Because we had spent the night making love, we had slept most of the day away. That meant it was starting to get cooler on the surface, and it would be a good time to show Evalee the farm. We needed something to distract us from the unrest between her people and the humans.
We took the elevator to the surface. As we emerged outdoors, the heat nearly took our breath away. Though the sun was low in the sky, the heat barely lessened. Evalee acclimated more quickly than I did because she was used to it. I am glad she suggested we bring water bottles with us as we would need them if we spent much time on the surface.
As I looked around, I was pleased to see that things had mostly remained as I remembered them. Watered from a deep artesian well, the land surrounding the garage was lush and green, almost as far as I could see.
By most standards, I was a wealthy man. During all the years I spent on Oltarin, my family’s farm grew and sold crops. All of the credits that we didn’t put back into the farm we accumulated into a trust fund account that Hankura managed for me until I was an adult. His family provided for me while I wasgrowing up, and then I began earning a living as a physician myself.
I was glad to have that income when I decided to bring the horses to Zevus Mar. I needed a large barn and nurturing chamber to grow the embryos that I’d brought with me. Because they would grow slowly, I was able to start them before I left Oltarin and transport them through space. They were about 2 pounds each when we arrived at Zevus Mar. My barn droid moved them to the tanks in the stable after we arrived. We stopped to see them as we made our rounds.
The barn was a large white dome built from aerated concrete that would reflect the sun’s heat. It contained six large stalls, storage for feed, and a lab with nurturing tanks for the embryos. I also brought frozen embryos of several different genetic lines to start a breeding program. They already looked like tiny horses in their tanks.
Outside the barn, the androids created and cultivated a large pasture with established grass for my future herd. Evalee was suitably impressed with the setup.
On my journey to Zevus Mar, I shared many videos of horses and riding them in the Cerulean Mountains of Oltarin. She thought the horses were some of the most beautifulcreatures she had ever seen. I had to agree.
We spent half an hour casually strolling along the fields and around the pasture after I showed her my beautiful new barn. As we walked around, the memories of my family and our happy times here filled my mind. I could almost feel their spirits pleased with my return. With Evalee at my side, I truly believed this was where I belonged.
Chapter Nine
Evalee
Lanimer and I had two lovely days to get acquainted and enjoy each other before we had to start working at the clinic in Val’kara. Fortunately, violent demonstrations have not rocked the clinic located in that section. Val’kara was the largest of the Trakellisan settlements and the earliest.
There were still people living in the area around the clinic who remembered the joy and relief of escaping the Tregan tyranny. My father had told me how they had killed many of our people to terrorize them into submission to their rule. His brother had been one of the victims. He just couldn’t understand the growing hatred of the Zevians who initially welcomed our kind to their world.
Zevus Mar was still in the early stages of rebuilding after the Tregan invasion, but they still helped the Trakellisans build prefabhouses. They distributed food, medicine, and supplies to the people even though they barely had enough for themselves. It didn’t matter that we didn’t look just like them. We were all humanoid beings. Now, two generations later, young people were spewing hatred and calling for ethnic cleansing of the Trakellisan people.
We arrived at the clinic to find the waiting room already filled with people obviously injured. A nearby demonstration had turned into a violent riot. Rioters burned businesses, and it took the law enforcers all night to get things under control. Lanimer and I did not find out about it until we reached the clinic because we hadn’t bothered to check the info stream on our days off together.
I heard whispers among people waiting to be seen mentioning Lanimer and commenting on his appearance. They were clearly not expecting any Caucasian human alien to be their new Physician.
Most of them knew me. The fact that I seemed comfortable in Lanimer’s presence seemed to put them at ease. Normally, we saw people by appointment and tried to squeeze in urgent cases as soon as possible.
Today, it looked like everyone was urgent with one kind of injury or another. Fortunately, although they required treatment, none of theinjuries were very serious. However, the influx of patients kept us busy from the time we arrived until 2 hours after the time to leave.
Lanimer and I had barely had time to speak in passing before we sat together in his flier on our way home. He set it on autopilot so we could relax during the trip.
“Well, that was certainly interesting,” Lanimer muttered wearily. “Many of them were not sure about me, and some only let me care for them because they were in too much pain to refuse. They clearly didn’t like me. Considering what’s going on in the settlement, it wasn’t surprising. The ones who were reluctant were not openly bigoted; they just didn’t know me or what to expect from me. I did my best to put them at ease, and I think it worked for the most part.
“It helped that I had taken the time to learn their language during the trip here. While I am not perfectly fluent in it, I can fill in the blanks with telepathy.”
“Are you going to let them know that you’re a telepath?”
“I haven’t decided yet. I’m afraid that might make things worse, considering they don’t like humans, and I don’t look like most of the other humans they’re used to seeing.”
I looked at him thoughtfully. “You might beright. Today, most of our patients are moderates who believe that the Zevians have treated our people well and just want to live their lives.”
“That was my impression as well. I read a few of them, and they don’t seem to understand the new faction of anti-alien Zevians.” Lanimer shook his head with a puzzled expression.
“I don’t quite understand it either. I am glad I don’t have to live near the clinic anymore, with the way the violence is spreading in the city. And I’m glad my parents live inShara-gahri. Xenos Free is adamantly against mixed race couples.”
“They are a hate group just like the Zevian purists. What the heck happened? I had no idea the unrest between our cultures would be as widespread as it is.” Lanimer frowned. “I don’t suppose they will look kindly on our relationship. That’s a bit problematic.”
“Does that mean that you want to reconsider our involvement?” I asked painfully. I couldn’t blame him if he did, but that wasn’t what I wanted. I’d finally found a male who felt like my soulmate.
“Oh, sweetheart, that’s not what I meant at all.” He leaned close and kissed my forehead as he sensed my concern. “I worry that somemisguided soul will try to harm one or both of us. I just meant to warn you that things could get rough.”
“Well, they don’t get to decide who I love. I knew the moment I saw you that you were myone.”
