After inspecting the undercarriage, Fiorella straightened up and pulled her keys from the ignition. She removed a memory card from the central column and slipped it into her trouser pocket. Closing the car door, she quickly caught up to her companion, heels or no heels.
"[We may call for a pickup at anytime, Damien. My bodyguards have been shadowing us since we left the starport.]"
She smiled and gestured towards their five o'clock. If her companion looked in that direction, he would see nothing but more semi-wild bushes with green-orange leaves. If anyone was hidden there, they blended seamlessly into the contrast between the shrubbery's direct sunlight and the shadows.
However, she did not give him much time to spot the hidden guards and started walking along the dusty road toward her estate. Her business shoes with higher heels were hardly ideal for the terrain, but after a few dozen steps, her sense of balance adjusted to the highly unstable footwear.
"[Do not wander too far into the wild grass - some of our breeders have inadvertently introduced, among other small critters, rather venomous snakes to this landscape. And they find the sunny environment here very pleasant. It would be quite ironic if the Kingsnake himself would succumb to the venomous snake bite.]"
Fiorella continued her relaxed conversation. Her companion might have noticed she seemed physically younger than their previous trip to planet Houston. She did not suffer from her usual chronic thirst, which she typically quenched anywhere else, and the fine fatigue wrinkles on her face were gone. She was in her element.
"[As a young girl, I used to catch them with my peers, holding them in our hands and bringing them home. I could catch one of those vipers as a souvenir for you, but it would likely suffer outside of Malta. They have beautiful conical scales, almost like a milky colorful glass, protecting them against the sharp wild grasses.]"
She turned to him from behind her golden mirrored sunglasses.
"[How did you trouble your parents as a child, Damien?]"
