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Evangline nodded. “The castle we live in is nothing like this.”
“Castle?” Louella echoed in astonishment. She noticed that the two leashes dangling from Evangeline’s collar had been removed. “You live in acastle?”
“With towers and everything.”
“Wow.”
The women giggled.
“General Superior Horas, you and Vice General Sarus will remain with us tonight. Tomorrow we travel to the capital,” Yas’kihn said as they moved from the penthouse lobby to a sprawling sitting room. “Vice General Sor’Ulen mek Yirog will meet us there.”
The two hulking warriors nodded their assent, the taller one moving behind Evangeline and unfastening the collar. She rubbed her throat as the collar fell away from her skin. Louella reached up to unfasten her collar, but Yas’kihn gently brushed her hands aside.
Yas’kihn continued as he removed the collar from his mate’s neck, “We have much to discuss, and Lady Evangeline will want to speak with the Chief Scientist.”
“Oh, yes!” Evangeline agreed as servants bustled about. Louella noticed none of the servants were Ahn’hudin.
“What are you going to talk about?” Louella asked the other woman as Yas’kihn pressed the collar with the leash still attached into her hand. She gave it a look of disgust and set it on a convenient side table.
The three males sat in a small group and engaged in quiet, intense discussion. Louella knew from the low, low pitch of their speech that they were conversing in the sub-auditory range, but she could not understand a single word. She and Evangeline moved to a couple of comfortable chairs on the other side of the room.
“You remember I’m a horticulturalist?” Evangeline said as they seated themselves.
Louella shook her head, because, no, she did not remember.
Evangeline’s bright expression dimmed slightly, then she recovered. “No matter. It’s been a long while, and you’ve rather been out of the loop of things on Ahn’hudin.”
That’s for sure.
“Anyway,” Evangeline continued, “Ahn’hudin’s scientific and technological efforts have been directed for the longest time to military prowess and commerce rather than agriculture. Rather a failing, if you ask me.” She shrugged. “They import about ninety percent of all their food—ninety percent! It’s absurd. So, I’ve been working to accelerate agricultural development on the planet. There’s so little biodiversity on this planet and I really doubted the wisdom of importing plants and animals from Earth, but sometimes the ends justify the means, you know? Last spring—or what passes for spring here—I finally got some bees that managed to survive the wormhole.” She grinned, then saw Louella’s fading interest. “Anyway, it’s coming along really well. I just got my first cows last week.”
“Cows?” Louella pursed her lips.
Evangeline nodded and smiled with pride. “Yep! That nasty Mr. Argosie didn’t want to send me cattle, but Sarus convinced him, didn’t you, honey?”
Pausing in his quiet discussion with Horas and Yas’kihn, Sarus looked both uncomfortable to be called “honey” and pleased that his mate appreciated his efforts. Louella wondered if the Ahn’hudin blushed.
“Lady Evangeline is a boon to Ahn’hudin,” Yas’kihn said. “We are fortunate to have her.”
Evangeline smiled and looked around. “It’s odd to see servants.”
“What do you mean?” Louella asked.
“At the castle we have robots. There’s a big one—like a mechanical spider—that I call Rosie, and a horde of small ones.” She paused, then said, “The Ahn’hudin think having servants is barbaric.”
“Rosie?” Louella wondered how she came up with that name.
“Did you ever watchThe Jetsons?”
Louella shook her head.
“It’s a classic children’s show, a cartoon,” Evangeline explained. “Anyway, the Jetson family has a robot maid called Rosie.”
“Okay.” Louella grinned. “I served as a nurse on one of the Ahn’hudi ships after I was rescued. Anyway, the doctor on board assigned a big metal spider to me. I named it Charlotte.”
“From Charlotte’s Web?”
Louella nodded. “Yep. I loved that book when I was kid.” She changed the subject. “So, about the cows and stuff?”
