by D M Arnold
Warm drops fell onto his face as he opened his eyes. Suki was choking back tears.
“Are you okay?” She nodded. “Remember, if you ever need a shoulder...”
“Oh, Nykkyo...” She exploded into sobs.
He held her face against his chest and caressed the back of her head. “My poor korlyta,” he said past a lump in his throat. “I'm so sorry.”
“No, Nykkyo -- don't be sorry.” She wept. “We did it -- I'm so happy!”
“Let it out,” he said and kissed the top of her head. “Let it all out.”
He felt her body shake with her sobbing. “I love you so much ... you love me ... I felt it ... it was wonderful...”
“Did we slay a demon?”
She cradled his head in her hands. “We slew several,” she replied and peppered his face with kisses.
Nyk stroked her back as she lay atop him, her face against his chest. “I have never experienced the gift like that. I never have -- I never will love anyone the way I love you.”
“I know. I felt the truth -- the absolute truth to it.” With her finger she traced the outline of his bicep. “It felt so good. I never imagined it could feel that good.” She looked into his face. “I never imagined I could feel so loved. What was it you called me? Kor-something...”
“Korlyta -- it means sweetheart ... dearest.”
“Korlyta ... it sounds sweet. I like it. Oh, Nykkyo -- I thought it was so sweet you were holding your desire until you were sure I'd welcome it.”
“You must bear with me -- I know little of Earth lovemaking practices. It's not a topic covered in our training.”
“I hope you remain ignorant of Earth practices.” She worked her fingers under him and squeezed. “Mmm ... I still feel it...”
“Does it feel good?”
“Mmm...” She kissed him.
“What does it feel like?”
“It feels like...” She squeezed him again. “It feels like I want to hang on and not let go. I feel loved like I've never felt before. Oh, Nykkyo -- I'm so sorry I was such a baby about this.”
“No need to be. What you did took courage -- and trust. It'll be easier for you next time, won't it?”
“Easier? I can't wait!”
A knock came at the apartment door. “Sukiko ... Sukiko?”
“Oh my God! It's my mom,” Suki whispered. “What, Mom?”
“Is everything all right?”
“Everything's okay, Mom,” she shouted.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes -- everything's okay.”
“I thought I heard something...”
“We're fine -- really. Good night, Mom.”
“Okay. Good night.”
“Were we really that loud?” Suki whispered.
“I'm afraid we might have been.”
“Sukiko?” Yasuko called again from the other side of the door.
“Yes, Mom...”
“It sounded like crying. I was concerned.”
“Tears of joy, Mom. Good night.”
“Okay. Good night.”
“I'm so sorry,” Suki said, rolling her eyes. “She worries for me so.”
“I think it's sweet how she cares for you,” Nyk replied. “I could see a Floran mom behaving the same way.”
“Sukiko? Nick?” Yasuko called again.
“What is it this time?” Suki yelled.
“You weren't having another ... disagreement, were you?”
“No, Mom. Nick and I are fine.”
“You're sure?”
“It's all right, Yasuko,” Nyk called out. “Suki and I were making love. We just got a little carried away.” Suki held her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
There were several moments of silence. “Oh... Sorry to disturb you, then. Good night.”
“Good night,” Nyk and Suki yelled in unison.
“Why did you tell her that?”
“I believe the best way to deal with such is with honesty. This will put her mind at ease.”
“Given my behavior last night, you're probably right. She's probably embarassed, now.”
“I'll bet the incident will be forgotten by breakfast.”
Suki lay her face against his chest and let out a contented sigh. Nyk caressed her hair and back. “Oh Nykkyo -- this feels so good -- so right. I could fall asleep just like this... mmm....”
“Sukiko? Nick?” Yasuko called from behind the door.
“Now what?” Suki yelled.
“I thought you said your relationship was purely platonic.”
“It was,” Nyk replied, “until a few moments ago.”
“Oh ... well, good night.”
“Oh, Mom?” Suki yelled.
“Yes, dear?”
“Mom! It was wonderful!”
“I'm delighted for you. I'll see you two lovebirds in the morning.” He heard her footsteps on the stairs.
Suki kissed him. “I'll bet she won't forget.”
* * *
Nyk held her under his arm, stroked her bicep and gazed into her dark eyes. She stroked a tear from his face. “Hey... Crying after sex is a girl thing, not a guy thing. What are the tears for?”
“It's who they're for.”
“Then, who?”
“For the child I can never father. My dad -- my real one -- told me of the joy of conceiving a child in love. Now, I understand what he was talking about. I long to share the experience with you -- and I know I can't. I must, I shall, I do love the child in your womb as if he were mine. But how I wish he was.”
She caressed his face and kissed his cheek. “He is yours, Nykkyo. He will grow with you as the only dad he'll ever know.”
“Destiny permitting, he will,” Nyk said.
“Would Destiny be so cruel as not to permit it?”
He brushed aside some of her hair. “I can't know the details of Destiny's plans for either of us. What I do know is our child's destiny is to father a child, so you can pass the crest to him. So long as we nurture him, and teach him well, and guide him along his path, his destiny will be fulfilled. And Suki, he will follow his path, or I wouldn't be here.”
