A Stellar Affair Read online

  Chapter Two

  Nintu V, a Tetch Planet, one year later

  Ardra straightened her back with a groan and wiped her hands on her pant legs.

  “It’s got to be the chemical levels in the soil,” she said, though there was no one around to hear her.

  She was alone inside the greenhouse, and everything was quiet except for the gentle hum of the automated machines that maintained the fields. Unfortunately, despite the best climate control, nutrient spreaders and irrigation systems Tetch credits could buy, she was surrounded by withering green stalks—a sad testament to the elusive problem. The sweat dripped from her brow as she bent down to pull a cylinder from her pack.

  “Well,” she told the plants, “there’s nothing to do but take another sample. Sorry guys.”

  The pitiful vegetation remained impassive as she gathered the soil for her analysis. When she had what she needed, she returned the container to her pack, slung it over her shoulder and started the long march out of the greenhouse dome. She had to admit she was more than a little disappointed.

  Ardra was a level II botanist in the Genetic Engineering and Hybridization Department, Plant Division—GEHD PD for short. They’d been trying to get this crop right for seven months—nearly the entire time she had been here—and it was her turn to take a stab at fixing it. She knew others had already run soil tests, but she didn’t know what else to try.

  What she really wanted to work on were the hybridization experiments. She enjoyed those. To her, they were a grown-up version of a children’s joke—what do you get if you cross a… Ironically, Kale, the man who ran those projects, was a hybrid himself, although no one ever pointed that out. In his case, he was a cross between a Japanese Earthling and a Nintu V native, and the result was drop-dead gorgeous. This, at least, was the consensus of all the available females—and a couple of the males—who knew him. To their dismay, his perfect wife already enjoyed this fact—strong support for human cloning.

  The rest of GEHD PD, and GEHD overall, for that matter, consisted of more average and sometimes less-than-average physiques. Ardra seemed to raise more eyebrows than pulses, and she was just as happy to stick with plant life.

  As she walked along the row toward the door, she pulled her orders out of her pocket and looked at them for the tenth time. The words were stamped in obtrusive bold.

  “Ardra Kelly, Employee #1562304—Transferred.”

  The last word summed up the orders, but there was plenty of tiny print below it. She still wasn’t sure how she felt.

  Although she couldn’t say why, she had never felt comfortable here on Nintu V. If she did a good job at the new site, she might earn enough credits to get out of the commune and into a private apartment. With population increases raising the demand, she might then get lucky and, in turn, sell the apartment for a profit. That would give her the funds to move to a little house on the outskirts where she could finally have her own garden. She had wanted a garden for a long time—nothing fancy, just a plot of simple, unaltered plant life.

  Sonja, her friend and coworker, encouraged her, but Sonja was only interested in the part about selling for profit. Sometimes Ardra got the feeling there wasn’t a single person on the planet who understood her. It wasn’t the money she was after. It was the freedom.

  She reached the greenhouse door and passed into the cooler atmosphere beyond. With her pack still in tow, she kicked the mud off her boots before she went to the laboratory building. The air inside was filtered and cooled almost too much, but she enjoyed the initial chill. She walked down the hall to Lab 12 and discovered one of the student techs working in the corner. What was the girl’s name? Melissa? Meissa?

  “How are you?” Ardra didn’t try to insert a name.

  The girl glanced up. “I’m fine, thanks. How’s the…the…” She pointed in the general direction of the greenhouse to fill in the rest.

  Ardra smiled. “Well, it was already messed up when I got it. I’ll take a crack at it, but I’m not taking the blame.”

  “There you go.” Meissa, or whatever her name was, returned her attention to her lab work.

  Ardra set her pack on the table. When she removed her sample, she noticed something moving in the bottom of the sack. She pulled the bag farther open and almost laughed when she realized what it was. An earthworm.

  “Of course, you’re not on Earth anymore, are you, little guy? We ought to be calling you a nintuworm.”

