Paradise Blight

Chapter 17

With no call to action, the Legion slept.

[Gan]

Mora arrived at the landing pad well past midnight. Samir stood beside me with one of his lab technicians, and also Liz with one of her aides. We all shielded our eyes from the fan gusts as the flyer landed and the powered down.

Pushing back dark hair, Mora gave me that quirky smile as she came up to me, and not pausing at all, pressed her lips directly to mine while wrapping arms around my neck. I did not resist in the slightest, instead drawing her body against mine. The kiss lingered on, lighting a fire within me.

I continued to hold her after breaking off the kiss. "Nice. But you know, people might think we are in some sort of relationship."

"I hope you don't mind," Mora cooed.

I pulled her head to my shoulder and stroked her hair. "Not at all."

Samir gawked, eyes widened.. Apparently, this was a revelation to him. Liz just smirked.

Mora pulled out of the hug and turned toward Samir. "I took some samples of plants and soil while the blight was active and put them in cryo-stasis. I hope you can find something." She pointed a thumb at the flyer. "They're in the back. Oh, and go full bio-hazard protocol with these."

Mora stepped over to Liz as Samir and his assistant retrieved the sample cylinders. "Liz, there were multiple casualties. I didn't get a count because the crowd was getting agitated enough that I needed to get out. And some of them were armed. One woman made a point to tell me they will want answers from you."

Liz wrinkled her forehead as she pulled out her com-viewer and showed me a picture. "This woman?"

"Yes, that's her."

"Chairman Brinne Kern. She is the designated rep of the Freedom Alliance group." Liz turned to her aide. "See if you can locate her. I will want to meet with her as soon as possible — we need to head this off."

As the aide walked away, Liz hugged Mora. "I'm glad you're okay. You seem to have a way of finding trouble. Now you two get to bed." She winked.

Soon, we nestled under the covers.. Mora cooed as she snuggled into my arms. "Did you mean what you said earlier today?"

I grinned. "You mean about space pong? Oww!" I rubbed my arm where she hit me.

"You know what I am referring to," she responded, jerking back.

"Oh, the falling in love part?" I squeezed her tighter. "Yeah. I love you. Like a whole lot."

"Mmm. Good."

We slept well, wrapped within each other's arms. The crisis of this world be damned, but this night we had our own bit of paradise.

*****

Mora knocked on the door as I peeked inside the Governor's office. "Liz, you wanted to see us?"

"Yes. Come in. Take a seat."

She stood up from behind her desk and came around to sit beside us at a small round table. I noticed the gesture — away from her position of power, she spoke to us as friends. I liked this governor even more.

Liz put her hands together and leaned forward. "I am going to need your help, both of you. This afternoon I will meet with the leader of the Freedom Alliance. Conspiracy theories are rampant, and they fear the government is involved with the blight. I would like you both to be there to help explain what we do know about it. The two of you would be more credible as scientist and engineer than I would as governor."