Page 7 of Redondo (Mates of the Mylos #7)
CHAPTER 7
REDONDO
It didn’t take long for me to recognize my parents as the shuttle disembarked. Papa waved excitedly as he spotted me.
“There’s our handsome son!” he cried out as he reached me, throwing his arms around to hug me tight. He took a half step back, keeping his hands on my shoulders. “What are they feeding you? Look, Lethin, he’s even taller than he was before.”
“Or you’re smaller,” Father teased him.
“I think it is my boots,” I told them both. “The sole is thicker.”
Father hummed in acknowledgment as he glanced down at my feet. “Very nice! They issued you with the magnetically locking soles.”
“See? So he is taller, even if it is the boots,” Papa said, not to be outdone.
Father pressed a kiss against his temple. “You’re ridiculous,” he said fondly. “Come on, let’s go eat. As soon as we got off the comm with you, I called to see if I could get a table somewhere that served human food.”
“You did?” I hadn’t known there was any place like that near the academy, but I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Yes. It’s someplace called The Waffle House and it’s here within the spaceport. Apparently, they are famous on Earth.”
“They said they didn’t usually do reservations, but made an exception,” Papa beamed. “The pictures of the food on the menu looked interesting and the customer reviews were quite promising.” Papa let go of me at last, his cheeks flushing a bit as he realized he’d still been holding me all this time.
Father consulted his kunnarskyn, looking for directions.
“Where’s Yllip?” Papa asked.
“His family aren’t arriving until mid-afternoon,” I explained, “so he decided to oversee the packing up of both our rooms as the movers arrived just before I left.”
He pursed his lips. “You should call and have him meet us. He needs to eat, too.”
Father glanced up. “Our reservation isn’t for another half an hour,” he grinned. “The restaurant uses earth time and it never closes!”
“Really?”
Father nodded. “Best get used to it, the Bride Fleets always use local time measurements and sync to a central location on the planet.”
I nodded. Yllip and I had read up on our new duty station late into the night. “Hawaii,” I said. “They’ve got a special cultural sharing and preservation deal going on with the indigenous people there. Hawaii is a chain of islands in the middle of one of their vast oceans.”
“That sounds interesting. I can’t wait to see it!”
I blinked. “You would travel the three days to get there?” The thought made me feel happy.
“We will be traveling with you there,” Father replied. I stared at him in surprise.
“You will?”
Papa nodded, his huge grin nearly splitting his face in two.
“Yes! While your father was busy making breakfast arrangements, I was looking into getting us housing. Surprise! We’re being allowed to retire there and remain aboard as family.”
I was stunned. I hadn’t expected anything remotely like this to happen.
“I think I broke him,” Papa whispered to Father.
“I think you did.”
“I just can’t believe it!”
“In a good way or a bad way?” Papa asked, looking worried now.
“Definitely a good way,” I replied. “I’ve missed you both.”
Father patted my arm. “Well, no need to miss us any longer. You’ll probably see us so much you’ll wish we moved to another ship. As it is, they are housing us all in the same quarters in the family section.”
“I can’t wait to tell Yllip!” I tapped my kunnarskyn to open a comm to do just that.
“It’s me,” he replied, “Yllip!”
“Papa and Father said you should come down to the spaceport to meet us for breakfast. They made reservations at an Earth restaurant that opened up here. It’s called The Waffle House.”
“Um, okay. It didn’t take them long at all to finish, so I was just headed to the mess hall, but your offer sounds better. Consider me on my way. Meet you there!” He ended the comm. I knew it wouldn’t take long for him to arrive as the academy shared part of the spaceport with the local authorities so that we could practice piloting skills.
“Excellent! It’s this way, apparently,” he said, turning to lead us where his kunnarskyn had directed him. We wove through the crowds, exiting the shuttle bay area to the main concourse filled with shops and eateries. Huge letters in black on a glowing yellow background spelled out the name, with a smaller black sign with lit up yellow lettering spelling it out phonetically in Galactic Standard.
“I’m going to have to get my implant upgraded,” I said, referring to the translation nanites synced with my brain’s language center.
“We all will,” Father reminded me.
“It just seems like so much to do when I first arrive,” I said. “I hope I don’t mess up and make my section chief mad.”
Father pulled the glass door open. Immediately, all talk ceased as everyone took in the big, scary, scarred Dragonii wearing a Mylos military uniform. They eyed me, then curiosity satisfied, returned to their previous conversations. I was used to it. I was large, even by Mylos standards, standing a full head taller than most. That didn’t mean I liked it, though.
“Easy,” Papa said softly, squeezing my arm in support.
I threw him a grateful smile. “I’m fine.”
“Hi!” a human waitress said, bouncing over to us. “You guys must be the ones who reserved a table.”
“Yes, we are,” Father replied. “Our son and his best friend are graduating tonight and received keys to their assignment at Earth.”
“How exciting!” she exclaimed. “We’re all the way out here because my husband and I read about franchise opportunities that came with grants. We thought, well, we always wanted to travel and are big sci fi nerds, so why not?”
She showed us to a booth in a corner.
“My son’s friend will be arriving in a moment to join us,” Father said as we took our seats.
“That’s fine, Would you like to order drinks and look at the menu while you wait?”
“Yes, please,” Papa replied. “What is traditional?”
“How about some orange juice and coffee? That’s two drinks, but totally a thing people do at breakfast.”
Papa looked at me and Father.
“If it’s traditional, why not?” Father grinned back at her.
“For me as well, and I know Yllip will also want to try the same,” I said.
“Make that four, then,” Papa said brightly.
“Aren’t you all the sweetest,” she cooed, sashaying off.
“What’s this?” I asked, looking at a curious box on the side of the table, against a window looking out onto the concourse.
Father peered at it. “I don’t know. Here are words next to the buttons and a payment reader. Select some buttons and I’ll pay so we can see what it does.”
Papa and I randomly selected some buttons and Father paid. Immediately music began to play and a male’s voice to croon. It was some sort of music machine.
“How interesting,” Father said.
“I like it.”
Our waitress pranced over with a brown tray holding four glasses filled with thick liquid that was indeed orange and four handled mugs. She sat it down on the table, threw her arms wide and sang out, “Uh huh, uh huh, woo ooo,” along with the singer while jiggling side to side. “Sorry,” she said, dropping her arms and setting the beverages out. “We’re from Memphis and find Elvis irresistible.” She pursed her lips. “Dolly too, for that matter.”
“Is that who is singing?” Father asked her.
“Yup. He’s known as the King of Rock-n-Roll, one of the most popular kinds of music there is,” she replied, picking up the now empty tray. “I’ll be right back with your coffee, but I won’t fill your friend’s before he gets here so it won’t get cold.”
She pranced back over to behind the counter.
Papa chuckled. “I have a feeling Earth is going to be interesting indeed and quite a lot of fun.”
I nodded. If this was any example to go by, life within the Earth Bride Fleet would be interesting indeed. As for fun, while with Yllip and my fathers sure. The rest depended on if I managed to make good on my promise to myself and make friends. As for a mate, I wasn't certain I would be so lucky. Not with a first Bride Fleet posting anyway. My mate would have to be truly exceptional to see past the ugly scarring and my other differences. I was not the Mylos a human mate would be expecting. Not only was I not genetically Mylos, I was a hideous example of a Dragonii.