In the common room, a few other girls were already sampling from a breakfast bar, so I fell in line behind them and grabbed a plate. There were plenty of earthly options like pancakes, eggs, and oatmeal, but there were also several exotic-looking fruits available, too. I picked something that looked like a cross between a dragonfruit and a banana, and was not disappointed by the flavor. It tasted like a banana-y piña colada.”
“I slept so freaking good,” Brynna said as she flounced into the room. “I feel like an entirely new person. Imagine if there were just a sleep spa on Earth where you could be put in stasis for a week and come out well-rested for the first time in years. The money that would make.”
“They do have that in Bion,” another woman piped up. “My fiancé owns one of the facilities.”
“Nice,” Brynna said. “Remind me to get the name of it. Anybody still feeling weird about leaving Earth behind?”
We all looked around at each other, slow grins starting. I wasn’t the first to shake my head no, but I was surprised to find that it was true. “I feel like things are going to be okay.”
“Better than okay,” said the future Mrs. Sleep Spa.
“Yeah,” Brynna beamed. “It’s going to be amazing. I can feel it.”
“Did they put something in the coffee?” someone asked. “Because I feel it too.”
For me, I thought it might just be that the choice was already made, and it was too late to second-guess it. Earth was galaxies away, and I was very close to meeting a hot-as-sin male who made my insides quake with just his words. I was nervous still, but for entirely new reasons. Better reasons.
I finished my breakfast quickly and went back to my room to check on Mr. Darcy and to get ready. I gave my hair a blow-out and then curled the ends with my jumbo curling iron, and then I did my makeup. I didn’t want to overdo it, but I had to go with winged eyeliner, obviously, and I dabbed a little bit of rosy color on my lips and cheeks, too. I paired leggings with an oversized sweater and the heels Yiri insisted I bring, and then rejoined the others to watch as we arrived at a new planet.
Most of the others had changed and freshened up, too, I noted. Of course, we would all want to look nice when we met the males we came all this way to be with, but seeing that I wasn’t the only one trying to put my best foot forward was a comfort.
“It looks cold,” said Mrs. Sleep Spa, peering at the looming planet as it grew larger and larger in the window.
She was right. Everything I could see of the big floating orb was blue, silver, and gray. The closer we got, the more certain I was that the shapes I could make out on the surface were sharp and jagged-looking mountains.
“Oh, it’s very cold,” Brynna said. “We can’t go outside the Transport station without special gear, or we’ll die.”
“I didn’t even bring a coat,” I said. “It was summer at home. But this is a whole different planet. Of course, the weather’s different! I should have asked.”
“I’m sure your guy will take care of it,” Brynna said. “It’s not like you’re going to go outside the Station anyway. You’ll get onto his little space ship and he’ll zip you away before you have a chance to freeze.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” I said.
But then, when we docked at the Transport Station, and the techs unloaded all our things and ushered us out of the vessel, I was the only one who didn’t have a handsome daernir male waiting to whisk me away. Brynna tried to wait with me, but her fiancé said he had urgent business on another world. He and thetechs assured me I would be well cared for until Yiri arrived, and I was. One of the techs gave me his coat and brought me a latte. Though I could hear a raucous din of voices and machinery, there was a heavily guarded wall between me and the rest of the station as I waited.
And waited.
Oh my god.Did I get stood up by an alien?
“Miss Keaton,” one of the transport techs approached me with one of the small phone-like nexus frames in his hand. “I wasn’t able to reach your sponsor, Mr. Ahlon, but I have his emergency contact on a call. He would like to speak with you.”
“Emergency contact?” I accepted the frame without looking at it. “What do you mean? Is Yiri okay?”
“Cora?”
I looked down, blinking at the face of a strange daernir male on the frame.
“Cora, my name is Nerus. I work for Yiri. I’m his second in command.”
“Where is he?” I asked. “You’re his emergency contact? Did something happen?”
“Just a little inconvenience,” Nerus said. “I talked to him about an hour ago. He’s there at the station, but he had to deal with some business before he could meet you.”
“Oh.” I frowned. “Business?”
“Yeah,” Nerus said. “No big deal. Something came up, he’s handling it, and he’ll be with you soon. Are you comfortable right now? If there’s anything you need, I can talk to the transporters and?—”
“I’m comfortable,” I said, my tone crisper than I meant it to be. “They’ve been very nice, even though it doesn’t seem like they usually have to babysit their passengers.”
