Molten by Viola Grace Page A

one moved.
    With a shrug, Nanette stepped forward and pressed her palm to the scanner the greeter had pointed out.
    The red pulse flared and a beam of light streaked off to the left. The greeter smiled. “Welcome, Nanette Trews. Your tutor awaits.”
    “Thank you.” Nanette turned and headed down the hall, following the red light. The new moon base was bright and cheery with many panels facing the sky and the moonscape.
    If she had time at a later date, she would explore all the different views, but for today, she was looking for her tutor.
    The light path took her through the base and into a huge hangar where blocks of stone were centrally located next to a peculiarly banal desk. At the desk, a man with stone-grey skin was filling out some kind of document.
    She cleared her throat, and he looked up and smiled with a bright grin. His eyes were a piercing neon yellow and his teeth were sharp and jagged.
    “Ah, Ms. Trews. It is good to see you. Please, come here and take in the language program that has been created for you.” His voice was a deep rumble of gravel on gravel.
    It was something that she had gotten in her briefing with the recruiter. She would be given the languages she needed to get along in the worlds outside of her current experience. The light flash came out of the tablet, and she staggered back a few steps. “Ow.”
    Her tutor chuckled. “Welcome to the Terran Moon Base. I am your tutor, Remak of the Kanniot.”
    His words were strange and there was a lag in her understanding, but she began to catch on as she concentrated. “Thank you for the welcome, Tutor Remak.”
    “Just Remak. Do you know where you are being sent?”
    “It was mentioned that I would be doing some kind of repair work after heroes have destroyed buildings and such. I am only good at melting metal though, so I don’t know how much use I will be.”
    He gave her another frightening grin. “That is what I am here for.”
    She inclined her head and shifted her bag on her shoulder. “When do we start?”
    He stood up and kept rising until all seven feet of him was towering above her. “We begin now.”
     
    Seven weeks of training with Remak and she could melt and thin stone down into a wall where there had been nothing but a hole. She could craft metal into thin sheets to repair a vessel and use her skills for heating objects to repair any immobile object. Her skill lay in turning solid mineral into liquid that could be manipulated.
    “Well, you seem to have a firm grasp of finding the melting point of anything we throw at you. Your assignment awaits.” Remak grinned at her.
    Nanette sat and read the specs for where she was going. “You have to be kidding me.”
    “We are not kidding. They have two Terrans on their world already; apparently, they are trying to collect the whole set.” He winked.
    She read and reread all the information they had for her and exhaled heavily. “Well, this is unexpected.”
    “How so? You knew you were going to be support on a Guardian-occupied world.”
    “Yes, but I didn’t realize that I would be forced to wear a bodysuit every time I went anywhere. Is my body chemistry really so offensive?”
    Remak laughed, and he poured tea from the set he kept on his desk at all times. Tea was ubiquitous when he was around.
    “It is not the offense; it is the draw of your blood. Both races that make up the W’lyn had a fascination for your species. It made the Vimpyr stronger and quelled the Admaryn hunger. To the blended species, you will smell like the most perfect mate they have ever been near. If you don’t keep your scent confined and neutralized, they will be goaded into a frenzy.”
    She made a face and looked down at her plain bodysuit. “So, I am stuck with this?”
    “You will be given a few more stylish suits to wear. I understand that it is important to you.” He winked.
    “It isn’t that; I just like to be a little girly when I am off duty.”
    “Then, have them design clothing