“You’ve done enough.” Her voice was raspy from the sting of acid in the back of her throat. “Please, just leave.” A stubborn lump rose in her throat.
“If you are ill, I will bring you to the clinic.” His frill stood up straight as it was able. Eleri wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and came away with purple slime, a slippery reminder of the berries she’d eaten.
“No thank you.” Eleri shrugged him off and wobbled back to Pyo and Myla’s dwelling. She wasn’t going to apologize for the boots. She’d come to Laurus to live a quiet life where no one was bothering her for her time, credits, or anything else she didn’t want to give willingly. It was a promise she’d made to herself as she’d stood with the rest of the colonists on the observation deck of The Spark as it left port.
“Stubborn female, you should go to the medical center.” S’samph muttered and tried to herd her away from the house. Eleri rounded on him with the last bit of energy she had.
“Please, just leave me alone.” She stumbled back toward the house, and this time he didn’t try to follow her.
Eleri spent the rest of the evening in quiet mortification. She’d vomited all over S’samph and had essentially told him he could go directly to hell. When Myla had tried to talk to her when she went back inside, she’d rudely walked right past her. She’d heard the whole thing anyway. In a small town like Laurus, she knew the news of their interaction would be all over town in a matter of hours. It was the price she paid for leaving a big city for atown of less than two hundred people.
Now she lay on the narrow hammock and stared at the ceiling. Stars above and stones below, she had no idea what she was going to do. It was too late to think about leaving now. Her IA contract had been bought and sold. A lifetime on Cassiaq-IV making herself useful as a mate or anything else. She had no credits. No friends. No family who wanted her for anything other than the monetary value they could squeeze out of her. Nothing except the possibility to work. For whatever it was worth, she tried to keep the thought of finishing her training at the clinic at the forefront of her mind. It was something positive to come from this mess of a situation, and she would put all her efforts into learning as much as she could about medicine. S’samph be damned.
CHAPTER 4
ELERI
When Eleri emerged from her sleeping quarters the next morning, Pyo was standing at the raised table in the dining area of the dwelling sipping a mug of something with a strong bitter scent.
“Ah, good morning, Eleri. Can I offer you some of Laurus’ finestgogursk? We import it all the way from Brasnia Prime.”
“I’m alright, thank you. Still recovering from the luxportal.” She patted her stomach with an exaggerated wince. It wasn’t a question of whether he knew about what had happened the night before. Myla didn’t seem the type to keep things to herself. However, Eleri was not about to go out of her way to bring up her graceless vomiting all over S’samph’s boots. No doubt he was already aware of just how poorly the conversation had gone, courtesy of Myla’s snooping.
“Eat something small at least. Can’t put you to work on an empty stomach.”
Eleri stood across the table and reached for something that looked like a puck of grains. There were more purple fruits on the table as well, but she wasn’t about to chance a repeat of last night’s performance. She nibbled a corner of the puck and found it to be mostly dry but palatable with a flavor like synth ginger.
Pyo did his best to hide a chuckle as he pushed a bowl of something smooth and sweet smelling across the table. “I don’t know much about human eating habits, but most kyrot prefer tosa with jam.”
“Jam?” Eleri was surprised to hear a familiar human word for food all the way on the other side of the quadrant.
“I’ve been studying some Gaiese,” Pyo grinned. “Did I get it right?”
“You did,” she conceded and spread a small smear of jam on the tosa. It did taste much better with the fruity tartness and was different enough from the berries she’d consumed the night before so as not to turn her stomach. Still, she thought it wise to limit herself to a smaller portion. The last thing she wanted was to vomit again. Besides, if she kept getting herself sick, she’d be next to useless for her anticipated medical training.
Pyo seemed to have no such compunction about eating, and he filled his plate three times while she sat nibbling on her food. “So, this morning I’ll show you the fields, and we’ll put you to work. We’re at the end of our harvest season, so there’s lots to do. Then I’ll give you a ride down to the clinic at sun high. You probably won’t want to be outside then anyway.”
Eleri nodded. She’d learned firsthand about the intensity of Cassiaq-IV’s suns. After gingerly finishing her food, she placed a tentative hand on her stomach. It seemed settled if still a bit uncomfortable.
“Ready to go?” Pyo asked.
“Should we wait for Myla?”
Pyo made a snorting sound. “Myla doesn’t work in the fields. She does some of the paperwork in my office, or so she says. Manages the accounts and things. She’ll be sleeping for a few hours more at least. She’s a city dweller at heart. No amount of farm life has been able to get her interested in agriculture.”
“Myla mentioned how much she missed the excitement of Brasnia Prime.”
“Oh, that I’m sure she did.” Pyo made a low trilling noise.
Eleri pressed the button on her bodysuit sleeve to activate the ineffective sunshield and followed Pyo outside. It was early still, but the heat was almost suffocating. Eleri wasn’t sure how much physical labor she’d be able to do in these temperatures, but she was determined to do what she could. Keeping busy would also prevent her mind from wandering too much back to the events of the previous night.
“Hop on.” Pyo patted the passenger seat behind him on the levibike and Eleri scrambled up, clutching the handles on either side to steady herself before they even started moving. Her weak stomach lurched as Pyo started the engine and they rumbled forward. His style of driving was much less smooth than Minio’s had been the day before. It took all her willpower not to lose her tiny morning meal to the churning blue dust below. The last thing she needed was to puke on someone else. Once the driving smoothed out, she took the opportunity to use one of her arms to protect her face from the clouds of particulates.
A short ride later brought them to an impressive span of green and yellow plants. She noticed someone piloting a thresher through a field of the same floral smelling grain she’d seen the night before. As they got closer, Eleri realized it was Minio dressed in a highly impractical outfit of dark leathery fabric. He nodded a greeting when they got close enough. Eleri didn’t trust herself to let go ofthe handlebars long enough to wave back. She took a moment and a few deep breaths to find her feet after Pyo veered to a stop by the edge of the fields.
“What is she doing here? Is this why you’re late?” Minio directed the pointed questions to his brother-in-law.
“That’s my fault, I think,” Eleri volunteered to take responsibility. No doubt her slow eating that morning hadn’t kept Pyo to a normal schedule.
