Astral
Life out of her body was fun but when she tangles with a stellar avatar, life inside her own skin holds a lot of appeal.
Dina has been going from assignment to assignment, helping out with mediations in hostile environments. Since she leaves her body in safety, her mind walks worlds that would kill her physical form instantly. When an offer from a nearby star gets her attention, she has to choose between a life out of her body, or a passenger in her very soul.
Arci, the living star has been searching for a match for his avatar since Zakkar’s species disappeared. When the Terran seems to meet all of his avatar’s needs, Arci senses that she can fulfill some of the things missing is his own existence as well. It will take both of them to convince her to join them, but their threesome will eventually come together, mind, body, souls, and star.
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Astral
Copyright © 2012 Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-77111-108-9
Cover art by Martine Jardin
All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by Devine Destinies
An imprint of eXtasy Books
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Astral
A Terran Times Tale
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
Dina Markowitz sat at the com unit, her ears burning with her blush. “Please repeat that last request, sir.”
The silver-skinned Ontex looked distinctly uncomfortable. “A star has requested you as a mate for its avatar.”
“That is impossible. The radiation alone would kill me.” She tried to be practical while her blush still raged.
“The star is offering you the opportunity to share its power.” He blinked his huge black eyes and smiled hopefully at her.
“Why are you responsible for telling me, Refoal? This is usually something that is handled by folks who can actually say sex without flinching.”
“I have been your assignment dispatcher for four years, Dina. It was my duty to inform you of the offer.”
“So, the offer has not yet been accepted?” Dina really wanted to bite her nails, but it was impolite to do so in front of her dispatcher.
“It has not. It is still pending and the decision is scheduled to be made later in this council session.”
Dina paused for a moment. The council might not decide in the star’s favour. She may be able to live her life as a non-resident mediator quietly on her station with no one getting in the way. While the quiet life had been a little lonely at first, she had gotten used to keeping her body on her small unit on the adjunct of the unmanned station. Fish was a remarkable cure for loneliness.
“Dina, Dina! I asked if you were all right with this arrangement.” Refoal frowned.
“No, I am not all right with being handed off to a star, to be irradiated and hopeful I will survive the transformation process. I like my job here. I know what happens next.” She shrugged.
She crossed her arms over her chest and scowled. “No celestial body is getting near this body in this life.”
He nodded. “I accept that as a theory. In reality, it is a likelihood.”
Dina sighed. “I know, but I can set out my wishes and dreams like everyone else in the universe.”
“Fair enough. I will contact you again when I have more details. Do you have the records for your current assignment?”
“I do. I am heading to the negotiations in a few minutes.”
“Don’t forget to do a systems check.”
She smiled. “Yes, Refoal. I will. Good evening to you.”
She disconnected her com connection and stretched. She tried a few moves that she had learning in Citadel training and when her limbs were loose and relaxed, she wandered toward her dispatch centre.
She locked the door behind herself and lit up the interior of the centre. As the lights cascaded over her support chair, she opened the vents in her suit to allow for the implants.
Humming to herself, she hooked up her life support. Dina was preparing for her mission to the surface and she needed all the fluids she could get.
Her holographic fish checked on her and flipped its fins. She smiled at him like she always did. “Hello, Fish. You seem especially red today.”
The fish did fancy flips around her and she quickly plugged herself in.
Fish was the interface for her ship’s systems and as long as he was swimming happily, she had nothing to worry about.
Dina settled in her chair and breathed deeply. The chronometer over her head counted down to the moment of her appointment.
“Dim the lights.”
The lights faded to a subtle illumination and Dina let her mind separate from her body.
Dina floated down toward the spinning orb beneath the station. The Qua’ak were trying to make a truce with the Qua’ar, their neighbours to the north. Yeshkin was an Alliance world, but the gasses that covered the planet were too corrosive for a standard Negotiator, so they had to call in a specialist.
With nineteen languages in her mind at any given time, Dina was the perfect choice for the assignment of hostile-planet mediator. Her ability to keep her mind in a cohesive column as well as the centre’s systems provided her with the ultimate in telepresence. She could be in two places at the same time and never suffer from the environment she was visiting.
Keeping a holographic representation was where she needed the help of her specialized systems. Other than needing a technological boost, her astral projection was honed to a fine science.
She bobbed in the thick, orangey gaseous layer next to the two representatives. The negotiations for a truce had taken hours longer than she had anticipated, but Shemmo and Lallar were finally in agreement as to the terms of the truce.
“Please sign the documents in front of you.” She kept her gaze on the document as they pressed it flat to the stone and pressed their palms to it. She twirled her fingers and the attendant reversed the document for the secondary signatures.
When they had seared their palms to the document, the attendant ripped it in two, in Yeshkin fashion.
