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Excerpt
Sea Dance
By Leanne Strange
Chapter One
Kass Martijn yawned and rubbed her
aching neck while hurrying down the long corridor in the first leg
of the maze that led from her suite in the visitor complex to the
trans-chute. Today was the last full day of Kass’ three-day research
visa on the world of Seamyst. She’d spent most of her time fighting
bureaucratic red tape with the Archive Council of Aquinia. The
permission code had finally come through in the middle of the night,
which was why Kass found herself up and out before dawn. She wanted
to transfer a copy of the data to her research team back on Earth
before the council changed its mind.
Space travel had never bothered Kass
much because it seemed like moving through a sea of stars. The water
was her milieu, though—sailing, swimming, studying—and Seamyst was a
water baby’s dream come true. Saltwater covered ninety-seven percent
of the planet’s surface, though hundreds of mountain-islands rose
from the floor of the ocean like towers. A city had been built on
many of the mountain-islands by the Aquinian race of Seamystians,
and a spaceport had been constructed on each mountain-city’s largest
plateau.
Three separate races had evolved on
Seamyst. Two of them lived almost completely in the water—the Uni-Fins
and the Bi-Fins. The Unis were most like the merfolk of Earth myth
and legend. Their humanoid torsos turned into scale-covered icthian
tails instead of legs. The Bis’ humanoid torso became two separate
leg-like appendages, each ending in a fin.
The third, called the Aquinians after
the English translation of the name of their capital city, were the
most humanoid of all. They walked upright on two legs with humanoid
heels and broad webbed toes. They breathed air, but could survive
under water for extended periods of time.
Political unrest among the three races
kept the world of Seamyst unstable for a long time. The Unis and Bis
each thought themselves superior to the other two while both
resented the Aquinians’ ability to walk on land and create a
lucrative tourist trade with landwalkers from other planets.
Lately though, other aquatic and
amphibious species began to visit Seamyst, taking advantage of the
underwater cities and attractions, easing the cultural tensions
somewhat. The research team Kass worked with decided to take
advantage of the calmer atmosphere to access older data unavailable
through modern communications systems.
Kass had spent the better part of the
past two days filling out request forms and being shuffled from one
office to another until she came full circle back to the Aquinian
Archive Council. She’d finally had enough and told them in no
uncertain terms she would file reports with the Alien Information
Exchange League, the Seamyst-Earth Liaison Office, and the Earth
Consulate if they tried to shunt her off again.
The aggressive strategy worked, although
Kass spent a restless evening worrying they would deny her and she’d
disappoint her team. The information was vital to a research project
that had been ongoing for over five years, and once denied, a second
request wouldn’t be accepted for two years. Fortunately, they
agreed.
She took a few more twists and turns
down the shiny corridors. The floors were coated with a thin layer
of water so that the Seamystians and other aquatic beings could soak
up the liquid they vitally needed for survival. Fortunately, she’d
been warned to wear only rubber-soled shoes or she definitely would
have gone sprawling more than once.
Finally, she arrived at the trans-chute.
She hit the button and waited for a car while shrugging her
shoulders to get the kink out of her neck. She could see herself
living on Seamyst, exploring the mountain cities and underwater
villages, studying the exotic aquatic flora and fauna—some of it so
like Earth’s, but much of it completely different. She knew she had
to return to Earth the next day.
There was no way to extend her visa, not
on the company’s dime, and she sure didn’t have the spare
intergalactic credits to spring for even an extra day or two.
Now, she needed to concentrate on her
work, and her mind spun with the possibilities of what she’d find in
the old archives. She was only barely aware of the swoosh when the
chute door opened and she automatically stepped inside.
Something solid slammed into her, the
force temporarily knocking the breath out of her lungs. She
staggered back, and a man’s large hands shot out to steady her at
the same time as she grabbed hold of his upper arms. Every nerve
ending in her body crackled with awareness from standing so close to
him.
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