“Sharra, you have to try this. It’s indescribable.” Sharra took the bottle. As she sniffed the opening her eyes widened. She tipped back the bottle and drained half of it, then gave it back to Karina, who quickly finished off the rest. They sat back in the comfortable chairs, blissfully aware of the tingling in their mouths spreading to the rest of their bodies. Karina felt like she was floating, and the only thing keeping her from flying away was a heavy weight on her neck. She put her hand up to see what it was and lifted the halaband up off her neck. She stared at it dumbly for a moment, then hurriedly unclasped it before it could make her a prisoner again.
“Sharra.” Excitement tinged Karina’s voice. “Sharra, I’m free.” Sharra opened her eyes and looked at the halaband in Karina’s hand. Karina noticed that Sharra’s halaband was also no longer a tattoo. She went to Sharra and grabbed it, unclasping its catch. It came off easily.
Sharra didn’t waste any time, jumping up out of her chair. “Now we can get out of here!”
Karina put her hand on Sharra’s arm, grinning wickedly. “Wait. I have an idea.” She set off down the hall toward the kitchen. As she neared the kitchen door she slowed and crept quietly along the wall. Sharra followed close behind.
Karina entered the room, sneaking up behind Agnar. She slipped one of the halabands around his neck. It bonded to his skin as she fastened the clasp. She put the second one around his neck as well. It too bonded, creating a mirror tattoo below the first. Agnar continued to snore, still fast asleep. Karina and Sharra left the room, giggling a bit as they went down the hall to the main door and quietly exited the house.
“He cannot commit any violence,” Sharra laughed. “I wonder what he will do now that he is an unwillingly honest man.”
*
*
*
Flavoi sat at the helm as they sped through the Yalsan System. He stared at the viewscreen, twiddling his thumbs. It was another boring shift. He was glad they would reach Yalsa in a few minutes. He was growing tired of Tresar’s company, and his own wasn’t much better. Tresar scanned the planet and found Karina to be fifty kilometers from the Razon Spaceport. As Flavoi steered toward the spaceport, Tresar left the bridge to get a hand-held scanner to use on Yalsa.
As he approached the planet, Flavoi contacted the spaceport for a landing site. Given permission to land, he entered the atmosphere and decelerated. He set the ship down so softly there wasn’t even the usual bump to announce the landing. He grinned and wondered how long it would take before Tresar noticed their arrival. He headed to the main air lock to disembark. When he entered it, the door was already open and Tresar was standing at the foot of the boarding plank inhaling the fresh Yalsan air. He turned and grinned as Flavoi came down the plank.
“There’s nothing like the smell of home, Flavoi. It’s good to be back.”
Flavoi grumped at Tresar for beating him onto their home soil and led the way toward the structure where the public skiffs were kept. Once they were underway, Tresar pulled out the scanner and checked the area for Karina’s DNA signature. A weak signal came from the west, so he had Flavoi head that way. After about twenty minutes they arrived at a mansion built into the side of a mountain.
“Flavoi, stop here. We don’t want to alert Agnar to our presence.”
Flavoi parked the vehicle in a large brushy copse where it would be hidden from above as well as from the ground. The two men crept closer on foot, stopping every few meters to ensure they hadn’t been detected. As they cautiously approached the house, moving from bush to bush, the front door opened and out walked Karina and a female Bitowan.
Flavoi grabbed Tresar’s arm in excitement. “Look, Tresar, there she is!”
The two women hurried down the path, looking uneasily over their shoulders. When they reached the bush where Tresar and Flavoi were hiding, they ducked around it and collided with the men. Flavoi reached out to steady Karina as she wobbled from the impact. Tresar was too slow to catch the Bitowan woman, and she fell backward onto her rump.
“Tresar! Flavoi! What are you doing here?” Karina exclaimed.
Sharra stood up and brushed herself off, muttering under her breath. “I am a Bitowan princess. I should be waited upon and revered, not mucking about on some backwater planet playing slave to a criminal.”
“We’re here to rescue you.” Tresar stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at his feet, embarrassed because she had already rescued herself.
Karina smiled. “Well, then. What are we standing around here for?” She turned and gestured to the Bitowan. “This is Sharra. She wants to join our little group.”
Flavoi grimaced. “Great. There’s a nasty Bitowan general looking for her. What are we supposed to do about him?”
Sharra stared at him. “Not Haron?”
Flavoi stared back. “Oh, so you know him, then?”
Sharra sighed. “He is my intended. I intended to leave him behind, but apparently he is not willing to let his prize go.”
Tresar had been watching the house for any signs of activity. He noticed a shadow move across a window. “Maybe we should worry about the general later. We have more pressing problems right now.” He pointed to the house just as a servant poked his head out the window. Everyone ducked. The servant gazed around the yard before retreating back into the house and closing the window. There was a general sigh of relief from behind the bushy plant.
“Enough chit-chat. Let’s go.” Tresar was quick to take the lead back to the skiff.
As they drove to the spaceport, Karina asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. “So, what do we do now?”
Flavoi rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Well, we can’t stay on Yalsa. Agnar would find us as easily as we found him, what with an Earthling and a Bitowan in our company.”
Tresar cleared his throat. “Actually, I have an invention that would hide their alien DNA signatures, and keep the two of us from detection as well.” Incredulous silence greeted this remark. Tresar continued, “I used it to hide me from the military when I went to work on my inventions in my secret cave. I designed it to mask me from their sensors. It worked rather well; my inventions are still safe there.”
Flavoi was flabbergasted. “Do you mean you have more inventions than the ones on your ship?”
