Page 166 of Alien Burn

“Then we'd better get some sleep.”

25

SEREYA

The return flight crossed the terminator while Dhomhes argued with a diplomat.

Sereya watched the refinery lights fall behind them. Ahead, the black curve of the world brightened. The jungle came into view in layers of green, and the great platforms caught the light above it.

For a moment she remembered the approach to Kantenan. Roemary talking beside her, her own hands folded, all her attention on behaving well enough to get through the next hour.

Dhomhes ended the call.

“Where did you go?”

“The last time I saw this view.”

His hand found hers between the seats.

“Would you like to tell me about it?”

She considered that.

“Later. Right now I'd rather look.”

He turned his hand beneath hers and laced their fingers together.

They watched the green rise toward them.

The volunteers were returning in small groups. Before she chose, Sereya had sat with Dhomhes and his lead while they went through the assessment. Roemary and the extraction crew were in custody; the contractor access they had used was closed. The bounties were still a threat.

Each residence had been searched, its service entrances brought under guard and its entry list checked against the people actually working there. Guests would keep escorts. Some preferred the refinery while they waited for passage off-world. Sereya had chosen to return.

Sereya had asked for a room near Dhomhes.

Saying it aloud had been harder than taking off his shirt the previous evening. She had begun with a practical explanation about security, heard herself, and stopped.

“I want to be near you,” she had said instead.

He had smiled without trying to hide it.

Now her bag stood inside a guest suite adjoining his residence floor. She had her own key, a door between the rooms that locked from either side, and a breakfast table visible through the open doorway.

Dhomhes set a bowl of fruit on it.

“I can have that door closed if you'd rather.”

Sereya put her bag down and crossed to him.

“Leave it open.”

After breakfast he took her to the gardens.

He wore a shirt that left his shoulders more room. Sereya noticed and looked at him until he caught her doing it.

“A precaution,” he said.

“An optimistic one.”