Page 50 of Her Alien Warrior
"Exactly," Sou-el agreed. "Only holograms here."
Joel chuffed and led us into another room. He worked at this H.E.T. station because he wasn't cleared to travel into space by medical. They deemed him too old to be a good candidate for the advanced medical technology that could prolong his life, and his bone density too weak to travel the universe without medical assistance. It was the same reason Holden couldn't join the attraction study. Well, not the being old thing, just the bone density. For some reason, that was a dealbreaker for receiving the advanced medical technology as the body would be too weak to accept the nanobots from doing their job properly. Joel made adeal with Olben to use this communication technology to travel to Trillume without his body ever leaving Earth.
As the door slid open, I screamed, and rushed inside leaving Sou-el behind. There stood my baby girl, Laurel, and her girlfriend Jennifer. Her eyes widened and she rushed for me too, and our arms wrapped around each other. I thought for sure that my arms would fly right through her, but she was solid in my arms. I felt the pressure of her hold on me, and I could just cry. Who was I kidding, I was crying.
I wasn't sure hologram covered what we were, considering the current definition of a hologram was a 3-D recording of wave lengths that were based on light, and had no "physical" form to touch, but somehow, what we were doing had our consciousness here without the lag of traveling space between planets, and my mind could feel hugging my own daughter, and she could feel me.
"Mom!" she yelled in my ear, through my hair, and I didn't even care that it was much too loud when we were so close. "How is this possible?"
It was Sou-el that answered, "The wristband you are wearing is interacting with the wristband stabilizing the hologram. It will feel as if she is solid for both of you. I don't know the mechanics of it. I'm not that kind of scientist."
"And who is that," Laurel asked in a pretend whisper that everyone in the room could hear, even Sou-el.
I sniffled, though I knew there wasn't any fluid to wipe away, being a hologram and all. Even the tears I knew I would have been shedding right now were just me imagining them there. This was my consciousness, nothing more. With a chuckle, I gave Laurel another squeeze. I pulled away to take a look at her, take in the fact that she was whole and healthy.
Another voice I didn't realize was in the room spoke up, "I'm Laurel's father, and you would be?"
My breath caught and I glanced over to see Tyler was here and I whispered to my daughter urgently, "Laurel?" She had some explaining to do, because the invite didn't extend to my ex-husband, and I wasn't sure I was ready to have that conversation about not returning to Earth with him present. I guessed I owed it to him to say something, but I thought I'd have more time. Perhaps talk with him the next time I used the communicator… Why was he here?
Tyler's hand was extended in greeting to Sou-el, and Sou-el bowed his head in his own greeting.
"General Sou-el," he offered and then assumed correctly, "You must be Tyler, honored guardian of my mate's spawnlings. I must thank you for your service towards their happiness."
I stared between them both, stunned, when Tyler replied with a smile, "It's nice to put a face to the transmission messages."
A what to the what? Were they talking to each other?
Tyler continued, "The request to divorce was granted after the state received your statement of mating, as we discussed."
As they discussed, I thought, not being able to do anything but repeat what they said to each other over in my mind, processing this all in the moment.
"Very good, I'm told this will give you more freedoms to seek out your own mating on your planet. As I have said, Becky is doing well in her studies and would like for you to know that she will arrange a time to visit with you next month at your home as long as you can keep that wristband with you. Our Chief Security Olben has said he is working out the long-distance issues by experimenting with communication using a smaller device. It is why he started by connecting with the H.E.T. main hologram room, but seems confident in refining the connection in the coming rotations."
Tyler smiled and nodded. "I'm looking forward to it." Then he turned to me, still staring at them both, as he said, "I missed you, Renee."
He'd been a part of my life for twenty years, the father of my children, and he was always so good to me, but I didn't know what to say to that. He missed me, but the way I missed him wasn't the same, was it? Of course, I thought about him. How could I not? But, what I missed wasn't us, it was the way we were before we married. My best friend.
I said nothing, and Tyler nodded again in understanding. I couldn't say I missed him, and that broke my heart. I felt awful, but he lifted that burden with his next words, "I knew you'd find someone." He chuckled awkwardly. "Is that weird? I was upset about it when you left. I didn't see you off, but I'm grateful for the life we had together. I'd have kept you for the rest of our lives, and I know that's selfish, but—" He glanced over at Sou-el, who was inching his way closer to me, only for them both to be interrupted by Laurel, who was still holding my hand.
"Dad means to say he loves you but is happy that you've found someone who makes you excited. He supports you." She pointedly eyed Tyler and added, "Right?" She whispered to me next, "I didn't invite him, I was heading out of the house with Jennifer, and he grabbed his coat and said that he was invited to the H.E.T. offices to meet your 'mate'. Are you going to have a wedding? Did you already have one?"
"Right," Tyler said quickly after, while eying Sou-el. "What I meant to say is that, we were…arealways friends, and I hope that you'll keep me updated about your life, and not simply through our kids… You deserve every happiness, and he seems like a good," he paused unable to say the word 'man' because he wasn't one, so he settled on saying, "mate."
I beamed, looking over at Sou-el, who was practically puffing out his chest, and his shoulder epul were on full display, large and imposing. "He's my heart. I'm pretty lucky."
"Pulsunne," he rumbled low, and I knew he craved to feel that connection between us again. We may have felt things in our holograms, but that tingle and heat in the touches here weredifferent than being in person. Our blood bond was missing in these forms. But I still felt as if my heart was pounding just from the dark look in his eyes as he watched me, a promise of what was to come when we returned.
Someone from the door behind me cleared their throat, and I laughed. It was nice to feel that giddiness like I was a teen again. Age truly was in the mind, and in this case in the heart as well.
"Look what the universe dragged in!" A familiar voice chimed.
"Uncle Holly!" Laurel squealed. "You made it!"
"Wouldn't miss it," he said with a smile on his face as he looked between me and Sou-el. "I believe you've seen the sun, Renee." I lifted a brow, already expecting the joke that would come after, because I was one of the palest people I knew. The sun wouldn't do anything but turn me red. So, either he was commenting about how red I was even in hologram form, for the heated cheeks I probably showed, or… He finished his punch line before I could continue to guess what he was up to, "Clearly, you are not lacking in Vitamin D."
Laurel, Jennifer, and myself filled the room with laughter that the other males in the room didn't seem to catch on as quickly to the joke. It was a case of alien dick that had me seeing stars, and I regretted nothing. Holden grinned at Sou-el and added, "You've stolen the finest treasure from Earth. Our Renee, here, is priceless."
"You willbe invited to our Rakture Ceremony on Necias Prime," Sou-el said without realizing that Holden wouldn't be able to travel space to get there.
