Page 22 of Tempted by Celestial Bodies

She expelled air from her nose in a manner that spoke of amusement, but not joy. “Is this true?”

Her intelligence wasn’t any lower than mine, so I knew she understood my statement and guessed this was an expression of disbelief. “Is your planet unsafe?” I asked, remembering how she’d asked about wealth accumulators multiple times.

“The answer is dependant on your comparison data,” she said, but beneath the translated words I could hear unhappiness in her voice.

I didn’t like that she’d come from a cruel place, but it might make it easier for her to settle here. “You can go back, if you want,” I told her. “We will provide you everything you need for the journey and return you safely.”

“Why in the intercourse would I go back?” she asked, as I’d suspected she might. “My existence vacuum sealed.”

If she’d been kept in a vacuum, she shouldn’t have such damage to her feet.Another turn of phrase.I noted it. “I thought it might help you feel better if you knew that you were free.”

“Your statement is consistent, but reality may not match it,” she said, shaking her head aggressively. “How long will employment be required of me? What category of employment? What are the circumstances, and the time? Do you permit unions?”

My heart ached at the grim tone of her words. Her hands held tightly to the tool in her hand. “I’m sorry I don’t know the customs of your culture,” I said, hoping the translator would carry my meaning clearly. “I would like to comfort you, and reassure you that no harm will come and nothing will be asked of you, but I do not know how.”

She went still, looking up at me. Her hair hung in dark streamers around her face and framed her neck. My mouth watered, but I wasn’t so young and foolish as to glance at that soft, exposed flesh.

“That is the sweetest concept anyone has ever vocalised to me,” she said. And then she gave another laugh that was without joy. “I am unsure how to formulate a response.”

I nodded, going over to the net. “No response is needed.” It seemed as if telling her was enough. Given her disbelief that she would be safe, it made my heart sit a little lighter that she could, at least, believe that I wanted to help.

I moved to where some net was stored, pulling it out heavily. As jobs went, it was my least favourite, but one of the most important to reduce the larger Trefinns which would compete with the Heartfins for food at their breeding ground.

“Tell me the tale of your existence,” she said, stretching out her inefficient, but delightfully curved, spine.

I didn’t let my eyes dip down to the pink line of her neck, forcing my gaze back to the thick green cord I was untangling. The nets hadn’t been used in decades. Many lengths were still as sturdy as when they’d been painstakingly woven together. But parts of it had disintegrated with age, and a net was only as good as its weakest point.

“I was Called young,” I told her, surprised to find I was happy to discuss myself. Maybe I’d been alone too long. “My sister and I trained under the Dreyth’khar researcher who tended these waters before us. She works further out, in the depths. If you’re still here in a tenday, you’ll meet her.” I doubted she would be, but stranger things had happened. “I’ve been here since.”

She was frowning at me. I didn’t mind. The food she was preparing would keep for a long time at room temperature, and any help she gave me was gratefully received. I found one end of the net and sat down on the ground, tugging it into my lap.

“You remain alone?” she asked. “How many cycles of the sun have you lived?”

“Eight-and-thirty,” I told her. “You should be wary who you ask that question of. Inferring people are too infantile can be distressing for some travellers.” I glanced up, hoping she hadn’t taken offence.

“Regrets,” she said, her big, unusually brown eyes full of guilt. “My cycles of the sun are similar. Thirty and six. What other duties should I identify?”

I shook my head. “You will be fully trained by the Responders. If I try, I might teach you the wrong, or overly simple, information. Responding is not my Calling.”

She made a noise that didn’t have a direct translation but sounded like a worried noise. “What are you undertaking?”

I held up a segment of the net. “Repairing.”

She accepted this in silence, but had spun around on the seat so she sat twisted at a strange angle, one foot beneath her curved behind. Her anatomy was curiously designed, superficially similar to my own, but softer, more delicate. She’d be vulnerable to temperature fluctuations and would need specialty equipment if she was to stay, moving between sea, shore and the underwater setup I called Sanctuary. I could vividly remember how her body had felt against mine, but I didn’t have words to describe the way our bodies met, and how it felt both entirely strange and like the most normal sensation.

I shook myself. She’d be gone soon, and while the trip to and from the surface to the sanctuary might not be comfortable for her, it was only for a little longer.

“I have not viewed any other beings,” she said, and I gladly accepted the new topic. “Does anyone else attend this location?”

“Every tenday or so I will receive supplies,” I told her. “And my sister will visit when it is beneficial for us.” That wouldn’t happen until after the twomoon. I hoped we’d be able to bask at the tidepools and compare stories with joy and only a few worries. I could imagine it now, the cze’lekk skewers she’d bring and the flasks of fermented esterbyrry I’d been saving to share, and the slow descent of the sun over the waves.

In my mind, the-woman-known-as-Before was there too, smiling up at the sky as she lay across my lap, her strange, beautiful hands moving as she spoke with animation about her first Heartfin migration.

“What of your other family or intimate companions?” she asked me.

I shook my head, giving the heavy weight of the net a flick and continuing to feed it through my hands as I checked it carefully. “I thought I had found a lifepartner, but they were a periodpartner.” I couldn’t resist the desire to look up and see her expression and found her watching me closely. Energy tingled down my limbs. “They remained with me for a period of my life,” I explained, hoping the translators might receive an update soon. “We enriched each other’s experiences for a set time, rather than our entire lifespan.”

She blinked at me again. “That is the most surprisingly benevolent method of description about a previous intimate partner.”

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