I adjusted Jasmine on my hip again and followed Rafe. I tried to look to see what was in front of me, but Rafe's large shoulders blocked the whole world from me. He stopped without warning and I almost ran into him. I immediately took a step back and waited to see what he was doing.

He had placed his hand on a camouflaged data pad that pushed out from the wall of the building and tilted up. Rafe pressed his hand on it and the door appeared and opened for us to enter.

Rafe tilted his head at me and I entered and heard him follow.

"Ms. Hills?" He called as I continued to walk.

I stilled and turned around, my brows furrowed, surprised he'd called me so formally when not a few minutes ago he'd called me Amour.

I walked towards him and he directed me to a data pad that was on the inside of the building exactly in the same location of the data pad that was on the outside.

"Place your hand." He directed.

I stepped forward and regarded the data pad that was the colour of the building.

I looked at Rafe, his amber and black eyes that had been fixed on the data pad lifted off it and met mine.

"Did you press a button?" I asked.

When Rafe raised a dark eyebrow in question and looked pointedly at the data pad, I lifted my hand and hovered it over the data pad.

"How is the data pad appearing without any prompting?" I asked, my hand still hovering.

A few minutes of silence prevailed as Rafe met my eyes with narrowed ones of his own. He realised I wasn't going to put my hand on that data pad unless he answered.

"Motion sensors." Rafe said, indicating the floor and wall.

Was that so hard? I thought.

I placed my hand on the data pad and I heard a very minute sound emanate from the data pad as the screen of the data pad turned black shifting from its original pearl colour. I tilted my head a little as a digital green line formed around my hand on the pad.

When a female voice spoke from the data pad in a language I couldn't understand, my eyes flicked up to Rafe. His eyes were also on my hand and he offered no further instructions, so I stayed still.

Then the data pad went back to its original pearl colour and I took my hand off as the data pad lifted and went back into the wall. This time I noticed the lever attached to the back of the data pad that connected it to the wall so it wasn't moving and tilting on its own.

"Your print is now registered in our databases," he told me, "Your print will be imbedded in a chip that you will wear as a bracelet. You chip is your entry card to any place, without which you will not be allowed to go anywhere. Carry it with you at all times."

He started to walk again and I asked, "What about Jasmine?"

He continued walking away as he spoke, "She is too young and will be part of the Nursery. She will not need a print chip yet."

I followed him then and looked around. It was a normal large corridor that led to...an elevator of sorts. It was a cylindrical container whose transparent door slid open in a circle into the structure.

I stepped into the structure and Rafe followed me. He pointed to the screen near the door on the inside.

He told me that the largest button would take us to the Common Cabin that separated the women and the men's rooms. The women's rooms were lower and the male's, higher, above the Common Cabin.

I nodded my head at his instructions, making a note of which button to press. He pressed the second button from the bottom and the door slid closed and we sped up to the corresponding floor in four seconds. When the door slid open, I stepped out, taking in the corridor with no doors, no indication of any indentations on the wall.

I took a deep breath and walked forward, rubbing my finger against Jasmine's hand, even though the child was silent, taking everything in.

Funnily, I seemed to be drawing comfort in her presence in this alien world, with an alien by my side.

"Ms. Hills," Rafe called from behind me.

I turned and noticed that he'd stopped in front of the wall, his feet braced apart, his hair brushing his thick lashes as he blinked almost lazily.

I swallowed, trying to distract myself from his attractive features that drew my attention constantly.

I walked towards him and stopped in front of him, careful to keep the distance that he seemed comfortable with.

His eyes flickered to Jasmine and back. Jasmine leaned her head against my neck, her small yawn tickling my neck.

When I heard a silent whoosh, I looked down to see small blinking screen.

Rafe pulled his sleeve back and I saw a white bracelet with a dark screen against the inside of his wrist. He placed his wrist against the blinking screen in front of me. A door appeared and slid into the structure like every other door in the building.

I entered it with wide eyes, trying to take in everything at once. Everything was a white/pearl-ish colour. I watched as dim lights embedded inside the walls turned on. Motion sensors? Probably.

There was a curved structure in the centre of the room that had a large white but soft looking cushion in the centre.

It was a bed.

I took a deep breath in, taking in the almost pearl-like shaped bed wondering why it was designed that way. I looked away at the otherwise empty room, except for a slab that protruded from the wall with a seat similar to the one on the Hover in front of it.

When I looked back, Rafe was looking at me, with an unreadable expression on his face.

"May I?" He asked, indicating the room.

