by SA Payne
crawling bug feeling the vibes left Ichi with were far more intense for the red head and he
emerged, shivering and trying to brush the feel from his skin. The upside was with clothing, as
any traveler could witness too. Vibe showers didn't freshen clothes the way a real cleaning would
but they made them almost as fresh and ready to go. Which was a good thing since Rye hadn't
undressed and their luggage was in storage.
Ichi had lost all sense of how long they'd been in the small room but out in the main
compartment the lights were dimmed. Rye moved to get some water, downing long swallows
before passing the bottle to Ichi. Ichi drank from the same container without thought, something
that would have horrified his mother if she'd seen.
When he handed the bottle back, Rye caught his wrist and pulled him close. Lips pressed quickly
to his before Rye pulled away to yawn which made Ichi have to yawn.
"Sleep?" Rye asked, hopeful.
Ichi nodded and the pair found their way back to their seat. It took a little arranging but they got the seats reclined and the small pillows and blankets out. There was some shifting of elbows and
legs before they managed to snuggle down together, under the same blanket. Rye pillowed his
head against Ichi's chest the way he did every night and yawned again as a hand stroked over
his hair.
"Love you." Rye sighed, dropping quickly down into sleep.
Ichi opened his mouth to answer and couldn't, the words stuck. Instead he pressed a kiss to
Rye's head and it made the warm bundle he was holding sigh happily. The meaning delivered in
actions if not in words and just as easily understood. It made Ichi sigh himself and he closed his
eyes to sleep in the dim light.
"Huh." Will said softly, a couple of rows ahead of the other pair and on the opposite side. He was curled up with Amanda under a blanket but neither one was really asleep.
"What?" She asked, nuzzled against him.
He shifted them until Amanda could follow his line of sight and see between seats and aisles to
where Rye was curled up like a kitten against Ichi. "Just figured Rye was top."
She yawned. "He is."
"But..."
"Will Sullivan do you think I snuggle against you and let you hold me because you penetrate
me?" She asked as she turned in Will's arms to look in his eyes.
"Well..." It felt like one of those questions that couldn't be safely answered without getting thumped across the head either way.
"Silly." She shook her head. "I snuggle against you because you make me feel warm and safe not because of who is doing what to who." She whispered so as not to disturb the other couple.
They were going to wait until she was sure they were asleep to use the bathroom themselves.
Will had come a long way in learning about intimacy but sometimes they still stumbled across
something that just made her shake her head and feel sad.
"Huh." He grunted softly, holding tightly to the warm feeling that Amanda's words put in his chest.
She felt safe with him, it made him feel strong and loved. "So, Rye feels safe with Ichi, you'd think it would be the other way around what with how Rye is like a killing machine."
That did get Will thumped, lightly, against his chest not his head. "Emotional moron, has nothing to do with butt kicking skills." She yawned and slid out of his arms. "Going to shower so I can sleep, you should too."
He nodded. "Is that an invitation?"
Amanda rolled her eyes but didn't tell him not to follow.
Chapter Twenty Seven:
The shuttle docked slowly and very carefully, wary of spooking the station that was still skittish.
The crew would see to unloading the luggage with the other supplies they'd carried with them but
left the passengers to find their own way off.
"There you go folks. Tubes connected and pressurized, see you for the return trip." The captain announced via vid phone, not coming down to see them off.
"Thanks." Will nodded and slid a hand across Amanda's back, leading her to the exit.
"Anytime." The captain smiled and the screen went dark.
Will seemed in good spirits but his friends could see the nerves under the up beat manner. The
final lock opened and standing in the well lit entranceway was two people. One human man, with
the sketchy age of past thirty but not yet aged looking. Maybe five foot six if he was lucky and
strong across the shoulders. He had the look of a man capable of anything and his green eyes
took in everything. They crinkled up in lines when he smiled and it made him look younger, not
older. Standing beside him and slightly behind was a man that towered over him. Well over six
feet, pale to the point of nearly being corpse like with subtle blue tints to his skin. It took a second glance to notice the differences made him something not human.
His forehead was a bit shorter than a humans, his cheekbones a touch too angular, his chin a
fraction too sharp. The ear were a touch too large and sat a bit too high on the sides of his head
to be human. The pale light blonde hair was feather soft and fine but his eyebrows were so pale
as to virtually be invisible. The lashes around his slightly too large eyes were twice as thick as a humans but so pale as to nearly be clear. They fluttered over eyes with pupils in an oval slit like a cats and the color of pale cornflowers. Over all the man looked bleached of any living shade of
color. It was the split upper lip and long, extra jointed hands as much as his coloring that gave
him away as an Olesckian.
The first impression effect was of someone so close to being human but so oddly distorted that it
set most people aback.
"Permission to come aboard, sir?" Will asked crisply, not quite coming to attention but not slouching as much either.
The human laughed. "Of course!" And the pair fell against each other laughing, hugging and slapping backs. "Gods, you look good! Married life agrees with you!"