  The mention of Earth made her sad. She wanted so badly to see the mother planet—had always wanted to make the pilgrimage—but she couldn’t afford it. If she spent the credits on travel, she could kiss her chances of ever owning her own house goodbye. She would just have to keep picturing Earth in her dreams.

  “You won’t be going to Earth either,” she whispered to the little worm. “You were probably engineered right here and then released into the garden to do your work. I bet you—”

  She stopped as an idea hit her. Could the worms be causing the growth problems? Maybe they were secreting something?

  Five minutes later, convinced that she was on to something, Ardra stopped by the changing room to slip into clean clothes and then headed across the street to Kale’s office.

  “You’ll have to wait,” his assistant told her when she arrived. “He’s in the middle of a conference communication right now.”

  Ardra opened her mouth to respond but then snapped it shut and took a seat. She knew all transmissions except for short-range bursts were forbidden right now, but it wasn’t her place to ask what Kale was really doing. As it was, she didn’t have to wait long.

  “You can go in now,” the assistant announced a few minutes later. “He’s ready.”

  Ardra thanked the woman and headed for Kale’s office. The door was open, but she wasn’t even through it when she heard the shout.

  “Surprise!”

  Ardra grinned and shook her head as she saw her colleagues and friends gathered there to see her off.

  “You didn’t think we’d let you get through your last day without a going-away party, did you?” Her friend Sonja didn’t wait for an answer as she threw her arms around Ardra’s neck.

  “I didn’t know word had gotten around so quickly,” she confessed.

  A general hubbub filled the room as several of her associates came over to shake her hand or give her a hug. She was touched, but there were really only two people she wanted to talk to. Sonja was meeting her tomorrow to see her off at the boarding dock, so they would say their true goodbyes then. As for Kale, who was more or less her boss, she grabbed her chance to speak to him as soon as everyone was busy eating.

  “We’ll really miss you around here, Miss Kelly,” he told her.

  “Thank you.” She accepted the compliment and tried not to cringe at the formal way he called her Miss Kelly. She hated that.

  “You’ve been very valuable to the company,” he said. “It’s hard to get people like you these days. They’ll be lucky to have you at the next job. Where is it you’re transferring to again?”

  “Algoron.”

  “That’s quite a ways out, isn’t it?”

  She nodded at the understatement. “On an unmodified transport, I’m looking at four months, give or take, but first I have a stopover at Simos.”

  “Of course you do.” He laughed. “It doesn’t matter where you go in this galaxy, you always have to stop over in Simos. What’s that joke? Simos says freeze?”

  “Something like that.” That didn’t sound right to her, but she didn’t really care. “By the way, I think I might have a going-away present for you.”

  “Oh?”

  “You know our supposed soil problem over in the main greenhouse?”

  “You solved it?” He looked like he didn’t dare hope.

  He, like everybody else, had to be sick of dealing with that ill-fated crop.

  “I think I may have,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a soil problem, though. I think it’s the earthworms.”

/>   He looked surprised. “Earthworms?”

  “Yeah. It’s just a hunch, but I’ve got a strong feeling on this one. After all, we’ve already ruled out genetic degeneration, soil imbalance and contagion. As far as I can tell, the earthworms are the only variable we haven’t considered.”

  She hadn’t expected it to be quite this easy, but her answer seemed to satisfy him. “You’ve got to be right. Those people over in the Zoology Division are always screwing up stuff like this. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re behind this whole mess. Have you had time to run any tests?”

  “No. I have to get out of here early if I’m going to be ready to leave tomorrow. I left one of the worms with a lab tech. You can have someone check it whenever you get the chance.”

  He took her hand and gave it a hardy shake. “I hope they appreciate you over on Algoron. If you ever need a recommendation, let me know.”

  She smiled. While she wasn’t financially wealthy, she had obviously earned a lot of respect.

