Adia, Scientist

Areon and Beyond

Vonn came out smiling. Walked to Derees by the mixing chamber. "My friend, soon we shall think to our terminals! Director Pragate has server instructors writing progs." His gray eyes studied Citsa and Ossy's screens. They looked uncomfortable. With his right hand, he pulled at the left cuff of his neat deep blue onepiece, same as all men wore under lab coats.

Ryonne~ wore a medium blue one. His manner reminded me of a leader of men, not a common scientist like us. So polite. Surely that would impress Papa if he met him. Probably standing on our moon, Ye~ and happy to be home.

His large golden eyes, like sunssets, rested on me, and my heart pounded. Such a handsome man, and what intelligence, to allow us to use our telepathy to work our servers. But he is Yeff, and Zheien are all geniuses. I shall never meet him. At 18, doomed because of my emotion—

"Oh, I am glad! Will we have upgrades for our equipment?"

"We have permission to trade for some—"

"How strong a containment field are you going to use with this set?" Citsa stared at my neat racks of dangers. Vonn and Derees followed her gaze to my counter. Tanda across from me peered at the compounds in colored cylinders. Their mixing was more routine.

"1000x. If you have concerns, I can move my operations out on the Barrens." Clenched my jaw. Even the heat of that desert would be pleasant compared to Citsa's and Ossy's questions!

"You should!"

Ossy glared at her. "You know a 1000x field contains a photon dissolution reaction to 2 meters. Let Adia do her job." Citsa whirled to her console, and Ossy grinned at me. An irritating habit. I felt as if the entire department saw me as a danger to everyone! Why is Ossy defending me?

Slowed my breathing. The irradiation chamber frightened me, but I could not make enough trade to replace it anytime soon, even after Ossy replaced my trade. He said the price was far higher than he thought. Did he lie about that, too?

Why did I listen to him? Will Vonn blame me for my foolishness, that I did not ask him to trade for it? Because I did not wish to cost our budget. Ran progs to check that daily. Breathe. Concentrate on work!

"Miss Wilnes, do you doubt Prog One? I helped Adia write her procedures for her experiments, and we review them monthly. When was the last time you submitted your policies for my approval?" Vonn's gray eyes fixed on her display.

"I only work with safe substances—"

"Safe? We create fuels, Miss Wilnes, in the Department of Alternative Fuels. There is no safe chemical here. You and Mr. Koch are not exempt from our safety procedures, are you? I will check all your progs this afternoon. Derees, have you time to help me in this?"

Derees smiled. "I always have time for safety, Vonn. Just this morning, Tanda and I reviewed her procedures and I found them in order, as usual. She created a modified isotope that Adia is including in her experiment now, amiritkaln-8. Included five of her catalysts in my experiment, and seven of Adia's. Look! My results are in!"

Today's exciting presentation from that visiting scientist had my heart racing. Ryonne~ used a sim to demonstrate how a pilot thinking to his server escapes a Kajarian trying to capture him! I took several deep breaths and tried to calm myself. Work waits.

His discovery will make our doings easier. In Papa's department, we volunteered to pilot, to test fuels. How I missed the feel of clicking under my feet from the engines. The freedom to enjoy full range of emotion, there in solitude as I made notes.