Starfish

Twenty-One

Nina raced to the university before daylight broke on the sea, carrying the last of her small luggage in a sturdy backpack and mentally running through the list she'd made while packing and knowing that if she forgot anything, she would have to live without it until they returned. My first field expedition on Dreenai! This is history in the making, and I'm the one doing it! Her belly quivered with nervous excitement, her mind buzzing with the names of the creatures she hoped to see, adrenaline filling her to the brim with anxious but delighted anticipation. 

She and Ardus would depart from the docks at noon, traveling for two hours north to a sheltered cove she'd read about so much she thought she could identify it on sight. And she would spend the next three days there, alone, with him. Spent half my life following his work, reading everything he wrote, dreaming of coming here and staying up way too late studying, and now it's here! I'm here! I'm doing it! Scrambling over the sand, Nina stirred up sleeping birds and lizards and sent them scattering. She hauled her luggage up the steps to the university's main buildings and stopped briefly at the top to catch her breath. Maikaʻi, I have to cool it on the fried clickers!

The office she shared with Ardus, packed to the gills in the previous days with instruments of science, food and water supplies sealed in transport containers and crates, battery packs and a solar panel array for backup power seemed oddly empty, save for Athe and Ardus behind the ancient desk. They looked up when she entered, Athe with his usual grin and Ardus with a look that was more like anticipation. Then he nodded and turned back to his terminal screen, as though he hadn't just met her eyes with that same strange heat from a few days before. Nina had to swallow hard to move the tightness in her throat. "Morning, boys."

"You are early," Ardus commented. "Our transport will not be here for some time."

"I know, I have some notes I can wrap up while we wait." Ardus shrugged and went back to listing Athe's tasks he was to carry out during their absence. He reached up to point at something on the screen and Nina very nearly stopped in the middle of the room to stare. Sweet Omi, is that a sleeveless tunic?! She forced herself to keep going, her eyes tracking the massive dark blue shoulder and equally enormous arm attached to it. Pushing her luggage under her desk with a foot, she leaned back far enough in her chair to peek around his terminal screen and take in the view. 

Like all of his clothes the tunic was cut to fit, showing off his broad-shouldered shape without being too tight. But whereas his usual tunics were closed in the front, the collar coming to just below the base of his throat, this one was almost as open as those Nina saw most Dreen men wearing. A simple toggle button held it closed at the level of his prominent collar-bones. A damn shame. From wrists to shoulders his arms rippled as his big hands moved over the typing surface on his desk. His dark skin, thick and shiny like burnished leather, pulled taut over biceps the size of her calves and Nina dove beneath her desk to find the steel bottle and took a long drink of icy water. Get a hold of yourself, girl! I know that arm is bigger than your own damn leg, but get a grip!

The only way she could focus was to lean forward, putting the terminal between herself and the Dreen. She listened absently as the two discussed projects that needed monitoring and calls Ardus expected to come in. "Meem is to upload her reports to the common drive, she knows which folder. If she asks, tell her I will review them if I can get a signal. If not, they will have to wait for our return." Nina felt him look over at her. Don't look up, look busy. You'll have plenty of time to stare at him when we get there. But it was so hard not to look up! Not when she knew what there was to see. Well, some of it. There's still a lot more where all that comes from – about four hundred pounds of it. 

Struggling not to daydream, Nina opened a guidebook and studiously copied the formal names of a subspecies of migrating bird she hoped she would see. And the thoughts came anyway. She wondered if an arm was all she would see, and hoped it wouldn't be. Peeking, she caught a glimpse of the inside of the tunic, a slightly darker space under his arm where the fabric gaped. Damn, I want to see the goods! I hope he takes that thing off the second we get there. Ah hell, I'm not going to get any work done! Nina realized her self-control was wearing thin. This is bad, this is so bad. It'll be a miracle if I don't jump his bones the second the boat leaves. She nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard his deep voice calling her over to the desk.