Page 29 of Starfallen
Chapter 11
A Quiet Arrival
Five hours later, ourskirmisher approaches the red ball of dust called Mars.
Tilly lets out a long sigh, then inputs the coordinates for landing.
“It’s going to be fine, Red. You’ll get used to it.”
She gives me an unreadable stare instead of a heated argument.
I turn away and busy myself with initiating the landing sequence, needing to escape the look of sorrow or longing in her eyes.
It’s for her own good, and the baby’s, too.
I take the ship down into the atmosphere without a hitch.
“Home sweet home Rularran.” Below, on the surface of the planet, a complicated pattern of domes and tunnels creates a circle of sorts.
“Rularran looks about as ugly as the name sounds. Reminds me of a spider web.” She shivers.
“Come on, it’s actually pretty cool. Each hab”—I point to the clear domes—“houses living quarters or businesses, and the tunnels work like roads, connecting each area. Granny put us on the outskirts for privacy.”
“Plenty of privacy at our cave.”
“Privacy? Yes. Safety? No.” I request entry from the Rularran city on the frequency Granny had given me earlier.
Tilly says nothing.
Five seconds later, we’re cleared. The ship hovers over a translucent purple shield protecting our new domed habitat. When it opens, I drop the skirmisher inside. The outer sphere closes and inner shielding retracts, keeping the precious atmosphere pressurized and oxygenated.
“Right there, in the center of the city is where Granny leads the day-to-day toil of terraforming the planet.”
“Wow,” Tilly breathes as she stares through the viewscreen. “I expected everything to be barren, red, and fugly, and I’ve never been sadder at seeing exactly what I’d expected.”
“It’s not going to be so bad.” I unstrap the harness across my chest and stand, giving her a smile and holding out my hand. “Attitude affects your outlook, you know.”
“Or maybe being kidnapped by my jerk of a husband affects my outlook, too, Jareth.” She unsnaps her belt, then takes my hand so I can pull her to her feet. “I don’t want to be here. Don’t you understand? If I have Kaden on this planet, he’ll be a fucking Martian.”
I let out a loud guffaw. “Isthatwhat you’re worried about?”
“Isn’t it bad enough? He should be born and raised on Earth, where we can teach him how to be a good person, not here with all these leeches and sycophants who’d sooner murder a human than tolerate one.”
“Red, just give this a chance. We can make a good life here. You’ll have the best medical care possible, and no one will have to know who we are.”
“You’re joking, right? Unless you have some kind of fancy shit to change our faces—which I refuse—all it’ll take is one look at you and everyone will know their powerful leader is alive and well. It’s just a matter of time before they start planning assassination attempts or sucking you in to play their games of politics and mayhem.”
I try to pull her to my chest for a quick kiss.
“Stop.” She pushes away from me to grab her backpack and KJ, keeping her eyes averted.
Stunned, I take a step backward.She never refuses my advances.A little flare of anger rises inside.
“I’m trying to keep you safe, Tilly. I cannot protect you on Earth like I can here.” I snag my own pack and walk past her, opening the door with a mental order.
“Whatever. ApparentlyIhave no say in my life.”
As the ramp descends, I turn to face her, my eyes hot and the pulse hammering a staccato rhythm in my chest.