“With this document signed, you shall each take a half and return to your people. Only when the other half is surrendered gratefully, eagerly and without malice or danger can this agreement be undone. From now on, you will share the bounty of the gas fish as well as the oil of the crawling carp. A trade agreement has been reached and ratified here today. I have filed the recording with the Alliance, so it is locked in for no less than nine generations. After that, you may renegotiate the details.”
“Thank you, Mediator. Your presence here has helped diffuse a tense situation.” Shemmo bowed.
“Our thanks as well. Things were getting tense in both our countries.” Lallar bowed as well, his heavy gills working to breathe the caustic atmosphere.
She bowed in return. “Contact me if you have any further need. I will be hooked to your station for the next five days.”
Dina sat up, gasping with her limbs trembling. Her body did not take to extended absences, but there was no way of telling time on Yeshkin. Days and nights were all blended together in that strange orange mist.
She lay back and panted as her mind and body struggled to reconnect. Her fish flipped and twisted in the air above her head, his red colour turning a bright blue as she watched.
“Lights up.”
Her heart pounded and she slowly removed her supply lines. “Well, Fish. It seems we have a visitor. Let them into the station and keep the security on my pod tight.”
Fish flipped and disappeared while Dina struggled to free herself from the muscle fatigue that weighed on her every time she left her body.
She stumbled free of the chair and sealed the vents on her suit, including the one at her crotch that had housed the tubes for her other functions. Her bodily functions still continued while she was out and wandering around, but without conscious control, she had to make a few concessions for duty over dignity.
The cup of water that was set to pour automatically was blessedly cool as it ran down her parched throat and splashed around her empty stomach. Dina grabbed a ration bar and munched while the dispenser poured another glass of water.
After two bars and five glasses of water, she felt almost coherent again. She stopped in the lav and brushed her hair and teeth before splashing her face with water.
If the visitor was hostile, Fish would have been green. Blue meant that the visitor was Alliance affiliated and it was time to find out who had come knocking on her door.
Chapter Two
“Unlock the seal.” She bit her lip and watched her reflection in the polished door panel. Dina knew that her white blonde hair was startling, as were her powder blue eyes, but her pigments had taken a hit when she got her first round of intravenous supplements. Fortunately, it had been the only signs of her body’s shock to the invasion, but it still made her uncomfortable when she met strangers. Since she was aware of her discolouration, she felt rather obviously freakish when she met new people.
The door slid back soundlessly to allow her into the airlock and hallway to the main station. She ran her hands down her suit, smoothing phantom wrinkles on the body-tight uniform. Fish led her through the halls to the observation deck where a man was sitting and staring out at the stars.
“Hello. Are you waiting for me?” She blinked in shock as he turned and she took in the dark blue skin with the sparkling of stars inside.
He was wearing a body suit similar to hers and it left nothing to the imagination. His eyes swirled with a slow pulse of liquid silver. “I believe that I am. You are Dina Markowitz of Terra, yes?”
“I am. Who are you?”
His smile was slow and caused her stomach to do a nervous flip that had nothing to do with the rations she had just packed in.
“Zakkar Yelwing, Avatar of Arci. He is attempting to secure you as my bride, but I thought you might be more amenable in person. Most of the races on your world no longer engage in arranged matings.”
She blinked and extended her hand in formal greeting out of reflex. She felt the jolt at the contact and while she was able to determine that he was a powerful psychic, there was something even stronger just under the surface.
“What world are you from?”
“Valoi, in the Arci cluster. My folk died out centuries ago and I am the last one left.” His smile was matched by the slow caress of his thumb on her hand.
She swallowed and tried to keep her voice chipper. “Arci is staying quiet? From what I have heard, that is rare for a star or planet.”
Zakkar’s smile stayed in place. “I was very firm with my star. He needs to stay aside so that your decision is made solely on your own. I have to sell myself on my own merits.”
She tried to take her hand back and he resisted for a moment before releasing her. “You are selling yourself?”
“Courtship, if you would. My folk didn’t engage in it, but I have been studying your customs and I believe that I have created a suitable plan.” His amusement was still in evidence.
Apparently, he knew something she didn’t.
She clued into his comment. “How long have you been studying?”
He paused, his smugness shaken with that one question. “Why do you ask?”
“Because it seems a little creepy that you would be learning my customs without having confirmed that I was available for you.”
He ran a hand through his midnight black hair. “I have been researching you and your people for two years. Arci has had a request in for a compatible female for me for over three hundred years. When you entered the Alliance, the file was flagged and as you progressed in your chosen field, it became more and more obvious that you were the only possibility.”
She snorted. “How flattering.”
He blinked, “You should be flattered. My species quickly died out when their pursuit of intellectual stimulation took over and their sex drives faded. That you are compatible with one of the races who drew up the charters of the Alliance is a high compliment.”
She blushed. “I apologize, but if your people died out because of lack of interest in the physical, why are you interested?”
He gave her a look that caused her toes to curl in her boots. “I have been an avatar for a very long time, Dina. Arci chose me long before intellect was all that my people valued.”