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IT WAS EARLY EVENING, but the bar was nearly full. Sergei’s friends had found a tall table, and they waved them over. All the bar stools were taken, so they stood around the table. Sergei’s friend, Aaron, offered to buy the first round. He went over to the bar and attracted the bartender’s attention. As the woman turned around, Jas was startled by her face.
The bartender had either had extensive surgery or she wasn’t human. Her skin was patterned yellow and brown, and where her mouth and nose should have been was a prehensile snout with whiskers on either side. She nodded as she took Aaron’s order. When she moved down the bar to make the drinks, he turned back to them with raised eyebrows, as if to say, Did you see?
“Is that Rashid, do you think?” Jas asked Sergei.
“Rashid? Who’s Rashid?”
“The bar owner,” Jas replied. “Didn’t you see the sign? It said Rashid’s Tavern.”
“Did it? Krat. The autocab’s brought us to the wrong place. Terry, you told it where to go. What did you say?”
“I gave it the address you told me.”
“I don’t think you did,” Sergei said. “Maybe you misheard me. Come to think of it, this doesn’t look much like a student bar.”
Jas had been wondering about that too. While waiting for Aaron to bring their drinks, she’d been looking around at the crowd. They definitely weren’t students. They were older, and they didn’t look the types to be interested in education. Their faces were roughened and red from cold exposure, and they wore clothes representing fashions of several decades, including many items that were timeless, such as thick, shapeless coats and hats. Judging by the behavior of some, they’d been drinking for several hours already.
No one dressed up to go out to this bar.
As Jas was looking, a man turned to meet her gaze. Gray-blond stubble coated his chin and cheeks and grew not much longer on his head. A tattoo of an anarchist symbol ran up the side of his face. The man leered as he looked Jas in the eyes, revealing weirdly decorated perfectly square teeth. She turned away uneasily.
“Checking out the local action?” Sergei asked.
She laughed. “No.”
“Sure you don’t see anyone you like?” His face was mock serious.
Jas took another look around the room at the crowd of locals. She was beginning to understand McMurdo Sound. It was where people came when they wanted to escape something, whether it was the law, a relationship, family, or social conventions. Her spine was still tingling strangely.
“Do you think maybe we should go somewhere else?” she asked Sergei.
Aaron arrived, his large hands wrapped around four glasses of beer that he deposited on the table. Sergei passed them around, picked up his own and took a sip. “Do you really want to leave? It’s cold outside, and it’s going to be hard to get a cab now that the evening rush is on. Let’s stay here a while. Seems friendly enough.”
Aaron asked, “Did you get a look at the bartender? Where do you think she’s from?”
“How would we know?” Terry asked. “She could be from anywhere.”
“I mean what planet,” Aaron replied. “She isn’t human. Couldn’t you tell from her face?”
“She could easily be human. Doesn’t matter what she looks like,” said Terry. “You can get all kinds of things done these days. Between surgery and gene therapy, you can look like a woolly mammoth if you want.”
“No,” replied Aaron, “she’s definitely alien—if she is a she. Did you get a look at her hands? I’m using the word loosely.”
As Aaron and Terry continued their discussion about the origins of the bartender, Sergei moved a little closer to Jas. If he’d been anyone else, he would have been a little too close for her preferences, but she found herself welcoming the proximity.
She sipped her beer. It tasted bitter but not unpleasant. She wondered when she would start to feel the effects of the alcohol. “You like weapons, then?” she asked Sergei, raising her voice to compete with the increasing hum of conversation in the bar.
“What makes you think that?”
“You seemed very interested the other day in class.”
“Oh, right. I guess I was, but not because it was a weapon. I like taking things apart to find out how they work. That’s all.” He undid his coat. The place was getting warmer. “So you’re in the deep space program?”
“Yes.”
He shook his head slightly. “Doesn’t the idea of starjumping freak you out? But you must have already made at least one jump from Mars.”
“I did, but just the one. It was okay.” She tensed, wondering if Sergei would move the conversation on to her background, but he didn’t.
“Doesn’t it scare you just a little bit?” he asked. “I mean, I don’t think they even know exactly how starjumps work, do they?”
“Hmm...from what I understand, they know the math, they just don’t know where the starship actually goes while it’s in a jump state.”
“Huh, I’d like to see other planets, but I don’t know that I could make the trip, you know?”
“I guess I know what you mean, but it is a tested technology. People are starjumping all over the galaxy these days. Maybe if you could take apart a starship engine and look inside?”
Sergei laughed. “Maybe.” He took a swig of beer.
More people were arriving, blasts of icy wind accompanying them whenever the door to the bar opened. Music started playing from speakers, and Sergei and Jas had to draw even closer together to hear each other speak. They talked about their classes and professors, life at college, and other students.
Jas found herself suddenly telling Sergei about her background. She told him about her first memories of life in the Valles Marineris Institute for Cared-For Children—how one day she’d asked why other children lived with their parents, and how the care worker had told her abruptly that both her parents had died years ago. She also told him about the bureaucratic hiccup that had resulted in her being sent to Earth almost too late for her body to adapt to the higher gravity. She even told him of the difficulty of life at the new children’s home, and how she’d been bullied over her height and origins.
Sergei listened gravely as Jas’ story poured out. She didn’t know why she was telling him her about life, except that it felt right. He didn’t comment much, seemingly sensing her need to just get it all out, and she was grateful for that. As her story wound down and finished at the time she left for college, he put his hand on her shoulder. He was looking at her so intently, she wondered if he was about to kiss her.
