Norvir (The Mating Games Book 9) (4 page)

When the lecture ended, they approached Heloise. “Would you and Nat consider being our guests for supper? We would meet you at the same restaurant that we ate lunch at.”

“I’ll be so bold as to accept on both our behalves.” Heloise agreed smiling widely and winking at Morelan. Norvir didn’t want to examine his reaction too closely. Happy, he ought to be but he was so much more than that.

“We’ll go get ready and meet you ladies there in an hour.” Norvir confirmed.

“I just sent her a message and she accepted.” Heloise informed.

“We’ll see you then.” Morelan offered finally saying something.

Heloise looked like the cat that got the cream. Norvir hoped she was gentle when she left Morelan, because she didn’t look like the staying kind.

Morelan went to Norvir’s room with him taking the first shower and borrowing some clothes. Norvir showered next, dressing quickly, and ready with time to spare. “Why don’t we explore a little?” Morelan asked.

“We do have half an hour to kill.” Norvir verified. “Let’s look around near the place we will meet them.”

The area they chose to investigate seemed to be the place all the eating establishments were at. They found two more places that just served food, one served families and had a child friendly atmosphere. Norvir could understand people who didn’t want to leave their offspring behind, but this was one of the last places he would choose to bring his own kids, if he had any. It was amazing how fast the thirty minutes passed, and they headed back to the place they had initially met the ladies.

Heloise and Nat arrived seconds after they did. Once they were seated, Nat was next to him again. He drew in a deep breath appreciating the sweet, clean scent coming from her. The flowery smell pulled at him deeply. It was more than want or need, it was all consuming and his demon wanted to answer. Norvir held him back, for now.

“How are you ladies doing tonight?” Norvir asked.

“We are doing great. One day down, one day to go.” Heloise mentioned.

“Yes, I have Nat’s lecture tomorrow. It will be the one before lunch. I have Don Thompson for the afternoon lecture.

“Good ole Don.” Heloise smirked.

“His lecture is on recycling.” Norvir noted.

“Don is the leading specialist on recycling. He will be able to tell the best methods to recycle any material that can be currently be recycle. Don will also give you some great hints on storing materials awaiting recycling in the safest and cleanest possible ways.” Heloise pointed out.

“We currently have little refuse, we have worked hard on using natural products in construction, and using reusable products in our everyday lives.” Norvir observed.

“You are able to get your people to follow these guidelines?” Nat asked amazed.

“Of course. Our people are very practical and conservation interests all of them. If offspring are brought up with these mandates, they will apply them and pass them on.”

“Your world sounds like a place I would like to visit.” Nat admitted.

“Come for a visit, then decide.”

“I might just do that.” She said softly.

A server took their drink order when she brought some complimentary appetizers and she took their orders. They continued their discussion covering many conservation topics. Norvir felt like he had found a kindred spirit. Their views on the environment were closely matched. His demon showed his her aura, it was a lovely pale purple. A perfect match for him and Oison.

Their food came, it smelled delicious. Everyone dug in with appetite. Morelan was finally talking to Heloise although he was only answering her questions. “You are from Oison.” Nat stated. She was a smart one.

“Yes.” He saw no point in denying it.

“Why are you hiding it?” Nat wondered.

“People act different and we have a company on Earth that is trying to cause us problems. It was decided there was no point in advertising our presence when we are off world.” Norvir admitted.

“I suppose I can see the sense in that. If they don’t know you’re here, they won’t cause trouble.”

“Exactly.” Norvir smiled at her. His female had common sense to go with that brilliant and educated mind.

“You are the rare man of few words. Well except for Moore, he hardly speaks at all.”

“I will see you tomorrow. I’ve been looking forward to your lecture.”

“Why? It’s on recovery from pollution, it’s geared toward healing a planet that is already messed up like Earth. There will be little in the lecture you can apply to Oison.”

“You are passionate about saving your planet. Lectures are better when given by someone truly committed to their cause. It will be exciting to hear what you have to say and how you say it.”

