Page 68 of Crash Landing
23: Sam
I hated doctors, alien or not. I was left with a stranger while Saleuk was taken to get his own work done and that made me nervous. It reminded me of the time I spent in the medical facility because of my allergic reaction to the devil flower. I had some reservations about being on Sylos considering my last visit was hell, but since we’d gotten off the ship, I felt alright.
Maybe their settlement had replaced their filtration systems. Maybe my extreme reaction the last time built up a tolerance. Whatever the explanation, I wasn’t stupid enough to think I still couldn’t have some kind of reaction if I stayed there long enough.
The female doctor with me didn’t speak much and when she did, it was a word or two in English with a heavy accent. I had a feeling she didn’t like the idea of me being there. I couldn’t imagine what people would think when they realized another valerian had surged with a human. If I wasn’t human myself, I could see how the whole situation looked. I was a creature from a different world taking one of their few fertile men and we didn’t even truly know if we could reproduce.
Reproduce…
I hadn’t thought about kids. Especially kids with a man who wasn’t human. It was never in my plans and even considering that kind of life with Saleuk made my palms sweat. We hadn’t even said the big “L” word. We hadn’t discussed a future or even the prospect of one in detail.
After taking a few blood samples and some painless scans of my entire body, I was checked for additional injuries and then sent along with another female valerian who knew even less of my language than the doctor. She seemed young. Her body was slender in the same ways a preteen girl would be slender like she hadn’t grown into her feet and hands yet. But she was kind enough as she brought me into a glass elevator and handed me a pile of what I suspected was a change of clothing.
The elevator didn’t just move vertically. It was on a track that followed a diagonal path, which turned and brought us to an overpass enclosed in windows that gave a good view of the outside. We stepped off into the overpass and I followed the girl through the passage, staring out into the vast landscape of Sylos. It seemed so familiar and yet so foreign. I was able to truly soak it in and it was lovely with tall mountain peaks in the distance and bodies of water that looked purple under the twilight hues of the planet’s dwarf star. There was a large portion of controlled plant life—trees in concentric rows and fields of crops—all contained in fence lines or glass domes.
I’d missed so much of it before. Seeing it with clear eyes, I was enamored by its strange beauty. I knew that there was only a small portion of the planet that was comfortable to live in and that was the fraction of it that wasn’t in direct light or direct darkness. Solar winds made the twilight areas a comfortable temperature while the night side was cold and the day side was too dry. So Sikai, the settlement, was one of the few cities inhabited by the valerians on the whole planet.
It was so different from Earth. Which brought my mind back to the idea of being with Saleuk. Forever…
It made me long to see more of his world when I thought of making a life with him, but what I was seeing in my head was more of a dream. In reality, there was a lot of danger. A lot of differences we’d have to contend with.
How the hell did Innifer cope?
I wanted to see her and ask her all kinds of questions, but who the hell knew where she and Vahko even were?
Since I couldn’t see Innifer, I wanted to see Saleuk. I couldn’t stop thinking about him. I’d never had such a crush on someone. It was all-consuming and debilitating and uplifting all at once.
When the view of the outside disappeared and we entered a hall with no windows, I saw doors lining the passage like some kind of apartment building. On the doors were symbols, which I assumed meant something to a valerian, but to me, they looked like scribbles. I recognized the building. It was the same one Innifer and I were housed in the last time I was there.
The girl led me about ten doors down and placed her hand on a door scanner. It brought up a small screen on which she punched in a few of those strange symbols. Then she motioned for me to place my hand on the scanner after hers. When I did, a blue light skimmed my palm and I heard a lock on the door click. With a muffled hiss, the door slid open to reveal a small room with a bed covered in white sheets, a shower unit, and a silver oval table. The entire back wall was a giant mirror like the ones on Phesah and I imagined it had its uses, but for the time being, it just made the room seem larger.
After sleeping on hard surfaces covered in sweat and dirt for the past few days, I was overjoyed to see a mattress with real pillows. I was even more happy to see a shower unit.
“You know how to use?” the girl said, gesturing toward the shower pod.
I nodded, remembering my previous stay on Sylos. I knew that the shower controls were in the walls, hidden under a thin surface of synthetic glass that became transparent with touch activation. I also knew the water was cleansing so I didn’t need soap. I was beyond excited to get to it and set my clothes down on the bed, ready to undress as soon as the girl left.
I watched her politely go to a small faucet in the wall and fill a frosted glass pitcher with clean water. She set it on the table and then inclined her head.
“Will bring food,” she said, tapping her fingers to her lips.
I nodded and gave her a thankful smile as she headed for the door and allowed me some privacy.
Immediately, I began to strip out of my clothes. They were damp in some places with remnants of Phesah but crusty in others where sweat had dried into salty patches. I wrinkled my nose, but still folded it all neatly onto a chair before I headed to the shower.
Swiping my hand across the wall, I saw a control panel light up beneath the white surface. Water began streaming from the ceiling like rain. I slowly slid my hand across the dial until the water warmed and steam started to fill the pod. My entire body sighed with relief. The heat massaged my sore muscles and eased my aching joints. Beneath me, a slightly brown stream of water began to wash down into the side drains. It felt like shedding an old skin. I scrubbed my body with my hands and then moved on to my hair, washing every piece of dirt and every twig out of my locks until I felt like myself again.
I didn’t want to leave the shower, but the idea of not being wet or damp was as appealing as being clean. When I stepped out, I wrapped myself in a large, soft towel that was folded onto a glass rack and made my way to the bed where the clean clothes were folded against the pillow. As I passed the mirrored wall, I curiously brushed my hand against the surface. A moving image faded into view of a vast, watery landscape. It looked like swamps, but with colors so vivid, it rivaled art. The trees were a gorgeous aqua color and the water was clear and glistening under a sun that shed a rich, orange light.
I had no idea what the landscape was or where it was, but it was like a dream. I stepped back to stare at it, wondering if it wasreal or some kind of artificial image, and then swiped my hand over the wall again. The image faded to a dark, starry night with purple hues on a mountainous horizon.
Realizing I could easily get sidetracked, I turned the screen off and continued to my clothing. Bending, I picked up a folded dress by the shoulders and held it up, letting the silky fabric extend into a floor-length dress the color of dusted roses.
Valerians didn’t have anything very elaborate in terms of fashion. They were simple, comfortable, and practical. At least on Sylos, they were. I imagined different cultures had different fashions, but I hadn’t seen them yet.
As I slid the dress over my head, the feeling of the cool fabric on my bare skin nearly put me to sleep. Long sleeves covered my arms and flared slightly at the wrists. The neckline was high, but the back of the dress plunged to the middle of my back.
On Earth, it would have been a formal gown. On Sylos, it was a casual dress. Perhaps even a nightgown. I wasn’t sure what it was. All I knew was that it wasn’t my crusty tank top and muddy jumpsuit.
