Col felt no strain at all. “Why do I feel a strain when I lift?”
“You expect to. When you expect that something is heavy, you brace yourself. When you think something is light, it floats up easily.”
They were both walking calmly, but Col felt no strain, no tugging, no urge to hold Haveera up. “Why are you just telling me this now?”
Haveera laughed, “We just figured it out after what your suit has been feeding back to the Guard base.”
“My suit is rigged with monitors?” Col didn’t mind, she stripped it off before any of her evening experiments with Ysyr. Her skin was very sensitive, so they were going slowly. The last thing she needed was a record of her first experiments with sex.
“It is. Life and power monitors. Once you have fully recovered, your daily suits will no longer carry the monitors. However, your away suits still will. I came to tell you about the details of your talent, because we were afraid you were going to cause yourself an injury.”
Col laughed. “I was afraid of the very same thing.”
“Well, I am glad that you now have an understanding, but can you bring us back down? I am looking at the wrong end of a conifer here.”
Giggling, Col slowly brought them back down to solid ground. “When am I needed at the base?”
Haveera smiled, “As soon as you are able. They can give you any additional coaching that you require.”
“Will you let Ysyr know? He will miss me if I just disappear.”
Haveera inclined her head. “We will let him know.”
“Well then, off I go.” Without a second thought, Col lifted straight up and oriented herself before accelerating to the Guard base.
A voice came through her collar. “Col, I will expect you back in the evening. If you are going to be late, let me know.”
She chortled. “Fine, Ysyr, but from what Haveera said, this might be a few days’ worth of work. I don’t know what the situation is. I haven’t arrived yet.”
“Keep me posted, or I will come for a visit.”
She laughed out loud and flew into Fixer’s workshop settling in the doorway.
“Hello, Fixer. I hear you have a project for me.”
Fixer looked up from something she was looking at with magnifying lenses and she smiled. “Colah. I am glad to see you. Yes, I have some heavy lifting for you to do. How long can you hold an airborne position?”
Col shrugged, “I have no idea. Shall we find out?”
Fixer removed her lenses and placed them aside. She put a hand on Col’s shoulder and pointed to a huge shuttle sitting on the tarmac. “Can you lift that and hold it for me while I do some repair work?”
Col whistled. “I am not sure. I think I can hold it, but can you get some support blocks so that if I do start to lose it, you will have time to get away? I am all about safety.”
Fixer touched the neck of her suit and spoke into it softly.
Col flew around the top of the shuttle and got a feel for it. When she was ready, instead of flying and trying to pull it upward, she sat on it and simply lifted herself and it into the air.
“How high do you want it, Fixer?”
“You are good. Just hold it there and I will let you know when I am done.”
Col sat on top of the shuttle and meditated on keeping the vehicle level and secure. The assistants that Fixer had called installed blocks that would keep the ship a minimum of four feet off the ground, so Col felt safe in concentrating on keeping the ship in the air.
Fixer was humming gently as she worked and when she was standing next to the shuttle once more, she lifted her hand and the assistants came to remove the blocks.
“Colah, anytime you are ready we can test out the gear.” Fixer was smiling and munching a ration pack.
Col lowered the ship carefully, but a slight noise on her left got her attention. With a jerk she pulled the ship into the air. “Fixer, is that your daughter?”
A little girl giggled and Fixer gasped. “Mabi, get over here. Is Isala with you?”
“No. She stayed with Daddy.”
The little girl moved toward her mother and stood next to her, but Col slowly turned the ship upside down to confirm that the tarmac was clear before she righted herself and it, slowly returning it to its landing gear.
Fixer was stunned. “How did you do that?”
Col left the shuttle and landed next to the head of development and repair for the Sector Guard. “I don’t know. It just seemed like the thing to do. If there is anything loose in the shuttle, I will clean it up. I just didn’t want to risk another little one under the ship if the gear wasn’t going to hold.”
Fixer reached out and hugged her. “Thanks for seeing her. She and her sister each manifested one of our talents when they were born, but they are now showing signs of both. Mabi likes to watch me work, but it can get a little hairy if I don’t know she is coming.”
Col smiled. “No worries. I have a niece of my own. She is loving it that I am living off world now. She tells all her friends.”
“Well, enough work for today, time for dinner.” Fixer took Mabi’s hand and extended her other one to Col. “Come on. The staff wants to pick your brain about that dessert. They seemed to have missed a spot in your instructions.”
Col laughed as they entered the base buildings and walked down the halls. Dinner with a molecularly shifting talent and her offspring seemed like just the thing to tell Makki on the next call.
The feeling of a body pressing against hers in the darkness was wonderfully familiar. “I told you I would be home tomorrow, Ysyr, but I am glad you are here.”
“I told you to come home, so since you did not, I brought home to you.” His hands moved over her softly and her body flickered to life under his touch.
She laughed and turned to face him, sliding her own hands over his much loved body. “So, you are my home now?”
He silenced her with a kiss that held all the gentleness of a perfect first kiss and turned into a lover’s demand.
As they rolled and twisted in the sheets, she had to admit, that wherever her Ysyr was, she was secure in the knowledge that he felt the same.
She may fly around the worlds, but he would always be there to hold her when she came back to earth.
Author’s Note
Welcome to the talents of Resicor. The suits on the covers were so lovely that I could not think of how someone could get in and out of them. Thus, the fused restrictor suit was created.
We have already met two of the next four characters for
Fire Dance
and
Wrapped in Starlight
.
Fortunately for the other talents of Resicor, the Sector Guard has refined the technique for removing the suits. Col’s pain was not in vain.
Thanks for reading,
Viola Grace
http://www.devinedestinies.com
About the Author
Viola Grace was born in Manitoba, Canada where she still resides today. She really likes it there. She has no pets and can barely keep sea monkeys alive for a reasonable amount of time. Her line of day job tends to be analytical which leaves her mind hopping to weave stories. No co-worker is safe from her character analysis. In keeping with busy hands are happy hands, her hobbies have included cross-stitch, needlepoint, quilting, costuming, cake decorating, baking, cooking, metal work, beading, sculpting, painting, doll making, henna tattoos, chain mail, and a few others that have been forgotten. It is quite often that these hobbies make their way into her tales.
Viola’s fetishes include boots and corsetry, and her greatest weakness is her uncontrollable blush. Her writing actively pursues the Happily Ever After that so rarely occurs in nature. It is an admirable thing and something that we should all strive for. To find one that we truly like, as well as love.