Chapter Fifteen

Theo shuffled through his notes, ignoring the papers that flew and fluttered to the floor of the bridge until he found what he was searching for. “It appears to be some sort of recipe. Only, instead of dry goods, it calls for powdered minerals. Oh, on second consideration, it isn’t a recipe at all. It’s a chemical formula. Unfortunately, quite outside the realm of my expertise.”

Jun took the pad from under Theo’s arm and quickly scanned the translated Standard.

Peering over his shoulder, Theo had to rise up onto his toes in order to see the screen. He pointed at a sentence that had given him particular trouble, riddled with modern language difficult to translate from ancient text. “See, here it says something about an excessive amount of tantalum. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s a mineral that’s been banned in the Core.”

Jun, still focused on the translation, made a short, stilted bob of his head that might have been intended as a nod. “Yes, I know what it is. Keep talking.”

It took concerted effort not to wriggle with joy over hearing those words in Jun’s voice. “Well, isn’t it lovely to hear that for once rather than the reverse? Alright, then, there’s this word, which I am unfamiliar with, but I could surmise from the context to be another type of mineral. I’m sure Ari could tell me everything about the blasted rock from its weight to its favorite way to take tea, but I’m at a bit of a loss. We could search for it on your stream to find out more about it.”

Theo’s heart stopped in his chest, then picked up double time when Jun reached for his hand. Holding Theo’s hand in his, he jabbed Theo’s finger at the pad.

“Point it out to me.”

After underscoring the word in question, Theo then turned his hand to circle Jun’s wrist lightly, just to hold him for a moment while he was too distracted to notice the presumption.

Jun cursed softly in Patch, knuckles whitening as his grip tightened on the pad to the point that Theo began to worry for the quartz screen.

Jun held it back out to Theo, breaking Theo’s hold on his wrist. He wiped a hand down his face with a long, shaky inhale, and then returned to his station and flicked on the coms. “Crew to the bridge. Now.”

Theo followed just behind his heels, bursting with curiosity. “It means something significant to you, doesn’t it? I’ve made a bit of a breakthrough in whatever you are planning. I knew I would prove a valuable member of your endeavors. If you would share more about it with me, I could be an even greater benefit.”

Jun’s hand landed softly on the center of Theo’s chest, large and warm and just edging beneath the (whoops) open edges of his shirt. Ari would have been scandalized to see Theo in such a state of disarray. Jun glided his hand over to Theo’s shoulder, then let go with a quick squeeze that sent an echoing squeeze through his chest. “Quiet, please, Theo. Just for a minute.”

It was the use of his name, as much as the pleading, that gave Theo pause. The raw, weary note in Jun’s voice that scraped down his spine like a rusty knife. He never wanted to hear that defeated tone creep into Jun’s usually strong voice ever again.

Perhaps he had made a breakthrough, but whatever Theo had uncovered did not appear to be good news.

He dared a hand on Jun’s arm with a squeeze of his own. “Alright, Captain. I’ll be at my station if you need me.”

Theo’s station had been what Boom liked to call “idiot-proofed,” all panels shut, and access to buttons limited. Apparently, it was an unused communications station, which, really, was quite within Theo’s wheelhouse.

He had once been told he could have a full conversation with a brick wall.

It hadn’t been intended as a compliment, but Theo liked to look on the bright side of things and decided to take it as a recommendation of his communication skills.

The crew started trickling onto the bridge, first Boom with her determined stride, then Marco, fiddling with something Theo couldn’t identify comprised of parts which he also couldn’t identify.

Marco offered a small smile at Theo’s cheery wave, waving back with his mechanical thing, and then cursing loudly when he dropped it, narrowly missing the tip of Boom’s boot.

It was something of a surprise to see Boom stoop to pick it up without complaint and hold it out to Marco with a gentle, amused expression on her face.

Theo wouldn’t have called it a soft look on anyone else, but coming from Boom, it was practically a pile of meringue served upon a feather pillow.

It made Theo ache for his brother, for the even softer look on Ari’s face when Theo made a mess of things, and he’d swoop in to help clean up. He hoped Ari wasn’t too terribly sad over his disappearance. If Theo had known it would go on this long, he would have made more of an effort to reassure Ari of his wellbeing.

Ari tended to fuss when Theo got a cold. He feared his reaction to this situation might be a trifle more overblown. But at least he knew Ari was safe at home, working in his laboratory even as he worried for Theo.

It would be such fun to regale Ari with stories of his adventures when he got back home. Tucked up, side by side on that awful brocade couch Ari had insisted upon purchasing, cuddled beneath the lopsided throw Theo had crocheted during one of his fits of obsessing over a hobby for a week before dropping it flat.

He thought Ari still used the misshapen mug he’d made out of clay, as well. Ari was and had always been Theo’s greatest supporter. Missing him was like a scoop had been taken out from between Theo’s ribs, leaving nothing but a hollow ache behind.

Watching Boom and Marco, he thought he saw a glimmer of much the same in their own sibling relationship.

“What the hell? I was taking a well-deserved nap, Captain!”

The way Jun’s face scrunched up with irritation at the sound of Axel’s voice reminded Theo of Ari as well.

Jun turned to stand at parade rest, surveying his crew with a lift of his firm jaw, and suddenly there was nothing resembling Theo’s brother about him. “Alright, listen up. Dr. Campbell has discovered something that will alter our course.”

Axel snorted, leaning back in his chair as he pulled up two vid screens and started watching cats trying to jump onto things and failing. “What, did he run out of—tea?”

Marco slammed his contraption down on Boom’s station and ignored her hiss of disapproval. “Be nice, Ax.”

The lazy smile Axel aimed Theo’s way showed too many teeth to be entirely friendly. “What? That’s what they like down in the Core, right, doctor? Tea and repression?”

It wasn’t as if he was wrong, is the thing. Those were certainly Theo’s parents’ main interests. Theo just lifted one hand to wave it back and forth in a “more or less” gesture.

Jun ignored the exchange; instead, he snapped out with command, “Dr. Campbell has made a discovery. We need to acquire holozite. In significant quantities. Quantities Axel might categorize as something like an ‘assload.’”

Boom’s rounded jaw actually dropped in surprise, Marco echoing her expression about a foot above her head. She was finally able to gather herself to speak. “Where are we going to find something like that, Park? They don’t exactly sell that shit at the multimart. It has a tendency to, you know, explode and destroy everything it touches?”

Shoulders slumping, Jun let out a sigh, then leaned back against his console as though he’d been deflated. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

“Good news!” Theo chimed just as Boom said “Bad news,” followed with a quelling glare at Theo.

Jun addressed his answer to the ceiling, scowling up at it like he’d found a leak and expected it to come down on all of their heads any minute. “I know where to find it.”

No one said anything for long enough that the words burst out of Theo like a highly pressurized cannon. “Wait, is that the good news or the bad news?”

Jun grimaced, finally looking back at his crew and locking on Boom’s severe face.

“It’s both.”