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One way or another, they would find their way back to their talia.
Chapter9
Jill stared out the large pane window of the gentlemen’s entertainment room overlooking Rhapsody City that sprawled from the Mercurium port at its epicenter. Unlike many restaurants and other places of business, the club didn’t have any windows at the street level to prevent people from looking inside when they passed.. Only the rooms of the upper floors that were dedicated to various entertainments and the casino possessed large windows that overlooked the city. With how claustrophobic the lower floor was, she enjoyed every opportunity to go to the upper floors even if just to restock and tidy things in the mornings. If she took time to enjoy a moment to herself and the incredible view, management never objected, though she was certain that they were aware. So long as she wasn’t lingering too long, it didn’t seem to cause any problems.
She certainly couldn’t resist it. Three months and she never got tired of the view. Wide open spaces of the like that she’d never really seen on Earth stretched out before her. Beyond the shiny newness of the city, young trees dotted the landscape, drifting into soft hills and in the distance were rugged dark mountains. Rich brown earth and black mountains, and in between, miles of green with hints of gold among the various plants growing that had been seeded years ago during terraforming.
She believed that if she looked hard enough, she could see the young crops of the nearest farms laden with grains and fresh foods that she never had the luxury to taste. Everything was so fresh—even the air had a clean sweetness to it that she couldn’t seem to get enough of. Her first week there and it had been all that she could talk about to her parents when she sent out a comm connection to Earth. She refused to speak about everything that had happened onboard during the Geminidae occupation of their ship, keeping that memory guarded close to her heart. The promise Brydis made was something she clung to and fed with every bit of her hope in her private moments.
Part of her was worried that if she spoke about it out loud, it would be tarnished by the doubts and speculations that others would offer, even if well-intentioned. Besides, Ganymede offered her plenty to discuss over the passing weeks. So much so that she never ran out of things to entertain her family with. Ganymede bore a lot in common with Earth thanks to its terraforming, but it was also so much more.
The air was colder despite the environmental regulation satellites that were used to gather solar light and regulate Ganymede’s temperatures to keep it life sustaining despite its distance from the sun. Many took to wearing furs and thick woolen and compound material outer clothing harvested from various genetically modified livestock and wildlife, but sometimes the weather was mild enough to not require much more than that to be comfortable and did have its summers and winters from what she understood. It was currently spring, and Jill couldn’t wait to see Ganymede in the summer when the crops ripened. Especially since she got wind of the Geminidae propagating new crops from seeds that had been transported through the fault from Geminos two months ago on a supply ship sent for them.
She had to admit she was curious as hell about what sort of foods they were growing. There were even rumors about various animals brought in. Animals and food that actually survived naturally on a world much like Ganymede. Several of their crops apparently had short growing seasons and were grown three to four times a year, which she found fascinating. If it weren’t for the fact that shuttles were expensive and that, as a port dweller, she wasn’t provided basic transport like those who were provided farms, she would have been tempted to travel further across the wild landscape of Ganymede to see if she could catch a glimpse of their farms. Still, the first of their crops were supposedly going to be brought into the ports at the beginning of summer and she was eager to experience it.
Not that the Geminidae weren’t frequent visitors to the port already. In the weeks following the transfer of power from Earth to the Geminidae of Ganymede, the aliens made frequent visits, often in small groups but more frequently in their customary pairs as avrhast twins flew into port to trade, sell, or purchase something that they wanted. She was never entirely sure which since she rarely caught more than a glimpse of them at a distance, but she always kept watch… just in case.
“Never gets old does it?”
