The Ninth Orb by Kaitlyn O'Connor Page B

ours,” Eden managed finally, her voice sounding faint even to her own ears.
    He nodded, but she could see he didn’t believe their customs were that different.
    Good god! He expected her to take on all eight of them? Was it considered a huge slight not to?
    Visions of her home filled her mind. She’d thought it very comfortable, but it would be bursting at the seams with nine people. They’d have to sleep stacked like cord wood!
    She banished the image with an effort.
    What was she thinking?
    She wasn’t even sure she wanted one around!
    That thought gave her pause. As hard as she’d been trying to pretend she didn’t find Baen irresistible, she must feel a lot more than she’d consciously accepted if she’d picked his brood brothers out of such a huge gathering.
    Their mind set was obviously very, very different. An Earth man would have been horrendously insulted if she’d shown any interest in his brothers. They were very territorial. Either the Xtanian’s weren’t, or maybe they were and it was just in a different way? Maybe the brood was almost like a unit? They expected to be chosen in sets? And what would happen if they weren’t? Rivalry? Disgrace? War?
    She dismissed that thought.
    It circled around and came back. She licked her lips nervously, but she was never going to understand if she didn’t ask some questions. “It would be an insult to chose one and not the others?” she asked hesitantly.
    His brows rose. “Yes, but why would you want only one?” he asked puzzled. “There would be none to care for you and the babies. Soldiers are not trained to care for the young, nor workers trained in the skills to protect. This is not the way of your people?”
    Eden discovered her head was pounding with the effort to grasp what seemed to her a very complicated social structure. She realized finally that he was assuming that the Earth women produced a litter of babies all at the same time like the women he was familiar with. She was on the point of disabusing his mind of that misconception when it occurred to her that such an announcement would be as shocking to him as his was to her. It would also emphasize the radical differences between their peoples.
    She wasn’t certain it was a good idea to help them to understand Earthlings. As little as she liked Ivy’s way of thinking, she knew there was a potential for problems between them. Understanding might eliminate a lot of problems, but it might create more.
    She was far more comfortable with collecting answers that supplying him with information, period.
    She managed a wavering smile. “Why indeed?” she finally responded. “And the--uh--queens--they usually chose a--uh--brood?”
    She could tell from his expression that he thought it was a ridiculous question to ask. “Of course.”
    “Alrighty then,” she said, leaping to her feet abruptly. “Well, it was nice chatting, but I should get back now.”
    She discovered that despite the carcass he’d shouldered, she couldn’t out distance him. No matter how fast she walked, he remained a specific distance behind her. She was huffing for air by the time she reached the entrance to the city nearest the forest. Baen seemed a little winded, too, but then he was carrying something that probably weighed as much or more than he did, he’d walked at least a half a mile, and he had kept pace with her.
    Immediately ashamed that she’d given him no consideration, Eden sent him an apologetic glance.
    By her own customs it would be dreadfully rude dismiss him at the gate after his gesture without even offering him a chance to rest and refresh himself.
    She found wanted to, though, and not just because it would be rude not to offer.
    Accepting the inevitability of it, she lifted her head for the scanner. “Eden Chisholm and guest.” When the computer acknowledged them, Eden led the way along the dead zone corridor.
    Baen had not experienced anything like the automated roadway, she discovered.
    When she’d