Earth Song: Twilight Serenade Read Free Page B

at more than two hundred gravities, tail slipping in to precisely line up with one of the platform’s many landing pads. Lilith backed her in and down, setting onto the platform as light as a feather.
    “Your father was as wonderful of a pilot as you are,” Kal'at pronounced with a nod from the copilot seat. To his credit his claws hadn't even tightened on the hand rests during the hair raising approach. He had complete faith in her abilities.
    “He still is,” she said and floated aft.
    “Of course.”
    Lilith wasn't being illogical. Now that she was home she had every intention of meeting with her mother, and then finding her father, or those that had killed him. A little smile curled the edges of her mouth. That was something she was looking forward to. Where there was no satisfaction, there was at least revenge.
     
     
    Minu had just taken the fish from the small infrared oven when she heard the distant multiple cracks of a vessel tearing through Bellatrix's atmosphere at hypersonic velocity. She smiled as she carried the hot dish to the table and then checked on the mushroom casserole. She enjoyed making a meal completely from local foods occasionally. It didn't always work out, but this time it did. The mushrooms were plentiful in the fall by her island and the fish were biting as well.
    She removed a bottle of wine from the wine fridge and was reading the label when she felt a little shiver run up her spine and the cabin vibrated ever so slightly. Her ears could just hear the whine of the shuttle’s gravitic impellers as Lilith set it down on the ceramic concrete pad between the cabin and the old observatory that had belonged to her ancestor, Mindy Harper. A few moments later the door opened and in came her daughter.
    Minu put the bottle down and went to her. The transporter bot stopped just inside the door and lowered to the ground. Lilith lithely floated to the floor and carefully released the gravimetric field. A sound somewhere between a sigh and groan escaped her lips as the pull of the planet’s core took hold of her. Minu cocked a head and she nodded, the two women coming together in an embrace.
    “It's so good to see you, dear,” Minu whispered in her ear and kissed her cheek.
    Lilith hesitated a half second before returning the kiss with only a slight pause of uncertainty. Physical displays of affections were something she still struggled with, even as a 24 year old woman (though she was technically born a 12 year old). “I'm sorry your dad is not here to welcome you home.”
    Lilith nodded and felt emotions creeping into her consciousness and moved to intercept them. Instead she directed her feelings to something more useful. “We must discuss finding him.”
    “That might not be practical.”
    Lilith was about to disagree and explain that there was no were in the galaxy that their enemies could hide from her when she really noticed her mother, or more importantly, her belly. “You have gotten fat!”
    Minu gagged and covered her mouth, stifling a choked off laugh. Her daughter, always a shining example of propriety.
    “No, daughter, that is your little brother or sister.”
    Minu had so seldom seen her daughter at a loss for words, she dearly wished she'd had a camera to hand. Lilith's jaw dropped down and she gaped, a hand reaching out to Minu's swelling stomach was just as hastily pulled back as if the young woman was somehow afraid the pregnancy was catching. “It's okay,” she said and smiled. Lilith finished the motion and with supreme gentleness laid a hand on her mother's growing stomach. As if on cue, the baby inside kicked right under her hand.
    “Oh!” Lilith squeaked and pulled her hand back.
    “Little one knows his sister is there.”
    “Really?” she asked under her breath. “That is normal behavior for a fetus?”
    “Sometimes, yes.” Lilith put her hand back and received the same treatment. Her eyes sparkled with joy and amazement like Minu had never seen.
    “How much