Appendix I -- Excerpts from Koichi Kyhana's Journal
Translated by Nykkyo Kyhana
Day 1 [0.001 APF -NK]:
For the benefit of posterity, I, Koichi Kyhana, set forth this journal. Today is our first day on our new world. After nine months in space, we all welcome the open sky and warmth of sunshine. ... This planet would not be our first choice for establishing a colony, but we had none. We have transferred the surviving members of our ship's company to the surface in our shuttlecraft, and we have brought the Floran down. Our first order of business is survival. None of our nearly thousand men, women and children harbors any hope of returning home. None of us holds any illusions that the upcoming days and years will be easy.
We are pioneers -- facing many of the same difficulties our forebears faced colonizing new lands on Earth. We differ in the absolute knowledge that return to, or even contact with, our homeland is impossible...
Day 311 [1.059 APF -NK]:
...How odd it is to look up at the night sky and not see the familiar patterns of stars. I recall looking up at the stars from the surface of Beta Centauri 2 on one of our scouting missions. Many of Earth's constellations were recognizable; distorted, but recognizable. There's no mistaking Orion from the surface of either sphere. But this planet's sky is so different, we can't positively identify a single star, even though we know the familiar ones certainly must be visible. One day, no doubt, astronomers will map this sky and name the patterns the stars make. I wonder what familiar forms will lend their names to these constellations. The shuttlecraft? The hydraulic ram? The cutter beam? This planet's night sky is very beautiful, dazzling in fact, compared with Earth's. I do miss the moon, however...
5.121 APF
... Our daughter Yasuko has become quite the big sister, helping Sarah with the chores of raising our second child, son Tetsui. Yasuko was born during
our voyage -- she is truly a star child. She would be about four and a half Earth years old now. How different her childhood has been and will be from mine, without the wonders and diversity of Earth to inspire curiosity and reward with beauty. I remember walking the shore near my family's summer home on Long Island, hearing the calls of the gulls and watching the sanderlings scurry across the sand. Our children will never have that experience, here; and what saddens me most is the knowledge they will never know what they are missing...
9.043 APF
...Food, shelter and security. Those are the basic human needs. Our band of pioneers have all three, but little else. In the past nine-plus years on our new world, our agriculturists have produced a surplus of food, mainly in the form of beans and grains, using the hydroponic growing beds intended for Beta- Centauri 2. We have adequate water, piped in and purified from the sea.
Our needs for shelter are quite modest, the climate is warm and dry, and we have no enemies and no predators from which to be secured. ... Our population growth has been healthy. I am heartened the signateurs of the Floran Compact are adhering to the clause emphasizing the importance of enlarging our numbers. Sarah and I have done our part, she is due to deliver our fourth child within twenty days. In the past nine-plus years, we have seen the births of nearly four hundred children, and the deaths of only twenty-four of our band...
11.221 APF
...We are now able to draw upon the resources of our new world for all our needs. We are no longer cannibalizing pieces of the Floran, and we've agreed that what remains of her hull should be preserved to commemorate the hardships we have overcome. We have found sources of iron for steel, copper and tin, and aluminum. Our iron smelting facility became operational two days ago. We have begun construction of a polymer plant, now that our chemists have discovered how to build molecules of plastics from the oils produced from rapeseed and euphorbia...
15.013 APF
...After fifteen of what pass for years on Floran, our family is going on a vacation. We are spending a few days on our own, by the sea. We have been in need of some time away, so I expropriated the use of a land vehicle and we drove it toward the sea. We slept under the stars last night; we have no need for a tent or other shelter. Sarah and I have walked the sands with our five children. This world's sea appears as full of animal life as the land is empty of it. I have seen a myriad of shells and carapaces of sea life tossed upon the shore. The sea fauna is undoubtedly like the land flora -- inedible to the verge of being toxic. I may never become acclimated to the stench of decay on this world, but Sarah claims to have become accustomed to it, and to the children it seems natural. Hearing the sound of the surf washing against the shore fills me with deep longing for my family's summer home by the sea.
I can look up at the night sky and know the direction of Earth's sun; I longed to be able to leap the distance between our stars until I realized five thousand Earth years must pass before that house on Long Island will be built. Now, instead, I muse on how the construction of the pyramids is progressing...
19.101 APF
Today was Sarah's funeral. Her death was mercifully swift, perishing from a cerebral aneurysm that ruptured after a fall, if I am to believe the doctor. Perhaps it was for the best. This mission did not turn out as Sarah and I expected, and the past nineteen-odd years have been difficult. Difficult, especially, for Sarah. I salute her strength and courage. She never succumbed to despair, as had some of our party in the early days. She so desperately missed the friends and family we left behind, and I was incapable of giving her the comfort she deserved. ... Yasuko has been a great comfort to me. I see traces of her mother in her face, even though her features remain more Asian than Euro. Yasuko never knew Earth, and she, like all the second-generation Florans, regards this planet as her homeworld... Following the traditions we have established, Sarah's body was cremated in the electric furnaces. We have agreed we do not wish to put our dead into this ground. I have taken Sarah's ashes and sprinkled them onto the surface of the sea. The children and I agreed it was a fitting tribute to her... 24.050 APF
...Today, my son Tetsui has married Phaedra Allen, the daughter of one of the machinists among the Floran crew. They tell me they are eager to do their part to enlarge our population, but they look so young to me. And they are young, and even after twenty Floran years on this planet I still prefer to think in terms of Earth years, of which Tetsui has seen merely sixteen, and Phaedra is a full Floran year younger. We are saddened Sarah won't number among us in celebrating this rite of passage. But this is what Life is -- the big circle of birth, childhood, maturity, procreation, aging and death. I am attempting to convince Yasuko that, with the children maturing and with Tetsui starting a family, I can manage adequately by myself and she should consider finding a mate of her own...
