Interface

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  Geviil was an attractive planet with four moons. The off-planet traffic was minimal. It was primarily a settled world of small cities and close-knit communities. Vikki had already researched her potential home. She knew what they were flying into.

  As they cleared the outer edge of the planet’s space and began to work through the layers surrounding it, their normally chipper banter was shelved.

  The Dead Pigeon lived up to her name on descent, she was hard to manoeuvre and harder to keep aloft. Vikki’s arms shook as she held the secondary controls. She was going to feel this in the morning.

  Layer after layer they navigated until they were finally inside the atmosphere and falling toward the location specified. The Pigeon did not have a lot of dignity on landing, but with both of them straining, they got her settled almost exactly where she was supposed to be.

  The systems confirmed a breathable environment and Vikki unbuckled. Slapping Vinni on the thigh, she got to her feet. “It’s time to meet my destiny or at least find out what the hell is going on.”

  Chapter Three

  A figure was running toward their shuttle. Vikki exited and began to walk calmly toward the female figure. She was no more than four and a half feet tall and wearing what seemed to be a climbing harness.

  “Specialist Markham?” The small woman was flushed a bright blue.

  “I am. And you are?”

  The Geviilan bowed low. “Communications Liaison Heffer, I am honoured to see you in the flesh. Your hair is…quite striking.”

  “My partner is talented with scissors and dye.” She twisted her lips at the Geviilan’s appalled expression.

  “Yes. It appears so.” Heffer shook her head. “We have an urgent matter to attend to and you are the only one who can help us.”

  “Then, let’s be on our way. You lead. I don’t know where I am going.”

  Heffer turned and jogged to the edge of the tarmac where a skimmer with a driver was waiting.

  Heffer whispered to the man and as soon as Vikki was in her seat, they were up and flying over the town and toward a large mountain.

  When the ground under them executed a peculiar wave, Vikki grabbed her small com unit off her belt and called Vinni. “Vin, the area is hot, get the Pigeon up in the air. There is a ground wave coming toward you now.”

  His voice came back immediately. “Understood, lifting off. Will meet you at the Mercuros City landing field. Keep me posted.”

  Vikki turned in her seat and she could see the silhouette of her ship as it left the surface and went west.

  “He will be safe there. It is on a separate plate.” Heffer nodded.

  “Great. Now, what do you need me to do?”

  “The dragon sleeps. I can speak to him, but he will not rise until his mate is here and for some reason, he does not believe that you are you.”

  That was not something that she had thought she would have to deal with. A strange amusement spilled through her. “So, what do I have to do?”

  “We are going to rappel down into his lair and you are going to prove that you are you. He will then wake and stop the advance of the magma threatening to destroy nine towns.”

  Ah, so that was it. “I will do my best, but if he doesn’t want to wake, nothing I can do will wake him.”

  Heffer looked shocked. “But he is your mate. You would leave him sleeping when he has waited for you all these years?”

  “Forcing myself on a man who doesn’t want me will not do anything for my self-esteem. I will try, that is all I can promise.”

  Heffer looked far more nervous than she had earlier, but a slight nod of her head to their pilot and the skimmer took off at high speed.

  The climbing harness had been enlarged to fit her, but it was still snugger than she would have liked. The body armour took some of the digging and the rest of the discomfort was in the crotch area.

  Heffer linked to one of the ropes and waited until Vikki was on the other before she slowly started her descent.

  Vikki could feel the huge mind beneath her. Well, huge was the wrong word. Vast was far more accurate. Her Drai had seen many things before he had gone underground.

  She was nervous about the drop, but part of her was excited to see him for the first time. The surface disappeared until the crack that they were travelling through was a tiny sliver of light way above.

  “Heffer, how deep are we?”

  “Currently, a kilometre, but we have five hundred metres to go before we reach the plateau.”

  “Plateau?” This was the first that she had heard of it. Her mind had pictured them actually dropping onto the dragon’s back.

  “Yes, we land on the plateau and then walk down half a kilometre of caves before we reach the great doors. That is as far as I can go. The doors won’t open for me.”

  Vikki kept her hand on the descender and watched the rope slowly slip through it. Her other hand was under her ass, on the rope as well, in case the gears and pulleys gave way.

  The horribly vulnerable feeling didn’t leave as the cliff wall they were facing cut away, leaving Vikki in a slow, controlled fall toward the plateau. Her breath came more quickly and as the air thickened and warmed, she coughed.

  Heffer looked at her, concerned. “Are you sensitive to the minerals in the air?”

  “A little. I will put my breather on when we get to the plateau.” The tight feeling in her lungs was unmistakable. If she didn’t get her mask on, she was going to have an asthma attack. She hadn’t had one in years.

  She released the tension and began sliding down at increased speed. When her feet hit the plateau, she winced as too much weight came down on her limbs. She fumbled with her kit belt and pulled her breather on. She hadn’t thought to need it but was glad that Vinni had restocked her kit while she was passed out.

  Getting the air mix without the mineral contamination was a blessing. She could breathe again.

  “Okay, Heffer. Which way?” She stood with her hands on her knees and breathed deeply for a moment before uncoupling her harness from the rope.