Will nodded and grinned like a fool. "Completely, still waiting for the invite to your hand fasting."
"You'll keep waiting too."
"Jake, you remember Amanda." Will waved toward his wife.
She stepped forward and accepted her own hug, placing a gentle kiss on the side of the man's
face. "Good to see you again, Jake. You look well, considering all the stories we've been
hearing."
"I am well. And you're lovely as always." Jake grinned wider and motioned to the Olesckian standing so silently behind him. "Will, Amanda this is Cardel'soli Narin, my bondmate."
"Yeah, about that Jake..." Will started to scold.
Jake waved it off. "A story to share over a good drink."
Narin had moved forward and inclined his head to the pair. "It's my pleasure to finally meet you both."
"And you Narin, it's a real treat to meet an Olesckian." Amanda nodded back.
Will wasn't so sure, still oddly protective of Jake and the inheriant dangers of bonding to an alien psychic. To cover the disapproving emotions he didn't want to show he reached behind him and
tossed an arm around Ichi's shoulders.
"And these are my brothers, Kenichi Vitorui Sullivan and his partner Rye Sullivan."
Ichi nodded in greeting and half pushed Will's arm off his shoulders. "Nice to meet you. We have some favors to ask of you and your programmers, Will said we should tag along."
Rye remained silent and Jake locked eyes with him. For one moment, the wide smile on Jake's
face faltered just a little bit. It was for only a second before it bounced back. "Any family of Will's is my family, now enough of this, let's get you settled in before dinner."
One stati
on looked much like any other but while on their home they could go from one point to
another without crossing another person's path, here people moved everywhere. They were still
a smaller station but far larger than what Ichi was used to and he hadn't understood how
comfortable he'd grown with the quiet station he lived on.
Jake and Will talked steadily about unimportant things like how odd it was to know Will was
actually a doctor and how unsurprised Will was that Jake was the one in charge of the whole
station. Amanda and Narin followed the pair in the slightly too narrow to walk more than two wide
corridors leaving Ichi and Rye to bring up the rear. As they met with people introductions were
made and greetings exchanged in the same warm welcoming way of Avalon which made getting
to their assigned rooms twice as long of a trip.
"I like the paintings." Ichi commented quietly, speaking to Rye or Narin or no one.
Narin heard and turned, a small smile teased his lips and made the split upper lip more apparent.
"Thank you. It was Jess' idea, once all the chaos settled down, to brighten everyone's spirits.
One corridor was painted, then another and well, I doubt it will be finished until every wall is so adorned."
Ichi nodded, the walls around them alternating from scenes of highly realistic landscapes to
abstract blends of color. It gave the corridors personality and vibrancy and broke up the
monotony of seeing the same thing over and over again. "It's a wonderful idea."
"Even if the paint fumes nearly killed us." Narin agreed, trailing one long fingered hand across the current section, designed to make them appear underwater.
"Here we are." Jake announced and opened a door. It lead into a small living room with room doors off to either side. "One of the family suits. Didn't think you'd mind sharing space, luggage should be here soon. If you don't mind we'll be back to pick you up for dinner. Thought we could
picnic in the garden, since it's been how long since any of you have seen real grass?"
Amanda snorted. "Too long and we'd be honored."
"Until later." Jake smiled and there were more hugs and soon they were alone in the set of rooms.
"He looks really good." Will admitted.
"Maybe that's Narin's doing?" His wife suggested carefully, knowing how protective her husband was of the other man.
It made Will frown a little. "Well, if it is, I can't blame the man too much. This place is huge, almost makes me agoraphobic."
"Station rat." Amanda laughed and they moved to explore their new rooms.
Their luggage arrived a little while later and the pairs broke off to unpack. The rooms were plenty large enough and the common living room was comfortable but there was no kitchen in the
room. The station was just a touch too large to allow everyone to cook in their own rooms, that
was one advantage of either the very largest of stations or the very smallest.
They took real showers and changed their clothes and the very fact they were no longer traveling
was refreshing. Rye was silent, struck by being someplace different and surrounded by so many
faces he didn't know. Which made Ichi silent as well, only Will's excitement as dinner drew
closer countered that.
"Will!" Amanda finally snapped. "Calm down!"
That stopped his babbling and giddy excitement. "Sorry," he grinned sheepishly. "Babbling wasn't I?"
"A little bit."
"It's just a lot of people here and Jake and well..."
"It's okay."
And it was because even though Will continued to pace about the living room, he stopped talking
so rapidly. When the door chime sounded even his pacing stopped but he hurried over to open.
"Hey!"
"Will." Jake nodded. "Ready? Narin and the others went and set everything up so all we have to do is show up and eat."
Jake led them around hallways, some painted and some not, to a large set of doors. "The doors
are new, the bomb blew them clean off. Had a fifteen inch piece of one stuck in my spine." Jake grinned at the talk of such horrible, nearly fatal wounds. "We've reinforced them and a lot of the damage to the gardens has been repaired. It's almost back to what it was, anyway, hope you like
it, we're really proud."
