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He scanned left and right again, but there was no one on the beach to greet him.
“No point sitting around the bar,” he told Athena. “Let’s go.”
They headed to the path together, feet and paws sinking in the sun-warmed sand until they reached the stones.
Gage found himself relaxing slightly - probably the effect of the fresh air and pleasant weather. When he was guarding, he spent some time outdoors on patrol, but for the most part, the Bly-Xarxyns were indoor people.
He was secretly very pleased about that vegetable patch that was waiting for him when he was done here. The outdoors agreed with him. That was one aspect of retirement he wouldn’t resent.
“You’ll like it better outside too, Athena,” he told her. “You have been very professional all your life, but a dog should have her feet in the mud from time to time. You’ll see.”
Athena didn’t answer, of course, but her ears flicked. She was listening.
More and more grass poked up through the sand as they traveled, until they were finally walking through a meadow of wildflowers instead of a beach.
The stones continued through the meadow, and Gage shook his head when he observed that the meadow was tree-lined on three sides. Why would they be sent directly down the middle, with no cover whatsoever?
Butterflies flitted among the blossoms, but they couldn’t offer him answers.
Athena snuffled once when a butterfly came close to landing on her snout. Otherwise, she trotted along calmly.
Gage trusted her superior senses. If something here was not as it should be, Athena would alert him.
They followed the path into the cool shade of the woods and along a looping, hilly trail that finally let out in what looked a lot like the countryside where Gage had grown up.
He had loved the beautiful fields of grain and leafy spine flower. The farm was a magical place to grow up.
When his sister wanted to go to school for healing, his parents decided to sell the farm and move to a small apartment in the city. They accepted a bid from a couple with a familiar sounding last name.
But those people were just a front for a major corporation.
The contract was assigned to CosmicChem before settlement, and before they knew it, his family had unknowingly sold yet another farm to be dismantled and rezoned.
It was one thing to choose to sell to a faceless giant like CosmicChem with one’s eyes open, to get a superior price, like many families before them had done.
But to be tricked into selling to them against your will?
Gage’s father had been heartbroken. They had never had the heart to even drive down that street when they visited their hometown.
It was for this reason that Gage himself had chosen a residential guard job rather than a higher paid position with a big franchise. The Bly-Xarxyns might be rich and eccentric, but they were at least decent beings, who didn’t make their money by exploiting people.
The path curved slightly and revealed a small hillside with a big farmhouse halfway up. A vegetable garden covered the hill below, and the path of stones wound up to the front door.
“Wow,” he murmured.
He had heard that the Center could transform itself to make the space more pleasurable for its occupants.
Naturally, he had imagined that in terms of sexual things, strange furniture or kinky items appearing out of nowhere.
It never occurred to him that the Center would transform itself to make him feel at home.
“I’m probably overthinking it,” he told Athena. “I bet there’s always a farmhouse here. Everyone likes a farmhouse.”
Athena just kept walking, in perfect synch with his footsteps. When she was focused on her job, she didn’t indulge his idle chitchat.
When he knocked on the door, it opened for him, revealing that the interior of the house to be a small, bistro-type restaurant.
He swept the space with his eyes, realizing immediately that this was much better than the beach.