  “This way, Specialist.”

  Vikki stifled a laugh. If she had simply looked up, she would have seen the tunnel entrance with the script over it.

  “We named our main city after him.” Heffer’s voice was proud.

  There it was, in gold on black, Mercuros lies within.

  They walked quickly down the tunnel, Heffer with a light on her helmet and Vikki with the lights on her belt. None of the Geviil helmets had been a fit for her. She was too big.

  The doors were lit with the same gold from inside black granite. These designs were more abstract and as the women approached, they moved to form two dragons, one on either side.

  Heffer crossed her hands in front of her. “I can’t touch the doors. A communication will begin and he is a little…upset with me right now.”

  “Why, what did you do?”

  Heffer darkened. “I offered myself as his mate if he would only come out of hibernation. He…got very angry.”

  “Yeah, they are patient, but they do have tempers. Even the new Draikyn have the same characteristics, if a little more snobbery.”

  “I see. I have minimal contact with other races. I thought perhaps one female was as good as another.”

  “Drai don’t see it that way. They dream of their mates long before they meet.” Vikki’s palms were sweating. “So, I simply touch the door?”

  Heffer was backing away. “Do what you can. If you are successful, we will know immediately.”

  Vikki watched the Communications Liaison walk back the way they had come. With a mind-steadying breath, she turned back to the doors and approached them. There were flat panels on the door and she pressed her hands to them.

  Nothing happened.

  “Damn it.”

  She thought about it and realized that everything that had been done with the dragon had been done mind to mind.

  Steeling her thoughts, she pushed through the stone and reached for the mi
nd on the other side of the door. He was there and he was irritated the moment that her mind touched his.

  I told you, Heffer, no.

  Um, this isn’t Heffer. We haven’t met before, but my name is Vikki Markham. I am from Terra and I have dreamed of you.

  The doors swung open in a second and she walked through them, onto a platform even with one huge golden eye.

  She had heard of the size of the dragon forms, but Mercuros was so large that her body was the same height as his eye.

  She abandoned her mental communication and looked into the slit pupil with one thought. “Oh. My. God.”

  Chapter Four

  I am not, nor have I ever been, a deity. If you are who you say you are, you know that.

  With our communications limited to our writhing against each other on the astral plane, you know better.

  The eye blinked. The black scales around it gleamed in the glow of her suit lights.

  You cannot be my mate. The voice was adamant.

  She sighed. He was really stubborn. Why not?

  You are the wrong colour.

  Shock ran through her before amusement won out. She laughed as the image in his mind was of her with her original hair colour. The neutral brown had been waist length until she paired with Vinni. It was her mental image of herself that still used her long hair and the blah colour.

  I fail to see the amusement.

  My hair is dyed. If you have good vision, check the roots. It is the same brown that it always has been, my partner dyes and cuts it for me. It gets in the way when I have to go into alternate atmospheres or environments.

  A wave of comfort ran through her mind.

  You will no longer have to do such work.

  Then, as long as Vinni doesn’t feel his muse, my hair will grow back. Now, are there any other items that make you not believe I am me?

  Touch me.

  What?

  Put your hands on me. After our years of shared dreaming, I know your touch, would know it anywhere.

  She removed her gloves and dropped them. Clenching and relaxing her hands, she walked toward the huge span of his head and touched the scales and the skin in between. Vikki ran her hands over them again and again, smiling and relaxing as the psychic scent she was used to when he was aroused washed through her thoughts. His lid drooped and she heard a rumble in the distance. If she wasn’t mistaken, he was swishing his tail.

  Satisfied that she had made her point, she withdrew her hands and backed away from him. Do you believe me now?

  There was a rumble back in the cavern and his head started to rise. I believe you and more than that, I dreamed of you.

  If you are getting up, should I be running?

  I think that would be for the best. I will see you when I have ceased the volcanic activity.

  It was all the warning she needed. She turned and bolted back through the doors, sighing in relief when they closed behind her. She kept running until she reached the rope and noticed Heffer halfway to the surface, her headlamp glowing.

  She locked herself onto the rope and started to slide the ascenders as quickly as she could. It took some doing and she had to cling tightly to the rope as the walls of the crevice shook. A shadow passing over the opening confirmed that the dragon of Geviil was flying and in control.

  Her arms ached and the rest of her felt like it had been struck multiple times with something heavy, but when Vinni gripped her hands and hauled her to safety, she let him take her weight. It wasn’t time for false bravado. She was sore, exhausted and her head hurt. She could speak mind to mind, but it didn’t come naturally.

  Her first years with the Alliance as a Terran Volunteer had been spent at the Citadel. When she emerged, she was dubbed a Specialist and used her honed talent to negotiate treatise and bargains between the Alliance and huge beings who could not verbalize their intentions or requirements. Vikki had sat on them all and did what she could to bridge the communications gap.

  “Aw, hon. You look like hell.” Vinni was looking down at her.

  She grinned up at his upside down face. “You say the sweetest things. No wonder women will have nothing to do with you.”

  “They want me, but I have standards.” His grin was incorrigible.

