CHAPTER 4
To my undying relief, the Buri seemed more curious over my blonde hair, pink skin and green eyes than offended by my nudity. Undoubtedly, I was the first naked human they’d seen, and they all took advantage of the situation by looking their fill. Thor in particular appeared fascinated by my anatomy, moving a step back so his gaze could slide from the top of my head to my toes.
At least he didn’t growl. By the time his eyes made it back to my face, the corners of his lips curved in a half smile, and I didn’t need to pick up his emotions to know he was pleased by what he saw.
Okay, enough was enough. I didn’t have a modest bone in my body, but I wasn’t an exhibitionist, either.
Turning, I picked up the bottle of soap and stepped to the edge of the pool. Crigo opened one eye, saw what I doing, and went back to sleep. Being a member of the cat family, he couldn’t understand why I immersed myself in water so often. The first time I’d taken a shower after he joined me on board Max, he’d tried to save me by dragging me out from under the spray with one big paw. It had taken a lot of talking to convince him I’d done it deliberately.
I hesitated as I stared down at the pool. It was so clear I could see the rocks on the bottom, sparkling in the sunlight. What if the Buri were like cats and hated the water? With a glance over my shoulder at Thor, I did a mental headshake. They were too clean, and smelled too good. The only way to maintain that level of hygiene was frequent bathing.
Gathering my courage, I waded out until the water was waist deep. It was pleasantly cool, but not icy enough to turn my skin blue. Stopping, I motioned for Thor to join me. I have to admit, I was really hoping he’d lose the loincloth before he entered the water, but no such luck.
Hands on his hips, he glanced around at the tribe. They were all holding their breath, waiting for his reaction. Lowering his hands, he deliberately pulled his boots off, stepped into the pool and walked out to me, the water barely reaching the tops of his thighs when he stopped.
With gestures and a gentle push, I indicated I wanted him to duck under the water. The tribe stood frozen, their gazes swinging from me to Thor. Even the little boy was silent and wide-eyed. The dragon birds had settled onto vines at our approach and watched with interest. The only sound now was the thundering of the falls behind me.
Thor slowly obeyed my request, then rose from the water like the god of the seas. Maybe I should have named him Neptune, I thought fuzzily, my gaze moving over his body. The water trickled over thick, well-defined chest muscles, and highlighted his trim waist. It dripped from his hair onto a perfectly shaped forehead and slid sinuously over prominent cheekbones.
Not even his facial hair could hide the sudden softening of his lips, and I felt a familiar stirring inside. It took an effort, but I forced it away. This was no time to get overly friendly with the natives, even if the idea was tempting. I glanced at the enthralled tribe. Maybe another day, when we wouldn’t be turning sex into a spectator sport. I may be a promiscuous gal, but I’m a private one.
Keeping a tight rein on my libido, I moved around him, spritzing him with the soap. It was concentrated and self-activating, so a little went a long way. As soon as it hit his hair and skin, it foamed up into a wealth of lather.
Technically, no scrubbing was required, but I couldn’t resist getting my hands on that wonderful expanse of hot, male territory. I started on his back, sliding my fingers over long corded muscles that flexed under my touch, and then moved on to his front.
Thor’s eyes were closed, his nostrils flaring as though he wanted to catch every scent and imprint it on his consciousness forever. The shampoo did smell good. It wasn’t the loud floral type, but more like the clean earthy scent that fills the air after a thunderstorm.
When I put my palms on his chest, his eyes opened, heavy-lidded and intense, and his head dipped to watch my movements.
The close contact gave me greater access to his emotions, and he was radiating even more than he normally did. I was almost bowled over by his feelings of pleasure, his desire to take the proceedings to the next level. In reaction, and despite my best intentions, the scrubbing turned into a caress.
All my nerve endings went on alert, and time seemed to stand still. Even the small islands of lather drifting on the water slowed to a stop, and the buzzing in my head swelled to a roar.
“Kiera.” I was barely aware that Max had spoken and I didn’t respond, my attention focused solely on Thor.
“Kiera!”
It was the tinge of panic in Max’s voice that snapped me back to the here and now. Panic? Max? I dropped my hands, stepped back, and time began to flow again.
“What’s wrong, Max?”
He sounded a bit calmer when he answered me. “Your heart rate was entering the dangerous zone, and your blood pressure was rising. But it seems to be dropping now.”