“Now I’m nervous. I may disappoint you.”

“You couldn’t if you tried.”

Talk halted while everyone finished their food. Norvir paid the bill and he knew it was time to go. “We will see you both tomorrow for lunch, won’t we?” He asked.

“Of course.” Heloise answered before Nat could speak. Apparently, she didn’t want to give Nat a chance to say no.

“That’s great. Good night, ladies.” Norvir added and Morelan repeated.

Norvir and Morelan parted ways as Morelan headed to the ship while Norvir headed to his room. Tomorrow would be when something happened. It was his last day here, he would have his possessions loaded on the ship and checkout before attending the first lecture. Before the second lecture began after lunch, all their people would be on the ship waiting for him so they could leave. At lunch, if the ladies agreed, their possessions would be loaded too. Everything had to be planned precisely so they would leave right after the last lecture of the day.

His daig assured him it was essential and they should have left today to avoid a shit storm that was on its way. Damn! Even his demon was using Lista’s sayings. Norvir entered his room to find a message light flashing on the inter-hotel communications system. No one had any reason to contact him this way and he was tempted to ignore it, but curiosity won out.

Mr. Norvir, this is James Dumont, one of the lecturers in the seminar you are attending. It has come to my attention that you might be a representative of Oison. If you are, I would like to offer my services and possibly those of other specialists I have influence over. I would like to meet with you, after my lectures tomorrow conclude, if this will work for you. Please contact me.

Shit! Just shit. How did he know? Maybe that was why he had shown such interest in Norvir when he had attended Dumont’s lecture. If he answered him, he would be giving information away. If he ignored him, Dumont would draw his own conclusions. A sense of dread permeated the air around him. There was no good way to handle this man and Dumont was dangerous. How, he wasn’t sure. The fact that he was trying to make the letter formal by using Mr. wasn’t lost on him either. James Dumont didn’t like him, but he didn’t like Dumont either.

Norvir contacted the front desk. “I received a message on your coms. I would like to send an answer.”

“Are you aware you can answer directly, Sir?”

“I am. This is the way I prefer to answer. I don’t have time for a conversation right now. The message is to James Dumont. Tell him I will be in touch after the last lecture.”

“You will be in touch after the last lecture. I have it, Sir, and it will be sent right away.”

“No rush. Thank you.” Now Norvir would wonder, had he handled it correctly?

Once they were safely aboard ship, he would send Dumont his thank you for the offer, but decline it. He didn’t want that man anywhere near his planet, his people, or Nat. It didn’t matter that he had no specific reasons to distrust the man. His demon was empathic to some degree and wiser than his male side. Trusting in his demon was easy, trusting in an unknown human male was not.

With that taken care of, for better or worse, Norvir showered and laid down to sleep. It was weird being on the space station even for just a couple days because there was no sun to shine on him and his feet never touched the dirt or grass. Never would he have thought that would throw him off as much as it had in such a short time. His sleep wasn’t as peaceful as it would have been on Oison and his demon was restless. Eventually he did sleep, even though he did not feel rested in the morning when he woke.

That didn’t matter because he knew he needed to get up and get things down. He was ready with his bag packed in just a few minutes. Checking out was a breeze and a porter delivered his bag to the ship. Morelan verified its arrival by sending a text. At least those things he had control of were on track. Norvir headed to the seminar arriving just in time to fix himself a plate of food and grab a seat before Nat began.

Nothing calmed his demon as much as seeing Nat at the front of the room, safe and sound. Nothing bad had happened yet. There was hope they might escape before any disaster hit them. He was usually the hopeful one in any crowd. Positive thinking, as long as it was backed up by a plan in case of disaster, never hurt anyone.

Now he relaxed, turned on his recorder, and snacked on the food on his plate as he listened to Nat lecture. Her intense dedication to her passion as well as the anger she felt at companies that continued practices proven to be bad for the planet, showed in her words and her tone. He was right to expect a moving lecture. It also worried him because she mentioned the names of the companies that were taking Earth to the point where it couldn’t sustain life anymore. They were all big, powerful companies that wouldn’t appreciate being exposed.

