Planerbound Read online

  1-- The Proposal

  Sukiko stepped into the bedroom in her short robe, brushing her raven hair. She tied it into a ponytail, glanced toward Nyk and slipped off her robe. Standing sideways to him, she ran her hands along her belly. “Three months to go.”

  “Did I ever tell you how good you look pregnant?” he asked.

  “Only about every night.” She slid into bed and snuggled to him. “You know, Nykkyo -- I think Mom has fallen in love with you. I can tell by the way you two interact. She's not like that with everyone.”

  “I'm fond of your mom, too. She's a very attractive woman.”

  She giggled. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you two had something going on the side.”

  “Oh, no -- believe me, if we did -- I'd tell you.”

  She pulled away from him. “You're kidding. I was kidding. Please tell me you're kidding.”

  “Absolutely not. Our relationship must be built upon trust. I'd never keep anything like that from you.”

  “No -- that's not it. Nykkyo -- please tell me on your world a ... physical relationship between a man and his partner's mother isn't the norm.”

  “It's not.”

  “I'm relieved.” She cuddled to him again.

  “But, it's not uncommon, either. We think there's nothing wrong with two people who love each other expressing it by sharing the gift.”

  She sat up. “You mean it's all right for -- say, a man to have a sexual relationship with his mother-in-law?”

  “It happens quite frequently -- also between a woman and her in-laws.”

  “Nykkyo -- this is the first time you've told me something about your culture that makes me feel uncomfortable -- a little weird. Do you desire my mother?”

  “I told you -- I think she's a very attractive woman.”

  “You do desire her!”

  “I think she desires me ... the way she looks at me and touches me.”

  “Nykkyo! We're talking about my mother! She's ... she's old enough to be YOUR mother! How could you? How could you desire her?”

  “The fact she's older doesn't make her less attractive. I'll bet you'll make a beautiful 60-year-old.”

  “But -- you'll be 60, too!”

  “Trust me, korlyta -- I'd never approach her that way. I understand Earth attitudes on such, and I'm sure she wouldn't welcome it. I wouldn't do anything to cause you distress.”

  “I'm very happy to hear that.”

  “I doubt Yasuko would approach me, either.”

  “I would hope not.” She cuddled to him.

  “Suki -- do we have any photographs of your mother when she was younger? I'll bet when she was your age, she was as pretty as you.”

  “I've never seen any. Can we not talk about my mother?”

  “Okay -- let's talk about us. Have you considered what I asked you? My divorce is nearly final, so that's no obstacle.”

  “Yes. I'm afraid the answer must be no.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I can't marry Nykkyo Kyhana. I'd have to marry Nick Kane.”

  “Nick Kane is who I am on Earth.”

  “Not to me. I don't want to live that fiction. Besides, why give up a name like Kyhana for Kane?”

  “Why, indeed?”

  “You're not angry?”

  “No,” he replied. “Your logic makes perfect sense.”

  She pulled herself tighter against him and kissed his cheek. “Besides, we don't need a piece of parchment to prove our love.”

  “Do you feel like lovemaking tonight?” he asked.

  “I'm too warm already. Don't forget -- I have a little furnace inside me. I will if you want it, Nykkyo.”

  He shook his head. “I don't need it tonight.” He turned off the light.

  “Oohh!” she exclaimed. “Did you feel that?”

  “He nearly kicked me out of bed. If he keeps that up -- it'll be a long night.”

  * * *

  Nyk descended the stairs to the kitchen. He poured himself a cup of coffee. “Good morning, Nick,” Suki's mother said to him. “Are you making any progress on the marriage front?”

  “She's still saying no.”

  “That girl is nuts to refuse you. If a young man like yourself had asked me -- I'd say yes in an eyeblink.”

  “She explained her reasons and I agree with them.”

  She set a plate of pancakes before him, stood behind him and massaged his shoulders. He heard Suki's footfalls on the stairs. Yasuko stepped to the stove and began cooking more pancakes.

