“Wow, your standard is really coming along.” I darted glances between her and Lizzy. “Very impressed.”
“Well, there’s still words our programs can’t identify, but it’s only been a year.” Lizzy stopped as Schaeffer lifted the shuttle off the ground. She waited until he set course and relaxed. “Want to bring up the holo-map, show us where we’re going?”
“See, bossy.” Schaeffer tapped up the computer’s hologram program and set it to project in the space between our seats. He turned his chair around partway, not totally relinquishing control of the shuttle to the computer. “Gerret identified an area they want us to see, though he didn’t tell me why.” He gave Gerret a half shrug. “All will be revealed soon enough.”
I leaned forward, studying the coordinates mapped. “This is where we’re going?”
“No, I just thought it was pretty.” Lizzy rolled her eyes at me again. “Geez, get your head on straight.”
“Wow, Schaef, did you really propose or she just tell you you’re getting married and you’re too scared to say no?” Remy pointed to his legs when Lizzy looked like she was going to come after him with a kick to the shins.
Schaeffer laughed. “So, this is where we’re going. Our preliminary scans ruled it out, mostly because we couldn’t get a good reading. The terrain was too rough to set up a camp.”
“So, what do we know now? We’ve been here for over two years.” I looked over to Yinet. “What’s so important there?”
Yinet didn’t answer me, but Gerret leaned forward. He tapped areas around the map and I recognized their community, then others. He kept marking other locations and it took a minute or two for me to realize none were within the zone. I couldn’t see why, it looked just as untamed as the rest of their world. Tall mountains with a few pastoral valleys and forest from rim to rim.
“You’re taking us someplace you don’t go. Is it safe?”
“No danger.” Yinet turned her face away from the map, starring out her window. “Wait.”
I gave Schaeffer a look and after a year he still understood it, shutting down the display. Yinet wasn’t angry, but looking at the map upset her.
Lizzy gave me a subtle nod, agreeing this had to be dropped for now. She was quick to fill the awkward silence. “Now that you’re back we can start planning this wedding.” Schaeffer groaned and turned back to the cockpit. “Shut up!” She snipped at him. “He doesn’t see why we have to do this.”
“He’s a guy.”
“No, it’s not that.” He grumbled from the cockpit, not turning around. “You keep talking about family. Part of why we were picked for this mission is that we had no family.”
“Well, you made a family. You’ve been living with most of these people for years, sharing secrets, sharing experiences. That’s what makes families and they want to share this.” She swung her chair back to me. “Besides, it’s not all about you.”
“Schaef, buddy.” Remy stroked my arm. “Once these sisters get their hearts set on something, they team up.”
“Like I haven’t figured that out?”
“Then stop fighting it. Rank has no privileges here. The only answer is ‘yes, dear, whatever you want’. I heard Gerret snicker and Remy looked over to see his friend nod. “See, it’s a universal rule.”
“So, back to the wedding.” I couldn’t resist. “I know you put it off to spring.”
“Well, I had to wait until the two of you got back. And it’s too cold right now. I want someplace special, either the rock or the plaza.” That got Yinet’s attention. Lizzy sat a little straighter, opening up her computer and sending a picture of the plaza to the hologram. “The rock is where we all met, but your home is where we really came together. And it’s so beautiful in the spring.”
A few taps and the image advanced to show the rapid blooming of flowers around the edges of the plaza and the few places vines were allowed to climb the face of the cliffs.
“Oh, that is so pretty. I can see a wedding there.” I’d missed the entire year and had no clue what spring in the mountains looked like. “As long as no one minds a bunch of humans showing up.”
“We are honored. Human and Parredet together.”
“There, that was easy.” I knew Lizzy wouldn’t use her wedding as a diplomatic ploy, but the thought crossed my mind. “Maybe there’s some Parredet customs you can incorporate.”
“Maybe…” I could see Lizzy’s creative side kicking in. “Yinet, we’re going to have to sit down and exchange stories.” She leaned back to look at Schaeffer, grinning. “Maybe you better have a chat with Gerret so you don’t get any weird surprises.”
“Yes, dear… whatever… you… want.” Gerret snickered again, strangely wicked enough to make Schaeffer look back. “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this.”
“Hey, you only get married once.” I gave Schaeffer a wink. “Till death do you part.”
“Like even that matters.” Remy tapped his chest. “I’m still here.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
It took nearly two hours for us to reach the coordinates, Gerret pointing Schaeffer to fly around the zone and land on the southern rim of a particular string of mountains. As we dropped altitude we saw other Parredet, waving us towards a clearing.
I could see Schaeffer squinting to survey the ground, but they’d done a good job smoothing it out for us. He settled down in the center. Snow flurried up around us, but fluttered down again quickly. Yinet unbuckled and gathered up winter gear from the bench behind her.
While we had spent almost a year on the planet before finally communicating with the Parredet, they never showed themselves during the worst three months.
We’d originally assumed the Parredet went into some type of hibernation. Now we knew they just hunkered down, since any travel had to be by foot. She pulled on hide boots and a heavy fur coat. Gerret joining her.
“I take it we’re going for a hike?” I looked to Remy. “Will the
