Starfish

Six

A thunderstorm foiled Nina's plans to go beach-combing. She frowned at the drops on the window, wishing instead for a gorgeous sunny Dreenai afternoon with its blue skies and soft, warm sands the color of bleached bone. Instead, she pulled a soft cover over a blue one-piece swimsuit and trekked through the rain to the university's indoor pools. Apparently several of the staff had decided that was also a good idea, and as Nina passed the huge glass windows that put the shoreline on display she caught Athe waving excitedly at her. He gestured for her to hurry and come inside. "We're playing a round of Jump against the chemistry department, want to join?"

Nina watched several Dreen splash and make a lot of noise as they played what looked like a scaled-up version of pool volleyball. Their huge bodies pushed waves around the pool that smacked against the textured walls and sent geysers into the air. It looked like a rough, dangerous game even for eight-foot-tall people. The reason it was called Jump was immediately obvious – a Dreen treading water suddenly surged up and smacked a large ball across a net, sending it flying over the heads of the four Dreen in the front and nearly over the others behind them. Another Dreen leaped out of the water and smashed the ball back over the net. Bodies and water flew around the pool, and Nina raised a hand to keep a spume of saltwater out of her eyes. "Is it safe? I'm kind of small."

"Oh, right." Athe looked back at the raucous group. "Well, I can trade places with Mudi and you can sit on my shoulders."

Nina gaped. "You're gonna what now?"

"Oh it's fine," Athe turned and backed up to the poolside. "Come on, I'll look out for you."

"Athe! It's your turn to set the ball!" A male Dreen with a dark coloration, more blue than black with a belly that was almost white, called out to him as Nina pulled off her cover-up and set her bag out of reach of the splashing, churning Dreen. "Coming, Boda!" He looked back at Nina and held her hand while she cautiously seated herself on his sturdy shoulders and thick neck. "Tuck your feet under my arms," Athe instructed. "We'll stay out of the crush if it gets too wild."

"This seems really dangerous," Nina said. "What if I fall off?"

"You'll be fine, I've got you." Athe patted Nina's knee with a huge brown hand. Nina realized with a spark of interest that Athe and all the other Dreen, females included, wore no tops or shirts of any kind in the pool. She felt slightly out of place in her blue swimsuit, but decided that it was probably better for her safety if she wore something bright in case she fell or was knocked off. It's not any different from playing chicken, she reasoned. Besides, Athe would help her if she got into trouble. She noticed that Meem was playing too, her wet back glittering with greens and yellows.

Meem turned and looked Nina up and down with her lemon-yellow eyes and Nina recognized the glance of one woman sizing up another. Oh please, like I could ever measure up to you. I'm not even the same species. She wondered if Meem had a thing for Athe as well as Doctor Ardus. Speaking of whom... Nina looked around the pool while Athe took his place. The room that housed it actually contained more than one large saltwater pool – there was the square one she currently occupied, a long rectangular one with marked lanes, and a shallow one where a family played with their two children. Everyone except Nina was stark naked. She didn't see the biologist however, and wondered at the feeling of disappointment. I just wanted to see him enjoy himself, that's all.

The game began, and Athe held true to his promise to look out for his tiny companion. The whole time, he kept one huge hand on her knee and dodged other Dreen who came crashing through the water towards them. It was a noisy, wet, exciting game and Nina even managed to slap the ball between two Dreen and score a point. Still, being among several of these huge people reminded her strongly of the time she'd gone diving with a pod of humpback whales during her masters' program – the enormous thirty-ton animals, while terrifying in size and power, had done little more than glance at her while she swam with them. Except Dreen were much faster, their webbed hands and feet slicing through the water and throwing up sheets of spray.