  Suki sat beside Nyk and held his hand. “Mom -- how can you stand it? Jeans and long sleeves in this heat?”

  “The heat doesn't bother me. What about what you're wearing?”

  “I'm going to an air-conditioned office for the day.”

  Suki's father joined them. “I just had a call from my associate Fred. Since it looks like it's going to be a hot weekend, he's offered us the use of his summer house on Long Island. I'll pick up the keys today, and we'll head out there this evening, after dinner. It's about a two-hour drive, so we should be there before dusk.”

  * * *

  Nyk sat beside Suki in the back seat of George's Lincoln Town Car as it stopped outside a grey house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. George opened the house and Nyk looked around.

  “The master bedroom's there,” George pointed. “This is a guest room you two can use.”

  Nyk looked the house over. It had large windows offering a view of the water, and a wide, wrap-around porch. He stepped onto the porch and looked down at the beach.

  “Let's open all the windows,” Suki said. “We'll let the breeze through.”

  “I'll put our bags in the bedroom,” Nyk said. He stepped into the room and looked around. Suki joined him and embraced his arm. “I know this house.”

  “How?”

  “From Koichi's journal. He mentions two properties that remained in the Kyhana family for nearly two hundred years. One is the house in Queens. The other is a grey summerhouse on the southern shore of Long Island. I recall his journal entries vividly -- large windows, the wrap-around porch -- the lighthouse visible from the dining room.”

  “Koichi owned this house?”

  “More correctly -- Koichi's parents will own it. They were the property holders at the time Koichi left on the Centauri mission that resulted in the founding of Floran.”

  Suki stretched out on the bed. “It's so romantic -- feeling the breeze waft through the windows and hearing the surf. It's so quiet here.”

  “This reminds me of my house on Floran. It's situated on a bluff overlooking the sea. The house has a name -- the locals call it the Residence. There's no other place like it in all of Sudal. It was built for my dad as a reward for his work for the Food Service.”

  “Is it like this?” she asked.

  “Not at all -- the place is circular, with a domed roof. There are three levels -- the upper two have no outside walls. The rooms are open and look out over the sea. Around the outside are a set of shutters we can drop in case of inclement weather.” He lay on the bed beside her and took her hand. “I loved going to sleep to the sound of the surf, and waking to my world's golden sunrise.”

  “I love making love to the sound of the surf,” she said.

  He looked at her. “Have you done much of that?”

  “Never -- but I know I'm going to love it.”

  * * *

  Nyk carried a basket of towels to the beach. He stretched one out on the sand, slipped off his shirt and lay it.

  Suki approached him. “I have some sunscreen. We haven't had much sun exposure this summer, and I think you should use this. Let me put some on your legs.” She squirted some of the lotion into her palms and began running her hands up and down his legs. “Mmm...”


  “Mmm?” he replied.

  “Mmmmmm! It struck me how pretty your legs are.” She began smearing the lotion onto his chest. “I've always liked legs -- I guess I'm a leg girl. Yours would look good on a woman, Nykkyo.” She looked up at him. “I meant that as a compliment.”

  “I'll accept it as such. Don't worry about offending my manhood. A Floran's gender identity isn't nearly as strong as on Earth. Yours are pretty, too.”

  “I'm happy with them -- they're short, but they look good. When I was in high school, I was on the swim team -- because I liked how I looked in a swimsuit, and I liked showing them off. I also liked being around other girls in swimsuits. That girl I had my first lesbian encounter with was on the swim team from another school.”

  “I recall you telling me of her.”

  She capped the bottle of lotion and lay beside him. “Don't you want to go into the water?”

  He shook his head. “Florans aren't swimmers. The water on my world has a bad smell, and most of the natives abhor it. I don't mind the smell, but I've never been comfortable in the water.”

  “The ocean's pretty cold, anyway,” she said. “It's warmer on the north shore -- by Long Island Sound. But, it's prettier -- and, cleaner -- here.”