26.001 APF
...We have survived a quarter Floran century and yet it seems like yesterday we were making the final orbital insertion maneuver around this peculiar planet revolving around its peculiar orange star. Through hard work, our population are thriving and finding joy and sorrow in everyday life. I now believe we can and will sustain what we have begun. I also believe the hope of every parent -- for his children to live a better life -- will be fulfilled for our children's children if not for our own.
This was, after all, the reason we departed Earth for Beta-Centauri 2, to plant the human seed, to grow a better human community -- not for us but for our children and our children's children, and for our children's children's children. And the seed has been planted, but in a different garden than we had intended...
29.248 APF
...I write this entry from the mining camp in the uplands, soon to be incorporated into a village to be called Vebinad. I rode here with Bryan Quinn, whose talents as chief engineer aboard the Floran were put to use devising means to coax minerals from this planet's crust... The ride took half a day. As we approached the piedmont, the vegetation became lusher; the sparse desert growth gave way to tall reed-like plants. Once we reached the edge of the uplands, tree-like species were found; these grew more and more dense until we encountered a thick forest... It is water that enables this growth. Above the uplands many rivers form and flow down the face of the mons, fed by the melt of the snow pack in the high elevations. As these rivers flow downhill, their water is absorbed and used by the vegetation. By the time the streams reach sea level, their cargo has been spent, and what little water remains quickly evaporates in the warmth and dryness...
36.098 APF
...The past year has been the first since PlanetFall in which our population growth has flattened. We are still producing offspring at a satisfactory rate, but the inevitable has happened -- the death rate among the original crew and passengers threatens to overtake the birth rate. I've been feeling my own age, lately, and give myself the privilege of the elderly, that of permitting the youth to shoulder more than their share of the effort...
38.232 APF
...The most remarkable thing happened last night -- it rained! For the first time since PlanetFall, it rained on the main camp; about five centimetres in all. The cause undoubtedly was one of the many tropical storms that pummel the southern zone became lost and wandered here to die... We have two generations of native Florans who've never seen rain in their lives; unless they've spent some time in the agricultural camp [now Tinam -- N.K.] in the middle latitudes... This morning another remarkable thing happened. The land burst into life. Not that the land is devoid of life; there's a sparse growth of a hardy and frugal plant that's evolved to harvest the meager dews. What grew today was an explosion of foliage that grew so fast one could see it happen before one's eyes; and hear it, too, a rustling sound as the paper-thin leaves spread to catch the sun. By noon the land was covered with a dark violet crepe and fruiting bodies formed.
These opalescent spheres darkened and ripened in the sun and by dusk split to fill the air with thick, choking clouds of purple spores. No doubt these plants slept for many Floran deca
des awaiting a wayward storm, and their progeny will also sleep for thirty, fifty, a hundred Floran years until the next storm loses its way. [The vegetation Koichi describes is no longer to be found, as the entire small desert that held the main camp has been paved over to build Floran City. This species is a known casualty of the human invasion of Planet Floran. --N.K.]...
43.191 APF
...Today was a day of mourning among our people as we marked the passing of Captain Ty Davis. More than any single member of the Floran crew, Ty Davis was responsible for our survival. I am pleased Yasuko married his son Colin, and they have produced three wonderful children to carry the Davis name forward...
45.072 APF
...The fourth generation of Kyhanas came into this world today as my grandson Josh Kyhana and his wife Judith gave birth to my great-granddaughter Tobia. Tetsui has followed the tradition and passed the family crest to Josh.
45.072 APF
Knowing my children, my grandchildren, and my great-grandchild share this world with me gives me joy -- joy that is tempered by the knowledge we are demanding much from our young people, not the least of which is to dedicate themselves to the creation and care of children at an age in which they are not much more than children themselves... I do not know how much longer four generations will coexist on this planet, as my health has been deteriorating, and our medical facilities are yet primitive compared to what we left behind...
46.001 APF
...The new year is a traditional time for reflection and for hope. Our people have together survived the hardships of founding a new world. We've done more than survive -- we've begun to flourish. When we left Earth, we were a group of nations -- we were Africans, Asians, Europeans and Americans. Now, we all have become Florans.
What's most important is we have become so without strife or animosity, and with a deep sense of community, togetherness and love. It is my sincere hope this will be our legacy to succeeding generations of the Floran people.
