-only but just a face in a crowd. I mean... I understand the practice. But -- I believe it must mean something ... not the way Senta does it. I'm selective ... the same way Andra is. I must truly care about someone. And, I'll never, ever ... love anyone the way I love you.”

“You've been worrying about that?” She kissed his cheek. “Can't you recognize when you're being teased?”

“Teased?”

“You know my only other regular partner is Andra.”

“Other than whom?”

“Other than you, of course.”

“It's hardly been regular...”

“Our lives didn't turn out how I envisioned, Nykkyo. We must play the cards Destiny deals us. Andra is always there for me when I need her. I know I'm fortunate having such a devoted companion as she.”

“Caring for you fills a need in her, also.”

“I know and I am very happy. I do wish I could spend more time with you, though.”

“But ... when you said you had been forming amften -- both men and women -- I thought...”

“You, of all people, should know,” she replied, “when you live in Floran society, you find yourself in situations in which refusing would be ... impolite ... ungracious. You know how important it is here to seal friendships. I AM selective, Nykkyo. Do you remember the night we first made love?”

“I'll never forget it.”

“Do you remember what you told me that night about the nature of love -- that it's not selfish but generous? I thought I understood what you meant. I was wrong. It wasn't until I started living among your people that truth of what you said began to sink in.” She picked up his hand and kissed the back of it. “Living on Floran has permitted me to explore my sexuality in a way I never could have on Earth. I think I'm better for it. I'm more comfortable with myself, and that makes me a better and more giving lover. Do you know what that means?”

“Why don't you tell me?”

“It means I can better express ... how much ... I ... love ... YOU. Nykkyo, I've been anticipating this reunion since we made our plans. As the day drew near, I found myself daydreaming that I was in your arms again. Let me show you something...”

She cupped his hand over her left breast and pressed it into her flesh.

“Your heart is pounding,” he said.

“I'm this eager, Nykkyo -- to feel your touch ... to have you play my body like a musical instrument -- the way only YOU can. And you can, not because you're a good lover -- which you are -- but, because OUR love is so profound.”

“Your amften taught you that?”

“And, more.”

“Then, thank them for it. I thank you for reminding me that my large and rather tender ego could stand some shrinking and toughening.”

“Nykkyo -- I'm honoring the vows I recited with you that August day on Earth. You ARE my light and my savior. Without you -- I wouldn't have any of this. I'd be dead ... long dead. I love you so much, and I'll never stop. You and I ARE forever.”

He kissed her hair, leaned back and held her as he gazed up at the azure Myataxyan sky. To the east the tip of the planet's rings were rising above the horizon. He looked at his hand. “Now MY fingers are getting crinkly,” he said. “Maybe we've soaked long enough. We can always come back for more.”

“Mmm...”

“Besides -- you and I have a duet to perform.”

Suki snuggled under Nyk's arm. He caressed her back and hair. “Mmm,” she said.

“Mmm?”

“Mmmmmm... That was a performance worthy of a honeymoon.”

“No it wasn't,” he replied, “That was just a prelude ... an overture. Just wait for the full...”

“...Theme and variations?”

“Yes...” He counted on his fingers. “We have piano and forte ... largo, andante, allegro and presto...”

“...con brio...” she added.

“...and, others that haven't been named yet.”

She caressed him. “I have never experienced another partner,” she said, “man or woman -- who was as in-tune with my body as you are. I realized just now what is you do.”

“What's that?”

“You seem to know exactly how much I need ... where I need it ... how long I need it ... how fast I need it ... how heavy a hand...”

“...and I give you exactly what you need.”

“No, and that's your secret. You give me just a little less than I need.” She squeezed his leg between her knees. “It makes me want more ... need more. You pick up on that and you give me more ... but still a little less than I need.”

“It becomes a vicious cycle,” he said.

“I don't think vicious is the right word... You take me to the edge but you never push me over. Instead, you let me fall over by myself -- and, it drives me crazy with desire. When it finally happens ... it's like an explosion. Just talking about it makes me want it. I don't know how I'll keep my mind on my conference sessions. I wish you didn't have to go back to Earth afterward.”

“Seymor told me I can take as much time as we need.”

“After the conference wraps, I'll have a few days before I'll need to start preparing for the next term at Sudal University. I need to spend some of the time with a couple graduate students...”

“You have grad students?”

“Of course I do, and they need some attention ... but they won't take all day.”

“Then, I'll tell Seymor I'm extending my stay.” She kissed his cheek and snuggled against him. “I'll take you to meet Laida.”

“I'd like that. How's she doing?”

