Page 1 of Lashe

CHAPTER 1

Anna

Okay. No, I understand. I get it.

I’m disappointed, of course. I thought we were…good.

No hard feelings.

I hope we can stay friends, too.

Sure. I’d like to stay in touch. Let’s grab coffee sometime.

I wish you all the best.

I sat at my large, polished desk, trying to concentrate on the memo on my screen, but all I could think about were the last things I said to Roy when he broke up with me. It was last week, but it still bothered me. Not the breakup, exactly, although that was unpleasant, but the fact that I’d said those same words too many times in the past five years. It forced the question no one wanted to ask themself:What is wrong with me?

I leaned back and shut off the screen, running my hands through my hair. It used to be long and wild and bushy, but now was tamed into a glossy bob with the bright red naturaltone tempered to a honeyed auburn. Professional. Sleek. Tidy. Everything everyone wanted in a planetary ambassador.

“Stelis, shut down my workstation for the evening.” Evening, my ass. It was coming up to ten at night. “Back up all files to the secure server.”

“Yes, Anna,” replied the smooth, disembodied female voice of my Adaptive Omni Assistant.

I rose from my desk in my home office—I had another one in my official office in Madrid, where a quickairtrainride over the Atlantic Ocean made it easy to attend appointments and meetings a few times a week. Most of my work could be done here, in the office of my spacious New York City apartment.

I stretched and padded barefoot to the wall of windows on my thirty-eighth-floor apartment. Outside, it was snowing. It wouldn’t stick. It had been over a century since snow accumulated in New York, but it was still pretty to watch. “Stelis, change my clothing to loungewear-4.”

The garment I wore was made ofnanocloth. A new, but expensive, piece that was engineered to transform to virtually any style the wearer chose. They were incredibly popular, eliminating the need for extensive closets and to pack clothing for travel. Even better, they were self-cleaning, and upon my command, Stelis made the soft, malleable fabric shift from my professional work suit to the loose, two-piece pajamas that were my favorite of the selections. I held still until the change was complete and sighed as the comfortable garment left me feeling relaxed.

I left my home office and went to the kitchen to get a glass of wine from the food synthesizer, then sat at my table to continue watching the snow while sipping a deep blue wine. I’d replicated it from anaklorianvintage that I’d sampled on a diplomatic trip. The tangy-sweet flavor slid over my tongue. The quiet snowfell outside and for a moment, I was content. “What do I have scheduled tomorrow?”

“You have no plans tomorrow, the twentieth of December, Anna,” Stelis replied. “You are scheduled to be off for two weeks.”

Two weeks during which I’d planned to meet Roy’s family in California.Thatobviously wasn’t happening. “I’m not going to need that time off, after all,” I said. “Do I have any pending appointment requests?”

“No,” Stelis replied. “You requested those dates to be blocked for personal time and I have done so.”

“Yes, but—” Oh, it was useless to argue with an AOA. They had answers for everything. “Fine. Thanks,” I muttered.Great. ChristmasandNew Year’s alone. I lost my mother two years ago and I didn’t know my father, so I didn’t have family to visit.

“You have several outstanding holiday invitations.”

I held up a hand. “No. Decline them with my deepest regrets and heartfelt appreciation. Send a selection ofOdariancheeses. Not to the Deitz family. Teri is lactose intolerant.”

“I have that on file, Anna,” said Stelis. “The Deitz family will get flowers.”

“Okay.” My friends had families and IknewI’d be subjected to matchmaking if I went to any of their gatherings. No thanks. I could do without that.

There was a pause. “Shall I decline forallinvitations, or just the ones on Earth?”

I turned, even though there was no one to look at. “I have an off-planet invitation? From where?”

“Destra,” said Stelis. “Shall I read it aloud to you?”

“Please do.”

Stelis’ voice changed to the crisp female voice of the sender, which I recognized immediately. “Anna, if you don’t have plans for the holidays this year, I hope you’ll consider joining us hereon Damiron’s and my Sola for our celebration merging human and Destran holiday traditions. You’re invited in an unofficial role, as our friend,notas the ambassador.”

That was code for, “come and have fun,” and, “nothing you do will be documented.” A smile curved my mouth for the first time in days. I had a special connection to Destra. Six years ago, I met Sibyl under the most horrible circumstances. I had accepted a position as an engineer for Earth Explorations, Inc., supposedly an exploratory and mining operation, but ended up trapped there by my boss, who had the idea to “mine” a precious liquid the Destrans’ living, sentient Solas produced for profit. Sibyl gave me the courage and opportunity to break free, and I fled with two other human employees who’d been trapped. Upon returning to Earth, we alerted authorities of Earth Explorations, Inc.’s activities, which triggered a fleet of Earth ships sent out to rescue the Destrans.

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