Bethany froze as Klowix looked at her. She should say it now, right now. Tell him that she wanted to go home. He would let her, she knew. She opened her mouth, but no words came out.

“Good morning.” Klowix stopped her with a hand on her shoulder.

“Good morning, Commander.”

Trili looked concerned. “Are you ok? You look very pale.”

Bethany gathered herself quickly. “No, I’m fine.” She realized she’d miss Trili and the others when she said goodbye to them, which wouldn’t happen until she talked to Klowix. It was Saturday, so he wasn’t going in to work. They had plenty of time to talk. She’d just have to ask him for a word, that’s all.

He beat her to it. “Bethany? Would you mind if I talked to you after we’ve eaten?”

“Of course not.” She swallowed her reni wrong and nearly. Did he know? Could he somehow tell she was leaving him?

Her food felt like mush in her mouth and she grabbed a glass of water to get it down. She didn’t eat anything else, but anxiously waited for Klowix to finish. When he did, he stood and gestured for her to follow him. He led her to his own bedroom this time. If anything, it was grander than hers, which was saying something – she and the others slept like queens.

“Sit down.” Klowix directed her to a long couch against the window and sat down on the other end. Bethany chewed her nails, waiting. What did he want to talk about?

Klowix finally spoke. “You have been distant.”

Bethany opened her mouth to say she didn’t know what, but before she could utter a word, Klowix’s hand was on her shoulder again. She gasped in shock, then in pleasure, as he began drawing her essence out of her. Bethany moaned and fell back against the couch.

It went on longer this time. In fact, Bethany began to feel weak, weaker by the moment. It felt like Klowix was drawing the life out of her – which, of course, he was.

Finally, he removed his hand. Bethany slumped back, still dizzy with pleasure, but unable to force her muscles to move.

Klowix called out to Trili. He didn’t wait for her to come, but strode off. Trili found Bethany draped over the couch, focusing on breathing. She didn’t seem fazed.

“Snia, Ruth, get in here.”

Together, they carried Bethany to her bed.

“Are you hurt?” Trili sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I don’t think so. No, not hurt. It was… amazing, but… I don’t know.”

“He went on too long, that’s all.”

“What?”

“Klowix ordered me to do some research on the sharing so that I’d be of use to you. The sharing can be a powerful ritual, but if he drains too much of your essence, it could weaken or even kill you.”

Bethany gulped. “Does that happen often?”

“Not often, no. But with men like Klowix – I don’t think he exactly likes being told to slow down.”

Bethany knew that she should go right now and find Klowix and tell him she wanted to go home. This was insane, he could kill her. She had to tell him.

She didn’t want to, though. She reflected on Klowix’s firm grip on her shoulder, his strong muscles flexing as he drew her essence out. The danger almost added to the pleasure of it. She wanted it again, even if it did risk killing her. She must be going crazy.

“It’s OK, as long as you survive, we can share some of our essence with you and return you to full strength.” Trili looked worried, despite her reassurances. “Just lie still.”

It wasn’t like she could move anyway.

Trili put a hand on the back of her neck, while Ruth and Snia did the same to Trili. Bethany couldn’t tell what they were doing, but she felt the strength begin to return to her limbs. A few minutes later, she sat up and took a deep breath, feeling restored, if still a bit shaken.

Trili spoke up suddenly. “Oh, I also looked into what you were saying last night. The sharing doesn’t create feelings, it only builds on what’s already there.”

Bethany didn’t know if this made her feel better or worse.

Klowix reappeared with both of his hands held out as though holding something, but Bethany could see nothing. Beoli jumped up, practically quivering with excitement.

“Have the girls told you about yiniu?”

“No, what’s that?”

“You’ll see. Come on.”

Yiniu turned out to be a game – possibly one of the most ridiculous games Bethany had ever experienced. She’d thought humans could be ridiculous, but she realized that they had no monopoly on the matter.

They divided into teams. Bethany was with Snia, Beoli and Lizzy, while Culip, Anna, Ruth and Trili made up the other team.

One person on each team was given a ball to balance on her head. The rest of the team could help her keep the ball balanced, but only using their heads. A reasonable amount of unintended headbutting ensued. The opposing team was charged with making the other team’s ball fall to the ground, but they could only use their feet.

Also, the ball was invisible. It made a blaring sound when it hit the ground, but otherwise, unless you were touching it, you’d never know it was there.

Beoli balanced the ball for her team, and Culip did it for hers. Culip was excellent, but Beoli came close to matching her. The two of them ran around, shouting instructions and bumping their heads against their team’s in response to minor movements of the invisible ball that only they could feel.

Bethany wasn’t the only one to collapse with laughter every few minutes. Culip had great success helping Ruth lift Anna up to kick the ball off Beoli’s head, but Beoli soon had this strategy beaten by having Bethany, the tallest, leap in front of her whenever they tried it. Bethany got kicked in the head a few times, but she couldn’t remember ever having more fun.

Snia was terrible and mostly stayed in the back, but under Beoli’s direction, Lizzy, the smallest, sat on Trili’s shoulders and flailed her legs at Culip; she managed to win them a few rounds this way. Klowix watched them, looking inscrutable, but Bethany was sure she saw a smile flicker across his face once or twice.

Finally, after a few hours, they all collapsed, exhausted and still chuckling. Culip’s team had won, but only by two points, thanks to Beoli.

