Only Human by Chris Reher Page B

mad about
you already!"
    "You know, for a diplomat you're being
most obnoxiously forward. Major Tychon is my commanding officer, we're trying
to do a high risk job and neither of us has given any thought to anything but
kicking Tharron's ass out of Trans-Targon."
    Anders clapped his hands. "Well said,
Captain! Now write that down and recite it to yourself three times a day.
Better make that four times when we're on Delphi. Their days are longer than
the days in this tin box."
    She glared at him.
    "Don't be angry. I am only pointing
out the obvious." He toyed with the flash modules scattered on the buffed
surface of the map table. "I've known Ty all my life. Gave me my first ride
on a solar cruiser. We had some big plans back then. He was going to do a
couple of years for the Union and then we were all going to head into deep
space. He's one of the best spanners I know - what's he doing chasing rebels?
We were going to reach the end of the galaxy and then see where we can jump to
next. I was going to find a new planet and start my own population with
whatever space girls I'd find there." He smiled absently and found his way
from his memories back to Nova. "Then Ty lost his wife to Tharron's damned
Rhuwac lizards. He joined the Vanguard and we never talked about any of that
again. I'd give a lot to see him care for his life again.”
    She looked toward the open hatch in the
floor. "He told me about that day," she said. She pointed at herself.
"But I am not looking for a lifemate, Anders. I am not interested
in Delphian mating habits or whether or not he is free to take a second wife.
Give it up!"
    Anders scrunched up his face in a
thoughtful expression. “I’m not talking about lifemates, Nova. The word means
what it is. He won’t ever take another wife. No matter what he says, he is
Delphian and his affinity is to the house of Phera. He has Kira to think about.
Nothing else matters.”
    She drew back. “I didn’t know that. I don’t
know much about Delphi at all.”
    “I’ll teach you. If you touch this spot on
their lower back they–"
    “Anders!” she tried not to laugh.
    He held up both hands. "Okay, okay,
I'm sorry I brought it up. He'd be disowned, anyway. Forget I said anything."
    Nova turned away. "Fine! Consider it
forgotten."
    He winked. "It's a long trip to
Targon, though."
    "You figured that we would head there,
huh?" Tychon's voice reached them. He had overheard Anders' last words as
he climbed up from the hold with the box of filters.
    Anders was still leering at Nova.
"Yup, just telling the Captain how well I know you, Your Blueness."
    Tychon glanced from one to the other,
noting Nova's tension. He clapped Anders' shoulder hard enough to be taken as
warning. "If he had two mouths he'd talk with both of them."
    * * *
    Four standard days after Anders' rescue on
K'lar Four, the Eagle descended on the sparsely populated, water-rich planet of
Delphi.
    D'Elph'Pi, the proud natives had proclaimed
this small orb to the first Terran-Centauri crew to land here. The
unimaginative explorers were quick to spell the name in a more easily
pronounced way. And, as with most off-world concepts, it was accepted by the
blue-haired inhabitants with an indifferent shrug.
    "It's beautiful!" Nova marveled
during their approach, mentally comparing the image on their screens to what
she knew about the planet of her own origin.
    Large ice caps and vast oceans separated
the landmasses, turning the planet into a colorful bauble fixed forever against
the velvet backdrop of space. Bright cloud patterns abutted severe mountain
ranges that, in turn, gave way to deeply colored lowlands. There were cold,
flat polar regions but no deserts.
    Tychon understood her thoughts. "Those
that have been there say she reminds them of Terra. Too bad that we will not
have time to stay very long. Only enough to drop off our cargo."
    "Cargo? Me?" Anders exclaimed
from where he sat on the steps behind them. "Hey, Nova, is he calling me
cargo? Cargo! I