Chapter 15
Planet Ohiri
Aelanna and the other nine girls were put in secure rooms in the military compound. They were led away from the ship to a vehicle by a scary female lizard in uniform. She wore a peaked cap which hid her crest and her stubby reptilian snout stuck out from under it. The look didn’t suit her... and she had scales. Aelanna started to grimace, then pinched her lips. It didn’t bode well for her to draw attention to herself by offending the woman who had power over them, even if only for five days.
Her gaze swept across them with narrowed eyes, tapping a short cane against her taloned hand at the same time, then she turned on her heel and strode off, tail swishing behind her.
“Follow me,” the lizard clipped. Silent, they shuffled along in her wake.
Aelanna’s room was starkly bright and efficient. A muddy brown wall-to-wall carpet that was no more of an excuse for floor covering. There was a single bed along one wall. Beige coverlet. A desk and chair tucked under a small window with a plain blind. A couple of prints of city views hung on the white walls. There was a plain closet, too. It was guest quarters, but an army logistic guy must have designed it. It was the opposite of her room on the Dheltan ship.
She went to knock on the door next to hers and it was Nayli’s room. Nayli’s expression of shock and frustration said it all. She moved to the center of the room and raised her arms, letting them fall to her sides in despair as she faced Aelanna.
“There’s no ensuite. What am I going to do?”
Poor Nayli. She had had her own ensuite at home in Manhattan. She came from a high-class family accustomed to a pampered lifestyle.
“It’s only for five days. Let’s go see if we can find a bathroom,” Aelanna said soothingly.
They went into the corridor and found Kora already peering through a doorway. They couldn’t see her head but she seemed to know it was them.
“The reptile bitch said this was it,” she said.
Over Kora’s shoulders, Nayli and Aelanna peeked in. Aelanna took in a bathtub with a curtain rail round it a foot from the ceiling, a shower attachment fixed above the taps. The curtain hanging limply from the rail was made of what she guessed was the plastic fabric equivalent on Earth. There were a toilet and a small sink with a mirror above. And that was it.
“Where’s the hairdryer? The courtesy toiletries?” Nayli gasped.
“The Ohirins aren’t classy enough to have them,” sniffed Kora.
“This is a military building. I guess they don’t have them here,” Aelanna added.
They went to Nayli’s room in low spirits.
“Is your room the same as this?” Aelanna was sitting on the thick, coarse bedcover next to Nayli. Kora was sitting in the single visitor’s chair. It was a far cry to the curved seating in their rooms on the ship, which had molded themselves to their bodies, caressed them like loving fingers.
Kora nodded.
“Where is it?”
“Down the hall. Thataway.” She pointed.
“At least it’s warm,” said Aelanna, unhappily. She didn’t feel upbeat.
If this was how the Ohirin capital city was, what was Drypso like?
“Too hot, more like,” grumbled Kora.
“That’s because they’re cold-blooded,” said Nayli.
They all shuddered. Strong regret and homesickness washed through Aelanna, strong enough to make her stomach rebel. She repeatedly swallowed the urge to throw up. She missed Queens, she missed New York, she even missed her job at the diner, and her apartment. It would be coming into full spring now, and the trees in Corona Park would be in new leaf.
“You alright, honey? You’ve gone green,” Nayli whispered. Aelanna bowed her head. “Homesickness,” she confessed. But at least she had her friends with her. She wouldn’t be able to survive this without them.
“We’re with you,” said Kora.
“We’ll stick together,” Nayli told her soothingly. “Are you sure I can’t help you to the bathroom?”
“You don’t want to be sick on her bed,” added Kora, disapproval in her eyes. “She wouldn’t forgive you.”