The doors opened with a hiss of balancing air and the four visitors stood near open mouthed in
awe. "Wow." Will said for them all. "We'd heard it was nice but this, this is amazing."
Jake beamed. "We've put a good chunk of money into it and well it's a lot of space to just grow things in. The dome's reinforced now too." He moved them inside, the garden was in a late
afternoon cycle and the artifical light over head reflected it. "It's mostly a naturally occurring cavern in this rock but we domed it in thinking it would be an observatory. Well, before we could
afford the equipment, someone started a vegetable patch and it sort of grew from there."
Gravel of the pathway crunched under their feet and the air was moist with green growing things.
"This is amazing." Amanda breathed in the fresh air and tilted her face up toward the fake sunlight.
"Nearly ten acres, the dome does a good job of faking sunlight but at night it clears to give a view of the stars." He got them herded inside and the doors shut behind him. "Pathways are finished, the lighted ones go to completed areas. Therès at least three acres of bare rock around
here but wère working on it." He pointed across the wide open grassy lawn near the entrance to scattered boulders. "They were pulled up when the dome blew, we're going to leave them as
reminders. Vegetable garden is over there, the pasture is open for whatever but some areas are
marked off. The biology department often tests new grass strains and such so if it's marked don't
tromp it."
"The trees." Will breathed but a breeze kicked up and ruffled hair and clothing. "Oh, wind!"
Jake laughed. "We added that after the dome repairs. Programmed the air filters to randomize
gusts, directions, duration, it's worked nicely. Going to add in rainfall too I think, still working on it. We've dwarf fruit trees and berry bushes too."
"But those trees, they're so large." Amanda sighed as Jake moved them closer to the small forest
across the open pasture.
"Anything anyone's missed from home. Willows, oaks, maple, elders, we'll try anything, some
took better than others. We've insects too, butterflies and bees."
That perked Ichi up. "In a controlled environment?"
"Yup."
"And they're surviving? What about over population?"
"We're managing them but it's worth it. We've streams all about, one large pond for swimming
with some trout in it, frogs now too and a smaller koi pond back this way. Thought we'd eat by
the meditation grotto."
The pathway was winding and made them feel like they were going miles from the sterile life of
living on a station. Small lights were set along the pathway for night visitors and moss grew on
stones. Ichi had to pause because Rye was no longer following, he let the rest of the group move
on and back tracked to where Rye stood, hands pressed to the trunk of a tree.
"You okay?" He asked gently.
Rye shook his head. "Trees." He let a grin chase across his lips. "They feel nice to touch, I didn't know."
For as tactile as Rye was and how limited his memories, Ichi wasn't surprised. "Promise you,
we'll come back and spend hours exploring here, okay?" What would Rye think of being planet
side?
"I'd like that, the air even smells nice." He pulled his hands from the tree's bark but slipped a hand into Ichi's. "I mean I knew but I didn't know."
Ichi
nodded. "I understand, I'd forgotten too." He wondered if it would be possible to get Rye to Avalon for a couple of weeks vacation. Their lakes and oceans, tall mountains and snow would
fascinate the red head.
They caught back up pretty quickly and turned a corner to enter what could only be called a
forest glen. It looked like it had sat in place for centuries. A waterfall fell a dozen feet, the water splashing across chimes that filled, dumped their water and tapped into each other in musical
randomness. Flowers bloomed around the trees and a fallen log crossed the stream to let the
pathway continue away.
On there side of the stream was a wide clearing and spread in the center of it was a bright red
and white checked blanket. Cushions and overstuffed pillows were tossed around to lean against
and a large basket sat to the side being emptied by a buxom woman with dark curly hair. She
smiled when Ichi and Rye finally joined them.
"There they are!" She called out and patted the spot near her. "Thought you'd gotten lost. I'm Jess, that fellow over there is Ryan, you already know Jake and Narin."
Ichi nodded to them but as was his people's way, he found himself the silent guest.
"We're Jake's other programmers, the ones he doesn't brag about."
Jake laughed. "Not true! I only hire the best. This crew, they could program circles around
anyone else, I promise that. You won't find better in the universe."
Ryan shook his head. "We lost two of our own last year, it's been difficult to imagine letting anyone else come in to replace them."
"That and hiring folks to come to the middle of no where to maybe get blown up isn't all that
great of a recruitment pitch." Jake laughed, passing food around.
"Fresh vegetables." Amanda sighed and filled her plate. "Oh, my."
"Hydroponics lab, thought you might like it." Jess smiled.
"So, is it socially unacceptable to ask about this whole bondmate thing over dinner?" Will's voice was light but his face was serious. "I mean, wouldn't want to be lout and have to sleep on the sofa tonight."
Jake grinned. "Being a lout was always one of your best qualities Will."
"Very true." Amanda agreed.
"Hey, I'm being serious."
"Not one of his better qualities, seriousness." Amanda poked again.
