Discovery Read Online Free Page B

he couldn’t mean it.
    But there was no quarter in the commander’s flat stare.
    Finally, she obeyed.

P OVRE'S QUICK ASCENSION INTO AN UPRIGHT stance caused a wave of deep vertigo, and had she not leaned into his hard body—she assumed the being was male —she would’ve fallen right back onto the rocks. Beneath her, his chest rose and fell in a shallow rapid pattern. This close, she felt his sudden alarm and remembered noticing the shock in his face and eyes when she took his hands.
    Why? She wasn’t that different from his race, was she? It wasn’t as if she had been a Lazorta or Kemmerian: one with a mouth wide enough to swallow him whole; the other a gelatinous pink jiggly cylinder with four eyes on stalks and ten tentacles. Povre had two eyes, two hands, two legs. His hands possessed fewer fingers than hers, and his skin looked different—smooth and a light pale brown color. His body appeared taller and more heavily built than those she was used to seeing. So?
    Oh. Maybe her biokinetic emanations had something to do with it. The other races of the Affiliated Cooperative were accustomed to or prepared for a slight energy discharge when making skin contact with one of her race. She let go of his hands and fought to keep her balance. “I apologize,” she mumbled.
    With a huge sigh, the native steadied her with a hand on her shoulder. At first, his grip was tentative, as if expecting another shock, and then it firmed.
    “The material insulates from any energy discharges,” she explained.
    His expression didn’t change. He continued to stare at her in that unnerving manner. So she stared back. Povre couldn’t see many big topographical differences between their species at all. His face was strong boned and broad, his hair long and dark, his eyes deep-set. She couldn’t quite tell if they were dark brown or black. Colors looked so different in the light cast by this planet’s satellite.
    “Why do you look at me that way?” she asked. “Am I so ugly to your eyes? Do I repulse you? Do I stink to your olfactory senses?” Povre tried to remember what their scientists knew of the natives, if these beings saw differently out of the blinding white light of the primary source, instead of the gentle brightness of the star’s reflection off the neutral surface of the small dead moon caught in orbit.
    “You’re just surprised,” she decided. “Not half as much as I am.” A small smile wrinkled her nose. “You look like a Folonar. Of course you’re not, but the resemblance is as remarkable as they say it is. Of course I’ve seen images of your species but I never met one.” She grimaced and looked down, embarrassed. “I wasn’t supposed to, either.”
    He had taken a half step closer so she leaned against his body for support as she tried to find a comfortable stance. He felt so good, so strong. Povre felt his pulse slow down, his breathing even. She tried to gauge his emotions. His aura was so similar to what she knew, yet different. No, he didn’t fear her. Surprised, uncertain, wondering. All blended in with a pervasive curiosity. And despite what she had been told about this planet’s dominant lifeform, she didn’t fear him, either.
    “I’m not going to hurt you,” she told him. “Thank you for helping me. But you can just let me have my pack and I’ll be on my way.” She offered him a smile. “I’ll make it. My camp isn’t too far, and there I have a medical kit and something that will heal my leg.”
    He remained unmoving. His biorhythms continued to steady. However, he didn’t hand over her pack or let her go. He didn’t understand her words, she could see that. But one of them brought a flicker of recognition.
    “Your leg?” he said, nodding his square chin at her sore leg. He used her language this time, and it delighted her as much as it filled her with hope.
    “Yes,” said Povre. “That’s right.”
    He smiled in return. His mouth was wide and showed even teeth in front. She