AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’s a pretty miserable way to live too,” he pointed out. “Not that we don’t try to be considerate of each other, but we can live with a few bludgeons when we get distracted and forget ‘correct form.’” He smiled sweetly as he dished up a cotton candy colored mash that smelled like some sort of steamed vegetable with a hint of sweetness onto her plate.
She stared at it, uncertain of how she felt with her first real eye to eye with alien food. Sure, she’d tried the ration that one time, which was terrible and didn’t give her much hope for this, but it at least looked promising. Unfortunately, its appearance and smell was so distinctly at odds, she didn’t know whether she looked forward to trying it or was disappointed that it didn’t smell as ridiculously sweet as it looked.
Picking up her utensil, she scooped up a bit of it and quickly popped it into her mouth before she could second guess herself and change her mind. A shocking sweet and savory flavor melted against her tongue that reminded her of honeyed butternut squash with cranberries. A soft sound of pleasure escaped her before she promptly stuffed another bite into her mouth and practically moaned from the flavor. It was only when she was taking a third bite that she happened to look up to note that Agor and Brydis were exchanging a pleased look as they hurried to uncover the rest of the food and load all three of their plates accordingly.
A sweet and tangy bread quickly joined an extra heap of the pink mash, and a coarsely chopped green vegetable that was cooked in oil and had a spicy flavor to it that complemented a flavorful roast that was rich and buttery from being cooked in its dripping fats and flavored with numerous spices and served with a creamy sauce and something that reminded her a bit of mint jelly. Jill ate all of it, going so far as to lick bits of sauce and grease from her fingers. So much of Earth’s food crops were synthesized from the working classes by a combination of various proteins and flavorings that she wasn’t even sure if she’d eaten real meat before since that was usually reserved for those with the means to afford it. She’d never even considered that she would have the opportunity to eat real meat even though Ganymede, like Mars, was terraformed with this purpose in mind. After all, the intention was to feed Earth, and she was certain that, too, had been worked into the contract with the Geminidae.
Settling back in her chair, she gave her stomach a pat and looked longingly at the morsels remaining on her plate. Part of her hated to leave them, but she truly felt like she would burst if she ate any more. If people on Earth had any idea of how good their food was, she could imagine that Geminidae food crops would quickly outpace those terraformed by Earth in terms of supply and demand. She didn’t know whether to be happy that the Geminidae would have another resource at their disposal in cementing an equal relationship with Earth or worried about how human farmers would fare in comparison and the potential unrest and anger it could stir.
“That was wonderful,” she sighed.
Agor grinned. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. We’ve heard rumors of some humans from Earth meeting with command were quite impressed with Geminidae foods, but our mate is the important one.”
“I definitely very much approve.” She paused. “They were impressed, huh?” she repeated warily.
He nodded and gathered up the dishes. “That’s what I heard. They enjoyed our food enough that they’ve already begun negotiations for our projected excess crops and livestock. This is all very good news of course since Earth is much closer than Geminos for supplies, even with the use of the cosmic fault linking our points in space. It looks like it might be a very lucrative deal that has everyone speaking all over the mountains.”
Jill groaned quietly. That was exactly what she’d been afraid of.
“Well, I can’t say that I blame them. I don’t think I’ve ever had anything so good to be honest. I do hope you plan on teaching me about your food and showing me the ropes so that I can help too. I bet we could come up with some pretty fun fusion cuisine between the foods from our respective cultures. Well, as much as we can get with plants engineered to withstand Ganymede’s temperatures.” She eyed the left-over food speculatively, mentally trying to find a way to work around to discussing the matter that didn’t sound defensive. The more she looked at it, the more impressed she was. There was quite a lot of food left. The luxury of having so much excess food was once again something she was unaccustomed to as were a great many people on Earth. “Actually, I’m curious about that. How have Geminidae crops been doing here?”
Brydis relaxed as he reclined in his own chair. “Well, from what I’ve heard, our flocks are doing well. The forage we set down is quick growing and propagating and is thriving here for the herd animals that are raised over the mountains among the various rookeries. Those rookeries within the valleys and lowlands who are farming are having high yields of plants maturing. The first harvest should be in just a couple of months of the summer fruits and then the grains a few weeks after that.” He cocked his head. “Gawallen had similar climate and sunlight exposure as Ganymede, but it seems that the conditions are just superior enough that we may end up opening more land for it. From what I understand, the High Rookery command had decided to do only limited farming for now.”
Agor grinned. “He would be pleased to see how our talia devoured our food. It may open new opportunities if humans enjoy eating our produce and herd beasts.”
Jill sobered at the reminder. Here was her opening. “About that… your people will need to be careful. Humans have had to compete stringently with each other for very limited resources. For many people coming here, it’s an opportunity to finally get ahead. Having new competition entering the mix will not be greeted with enthusiasm—no matter how much they enjoy your food.”
His eyes widened. “Then perhaps fusion food is exactly what we need to do. Literally rather than just in the sense of cooking.” He glanced over at Brydis. “We are all living here, so why not share resources and knowledge? I don’t think of any Geminidos who would be happy knowing another suffered for our gain.”
Brydis raised an eyebrow at his twin. “Are you speaking of sharing and interbreeding crops? Maybe even selling our lowland dwelling livestock?” He considered it for a moment. “The scientists would be fascinated. Especially if we can demonstrate the way our foods can potentially complement each other. It would allow for a partnership between our species as those of Ganymede instead of being divisive.”
