His tail curled in on itself and his frill flattened against his spine. Eleri wished she had taken time to review the guide on latil’e body language, but even her hazy recollections were enough to register the negativity. “Unfortunately, I cannot return the feeling. This was a mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Your contract was chosen by my clutch sister. I never asked for a mate.”
“You were in the database. I listened to your recorded materials. They had your voice.” Despite her best efforts to keep her tone steady, shecouldn’t quite quell her rising panic.
“The recorded materials were created by my clutch sister using a vocal synthesizer. I didn’t know about them until only a few standard days ago.”
Eleri’s heart slammed against her throat. “I can’t go back now.” She might have thought it was strange he didn’t exchange messages with her unlike some of the other women on the ship who received correspondence from their future mates, but she had chalked it up to poor intelewave connectivity from a remote place. It stung to know that her careful messages to him had gone ignored, or even worse, unread entirely.
“Of course not. There is much work to be done here in Laurus. I am sure the IA can find another use for you. Goodbye, human.”
“Hey, wait a minute!” She called after him, but he didn’t turn or respond.
Instead of acknowledging her, he strode out of the clinic, leaving Eleri alone and speechless on the exam table. Once again, she was everyone’s last choice. With a heave and a sigh, she threw back the last water pod and held still as a thin layer of healing gel was applied to all her sunburnt skin by a mechanical nozzle. It should mitigate the worst of the sun damage.
“What am I supposed to do now?” she asked more of herself than of anyone in particular. Her already sensitive stomach lurched with a sudden twist of anxiety. Without her connection to S’samph, she had nothing here. She had no job, no real belongings, and no way to afford a dwelling of her own.
“You should care for your health first. Luxportal sickness is a serious condition, and you will be at risk if you do not take proper rest as you transition to life planet side.”
“Is there somewhere I can go? To rest, I mean. I don’t have a home here.” She asked Aglao. The translucent creature appeared to consider her with a row of glowing blue circles on its brow.
“You should speak with our village leader, Pyo. He is in the building next door. Take care, human. If you ever wish to finish your training as an IA-certified healer, I can absorb the necessary knowledge to teach you.”
Eleri’s eyes widened at the offer. “That’s very kind, but I came here to help farm.”
“It is easy enough to change a contract to other skilled work,” Aglao said. “Besides, we will need someone here to run the clinic when I go into hibernation before flooding season.”
“I will definitely consider it.” She stood from the table and brushed a layer of dust off her jumpsuit, trying to distract herself from the enormity of what had just occurred. Whatever she’d expected of her first day in Laurus, her imagination would never conjure something this miserable. Her whole body ached from the luxportal travel and the weeks she’d spent cramped on a spacecraft getting from Gaia to Cassiaq-IV, but at least she wasn’t thirsty or bleeding anymore.
“I will confer with Pyo about the necessary forms if you decide to join me.”
“Thank you, Aglao.” Her pronunciation of the name was miserable, but the creature glowed a pale pink in response.
“You are welcome, Eleri of Gaia.” Aglao twirled and then disappeared with another loud ‘pop’. The exam table vanished along with the medic, which left Eleri alone again. There was nothing else to do but collect her things. It made her infinitely grateful she hadn’t let Minio bring her bag to S’samph’s home. Now she just had to explain to the village leader that the male who’d willingly matched with her in the IA MateMatch database had zero interest in her.
CHAPTER 2
S’SAMPH
Aveil of blue dust pushed up against S’samph’s face as he rode his levibike hard back to his home. It was settled. He’d made a neat ending to his clutch sister’s overstepping. Leave it to S’kasia to get him into a mess like this. She always thought she knew best, acting on the goddess’s behalf. He had never been religious, and the goddess, if she even existed, was about as useful as a puff of sand in the wind. Hard to be a goddess for a dead planet with only a few miserable survivors.
This was the best course of action. Eleri was a delicate female. She would be better suited to a male who could give her a gentler quality of life. A male with a more amiable personality would no doubt befit her. There were few of them on Laurus, but he was certain she would have no trouble finding another mate if she so desired. It meant nothing that he had responded to the delicate scent of her skin. It was irrelevant that he found her visually appealing. He’d never entered himself into the IA database. It was all S’kasia’s doing, and he wanted no part of it. Being alone and bitter was the only future he had in his plans.
A few meters away from the fields now. He’d move into his patch of land and keep his head down. It was an exercise in futility. Of course, his clutch sister was already waiting for him there, her tail swishing with impatience.
“So where is she?” asked S’kasia. The dusty gold frill around her neck stood at attention with clear anticipation for his answer. Neat as always, she managed to keep her pale orange priestess robes pristine despite the omnipresent dust. In this way, and this way only, Cassiaq-IV shared similarity with their home world of Latilla. However, S’samph found the sands of Latilla infinitely more tolerable.
“Luxportal must’ve malfunctioned,” he muttered. It was a lie, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. It had been a long time since he’d been able to bring himself to care about most things. Honor meant little at this point, castaway as they were.
“So, she’s not here yet?” S’kasia probed for a better answer, clearly dissatisfied by his halfhearted explanation.
He shrugged. Talking had never been his strong suit and lying was even more effort. Better for S’kasia to read what she wanted from his words.
"Well then, she must be stuck in Abwele." S'kasia's tail brushed his shoulder—a gentle reassurance at odds with her impatient stance. "I will go to the holocom later this afternoon to contact the transport depot there. The largest transit hub on Cassiaq-IV should know where her pod went."
S’samph stiffened. The last thing he wanted her to do was waste time and credits on a call for no purpose. “Don’t bother. We can’t afford to pay another transit fee from Abwele.” S’samph let his frill flatten along his spine in his best attempt at feigning disappointment.