I rolled my eyes. Damn medic scanner bracelet. I’d worn it so Max could gather more in-depth information on the Buri physiology, but now he was using it against me. How do you explain the body’s natural preparations for intercourse to an intelligence whose only body is a spaceship? You don’t. And prude that he was, it would only embarrass him if I tried.
“I’m fine, Max. It must have been a momentary aberration.” One that I wasn’t about to let happen again. I had no idea why I seemed to be so attracted to the big guy when I’d sworn off men, but I needed to be very careful around this particular male.
Thor was still standing in front of me covered in lather, but the spell had been broken for him, too. Before I could tell him to rinse, he dove into the water and came up free of the suds.
But I wasn’t quite done with him yet.
Once we were out of the pool, I motioned him down onto a rock, and then retrieved my knapsack. The first thing I took out was a stiff bristled brush. It was oval-shaped with a strap across the back to slide your hand through.
I set to work on his hair and discovered something surprising. Their hair and skin must have evolved to repel rain, because he shed water like a duck. One swipe of the brush, and the hair behind it was dry, silky and glistening with blue-white glimmers in the bright sun. It left me rather envious, and wishing my hair had the same ability.
He sat still and allowed my ministrations, his eyes cutting sideways to keep me in sight as I moved around him. By the time I finished, he was all but purring.
“Like that, do you?” I murmured, giving his hair a final stroke. “One more thing and we’ll be done.”
I was reaching back into my knapsack when Brownie caught my attention. His anger had returned full force. Was he jealous of the special attention Thor was getting? No. Narrowing my eyes I studied him a bit more intently, shields completely down. His anger wasn’t due to jealousy. It was because Thor was accepting my ministrations, accepting me as…
Damn, I’d lost the mental thread.
Frustrated by my inability to clarify his thoughts, I gave up temporarily, went back to what I was doing and pulled a hair clip out of my knapsack. I’d bought over fifty boxes of the clips on ZT Twelve along with lots of brushes, enough for an entire population of Buri. They were relatively inexpensive when bought in bulk, functional and lovely to look at. But the one I held now was special. Not only was it one of a kind, I’d known the second I saw it that it was made for the big guy. Maybe even on ZT Twelve I’d had his name floating in the back of my mind.
The band was solid silver, polished to a high sheen. Emblazoned on its surface was a lightning bolt made of reddish-gold metal that seemed to glow from within. Around it radiated blue lines of static electricity.
I held it down where Thor could see it, and he took it from my hand, examining the clip minutely. He wasn’t even alarmed when it closed around his finger, just mildly curious.
With a nod, he handed it back. Using the brush again, I pulled his hair into a queue and let the clip fasten around it. He looked gorgeous, the colors standing out with stunning clarity against his ebony tresses.
Smiling, I faced him and lifted my hands palms up. “All done.”
The raucous cheers that erupted made me jump and spin to face the tribe. I’d been so intent on what I was doing, and they were so quiet, I’d forgotten they were there.
So had Crigo. At the first yell, he leaped into the air, and then had to scramble to keep from falling into the pool, his claws digging at the rock for purchase. Once he was back on solid ground, his ears flattened and he glared at the Buri, tail twitching in a frenzy of ire.
“Max, any idea why they’re cheering?”
“There is a thirty percent probability that you performed a ritual honoring their leader.”
“Thirty percent isn’t too high.”
“It’s the best I can do without more data.”
I’d swear I heard a sniff in his answer, and I smiled. Sometimes I think he’s more human than I am. But his response did remind me that I’d asked him to check on Junior’s spear markings for me.
“Have you found anything in your files about the Ashwani?” There was a second of silence before he answered, and I knew he was locating whatever he’d found.
“There’s only one mention about their size, along with a notation that the Ashwani’s hair and eye color are the same. For more information we’re directed to the Federation archives.”
Yeah, the hair and eye color, added to the spears the Buri carried were what made me think of the Ashwani in the first place. “Okay, when you get a chance, connect to the archives and get me everything you can find.”
While I dressed, the Buri tribe gathered around Thor to examine his hair and the clip. A few checked out the oddly shaped brush. Choosing a broad, flat rock, I upended the contents of both knapsacks, spreading them out so the Buri could see them clearly.
Turning to invite the tribe to help themselves to the goodies, I was just in time to see a male Buri with light brown hair and eyes spritz the soap into his mouth. His eyes widened in alarm when it activated, filling his mouth with bubbles until he looked like he had a case of old-fashioned rabies.