  “Tease.” She slapped his thigh and sat up.

  Heffer came scuttling up. “Thank you, Specialist Markham. I have been instructed to take you to your home.”

  “Call me Vikki. And I can’t go home. No Terran Volunteer can go home.”

  Heffer smiled. “Your home here.”

  Blinking, Vikki nodded. “Oh. I see. Sure. Take me there.”

  Vinni looked hopeful. “Can I come?”

  Heffer seemed unsure, but she smiled. “Of course. You are her partner. She will no doubt wish to have you as a guest.”

  They sat in the skimmer with the same pilot that she had had on the way out. Vinni was sitting next to him and flirting up a storm.

  Amused, she looked out over the edge and saw what evidently was the dragon’s handiwork. Melted metal, tumbled rock and barricades of ice meters thick dotted the landscape. She noted that there was a span where the lava could flow freely into the ocean creating a new edge to the landscape with no damage to property or lives.

  The skimmer flew over an expansive estate complete with a large, elegant manor house. Gardens, pools and walks were all well maintained with a charmingly subtle aspect. As the skimmer landed, there was something about the doors that struck her as perfect. They were all huge.

  On a planet where the average height of the population did not exceed five feet tall, the doors would give her a nice, normal feeling.

  She got out of the skimmer that had been far too tight for her and walked along the drive. The crunching of gravel under her boots was pleasantly familiar.

  Vinni was still flirting outrageously with the pilot and the pilot was blushing becomingly. It had always amazed her that for a slight Dhemon, Vinni was the alpha in all of his relationships. He pursued and his companions let him catch them. He didn’t always get his man, but he rarely tried hard.

  Communications Liaison Heffer came to her and gestured to the door of the manner. “You can go in. This is your house.”

  Raising her eyebrows, Vikki walked to the door and touched the handle. It swung in immediately.

  Huge, curving staircases arced up to the second floor. Marble lined the foyer and polished hardwood was visible to the left and right. Vikki drifted left and found a huge room with couches arranged near a fireplace, a study with a com unit set up in it and when she continued around the back of the house, she found the kitchen and a dining room that looked out onto the back garden.

  All throughout the house, she found statues and a few of them shocked her. They didn’t shock her because of their depiction of naked women, but rather because she recognized the model. It was her.

  A psychic sculptor at the Citadel had asked her to pose and after a great deal of alcohol, she had.

  Nine limited-edition statues had been created in a variety of nude poses and she had forgotten all about them once the editions had sold out. Looking around her, she now knew where every single edition had ended up. Her dragon had bought the entire collection.

  Wait, strike that, he had had Heffer buy the entire collection.

  She put the statues from her mind and walked up one of the expansive staircases. Bedrooms, studies, lavs, all were in pristine condition and all were sized for someone not of Geviil birth.

  The heavy wing beats got her attention and she ran down the stairs to watch the giant dragon land in the front yard.

  His hind legs dropped to the ground with a thud, shaking everything around him. To her surprise, he shrunk in size until he was about the same size as two standard busses. From there, he walked toward the manor house until she was once again chest to snout with the dragon.

  Chapter Five

  “Hello, Mercuros.” She reached out and stroked the long nose, ignoring the razor-sharp teeth.

>   He shifted in that instant from dragon to Drai. The startling thing was that he maintained the same colouration. He had onyx black skin from head to toe with wings and molten gold eyes.

  “Hello, Vikki.”

  That he was nude was obvious as was his interest in her, baggy clothing covered in dirt and all.

  Vinni let out a low whistle and Mercuros whirled to snarl at him. “Mine.”

  The Dhemon with the small black horns almost hidden in his black hair wisely shut up.

  Communications Liaison Heffer rushed forward, trying to take his hand. Vikki grabbed her and held her back, whispering to the other female, “He’s mine.”

  She didn’t shove the woman, merely let her go. Heffer got the hint and headed for the skimmer.

  Vinni and the pilot didn’t quibble. They simply got into the skimmer and lifted off. Apparently, messing with a Drai who was about to claim his mate wasn’t worth the cheap jokes.

  Alone with her mate, Vikki reached out to take his hands in hers. She smiled up at him, his seven-foot height making her almost six feet seem petite. She pulled him slowly backward, into the manor.

  Not a word fell between them until she got him in, got the door closed and opened the closure of her suit. Calmly, she disrobed in front of him until she was wearing nothing but a smile. His muscles were locked into a peculiar rigor of anticipation.

  She took his hands in hers once again and continued backing up until her heels hit the stairs. “I really like your house.”

  He moved like a striking snake. One moment she was holding his hands, the next she was in his arms and he had flown up to the second floor with a flick of his wings coupled with the powerful surge of his thighs.

  They flew down the hall and she understood the width of the passageway now. With a final flick, he stopped in front of the two closed doors at the far end of the hallway. The doors opened as he approached and she had to admire the blend of high tech and old world that the house combined.

  From her research, Vikki knew that they had gone through most of the steps of Drai courtship. Introduction, the shared dreams, her liking the home he had had built for them and, of course, basic physical attraction.