I nodded slowly, watching him warily as he stepped in. As he walked into the room, he indicated to the buttons on the walls that I had completely overlooked.

When he pressed a button a small compartment opened in the wall and he called me forth with a gesture of his hand.

I walked forward and he showed me the bracelet that I was to wear. I took it out from the compartment and ran my fingers over the smooth screen. I noticed that the ends of the bracelet didn't meet so that I could put it on by pulling it apart a little. After adjusting Jasmine a little in my hold, I immediately put it on my left hand with the screen against my wrist and the bracelet flexed a little, as if adjusting to my skin and the ends fused together.

"If you press your thumb to the screen, the print chip embedded inside will recognise your print and you will be able to take the bracelet off. You will not need to take it off, as it is resistant to water and dust and is incorruptible." Rafe informed me.

I nodded again and watched as he turned to press another button. A silent sound and I turned to look at the long compartment that had opened near the smaller compartments. I looked inside and raised my eyebrows.

A bodysuit?

Black and silver. Three pieces of the silver bodysuit and one of the black.

My brows furrowed as I rubbed the material between my fingers.

Was it my size?

"It will fit you," he assured me as if he heard what I'd thought. I slid him a look, before looking back.

"Why silver and black?" I asked.

"Silver is for work and educational institutions. Black is for..." He stopped as if looking for the right word.

I turned to look at him and saw as he tilted his head a little, a small furrow between his brows as he thought, his eyes quiet but bright in the muted light that came from certain points within the walls.

"Special occasions?" I asked.

His eyes raised to meet mine, then his lips curled a little as he leaned back and crossed his arms.

"Of sorts."

Somehow I felt like he wanted to say something, but I looked away at the smooth fabric in my fingers. I pulled my hand back and as he turned to head towards the end of the room. I saw another small blinking screen there.

"Place your bracelet against the screen." He instructed.

I placed my left wrist against the blinking screen and small radiating circles spread from where I'd placed the screen of my bracelet.

A small data pad inside the wall blinked on.

"Good evening. You have ten minutes to bathe." The voice informed me.

Ten minutes?

Restrictions on water.

I understood.

Funny they thought that people who've barely ever used water and treasure it so much would misuse it.

"Assemble at the Common Cabin at nine 'o' clock." He informed me.

I was a little surprised at the timing, before I remembered that they had a 26 hour day-night cycle.

Thirteen o' clock would be mid night here.

This was so different.

I took a deep breath, turning once to take in everything. This was my home now.

I stepped into the restroom and like the bedroom, dim lights turned on to light the way. I looked at the cylindrical structure at the left corner of the room, that had small holes at select places on the walls of the structure. Was that where water would come from?

I saw a small ball-like structure with purple coloured liquid inside.

I looked to the side at the small oval structure that was placed closer to the ground than I was used to. A commode.

I looked around with furrowed brows.

"Where do I brush my teeth?" I asked, my soft voice echoing a little in the room, as I realised that there wasn't a sink here.

"The Common Cabin." He said. I turned to see that he hadn't stepped into the restroom.

I tilted my head a little, wondering what the Common Cabin had to do with anything.

"We brush at the Common Cabin together. It is a ritual of sorts."

Huh.

I stepped out of the room as he stepped away.

"Thank you," I nodded at him.

His eyes slid to Jasmine who was still in my arms and he smiled softly.

"Would you like me to return her to.." A furrow formed again between his eyebrows. I realised that this was his thinking look. His expression wouldn't change, but a small furrow would appear between his brows.

I wasn't sure why this seemed to endear me to him. Was it because it reminded me of a very human gesture?

"Kylee," I told him as I shook my head, no, "Thank you, but I'll see her at ten."

Rafe nodded his head and turned to head towards the entrance.

"If you want someone to be able to enter your room without your print chip, the first time they enter, have them place their print chips on the Identity Screen and then place yours. It automatically validates them to be able to enter with their own print chips." He instructed, stepping out of my room.

I nodded again, feeling like I should say thank you again.

"Ms. Hills-" he started.

"Amour." I corrected him.

He paused, before saying, "Hills."

I sighed, realising he wasn't going to budge on this, because I noticed the steely look in his eyes.

"Ten. Common Cabin." He said again.

I let out a small laugh at his insistence. Like I would forget.

"Got you the first time, Rafe." I said.

He was walking away when I'd said that. He turned to look at me. I worried my lip a little, wondering if he was going to ask me not to call him that.

But he just turned back around and left the way he came.

______________________________________ Okay. Who's excited? I am! I feel like the story is going to a good place. Vote and comment my Unicorns!

xoxoxo