  “Look at your folks,” Nyk said, pointing. George and Yasuko were running and splashing in the surf.

  “They look young again,” she replied. “Do you think we'll behave like that when we're their age?”

  “I hope we behave exactly as we do now.”

  * * *

  Nyk sat with Suki in the Town car as Suki's father drove toward Queens. “George -- how would one acquire a property like your friend's beach house?”

  “I'm not up on real estate values, but I'd hazard a guess a place like that would go for five hundred thousand -- if it were on the market.”

  “Five hundred thousand?”

  “That's a guesstimate.”

  Nyk pondered. “Is that a lot?”

  George chuckled. “It is -- if you don't have it.”

  “Does your friend intend to sell?”

  “That's a good question, Nick. I know Fred hasn't used the place much since his wife died. He bought it for her -- she loved spending her summers by the sea. Fred never spent too much time there, himself. Maybe he's hanging onto it for nostalgia's sake.”

  “George -- if he decides he wants to sell -- tell him I'll buy it -- at whatever price he wants.”

  Suki's father turned and looked at him. “YOU'll buy it? Where will you come up with that sort of money?”

  “I guess I'll have to start saving.”

  “I guess you will.”

  * * *

  Suki performed her nightly toilet. Nyk jacked his laptop computer into the broadband data circuit in the apartment. Via the Internet, his computer was connected to one of the clandestine communications uplinks installed by the Floran ExoAgency. The uplink accessed a communications relay station parked above Earth's sun's north pole, outside the heliopause in interstellar space. From his laptop computer, he had full access to his homeworld's communications network. He manipulated the keyboard to access the Floran central database.

  Suki stepped from the bathroom with her hairbrush. “It's cooler tonight -- a change in the weather. I'm glad for that.” She stepped behind him and massaged his shoulders. “Tell me you weren't serious about buying that summer house.”

  “I'm dead serious. I think it's my duty to buy it -- and to pass it along to future generations of your family.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “Look here -- this is Koichi's journal. This'll give you a chance to brush up on your Floran.”

  She read the passage. “You're right -- it does describe what could be Daddy's friend's house.”

  “It can be no other. It's logic, korlyta -- if I have the opportunity to buy it and pass it on to future generations, then I have an obligation to do so.”

  “Where will you come up with the money?”

  Nyk stood and took a carton from a closet. From the box he withdrew a polymer fiber sack. dipped his hand in, and retrieved a handful of raw diamond crystals. “Maybe I can raise some money by selling some of these. I brought these to help fund ExoAgency operations, but I know Seymor has skimmed some money for himself. I can't imagine anyone getting too upset -- especially for such a worthy cause.”

  “Providing future generations of Kyhanas with a recreational home is a worthy cause?”

  “Certainly. Koichi loved that beach house. It was part of what formed him. Do you remember what the sky looked like from the beach?”

  “It was dazzling -- I felt I could touch the stars.”

  “The sky doesn't look like that from Queens. As a child, Koichi would take a telescope to the beach and stargaze. Without that house, he might not have pursued his career as an astral navigator -- and without his skills, Floran might not have been founded.”

  “So,” she said, “you believe, if you are presented with the opportunity to buy the house and fail to do so -- you'll be guilty of temporal interference?”

  “That's right. I must figure out how to begin selling these.” He dumped the crystals into the sack and switched off the computer. “Care for some bed?”

  Nyk undressed and stretched out. Suki slipped off her robe, sat on the bed and began caressing his legs. “You're a little pink -- it looks like you did get some sun this weekend.”

  “Yes -- I'm grateful for your sunscreen. This world's sun is so much more intense. I imagine without your lotion, I'd be in agony right now.” He caressed her thigh. “You don't appear pink.”

  “I never burn,” she replied. “I just get darker. I have tan lines, now.” She guided his hand higher on her thigh. “Like here...” She pressed his hand against her breast. “And, here...”

