Page 35 of Defiance
Then I noticed the horizon, my steps slowing to a halt with my hand on the rail.
When I’d seen Piaoguo out of the porthole in my quarters, I’d assumed it was covered in oceans and I’d been right… If I could count a sea of massive blue sand dunes.
They lapped at the horizon as far as the eye could see, meeting the sky like choppy waters. Heat wavered above them, catching the sunlight in a glitter of lapis lazuli and amethyst sand that made it difficult to tell exactly where the dunes became the sky. I squeezed the rail, disoriented, my brain trying to recalibrate what was up and what was down.
Agent Gaul cupped my elbow to help me down, but when I turned to thank him, I found a tall hjarna with marigold skin leaning up the ramp towards me instead. He smiled with bright white camel-like teeth in a thin, wide mouth, the corners of his large black eyes crinkling.
“Tailu is known to do that to visitors,” he said with a butterscotch voice. “Please, allow me, yes?”
“Oh. Thank you,” I said, blinking at him as he escorted me down to the dock. I glanced at Agent Gaul, but he was sweeping the port with only one ear trained on me. I didn’t want to distract him, so I smiled at the helpful hjarna. “What’s atie-loo?”
“It’s the horizon’s name. Ancient hjarna thought it was a sentient road that called us to our destiny. A god, I suppose.”
The man dropped my arm and pressed his palm to his chest. His fingers were longer than mine with an extra knuckle each. Of all the species I’d seen, hjarna had the most human-like skin with wrinkles in their knuckles and oiled cuticles from which grew neatly trimmed nails. This man’s crest was angled back from his face, decorated in a collection of cinnamony patterns that resembled QR codes. They’d been powdered on with a stencil and glittered in the amber sunlight.
“It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Imani Renatex. My name is La?we Sath. I’ll be your liaison while you’re our esteemed guest.”
I laughed, looping my flyaways behind my ears as a breeze blew past.
“I’m not Imani,” I said, feeling ludicrous and panicked at the same time. “There must have been a mix-up. We read the invitation as a general call for participation and I volunteered.”
Mr La?we—I’d read that hjarna put their cluster’s surname before their given name—blinked out of sync. “Then you are…?”
I held out my hand for a handshake and he took it, holding my fingers gently in his big palm like we were about to dance.I cleared my throat as he stared at my hand, though I had the distinct suspicion he was looking at my face at the same time.
Shrimp eyes, shrimp eyes, shrimp eyes!
Excitement rode me so hard that I had to pinch my lips together to keep from blurting a question about polarized light.
“Sorry.” I managed not to squeal in academic delight and was very proud of myself. “I’m Charlie Halloway. I’m an ichthyologist specializing in oceanic salmonid aquaculture. I’ve read about food production on Piaoguo and was fascinated to see it myself. I hope it’s alright that I’ve crashed the party.”
Mr La?we stood up straight, his crest near as tall as Agent Gaul’s ears. His eyes widened to catch the warm light in an expression of mild shock that let me investigate those peepers without looking like a creep. Rather than one pupil, his gaze appeared to be a hexagonal latticework of many pupils densely packed together. The divisions between them caught the turmeric gold of his skintone like a thin network of wires that disappeared into the depths of those large, black orbs.
“No, no! Please, Ms Halloway. There’s no cause for distress. I will straighten our schedule and activities, yes? No trouble at all.” He smiled, turning his head and using his bone crest to shield me from a gust of wind from the desert. “You must be famished after vessel rations. If you’re so interested in our foods, hm, why don’t we eat lunch on our way to your accommodations?”
My stomach rumbled at the excellent idea. “Craic!” I held out my open palm to Agent Gaul and he blinked down at me, one ear twitching.
“Yes, Ms Halloway?” he asked, and my stomach flipped. I nodded to my bag, still slung over his shoulder.
“Shouldn’t I take that?”
His nose bent towards it, his scales lifting just so.
“I don’t mind,” he managed, giving me a forced smile.
“Nonsense,” Mr La?we said, reaching over my shoulder towards the strap. “You have more important things to do than be a beast of burden.” He slid the bag off Agent Gaul’s shoulder and the advenan’s red pupils turned to dagger-thin slits. Not that our hjarna host seemed to notice.
“Thank you,” Novak hissed.
“Of course. You are Ms Halloway’s protection, I assume?”
“That’s correct.”
“Excellent. I will have an auxiliary room prepared for you…”
They stared at each other as Mr La?we hoisted my bag over his shoulder with vapid good humor. Novak tasted the air, his tail slapping my ankle, then dodging away. Was part of his job to wither people into submission? The next time his tail came near me, I kicked it in a silent plea to play nice. He could search my bag for surveillance devices later.
“...Novak.”