“Evions are so weird!” Bethany gasped and clutched her sides.

“You’re telling me!” Snia was still breathless.

Beoli teased her. “You’re just jealous because your parents didn’t teach you how to play.”

“And I wondered where you got your sense of humor.”

“If your current entertainment is complete, would you wish me to turn on the levaitor?

There were squeals of excitement all around at Klowix’s question.

“Now that’s more like it. Come on, Bethany, I can lend you something.”

Following Snia, Bethany soon found herself in a bright blue bikini. She clutched her towel to herself shyly, but Snia snatched it away from her. “Let’s go!”

The levaitor, it turned out, was a swimming pool, but it wasn’t like any swimming pool Bethany had ever laid eyes on. It was a sphere of water floating in mid-air. There were no walls, only a black stretch of something beneath it.

Bethany eyed the water holding itself up. “How does it do that?”

“Ask Culip – or actually, don’t. The explanation will probably take all day. Follow me.”

Snia hopped into the black thing, which bounced under her weight. She bounced higher and higher until the top half of her body was immersed in the water at the top of her jump. From there, she swam to the top of the huge sphere.

Bethany gaped in amazement.

Trili took her hand. “I’ll help you. It does take some practice getting in.”

“Allow me.”

Bethany’s breath caught in her throat when she saw Klowix. He wore a pair dark blue swimming shorts that matched almost perfectly with the bikini Snia had lent her.

“Come here.”

Bethany stepped onto the black thing, which seemed to be some type of fabric. Klowix put his powerful arms around her and held her tightly. “Hold your breath.”

Unlike Snia, his muscles needed only one leap to span the distance. Bethany expected cold, but when her head and torso were thrust into the water, it felt pleasantly warm. She knew how to swim, and she let go of Klowix to strike for the surface. She didn’t think she could concentrate on swimming with his skin so close to hers.

When her head broke the surface, she saw that the top of the levaitor was flat, like a normal swimming pool. There were several floating silver objects; Snia was on her back on one of them, and Lizzy was holding onto another. The others swam around, looking like fish through the shimmering water.

Klowix called to them. “Everyone ready?”

The others said they were; Bethany didn’t know what for, but Klowix didn’t wait. He pressed a button on some kind of remote around his neck, and the water multiplied.

Within a few blinks, there were seventeen spheres of water all around them – above, below, next to them, and all around. Bethany squinted through the water to see that the floor had changed, too. Just above it was a thick rectangle of water, and everything beneath seemed to be that same bouncy black fabric.

Ruth explained. “It’s so that if we fall we don’t hurt ourselves. The water slows you down, no matter how high you were, and then you just bounce.”

“Fall?”

Ruth grinned. “You’ll see.” She gestured to Culip, who was standing on one of the floating silver contraptions. As Bethany watched, she gave a great leap, reached up, and disappeared into the bubble of water above them.

Trili and Lizzy were playing around and splashing each other at the edge. As Bethany watched, Lizzy squealed and tried to get away, lunging for the next water bubble. She didn’t make it far enough in to pull her whole body into the water and fell. She plunged right into a bubble below and spread her arms and legs to halt her fall. Soon, she popped up at the top, laughing.

“They’re savages, Bethany, this is what levaitors are really for.” Snia laughed and beckoned Bethany to her. Bethany scrambled up on the silver thing and Snia pressed a button on its side. The floating device rushed smoothly forward, literally flying over two bubbles and landing smoothly on a third. Bethany promptly fell off, and came up sputtering, but smiling. Levaitors were officially the best thing ever created.

“Do they have these on earth?”

Ruth pulled her off her silver floater in an attempt to stop falling. “Oh yes, but only in the very rich households.” She watched as Anna pushed a floater down to the bottom of a bubble so that Beoli could grab it from the one below and get pulled up.

“I am so getting one of these someday.” Bethany suddenly realized that she could.

The first time she fell, she got a shock, but she wasn’t hurt; the system was designed well. Klowix saw her sitting on the floor watching, and came down to get her.

“You wouldn’t know this, but I don’t fire up the levaitor often. You should not waste this chance.”

Bethany was glad for the excuse to take his hand. She expected him to help her up, but first, Klowix gripped her hand tightly, pulling more of her essence out. Bethany’s legs suddenly went limp, but he didn’t wait. With a great leap, he pulled her back up into the water.

Bethany panicked. Her limbs were still weak with pleasure and didn’t want to move. Her head was underwater. Perhaps Klowix didn’t realize how much he was draining her. His hand was still in hers, and within a few moments he had pulled her up to the top.

Bethany brushed off the moment, but couldn’t help wondering how many moments there would be before something irreversible happened to her. Even that thought couldn’t convince herself to say the words, to tell Klowix she wanted to go home. She truly was crazy.

After a while, she found herself resting with Trili, who was on a silver floater. Bethany rested her arms on the side of the floater, enjoying the time to talk.

Trili confided something vital to Bethany. “I’ve never seen Klowix like this. He seems… different.”

“He does?” She looked over at Klowix, who was reclining on a silver floater, looking as though the water should be steaming off his abs.

“He seems lighter, even.”

“If you say so.”

Klowix turned his eyes to Bethany, making her knees weak. Trili grabbed her as her arms slipped off the floater and she sputtered out water. This man was going to be the death of her.