Free Ice Runner by Viola Grace Page A

waited.
    When the inner door opened for her, she stumbled into the heat with relief. She knelt and put her hands on her head. “Call Yola Base and take the pack. I am expecting a bonus for this time.” She was tired and kept her gaze down.
    Booted feet stopped in front of her.
    “I am not going to shoot you. Lift your head.” She tilted her head back and had to keep looking up. A man wearing a thick bodysuit and a swirling robe was smiling down at her.
    “Get up.”
    She pulled the releases on the cargo box and handed it to him. “Here you go, the botanical samples.”
    “Excellent. Now, get to your feet. I am making dinner, and it is as easy for two as for one.” He reached his hand down and gripped her forearm.
    He hissed and released it. “You are hot!”
    “Why, thank you. You are rather attractive as well.” She grunted and got back to her feet. “I am thermally active. That is the polite phrase for it.” He chuckled. “Well, hot stuff. Come this way. You can heat my greenhouse for a while.” She snickered and staggered after him. “Sorry, I am less than graceful after a run. It takes me a while to cool down.”
    He was cradling the box and brought it into the greenhouse, leaving the door open for her. He wasn’t kidding. She really was invited to see his research.
    She closed the door to the greenhouse behind her and enjoyed the humid air after she finished coughing.
    “Are you all right?”
    “Yes, the air outside is exceptionally dry today. The humidity comes as a bit of a shock to my lungs.” Kescu righted herself and was surprised to see the researcher with a glass of water.
    “Here you go. Melted and filtered. It should be at room temperature.”
    She took the glass and drank greedily. “Thank you. My supplies are cold right now.”
    He chuckled. “I can imagine. My name is Dr. Lorvik Wender. I specialize in force-grown botany.”
    “Kescu Washley, courier and Ice Runner.” She put the glass in her left hand and extended her right. He gripped her hand with his, his skin hot against hers, which meant she was cooling down rapidly.
    Kescu quickly removed a ration bar and started chewing. She detached her water tube and clipped the business end to the front of her reinforced suit.
    She would need it quickly as the rations started to expand in her belly.
    “I am guessing that the heat burns calories.” She nodded and kept chewing. The bars she had each contained a daily dose of calories for an average member of the Alliance and half of what someone on an ice world should eat during a day.
    “I need to work with the samples, would you care to watch?” He smiled and walked toward the bench where he had placed the cargo pack.
    When he glanced at her, she nodded and smiled with her cheeks stuffed with rations.
    He lifted the insulated pack out of the exterior shell and removed it with reverence. “Yola Base is working on fast-growing seed pods, but even the fast-growing ones take quite a while to germinate. I am a botanical talent, and I can accelerate the growth in the correct conditions.”
    As he spoke, he took a seed with a tiny green sprout and set it in a huge container of growth medium. His finger caressed the green leaf.
    As Kescu watched, the plant began to grow into maturity with only a few light strokes.
    “The key is to know when to stop accelerating the growth. It can continue on far beyond my intended time if I put too much power into it.” He pulled his hand back and watched the plant as roots spread and anchored into the large container.
    Kescu watched, fascinated, as the plant matured and sprouted before her eyes. “That is amazing.”
    Dr. Wender smiled and ducked his head shyly.
    “Thank you.”
    She looked more closely at the doctor as he cleared his throat and started on the next seedling.
    Deep mahogany hair was tied neatly at the base of his neck and ran down his back in a neat column.
    His skin was a soft gold with a light green sheen, and his eyes were the same green