The shower door opened and she stepped out, holding weakly onto the wall for support. The room outside was narrow and windowless, with walls and floors that were immaculately white. There were a number of gray stalls lining the wall to her right, with a wide sink facility in the far corner.
Two men stood by the entrance to the shower. Their bodies were covered in blankets, leaving only their hands and faces bare. It puzzled her, since the air in the room was not particularly cool.
“Uh, hello,” she said. She wasn’t sure what else to say, so she smiled and waited for them to respond.
Neither of them spoke to her, but the younger one handed her a towel. She took it gratefully and wrapped it around her hair. From the puzzled looks on the young man’s face, she gathered that wasn’t what he had expected of her. She looked at him closer and realized that he wasn’t covered in blankets at all, but some sort of skin covering that was fitted to his body. The same was true of the older man. His second skin was long and white, a bit like one of her father’s aprons.
Back home, no one had covered their bodies unless an unusual circumstance required it. Her father would sometimes wear protective gear while at work, but when he was home in the apartment, he went bare just like everyone else. She’d always been taught that the body was sacred, the highest pinnacle of creation. Just as children were born pure and shameless, so too were they to honor their bodies and not be ashamed of them. But these men—with their blanket-like skin coverings that served no obvious purpose—seemed to believe otherwise.
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Strangers in Flight
When Reva went into cryosleep, she wasn't prepared to be the sole survivor of a people that history never remembered. Isaac wants to help her, but he carries a secret that may decide the outcome of the war. Little does he know, the Imperials aren't the only ones hunting him.
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