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Kara was having the most beautiful dream. She was in Vahn’s arms and he was gazing at her in adoration. He stroked her cheek with the tip of a serpetrus, the other coiled about her hips.

“Until galaxies crumble and stars fade,”

he whispered, and leaned down to kiss her.

She woke with a start. She was alone in the tent and reality crashed down on her with a suddenness that stole her breath.

Today and tomorrow. That was all she had to help Vahn retrieve his memories. And if she didn’t, it was over. Her marriage, her love, her fated mate – all gone.

She stripped off the tiny fur-skin skirt. It hadn’t been helping anyway and she felt vaguely foolish for wearing it. She pulled on a pair of combat trousers from her backpack and immediately felt more like herself.

But she kept the suede bikini top on. It was comfortable and it made her cleavage look great. Besides, it was too hot to wear anything else.

When Vahn saw her emerge from the tent, he felt a pang of regret that she’d altered her outfit. He’d enjoyed walking behind her for the past couple of days more than he cared to admit.

“Good morning,”

he said gravely. He lifted a pot from the fire and Kara’s nose smelled something familiar and delicious.

“Did you make coffee?”

“I found it in the supply bag. The instructions were simple enough.”

“My mother brought it for me from Earth.”

She held out a mug and he carefully poured out the rich, black liquid. “Thank you.”

He lifted a shoulder nonchalantly.

“A small repayment for your efforts on my behalf.”

“I thought I was driving you to insanity.”

“Oh, you are,”

he agreed. “And you’re doing such a fine job of it you deserve a reward.”

“You’re a prick.”

She inhaled the caffeine aroma. “But you get brownie points for this. Aren’t you having any?”

“Not if Ayanlesh himself begged me to take a cup. It tastes like mud.”

“Weirdo.”

Kara took a gulp of coffee and sighed with contentment. “So let’s talk about today. I thought we could…”

“Actually, I have a suggestion.”

She nearly dropped the mug.

“You do?”

“I wish to see the places that we frequented when we were demonstrating kalehsh to each other.”

He watched her intently and her cheeks warmed.

“You mean, um, places where we, er, had sex?”

“Not just sex, Kara,”

he said patiently. “The places where we declared our love for each other. Where we spoke of our plans and made our promises. Where we shared an emotional connection. Are there such places?”

She thought for a moment.

“There’s a meadow we used to go to. It’s maybe five clicks away but it has some of my favorite flowers in it. We used to take a picnic and just sit there talking for hours.”

“Then that is what we’ll do today.”

Kara squinted at him suspiciously.

“Yesterday you were all but ready to give up. Why the sudden enthusiasm?”

“Do you wish to waste time questioning my motives? Or shall we gather some supplies?”

“Okay, okay. Give me a chance to finish my coffee, snake-boy.”

They emptied one of the backpacks and refilled it with water canisters, strips of cold meat and fruits, and the last of the Vraxian loaf. Kara strapped her blaster to her thigh and laced up her old combat boots.

“Ready?”

she asked. Vahn nodded.

She looked round for Rocky but he was nowhere to be seen. Probably still with his pack. She tried not to feel hurt that he hadn’t come back. It was actually good that he was with his own kind. She wouldn’t have to worry about him when they left Minerva-6.

It took just shy of an hour to reach the meadow. It was a grassy area a short distance uphill where the forest thinned out. A carpet of flowers spread as far as the eye could see, alive with colorful insects and tiny darting birds.

Kara picked a bright pink flower and held it to her nose.

“This is my favorite,”

she said, inhaling. “It smells like a rose. That’s an Earth flower.”

“We do not have many flowers on Vraxos,”

said Vahn. “We mostly cultivate crops and plants with medicinal benefits. Growing blooms for beauty’s sake is a strange concept.”

“What about biodiversity and ecosystems?”

“Our technology ensures a sustainable balance.”

“How efficient,”

she said drily. “But some of these flowers are actually useful. Those purple ones are irresistible to a certain species of animal on the planet. We used to use them as bait. And those yellow ones have a sap that soothes insect bites and stings.”

“And the pink one? Does that have a purpose?”

“Nah. It just smells nice.”

She grinned at him. “Not everything has to be useful, snake-boy. Come on, let’s find a good spot to have our picnic.”

They walked through the meadow towards an area where some shade was afforded by the trees. The grass reached up to Vahn’s knees, which meant it was brushing Kara’s thighs. She was glad she’d worn her trousers – her legs were covered in pollen by the time they stopped.

“This’ll do fine,”

she announced. She pulled a blanket from the bag and laid it out.

“Now what?”

said Vahn, eyeing the blanket.

“Now we sit. Eat. Talk. Tell jokes. Braid each other’s hair.”

“No-one touches my hair.”

“See, that was a joke. I know no-one touches your hair.”

She dropped her voice to mimic his rumble. “Come on. Sit down.”

She made herself comfortable on the rug, and after a moment Vahn joined her. She took a canister of water and drank deeply before passing it to him.

It was peaceful here, he thought. He had never seen so many birds swooping and diving as they chased the myriad of insects lured by the sweet-smelling nectar of countless flowers. He leaned over to pick one of the pink ones.

“You say this is your favorite?”

he asked. She shrugged.

“It just reminds me of Earth, that’s all.”

He wondered if she was homesick. If so, might she not be better off back on Earth? Perhaps declaring their marriage denerra would be doing her a favor.

So why does the thought of sending her away make you feel wretched?

“Do we have any melamak?”

he asked abruptly.

“Side pocket. Isn’t it a bit early?”

He didn’t answer. He opened the bottle and drank, trying to calm his mind.

“Tell me what we spoke of while we were stranded here. What did we discuss? How did we converse?”

“Well, in the beginning it was all ‘I hate you’ and ‘no, I hate you more,’”

she teased. “But then we started talking about the war. About how it could be ended.”

She sat up and wrapped her arms round her knees. “One day we both said if we got off the planet we wouldn’t go back to being soldiers. That was a pivotal moment for both of us.”

“It all sounds very deep and meaningful.”

“It was. Now pass the melamak, snake-boy.”

She knelt up to take the bottle and caught a movement in her peripheral vision. For a moment she thought it might be Rocky and turned towards the trees ready to call him. Her smile dropped.

“Shit.”

Vahn followed her gaze. A green frog-like creature was watching them from a low tree branch. Its large eyes bulged unblinkingly.

“Some kind of reptile,”

he observed. “Or amphibian?”

Kara got to her feet. She’d seen these things before.

“Let’s just back off slowly. They’re kind of territorial.”

“It does not look dangerous. I could squash it in one hand.”

“Seriously, let’s just move.”

Vahn frowned.

“If you’re that concerned, we could shoot it with the…”

The frog-thing made a deep burping sound and its throat suddenly swelled up to three times its size. Vahn frowned.

“What is it doing?”

Kara went pale.

“Vahn, move!”

It was too late.

Without warning, a spray of bright orange liquid arched towards them.