“My friends,” he asked. Did she see Phares and Erzo?
“The other Kantenans.” She pointed again, this time holding a wand in her hand that she was selling. She took a bite off the end.
Correction. That she was eating.
“How long ago?” Olmed asked.
She shrugged. “Maybe quarter of an hour. Maybe an hour. Time flies around here.” She stared at him.
Olmed signed. She probably wanted credits.
He patted his pocket. He had one token for five credits. Not much, but it was something. He handed it to her.
She glanced at it, then back at him. “It was about twenty minutes ago, and they headed toward the far shop on the end and went inside.”
Olmed nodded and headed down the walkway, looking for a store on the far end that had Kantenans in it.
The store, like she said, was down on the end, and sure enough, there were two Kantenans inside. From the back and their dress, they looked to be miners. Their bone ridges on their backs were covered with their clothing, but the way it was cut, it didn’t show any sign of being in the upper tier of society.
Only the upper tier, like Gol-Vetts, had specially tapered clothing that accentuated those ridges. Their clothing mostly disguised the ridges.
Though that could generally be by design. If they were hiding—
One turned toward the shop’s entrance.
Olmed stepped back into the shadows and out of the line of sight of the other Kantenan. Checked his sensor. Sure enough, if there were stabilizers, they were inside that store.
He was able to stay back far enough, and watch. The Kantenans came out and he pulled out his scanner, and whatever they’d brought, they left in the store.
At least he knew that much.
He started to follow the Kantenans when his communicator went off.
He pulled it out. “What?”
“Found Phares. Meet me in section 251.”
“On my way,” Olmed said. He’d have to research this more later after they got settled. He hoped the shop would not be closed or the products gone by the time he got there.
He made it down to the section, and just as the area came into view, he could see the crowd that was drawing around Phares and Erzo.
“Did you find—oh. Re-lee.” Olmed nodded to the Intergalactic Dating Agency rep. She was surrounded by three Terran females. “Are these our mates?”
They looked so tiny. Surely they couldn’t be. All three women stared at him.
“He’s red. With horns,” one said. She had dark hair that fell in waves around her shoulders and wore some kind of blue pack on her chest with a cartoon character on it.
Was she a child?
Re-lee merely grinned. “Yes, gentlemen. While this is not how I like to introduce couples, I love that you found each other. Come, let’s go back to the offices and discuss things.”
Phares shook his head. “I need to return—”
Erzo put his hand on his shoulder. “Listen. I got a call from Fwan. Everything is stable. He is ordering us—you specifically—to stay. At least for now.”
Olmed looked them up and down. The one who was near Phares seemed the most comfortable. He kept glancing at her.
“Let us have a more formal meeting, shall we?” Re-lee asked.
