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Throughout the journey, she glued herself to Jamen’s side. Not because she was worried or feared for her safety, but because that was where she belonged. She might have arrived on Halos as his hanjin, but in her heart, she wasn’t that any longer. What had started as something akin to a job, a bizarre internship, had transformed into a full-fledged relationship based on genuine friendship and mutual attraction. They never spoke about it, of course. Jamen kept his protocols alive and practiced a familiar routine. But lurking beneath the surface, she knew his feelings toward her were not typical of the Vendu.
Maybe the crunch point might happen away from the capital and the senate house where his mind was focused on work and productivity. Out by the boundary, she hoped to see a more relaxed Jamen and foster something else. If she loved his dominance, it was because she had a submissive core. However, there was more to them that that. She was absolutely certain.
* * *
Crossing from one hemisphere to the next, the landscape changed. Looking out of the window, Paige saw something more familiar: flat plains and field after field of crops. Nothing interrupted the regular patterns of farmland except for the gigantic machines that crawled up and down. Some irrigated, others harvested, and a few plowed. An endless turnover of production. She’d seen similar apparatus on Earth, but nothing on the scale she was witnessing on Halos.
The provincial cities were smaller and lacked the glamor of the capital. As the shuttle train weaved past another urban center, she asked Jamen a question that had puzzled her for a long time.
“Why this side of the planet? I mean, what has happened to cause the volcanoes and earthquakes?” She pointed to the distant horizon where the sky glowed an ominous red.
Jamen peered over her shoulder. They were sitting, side by side, in a private cabin at the front of the train. It provided them with an excellent view of their destination.
“The moons,” he said.
She had to peek upward to catch sight of the two moons. One was four times larger than the Earth’s moon, and appeared much closer with its craters clearly visible. The other was a distant golf ball and dimmer. “What about them?”
“Every few hundred years, they align with the sun and the combined gravitational pull disrupts the planet’s tectonic plates. It causes tsunami waves in the oceans and earthquakes, but only on this side of the planet, because the alignment only happens on this hemisphere. The next one isn’t due for another one hundred or so years, but when it does, the boundary will shift again, and probably will wipe out a few more cities.”
“Like Meeve?”
He gestured to the darkest part of the sky. “Meeve is closer to the barrier, over there.”
Poor people. To have their homes destroyed by something completely out of the control of the technologically advanced Vendu. Even they couldn’t alter physics. “Why is it getting worse? Surely, this has been the pattern of orbits since, well, Halos existed.”
Jamen sighed. “The alignment causes the moons’ own orbits to shift too. The giant moon is creeping closer to Halos.”
“It will crash into us!” she cried out in alarm. Science wasn’t one of Paige’s best subjects at school and she’d not paid much attention to the astrophysics lessons.
Jamen chuckled. “Again, not for a long time, but yes, the projections have it on a collision course. By then, Halos will be uninhabitable and we Vendu will be long gone.”
To Earth? Or those other worlds they’d conquered. The Vendu had a plan and it wasn’t altruistic.
“Is the problem with fertility linked to the planet’s breakdown?”
He leaned back in his seat. “Theories about that are many and some controversial. There are some who would say the ancient gods are angry with us. Which is laughable. Others point to radiation. I honestly don’t think it is related to the planet, but our own genetic breeding. We relied for centuries on keeping the clans knitted together by mating within and not diversifying. Now, the message is to spread ourselves afar and seek out new species.” He rested his hand on her thigh and stroked his palm up and down, ruffling her skirts in its wake. The prickly shivers of goosebumps raced along her spine and around her nipples. Her little tells that he couldn’t see. “New mates.”
He wanted to breed with her? It was the first time he’d alluded to it. He had the ability to decide—male Vendus controlled contraceptives with some hidden implant—and she’d assumed he wouldn’t want to conceive with his hanjin. But was she that person anymore? Introducing her to his mother had to be a sign he was thinking of taking a different path. At least, if he was on Earth that would be the message he was sending.
A new city, small and low lying to protect the buildings from the rumbles of earthquakes, came into view.
“Frezna,” Jamen declared. “The place of my birth.”
“Your mother lives here?”
He shook his head. “She lives in her father’s house, which is outside the city. We shall spend a few days in my official residence so that I can work, then we shall rest.”
She was truly looking forward to a rest. They’d not stopped working for weeks and weeks. Her brain ached. It was nice to speak English with him. The chip kept her fluent in Vendian, but she needed the break and the opportunity to allow her mind to quieten. However, she’d have to wait a few more days before they could really have some quality time together.
The residence wasn’t grand. Situated on the outskirts of Frezna and occupying one story, it had few windows and thi
ck walls. Both were designed to keep the oppressive heat out and help the building withstand the occasional battering of a distant earthquake.
There was a servant appointed to serve the senator. She felt awkward as the man rushed forward to take her suitcase and offered her a refreshing glass of water. Where the water came from was a mystery—they’d not flown over one lake or reservoir. The man with his orange eyes and short arms wasn’t Vendu. Was he a slave? She really didn’t like the idea of having a slave in the house.
“Who is he?” she whispered in English to Jamen as he relieved himself of his jacket.
Jamen shrugged. “Hopp? He’s harmless.”
