Desert World Rebirth by Lyn Gala

Author:Lyn Gala
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2012-01-18T21:49:47+00:00

Chapter 19

AFTER the airship, where they’d been trapped in the chairs, and the shuttle, where they’d had a small room with couches facing each other and a tiny window the size of a man’s hand, the Brazica looked enormous, even though he hadn’t seen anything other than the landing hangar so far. Straight metal beams rose several stories above them, making this a tall, narrow space, and Shan felt like he was buried alive inside metal walls with no windows and no sunlight. Instead, strips of light glowed from the walls and bright lights high overhead created a yellow glow that was giving him a headache.

“Welcome to the Brazica, Ambassador Polli, Ambassador Gazer,” a tall woman greeted them with a smile, crossing the metal floor with long strides. She walked beside an older man, with a dozen others following behind in a clump that reminded Shan of sheep pushing together. The woman had long brown hair that hung around her shoulders and a white outfit cut exactly the same as most of the people that circled the ships in this landing bay; only the others, like Kester, had brown uniforms. The older man walking beside her was the odd man out in his formal suit.

“I’m Protocol Officer Natalie Aral,” the woman introduced herself when she came close. “This is Ambassador Richard Melton. Ambassador Melton, may I present Ambassador Shan Polli and Ambassador Temar Gazer of Livre?” Natalie’s name sounded vaguely familiar, and Shan suspected she had talked to them on the communicator. He’d paid more attention to the message than the messenger, though, so he couldn’t be sure.

Ambassador Melton was an older man with gray hair and a pinched expression. Either that or all his features were simply too close to the center of his face. Shan held out his hand. “Ambassador Melton,” he offered. At least these people had bothered to have an ambassador come to the landing bay.

Protocol Officer Aral took a step backward. “Gentlemen, if you will excuse me, I am going to see how the cargo survived. I do hope we were able to avoid any damage. I’ll designate a storage area and arrange for a breakage report.” Smiling at all of them, she backed away, leaving Shan and Temar with Ambassador Melton and a lot of people whose names they hadn’t been given.

Melton studied them so closely that Shan was on the verge of taking offense when the man started talking. “I must apologize, Ambassador Polli. We are short of shuttles in this area or we would have sent a more modern ship. We had no idea you would be bringing fragile merchandise, though, and time seemed more important than the shuttle specifications. I’m afraid that we may have some misinformation regarding Livre.”

“Really?” Shan asked as he studied the enormous bay with shuttles tucked into nooks on either side of a short landing area. The sheer volume of the ship staggered him, and he noted that most of the spaces for shuttles were empty, so he did believe that the ship was short on shuttles.

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