Beyond the Stars: INEO (44 page)

“Hmm,” he said glancing at the ceiling as if he was considering it. “I don’t want you to think I’m dull.”

“Yes, I wish you would work on being a little more exciting. You never take me anywhere. Maybe we could try something dangerous.”

He held me tight and tickled my side.

“Stop it. I’m sorry,” I said between laughs and pushed him away.

“Ow,” he moaned from still being sore. He gently laid his hand on my back. “Look, I would welcome someplace boring, if it meant keeping you safe.”

“Good then you won’t mind staying on
boring
Earth with me,” I stated my fears aloud.

“Boring Earth it is,” he said with a chuckle.

“Thanks,” I muttered unsure of his meaning.

Gaelan gave me a shake. “Hey, I’m only teasing,” he said, sounding appalled that I would take him serious. “Sami, I meant it when I said I would follow you anywhere, and Earth would be a wonderful change. And we consider Earth to be only relatively safe. Your world is filled with all kinds of instabilities. Besides, life is what you make of it. Please stop worrying that I will need to be entertained. If you think that, then you don’t know me too well. I have never found it difficult to occupy myself. I think my mistake the last time was getting too carried away with the work at hand. Maybe I will avoid a technical career all together. I could paint for a living.”

“True, your paintings are amazing. I only wish us being together wasn’t so complicated. It feels as though an ideal living arrangement is impossible for us.”

Gaelan put his hand behind my head, tilted my face up to his, and locked his eyes on mine. “We’ll make it work. I used to worry about the same thing. Sami, when I first got to know you, you have no idea how hard I tried not to let myself fall in love with you. I was struggling to maintain my distance, but there you were, everything I ever wanted. I have lived long enough to know that it would be unwise to take finding you for granted. You are the
only
Sami in the entire galaxy and,
trust me,
I would know. I would never throw that away. I am honored that you’ll have me.”

“I feel the same. I really love you.” I leaned up and laid a trail of kisses up the side of his neck until I reached his lips. Then I hovered on top of him, paused to look in his eyes before giving him a lingering final kiss on his soft lips.

“Mm-hmm,” Gaelan moaned when I lifted my face. He looked as though he wanted more, but seemed too tired to make a move.

Being exhausted as well, I nestled my body back against his chest and wrapped his body under my leg while I thought about his tender words. He hiked my leg higher and caressed my thigh with his hand. His touch helped me to relax even further.

“Sami.” Gaelan continued to stroke his way up my back.

“Hmm.”

“Did I ever tell you that I’ve been imagining you all of my life. I had this constant yearning I could never explain. It’s as though I was missing you because when I found you, the gnawing sensation went away. You feel like a part of me. It’s as though I have known you forever.”

“I know what you mean. I can’t picture my life without you either. I never felt so connected to anyone before,” I explained.

“Even Jack?” He lifted his head off his pillow to look at me.

I studied his face and tried to decipher what he was thinking. “Yes, even Jack. And I would never compare you to him. That’s my past. You’re my future. And I will do my best to call out only your name in my dreams from now on,” I said flatly, to taunt him.

“You better,” he said, squeezing my arm briefly.

I gazed up at his face and traced his jaw with my fingertip. “Only you … wait … now tell me, what was your name again?” I teased. “Wait, I know, Gaelan,” I said seductively.

“Ouch. You’re bad.” He gave me an irresistibly handsome grin before he slid his hand through the back of my hair and pulled me closer so he could talk against my lips. “Remind me to punish you for that when I’m feeling better,” he teased.

I pushed him and leaned away. “Mmm-hmm, but you’ll have to catch me first.”

Quickly, he pulled me back against his body in a tight hold. “You never make it easy, do you?”

CHAPTER 29

DELIGHT

The best way to look at Earth and see Heaven is to leave it and worry you’ll never return. It was magnificent. If I could give the planet a hug, I would. Seeing the glowing blue globe for the first time in months brought a tear to my eye. Oddly, it appeared different. After traipsing across the galaxy, I couldn’t help thinking that our planet looked smaller. Gaelan and I watched Zaric as he brought our ship in for docking at our orbiting Space resort. Once secured, I couldn’t help racing to the landing in order to make my way off the ship into the safe confines of our floating Space habitat. I think even Gaelan had difficulty in keeping up with me.

“Now,
you run,” Gaelan said, walking briskly through the corridor behind me.

“I’m sorry. I can’t wait to see Leah and Jackson and tell them everything that happened,” I said cheerfully.

As we entered the landing, I saw Noah and Nia waiting by the door. Noah appeared almost as eager as I was to leave the ship. Urit was standing with a small group of Katarians a few feet away. I went to join Urit and couldn’t help noticing how he seemed to be keeping a watchful eye on Nia.

“Are you alright with Noah hanging out with your daughter?” I finally asked him.