Thor joined me as I laughed until my sides hurt, a grin wide enough to show strong white teeth curving his lips. Together we watched the Buri spit frantically and then dive into the pool to rinse his mouth. Soon, all the males were in the water, passing the shampoo back and forth between them.
The women ignored their antics in favor of the loot I’d put out, and there was a distinct air of celebration among the tribe.
It was when the women began using the hair clips and barrettes that I noticed Thor wasn’t the only one wearing the black-stoned earrings. But there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to their dispersal. Some of the females wore a single earring in their left ear, and others wore none at all.
I glanced at the males. Junior had no earrings, Elder had one, and, like Thor, Ghost had two, both on the right lobe. Most curious. I didn’t think they were symbols of rank, because if that were the case, only the highest-ranking males would wear two. Ghost obviously wasn’t a leader among his people, or he wouldn’t have been relegated to guard duty.
It was at times like these when I really wished technology had come up with a reliable translator. There were many out there, but unfortunately, they tended to do more harm than good. The problem wasn’t in the languages; it was in the inflection of the spoken words. Say a word one way, and it got you smiles. Say it another way, and it got you dead for insulting someone’s mother.
Even the most sophisticated machine couldn’t tell the difference, and an artificial intelligence like Max was too expensive to waste on such a small task. Given enough time and exposure to the Buri, he would eventually be able to communicate with them on a basic level, but that didn’t help me now. I would simply have to rely on my own ability to extrapolate word meanings from actions and body language and hope I got it right.
With a sigh, I parked myself on a dry rock and watched the Buri play, glancing occasionally at Thor, who stood beside me, hands on his hips. Damn, he smelled good. It took an effort to stop sniffing and keep my attention on the rest of the Buri.
The females were having a grand old time, brushing each other’s hair and putting on as many clips as they could grab. The older woman was the ringleader, snatching a clip from one female and giving it to another, all the while issuing orders like one of the martial-arts instructors from my crèche days. Auntie Em, I decided, smiling.
No one paid the least bit of attention when I stood, picked up a knapsack, and began gathering samples of hair from the brushes. I was careful to keep them separate, placing each in its own little packet until I had specimens from every individual present. DNA testing was going to keep me busy for the next week.
“Max, are you finished with the medical scans?”
“Yes, Kiera.”
“Okay, I’m heading back to the hut now.”
After a brief hesitation, I moved to face Thor. “I have to leave,” I told him, projecting sorrow while I gestured in the direction of my hut.
His brows lowered and he barked out a word, pointing toward one of the smaller buildings.
I shook my head. “I can’t stay. All my equipment is at the hut. But I promise, I’ll be back when I can.”
He studied my face as though trying to read my lips, and his expression cleared. Very gently, he lifted a hand and let his fingers slide down my cheek, then turned and snapped an order at Ghost and Junior. Both Buri stopped playing and grabbed their spears before flanking me, a distinct air of pride emanating from them that hadn’t been there before. Apparently, I’d gone up in status, probably due to the gifts.
With a last look around the village, I turned and walked into the jungle, my Buri honor guard sticking close, with Crigo and my flock of dragon birds bringing up the rear.
Leaning back in my chair, I glanced out the lab door to see the first rays of sunlight filtering through leaves, giving the morning a greenish-gold cast. It took the full week to process the Buri DNA, but as the results began to come in, I spent more and more time in the lab, stunned at what I’d found.
I hit the button that sent the files to Max’s database and on to his archives, then yawned. Cafftea wasn’t going to cut it this time. I needed at least eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
Somehow, I didn’t think I was going to get it.
“Did you double-check the data, Kiera?” Max’s question came as I walked into my living quarters.
“Of course I did. There’s no way to get around the facts. As impossible as it sounds, none of the Buri are related to each other except for Thor and his sister, and the little boy to Brownie and his mate. Brownie and Thor also share a few common alleles, so at a guess I’d say Brownie’s distantly related to Thor and Churka. Second cousins, maybe.”
“Nothing is impossible. We simply haven’t discovered the reason for this anomaly yet.”
I scowled as I ordered a double-strength cafftea from the food unit. There’s nothing like a philosophical AI to make a bad mood even worse. Especially first thing in the morning when you’re suffering from sleep deprivation.
