“I did it.” I’m exuberant, shouting to nobody but myself. Alone in my room, I dance around, whirl. “I did it!”
I heard him start barking commands before the comm cut off, and it was clear that wherever they’re headed—I never know, because missions are classified, I helped him overcome his mental hurdle.
I sit down on my hoverdisk and giggle, full of joy. I’ve never felt so close to him as I did just now, when he’s literally hundreds of thousands of miles away, so far away that without our light-hopping craft, I could never reach him in a million years.
But I was in his head, and he let me in. He let me help him. It was so intimate and fantastic that I shout and whoop again.
And he used the word love.
This is going to change everything, I just know it. I don’t care what he thinks or says about humans—what we just shared was a true bonding experience. He must think differently about me now. He simply must.
I’ll go to him, when he returns. I’ll be there at the landing dock, on the tarmac, and as soon as he gets off that craft, I want to look into his eyes and see if I’m right.
But when I head to the field, prepared to wait for hours, if I need to—something is wrong. Because gathered there are about a hundred beings, all chattering, clustered together.
At first I worry that something is wrong, until I see their faces: Reverent. Excited. Luminant.
The energy is palpable.
“What is it?” My voice is hesitant, because I think I know. Something in the way the Zandians are looking at the sky, all of them together…
“They’re bringing back a Zandian.” I don’t know who tells me, but the words send a knife into my chest. “Female.”
“By the one true star. We knew there must be more out there.”
“This is so amazing!”
Even the humans are excited—all except me, that is. Why wouldn’t they be? We all love Zandia. Who wouldn’t want to find more of our hosts, whose species is nearly extinct, alive in the universe?
Except I know what this means for me. For Mykl. All he’s wanted is a Zandian female, and now he’s getting one—one, that I can’t help but remind myself, I helped him access.
Tears well up in my eyes and I shake my head with a small laugh. What are the odds? It’s almost humorous, in a horrible way.
“When are they arriving?”
“Does anyone know if she’s alive? Injured?”
The crowd is getting louder, but as more beings approach, so does Master Seke and a phalanx of soldiers.
“Clear the field, please,” one of them calls, his voice amplified by his comm. “All beings return to your homes, thank you. We recognize this is exciting, and you will all be updated as soon as we have information. But we need you away from this area for your safety and the well-being of those on the approaching craft.”
Nobody wants to leave; you can see it in the way we drag our feet, looking back at the sky as if we’ll see the flashing lights of the craft if we just look once more.
I don’t go home. I sit and wait in a tree grove just beyond the field. I don’t know if I technically should be here, but nobody else is around, so it hardly matters.
I must have fallen asleep, because I awake suddenly to the roar of the engines, reverse thrusters, and noise on the tarmac.
I stand up, wiping my snarled hair from my eyes, and a trail of drool from my cheek, watching them exit. Mirelle first, thank Mother Earth she’s all right—every time she leaves, I worry. Lanz, Domm. Hektor.
Ground crew swarm around and a medical team is there—I recognize the stiff gait of Dr. Daneth and the softer motions of Bayla. There’s Cressa, too, and a waiting hovercraft with flashing lights—I assume they’re waiting to take the Zandian female immediately to the med bays for care.
I hold my breath.
And it’s then that I see them. Mykl and the Zandian female. She must be injured, because Mykl’s carrying her in his arms.
The beings gathered around cheer and clap, and I tear up too, despite my concerns. She’s beautiful; this I can see, even from a distance. And she’s Zandian. Precious to this planet. Necessary for the survival of their species.
I put a hand to my mouth and stop breathing as Mykl lifts her effortlessly into the medcraft, then steps up. More personnel join them, and this craft zips away, lights flickering in the emergency pattern.