Afua’s eyes widened. Her mouth dropped open in shock. She suddenly found herself unable to form a complete sentence right now. “Did he just…? I…Good Lord!” Afua stammered out, trying hard to speak beyond her shock.
Badru, who still had full capacity of his speech, sprung to his feet with eyes of intrigue. “Okay, I’ve seen a lot of things in my life, but I have never seen nor heard a dog talk before.”
“Nasiir is no dog. He is a Hekiman. His planet is ruled by talking animals,” Xander quickly explained now that Nasiir’s emotions had gotten the better of him. He could only hope that Badru and Afua were ready to receive this startling information. He’d hoped to ease them into the truth about Nasiir over a suitable period of time. Unfortunately, that was not possible now.
“Talking animals. Well, don’t that just beat all,” Badru said, now looking at the angry animal in a different light. His eyes widened with fascination when Nasiir changed into his real buck form right before their very eyes, long horns and all.
“Xander thought we would blend in better if I was an Earth canine,” Nasiir said, chagrined with himself as he tapped his right hoof on the Karson’s brown and beige area rug. He was ashamed that he had allowed his emotions to get the better of him tonight.
As a strategic security specialist, Nasiir knew that he must never be ruled by his emotions. That was rule number one in the Katanian training academy. As a Hekiman, Nasiir knew better than to risk exposure of his true nature to those who were not ready. Appearing unintelligent was one of the Hekimans’ most effective defense mechanisms since it allowed them to catch their enemies unaware.
Now even though Nasiir’s anger was still apparent, and despite the fact that he still wanted to kill Jay Horrell for even daring to think about enslaving his people, he would not. At least not while he was in this current emotional state.
“Well, you definitely fooled me.” Badru chuckled, enjoying every minute of this surprise. His hot anger towards Jay was not gone, just suppressed for the time being in light of this fascinating new discovery about Nasiir.
“Even though I suspected that you were no ordinary dog from the moment I met you, finding out what you really are still threw me for a loop just then,” Afua said, having gotten her composure back as she relaxed in her seat again. Usually, she seldom lost her composure about anything, but with Xander and Nasiir around, she was starting to think she would never be the same again.
“It seems that we have more to talk about than I first thought,” Badru said, returning to his seat on the beige settee. “Now I want to know everything about these other planets and the people that inhabit them.”
Xander exhaled in resignation. After such a long day, he’d hoped they would part company for the night and make plans to strategize sometime tomorrow. Now suddenly his night had gotten longer. His only comfort was in the fact that at least Badru and Afua were trustworthy enough to handle the things they’d seen and heard thus far.
Incidentally, Xander was unaware that the Karsons were also extending their bedtimes since they were early risers, as well. However, the prospect of having their curiosities satisfied caused even the thought of sleep to flee from them.
“Dr. Karson, if you must know all these things tonight, I think it would be better if I just showed you. We have extensive records aboard our spacecraft,” Xander said, standing to his feet. He turned to Afua and added, “Would you like to come, too?”
“Yes,” she replied with unmasked enthusiasm, her almond eyes looked a lot like her father’s now. Afua also rose to her feet.
“Very well then. We will travel the Katanian way. Nasiir, you know what to do,” Xander said, moving closer to Afua while the buck moved closer to a now standing Dr. Karson. Within three seconds they were at their intended destination.
As soon as they materialized on board, Xander quickly realized only too late what he failed to do. Afua’s loud gasp of shock confirmed his negligence in not warning the Karsons about the transporter’s organic factor.
“What in the world happened to my clothes?!” Afua asked, moving swift hands to cover certain parts of herself. She had materialized completely naked due to the fact that she’d been wearing all manmade materials. Even her earrings had been left behind.
What’s worse, Xander couldn’t seem to stop staring at Afua long enough to courteously offer her a cloth to cover herself. From the way he was gawking at her, one would think he’d never seen a naked woman before. He hadn’t. On Katan, they never saw the opposite sex completely nude until it was time to mate.
Fortunately, Nasiir was less affected by the sight of a nude human female and quickly went to retrieve a coverlet from one of the cabin areas.
On the other hand, everything Badru had worn had transported well since the scientist only believed in wearing clothes made from the earth. The only thing that hadn’t transported was his leather boots. Those had metal objects on them and had been left behind. Thank God, neither Badru nor Afua had metal fillings in their mouths. Otherwise, they would have been screaming in pain right about now.
“Please look away, son,” Badru prompted the gawking young man. He smoothly moved to stand in front of his daughter until Nasiir returned with the cloth.
“Of course, sir,” Xander replied, blinking rapidly to refocus as he forced his whole body to turn in the opposite direction. Even still he could not get the image of Afua’s shapely frame out of his mind. The heat of what he’d seen was still stirring in his loins. No doubt he would dream of her tonight. He couldn’t wait to.
“I gather your transporter only processes organic materials, right?” Badru asked, remaining in place while Afua securely wrapped the coverlet toga style upon her body.
“Correct.” Xander moved farther away from the Karsons, lest he be tempted to look over his shoulder and sneak another peek at cinnamon goodness.
Once everyone was much calmer and nearly fully clothed, Xander and Nasiir gave the Karsons a tour of the spacecraft. Then they led them on a scenic tour of their homelands via computer. The whole time Xander kept stealing longing looks at Afua. The whole time she kept avoiding his eyes, kept feeling things she never wanted to feel for any man.
In Afua’s opinion, falling in love only led to heartache and pain. She’d not only experienced it in her own life at the tender age of sixteen, she’d seen it in the lives of others, including her parents’ lives. Even now her father refused to remarry. And look what happened to Jay Horrell. Because of his misguided love for Juna, he’d become the evil creature that he was today.
As a result, Afua determined within her heart to only associate with Xander as she felt absolutely led to. If only she could have seen the dark patches of fear swirling around her head right now, she might have reconsidered that decision.
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