  The next morning, Ardra stood on platform B323 with her transfer orders in hand and a heavy bag on her shoulder. It was hard to believe everything she owned could be packed into one suitcase, but she lived a Spartan lifestyle while she saved up credits. The announcement for the boarding of transport ship Oberon was nearly drowned out by a welcome-to-Nintu-V message from the neighboring dock. She took a deep breath and looked at Sonja. This was it. It was time for her to go, and this was as far as they would let her friend accompany her.

  “I’m going to miss you,” Ardra told her.

  “I’m going to miss you too.” Sonja’s eyes welled up. “Who’s going to entertain me now? You can only get so much fun out of harassing the techs.”

  Ardra laughed. “I’m sure you’ll find ways to amuse yourself. I’m the one who should be worried. I’ll be on the other side of the galaxy all by myself on a planet I know nothing about. What am I going to do?”

  “You’re going to be fine.” Her friend stiffened her upper lip. “Just watch. You’ll make new friends and forget all about us.”

  “Never.”

  They gave each other a last big hug.

  “Now get going,” Sonja said with a shove. “You’ll miss your flight and blame it all on me. Hurry up.”

  Ardra smiled. Then she sprinted the rest of the way toward the boarding zone. Just before she slipped out of sight, she glanced back. Sonja looked like a distant speck on the platform below, but her little hand was clearly visible above her head as she waved.

  “Goodbye,” Ardra whispered.

  She stepped onto the ship, where a uniformed woman led her through the dimly lit interior. Ardra’s first thought was that her company certainly flew its employees on the cheap. Despite its weighty name, the Oberon was a small transport vessel. The fact that half of its compartments were being used for cargo storage only made it more cramped. Large metal cubes were packed into every corner, and the recirculated air was stuffy.

  This was where she would spend the next few months? No, this only had to be for the trip to Simos. They would probably change ships at the space station in a few days.

  The flight worker showed her to a small room on the right side of the central corridor. As Ardra peeked inside, she didn’t know whether she felt relieved or provoked. There was only one bed, which meant she wouldn’t have to share the room, but the bed was only a fold-down platform along the wall.

  “Um, excuse me,” she said. “Are all the quarters like this?”

  The woman looked at her politely. “Yes, Miss Kelly.”

  Ardra refrained from scowling. “Do you know how many people will be on board?”

  “Three, including yourself.”

  “Does that include the pilot?” she asked.

  “This craft is preprogrammed. There is no organic pilot.”

  No organic pilot? The woman could have said there was no human pilot. Who expected an alien these days? No one ever saw the aliens anymore, and Ardra didn’t think one would chauffer a bunch of humans around in this space junk, anyway.

  There was nothing to do but tough it out. The flight worker walked away, presumably to assist the other two passengers. Ardra closed the door and dropped her bag.

  “Can’t wait to find out who’s keeping me company,” she said sarcastically.

  She didn’t emerge from her room again until that evening, after the Oberon was well underway. Her growling stomach sent her in search of food. An instructional recording near the door told her where to find the economy dining hall—a magnificent facility that turned out to be little more than a large closet with a side pantry and table. Apparently, such was the worth of employee #1562304. It was here that she first saw her fellow travelers.

  One was a young blond man in uniform that she sized up with two words—boy soldier. He was cute with his brown eyes and clear complexion, but he looked a little scrawny for a warrior. Although he might have met the minimum age requirement for military duty, he could easily have passed for sixteen. Unless he had a mind for malice under that baby-smooth exterior, she couldn’t imagine the enemy feeling threatened.

  As for the second passenger, she might as well have called him Father Time. This man was clearly at the other end of life. Although he stood up straight, his body was littered with wrinkles, and he had a nest of grisly gray hair atop his head. Such age blemishes were usually youthanized, but those treatments were expensive. Anyone on board this ship probably didn’t have half-a-dozen credits to his name.

  “Hi,” she told them. “I’m Ardra Kelly.”

  The young soldier was the first to shake her hand. “Private Tarrin Thales.”