Blowing steam from the cup, I carried it to the table and collapsed on a bench. “The good news is, I found no genetic mutations that would prevent the Buri from reproducing at a normal rate, or giving birth to viable offspring.”
I took a sip from the cup, burning my tongue in the process. Good thing I healed fast. “Have you finished analyzing their medicals yet?”
“Yesterday. I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“And?” I glanced longingly at the lav. Maybe after I got the cafftea down I’d have enough energy to take a shower.
“Other than a few minor anomalies, all the Buri are extremely healthy, and their physiology is almost identical to that of humans. I found no signs of illness or deformity, and no foreign substances in their blood, except in one instance. There’s nothing physical to keep them from reproducing as far as I can tell, and one female is, in fact, gestating. It was in her blood that I found traces of an unknown element that bears a slight resemblance to estrogen.”
I brightened. A pregnancy was very good news. “How far along is she?”
“Approximately three months. And the fetus seems to be fully developed and healthy. It’s another male.”
I scratched a bump on my arm while I tried to think. Orpheus Two had the expected number of insects for a jungle planet, but the majority of them appeared to dislike the taste of humans. Unfortunately, the one that did had found me. Fortunately, my own immune system would take care of the reaction almost immediately. I glanced at the bump and watched it fade away to nothing before responding. “Do you think Dynatec falsified their reports?”
“It could be,” Max responded. “But the fact is, the Buri are a healthy, vital species. They should have a much higher number of offspring, and yet there’s only one living child in the village.”
“Damn. I was hoping this would be easy.” I finished off the cafftea and carried the cup to the recycling unit. “Anything on this Quilla Dorn person yet?”
“Very little. She’s the daughter of a man named Zander Dorn, deceased, who was something of a recluse. Her planet of birth is Furthman Four. She spent three cycles attending a university on Alpha Centauri, but jumped from subject to subject, and never received a degree in one discipline. After that, there’s no record of her until she signed on with Dynatec ten cycles ago.”
Ten cycles ago. Everything about this mission seemed to revolve around that time period. What in the thirteen hells had that exploration team found? And what did Dorn have to do with it?
“Signed on as what?” I stood and headed for the lav, stripping as I went.
“Her personnel records only indicate she’s an executive-level employee.”
I mulled that over as I showered. Executive level could mean anything from CEO to head of personnel. Looked like I needed to pay a visit to the Dynatec crew and meet this Dorn woman. Later. Sleep came first.
“Wake me in eight hours, Max.” I toweled off and was on the verge of climbing into bed when Max interrupted me.
“The Buri females are approaching, Kiera.”
A groan escaped my lips. Every day for the last week, Churka, Thor’s sister, had shown up at the hut bearing gifts. Nothing major, just dishes of food or bunches of flowers. But she gave off such an air of happiness when I accepted them that I didn’t want to risk offending her by refusing the items.
She was always accompanied by another female, usually Auntie Em, and at least two Buri males. They never stayed long, and like the males, the women were uneasy about entering my quarters, looking with vague feelings of suspicion at all the gizmos the hut contained.
All of them except Auntie Em, that is. She seemed fascinated by the hut’s contents. I had to keep the doors to the storage room and lab locked when she was on the premises. During her first visit, she’d punched so many buttons on the food unit that it jammed. It took me the better part of two hours to repair it.
She was a fast learner, though. The last time she was here she’d discovered the combination that produced Panga ale, a beerlike drink that could curl the hair of a confirmed lush with one small glass. And she drank it like water, smacking her lips with glee and exhibiting no effects from the liquor.
I’d love to take her to Jolaria’s Jewel on ZT Twelve someday and make a few wagers on her drinking capacity. I could probably pay off my indenture with the winnings.
“Is Auntie Em with Churka this time?” I asked Max.
“Yes. I’ve already locked the inner doors.”
“Thank you.”
I slipped into my robe and went to open the front door for them. Though half asleep, I noticed the way Junior perked up when Churka appeared. She pretty much ignored him, but it was obvious the boy had a bad case of puppy love, his gaze following her with such longing that I felt sorry for him. Even without her amazing beauty, being one of only fifteen females meant she could have her pick of the available Buri males. Poor Junior probably didn’t stand a chance.
Although I’d never experienced it personally, I’d heard young love among Naturals could be quite crushing. GEPs are raised to believe sex is simply another biological function, a lot more fun than using the lav, but nothing to get in a dither about. We’re taught from the beginning that for most of us, there’s no chance of a lifelong commitment, and my last disastrous affair had certainly proved that theory true.
