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

that had a couple in their early forties sitting at it. Bending to hug her mother she exclaimed, “What are you and Miles doing here?”
    Feeling embarrassed to be on the island with her daughter when he hadn’t even been introduced, Shan stood uncertainly by the swim gear. He noticed that Ell looked a lot like her mother.
    Her mother laughed, “We d on’t seem to get to see my daughter nearly often enough, and when she let slip she was coming to the island, we just thought we’d beat her down here.”
    “Great! Shan, c ome let me introduce you to my mother and her boyfriend, Miles Duncan.”
    Shan stepped forward and Ell’s mother got up and gave him a hug. “You must be the famous Shan Kinrais. I’m just so glad to see Ell has someone she loves at last.” She looked back and forth from one to the other. “I hope you’ll sit and have some umbrella drinks with us?”
     
    After a pleasant afternoon spent sitting on the patio, trying various tropical drinks and talking, Shan realized that Ell’s mother was just as down to earth and unaffected by her daughter’s fame as Ell herself.
    As they reached their room after a dinner of jerk chicken and sea bass Shan said, “Can I introduce you to my parents sometime?”
    Ell stopped and tilted her head, “I’d love that … But you have to think about whether you want to be Ell’s, or Raquel’s boyfriend.” She looked hard into his eyes, “Before you decide; you need to understand that Ell’s life is crazy and probably dangerous. If I ever have a family, I expect to do it as Raquel. I wouldn’t want children growing up into the kind of life I have right now.”
    “Dangerous?!”
    an>"3em">< Ell shrugged, “Some of the technologies coming from the PGR chips and the ports have been terribly disruptive. Powerful people are very angry about the effect those technologies have had, or might yet have on their fortunes. Even those people who haven’t been disrupted by the technology often want to try to capitalize on it somehow. I’ve been kidnapped in the past by people wanting me to develop tech for them that depends on my theories.”
    He stared out through their window at the horizon a moment. He turned to her, “I want to be the boyfriend of whicheve r,” he grinned, “of your two split personalities… that you would prefer I be with. If I can support you better as ‘Ell’s’ boyfriend, that’s what I want to do.”
    Ell hugged him, “That’s the right answer.”
    Shan frowned, “Which one?”
    The one where you said, ‘ whichever you would prefer.’” She squeezed him. “I’d like you to be Raquel’s boyfriend and Ell’s acquaintance—who you wrote a physics paper with.”
    “OK,” he said, pulling her firm body against his… After a moment he leaned back, “Hey?”
    “Umhmm?” Ell said dreamily.
    “I might get offered a job.”
    “Really? Great! Doing what.”
    “Academic, they’d like someone in their Math Department that understands that “damned Donsaii math.”
    Ell grinned; then her smile turned apprehensive, “Where?”
    Shan smiled, “UNC.”
    “Hey!” Eyes narrowed, Ell slid her hands up to his ribs, “Were you trying to worry me?”
    Already squirming, Shan grabbed her wrists and said,. “Just a little, don’t you dare tickl… Oh, you’re in trouble now!”
     
    ***
     
    The box trundled in and passed through the security scanner at the main FedEx hub in Memphis. As it passed through an x-ray scan, the AI running the scanner recognized a port inside the box and flagged it to divert. Before it reached the diversion belt an RFID query received a reply from the port stating that it was in fact a liquid capable port. The security AI then checked the manifest for the package and noted that the shipper did not have a permit to ship a port. Both of those findings resulted in the package dropping off the main line into a concrete safety bunker until further evaluation could be completed.
    Fred Hillman looked up at the