To break the tension, she asked, “How about you? How did you end up here?”
Sergei put down his glass. “Well, I can’t compete with you in the interesting childhood stakes.”
As he went to speak, Aaron folded his arms and leaned on the opposite side of the table, causing it to rock. Their glasses fell over, and beer splashed everywhere.
“Krat,” Sergei exclaimed.
A woman standing with her back to them turned round as beer splashed down her legs. “What the hell?” she said. She was with a man, and they were both locals, judging from their weather-beaten looks and oddly cut hair. The man peered over to see what had happened. A sly look passed between him and the woman.
“Hey, you’re gonna pay to get her pants cleaned,” he growled.
“What?” Terry said. “It’s only beer. It’ll wash out.”
“You think I wash my clothes myself?” the woman asked. “Who the hell does that these days? I pay for all my cleaning, and these are genuine imitation sealskin. They cost me a fortune.”
“Look, man,” said Aaron, “I’m sorry, but we’re students. We’re not rolling in creds.” Aaron’s words only caused the man and woman to scowl more deeply. “I didn’t mean to mess up your pants. How about if I wipe them down with something wet? That should get most of it off. It isn’t like this beer’s strong.”
The man and woman were clearly taking advantage and trying to scam Aaron out of some money. But it was going to be hard to avoid giving them something. The man grabbed the front of Aaron’s coat.
“Get his credchip, Marl. I got a reader here somewhere.” She felt inside large pockets in her jacket.
Sergei gripped Marl’s arm. “Let go of my friend.”
“Hey,” Jas said, raising her hands. “It’s okay. I’ll pay. Look, here’s my chip.” She held out her wrist.
Around them, the chatter in the bar quietened. The bar’s patrons had noticed the dispute and were watching. The bartender was on an interface talking to someone.
“No, Jas. Don’t pay them a cred,” Sergei said. “It’s only a little beer. They’re out of line.”
Aaron looked down disbelievingly at the hand grasping his coat.
Marl shifted his gaze from Aaron’s face to Sergei’s hand on his arm. Jas knew what was about to happen, even if Sergei was oblivious. He had less than a second. She could either say something to try to cool the situation, or stop Marl from punching him. She didn’t have time for both. She made her decision.
As Marl released his grip on Aaron, she picked up one of the fallen beer glasses. As he drew back his fist, she got ready to throw. Marl’s punch was about to land on Sergei’s surprised face when the glass hit Marl on his forehead. It didn’t stop the blow from falling, but it lessened its impact.
Sergei fell back, and Marl’s attention was diverted to a new enemy—Jas. His lip lifted in a snarl. But the students had worse problems. At that bar for locals, when it came to a dispute, there could be no doubt about whose side the patrons would take. They began to murmur angrily. Terry had realized the danger of their situation too. “Let’s go,” he shouted, and began pulling Aaron toward the door.
A punch landed on the back of Jas’ head, and the table loomed up as she fell forward. She caught herself before she hit it and turned dizzily to face her attacker, but all she could see was Sergei’s back as he jumped on her assailant.
It was a fight they could never win, and if they didn’t get out soon, they might never get out. Jas grabbed Sergei and pulled him off the man who had punched her. Blows and kicks began to rain down on both of them. Aaron and Terry seemed to have made some progress toward the door, and holding Sergei back as best she could, Jas edged over in their direction.
A particularly hard kick landed on her right shin, and she cried out. Sergei had calmed down a little, but he became inflamed again and struck out at a local. “Stop it,” Jas yelled. “We’ve got to get out.”
Somehow, they all managed to make it to the door and out into the street. As soon as they were outside, they ran. Jas and Sergei went one way, Aaron and Terry another. A few streets away, Jas and Sergei drew to a halt. The locals had given up their pursuit.
Sergei began to laugh. Jas couldn’t understand why.
“What’s so funny?” she asked. “We could have been killed back there. We were lucky to get away.”
He controlled his guffaws. “You’re right. I’m sorry. It was kind of fun, though, wasn’t it? How’s your head?”
Jas recalled the punch and put her hand to the back of her scalp. A painful lump was forming. “I’m okay. How’s your eye?”
Sergei touched his face where Marl had punched him. “I don’t know. Can you take a look?”
Jas went over and brought her face close to his to assess the damage in the dim streetlight. It was only when she was centimeters from him that she realized his ploy. He was gazing into her eyes. It was her turn to chuckle, a little nervously. She drew back. A silence stretched out, thin and tight as a drum skin.
Tension knotted Jas’ stomach. “It’s weird, isn’t it? This...feeling we have.” Had she just made a fool of herself? She’d thought he was experiencing the same strange attraction as she was. What if he wasn’t? Had she misinterpreted the looks that had passed between them? Was she just another girl to him?
“It is weird,” Sergei said. “When I saw you at Tamara’s party, it was like...” He paused. “It was like I’d known you all my life, only I hadn’t met you, until then.” His eyes were black in the darkness.
Jas nodded. Neither said anything. They had stopped in a short alleyway, where the illumination from the street lights barely reached. The winter cold was biting Jas’ face. She wondered what would happen next.
Was this how it was for other people? From what she’d seen of romantic relationships, she didn’t think so. On the other hand, friends had told her about meeting the one. Was there something she was supposed to say? Was there anything to say? As with many things, there seemed to be rules to the situation that she didn’t understand.
Sergei touched her upper arm and stepped closer.
Jas said, “Is this the part where we—”
He kissed her.