  “Basner Slade,” the older man said. He clasped her palm more gently. “Everyone calls me Slade. It’s nice to meet you, Miss Kelly.”

  “You too.” She looked around at the pathetic dining hall. “I’m sure glad our inorganic pilot isn’t hungry. I don’t think we could squeeze him into this fine establishment.”

  Tarrin snorted, but Slade looked a little embarrassed. Maybe he had been a gentleman of better means in his younger days.

  A quick inventory of the pantry revealed nothing but rehydrated fare. She selected something that passed for stew and sat at the table. The best she could say for it was that it was warm and filling.

  She glanced up from her bowl when her fellow passengers sat across from her with their own meals. “Are you both heading to Algoron too?”

  Tarrin nodded. “Military orders. I’m surprised they put me on a civilian vessel, but I guess they didn’t have any other ships heading that way.”

  He took a big bite of stew and actually let out a satisfied hum. Either the young soldier hadn’t eaten for a while, or she had to wonder what the military had been feeding him.

  “How about you?” he asked after he swallowed.

  “I work as a botanist for GEHD PD,” she told him. “I’ve been given a work transfer.”

  “You must be good with plants then.” Slade gave her a small smile. “I never could get anything to grow. My wife was always the one with the green thumb.”

  The old man’s grin faded, and Ardra picked up that his wife was no longer with him. She swallowed a last mouthful of stew and tried to lighten the mood.

  “So I won’t be working with you at GEHD PD?” she teased him.

  Slade let out a breathy laugh. “No, I’m a machinist. Retired now. I’m going to Algoron to visit an old friend.”

  Ardra envied him that. She wished she had a friend waiting for her at the end of this trip.

  Wanting to be polite, she stayed and talked for a few more minutes before she got up and stowed her dishes. Then she returned to her room, where she cleaned up and crawled into bed. Unfortunately, although she was tired, she struggled to fall asleep.

  She was always stressed when she traveled, and the hum of the vessel’s engines and the intractable mattress conspired against her. Even the red exit light over the door irritated her. She rolled onto her side so she wouldn’t have to look at it
and had a weird impulse to reach for the empty space next to her in bed. As if she might suddenly find someone there.

  “Just stress,” she said aloud.

  She had occasionally had this sensation before and had learned to ignore it.

  Shutting her eyes, she forced herself to go to sleep.

  Space Station Simos

  It took four days to reach Simos, but five to actually board the space station. The Oberon hit a traffic jam coming in for docking and was delayed a whole extra day. Several times, Ardra held her breath watching some of the larger transports brush past them. The computer pilots were supposed to be better than humans, but despite her Tetch upbringing, she found it hard to have faith in a bunch of wires and outdated programming. She was relieved when they finally disembarked.

  Laid over until the next afternoon, she had plenty of time to stretch her legs. She stepped away from the platform and looked around to get her bearings. Simos was one of the largest space stations on this side of the galaxy, and it was the undisputed hub of travel for this region. There were people everywhere, some desperately searching for the right platform, others running to catch their flights and more than a few just milling around and biding their time.

  She glanced at Tarrin and Slade and saw they looked as overwhelmed as she felt. Pulling her travel papers out of her bag, she found the name of her hotel, the Mimosa Inn. She wondered if the men were also going to stay there, but she was distracted before she could ask. A dark-haired fellow wearing what she presumed was the station uniform jogged up to them. He was sweating and sounded out of breath.

  “Mr. Slade? Mr. Thales? Miss Kelly?” He glanced at all three of them in turn. “I’m Victor Sargas. I was supposed to meet you right at the ship, but they changed your landing dock at the last minute. I ran all the way over here from platform C. Please, if you’ll come with me, I’ll take you to your rooms.”

  Before Ardra could respond, he turned and walked quickly through the crowd. Afraid she would lose him, she followed at a trot with Tarrin and Slade right behind her. She shook her head in disbelief. Her employers flew her coach but hired an attendant to meet her at the station? What was wrong with their priorities?