“Well, they were,” Terra said firmly. She frowned. “Look—is the path leading us into that building?”
All this time, they had been walking down the featureless white street with the enormous buildings rising on either side of them, but now the path appeared to be leading into a smaller building which was only a single story high.
“Should we follow it or try to go around on the other side of the building?” Terra asked.
“Let’s go around to the other side and see if it continues there,” Rive suggested.
“Rive’s right—I don’t fuckin’ like going into their domiciles or businesses here,” V’rone growled. “It’s fucking weird how nobody talks to anybody else or even looks at them.”
Which was true, Tem thought. In the time they had been here on DY-12, he hadn’t seen anyone in the crowds of people say a single word to anyone else. And there was no non-verbal communication, either. No one even looked up to meet anyone else’s eyes.
It was like a society of robots—though the DY-12 inhabitants didn’t look robotic. They were humanoid and looked like the humans of Earth to Tem. Most of them had pasty complexions and all of them had the same hairstyle with the hair shorn so close to their heads they were almost bald.
Rive’s suggestion about going around the building seemed like a reasonable one—after all, it was much smaller than the enormous structures rising into the air on either side of the busy pedestrian walkway or the road beyond, which was filled with exclusively white vehicles.
They trooped around the back side of the building and found an exit doorway—but no golden path.
“Where did it go?” Terra asked, frowning.
“There are two possibilities,” Rive said. “Either the path ends inside the building and the door we seek to the next world is there…”
“Or you can’t skip steps,” V’rone growled. “So maybe…”
“Maybe we have to go exactly the way the path leads in order to get to the door to the next world,” Tem suggested, finishing his colony-mate’s thought.
Terra sighed.
“Well, I guess we’d better go find out. Come on.”
And the four of them went back around to the front of the small building. Once again, they could see the glowing golden path, leading into the front door of the structure.
“We don’t know what we’re walking into. Stay together and keep the Queen in the center of the colony,” V’rone said.
At once Tem and Rive came to help him surround Terra.
“Hey!” she protested. “Now, I can’t see! All of you are too damn tall!”
“We are only trying to protect you, my Lady,” Tem said, looking down at her.
“I don’t think I need protection here,” Terra said, frowning. “After all, nobody has even looked at us—even though we stand out like a sore thumb around here, you know?”
“Like a what?” V’rone demanded. “What the fuck does that mean?”
“V’rone is right,” Rive said, frowning. “I fail to see how the four of us bear any resemblance to an injured digit.”
“Maybe it’s an Earth saying,” Tem said tentatively. He had been in favor of the three of them learning more Earth sayings and norms, but V’rone and Rive had been so certain they would never find a human female who would be able to be their Queen, they hadn’t studied nearly as much as they should.
To his surprise, Terra flashed him a smile.
“That’s it exactly, Tem—it’s an Earth saying. It just means we stick out because we look so different from everyone else. It’s clear we don’t belong here,” she added, for V’rone and Rive’s benefit.
“I see. Thank you for that explanation.” Rive nodded.
“You’re welcome. Now can I please see where I’m going?” Terra asked, shoving at V’rone’s broad back, since the Brawn of their colony was planted firmly in front of her. “I’ll let you know if I feel like I need protection, okay?”
“Well…all right. For now, anyway.”
V’rone frowned and stepped reluctantly out of her way.
Terra stepped forward to the front of their three-male phalanx and Tem couldn’t help grinning. One of the things he loved about Terra was that she stood up for herself and had a mind of her own. A Queen needed to be a strong, fearless female—how else could her colony look up to her?
V’rone looked like he wanted to protest but Terra was already on the move. Without another backwards glance, she followed the glowing golden path straight into the blank white building and the rest of them were forced to rush to keep up with her.
Tem just hoped this wouldn’t end badly.
SEVENTEEN
At first Terra wasn’t sure what the building was—then she saw rows and rows of shelves, all filled with products and realized what it reminded her of.
“It’s like a gas station or a convenience store,” she muttered to herself as her eyes roamed over the products that appeared to be for sale. Most of them seemed to be covered in some kind of clear wrapping like cellophane or plastic and they were all labeled in plain black script. Thanks to the shot of translation bacteria she’d had, Terra found she was able to read the labels.