The Ninth Orb by Kaitlyn O'Connor Read Free Book Online

started,” Lynn said.
    “We should at least wait on any kind of celebration until we’ve finished offloading the ship,” Eden pointed out.
    “Two weeks?”
    “We’ll be done in two weeks?” Eden asked in surprise.
    “Less once the others get wind of what we’ve planned,” Deb retorted with amusement.
    “I’m not certain we should make any kind of announcement until we know if the aliens will consent to be our guests.”
    “I’m willing to go out and talk with them,” Liz volunteered immediately.
    Reluctantly, Eden vetoed that. “In the scheme of things, you’re a lot more necessary to this enterprise than I am. If it’s your considered opinion as section leaders that the majority wants us to attempt relations with the alien outpost, then I will go and speak for us. If they agree to send representatives to celebrate with us, it’ll give us a chance to observe them more closely and make a more educated decision.
    “This isn’t going to be easy, whatever you seem to think. Their society is very different from ours. The more we interact with them before we understand their customs, the greater the risk that we’ll offend them and end up causing problems we don’t want.”
    A brisk tap on the door panel interrupted the meeting. Surprised, Eden summoned the visitor, but a touch of alarm went through her when Major Sterling strode purposefully into the room. “That big fellow you spoke to, the one that called himself Baen, is outside.”
    Eden blinked in stunned surprise, trying to ignore the uncomfortable jerk her heart executed at the name. “Here? In the municipal building?”
    Ivy’s lips flattened. “I wasn’t about to invite him in. He’s just beyond the outer force field. He stopped before he hit it,” she added grimly. “They’ve been here examining the colony, however disinterested they pretend to be, or he wouldn’t have known where it was.”
    Eden found her thoughts in complete disorder. Pushing her chair back, she rose with as much composure as she could muster. “Did he say what he wanted?”
    “To speak to our queen, Eden.”
    Eden’s jaw dropped several notches. She glanced at the other council members self-consciously. “I didn’t say that. I give you my word!”
    “She didn’t,” Liz confirmed, frowning. “They don’t understand our societal structure anymore than we do theirs. He’s trying to extrapolate known to unknown, that’s all.”
    “I’ll go see what he wants. This may be a good time to extend the invitation--or maybe not.”
    He’d come alone. Eden saw that the moment she reached the defensive corridor at the city gates. As invisible to the naked eye as the other fields that protected the city, this was marked by flagstones and arches that allowed a dead zone to be created for passage through the fields.
    It was a little unnerving to see that he’d taken up a stance at the other end, as if he knew exactly what it was and the position of it.
    Dismissing the anxiety, Eden stiffened her shoulders and marched toward him without any appearance, she hoped, of the nerves plaguing her. It wasn’t until she was face to face with him and she saw his gaze flicker over her curiously that she realized she was the next thing to naked having discarded her attire and returned to old habits as soon as she’d returned from the first meeting. Abruptly excruciatingly self-conscious over the fact that she’d greeted him in t-shirt and briefs, Eden folded her arms over her chest and looked down her nose at him--a difficult feat considering he was more than a head taller than she was.
    “You wanted to speak?”
    He stared at her blankly.
    “You aren’t wearing your translator,” Ivy, who’d accompanied her, pointed out in a low voice.
    “Shit! Give me yours.”
    Rolling her eyes, Ivy removed the headset and handed it over. Eden felt her face grow redder and redder as she fumbled to get the translator situated. “What is your purpose in requesting to speak with me?”