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us, and we deserve every moment of it. Can you give me three days with no worries?”
    Her blue gaze turned soft, almost apologetic, and she slid a bare leg over his hip. “Live in the moment,” she mused. “I can do that.”
    “Promise?”
    “I don’t just promise.” She extended her little finger. “I pinky-swear.”
    He grinned at her offering, then hooked a finger around hers. “Now I know you’re serious.”
    They fell asleep to the lullaby of ocean waves, and in the days that followed, awoke to sunlight streaming through the open window. Each morning they ate their breakfast on the beach, and Aelyx reserved some spare crumbs to trap a peca . With the amphibian in hand, he showed Cara how to lure fish by holding it beneath the water and tickling its belly. In response, the peca emitted a series of ultrasonic chirps that drew a few specimens within reach. Aelyx eventually caught a fish, but released it, as he wasn’t in the mood to clean and cook it.
    He showed Cara the cave he’d discovered, and by the second afternoon, she grew brave enough to shed her uniform and skinny-dip in the freshwater pool. Then they lay on the warm stone slabs and let the sun dry their skin before devouring the picnic lunch they’d assembled from the kitchen imports. When the sun hung low in the sky, they linked hands and strode back to their apartment, where they spent the evening playing chess and sharing stories of their time apart.
    Because Cara was still tender from their first night together, the only thing they did in bed was sleep. But Aelyx didn’t mind. He simply loved having her near—and all to himself. He could honestly say that those three days were the best of his life.
    But as leisure time had a tendency to do, it passed too quickly.
    On the fourth morning, they awoke to the noise of shuttles alighting on the beach and supplies being hauled into the living center. Then Cara received a transmission on her com-sphere. It was Devinder, informing her that the first group of human colonists had arrived on the transport and begun quarantine procedures.
    After disconnecting, Cara bit her lip and set down her sphere. With a sigh, she rested her chin on Aelyx’s chest. “Time to get up. Devinder wants to meet us in town to go over some new policies.”
    Aelyx suppressed a groan. “A far cry from skinny-dipping at the cave.”
    “No joke.” A pair of lines creased her ivory brow. “But if the colonists are already in quarantine, that means they’ll be here next week.” That pair of lines turned into a trio, and her breathing accelerated. “There’s so much to do before then, I get dizzy just thinking about it.”
    Aelyx pulled her close, nuzzling the spot on her shoulder that always gave her chills. But her muscles were too tense for the contact to produce the desired effect. He wished she weren’t so anxious. After all, he was here to share the responsibility as the L’eihr representative. “No worries, remember?”
    She shook her head. “That was a limited-time offer.”
    “It was fun while it lasted.”
    “Come on.” She threw aside the sheet and sat up, then tugged at his elbow until he did the same. “Duty calls.”
    She didn’t even offer to race him to the washroom.
    The vacation was officially over.

Chapter Four

    TUESDAY, JULY 25
    Growing Pains
    There’s an old saying that you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. Or as my dad likes to put it, “If you don’t screw up at least once a day, you’re not trying hard enough.” Either way, the point is basically the same: you can’t have success without failure.
    By that logic, this colony will be a masterpiece.
    It’s been a couple of months since the first immigrants arrived, and I won’t lie—we’ve had some pretty spectacular fails. Like the time we discovered half the human colonists are allergic to L’eihr seafood. (Who knew faces could swell so big?) Or when a dead bird got stuck in the drinking filtration system and