“So, what do we do now?” Genevieve asked. “There has to be something else you can do. We can’t just sit around and wait to die.”

The corners of Colin’s mouth flicked up at her words. He was right about her. She was tough. Instead of panicking and adding to his problems she was moving forward into problem-solving. “I don’t know yet. But trust me, none of us will be sitting around waiting to die. For now, we need to take care of the plants we do have. They’re likely our only hope. Aardin sent the drones around last night with a new nutrient mix to try. Let’s pray it works.”

As soon as they landed, he collected the small metal barrel of nutrient formula deposited by the drone. Feeling pressed for time, he carried it inside to help Genevieve get set up to take care of the seedlings. Every second that passed was one he could be spending solving the problem, and now they were slipping through his fingers with the velocity of a slipstream. They’d already run out of time to solve the original problem they’d been sent here to work on. And now, they had even less time to solve it in order to save their own lives.

He led Genevieve into the growing room, already preoccupied with his plans for the day, and promptly dropped the barrel of nutrients at the unbelievable sight before him.

“Colin? Are you okay?” Genevieve asked, still behind him in the doorway.

Colin could feel his eyes nearly bulging out of his head at the sight of the foot-tall foliage in the room before him. Was this a prank? This couldn’t be the same batch of Condrafurs. Their broad purple-veined leaves crowded each other on the table and large clusters of oblong finger-like berries extended from their tops, looking ripe and ready to eat.

“Wh ... what in the world?” He walked closer to finger a leaf between his fingers. “I don’t believe it.”

“Oh good! They’re growing,” Genevieve said brightly. “And they look just like the picture, too.”

Colin fingered another leaf, then gently touched the berries at the top. There were no distortions and everything looked proportionate. No, even better, everything looked exactly as it should look. They were the very picture of a perfect crop of Condrafurs.

“Colin? What’s wrong?”

“This is incredible,” he said. “If you weren’t here with me, I would swear that I’m losing my mind right now.” He put his hands on her shoulders and look deep into her eyes. “Tell me you see them, too.”

“The plants? Of course.” She frowned up at him, her gaze scanning his face as if he were indeed going crazy.

“But ... the leaves ... the berries? You see those, too? I’m not imagining that they’re—I don’t know—ten times bigger than they were yesterday?”

“Isn’t that what they’re supposed to do? Isn’t that what you’ve been working so hard for?”

He dropped his hands and tried to explain. “But they don’t grow this fast. It normally takes weeks for them to get to this size and mature enough to bear fruit. This is ... I mean—they’ve shot up overnight!” He waved his hands at the table.

“Oh. So? That’s good, isn’t it?”

He ran his hands through his hair. She still wasn’t getting it. And then a wild streak of joy shot through him as her last question registered. “Yes!” he said with a hysterical laugh. “Yes, it’s good. It’s great!” And when she returned his smile and reflected his excitement, he couldn’t resist sweeping her up in a tight hug and swinging her around in a wide arc that made her unexpectedly giggle. “It’s a miracle. It’s the miracle that’s going to save all our lives.”

He set her down on her feet and was so overcome with exuberance that he put his hands on either side of her face kissed her. He meant it to be a brief peck, but as soon as their lips touched a fire blazed through him that could not be stopped. He ravaged her soft pink lips like a mad man, one who’d been fantasizing about this moment for a long time. He was about to pull back and apologize when she gave a soft moan. It was nearly inaudible, but it was all the encouragement he needed. He pulled her up against him, and this time tasted the sweet hot inside of her mouth, plunging deep with his tongue to her sweet depths. A mad rush of hormones and blood swept through him to give life to a throbbing erection that jutted between them.

Her arms were wrapped around his neck, her fingers in his hair. And when she whispered his name, he dared to slide a hand down to one of her round buttocks and press her closer, making her moan in earnest this time.

Lord how he wanted her. That she seemed to want him, too, excited him even more. He wanted her in so many ways that the fantasies shot through his mind as though he were flipping through a picture book, and not all of them had to do with sex. Never had he imagined that someone as gorgeous as she was could be attracted to a hermit of a research scientist. Not just that, but to also be interested in him and his work, to want to work with him even.

The new feelings rushing into Colin suddenly made the creeping loneliness he denied demand to be remedied. After Maddy, he’d convinced himself that he preferred the solitude and had allowed his work to consumed him for so long that the loneliness had become a strange foreign feeling that snuck up on him late in the evening and in idle moments when he allowed his mind to wander. But now, here, with Genevieve in his arms, he could feel the gap closing, disintegrating as if it had never existed. She fit so perfectly against him. She had come into his life so suddenly and shaken the dust off of everything with her fiery nature. And now, he didn’t think he could ever go back to the way things were...

Slowly, his logical mind seeped in and took over. Now was not the time to indulge himself in romance. But he did, for a full ten seconds more, before slackening his hold and pulling back to rest his forehead on hers as he tried to get the powerful pull between them back under control. He was glad to see a dazed look in her eyes. Could the connection have been as strong for her as it had been for him? He badly hoped so.

“The Condrafurs,” he said, stroking a finger down her cheek. “We have to take care of them.”

She nodded and released her hands from around his neck, sliding them down his chest before she stepped back. “They feel so much better,” she said turning to the table where she fingered the leaves and leaned in closer to examine the berries.

He turned his attention back to the Condrafurs as well and shook his head. “I can’t believe it. I was convinced this batch would be a failure as well.” He fingered the berries dangling from the apex of one of the Condrafurs, then cupped the cluster of fruit in his palm carefully as though it were a baby bird. “It’s perfect. It even looks ripe.” The shiny deep-purple of their skin was glossy with robust health.

