Return to Sol: Star Rise - An Epic Space Opera Adventure (Aeon 14: The Orion War Book 13) by M. D. Cooper

Author:M. D. Cooper [Cooper, M. D.]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2020-09-03T00:00:00+00:00

PART 2 – SOL

FAMILY MATTERS

STELLAR DATE: 05.29.8950 (Adjusted Years)

LOCATION: ISS I2

REGION: Roma, New Canaan System

Tanis leant against the kitchen counter in her family’s lakehouse, watching through the ship’s feeds as Cary, Saanvi, and Faleena walked down the wooded path that led to the homestead.

Everyone else had seen the girls a few days ago, but for her, it had been nearly a year. A year that felt like an eternity.

Elsewhere on the ship, Sabrina and her crew were meeting with Jessica and the others for a debrief and analysis of the situation in Sol’s Scattered Disk, but Tanis and the other parents had decided that it was best to sort out their own commitments before rejoining the planning sessions.

Joe had suggested the lakehouse, and Tanis couldn’t agree more. There was nowhere she felt more comfortable and at peace than around the kitchen table she’d built all those years ago during the long flight from Estrella de la Muerte.

“Coffee?” Joe asked, handing her a cup.

“Do you have to ask?” she said, taking it out of his hands.

Her husband shrugged. “A bit, I guess. Tangel kinda stopped eating after a while.”

“Really?” Tanis glanced at her otherself, who sat in a chair on the far side of the table. “No food at all?”

Tangel shrugged. “Not often, no. I could nourish my body through direct matter transmutation.”

<Not even a BLT?> Angela pressed.

“Well…maybe sometimes,” Tangel winked. “Eating for pleasure, not necessity, is nice.”

“Anyone can do that,” Joe said. “Not hard to just get nutrition mods.”

Tangel’s lips twisted to the side. “I suppose.”

“What’s got under your skin?” he asked her, his lips thinning. “You’ve been pretty quiet since we got here.”

The white woman turned her gaze to Tanis. “I’m really glad you and Angela are back in control of your body…”

<But?> Angela prompted.

“Well, I didn’t really expect to have to share the limelight. I don’t know if I’m living in your shadow or casting one on you, but it feels….”

“I guess we know what it felt like for Sera,” Joe said.

“I’m surprised it didn’t drive her around the bend,” Tangel added.

Tanis stared at her otherself for nearly a minute in the silence that followed, running through scenarios in her mind. “Do you still want to all be married?”

“Is this really time to think of who gets what turn in Joe’s harem?” Tangel asked.

“You know that’s not what I’m getting at.” Tanis folded her arms across her chest. “There’s a pretty serious emotional component to all this.”

Joe took a sip from his mug. “One that I get a large say in.”

“So what is your say?” Tangel asked.

He turned to Tanis. “Though Tangel looks just like you, I’ve been with you and Angela for ages. Even as old as we are, we’ve spent more time together than apart. The idea of not being in a personal relationship with you is unfathomable.” He shifted to face Tangel. “But then, over the last year, I’ve forged a deep relationship with you. Not being an intimate part of your life is equally untenable.

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