Urit brought his lips together and smacked them apart before answering. “Sure. Noah’s alright.”

I exhaled in relief. “I’m glad you think so. I was worried you wouldn’t accept him. He really is a good person.”

“Actually, Sam, Nia seems happy with Noah, so, naturally, I adore him.” Urit leaned into me and lowered his voice, “Especially since he seems so eager to please me, but don’t tell him. I want to see how far he’ll go.”

Noah looked at me as though he knew we were talking about him and called over to me. “Hey, Sami and Gaelan, I think we should celebrate our getting home over a couple of bottles of Vostok.”

I looked at Gaelan and smiled.

Gaelan faced Noah and readily replied. “Noah, you have good taste,” he said, complimenting my favorite Australian 4 Pines Stout. “A beer sounds great about now.”

Noah’s eyes brightened. “After that, Nia and I want to challenge you to a round of zero-G relay. Get ready. We plan on taking you down.”

“Okay, Noah, game on,” I said, accepting the offer on our behalf.

I pulled Gaelan to my side to illustrate our unbreakable front.

Wow,
it’s going to be weird to lose gravity after spending time aboard the Katarian starship. Unlike the Katarian ship where the artificial gravity was perfected, our Space resort was divided into zero-gravity, partial gravity, and simulated gravity regions. At the resort, your body never questioned whether you were in Space.

At last, the hatched doors opened. Almost immediately, I noticed Leah and Jackson waiting for me.

“Mom,” they said, running up to give me a hug.

I put my arms around them both, one on each side of me, and pulled them in tightly.

“Hey, Gaelan,” Jackson said over my shoulder. “Did you collect all of the materials?”

“Yes, everything we need,” Gaelan stated pragmatically.

I leaned back and scanned Leah and Jackson’s faces. It felt as though it had been an eternity since I’d seen them. “I missed you, really missed you. Oh, thank God you’re both alright. You look wonderful. How have you been?” I held their backs with my hands.

They gave each other a strange look and started to giggle. My mouth fell open at their bizarre reaction.

“What? What’s so funny?” I asked, feeling hurt.

“Jeez, Mom,” Jackson replied. “We’ve been apart for all of five hours. I think we’ll survive. Besides,
you’re the one
who took off on a Katarian starship, not us.”

“Mom, our shuttle came right back,” Leah explained. “Didn’t the Katarians tell you we were safe? They called to report having you aboard. That’s how we knew you were joining them while they collected the building supplies.”

I was at a loss for words. The room seemed to stand still as I struggled to assimilate the news. They were still living in the moments after the resort’s false fire alarm, when I first boarded the Katarian starship. My entire trip to Kataria, my time spent looking for Dreons, my Ineo possession, our capture, and our battle with the Grulanti was all wrapped up into five hours of Earth time.

How?
How was it possible? Forget the time paradox. No known theoretical model could ever explain the power that the Ineo had yielded. It was strange and fantastic—beyond all comprehension. The wonders of Space instantly seemed to be even more mysterious than ever before. Although I might be a little wiser, my trip didn’t give me any brilliant answers to help explain how the universe worked. Instead, I was left completely confounded.

Pulling myself together to keep from looking like a fool, I gave them each a reassuring nod. After all, it didn’t matter how I got here. Life was good. I was grateful to have my family and my life back. “I’m just glad you’re both okay,” I said graciously.

“Us? How about you? Did you have fun?” Leah asked.

“Yes. It was good,” I said vaguely.

“We better go,” Jackson urged. “They are having a meeting in the reception hall to review the results of the drill. You’re the last group to return.”

We entered the corridor that led to the convention hall. For a moment, I thought I would have the luxury of inventing a plausible explanation for my bizarre overreaction. Unfortunately, waiting to tell them the truth became unavoidable after Leah made an undeniable observation.

“Mom, wait,” Leah said with alarm. She stopped and grabbed me by the arm. She tugged at my shirt sleeve, pinching the fabric between her fingers. I saw her eyes studying me from head to toe.
“What
in the world are you wearing?” she asked with squinted eyes. “What happened to your clothes? When did you have time to change? And your hair, it’s straighter, longer. You don’t look the same.” Her mouth fell open, pausing for a moment, as she brought her fingers to cover her lips in shock. “My goodness, you even look
taller
and you seem … I don’t know, really happy,” she said.

I guessed my transformation was indisputable.
Oops!
I immediately recalled Azil mentioning something to me months ago about how I should wear my original clothes when I returned home. I had completely forgotten in all of the excitement.

“Gaelan, did you give our mother a makeover?” Jackson teased after acknowledging Leah’s accusations.

I looked at Gaelan and smiled. “It’s kind of a long story.”

Gaelan gazed back at me lovingly and took my hand in his. Then he smiled. “Indeed.”

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS