The Solar Flare (8 page)

      “Wesley?” She called to him.

     “Yes?” He stopped and turned, looking back at her.

     “Thank you. . .”

     “You are very welcome Ava. I love you.” He turned slowly and walked back towards the master bedroom to take his own shower and change into lighter clothing for the evening.

Chapter 7
: The Tour

     Ava, wrapped in a towel, perused the
few new clothes hanging in her closet, along with a couple sets of the skimpy looking shoes called sandals. Although the room felt nice and cool due to the air conditioning, she knew how hot it would be outside. She chose a sleeveless raspberry pink cotton shirt called a “tank top” and some cropped tan cotton pants with cargo pockets. Naomi has good taste, she thought as she dressed, then rolling her hair up in a loose coiled bun on the back of her head, securing it with a clip she found in the bathroom. Next she chose a pair of dark brown sandals to complete her look. She sat down on the bed, slipped them on and secured the buckle around her ankle. How naked my feet look, she thought. She grabbed her small purse with her PCD out of habit and walked down the staircase towards Wesley, who was waiting for her. He gazed up at her with a look of longing that she always felt so flattered by, it almost made her heart skip a beat again. His energy engulfed her as he took her hand and led her back outside down the steps to the courier and the short journey to visit Rowan and Justin.

        After a quick trip to the other side of the compound, Wesley pulled up at the back entrance near the terrace of another large gray stone hom
e.  The two suns shone a little lower in the sky as the pair walked casually up the steps to the terrace where a large heated metal contraption called a “grill” sat within the stone wall. Justin, who was attending the grill, nodded as Wesley and Ava approached. She could not keep herself from glancing all around her, in awe of the beautiful landscape, flowers, and sky.

      “Hello you two!” Rowan exclaimed as she stepped through a sliding glass d
oor to the terrace from the house. In her hands she carried a large tray of dishes and glasses she meant to set the terrace furniture with.

     “Hi Rowan, let me help you with that
,” Ava moved quickly towards her but Rowan had already sat the tray down.

     “How do you like your new home?” Rowan asked pleasantly as the two women began to set the table.

     “It’s beautiful. I could not have ever imagined anything like it,” she replied honestly, still in awe about everything in her surroundings. She caught Wesley smile in the corner of her eye. “Your home is exquisite,” she continued, looking up at the large structure.

     “Well, when you live as long as we do, you need a lot of space to store the things you can’t let go of
,” she said pleasantly. “Now, what would you like to drink?”

     “Oh, whatever you have is fine, thank you.” Ava didn’t quite know what would be in store for dinner. It could possibly be something she had never eaten before. “Rowan, can I help you with anything inside?”

     “Oh, no thank you, I’ve got everything under control. Naomi and Andre should be here soon.”

      “That’s great
. Will all of us be here?” Ava asked, without realizing she had included herself in the group with that statement. It was hard not to think of them as regular humans, they acted so normal.

     “We thought it would be nice for us all to welcome you on your first night, but we know you and Wesley have some things to sort out so we’ll let you have some space if you need it.”
With that she took the empty tray and went back inside to pour some drinks. A few moments later Naomi and Andre walked up to the terrace.

     “Long time no see!” Naomi joked.

     “Very funny,” Wesley replied, greeting his friends.

    “Thank you for picking out some fabulous clothes for me, you have a good eye for style
,” Ava gestured to her outfit.

     “You are welcome, you look great. Tomorrow I’m going to take you shopping and we’ll get you some more clothes and things that you will need.”

     “But, I don’t have any money yet. . .”

     “That is true
,” Naomi gave Ava a mock look of pity, then changed to a happy expression and continued, “but Wesley does.”

     Ava looked at Wesley, who began to laugh. “Don’t worry Ava, I’ve been working for a long time, I’m sure I can afford to buy you the things that you need.”

     Ava glanced at the ground, still never wanting to be in anyone’s debt. “Thank you, I appreciate it.”

      “You are very welcome
,” he gave her shoulder a gentle rub and turned back to his conversation with Justin and Andre.

     “It will be so much fun, how about I pick you up at ten and then we can shop and eat lunch.”

     “Sounds good.”

     “Everything’s ready, come on over and help yourselves
,” Rowan called cheerfully from the table where she had set everything down.

     “Where’s Ash and Mia?” Ava inquired.

     “Oh, I did invite them, but they are our youngest members and they wanted to spend more time alone together doing their own thing tonight,” Rowan replied.

     “Nothing wrong with that
,” Andre commented with a smile.

     Ava watched the group closely as they began to congregate around the table and begin filling their plates. Anyone watching them would think that they are normal humans, she thought to herself. She began to wonder whether or not the fact that they were Asterions and she was human should impact her relationship
with them at all. The news had shocked her and although it had only been a few days, the sting of it had begun wearing off. Whether she accepted it or not, she felt like she had become part of their family.

                                          ∞

     The following morning Naomi arrived in her own courier to pick Ava up. Always stylish, Naomi was dressed in white cropped pants and a silver tank top with silver sandals.

     “Good morning Ava, did you sleep well last night?”

     “Yes, very well actually. How are you today?”

      “Wonderful. It’s great to be home. Space travel is exciting, and the Andromeda is my second home, but it’s nice to be in one place for a while.”

     “I know what you mean now.” Ava smiled at her friend.

