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“Allright, my lady?” he murmured in her ear.
“Yes, thank you.”Celiaswiped at her eyes and looked up at him gratefully.Shewas surprised at how happy she was to hear him use his sweet nickname for her again.Sheonly wished that the grumpyDarkTwinwould call her “lelka” as well.Ordidshe?
Shecast a sidelong glance atFierce.Wasshe still mad at him?Shehonestly couldn’t tell.Hecould be soinfuriating.Andyet, the way he had held her and comforted her without saying a word had been sweet beyond words—especially when he hadn’t wanted to give her up toHolduntil the last minute.
Shedecided to reserve judgment aboutFiercefor later.Inthe meantime, she just hoped he could land the crippled ship safely without any more life-threatening incidents.
Itseemed she wasn’t destined to go home just yet.
27
CELIA
Thelanding was surprisingly smooth, but halfway through it a strange voice came through the ship’s short range communications array.
“Unidentifiedship, you are enteringJoCostaTwelveterritory,” it informed them and added, “Longlive theGoddess—she of theShiningHeartwho shall be venerated forever!”
“Uh, yes—we’re aware.Ourship has been badly damaged by a destabilized wormhole—our life support is compromised,”Holdanswered, sinceFiercewas busy flying the ship. “Pleasegrant us permission to land and seek repairs.”
“Verywell.Youmay land butIcannot promise our repair facility will deal with you.Thatwill depend on your affiliations and if your hearts shine with the light of theGoddess,” the strange voice told them.
Ithad an odd accent—it almost soundedRussianor maybeGermantoCelia.Shewas glad thatKathad gotten her a shot ofTranslationBacteriabefore she had left theMotherShip—otherwise she wouldn’t understand it at all.
“Whatthe fuck does that mean—‘if our hearts shine with the light of theGoddess?’”Fiercemuttered as he guided the ship in towards the small brown planet below them.
Holdshrugged.
“Idon’t know,Brother.Itsounds like we’re going to have to play along with whatever they’ve got going on if we want them to do the repairs.”Heraised his voice and spoke to the ship. “AnalysisofJoCostaTwelve—specifically inhabitants and customs,” he said.
Therewas a moment of silence and then the ship said,
“JoCostaTwelveis completely owned and exclusively inhabited by the religious orderTheSisterhoodofPeace.Theyworship theGoddessof theShiningHeart.Noother information available.”
“Well, great—guess we’re going in blind,”Fiercemuttered. “Justour luck.”
“Ourluck has been exceptionally bad lately—orgood, if you consider that we’re all still alive despite the dangerous situations we’ve been through recently,”Holdremarked. “Thefact that this brotherhood worships a goddess, like we do, seems like a good sign to me.”
“Ijust hope they’ll do the fucking repairs,” wasFierce’sreply. “Hangon—we’re about to touch down andIdon’t know how functional the landing equipment is.”
Theylanded with a mutedcrunchthat sounded ominous toCelia, but at least they were on the ground, all in one piece.
“Beforewe go out there, we ought to have a plan,”Holdremarked. “Weshould—”
“Warning—only one minute of oxygen remaining,”the ship’s voice informed them.
“Sorry,Brother—looks like we’ll have to make it up as we go along.”Fiercewas up and out of his seat in a flash, heading for the hatch at the side of the ship.Hethrew it open and a sweet, fresh breeze blew in, ruffling all of their hair and makingCeliainhale deeply with delight.
“Oh—it smells amazing!” she exclaimed as she unfastened her harness.
Holdhad his head lifted, sniffing the air.
“It’svery fresh—no pollutants at all,” he remarked. “Thenatives must take care of their environment.”
“Youtwo—come see,” they heardFiercecall to them.
Holdstood back courteously soCeliacould go first and they filed out to stand by the hatch whereFiercewas.
TheDarkTwinwas surveying the landscape which appeared to be rolling hills covered in tall purple grass, dotted with pink and white wildflowers.Inthe distance was a forest of tall purple and white trees and rising above it all was a single mountain—or maybe just a really big hill,Celiathought.Itseemed to have some kind of plateau at the top, though it was difficult to be sure at this distance.Thesky was a clear, pale pink filled with enormous, puffy white clouds.
