Read Habitats (an Ell Donsaii story #7) for Free Online

in space? The thought both excited and terrified him. He would love to do that kind of work, but didn’t think he could leave Abby and Jennifer to go work up in some kind of metal can out in space. He assumed the metal room in the videogame was supposed to represent some kind of space station workshop…?
     
    ***
     
    Shan climbed down the stairs from the Learjet and onto the tarmac while gazing wonderingly around at the beautiful Caribbean waters surrounding the little island. He and Raquel had gotten on the plane in North Carolina, but shortly into the flight she’d gone into the bathroom and washed “Raquel” off, reappearing as Ell. As he and Ell cleared the stairs, a couple of burly guys headed up to start unloading the equipment that had filled much of the rest of the small plane. Ell walked off toward a big house done in light blue with white trim. It had a huge airy porch. Shan trotted a few steps to catch up. “So they let you catch rides down here anytime you want?”
    She grinned up at him, “As long as I’m caught up on my work, the boss lets me enjoy the perks. The plane was coming down here anyway. D5R needs the island for its space research and keeps the guest house open for the people who are working on the island. So the incremental cost of letting us come down and enjoy ourselves isn’t much. Besides,” she arched an eyebrow, “D5R’s got to keep their CSO happy, you know.”
    Thirty minutes later, after they’d taken a room on the top floor of the “guest house,” Ell disappeared into the bathroom to wipe the bronzers off the rest of her body. On the plane she’d only done her face and hands. She’d emerged wearing a gauzy, cute beach cover-up. Watching her lithe form as she moved around gathering up snorkels, masks and fins took Shan’s breath away. As he had so many times before, he found it difficult to believe that such an amazing person enjoyed sharing her life with him. And, my God, sooo beautiful! The mind boggled to think that the Raquel he fell in love with was also the Ell that he so much admired.
    Standing back up festooned with gear she said, “Hey, you going snorkeling with me or not?”
    Startled out of his reverie , Shan stood, “Whoops, sorry, let me get my suit on.”
     
    As they scampered across the hot sand to the water Shan said, “Hey, you aren’t going to embarrass me with some kinds of incredible swimming feats are you?”
    “Oh no!” she laughed delightedly. “I’m a terrible swimmer. I don’t have any endurance and swimming is hard work. Besides,” she cast him a chagrined look, “I sink .”
    She pulled off the cover -up, revealing a tiny pale blue bikini that took his breath away. Shan loved the way that, though she didn’t look muscle-bound by any means, her muscular definition was easy to see. She definitely didn’t have a lot of fat tWhlot of o help her float.
    Ell splashed happily into the water, “Come on slowpoke, you’ve got to see some of the fish they have here! Take this.” She tossed something to him.
    He looked at it. It was the mouthpiece of a snorkel, without the snorkel? Oh, I’ll bet it has a port! Sure enough, when he put it in his mouth he could easily breathe through it, despite the area where the snorkel would normally turn upwards being completely sealed. When he got into the water he could breathe without any trouble in the shallow water. Water didn’t water splash in like it would with a snorkel tube. This is great! More like scuba than snorkeling, except he couldn’t go very deep because the air wasn’t pressurized.
     
    Shan climbed the stairs from the beach, admiring Ell’s form enthusiastically bouncing up the steps ahead of him. She’d taken him from spot to spot in the water, delightedly showing him coral and fish… though he’d mostly enjoyed watching her lissome body floating through the crystal water.
    As they crossed the big patio Ell squeaked, “Mom!” She dropped her swimming gear and crossed to a table