After her experience with the hologram, Zara went through the tablet to find the tutorial that Jenna had told her was included. She explained that she could have interactive video chats with Korjh now that they were in space. Zara was excited to figure it out. So, they could talk in real time. It turned out to be almost as simple as her smartphone.
She was disappointed her first try because Korjh didn’t come to answer her call. It was a few hours before he commed her back in the middle of her night.
Zara went into the tiny bathroom so she wouldn’t wake Naomi. Brushed her hair quickly before she opened the tablet.
“Hi Korjh,” she said, smiling as his image came on to her screen. “So good to see you!”
“Sorry I was out, riding the fields to check my crops and machinery to make sure they are growing properly and receiving water,” he explained. “Is this a good time for you?”
“It’s actually the middle of our night,” she said quietly. “But it’s okay. We are on twenty-seven-hour days. First meal will be five hours from now.”
“That will be early evening for me,” he replied. “How about an hour after that?”
“That would be fine,” she said, “But I’m up now, I can talk a few minutes. My sleep schedule will have to be readjusted when I get there.”
“It will take some getting used to. We are on twenty-two-hour days. Sounds like your wake period runs into our night period,” he said, “I’m sure we can find something to do.” His sexy smirk told her precisely what he was thinking.
Zara blushed even as her body reacted receptively. She felt suddenly shy although she fully expected to be intimate with her husband in the not-too-distant future. This was the first time he had broached the subject face to face.
“I’m sure,” she said finally with a hint of a smile. The thought of being naked beneath Korjh’s big, sexy body with that exquisite mouth of his kissing her made it hard to breathe.
“Ah, Zara, sweetheart, we’ll take it slow,” he assured her. “We won’t join until you feel ready. I promise.”
“Thank you, Korjh, I appreciate that,” she smiled at him. “I am attracted to you, but we’ve never even had a date.”
“We will have dates if you wish,” he assured her. “I can wait now that you are mine.”
“Yours?” Zara frowned. That sounded like ownership.
“Are you not my wife?”
“I am, and you are my husband.”
“So, we belong to each other,” he added.
“Yes.”
“When you come to stay with me, you may have your own bedroom. I will prepare that for you,” he said.
“Is that what you want?” Zara asked, uncertainly. She wasn’t sure whether he was trying to be nice or didn’t want her in his bed.
“Zara, I’ve wanted you since the moment I saw your video,” Korjh said. “I’ve never done this before. I don’t want to frighten you or push you into my bed before you’re ready.”
“I understand,” she said softly, “that would be okay while we are getting used to being together. I think we will know when I am ready. We haven’t even sealed our marriage with a kiss yet.”
“Then we will start there, my mate,” he said, his eyes darkening with passionate longing.
When he looked at her like that, she knew it wouldn’t take long for him to make her want him. Not long at all.
“You should get some sleep, my love. I will com you this evening,” he said.
“I look forward to it,” she told him earnestly. Then her screen went dark. But sleep didn’t come so quickly as her mind was preoccupied with thoughts of Korjh.
Having sex with her new husband didn’t worry Zara, she’d had an intimate relationship with a young man while she was in college. It was a bittersweet memory as he had ended their relationship when he graduated a year ahead of her. Then he had gone out of her life forever. The sex had probably been the best thing about their relationship. It may have been the reason it lasted so long. If he had truly loved her, he wouldn’t have just dumped her when he finished college.
This was different. Korjh was her husband; whatever did or didn’t happen was between them.
Korjh commed about a half hour after first meal and had her blushing with his first words,
“Hello, my beautiful wife,” he began with a smile. “I can hardly wait to hold you in my arms and claim you in every way a man claims a woman.”
“Korjh,” she protested weakly. “I am looking forward to our first kiss, and to feel your arms around me.”
“You are just so beautiful and sexy,” he said with a heart-melting grin.
“I could say the same of you,” she said with a soft laugh.
“And you have a wonderful laugh,” he added. “This is so much better than one-sided conversations.”
“It is,” she admitted.
“Have people said things to you about me?” His expression grew serious.
“They think I don’t know what I’m getting into---I don’t understand why. Being a cyborg doesn’t mean you’re not human.”
“And I have never killed a human or even a humanoid, just Drayid bugs,” he asserted. “I swear on my life, I would never harm you in any way.” The expression in his eyes softened as he looked at her.
“I believe you Korjh,” she assured him. “I have believed in you all along, or I wouldn’t be on this ship coming to your world.”
“I hope you will be happy with me, Zara, because once I hold you in my arms, I don’t think I could give you up.”
“I don’t give up that easily. Besides, the matchmaking service considers us soul mates genetically speaking,” Zara remembered. “They don’t differentiate because you are a cyborg. You passed the psych profile. Besides, every marriage takes some adjustment. I am coming to you with the belief I will fall in love with you.”
“I will do my best to make that happen. I’ve waited a long time for the service to find you because I am a cyborg and because I’ve been a warrior most of my life.”
“But you were cleared psychologically,” she reminded him. “You wouldn’t have been cleared to settle on Modonne without it.”
“That mean’s nothing to a lot of people who have never fought to survive. My cybernetics make me sub-human as far as they are concerned. The nanites have altered me genetically,” Korjh said, “and they will change you as well.”
“I know, but they’ve assured me these changes aren’t harmful. In fact, they said the nanites will keep me healthy and make me heal faster,” Zara said. “I’m ready to get some of those little buggers.” She smiled at him.
“That’s my girl,” Korjh chuckled. “They will also slow the aging process and ensure that we can make babies together.”
Korjh went on to talk about his day and show pictures of his horses and his farm and a beautiful sunrise. He had already given her a video tour of his home which had been excavated from the rock four feet under the topsoil. Most of the house was comprised of modules transported out into the desert. There were also more rustic rooms with rock walls of granite smoothed and polished.
It all made Zara long to be there with him. When they finished their com-chat, she played back the recording. His words and the look in his eyes made her long to be in his arms with her body pressed against his.
She wouldn’t let anyone convince her that he was going to be anything but the love of her life. She believed in Korjh. It didn’t matter if any of them did or not.
During a subsequent com-chat Zara told him, “My roommate Naomi Nelson is going to Modonne to mate with a Narovian feline that lives in the city Sezrop. We are on our way to becoming friends. The rest of the people--- I am still learning their names---are going to different worlds to become mates found for them by the Narovian Matchmaking Service.”
“Then you will have a friend here besides me,” he said. “Perhaps we can see them after their bonding period is over.”
“Captain Zeke and his wife Jenna are meomee---which is Narovian for soulmates,” she added. “Captain Zeke is Narovian, and he met his wife Jenna while on a mission to rescue some Earth women from a slave auction on Se’Nar….”
Zara went on and told him the rest of the story because it seemed so romantic.