Page 114 of Return of the Nine

They headed to a rail that ran into the wall, and at his guidance, she stood on the platform. A small pod came along, and he gestured for her to precede him.

Ula settled in the pod, and he tightened his wings again to fit in next to her. With quick motions, he entered something into the pod’s computer, and the next moment, they were off.

“I have just programmed the path to the VIP quarters where you will be housed for the duration of your stay. This pod will take us to the nearest station, and we will walk from there.”

“Sounds fine.”

The rest of the trip consisted of Deniir being curiously tense and Ula staring out the window as the interior of the ship whizzed past.

The pod glided to a halt, and Deniir got to his feet, waiting for her to join him.

She stepped out with her bag still slung over her shoulder. The feel of the ship had gone from port to residential neighbourhood.

She walked with him past two guards at the side of a corridor with strange markings over the archway. Deniir identified himself and introduced her then led her into the hall, to the quarters set aside for her.

Ula stepped into the rooms cautiously. The entryway was large, echoing and opening into a larger communal dining and living room. It was larger than anything she had seen in her life.

“How is it that there is so much space allocated to one person?”

“Well, these are my quarters. Your room is this way.”

She blinked rapidly. “I beg your pardon?”

“As you will be working exclusively with the engineers, it behooves us to keep you safe. Nothing is safer than these quarters.” He walked with her to the wall. “This room is my father’s, the next room is mine, the third room is yours.”

“You live with your parent?”

“We do. We learn from our gender parent. My sisters remained with my mother to learn civic engineering and politics.”

“When do you leave your gender parent?”

“When we form a family of our own. Many mates remain together, but my father wanted to leave on the mother ship, so I went with him as a matter of tradition.” Deniir cocked his head. “Do you not have a relationship with your parents?”

She swallowed and shook her head. “They were lost in the first Tokkel raids.”

“I am sorry for your loss.”

“Well, that loss triggered my talent, so it isn’t all bad.” She tried not to be maudlin, but she missed them and the families of her friends were salt in the wound. She loved them, but it hurt to be with them.

“This is your room. You may come and go as you please, but it would be better if you waited for one of us to accompany you. We do not wish you to run afoul of any of the Nine males on the hunt for a mate.”

She nodded tersely. “Please get me that information sheet. I want to know what I am dealing with.”

She opened the door and quickly did what she had to do. She figured out how to use the en suite and scrubbed the grit from her features, quickly putting down and then binding up the red hair that she had been given courtesy of her mother’s genes.

When she was ready, she left her room and nodded to Deniir.“Okay, we can go now.”

He nodded. “Your data station has the list and descriptions of the species of the Nine as well as a list of the subspecies that are emerging.”

“Good. Now, take me to your engineers.” It wasn’t the historicaltake me to your leader,but she supposed it would have to do.

Chapter Five

Research and development on the mother ship of the Nine was a wonderland of half-finished inventions that left Ula’s mouth watering. She wanted to dive in and finish everything.

“Master Engineer Darthuun, this is Ularica Forniel, Master Designer of Gaia.” Deniir smiled as he made the introductions.

Ula winced. “We don’t actually use titles like that.”

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