     Naomi fired up her small vehicle and off they went. The first stop would be the shopping center. Naomi wanted to make sure that Ava was well stocked on work apparel as well as casual clothing, toiletries,
shoes, sunglasses, hats, and much to Ava’s shock, bathing suits.

     “
I’m not used to wearing anything so clingy,” Ava said over the dressing room door to Naomi, referring to the metallic blue swimsuit she was trying on.

     “You’ll love learning how to swim!” Naomi replied enthusiastically. After a long try-on session Ava ended up with two one pieces and two bikinis, which she could
hardly believe was enough to wear in public as she still had not gotten used to the hot climate of Kyanos.

     After a quick stop at an outdoor café, Naomi brought Ava to the Capitol building to help her with the online process to become a citizen and be issued a new ID. Since she had been brought there by Wesley, the officials did not ask many questions, so unlike the grilling procedures used by the ITO.

     “We are essentially a closed colony, there isn’t much immigration of humans. Once you are here, you are pretty much here . . . unless you choose to leave us,” Naomi said solemnly.

     Within two hours, Ava had a new ID badge and new accounts for credits set up in her name, which Naomi arranged for
. Ava was given a large sum from Wesley’s account wired into hers so that she would have some “personal” credits to spend however she wished.

     “Are you sure he won’t mind? That’s a lot of money.” Ava sounded unsure whether or not this was a good idea.

     “Of course he won’t mind, I’m just following his instructions, this is what he wanted you to have. Believe me, he won’t miss it.” Naomi waved the whole matter off like warm breeze.

     “When do you think I’ll start my new job?”

     “Well, today is Friday, I’m sure Wesley has a meeting arranged for you to meet Dr. Sullivan next week. It will be good for you to have a few days to adjust anyway, after all that you have been through.”

     “Naomi, are there any more Asterions like you on Kyanos?”

     “No. It’s only us. But there are other Asterions in existence. Bryant for example, is one of us.”

     “Bryant? The man that was looking for
Wesley, the one that talked to me on my way home from work once on Orionis?”

     “Yes, that’s him.”

     “Why were all of you so worried about my conversation with him?”

     Naomi didn’t want to alarm Ava with any of the news of Xavier or Kaden, that would be Wesley’s job. She decided to keep it simple. “We were concerned because we weren’t sure if he would try to hurt you.”

     “Why would he want to hurt me?”

     “To get at Wesley. Unfortunately Bryant was once part of our crew, along with his wife,
Alisa. We were on a mission that became very dangerous due to the unstable environment we were working in and Alisa was injured severely. This was very long ago. We were so isolated, there was nowhere to seek medical help from.” Naomi looked down, clearly upset by the memory. “Anyway, to make a long story short, Wesley tried to heal her but he failed and she died.”

     “She died? I thought that Asterions were like, almost immortal?”

     “Not immortal, resilient to aging and injury maybe, but if our energy is drained and we are hurt bad enough it can happen. Bryant was very distraught at the loss of his wife, his match, and he blamed Wesley for her death, despite his efforts to save her. He separated from us just after that and has been on his own ever since.”

     “He seems so pleasant when he’s around any of you.”

     “That’s how he is. Perhaps he has mellowed out a bit since then, it’s been decades, but I’m sure he still harbors some resentment towards us. Ava, if you ever see him again, don’t go near him, just try to get to one of us. We aren’t sure he means to harm you, but just the same it’s better to be safe.”

     “Okay, I’ll do that. He won’t come to Kyanos will he?”

     “No, I don’t think he knows about it, so we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.”

      “That’s good
.” Ava breathed a sigh of relief.

                                          ∞

          Ava rose at eight in the morning on Saturday. She wanted to try and get used to the current time zone so that she wouldn’t be so out of it when she started work again, whenever that would be. Wesley must have heard her in the kitchen making some oatmeal and came down to sit with her.

     “Do you want some? I made enough for the two of us
,” Ava said shyly.

     “Sure. What are you doing up so early for on a Saturday?”

     “I wanted to try and get used to the time change. I’m not used to the longer days and only four hours of night time, or going to bed when it’s so light outside.”

     “Yes, it is a bit strange at first, but it’s like anything else, you get used to it
,” he yawned.

     Ava set the bowls on the kitchen table and returned to the kitchen to get utensils and some juice. She had only been here a few days but was already in love with the fresh orange juice. “The food is so delicious here
,” she said sincerely as she sat with him.

     “It looks like we are
supposed to have great weather today,” Wesley mentioned as he tapped a few buttons on the electronic tablet he had left on the table the night before. “If you want, we could pack a picnic lunch and I could take you on a tour of some of the crop fields and then the forest that’s nearby. We could do a little hiking if you like.”

     “That sounds like fun. I would like to see more of the landscape and nature around here. I’ve never seen anything like this place.”

     After a few hours, they set off on their adventure. Wesley jetted around the compound in the courier. Periodically he would pause and take a few moments to explain to Ava what they were looking at. He decided to start the tour with the north crop field, closest to the residential compound where his house was. He continued west until the entered the farming and livestock district. Ava marveled at the cows grazing in the soft green grasses. They continued on their journey south to the southern crop fields where most of the wheat and soy were grown. They cruised past mile after mile of stalks waving in the wind, it was an amazing sight.  Wesley brought the courier close to what appeared to be a large silo and parked it next to another courier that was parked there.

     “Looks like Ash is here
,” he mentioned as he helped Ava out.