Page 12 of Instinct for Disaster

Yasku slowly descended and kept hold of her. “I nearly lost you, kit.”

She shook her head. “No. I would have climbed the post and gotten into the barn.”

He snorted. “Leaving your overseer behind?”

“You have wings, dumbass.” She covered her mouth. “Apologies, Overseer Yasku.”

He blinked. “That was an insult?”

“Yes, it denigrated your intelligence.”

“Hm. Interesting. Oh, do you have clothing for your first masked event?”

“No. I am going to avoid it.”

“No, you are not. I will have something sent to you. Veel will get your measurements.”

She sighed. “That isn’t right.”

“I am the overseer of this sector of space. My right is anything I say it is.” He set her on her feet. “Now that you have met the beasts, let’s investigate the gardens.”

She sighed and walked around the huge house with him. “Why did you build this house out here?”

“I have another one in the city, but the press of those new species created an energy that takes getting used to.”

Cassandra sighed. “Yes, it does. The education centre was hard. Ohh. What’s that?”

He walked after her and began to explain the flowers, the herbs, and the little fruit that were hanging from the vines. He took one of the fruits and said, “Sour-sweet.”

She took the one he handed her and smiled. “This is a good one, too. I like it.”

He provided her with more fruits and vegetables as they walked through the carefully cultivated gardens. Everythingwas edible one way or another. Several sections were strictly medicinal.

“This is lovely. How old is the colony?”

“The Skekel were the first here five decades ago. The Minoth were the next thirty years ago. The Coybel were twenty-two years ago, and the Terrans were six.”

“How many more species do you want here?”

He smiled. “This should be enough to achieve the end goal. I wish for a population that resembles me. Early calculations put a very homogenous population in about two hundred fifty years. The Skekel and Minoth blended nicely.”

She blinked, paused, and then said, “So, do folks ever pay out their bonds here?”

“It is infrequent, and those who do prefer to stay. Citizens have many social benefits here.”

“Why is in infrequent?”

“A person’s bond is used against purchases and acquisitions. They need to expand their family? They lock into a contract to get the funds to raise their next generation.”

“That’s acceptable?”

“Certainly. It isn’t like they can leave the world under contract. They are bound here from that point on.”

She nodded and leaned to sniff a very pretty flower. It was one of the notes of that wine. She asked, “Can I meet the people who make the honey wine?”

He answered, “Of course. We can take a tour of the meadery.”

“Oh. I don’t mean to take you from your time overseeing the colony.”

---