Not that there’s any law preventing GEPs from marrying, but Naturals either can’t cope with our superior skills and makeup, or they become obsessed with them to the point of worship. Neither option makes for a good marriage, and the few GEPs that have tried ended up divorced.
As for marriages between GEPs, it isn’t financially or spatially feasible. Each of us is created with a specific job in mind, and the company who orders us pays dearly for our creation. Until that debt is repaid, we live where the company puts us, and go where they tell us to go. It’s our job, one we’ve been designed for and love doing. So, there’s not much sense in marrying when your partner is likely to be stationed on the other side of the universe.
While we may not enjoy our solitary status, we learn to live with it. Which is why I could empathize with Junior.
Churka smiled as she slipped by me into the hut. Auntie Em made a beeline for the food unit and punched up the Panga ale. I couldn’t help but grimace as I watched her take a long drink. It was barely daylight and the woman was already guzzling alcohol. She must have had a stomach of tempered steel.
After making two more cups of cafftea, I carried them to the table and handed one to Churka. She sipped delicately, then put the cup on the table and removed a leather bag that was fastened at her waist.
Since Auntie Em had co-opted one side of the table, I joined Churka on the other side, smiling as she handed me the bag. Both women went still as I examined it, a look of uncertainty on their faces. Whatever was in the bag was important to them.
There was a metallic clink as I turned it in my hands, but for now, the bag itself held my attention. It was the finest leather I’d ever seen, soft as velvet and cured to a creamy eggshell white. The seams were hand-sewn instead of chemically fused, the stitches tight and even. The workmanship was excellent. On ZT Twelve, handmade items like this bag would send the fashion industry into a feeding frenzy.
Churka fidgeted anxiously on the bench, and I gave her a reassuring smile as I opened the drawstring and let the contents slide onto the table. My gasp was involuntary as I saw what she’d brought.
Two armlets of beaten gold lay in front of me, shooting sparks of sunlight to dance in prisms of color from the ceiling. Like the ones the female Buri wore, each was over an inch wide and designed to fit the upper arm.
But that was where the similarity stopped, because these were decorated to a fare-thee-well.
Gingerly—almost afraid to breathe—I picked one up. Dragon birds, etched in bold relief, danced across the surface. They were intertwined with clusters of flowers whose petals were an inlay of what looked like mother-of-pearl in a golden-tan shade. The center of each flower was the same shade of green as my eyes.
Stunned, I glanced at Churka. “These are for me?”
“Choorr,” she growled. The Buri had trouble with “Ts”, but I knew what she meant.
“Thor sent them?” Sudden nerves had my palms clammy. In other low-tech cultures I’d dealt with, a gift like this usually implied commitment. Since I lacked the benefit of several cycles’ worth of xenologists’ findings, I wasn’t sure what it meant to the Buri or how to react.
“Max, any idea why Thor would be giving me a gift like these armlets?”
“Since all the Buri wear them, there is a sixty-one percent probability that they’re adopting you into the tribe.”
Frustration filled Churka’s eyes at my apparent hesitation. Before I could move, she reached out and placed her fingertips against my temples. Lines of strain formed around her mouth, and abruptly I was receiving images. Not emotions—images. Fuzzy ones to be sure, but there was no doubt what was happening.
In my mind, I saw myself fasten the silver clip in Thor’s hair. From there, the picture changed to Thor alone, hammer in his hand as he worked on the armlets.
The images stopped the instant Churka dropped her hands. Her skin was pale and sweat beaded her forehead, but she looked satisfied.
Great goddess of the fifth hell, she was telepathic! The number of races discovered to have psi talents were so slim I could count them on one hand and have fingers left over. I was so excited I almost forgot what she’d shown me.
Thor, slaving away over the armlets he’d made just for me. I blinked, then looked down at them. By all rights, I shouldn’t keep the jewelry. Their value far outweighed the silver hair clip I’d given him, and I wasn’t sure it was fair to let them adopt me when I’d only be here, at most, two months.
I opened my mouth to tell her I couldn’t take the gift, and then closed it again. Damn it, I wanted those armlets, no matter how wrong it was. Thor had made them for me, and I’d never really belonged anywhere before. The idea of being adopted by the Buri was strangely appealing. Plus, I really didn’t want to risk insulting them by refusing to accept the bands.
