Hope you had a wonderful Easter. We sure did...which is why I'm a little late to post today's episode of my aquatic science fiction romance, The Shell and the Star. (Sorry about that!)
To recap the ending of last week's segment, Trey was trying to convince a very hesitant Jinn to leave her protective enviro-bubble and join him in swimming the Veros ocean. This is completely beyond her experience!
For those just tuning in, you can catch up on the entire novel posted to date if you follow this link:
For those back for the new addition to the story, here's how we left Trey and Jinn last week:
“I can’t communicate with you outside my bubble. I’d need my translator.”
“You won’t. I’ve been speaking Talstaric all along. Your voice unit didn’t need to translate my words and I don’t need to translate yours. My father saw to it my brother and I learned your language.” He beckoned to her with both hands. “So come swimming.”
She gave her head a shake. “This is crazy.”
“Think of it as an adventure.”
Did she dare? Should she risk doing something no one on Talstar had ever done? Maybe if she conquered her fears and met this challenge, she could tell her sisters of her bravery. They might look on her with more favor. For once.
Jinn the Adventurer.
She glanced at the top seal of her bubble unit and then at her suitor. “You won’t let go of me?”
Trey’s eyes went soft. “Never.”
Bracing her hands on the controls above her head, Jinn held her breath and opened the seal. The hatch slid back and fresh air rushed in—warm and humid—but no water lapped over the rim.
He switched off the voice
synthesizer at his throat. “You see. Your bubble won’t sink.”
Her heart did a little somersault
at hearing him speak, his real voice unfiltered by the voice translator. And
such a deep, resonant voice it was.
The bubble bobbed and floated. The
breeze carried in a salty scent, exotic and organic compared to the scrubbed
oxygen of Talstar.
Jenn hit the controls to raise her
console couch up closer to the opening and with wobbling legs, she climbed up
slowly to perch on the top of the seat, drawing deep breaths as she stared down
at the gentle waves. Her increased respiration wasn’t merely nerves. Sitting in
the cushioned comfort of her pilot’s couch took little effort, but trying to
stand against the full gravity of the planet would be another thing altogether.
“Here,” Trey said, swimming close
beside. “I’ll help you.”
He kicked his feet hard, rising up
in the water. She slipped one foot out of her bubble onto the top curve of her
sphere and he rose up to cup her waist. He had strong, but gentle hands.
Lifting her clear of the bubble, he eased her into the warm surf beside him.
She threw both arms around his neck, clinging to him in terror. The water
lapped at her chin and she dreaded being sucked down beneath the waves. She
felt helpless and vulnerable in Trey’s world.
“It’s all right,” he soothed; his voice
warm and gentle at her ear. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
Jinn became achingly aware of his
hard body pressed against hers—solid, steady…and safe. His muscular shoulders
became her haven, his arms her life preservers.
She’d never thought she could put
this much faith in a stranger, and an alien stranger at that. How had he coaxed
her out of the safety of her bubble and into his arms? She was reluctant to
think too hard about the answer to that question.
“Hold on to the side,” Trey said,
edging her closer to her bubble. Once she had a grip on a handhold, he reached
down into the water and she felt his hands on her ankle, then the pliable
warmth as he slid something over each of her feet.
His fins!
The supple material molded to her
smaller feet, and she found alternating her legs in a slow back-and-forth
motion made it easy to keep her head above water. Trey resurfaced and slipped
his handfins over her palms, then showed her how to take her first experimental
stroke.
It wasn’t so different from using
limb action to move about in the zero gravity chambers on Talstar, there was
just a lot more resistance against her movements. But…he was right. It was even
a little fun. Jinn felt a surge of confidence.
She could do this. She could swim
in his ocean!
Trey placed one hand beneath her
belly, steadying her, guiding her. It took a moment to adjust to being touched
in this way, especially by an alien who had made a bid for her hand. But the
excitement of learning to swim soon eased her self-consciousness. It was a
strange sort of freedom moving through the water close at his side and she had
a growing awareness of how her skin tingled where his palm gently cradled her.
He steered her away from the Boggy
Ball court where his brother and friends were playing another raucous game
adapted to fewer participants. From the sidelines, the red-haired Eldelza
watched them moving away, smiled and gave a parting wave.
“Would you like to swim underwater
now?” Trey asked.
“You mean…beneath the surface?”
“Yes. It’s not difficult. You’ll
just need to take a deep breath.”
“And you’ll hold onto me?”
His voice came in a low rumble.
“Every moment.”
Jinn sucked in a lungful of air and
let him guide her in a dive beneath the surface. A few strokes and she soon lost
all fear. She loved the thrill of it—slipping through his watery world with no
barrier around her, her long, pale hair streaming out in the liquid behind her.
All around, lacy sea fans of yellow
and blue shifted gracefully in the current. A scattering of rounded, water-worn
black boulders provided contrast to the plants. The pristine sands on the
bottom stretched out into the distance where it took on a greener shade. She
loved the wonder of this place, and she loved the feel of her suitor’s
steadying hand, now light on her back.
Trey showed her how to dive to the
bottom and collect colorful rocks and bleached shells before returning to the
surface. She was soon moving between surface and sandy bottom with more
confidence, marveling at how well Trey could swim even without the use of his
fins. And how long he could dive without returning to the surface to breathe.
For once she was glad of the tedious hours she spent every day in the gravity chambers on Talstar, fulfilling her required exercise regimen to build and maintain her muscles. The effort it took to lift weights and do resistance training in the half-G of the training area didn’t feel so very different from the drag created by liquid water.
Her companion guided her away from
his raucous companions into a small, private cove where a table of rock rose to
just below the surface offering a place for them to perch. Trey hopped up to
sit on the shelf and helped her up beside him. The sun-warmed water lapped
against her thighs and she stretched out her legs until her toes broke the
surface.
“You already swim like a native,”
Trey praised, slipping off one of her fins and taking her small hand in his
larger one.
Jinn looked away, unsettled, but
soon cast a shy look his way. Water beaded on his face and shoulders and Jinn
felt those strange stirrings again—the unsettling urge to touch those magical
droplets. To trace the hollows and rises of his chest beneath her fingertips.
“What are you thinking?” he asked
in a quiet voice.
I missed a couple of weeks and had to catch up. This is a cute story! Can't wait to read more.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Kathy. Glad you were able to catch up via the link. :D
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