“Hello.” Moon grinned. “I’m here to take you for a tour.”

“Why?”

His new friend laughed. “I was informed that you’re moving to the men’s dorm in the morning. Do you want to see them first? You’ve also been put on the rotation list.”

“What does that mean?”

“I’m taking you to work with me tomorrow. All week you’ll be going with different males to see the kinds of jobs they do. We’re hoping you find something you can enjoy to be a part of our society.”

“What if I don’t?”

The other male arched an eyebrow. “We’ll find something. If not here, there’s always Reservation.”

“Alli doesn’t want me to go there.”

“She doesn’t want you sent to the Wild Zone.” He glanced behind Obsidian and waved. “Hello!”

Obsidian turned to discover that Alli had crept up behind him. She was getting better at walking softly to surprise him. She didn’t wince when he growled, not liking her so close to the other male, despite Moon being someone he semi-trusted.

“Don’t talk to my female.”

Moon dropped his hand to his side. “Let’s go, Mr. Friendly.”

“Is this a ploy to lure me away from Alli? I won’t allow anyone to take her from me.”

“You’re being paranoid. There’re no plans to take her away from you. I saw the orders myself. Both of you are going to be living at the dorm together. I actually suggested that you two could stay at my house in my guestroom until one of the other houses becomes vacant but Fury said that was a bad idea. He seems to think you’ll try to kill me while I sleep just for being too close to the doctor.”

Obsidian glowered at him.

“Brass has a place at Homeland and Reservation but he likes it better there. He’ll be giving up his house here after his next rotation shift back there.”

“Who is Brass?”

“He’s a friend of mine. What I’m trying to say is, he doesn’t like being here and prefers Reservation. Every few months he’s on duty here for a few weeks but that’s about to end. He’ll just stay there all the time.” Moon smiled. “It means you and the doctor can have his house. You won’t be stuck living at the dorm for long. Houses are tough to come by and we haven’t built more here. There’s limited space and property is really expensive in this area. We’re expanding Reservation all the time though.”

“What is Reservation?”

“Reservation is a highly wooded area to the north of here with vast amounts of land. Tell your female you will be back in a few hours and I’ll show you Homeland. We own and live in both places. Homeland was built as a human military base but given to us instead when it was completed. We call them NSO lands. That stands for New Species Organization, our official title.”

“Go,” Alli said. “I still have some packing to do. Have fun. I’ll be here when you get back.” She touched his chest. “No worries.”

He debated, still not sure she’d be safe without him to protect her. Moon stepped back, drawing his attention.

“Let’s go. There’s an officer at the street to make sure she’s fine. You have my word of honor she’ll still be here when we return.”

“Fine.” He gripped Alli’s small hand, still over his heart, while he stared down into her upturned face. “I won’t be gone long. Do not leave your space.”

“I won’t.”

He released her and followed the other male outside. “What is military base?”

“It’s kind of tough to explain. We’ll get you some history books to read.” A questioning glance was directed his way. “Did they teach you how to read? You weren’t raised the way we were. They taught all of us to read books at an early age. It helped them when they conducted some of the drug-testing trials on us so they could judge if we were impaired and how badly. They needed to see if it affected our memory. Book information was a good way to do it. They also wanted us to be able to read eye charts to be certain there was no visual loss from the side effects.”

“I can read words.”

“Good.” Moon paused by a strange vehicle. “This is a golf cart. Have you ever ridden in one before?”

“No. Not while I was awake at least. I’m not sure how I arrived at Homeland.” He was wary. “What is golf?”

“The humans call it a sport but mostly it’s closer to chasing a small white ball and using straight sticks with a clubbed end to hit it far away to chase it again. The goal is to learn better aim than your opponent. They use these carts to go after it.”

“Why?”

The male sat inside it. “I’m not sure but I suspect they hate walking or running for long distances. Carts are fun. Get inside and you’ll see. I’ll teach you how to drive one soon.”

The seat was softer than it appeared when he sat but there wasn’t a lot of room for his long legs. Moon grinned. “Hang on. It moves fast and I don’t want you to fall out.”

Moon twisted a key and the thing vibrated under his ass. The male gripped the rounded thing sticking out in front of his chest while his hand lowered to a small rounded metal thing below it. It jerked slightly before rolling forward, gaining momentum.

A grin plastered across his face at the feel of wind blowing his hair while he held on. “It’s fast.”