Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68478 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
She’s not pregnant.
I don’t know if I’m happy about that, or sad. Sad, I think, but maybe it’s for the best. Maybe now’s not a good time for her to get pregnant. Maybe we can be like Trakan and his girl. Find a nice space station and settle down. I can get a job fixing ships at a dock or running security. Something that won’t involve me leaving her behind. But a space station seems like the wrong place to take someone as wild and free as Farli. She needs to go planetside, even though that’s far more expensive than what a simple mechanic can make on his salary. I’ll figure something out. I have to. She’s the most important thing in the world to me.
The entire village shows up to greet us, and as we descend down the pulley, Farli flings herself off the platform and races into her mother’s arms. She holds her tight and then hugs her father, then her brothers, and finally showers attention on her prancing Chompy. She seems to be on the verge of crying, keeping a desperate grin on her face as she hugs everyone again. I realize that she’s trying to get it all in before she has to leave.
And the feeling of wrongness slides under my skin and won’t leave. I am silent, unsure what to do or say that will make this better. I am taking Farli away from everything she knows and loves to come live with me in some tiny apartment in space, all because I cannot bear to leave her behind. She will lose her family, her khui, everything.
Getting me in exchange doesn’t seem like much of a deal.
I don’t have family waiting for me. My father was the last one, and he died months ago. I can’t even say that I’m sad that he’s gone, just filled with regret that we were never close. I can’t give her a big family like the one she’s leaving behind.
Farli’s mother has a sad expression on her face as she hugs her daughter again and holds her close. It’s as if she knows what Farli’s going to say before anything is spoken. Harlow and her family are enveloped back into the tribe, showered with hugs and happy exclamations about how good Harlow looks, how healthy, and I notice that Maddie and Lila are standing close by. Lila holds her little son, and he whispers something in her ear, and she smiles.
So perhaps our visit was not all bad, then. Maybe they’ll remember us with fondness instead of as just those assholes that took Farli away. Doesn’t give me much comfort, though.
Chatav moves forward, and Vektal and Georgie do, too. “We cannot wait here any longer, Chief Vektal,” Captain Chatav says. His posture is stiff and formal, as if meeting the most respected of dignitaries, and I admire the guy for that. However I feel about Chatav, he knows to do the right thing. “Your people have welcomed us graciously,” he continues. “In exchange, we have offered to take anyone that wishes to return to civilization back with us. You said you needed time to think. Have you made your decision?”
Vektal looks at his mate, and then back at Chatav. He nods gravely. “I have spoken with each of my tribesmates in private. No one wishes to leave.”
Chatav is utterly still, as if he isn’t sure he’s heard correctly. “Are you quite certain?”
Vektal nods. “No sa-khui wishes to leave their home, and the humans are happy here.”
Chatav turns to Georgie, as if in disbelief. “Even the humans do not wish to leave? But you have not been here except for a handful of years. Surely you wish to return home?”
She shifts and moves closer to her mate, her younger child in her arms. The other clings to Vektal’s leg, staring up at Chatav with big, worried eyes. As if she can sense her child’s distress, Georgie puts a hand on her daughter’s curls to comfort her. “There are things that I miss about Earth, I’m not going to lie. I think we can all agree that life isn’t the same here that it was there. But I have a mate and children. I will not leave them behind. Humans are not accepted on your planets, save as oddities. And it would be the same at my home world. To them, aliens don’t exist yet, and if I showed up with a blue husband and blue children, I’d be hidden away by the government so fast our heads would spin. We would be freaks. Here, we’re normal.” She looks at Vektal, and her gaze is full of love. “And we have resonance that bonds us together. I love what we have, and I wouldn’t threaten it for anything. Earth might have been my home once, but this world is my home now.”