“Why is it,” he asked, “when we make love, that we always end up talking about other women?”

“You're the one who brought her up... Would you prefer we talk of other men?”

“... Laida is doing fine. I stopped to visit her on my way up here -- after dropping off a case of champagne at Kronta's. She's been given responsibility for a plot of wheat. Hers is bigger and fuller than any of the others. She told me she feels a kinship with the plants. She can feel when conditions aren't right -- when one of the lamps needs service.”

“To think of her -- living her life confined to that dome, and tending crops. It doesn't sound too much different than her lot on Varada.”

“Sometime, ask her if she thinks her lot is any different than it was on Varada. She loves it in there, Suki. She's a team leader for her plot, in charge of a half dozen croptenders. They love her. Kronta managed to get her registered as an honorary Floran -- ID chip and all. They won't give her a contraceptive implant because ... well, because the medics don't understand her body chemistry well enough to make one for her.”

“What will they do about that?”

“We'll get to that later... The Food Service put her on salary and now she has an apartment in central Sudal, just off the light-rail line. She has made friends and has a social life. Dyomann tells me the sky's the limit for her.”

“More precisely, the dome's the limit,” Suki replied.

“She has as good a chance at being named dome manager as anyone. She's not a prisoner in there. She's living a life very similar to any native Sudalese. And, she may not live on Floran forever. The situation on Varada may evolve to the point where she'll be welcome there.”

“I suppose that's possible.”

“More than possible -- likely. The question is, will she want to go? She's become fast friends with one of the judges who sat at our hearing -- one who's an expert on Red Dawn, Red Dusk. This judge has it memorized ... she knows every word of it, in Old Lingwa, by heart. But -- she had never heard it spoken. This judge spent several days in the dome, sitting under a shade while Laida sat under the lamps and read it to her -- the whole thing, from beginning to end. Laida tells me she'd never have that sort of acceptance on Varada.”

“It must make it easier for her.”

“She said something else.”

“What was that?”

“We were discussing the ongoing negotiations between her world and ours.”

“How are they going?” Suki asked.

“Cautiously. She said she had been thinking. She understands how fearful Florans are that Varada might start exporting novonids -- how damaging to our society it would be to have an institutionalized underclass.”

“Yes -- I agree with her.”

“But she also said that the sort of freedom she finds here would be just as frightening to Varada should we export it. It was a very salient observation. I hadn't considered it that way. She is a remarkable girl. Hers are remarkable people. It may very well be, years into the future, that her kind will make up the bulk of the hegemony's population. I'm sure they'll dominate Varada some day.”

“You never told me why,” she said.

“Why what?”

“Why she refused to be your amfta.”

“We refused each other. She was bothered by the fact I'm not a novonid. She wasn't ready to engage in an inter-species relationship. It is taboo on Varada.”

“I can understand that,” Suki replied. “It would border on bestiality.”

“I disagree. That's an Earth notion. On Earth you don't have other communicative, consensual species. The whole thing centers on consent, Suki. Animals on Earth are unable to give consent -- that's what makes the practice reprehensible there. I think when two sentient, free-willed, fully competent individuals give consent, it doesn't matter whether or not they're the same race, the same religion, the same color, the same gender, or from the same planet ... or the same species.”

“Or, mother and son?” she asked. Nyk stopped short. “Now do you see how deeply these taboos run? You refused a relationship with me until you were convinced we weren't really related.”

“I was being sensitive to YOUR cultural sensibilities, korlyta... You're right, Suki. I should've been more sensitive to Laida's.”

“That was her reason. What was yours?”

“She was a virgin, and I don't defile virgins.”

“Mmm...” She snuggled to him. “I'm happy to hear that.” She kissed him. “You said WAS.”

“Laida is pregnant.”

“Really?”

“Yes -- she is sunning for two. After Mos was acquitted of intentional homicide for breaking Captain Hayt's neck, he was given asylum here. Neither Laida nor Mos believe they can safely return to Varada. And, the only place they can work on Floran is inside one of the agridomes. Laida insisted Mos share her apartment and work in the same dome as she because ... well, because Mos isn't as educated as she is, nor does he have her social skills. They had been acquainted on Varada, and here their friendship has blossomed. She is teaching him to read, and together they're learning Lingwa.”

“It sounds sweet.”

“It is sweet. Mos truly cares for her. He's a bit clumsy and inarticulate, but he is sincere -- and a damned good croptender. When she told me she was a virgin, she also said she didn't know how and needed to read up on the subject.” Nyk chuckled. “When I noticed she was pregnant,