Epilogue
Three months later
Terri hoppedoff the medical platform—really more like med-bed—as Veral studied the results. Ever since they left Earth, he’d insisted on weekly monitoring of the embryo. Given the satisfied look on his face, she knew that the results were still positive. Terri only disliked the regular exams because it reminded her of how her pregnancy would be. Even at three months, her baby was a teeny tiny lifeform developing very slowly in her womb, so there wasn’t much to get excited about for some time yet.
In the meantime, she preferred to keep her hands busy.
His eyes slid over to her. “Scans show you are in good health and the embryo is on target for development. The nano signature is already strong. You need to eat more of the axna fruit that we picked up at the space station, however, to boost your vitamin intake.”
Terri groaned and made a face. The fruit native to Argurumal was disgusting. It was green with an almost tear-drop shape and covered with spines. She could live with that. Veral was always careful to peel the fruit and segment it for her. What she disliked though was the dry, leathery texture and nutty, meaty flavor that she couldn’t bring herself to enjoy.
Her mate caught her look of revulsion and rumbled in disapproval. She gave him an innocent smile in return. “I’ll try to eat more,” she amended solemnly. “So where are we headed to next?”
Aside from plenty of alone time with Veral and enjoying a very active sex life, Terri never ceased to be amazed by space travel. She’d come to learn that their ship did more than just salvage, though that was the bulk of their income. It was also supported by regular retrievals for odd clients. They had already delivered a heavy bride-price in jewels and escorted a princess of Nizzirn to her new husband, after which they traveled to the arctic planet of Waivul to retrieve a large shipment of native furs to deliver to a trader on the Xenxinexa Space Station.
Every day was an adventure, though she suspected that Veral was picking through the job offers for those which had minimal actual adventure. They had yet to do another salvage job, but when he illustrated for her how such operations usually went, it sounded dull enough that she didn’t mind.
Although his caution frustrated her at times, such as the way he’d kept her on a short leash throughout the space station and had forbidden her from exploring large portions of it, she couldn’t be too mad. Everything was so new to her that it took little to entertain her. If Veral tended to be broodier and more possessive over her and their unborn offspring, it didn’t often show—well, except for that incident with the Manvi. It had attempted to touch her and then had two of its tentacles ripped off and shoved so far down its throat that it had to be taken the emergency medical bay. The Manvi had been fine—the species apparently breathed through gills—but the males on the space station gave them a wide berth after that.
Her mate’s eyes gleamed at her, not at all fooled by her tactic. “After you eat your fruit, we will be heading to the Megnax system. There is wreckage on the planet that we are being paid well to salvage and return all valuables to the royal house of Grez’na.”
Terri leaned forward, eyes wide with excitement. “Was the ship brought down by pirates?”
Veral frowned. “I did not think to ask. That may change the situation…”
“What pirates hang around wreckage?” she scoffed. “Pirates sink ships, raid, and move on with whatever treasure they find. Sometimes burying it and setting elaborate traps. You really should readTreasure Island. It’s already in your database,” she remarked.
Thanks to a common implant that nearly everyone in the Federation had, Veral had been able to upload basic reading comprehension skills for her language, as well as a few common trade languages. She’d once looked at the tattered remains of books longingly, wondering what worlds were held within their pages. She had far-off memories of her grandmother reading to her and wondered what she had been missing all this time. As soon as she received the download, Terri spent hours reading files of Earth books that he had downloaded, soaking them in voraciously, book after book.
Her mate chuffed. “If you say so, anastha. I will perhaps take that into consideration. Regardless, I will scout the area thoroughly for any sign of pirates before we go anywhere near the planet.”
He turned and headed toward the command center, Terri hot on his heels.
“Perhaps it is acursedtreasure,” she said with glee.
Her mate chuffed and nudged her with his forearm. Terri wrapped her arms around the appendage and hugged it to her chest. But when she stepped away to release him, he stopped her. His vibrissae twined through her hair and he pulled her up against his body, resting his jaw and mandibles affectionately on top of her head. She grinned up at him and snuggled into his embrace. She couldn’t wait to begin yet another new adventure with her mate. Sometimes it almost didn’t feel real.
On the nights when she dreamed of Earth, she would wake up in a cold sweat, certain that meeting Veral had all been a dream and that she was still foraging among the ruins, eating out of cans that she was fortunate enough to find, starving as she slowly died. On those nights, Veral’s arms would instinctively react to the tension in her body, tightening around her so that she knew she was lying in the circle of her mate’s arms.
It was all it took to dispel those nightmares.
She knew that someday her memories of the broken and dying planet would eventually fade—though from time to time she would think of Josie, Meg, and Becky, hoping they were well—and then she would be free to fully enjoy the long life ahead of her at his side.
She had a lifetime of adventures waiting for her.