  * * *

  Nyk awoke to Suki's caressing his face. He opened his eyes and gazed into hers. “Bon'matina.”

  “Bon'matina,” she replied. “Did you notice anything different last night?”

  He shook his head. “Notice what?”

  “I enjoyed myself.”

  “Don't you usually?”

  “I'm trying to express this so it comes out sounding right... Nykkyo -- I feel the power of your love. A girl would be nuts not to respond to love such as yours.” She looked into his eyes. “Even a gay one would be. Don't get me wrong, Nykkyo -- I cherish our physical relationship. But, for me -- it begins on an emotional level. Once I get started -- I get into the swing.”

  “I feel the same emotional connection toward you. I'll admit, though -- there's another aspect ... something more...”

  “More ... animal?”

  “An inelegant way of expressing it -- but, yes.”

  “I've never felt that way toward you. That doesn't mean I don't find our lovemaking fully satisfying -- I do. But, last night -- I wanted you, Nykkyo. I had a raw, animal attraction to you. I wanted us to get inside each other -- to crawl under each other's skin. Didn't you notice?”

  “Come to think of it -- you were more ... eager.”

  “It was your legs. I was sitting on the bed, touching you -- looking at your bit of sunburn -- thinking how pretty your legs were. Before last night, I've wanted you -- for you. I've wanted to give myself to you for you -- to please you. Do you understand?”

  “Of course I do. What you've described is the Floran approach.” He stroked her cheek. “Are you sure you weren't born there?”

  She smiled. “Last night I wanted you for ME.” She took his hand and kissed it. “Just talking about it arouses me.”

  “Would you care to dissipate some animal attraction now?”

  “We'd better not -- let's save it for tonight.”

  He kissed her cheek. She pressed her lips to his, and then covered his face with kisses. “Oh God, Nykkyo -- how I love you! I don't know how I'll keep my mind on my work today.”

  * * *

  “Nick -- can you reach this?” Yasuko handed him a tray and he placed it in a
high cabinet.

  “Have you seen Suki?”

  “She might be upstairs, meditating. She does that after dinner, sometimes.”

  Nyk climbed the stairs and peeked into the bedroom. He saw her sitting, cross-legged on the bed, her right hand cradled in her left palm. Her eyes were closed. He stood, leaning on the doorjamb and watched her.

  She swung her arms over her head and stretched. “Whoa! You startled me. How long have you been there?”

  “Not long. Your mom said you might be meditating. About what?”

  “About us. Nick -- help me off the bed.” He gave her a hand. “Nick...” She pressed her finger against his lips. “Hear me out... I had such a wonderful time this weekend with you and my folks at the beach. But, I had to be on guard. Several times I almost called you Nykkyo in front of them. And, today -- I referred to you as Nykkyo in front of Mom -- though I don't think she noticed. I'm afraid I'll slip up and give something away.

  “You know I support your activities here on Earth one-hundred percent. I know it's a good and noble thing you're doing. I'd hate to think of some careless act on my part jeopardizing it.

  “I came here to meditate on a solution. I was reviewing my options. One would be for me to send you on your way -- to disengage, as you call it -- for the better good of your people. I'm afraid I'm too selfish to give you up for a greater good.”

  “Thank goodness for your selfishness,” he replied.

  “My other option was to drive Nykkyo Kyhana from my mind, and replace him with ... with Nick Kane. That is what I have done. It's who you are to Earth people -- and, I'm an Earth person. So, from this point -- you must be Nick Kane to me. Perhaps I'll visit your world again, and then you can be Nykkyo for a while. Do you understand?”

  “Perfectly.”

  “You wanted me to call you by your real name when we're alone. You're not upset if I don't?”

  “Not in the least. What's in a name, anyway? One small point -- if I'm now Nick Kane to you ... you have no excuse not to marry me. You can keep your maiden name if you'd like. You can be Dr Sukiko Kyhana -- Mrs Nick Kane.”