Heard as Well as Seen The sky was the color of a reddish-purple plum, and Joanni gazed up at it, hoping to capture everything it had to offer. Soon her view would consist solely of a vast blackness dusted with pinpoints of stars. This sky above her right now was beautiful, but it had no softness to it, and the air was a little hard to breathe out here on the patio cafe of the Ritcher Starbase hotel. “Let’s finish our coffee and go back in,” she said to Lieutenant Rez Yoshida, the escort officer assigned to her by ISEA. They had struck up an easy, chatty camaraderie during their brief time together. It was Lt. Yoshida’s task to get this unique ambassador ready for the long trip to Oreana and up to diplomatic speed on her role in the securing of the mutual cooperation treaty. As they gathered up their data pads, and got up to go, Lt. Yoshida put her hand on Joanni’s arm and motioned with her head toward two people coming out of the hotel entrance, heading away from them. By the time Joanni processed the gesture and looked in the right direction, all that was to be seen of them were their backs—the woman, tall, almost the same height as the man, with a blonde ponytail that swung back and forth in rhythm with her gait; the man with excellent posture and a broad, muscled back. A good-looking couple.
Chapter 4. Heard as Well as Seen
Chapter 4. Heard as Well as Seen
Chapter 4. Heard as Well as Seen
Heard as Well as Seen The sky was the color of a reddish-purple plum, and Joanni gazed up at it, hoping to capture everything it had to offer. Soon her view would consist solely of a vast blackness dusted with pinpoints of stars. This sky above her right now was beautiful, but it had no softness to it, and the air was a little hard to breathe out here on the patio cafe of the Ritcher Starbase hotel. “Let’s finish our coffee and go back in,” she said to Lieutenant Rez Yoshida, the escort officer assigned to her by ISEA. They had struck up an easy, chatty camaraderie during their brief time together. It was Lt. Yoshida’s task to get this unique ambassador ready for the long trip to Oreana and up to diplomatic speed on her role in the securing of the mutual cooperation treaty. As they gathered up their data pads, and got up to go, Lt. Yoshida put her hand on Joanni’s arm and motioned with her head toward two people coming out of the hotel entrance, heading away from them. By the time Joanni processed the gesture and looked in the right direction, all that was to be seen of them were their backs—the woman, tall, almost the same height as the man, with a blonde ponytail that swung back and forth in rhythm with her gait; the man with excellent posture and a broad, muscled back. A good-looking couple.