Sacred Places Read online

  “You’re going to tell everyone, aren’t you?” Mirek sighed, not really worried. His wife wanted him. That was a good thing. Actually, she wanted him…and wanted him…and wanted him…and—

  “Oh, yeah,” Alek nodded. “Everyone.”

  “Alek,” Bron broke in. “Maybe we should keep this to ourselves. If my wife is any indication of how the women were raised, her sister will not like being talked about in such a way. She will consider it insulting.”

  Alek instantly agreed. “Of course, I didn’t think of it like that. I would never gossip about my sisters if it made them uncomfortable.”

  “Thank you,” Mirek mouthed. Bron nodded once.

  “Have either of you seen the updated communications plans?” Bron asked, nodding at his armload. “We’re having a hard time locating some of the buried mountain lines to see if they’re salvageable. Aeron wants to get the construction plans finished before the baby arrives and keeps asking if they’re lines or transmit boosters. I honestly have no idea how they work.”

  “Why don’t you just grab a line on one side and pull?” Alek asked, shrugging. “See where it leads. If it doesn’t lead anywhere, I’d say we have transmit boosters. I don’t know what a transmit booster looks like, but we can send the boys out to look for one in the trees or wherever.”

  “Apparently checking the line that way will take longer. Aeron ordered a ground imager but it won’t be here until after the baby comes. She is very focused on getting this done. Now.” Bron looked at them hopefully, an almost desperate plea on his face as he wanted to please his pregnant wife. “So have you seen the updated plans?”

  “Updated as in the ones from fifty years ago?” Mirek frowned. “Did we even have plans? I don’t ever remember seeing them. I seem to remember Sper just making it work. He’d go out with tools and come back later with everything working again.”

  “Alek?” Bron prompted.

  “No clue,” Alek said. “I think Sper kept all the plans in his head. When he died, he took the information with him. Though, come to think of it, after he died the network stopped breaking down so much. I wonder what that man was doing?”

  “Intergalactic transmissions,” Mirek answered. Sper never married, never even tried to marry. He was a very rare exception to the Draig culture in that way. “Something he called moving, moodies, movies?”

  “Blast!” Bron frowned. “That’s what I was afraid of. Aeron is not going to be pleased. She is a very organized woman.” To Mirek, he said, “She was always like that, but it’s getting worse. At first, she just arranged clothing in the closet according to styles and color. But then I caught her trying to alphabetize your giant trade agreement reports in my office in the middle of the night.”

  “Wait until your bride starts hiding your favorite throwing knives,” Alek said. “I wish Kendall would merely reorganize reports.”

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