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“What’s this?”Rhys asked when he arrived home and spotted Hannah’s family’s beat-up picnic basket waiting in the foyer.
Home.It would hurt when housing was repaired, new homes built, and Rhys moved into one.Hannah pushed aside that impending event and smiled.“I thought I could show you the waterfalls,” she said.“New Eden’s full of them.”
To her surprise, Rhys’s lips thinned.“Our sensors picked that up when our ship landed.”
“There’s one spot that’s my favorite,” Hannah continued.“I haven’t been there much since the quake, and I’d like to show it to you.There’s also a warm spring you can swim in.”
“Swim?”Was it her imagination, or did Rhys look slightly green at the prospect?
She tried not to feel hurt at his reaction.“You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
He blinked.“I don’t have a swimming ensemble.”
“What did you use when you drained the power station’s bulkheads?”He blanched at the mention of the power station, and she knew she’d hit a sore spot.Did something happen there that he didn’t want to talk about?“You don’t have to swim,” she added.“I can do that enough for both of us.”
“My trousers are waterproof and quick-drying.That’s what I wore in the flooded bulkheads,” Rhys said.
He didn’t look convinced that making a trip out to the falls was a good idea.Hannah tamped down her hurt and tried to keep her voice bright.“We don’t have to go,” she said.“We could enjoy it in the backyard.”
“No,” he replied sharply.He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.When he spoke again, his voice had softened.“I’d like to see this area that’s special to you.I’ve never seen waterfalls before.”
Hannah picked up the basket.Without a word, Rhys took it from her.
I could get used to this.Part of her thought she already was.
“I thought we could talk too,” Hannah said.She closed the door behind her, not bothering to lock it.No one did in New Eden.“We’ve hardly talked about anything but the power station and how much our tech sucks.”
“You said you wanted to swim,” Rhys said, sidestepping her suggestion.“Where’s your swimsuit?”
“I don’t bother with one.”
Rhys’s eyebrows raised.“I see.How far away is this waterfall?”
Anxiety landedin his gut like a leaden weight at the thought of being near all that rushing water.The logical part of his brain said it wouldn’t be like the bulkhead, that any swimming hole an unenhanced human used would have a bottom he could see.There wouldn’t be the pressure of thousands of kilograms of water pressing on his body at all sides.There would be sunlight, warm water, and hopefully a very naked Hannah.That part cheered him up considerably.
She’d gone to so much trouble for him, preparing this meal.He didn’t want to disappoint her.
While they walked and before he could be distracted, he said, “We could have the spaceport operational within a month.”
Hannah stopped dead in her tracks.“Are you serious?”
“Very.Why would I joke about such a thing?”
“I’m surprised, in a very good way, is all.”She picked up the pace again.
They’d cleared her neighborhood and walked along the dusty road that led to the power station.Beyond it were the waterfalls that dotted New Eden’s landscape.The sound of rushing water from the main waterfall that powered the planet could be heard from this distance.The low, steady hum of electricity growled as they walked past the building, the volume at a level only cyborgs could hear.It reminded Rhys of the engines aboard his ship.
Hannah reached for his free hand.“May I?”she asked.
He looked down at her small hand wound around his, her suntanned flesh against his black gloves a sharp contrast.It was a gesture of affection, he recalled.One of the original Rhys’s memories resurfaced, of walking along a beach, a scantily dressed redheaded woman at his side, fingers intertwined with his.
Rhys recreated that now.As he did so, his heart rate, previously spiking at the thought of being near water again, returned to normal.
“I visited with Jasmine and Rodelle today,” Hannah said.“Jasmine already guessed that something’s going on between us.”
Rhys wasn’t sure how he felt about that.“Oh?”
“She said you look at me like I’m the only person in the world,” she said shyly.“She picked up on it quickly.I’m not upset about it if you aren’t.”
