Page 17 of Salvation
“I do not know.” Sakura shrugged her shoulders.
“His part here is finished,” Storo said. “Bring your packs and we will go.”
Nick exchanged a glance with Sakura. “We’re definitely not in Kansas anymore.”
~*~
The cube was larger than any place Sakura had ever lived, and nice, although the human-sized furniture looked like it belonged in a doll house. The presence of Storo and K’rona made it seem even more so.
“Ah, cube sweet cube,” Nick said as he stepped through the front door to stand next to her.
“Welcome, Nicholaus of Terr,” K’rona said inclining her head in the less formal manner of greeting.
Sakura pressed her lips together hard. It would be rude to openly gape at the size differences between the two of them. K’rona towered over Nick by more than three feet, making her at least nine feet tall. Oddly, Nick did not seem intimidated by the size difference.
Nick returned her nod. “Nir plaz’e u briz kust’e ha, K’rona ui Anferthia,” he responded, in Anferthian.
Mine is the pleasure to see you again, according to her translator. Had he lied to her about not knowing Anferthian?
A wide grin softened K’rona’s features. “I see you have practiced. It is well. We can exchange knowledge, teach each other. I too wish to learn your Engleesh while you are here.”
Deep forest-green eyes that matched the skin color of the face they were set in shifted to her. “Great is my pleasure to meet you, Sakura of Terr.”
“Mine is the pleasure, K’rona of Anferthia.” Sakura placed her right hand in K’rona’s left.
“You have a different language than Nick, is this correct?”
“I speak Japanese.”
Pleasure seemed to light up the other woman’s eyes. “Will you teach me this language too? I will reciprocate and teach you Anferthian.”
“I would be honored.” She gave the gentle giantess a small bow. Things seemed to be going better now. At least there was no knife throwing involved.
“Excellent.” K’rona waved her hand in the direction of the door to the left. “Nick, your room is there. Sakura, with me you come. Your room is next to the laboratory in the back.”
Way in the back, as it turned out, diagonal and across the compound from Nick’s room. Sakura entered her room behind K’rona, her shoes in one hand and her duffle slung over her shoulder. It was huge, at least as big as her parents’ entire house. The long rugs lining the floor between the furniture looked like pictures she had seen of thick-piled Matiran silk rugs. Would the delicate fibers of variated blues and white really warm up when walked on, as she had read? Her gaze was drawn to the over-sized bed. The shimmering pale-blue plush comforter and the coral, grey, and navy pillows seemed to whisper “nap time”. And the tufted coral lounge chair near the window, she could see herself curled up in it to read. Yukiko would never believe this luxury. Too bad she could not even tell her friend about it. Maybe after the crisis was resolved she would plan a visit home.
“Is it adequate?” K’rona wrung her hands together. It seemed Sakura’s opinion was important.
Sakura gave her a smile meant to reassure. “It is more beautiful than any room I have ever seen. Thank you.”
K’rona’s expression was one of relief. “If you desire to refresh yourself before we go to the laboratory, the bathing room is through that door.”
“Yes, I do, thank you.”
Sakura stepped into the bathroom and gaped. All the fixtures were human size, except for the bathtub. It looked more like a small swimming pool. That would be nice later. It might take a while to fill, but it would be worth the extravagance on this daunting trip, and certainly more fun than she had had so far.
She stepped down into the tub area and a thrill of pleasure went through her at the spigots and bathing paraphernalia outside the tub. Did the Anferthians bathe like the Japanese did, or was this set-up just for her?
A few minutes later, she followed K’rona to the lab. Like the rest of the cube, it was huge. Not quite as big as her new bedroom and the attached bathroom, but she was not complaining. Especially since it appeared to be well stocked with everything they would need to run tests and analyze samples.
Nick was already there, rummaging through drawers and cabinets, occasionally pulling out items and tossing them on the long, black lab table dominating the center of the room. K’rona leaned against a wall, arms crossed. Storo was nowhere to be seen.
“What are you doing?” Sakura picked up a sterile wrapped package from a pile. Syringes.
“Putting together a test kit before we go meet our patients.” He pointed to the drawers behind her. “Would you look in there? I still haven’t found the sterilator wipes yet, and we need something to carry everything in.”
Good idea. “I have a bag we can use.” She returned to her room, leaving him to locate the Matiran equivalent of rubbing alcohol wipes. Her duffle wasn’t the most ideal receptacle to carry medical equipment, but it should be large enough to hold everything they would need. She dumped the bag’s contents on her bed and returned to the lab.