“Yes. I only took along the ones at my house. I knew they wouldn’t find the cave. I took too many precautions to hide it.”
Flavoi pulled into the spaceport and parked the skiff. Tresar led the way to the ship. Once aboard, he took them directly to the bay where his inventions were haphazardly piled wherever they would fit. He dug into one pile and came up with a wooden box. Inside were a bunch of silver chains, each with a small pendant attached.
Karina and Sharra looked at them with distaste. Sharra was the first to react. “Ugh. Necklaces.”
Karina wasn’t far behind. “You don’t expect us to wear those, do you?”
Tresar looked confused. “I thought women liked jewelry. Besides, they’ll hide your life readings.”
Tresar tossed one to Flavoi before putting one around his own neck. Then he held out the box to the women so they could select theirs. Karina gingerly lifted one of the chains. She sent Sharra a look before taking a deep breath and slipping it on over her head. Nothing happened. She took it off. Still nothing. She exhaled in relief. She put the necklace back on and picked up another. She held it out to Sharra with a smirk.
The two men watched this display, perplexed. Sharra hesitantly took the necklace and put it on. Tresar was growing impatient. “What’s the matter with you two? You’d think it was going to choke you!”
The women exchanged glances and laughed. “You have no idea,” Karina said sourly. “So, where are we going?”
Tresar pondered for a moment. “My parents have an island in the Carrian Sea. They’ve been begging me to visit.”
Flavoi lit up. “Your father is an amazing cook. I’ll get us there in no time.” He turned and quickly headed to the bridge.
Karina grinned at Tresar. “You have parents?”
Tresar grimaced at her. “Funny. Keep that up and we won’t feed you.”
Karina laughed and held up her hands in surrender. “You win. No more teasing.”
They followed Flavoi’s example and headed to the bridge, but at a more leisurely pace. By the time they arrived, he was in the process of lifting off. He grinned up at them from his chair and steered out over the sparkling sea. Soon a series of islands came into view. Flavoi piloted the ship over to a lush island and prepared to set down on the landing dock. There was one other ship parked there, a small but elegant craft.
“My parents are home.” Tresar looked a bit uncomfortable at the prospect of seeing them.
Flavoi tried to reassure his friend. “I don’t think they’ll be mad at you for not keeping in touch over the past couple of years. They’re your parents. They love you no matter what.”
Tresar didn’t look convinced. Flavoi grinned and added, “Besides, they love me.” Tresar laughed and cuffed his friend’s shoulder. They landed and disembarked, Tresar leading the way across a large meadow to a pleasant house near a beautiful sandy beach. Before they reached it, an attractive older woman came out the door with an armful of wet laundry. When she saw the group of people approaching, she paused and squinted at them. She gave a glad cry as she recognized her son. She dropped the laundry and rushed to take him in her arms.
Tresar struggled to free himself from her grip. “Mom,” he grumbled, embarrassed, “you’re choking me.” Karina hid a smile behind her hand at Tresar’s discomfort. Tresar’s mom pushed him back so she could look him in the eye while still holding on to his arms. Her demeanor changed from ecstatically happy to scolding.
“And where have you been? I’ve left messages at your house, but none of them have been returned.” Before Tresar could answer, he was pulled into another crushing hug. Karina started to chuckle, but then laughed outright as Tresar’s face turned blue. She nudged Flavoi, saying in a low voice, “She is choking him. He’s turning blue.”
Flavoi looked at her oddly. He whispered back, “That’s just the blood rushing to his face. He’s blushing.” Karina looked confused for a moment, but shrugged it off as Tresar’s mom turned to Flavoi and crushed him to her breast as well. By this time even the stoic Sharra was smiling.
Tresar’s mom finally released the two men. She looked at Karina and Sharra questioningly. “And who are your friends?” Tresar hurriedly made introductions, still slightly embarrassed at his mom’s display of affection. His mother briefly clasped hands with the two women, then invited everyone into the house, where the hugging scene was repeated with Tresar’s father. His mother followed them in after picking up the clothes she had dropped in her haste to get to her son. She tsked over the now dirty laundry.
Tresar introduced the women to his father. His dad grinned at the women and gallantly kissed their hands. Sharra was shocked at first by the familiar treatment, but then she found it rather fun.
“You may call me Ryalto, and my wife Driana.” Tresar’s father said. He led them into a pleasant room with couches set in a circle around a curious looking table. He was still holding on to Sharra’s hand. “And if I’m not mistaken, dear, you must be Bitowan. What brings you so far from home?”
Tresar opened his mouth to explain her situation, but Sharra silenced him with a look. She smiled at Ryalto and blatantly lied. “I wondered what lay beyond my world. When I bumped into your son, he was kind enough to let me travel with him.”
Flavoi snickered at Sharra’s remark, remembering that Sharra had literally bumped into Tresar. Tresar and his father looked confused, but Sharra gave Flavoi a sly wink, proving her remark was deliberate. So Bitowans did have a sense of humor!
Karina hadn’t been paying attention. She ran her hand over the strange round table. It was as smooth as glass, but unlike any glass she had ever seen. Instead of having legs, the table was continuous from its surface down to the floor. It looked like a giant pill. She was distracted from her inspection by something rubbing against her legs. She looked down and discovered what appeared to be an unusual mix of feline and canine. It looked like a large fox with a short muzzle and a purplish coat. She reached down to pet its head. As soon as her fingers brushed against its soft fur, it growled and scratched her. She yelped and put her bleeding finger into her mouth. The animal ran off, still growling. Tresar’s mother immediately came to the rescue, fussing over Karina.