Page 9 of Alien Burn

He had agreed to stand beside Khalzin, greet the visitors, and help make the program respectable enough for others to try. He expected a ceremony, introductions, perhaps an enjoyable evening. Nothing that would decide the rest of his life.

Stron checked the sky again when he thought no one was looking. Dhomhes hoped his friend found whatever he was looking for.

Khalzin approached, tugging once at his repaired clasp.

“Don't,” he said to Dhomhes.

“I haven't spoken.”

“You're about to.”

“We're here,” Stron said.

Khalzin looked at them, and some of the tension eased out of his shoulders. “Thank you.”

Dhomhes let the moment pass without a remark.

The arrival beacon sounded.

They turned together. Beyond the upper branches, the Galactic Alliance ship emerged between the peaks, larger than it had looked in the approach images. Its hull caught the light as it descended toward them.

Khalzin stepped closer to Dhomhes.

“Watch everyone,” he said quietly.

“Including you?”

“Especially you,” Stron said from his other side.

The ship's engines drowned out Dhomhes's answer. Wind drove the banners sideways and pulled at his robes. He caught the loose cloth before it slapped him in the face.

Fiviel laughed.

“Not a word,” Dhomhes told him, which made it worse.

2

SEREYA

“Higher,” Roemary said. “The pin.”

Sereya moved it higher.

“Now it's crooked.”

It had been straight before. Sereya said nothing and adjusted it again, bracing her elbow against the bulkhead as the ship shifted beneath them.

Through the viewport behind Roemary's shoulder, green filled the world.

Trees rose beside buildings, their branches so wide they could have supported entire streets. Perhaps they did. She had studied the information Graecey provided, but she hadn't understood how much space the trees would take, how alive everything would look.

She wanted to press her hand against the viewport. Follow a branch all the way down and see where it met the ground.

“Sereya.”

She brought her attention back to the pin.

“There.” She let go before Roemary could ask for another adjustment. “It will hold.”