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not work anymore?
Did it get knocked? There were so many questions, but he did not really
want to get burdened with their answers. His only goal was to fix his
shuttle and rejoin his mother ship as quickly as possible. He made up his
mind to return to it the next day.
          Shifting around uncomfortable on the hard sleeping pad, his thoughts
drifted back to her. Why did her father get stranded here? Who was he?
Her accent sounded familiar. Then he remembered. "Andromatis," he
murmured, "that’s it. Her parents must have come from Andromatis." It
was very likely that one of the huge Andromatian conglomerates, run by
the most powerful families in the Galactic Federation would have tried
to assess the commercial potential of the titanium-rich ring, like his own
mission.
     
    * * *
     
    Yuen-mong had a compelling urge to be alone, to get away from this
strange man who did not believe her, who stank of sweat, not the healthy
sweat of exertion, but the sour smell of fear. The chaotic presence of his
mind had already become an intrusion into her ordered life. Her cave was
not hers anymore; she had lost her precious sanctuary — precious
because of its beauty, precious because it meant safety, precious because
here she had loved her parents, because here she had grown up with
them, because it kept their memory alive.
          So she almost fled from the cave and scaled to her refuge on top of the
rock. She stretched out her arms and took deep breaths, letting her gaze
lose itself in the vastness of stars, letting her mind roam in the multitude
of murmurs, more subdued than during the daytime. She sensed the
chatter of a school of mermaids, as her parents had named the dolphin-like hunters in the sea. A sharp rise signaled that one of them was in
trouble, probably fallen victim to a sea hexapuss, a slimy pod with six
tentacles that each could reach up to ten meters in length. It momentarily
distracted her from her own distress.
          Do I really want to share my cave with this stranger? Share my life
with him? Have him as my mate? She felt a tremor of panic just thinking
of this. After her parents had been killed by the savages, she had always
wondered whether she would ever have a mate. She could not see herself
joining the savages, although their males had tried for years to capture
her until they came to fear her. But he is the only male of my class… I
may never encounter another. If I am ever going to have a child, I need
him. She had never really thought beyond that, at its implications for her.
It had always remained a vague idea. Her mother had her, so she should
have a child too. Suddenly, this idea had become a possibility and its
stark reality looked frightening. Who would keep her safe when she was
carrying the child? Who would protect them both when the child was still
helpless, like her father had protected her and later taught her how to
survive? Somehow, she could not see this self-possessed man to live up
to these tasks, as her father must have done for her mother.
          Maybe she should only leave him to his own devices, but she was sure
that he would not live long unless she helped him, taught him at least the
basic skills of surviving on her world. She could not kick him out before
then. Her parents would never have done that even to somebody they
disliked or disapproved of, and she owed him at least that much in their
memory.
          And then there was the remote possibility to get off-planet, to return
to the home of her parents, claim her spiritual and physical inheritance.
Her mother had told her that she was very rich. This was not really a
concept that made much sense to her. Rich, her mother had said, meant
that she could get or do almost anything she wanted, but didn’t she do all
she wanted on Aros? There was nobody here to deny it to her, except if
she got a mate who would try to impose his will on her. I would not let
him!
          Did she really want to leave Aros, never