Testing Pandora

Pandora 0.6

"Welcome aboard, Ms. Corelel," Captain Chui said as she came to a stop beside me, hauling my luggage. "Your team is here to greet you."

She gestured down the ramp with a nod of her head. Team? My hands tightened convulsively around the handles of Marbles' and Cake's carrying cages as I glanced at the bottom of the ramp.

There were five of them, all human. They seem friendly enough. Well, most of them... They all smiled at me, and for the most part it seemed genuine, but one of them stood out. She was similar in height to me—similar and yet dissimilar in a lot of ways, really. Her hair was golden blond to my drab ash, and her eyes were bright blue in contrast to my indecisive, cloudy blue-gray. And she held herself with far more confidence than I had ever felt in my life. Yet something about the way she gazed at me... Perhaps I was just imagining the hostility in her eyes.

"Hi," she greeted me, her tone pleasant enough. "I'm Christa Baranka, acting Head of Xeno-liaisons."

I hung back a little, bobbing a small nod in greeting.

A slender willow-whip of a man stepped forward, his smile crinkling the corners of his monolid eyes. "Sho Merin."

"And I'm Marla. Marla Thomas." She looked like a Nubian goddess and grinned like the sun shining through your window in the morning.

The final two were Kirrick Chanda, whose dark curls stood up as if he constantly ran his fingers through him, and Kimi Drin, whose pale platinum hair seemed at odds with her large, liquid dark eyes. By the time they were done introducing themselves, I found myself wishing for free hands, so I could wrap my arms around myself in protection. Meeting new people was always overwhelming. Meeting five at once—and people I was supposed to work with, no less—left me feeling unsteady on my feet.

"Perhaps we should allow Xandri to get settled in before we throw too much at her," Captain Chui suggested, coming up to stand behind me.

Oh god, yes.

"Sure," Christa said, still wearing that smile that seemed so insincere to my eyes. "We can show her to her room. Help her with her luggage. We've got to get to know each other sooner or later."

"I don't really have much luggage," I blurted without thinking.

In the awkward silence that followed, I felt myself turning red to the very tips of my ears. Most of Xeno-liaisons eyed me uncertainly; Christa Baranka narrowed her eyes in clear disapproval. Great, Xan. You're not even here five minutes and already you've put your foot in it. I wanted to run, but there was nowhere to run to. The sudden urge to flap my arms against my sides nearly overwhelmed me, but I couldn't, not while holding my birds' cages.

"Um...I mean...I didn't mean..."

"Her things are here," Aki rumbled, nudging a cart with my meager belongings into our midst. "It probably won't take all of us to carry them."

"Still, you must be tired," Kirrick said kindly. "Could we help a little? I could take one of your birds, if you're comfortable with that."

"Oh, um...I'd appreciate that. I should probably carry Marbles, though. No telling how she'll react to strangers. Cake is much more...uh, calm."

I lifted Cake's cage and held it out to Kirrick. A smile blossomed on his face as he reached to take it, and I thought I recognized a fellow animal lover. Certainly he cooed enough, praising Cake's lovely plumage. My bird stirred from the lethargy of sedatives and blinked at this new individual.