When the lecture ended, he went to the front so he could escort her to lunch. “I hope you’ve decided to visit with us on Oison?”

“Heloise wouldn’t allow me not to. She is infatuated with Moore.”

“Once we eat, I will take you to your room so you can check out and we’ll have your luggage loaded. Moore can help Heloise. I think it’s a good idea to leave directly after your lecture.”

“Okay, if you think we should. I just need to let James know.”

“Could you do me a favor and wait to let James know once we are in the ship. He’s already contacted me to offer me his services. I told him I would be in touch before we leave. I’m not sure how he knew who I was, but it’s a little unnerving.”

“James knew? He never mentioned it to me when he came by this morning to see me.”

“So you’ll wait?”

“Yes, I don’t see any harm and it and you’re right. It is odd he knew you.”

“Why don’t we go to lunch and then we’ll get things moving?”

“Lead the way.”

They went down the hall to the restaurant where they would meet Morelan and Heloise. Arriving just moments ahead of the other two, they secured a table near the door. “Here they come.” Nat observed.

They had a nice meal before Morelan accompanied Heloise to get her baggage and Novir went with Nat. Everything was now ready for them to leave immediately after the last lecture and hopefully, no one else knew. Nat headed to her lecture room and Norvir headed to the lecture he was attending. Once the lectures were finished, he would escort Nat to the ship while Morelan would bring Heloise there.

Norvir was nervous as he claimed a seat up front and near the door. Dr. Don Thompson began his session, but all he did was basically regurgitate the dry information that Norvir had already gotten from his book. The man might be a leading specialist, but he was as boring as a man could be. Norvir sat through half the lecture before he slipped out. Heading toward Nat’s room, He considered going in, but didn’t’ want to interrupt. He decided to wait for her outside the door.

It was nearly time for the session to come to an end, when he picked up an unusual noise. Because a clicking noise that sounded like a countdown could only be a few things and most of them were bad, he slipped into the room just as a male slipped out. Norvir took a good look at him, his timing was suspicious. His demon tracked the noise to under an empty chair. It was a bomb.

“Everyone leave the room calmly. There is a bomb in here.” He didn’t know any other way to handle things, but the panic that broke out cause a couple people to get trampled. Helping them up, he pointed them to the door before grabbing Nat and using demon speed to put distance between them and the bomb. Once they were a reasonable distance, he commed Morelan and explained the situation.

“Meet us at the ship as soon as possible.”

“We are on our way.” Morelan said.

Norvir and Nat sat in the front observation deck of their ship, as they watched a hole appear in the outside wall of the room they had been in just minutes before. “Do you think anyone was hurt?” Nat asked.

“No, the room was emptied out. The bomb was reported so no one else would have gone in the room. The station has the new self-sealing technology that is used in all the door ways. It would sense that there was a hole and close that room or any other room that was affected, off. That wouldn’t stop the bomb from exploding and it would only seal once a hole was made. It won’t contain the blast, it is only meant to conserve the air that would be sucked out of the hole.”

“How did you know?”

“My people have sharp senses. The man that left your lecture, was the one that turned it on. I heard the ticking. Following the sound, I found the bomb. You know what happened then.”

“Someone tried to kill me.”

“Yes, that is clear.”

Chapter 4

Nathalie had a sinking feeling of dread in her stomach as she looked at the hole that was torn into the side of the station. Not only had they been willing to destroy part of an expensive station that she had heard was owned by organized crime, but they had also been willing to sacrifice over five hundred people that were in the room with her. Some of those people represented governments, huge inter-world companies, and wealthy groups. Her situation had gotten beyond real.

“Where are Moore and Heloise? Shouldn’t they be here by now?”

“You are correct. You’re fellow scientist, Dumont, has captured them and is willing to trade them for you.” Norvir turned up his com.

Nat could hear Dumont ranting about how the Mazlans had interfered with his plans to claim her. “We need to find a way to get them away from him. Do you think he’s insane?”