“It is,” she said, plucked one, and held it out to him. “Don’t you need to make sure it’s edible? Take a bite.”

He sucked in a breath, feeling for a moment as though she’d broken it, and she giggled.

He laughed as well. She was right. He took the berry from her and turned it in his hand, inspecting it, then he lifted it to his mouth and bit in. Juice spurted from it as he bit in and the flavors danced on his tongue. “It’s good,” he said. “Really good!” For a moment, he’d been worried it wouldn’t be, that it would have the bitter graininess of the inedible fruit on Eardia. It would still have to be tested, of course. But he trusted his own scientific engineering as well as his human senses, and knew it would pass with flying colors.

A checklist of tasks immediately began running through his mind. “I have to tell the others.” He lifted the leaves to examine the base of the plant nearest him. “They’re going to need to be replanted. I’ll have the others come over and help us.”

She nodded and moved to retrieve the canister he’d dropped.

“We’ll have to use the nutrient mix from yesterday though,” he said. “Until I figure out what went right, all the variables have to remain the same. I’m going to need help with the analysis, Director Banes will need to be contacted...” He moved to the sink and began putting together the equipment for Genevieve, frowning as he thought.

She came to stand next to him. “Shouldn’t you be happy? You were successful. We should celebrate.”

“I am. But it’s not time to celebrate yet,” he said. “It’s only a partial victory. We still don’t know why they grew so suddenly. That needs to be determined and then I need to be able to replicate it with the other crops. Here.” He snapped the unit in his hands together and handed it to her, eager to begin his research. “We need to get you going.”

She took it from him. “Oh. Okay.”

“Since they’re bigger, we have to adjust the amount.” He quickly showed her what to do. “You’re going to run out faster than you did yesterday. I’ll bring you more supplies.” After carrying in nutrient canisters from the supply room and instructing her in how much to give them, he went into the office to make arrangements.

*****

OVER THE COURSE OF the day, with the help of his colleagues, Colin was able to scrutinize and run analyses on the last weeks’ worth of the data. But, frustratingly, it yielded no clues. There had been no disturbances during the night. No fluctuations in temperature. The composition of the air had been steady as well as the light. The nutrients administered had not deviated. The genetic composition of the Condrafurs was exactly what was expected. As a scientist, Colin should have been proud of how cleanly he’d run everything. All the variables had been accounted for, controlled, and measured.

Had it been a complete fluke? That was impossible. Living things didn’t change so dramatically overnight without any kind on influence whatsoever. Something had triggered their normal and rapid growth. So far, as any of them could see, the only thing that had changed had been the addition of Genevieve herself. But how in the world could that matter? He’d been taking care of the seedlings before Genevieve had arrived.

He excused himself from the crowded office and stepped into the lab to have a word with her. It took him a moment to locate her in chaos of people and supplies working to repot each plant so they would have room to grow even more. He found her off to the side on her knees beside a Condrafur she’d obviously just replanted, patting the last handfuls of dirt around its base with a contented look across her face.

“There you go,” she was saying, “that feels much better doesn’t it?”

“Genevieve,” he said and touched her shoulder.

She looked up, gave him a breathtaking smile of greeting, then rose. “Hi.”

“Hi. How’s it going? I meant to check on you before now, but we haven’t had any breaks.”

“That’s okay. We’ve been busy out here, too.”

There was a smudge of red dirt across her chin. He reached out to wipe it off with his thumb, and for a moment the earlier burst of passion they’d shared came to mind. Her eyes sparkled back into his, obviously thinking similar thoughts. He dropped his hand before he gave into the impulse to kiss her again. “Did they give you something for lunch?” he asked.

He felt bad that he’d been so engrossed in work that he hadn’t even thought to make arrangements. He probably wouldn’t have even eaten anything himself if it hadn’t been for someone shoving a supplement bar into his hand.

“Yes. Jileen and Mihna came with something for everyone.”

Colin noticed now that several of the women had come and were there working as well. “Great,” he said. “That’s good. Look, I need to ask you about yesterday.”

“Sure.” She dusted off her hands.

“Yesterday, when you were taking care of the plants, did you do anything differently from how I showed you how to do it?”

“No,” she said, and then her face fell. “Why? Are they saying I did something wrong? I swear on the Hand of Fatima that I did what you said.”

“No, no. You didn’t do anything wrong. We can see that in the footage. What I mean is, is there anything special, or unusual, that you may have done while you were following my instructions?”

“Like what?” She cocked her head at him, looking puzzled.

“That’s the thing. I don’t know. We’ve been in there combing through everything trying to find any anomalies. But so far, aside from you, nothing changed and nothing unusual has turned up.”

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “But you were with me when I started. You saw me copy what you showed me to do. That’s all I did the whole time.”

“Okay.” He put his hands to his temples and rubbed. He was missing something. He knew he was, and it was beginning to drive him insane. “Thanks. Well if anything comes to mind, no matter how small—”

“Colin?” Brace appeared by Colin’s side, looking excited.

“Yes?”

“You need to see this.” Brace held up his portable terminal.

Colin looked at the picture being displayed on it, then rubbed at his eyes, thinking that the last several hours of mental effort was beginning to take a toll on him. “I don’t understand. Is that ... is that your orchard?” On the screen, five fully grown Usilian Jerines stood straight and full and loaded with fruit. At first glance, it could have been mistaken for another catalogue picture. But no, it was Brace’s orchard. Colin could tell because, in the background, the rest of Brace’s stunted saplings remained as he had seen them earlier that day.