He leaned toward her and kissed her neck.“Thank you.Do you want a tour to distract you?”
She nodded and flexed her toes when the caress tickled her.Trin relaxed against him for an instant and then blinked and sat up.“Oh, that was too easy.”
Birun grinned.“It is good to know.”He set her on her feet and got up to walk with her.“First, the oxygen farm and then your workshop.And then lunch and back to the workshop.”
Trin laughed.“I think you have figured me out.”
“I am getting there.”
“I really can touch you at any time?I mean, not while you are carrying something heavy.That would be rude.”
He smiled.“Thank you for your sensibility.”They walked through the wide halls that now made sense.
He could fly indoors if he wanted to.That was why the halls were so very wide.He kept a hand on her back as they walked, and he made small circles with his fingertips.
“If you keep that up, I am going to go down for a nap.”She grimaced.“Right here.”
His fingers paused.“Is it the circles?”
“It is the circles.I had to find ways to force myself to sleep in a cave full of other people.I use circles on my temples, neck, and shoulders.It took twenty minutes, but I could knock myself out that way.Your fingertips are at neck and shoulders.”
He shifted his hand so that it covered her upper hip and waist.“Better?”
“Yes, thank you.You are the one who would end up carrying me to some place so you wouldn’t trip on me.”
Birun laughed.“You say that like you are heavy.”
“Oh.Right.I guess I’m not.”
“You say that like it is a discovery.”
“Um, my grandpa always said I was a tank.He got me to do a lot of the heavy lifting.”
“Why?”
“Because he couldn’t?”
“I see.”
They walked slowly down a long hall that had several large doors on either side.
“If it is just you here, why is this place so big?”
“This is a seed base.The world has been hydrated via chemical reaction.The snow fell, covering the surface.The temperature got to the point where it would kill most bacteria, and now, I have begun to wake the world.”
“What?”
“Wake the world.This is a new world, and it needs plants and trees, then animals in the sea, animals on the land, and insects.The process will take three hundred years or more.”
She stared.“Wow.Talk about a patient hobby.What do you do with the world when it’s ready?”
“I stay here as overlord.If we have children, the eldest may take over the directing of the world or any others.”
“There are other worlds?”
“Yes.Ten worlds in this system.Seventeen in the system next to us.They are all under my guardianship.”
She smiled.“I am impressed you can take a nap for a few centuries.”
