Chapter 15

Sylvie followed behind the regent while the guards followed behind her. The thick muscles of his back rippled as he walked, her eyes inadvertently drawn to the swell of his rear. It was well-shaped, not flat but not too round. Just right.

Who are you? Goldilocks?

She forced herself to focus on her surroundings. They were hurrying down hallways she hadn't seen before, although they resembled the others in the colony.

Until she turned a corner and saw something new, and fascinating.

One wall of the hallway held a large window, the first she'd seen. Outside the window was an underwater wonderland.

Creatures floated past in the purple sea, some unlike anything found on Earth. Sylvie ran to the window and pressed her face against it, marveling at the myriad forms of life on display. Something that resembled a gigantic manta ray swam past, its orange underbelly taking up almost the entire eight-foot-long window.

In the distance she could see what appeared to be a structure built out of coral. It was massive, and all around it figures swam, entering and exiting its many doors.

A hand settled on her shoulder and she glanced back to look up at her captor.

"What is that place?" she asked without taking her face away from the window.

"The temple of Noruma."

"What's Noruma?"

The regent used his hold on her shoulder to turn her away from the window.

"He's one of our gods." He gave her a stern look. "We don't have time to dawdle here."

"Are those your people, swimming around the temple?"

X nodded. His hand slid down her arm to grasp her hand, the movement causing goose bumps to arise on her skin. The regent gently tugged her away from the window.

"Wait! What's that creature right there, the one with the lighted lure hanging over its mouth?"

"We can discuss Zantharian zoology later," he said, leading her away from the window and farther down the winding hallway.

"We better! I'm an astrobiologist, you know. The whole point of coming to this accursed planet was to search for signs of life. Now that I've found it, you won't even let me--"

Her protests were cut off by their arrival at a busy entrance. More Zantharians than she'd yet seen gathered in one place were shuttling in and out.

"What is this place?" she asked as they moved through the entrance. Her eyes traveled up to the large dome in the ceiling, which was almost entirely transparent. Several sea creatures had attached themselves to the outside of the dome. One was so large it took up a swath of space that had to be at least twenty feet wide.

"It's the colony's central hub. Our main transport station." X tightened his hold on her hand as the crowd thickened. His hand was warm and thick, the feeling of it wrapped around hers leaving her with the sense of protection she so desired.

Sylvie scanned the swarm of people, the Zantharians filling up almost every space in front of her. Their skins in varying shades, but most green. Some wore sarongs with chest braids, while others had shorts and cross-tops like hers. They were all around equal height and had similar appearances, the only noticeable difference being their clothing.

Were those dressed like her Zantharian females?

Suddenly Sylvie realized the people they passed were giving them a wide berth. She caught the expressions on several faces. They ranged from curiosity to disgust to outright contempt. I guess I'm not very popular among the locals.

A woman was walking past with a child in a cloth pouch on her chest. It peered out at her with big black eyes. Sylvie drew closer, noticing that the child's limbs were underdeveloped, and where fingers were on an adult Zantharian there were thin tentacles.

As soon as Sylvie approached, the child let out a loud cry. The mother covered its face and turned away, scowling at Sylvie.

"I'm sorry." Sadness rolled over her. She would never hurt any living creatures, especially not after her brush with death. The name of science be damned.

X tugged on her arm and she followed, her spirits falling farther as she received glare after glare.

Everyone on this planet thought she was an enemy spy, a plant. A threat. All because her ship accidently took down their fancy defense grid. Not her fault. Some first contact.

The regent led her to a small craft that resembled a dolphin. It was curved to a point in the front, with fins on both sides, and a longer one at the back.

"In you go," he said, propelling her through the hatch and into the craft. The two guards followed, taking seats at the back.

X stationed himself in one of the two front seats, then pointed to the seat beside him. He pushed a few buttons on the console, then grabbed the stick and glanced over at her.

"Ready for take-off?"

Sylvie nodded, bracing herself. The lift-off was so gentle that she wouldn't have noticed they were moving if not for the front viewport. The small craft joined a line of similar ships before an aperture that seemed to separate the inside from the ocean outside.

"Why isn't this chamber filling with water?" she asked as they approached the aperture.

"Force fields hold the water back but let the ships through."

"Force fields like the planetary defense shield?"

"The same technology, yes."

Her ship had somehow taken down their defense shield, and although she was certain she hadn't done anything intentional to cause the malfunction, there could be something about her biologically that interacted with the field. They'd almost dissected her to find out.

"Wait!" she yelled as their ship moved forward to next in line.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Dr. Cohen. See, all the other ships have made it out fine. You won't even notice when we pass through." X steered the ship toward the aperture.

Sylvie wrapped her arms around herself as fear stung her senses. "But what if it's true? What if there is something about me that disables your shields? This whole hub could be flooded. People could die!"

"My people can take in limited oxygen through their skin. It allows them to be under water for an hour or so at a time before surfacing. Besides, we have safety protocols in place in case of shield failure."

She couldn’t watch. She slipped her hands over her eyes and held her breath, preparing for the worst.

A soft chuckle resounded beside her. "You can open your eyes now. We're through."

Sylvie removed her hands to see that they were coasting through an underwater world. "How did you know I wouldn't cause the shield to fail?"

"I didn't." X was steering the craft through pillars of coral. "But I knew that no one would be injured with the safety protocols we had in place if the shield did fail. What I wasn't sure about was you."

Sylvie stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"If there was something in your biology that you'd engineered to disable our shields, you may have intended to use your special skill here and flood the chamber, thinking you were risking Zantharian lives and wreaking havoc."

He turned to her and she was entranced by the golden glow around his pupils. "Instead, you warned me, and you seemed genuinely concerned about harming my people. The same people who just treated you like a pariah."

X gave her a small smile, then turned his attention back to navigating the craft.

"You were testing me."

He nodded. "And you passed the first test."

First test? So that's what he had planned for the day.

Sylvie wanted to be angry but she couldn't blame him. Seen from his perspective, she wouldn't trust herself either in this situation. Still, it stung a little. She'd trusted him from the first, had known he was someone who would help her, who wouldn't harm her or let her be harmed if he could prevent it.

There was something about him that projected integrity. No wonder his people followed him as Supreme Regent. She thought she might follow him, too.

Or maybe she was just naïve.

Around them the water grew dark. They were entering some sort of underwater cave. Suddenly they surfaced, the lights of the craft illuminating an ancient grotto.

X turned to her, his dark eyes unfathomable. "We're here.”

Where was here?