15 Being Human by Peter David

Author:Peter David [David, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Space Opera, Adventure
ISBN: 9780743455763
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2001-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

TRIDENT

i.

Kalinda had just decided that she liked the Ten-Forward on the Trident better than the Team Room of the Excalibur when Lieutenant Commander Gleau came hurtling through the air and crashed into her table. Fortunately she had a split second's warning when it happened, and had sufficient presence of mind to snag her drink off the tabletop so Gleau wouldn't spill it. The remains of her pastry, however, were crushed to crumbs.

Up until that point, things had been very pleasant, even convivial. Kalinda had never considered herself to be the most sociable of creatures, and yet felt herself moved to strike up conversations with people as they passed her. One of them had been Gleau himself, some minutes before he'd been transformed into a small projectile.

Radiating charm, he'd sat down at her table and she couldn't help but feel herself drawn to him. It was a most intriguing sensation for her. It made her tingle in areas where she usually did not tingle, and she could have sworn that Gleau was not only aware of the effect he was having upon her, but actually reveled in it.

"What are you eating?" he inquired, pointing at the pastry she had in front of her.

"Oh. This." She held it up. "A woman named Morgan Primus introduced me to them back on the Excalibur. It's called a bearclaw. Your food synthesizers can produce them."

"Do you mind if I?" He gestured toward it.

"Not at all."

He broke off a piece of the bearclaw, chewed it with great delicacy, and licked the crumbs off his lips. There was something remarkably erotic about the way he did all that. "Not bad. Not bad at all." He smiled at her and she returned it immediately. She couldn't have helped herself. If her life had depended upon her frowning in response to his smile, she would have died at that moment.

Gleau had leaned forward and said, with extreme curiosity, "So tell me is it true what I've heard about you?"

"I don't know," said the young Thallonian woman. "What have you heard?"

"That you how shall I put this" Even lost in thought, he was gorgeous. She just couldn't get over it. Finally he said, "Well, no way to put it but straight out, I suppose. I've heard that you've actually communed with well"

"The dead?"

"Yes!" he said chipperly. "Yes, that's exactly it. And I can see by your face that it's a truly absurd notion totally ridiculous why, you must think me a fool for even bringing it"

"It's true," said Kalinda.

"Really! You know, I thought it might be." He moved closer to her, waved a waiter over to get a glass of synthehol without taking his eyes off Kalinda. "How did that come about, exactly?"

"I'd rather not discuss it, if it's all right with you," she said softly. "The actual event, and the things that led up to it they're a bit"

"Traumatic?"

She nodded.

He took her chin in his hand, and she felt her toes curling up by themselves. Suddenly she was getting fidgety in her chair and she wasn't sure why.

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