Page 17 of Tempting Fate

A strange headiness shivered through my bones, winding its way through all the sensitive fibres of my body—something that could have been pleasurable were it not tinged with guilt.

Fierce fate. I picked at the stew. Only one day here and I was already making mistakes.

The more I ate, the more the familiar spices burned my mouth, the hot, sharp tingling on my lips and tongues making my nostrils prickle.

Good.

I relished the pain, wishing it could sear away my incompetence, hoping I hadn’t lost a friend before I’d even gained one. I needed to make this right—not that I knew how.

Tomorrow. I would find a way to apologise tomorrow.

CHAPTER NINE

Bountiful

Imani

THE FOREST SPED past on the transport to the ruli fields. Tall trees as dense as the eye could see made way for vast swathes of crop fields, the pale blue rows stretching out into the distance until they became one with the shadow of the mountains.

We all exited the large speeder, chatter filling the air, and we stashed our bags in lockers before heading down to the field.

“Is that rhyolite?” I asked the shaa worker next to me, pointing at an exposed slab of stone in the grass.

She wrinkled her nose at me. “What’s rhyolite?”

“Thanks, never mind.” I bounced as I walked down the hill. I’d gotten what I needed; she’d understood my word, and the translator had said it back to me.

“What was that about?” Fenn asked.

“I don’t need to learn a bunch of alien words for rocks.” Which was especially good as half of them were unpronounceable with a human mouth. “I’m programming the translator system so it understands the equivalent English names. And it’s working.” Take that, stuffy geology wankers.

Fenn gave me their half-smile. “Whatever makes you happy, babe.”

“Getting in with the geo guild will make me happy.” As would getting settled in town at last. Only two more days—and I couldn’t wait.

There was a special kind of peace working out here, the monotony of picking the long blue vegetables off the endless rows of bushes strangely soothing. The wages weren’t much, but the whole agri system allowed Vadias to be broadly self sufficient, apart from those supplies which had to be imported, often by corsairs.

Vadias had been a calculated risk—one none of our other friends had been willing to take—but Fenn and I were content. I couldn’t imagine working on an industrial space station when all this beautiful greenery existed. Not only did we have jobs, somewhere to live, and food in our bellies, we got to breathe fresh air every day—fresh, real, natural atmosphere air, even if the moon had been terraformed more than a century ago. Better yet, we were no longer beholden to New Earth politics or caught up in the relentless nature of space station life.

Our comms chirped at the same time. I threw the tuber I’d just picked into the hoverbasket and pulled my handheld off my wrist.

Zerena (Aurora Five)

WE FOUND KIRA!!!!!!

Ellie (Draim Station)

OMG! Still offended you didn’t come here first, Kira.

We all owed our new lives to ‘Ambassador’ Ellie and the fact she’d negotiated with Archon Ithsskar, the terrifying giant reptilian, to ensure we were made galactic citizens. And while she’d stayed behind on Draim Station to work in the diplomatic quarter, thanks to her, the rest of us had a chance at a decent start in the galaxy.

Kira (The Jewelled Tusk)

Pirates and authority don’t mix, and you know it. Aurora Five Station is… interesting. Seriously, it’s good to be here.

So good. We’d had to split up over a number of locations, but having our friend travel light years to find us—even if we didn’t need rescuing—reminded us we weren’t alone out here. A link back home.

And a kri’ith man had taken Kira as his mate. Along with Garrison, that made two humans mated to other sapients now. Good for them.