Jill blew out a breath, a small spark of excitement rising rapidly in her.Was this foolish hope?It was hard to say, but in that moment, the way that her mates selflessly considered her thoughts, acknowledged them, and were even thinking of what might benefit both of their people made it difficult not to hope. Even trudging around outside the cold appeared a lot less daunting now. She felt like she could face anything with the hope of a better life for all of them on Ganymede sitting right in front of her.
Chapter26
She was wrong. It was cold and miserable, and she most certainly was not able to stand against it, much less the gusts of wind that threatened to knock her down. She didn’t know how Agor managed it considering that with him being an avian species, she would have believed him to possess less weight than her and be far easier to knock about and potentially off the side of the mountain. To her surprise, however, he rarely did more than stretch and wave his wings as if correcting his balance. Sometimes, with a particularly strong gust, his tail would unwind and fan out, moving in the opposite direction to counteract the effect. Then there was the fact that he wore little other than a woven cape-like shawl over his leg coverings and nothing else and was perfectly warm while her cheeks were starting to feel raw, and her nose felt like it was about to fall off after a couple of hours out there. And that was even with her heavy winter gear snugly wrapped around her that was delivered to the rookery that morning.
The Geminidae had a distinct advantage over human settlers on Ganymede, and while their observable physical differences were obvious, their other advantages would only become more and more apparent over time to the humans living there. The issue regarding food supply and crops still occupied a part of her mind despite her mates’ assurances. At least Brydis was utilizing some time to communicate through the appropriate channels regarding her concerns and the ways that they might alleviate it. She couldn’t really ask for more than that.
Still, she couldn’t help but think that their physical advantages could easily be a larger barrier. People were already wary of the Geminidae who flew into Rhapsody apparently at will. The strengths of the Geminidae would only become more apparent—and more of a potential threat—as time passed. Unless something leveled out the playing field and perhaps turned those advantages into something that the human settlers would find beneficial. After all, the Geminidae were able to do things that humans would struggle with even when provided the appropriate gear, if at all.
She could admit it—she was jealous of how comfortably warm Agor looked as he swooped low to examine a part of the flock clinging to a sheer cliff while Jill watched from a safe outcropping. She wasn’t quite shivering but nor was she particularly enjoying herself. Spring was quite a bit cooler even in Rhapsody than Earth, but the temperatures dipped lower high in the mountains. She imagined that by summer she might actually enjoy being out here with him though she would still need to be bundled. Unfortunately, as much as she enjoyed his company and admired his ceaseless amount of energy as he sailed gracefully from one segment of the flock to another as grifalc fluttered over their charges, she was miserable with the cold.
Not that she didn’t have her own task. She’d been busily checking out the newborn members of the flock that were all being tended to by their dams on the same secure outcropping where she’d been set. At first, she’d thought it was a pity job and something he genuinely needed help with until she discovered just how challenging it was to locate and calculate the critters. Then she felt like she’d been suckered into the headache task that he preferred to avoid, and the ingenuity of it made her chuckle despite being half frozen. Although valkeli were indeed pretty similar to goats in some ways, in many other ways they were definitely very different from what she expected. Perhaps the strangest difference was that they possessed not two large eyes but a dozen tiny eyes that were sunk in protectively with thick fringes of fur surrounding them and situated around the head so that they could clearly see along the treacherous mountain sides. They also had clusters of fuzzy “feelers” that uncoiled from their shoulders and slid along the rocks, presumably to aid in their navigation. Those were a bit unnerving. The first time one of the valkeli dams near her let their feelers snap out as they ambled away, it had nearly given her a heart attack. Even now, the valkeli had its head turned toward her, eyeing her as it tapped the rocks with those weird feeler-limbs, each tap so slow that if she didn’t know any better, she might have thought it was intentionally trying to spook her.
If so, it was working—just a little bit.
The source of her frustration, however, was the long hanging fleece valkeli possessed that grew nearly all the way to their tri-segmented, hooked hooves. It was the curtain from which she had to locate and pull three young valkeli hiding beneath their dam, the youngest of which were no bigger than a full grown chihuahua. Given that the adults were about the size of a large Shetland pony, this provided ample hiding areas for their litter that seemed to vary between two to five offspring. The older veki—a young valkeli—meanwhile traveled along the rocks with their parents and seemed to enjoy scaring the grifalc keeping watch over them—and Agor for that matter. Half the time he swooped in low over a segment of the flock, she was sure it was because a veki appeared to be on the brink of plummeting. Of course, in her opinion, the entire herd appeared to be one step away from a very bad fall with the way they clung to the sheer mountainside. Clearly, they survived well enough without babying, however, since they lived out on the mountainside for all hours of the day and night. If Agor lost any when he was not watching over them, it would doubtfully be many. Especially when they were so clearly in their element.
Unlike her.
Wrapping her arms firmly around herself, she smiled as she watched Agor soar toward her and snap his wings rapidly to assure himself that he had her full attention before spinning into a roll as he dropped from the sky. Her heart pinching brutally in her chest, Jill carefully pushed aside the veki as she stumbled to her feet in horror, certain that he was going to crash. When he suddenly opened his wings wide at the last minute and dropped onto the outcropping of stones in front of her, she blew out the breath she’d been holding and gave him a look of disbelief.
“Are you nuts?” she demanded with a breathless huff of disbelief as he made his way over to her.
“Not in the least, and certainly not at the first of the week,” Agor replied happily as he approached. “Ask me again at weeks’ end,” he added with a soft chuckle of his own.
A laugh escaped her, but it was cut off as she was suddenly bundled up and swept into his warm arms. His hot breath fanned her face with a blissful heat as his nose brushed her temple in an affectionate nuzzle. And then nearly fell back onto her butt when he suddenly recoiled in horror.
