Defender: A Terran Times Tale Read Online Free

You are wearing far too much fabric to be comfortable.” He took her hand and tugged her down the beach to a house that was almost invisible against the green of the jungle.
    “Do you often haul women here?” She raised her eyebrows.
    He chuckled. “No. The home has been in my family for five generations. The clothing that you are going to wear belonged to my great-grandmother.”
    “Oh. Well, that is slightly less skeevy.” The sand twisted under her feet. It was surreal to be on a beach again without plotting to explode part of it.
    Her skirt tangled and stuck as she began to sweat. “So, there is going to be less fabric?” He grinned. “It is warmer here than at the base, and we dress accordingly.”
    The steps up to the house were designed to help the sand slide off their feet, but the slippers that she was wearing held onto the grains with a vengeance. “Gimmee a minute.” She sat on the top step and removed the slippers, dusting as much sand off her feet as she could manage.
    When she was done, she examined her toes and wriggled them, the image of that severed suit leg foremost in her mind.
    “What is wrong?”
    “I still can’t believe that my leg came off.” He frowned and helped her back to her feet.
    “There was a large chunk of your ship embedded in the control panel. It seems that it flew through you and into the panel.”
    She shuddered. “That is so creepy.” He nodded. “As was seeing the amount of blood left behind. How the Heshi got you out of your suit is a mystery.”
    “I wasn’t dressed?”
    Alder paused before opening the door. “No. That was the peculiar thing. When I took them back to the wreck, your suit was lying on the command chair.”
    She looked at him. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
    “I am aware of that. Lillibeth has the majority of the items that we salvaged from the shuttle, so I do not think you have lost everything.”
    “That isn’t what I mean. I mean, how could I get out of a suit when I was dead!” She made a fist and struck the wall, to her shock, her hand passed right through.
    She stared at her hand, gripping it with the other to make sure that it was still there.
    Alder blinked and slowly reached out to take her hand with his own. “I think we might have your answer.”
    Staring at her hand, she looked up at him.
    “What is happening to me?”
    “The Heshi is exerting itself. Passing through solid objects must be one of its skills.” He led her inside, and lights came on as they moved through the front room, past the kitchen, up a set of stairs and to a balcony that stared out to sea.
    He settled her and disappeared for a moment, returning with two lengths of fabric. Alder explained. “You wrap this around your back, over your breasts, cross it and around the back of your neck. The skirt simply ties at one side. I will leave you to get changed, and I will fetch something to eat.”
    She was left alone with the fabric, and after four tries, the top was in place. The skirt was a simple sarong, and it allowed the breeze free rein. Being dressed for the environment made her feel better immediately.
    Scotia stroked the back of her neck and lifted her hair to let the wind flirt with it.
    “Do all the women of Terra have different hair colours?”
    He was behind her, and as she turned, he set a tray down on a small table.
    She laughed. “Brown, yellow, black and red are the base colours with variations in each shade. Kaia is a one off.”
    “I like your hair. It is eternal sunlight.” Alder reached out and took a hank in his hand, letting the threads slide free.
    She gave him a nervous smile. “And yours is snow and moonlight.”
    “Ah, but on Ikanni, you are the exotic. Most of our kind have hair in shades of black or white.” Scotia looked into his eyes and cocked her head.
    “Why are you pursuing me?”
    “You didn’t accept the genetic explanation?” She shook her head. “No. The idea of jumping on another species on the off chance that