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ever known.
We re traveling much too fast to see stars. When we near Fedoros we ll drop out of
hyperspace and you ll see stars like you ve never seen in your life.
Fedoros is the world on which Venus built our new home?
Yes. I haven t seen it myself, but I ve heard it is very much like Pompeii.
I need to see my people. She set the glass on a nearby table and fiddled with the
cord holding up her leg coverings. Pants. He had called them pants. You have told me
that many of them are unharmed, but I need to see them.
All right. He took her hand and then paused. You understand that they re in
stasis, right? We talked about what that means.
They are in a very deep trance, but no harm will come to them. Correct?
Exactly right. Keeping her next to the wall, he hurried her down the corridor and
into a tiny room. Hold on to me. No sooner had she grabbed hold of his arm than the
room plummeted, sending her stomach right along with it. She gasped, turned into him,
and wrapped her arms around him. With a warm chuckle, he accepted the unexpected
embrace. Almost there.
What is this thing?
It s called a lift, though right now we re going down, not up. The lift finally
stabilized and Felicia exhaled. Are you all right?
He sounded more amused than concerned, but she didn t take exception. I believe
so.
Good, then let s go. He led her to a wide double door. This is a cargo bay. It s
been set up to accommodate two hundred survivors. There are two more bays just like
this one and this is one of twelve ships. Like I told you earlier, we rescued over seven
thousand of your people.
23
Aubrey Ross
Felicia nodded and the doors slid open. She followed Aiden inside feeling both
excited and unsure. She hadn t known what to expect, but her imagination never could
have created something so amazing or so horrible. Her people were laid out in tubes
and stacked one on top of the other, row after row after row. It seemed to go on forever,
bodies, motionless bodies everywhere she looked.
Her heart thudded wildly and her lungs began to burn. They are&
They are alive. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a
reassuring squeeze. They are all very much alive.
Wake them up! This is unnatural. Wake them up now! She spun away from his
arm and lunged for the nearest tube. His arm caught her around the waist, pulling her
back against his body. She went wild in his arms, thrashing and twisting, arching her
back. Let me go! I must help them. I must&
She dissolved into tears as his arms captured hers, immobilizing her against his
body. When she stopped struggling against him, he turned her and pressed her face
into the warm hollow where his neck met his shoulder. He was the only solid thing in
her world and she clung to him without hesitation.
His arms were strong and his hands were gentle, but her riotous emotions
prevented her from evaluating the potential intimacy. He walked her to a nearby bench
and pulled her down into his lap. She curled into the warmth of his body, knowing it
was just a temporary reprieve from the tempest, yet thankful for a moment to catch her
breath.
I m sorry, he whispered against her hair. I should have realized I was
overwhelming you. I was being selfish.
The sincerity in his confession drew her head up off his shoulder. How were you
being selfish? You simply did what I asked you to do.
I need your help, he reminded. I was doing what I thought would earn your
trust.
She searched his gaze, unsure what to make of him. Few men she knew were so
honest. It was far more often that they twisted words and situations to their own liking
and their own benefit. You are a very strange man, Aiden. But you are not a priest of
Venus. The question is, why do you want people to believe you are?
He stared at her for a long time then looked around the cargo bay before he leaned
in and said, The truth is, I don t know why the Fedorans saved your people. I was
hired to help move you to your new home and it s the Fedorans who came up with the
story about Venus and Vulcan.
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