Jill smiled as she leaned back from the window to look over at Diane. The woman was a few years her senior, possessed a quick smile and easy humor, and had quickly befriended her upon her arrival. Jill had never believed she needed a friend so much until she found herself alone in the midst of an unfamiliar city with nothing more than a few crates of her personal belongings and the address for her apartment. Discovering that her upstairs neighbor worked at the same club at least provided a stable presence in her day to day life. She wasn’t truly alone when she worked alongside and took the public transit with Diane when they got off work in the early evenings. The days were slow with few customers outside of business meetings that rented out various rooms, but Jill liked it that way. She had little interest in working the later evening shift even if it tipped better. Being able to enjoy a quiet life and spend parts of her shift helping in the kitchen prepping for the evening menu when Diane didn’t need her out on the floor made up for her inability to get around and explore as she would have liked. A little anyway.
Unfortunately, the emptiness of her evenings left her plenty of time to dwell on what Agor and Brydis were doing. Did they have a small farm near the mountains? No… not a farm. She recalled Agor talking about livestock that they had grown up rearing. Rookery work, he’d called it. Or rather, an extension of it as they worked their herds along the mountainside, although Agor had seemed far more interested in breeding his grifalc. She still wasn’t entirely sure what they were other than a winged predator used as a hunting companion but that behaved similar to a hound. She had a terrible time trying to imagine it, but she could appreciate the level of passion for them. And the fact he wanted a kitten was something that often came to her mind when she spotted someone advertising kittens available for adoption. She didn’t have the credits to get one or else she probably would have just to have something of his memory close to her.
“You know—you sure do stare out at all that out there,” Diane observed slowly as she gave Jill an inquiring look. “Are you certain that Rhapsody is where you want to be?”
Jill shrugged. “I don’t really have anywhere else to go. Besides, I’m waiting for something.” Or someone rather. Two someones who had sworn they would find her.
Her friend made a sympathetic sound and sighed. “Well, it certainly is beautiful. Of course they aren’t hard on the eyes either.”
She nodded toward several Geminidae winging their way into view, drawing Jill’s attention unerringly to them.
“They are quite the specimen, aren’t they?” Diane asked, a shrewd note in her voice. “I’ve only seen them up close once or twice by a stroke of luck, and I was duly impressed. You must have as well being on that ship as you were.”
“Yes,” Jill agreed as her eyes followed their passage en route to Mercurium port.
Just as every time, her breath caught as she squinted in an attempt to catch sight of familiar scarlet plumage on gold and sapphire on silver. Her heart plummeted with the realization that once again it wasn’t them.
It was never them.
After three months, she knew she should just stop looking for them, but some part of her couldn’t quite give up on the hope that she would catch sight of them again. Whatever connection that had existed between them hadn’t fizzled and died with separation as any brief flash of romance eventually did. Thathadto mean something.
Turning away, she picked her rag up from the table and stuffed it back in the bucket to head toward the next table that required cleaning. Diane groaned as she grabbed her own supplies and followed her.
“Come on, you’re not really going to leave me hanging here, are you?” she protested. “Spill!”
Jill shrugged. “There really isn’t anything to tell beyond what the reports said. The Geminidae took over the ship, and we were ordered to our rooms. I saw them more in passing more than anything.”
And with each passing, she lingered more and more until it was only an excuse, but there was no need to share that.
“Wow. The same ones?”
Jill didn’t want to talk about it, so she turned away evasively as she began to scrub the table. “Yes, I believe they were assigned to my level, but right now, they’re out there doing whatever it is that their species is doing to make a life for themselves.”
“Uh huh,” Diane said slowly as she dropped her bucket on the next table over and gave Jill a look of disbelief. “You can’t tell me that’s all it was. Not when you stare out the window looking out over the landscape like your heart is breaking from longing every day. You may not think anyone notices, but we do. Wealldo. I know you can’t afford to go looking for them anymore than I can go hunt one down and hope to find my own true love, but all of us girls are pulling for you that one of these days those aliens walk right through that door looking for you.”
Jill swallowed and blinked her eyes rapidly, pretending that it wasn’t heartbreak she was feeling for a pair of males she barely knew and somehow had managed to work their way into her heart anyway. She wanted to believe they were out there looking for her. She wanted to believe it more than anything that they would walk through that door any day, and they would pick up where they left off.
If only they would just hurry up and find her.
