was jealous or not. “Do I ask about your lovers?”
Ione couldn’t help the slight flush that crept up her cheeks. Hans had been fun while it lasted, but she’d never felt as free with him as she did with Joshua. “No,” she admitted.
“Ah hah, I’m not the only one who’s guilty, by the looks of it.”
She traced a forefinger down his sternum and abdomen until she was stroking his thighs. “Quits?”
“Yes.” His hands found her hips. “I brought you another present.”
“Joshua! What?”
“A gigantea seed. That’s an aboriginal Lalonde tree. I saw a couple on the edge of Durringham, they were eighty metres tall, but Marie said they were just babies, the really big ones are further inland from the coast.”
“
“Yes.” He refused to be put off. “It should grow all right in Tranquillity’s parkland. But you’ll have to plant it where the soil is deep and there’s plenty of moisture.”
“I’ll remember.”
“It’ll grow up to the light-tube eventually.”
She pulled a disbelieving face.
I will have to run environmental compatibility tests first,tranquillity said. Our biosphere is delicately balanced.
So cynical.“thank you, joshua,” she said out loud.
Joshua realized he had regained his erection. “Why don’t you just ease forward a bit?”
“I could give you a treat instead,” Ione said seductively. “A real male fantasy come true.”
“Yes?”
“Yes. There’s a girlfriend of mine I’d like you to meet. We go swimming together every morning. You’d like that, watching us get all wet and slippery. She’s younger than me. And she never, ever wears a swimming costume.”
“Jesus.” Joshua’s face went from greed to caution. “This isn’t on the level,” he decided.
“Yes, it is. She’s also very keen to meet you. She likes it a lot when people wash her. I do it all the time, sliding my hands all over her. Don’t you want to join me?”
He looked up at Ione’s mock-innocent expression, and wondered what the hell he was letting himself in for. Gay gene, like bollocks. “Lead on.”
They had walked fifty metres down the narrow sandy path towards the cove, Ione’s escort of three serjeants an unobtrusive ten paces behind, when Joshua stopped and looked round. “This is the southern endcap.”
“That’s right,” she said slyly.
He caught up with her as she reached the top of the bluff. The long, gently curving cove below looked tremendously enticing, with a border of shaggy palm trees and a tiny island offshore. Away in the distance he could see the elaborate buildings of the Laymil project campus.
“It’s all right,” she said. “I won’t have you arrested for coming here.”
He shrugged and followed her down the bluff. Ione was running on ahead as he reached the sand. Her towelling robe was flung away. “Come on, Joshua!” Spray frothed up as her feet reached the water.
A naked girl, a tropical beach. Irresistible. He dropped his own robe and jogged down the slope. Something was moving behind him, something making dull thudding sounds as it moved, something heavy. He turned. “Jesus!”
A Kiint was running straight at him. It was smaller than any he’d seen before, about three metres long, only just taller than him. Eight fat legs were flipping about in a rhythm which was impossible to follow.
His feet refused to budge. “Ione!”
She was laughing hysterically. “Morning, Haile,” she called at the top of her voice.
The Kiint lumbered to a halt in front of him. He was looking into a pair of soft violet eyes half as wide as his own face. A stream of warm damp breath poured from the breathing vents.
“Er . . .”
One of the tractamorphic arms curved up, the tip formshifting into the shape of a human hand—slightly too large.
“Well, say hello, then,” Ione said; she had walked up to stand behind him.
“I’ll get you for this, Saldana.”
She giggled. “Joshua, this is my girlfriend, Haile. Haile, this is Joshua.”
Why has he so much stiffness?haile asked.
Ione cracked up, nearly doubling over as she laughed. Joshua gave her a furious glare.
Not want to shake hands? Not want to initiate human greetings ritual? Not want to be friends? the kiint sounded mournfully disappointed.
“Joshua, shake hands. Haile’s upset you don’t want to be friends with her.”
“How do you know?” he asked out of the corner of his mouth.
“Affinity. The Kiint can use it.”
He put his hand up. Haile’s arm reached out, and he felt a dry, slightly scaly, bud of flesh flow softly around his fingers. It tickled. His neural nanonics were executing a priority search through the xenoc files he had stored in a memory cell. The Kiint could hear.
“May your thoughts always fly high, Haile,” he said, and gave a slight formal bow.
I have much likening for him!
Ione gave him a calculating stare. I might have known that charm of his would work on xenocs too, she thought.
Joshua felt the Kiint’s flesh deliver a warm squeeze to his hand, then the pseudo-hand peeled back. The itchy sensation it left in his palm seemed to spread up along his spine and into his skull.
“Your new girlfriend,” he said heavily.
Ione smiled. “Haile was born a few weeks ago. And boy, does she grow fast.”
Haile started to push Ione towards the water, flat triangular head butting the girl spiritedly, beak flapping. One of her tractamorphic arms beckoned avidly at Joshua.
He grinned. “I’m coming.” His scalp felt as if he’d been in the sun too long, an all-over tingle.
“The water eases her skin while she’s growing,” Ione said as she skipped ahead of the eager Kiint. “She needs to bathe two or three times a day. All the Kiint houses have interior pools. But she loves the beach.”
“Well, I’ll be happy to help scrub her while I’m here.”
Much gratitude.
“My pleasure,” Joshua said. He stopped. Haile was standing at the edge of the water, big eyes regarding him attentively. “That was you.”
Yes.
“What was?” Ione asked, she looked from one to the other.
“I can hear her.”
“But you don’t have an affinity gene,” she said, surprised, and maybe a little indignant.
Joshua has thoughts of strength. Much difficulty to effect interlocution, but possible. Not so with most humans. Feel hopelessness. Failure sorrow.
