Adjustments
© 2022 by Walter Reimer

Thumbnail art by  tegerio, color by  Major Matt Mason


Yerim looked up from his padd as Varan walked into the kitchen. “Zogat, Varan,” her stepfather said.

“Zogat, Father,” the vir said, and after they exchanged a brief embrace she went to get a glass of fruit juice. “You’re up early.”

“Business meeting, over in Radha,” the kam replied, and he smiled. “It takes some getting used to.”

“What?”

“Being called ‘Father.’ Vorun and I are very pleased that you, Verit and Kunan have accepted our marriage.”

Varan swallowed a mouthful of juice and chuckled. “You shouldn’t have worried,” she said.

“Nevertheless.” He glanced at his padd as it chimed. “My jumpcar will be here shortly. What I meant was that I have had to alter how I do things, having lived alone for so long.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder. “That’s life, Yerim. Things change every time you meet someone.”

“You learned that from making friends with Meredidh?”

“Yes.”


***


“Okay,” Fuji said. “Ready?”

Meredith took a breath. “When you are.”

The Komodo monitor nodded, glanced at his padd, and moved a finger across the rigid surface. “Here we go . . . we’re now at point seventy-eight gee. How do you feel?”

The golden palomino mare ran her paws over her gravid belly and smiled. “Better.” She got her hooves and added, “Much better. This was a great idea, love.”

He walked over to her after locking the controls on his padd and kissed her. “Thank you. The hardest part was getting it past the station’s government and their engineers.”

“You’re not just a pretty face,” she giggled before kissing him again.

“Helps that I was cross-trained on the ship’s artigrav, too.” He kissed her, as the decrease in gravity made it more comfortable for her to carry their child. “So, Kashlanin normal feel all right? I didn’t want to take it any lower than that.”

“No, this feels pretty good.”