Slowly, I picked them up and slid them onto my arms.
Churka let out a squeal of excitement and pounced on me, hugging the breath right out of me before kissing both my cheeks. Auntie Em growled something at her, and Churka flushed.
Releasing me, she rose to her feet, gave me a short, formal bow and made a speech I couldn’t understand.
Weird.
But the armlets felt right on my arms, picking up the warmth from my skin like they were a living part of me. And my acceptance of them certainly seemed to make Churka’s day. Even Auntie Em was smiling and nodding as she gulped down the last of her drink.
They didn’t stay long after that. Churka, especially, appeared to be in a hurry to return home. As soon as they were gone, I shed my robe and stepped to the mirror that covered one wall of the lav.
Turning this way and that to highlight the armlets, I admired my reflection. The petals on the flowers were the exact color of my hair, I realized.
GEPs tend not to get sentimental about material things. After all, we have no family antiques that have been handed down from generation to generation, and there would be no one to leave such items to if we acquired them, since normal GEPs can’t have children. And things are, after all, just things. Easily lost, easily replaced. But I knew I would keep these armlets forever.
With a sigh, I climbed into bed. Sleep eluded me, however. I couldn’t stop thinking about Churka’s use of telepathy. It had obviously required a lot of effort on her part, and yet that she could do it at all was amazing. Humans were one of the only species that had shown any shred of psi talent.
I’d suspected from the beginning that Thor was picking up my emotions, and Churka was his sibling. So, did that mean the talent ran in families, or could all the Buri do it?
It was one more mystery among the dozens I was trying to unravel, and probably the least important. But I couldn’t help hoping. If I could communicate with Thor, really communicate, it might help solve all the other problems.
A sound distracted me, and I shifted to watch Crigo enter the hut through the bottom door panel. From the odor that preceded him, he’d been out hunting again last night.
Nose to the floor, he followed the Buri’s scent around the table, then came toward the bed to see if I was still in one piece. Starting at my feet, he sniffed his way up my length until he came to the new armbands.
Abruptly, his ears flattened and a low snarl issued from his curled-up lips.
“What’s your problem?” I asked him. “These are just an adoption gift from the Buri. Thor made them.”
Before I could dodge, he raised a huge paw and swatted the bands so hard one of them flew from my arm. Luckily, he kept his claws sheathed.
“Hey!” I jumped up and scrambled after the band, examining it closely to make sure it wasn’t damaged while the cat glared at me. A sigh of relief escaped me when I discovered it was still in one piece, and I slid it carefully back on my arm before turning to Crigo.
“Okay, what’s going on? Why don’t you like the armlets? They’re just jewelry.”
He continued to glare, his gaze shifting from me to the gold bands and back again. Frustration and—I frowned. Worry? Anxiety? Whichever it was, the emotion poured off him in waves.
Puzzled, I tilted my head and studied him. “Max, any theories on why he doesn’t want me wearing the armlets?”
“Nothing statistically valid, Kiera. Maybe he’s picking up a scent on them he doesn’t like. Or maybe he’s simply jealous of the Buri and wants to keep you to himself. He could see the gift as a threat to his ownership.”
“Huh.” I knelt in front of him and took his face in my hands so we were eye to eye. “Listen up, cat. It doesn’t matter if the Buri adopt me. You’re still my family, and nothing is going to change that.”
He stared at me a second longer, his feelings changing to disgust, then flopped to the floor and stretched out, effectively shutting me off.
Once again, I studied an armlet as I returned to my bunk. Not even the zorfa’s ass had ever given me a gift, and we’d been together almost a cycle. That Thor had done so warmed a place deep inside me, even if it was part of some adoption ritual. “Max?”
“Yes, Kiera?”
“What do you think this mother-of-pearl stuff is?”
“It appears to be from the shells of the crustaceans my cameras have picked up at the edge of the lake. I’ve seen hundreds of different colors, but in structure they are similar to clams.”
“And the green stones in the center of the flowers?”
“Quartz. Of good quality, and sliced extremely thin, but in and of itself, not valuable. This planet seems to have an overabundance of it. The gold, however, is of a very high grade. Combined with the workmanship, I’d say they are worth a fortune.”
I let my eyes drift shut. “They aren’t for sale,” I murmured. Letting the images Churka had shown me play through my head, I smiled. Well, I’ll be damned. Thor had a hammer after all. It was my last thought before sleep claimed me.