to go home. Between the ceremonies in the Front, the Ring, and the one he left in the shuttle bay moments ago, he felt he more than earned his paycheck for the day.
Of course, I get paid almost nothing, but still.
After meeting the Assistant Engineers and what must have been a hundred other dignitaries, plus hearing their condolences for his father and brother repeated each time, he and Joro were in a pod heading toward what he assumed was the Ring, though it was traveling at a much slower speed than before. It was a particularly emotional day, but as his father frequently said, the Captain had no easy days.
He turned to the Engineer. “That was special. Thank you for inviting me.”
“Glad to.”
“You’re good at bringing out their loud selves, you know. They were eating out of your hand.”
“Had some practice.” Her short answers and voice revealed her exhaustion.
“Joro, you can stop anywhere and point the pod forward. I’ll find my way.”
“We don’t do rude things in the Back, Captain.”
“Even so.”
“You did three Flyaway Day ceremonies today. You must be worn out.”
“It is what it is, though I will be glad to get these boots off.”
“Yes. These shoes were designed by sadists.”
He nodded. “Not to change the subject, but why do you think the Pope didn’t make the same announcement when we were on the stage with him?”
“Honestly?” She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his bicep. “The simple explanation is that I rushed him when I said I was running late.”
“Yeah, I don’t think so. He seems too quick on his feet.”
“Agreed.” She looked up. “The real reason is that he wants to manage the flow of information. Control the data, and you control the crowd.”
“Hmm.” Charles thought about that theory and found no holes. “I wonder sometimes if the Passengers know they’re on a spaceship.”
“They do, or at least they will as we get closer to Home with the gravity-well maneuvers and everything.”
“True.”
“Any questions about what you’ve seen in the Back?” she said.
“‘The 7265’?”
“You don’t know about them?”
“The ship’s history is not my strong point.” Again, he felt small for not knowing something that seemed to be common knowledge to the Engineers.
She nodded. “They are why we Burners remember Flyaway Day, Charles. Not the Builders or the ones we left behind.”
“I want to hear more.” He made a snap decision. “If you’re not too tired, I can stay as long as you want, as long as I’m at my desk by midwatch tomorrow.”
Joro leaned over the pod’s control pad and typed some commands. “I have the same schedule.” She smiled. “Would you like to disappear for a few hours?”
“Tell me more.”
“I have a secret place I use to get away from the noise. It belongs to you, in fact. You should see it.”
“Now I’m really interested. Let me check.” He pulled a small pad from his pocket and sent a message to the First Officer. The pad beeped with an almost-instantaneous reply, and he smiled. “Kathy says I have permission to stay out late as long as I behave and keep my hands to myself.”
“I’ll make sure of it. Please tell her thank you.”
She took out her key card and laid it on the pod’s control panel. Ignoring the voice prompt, she quickly tapped out her commands. The pod paused then changed direction, heading upward.
Charles looked at Joro with raised eyebrows. She replied with a shake of her head and a finger on her lips, but the action seemed to cause her to wobble on her feet.
He smiled at her as he put an arm across her shoulders and pulled her to his side. She resisted for a heartbeat, and he almost let go before she stepped to his side and held herself against him.
She fits perfectly. Maybe I’m reading too much into this, but right now and here, I don’t mind being wrong.
The rest of the trip was made in silence and ended at another dim platform. The lights came on when the pod doors opened, illuminating a single hatchway that Charles could see was reinforced against space.
Joro left his side and stood beside a panel connected to the door. “Lay your hand there.”
He did as she requested, and the panel lit up, outlining his hand.
“The Captain is recognized,” an electronic voice said. The sound of large door locks disengaging filled the space, and Charles took a precautionary step away.
The hatch slid open to reveal…
“A shuttle?” he asked.
“Specifically, sir, the Captain’s skiff.” Joro smiled.
“I didn’t know there was one.”
“Come with me.” She hooked her arm in his to lead the way, and they ducked as they entered the skiff. “Technically, this is a mid-sized shuttle that doubles for extravehicular repairs. A self-contained airlock is back there”—she pointed to the bulkhead to their left—“across from a compartment with sleeping bunks for six people. And a tiny cabin with a desk and bed for one.”
“Me?”
“Yours. In the compartment in front of us is a decent kitchen and a table that can be used for meetings. Sorry to say, the kitchen only has survival rations for now. Follow me.”
They walked a narrow passageway to the front and stopped at a closed door. She pushed the activator, and it opened to reveal a control room that looked traditional, with two control stations for the pilot and co-pilot and two stations for engineering and navigation.
“Pretty sweet,” Charles said.
“Would the Captain like to assume his station?”
“Absolutely.” He slid into the pilot’s chair as Joro took the co-pilot’s seat.
“We have a full-fledged simulator when you’re ready—“
“No need.” Charles let his hands do the talking, clicking on buttons and flipping switches. “It’s funny that this is your hiding place. I use a simulator up front when I want to get away. It doubles as the bridge simulator for trainees—or would if we had any.” He smiled at her wryly, and she laughed. “Huh, no fuel and nothing in the batteries. We’re powered by a landline?”
“No point in corroding tanks and batteries we’ll need later.”
“If we uncover the front viewports?” He pointed at the metal shields covering the plastiglass.
“Pitch black. We are in an unlit hangar with a dozen other shuttles. Yours is the only one with power. That will change soon, of course.”
“Of course.” He fiddled with his chair, making the necessary adjustments for his long frame, then he paused to look around the control room, taking it all in. “To think we might use this in our lifetimes. Overwhelming, really.”
“The Captain deserves only the best.”
“Do you have one? A skiff?”
“No, my job is to keep all the buckets of bolts in one piece. I don’t have the luxury of flying around and flirting with pretty green aliens.”
“Ha!” He touched a couple of buttons. “Thank you for this. I appreciate it.”
“Can I interest you in a serving of emergency rations and a cup of coffee?”
Charles blinked. “Real coffee?”
“A perk of the office, sir.”
“I haven’t had coffee… never mind.”
Joro tilted her head. “What?”
“I haven’t had coffee since my father died.”
“Oh.” She looked sad. “I send a pound forward every Flyaway Day. Engineer’s Special Blend, they call it.”
“Yeah, my father stacked it on a shelf in his cabin. My cabin now.” I put that coffee in the back of the office closet. I’ll get it out when I get back. He wiped a hand over his face. “Engineer, it would be my honor if you joined me in a cup.”
“My pleasure.”
They turned and rose from their chairs too quickly and, not seeing each other, managed to bonk foreheads when they met in the middle. Hard. They fell back into their chairs, groaning at the same time.
“Sorry, Joro!”
“Owww. Jerk.”
He rubbed his head. “What do you eat for breakfast? Granite?”
“You should talk!”
Their mutual laughter came from their guts as they took turns shoving each other’s shoulders.
“Joro?”
“Yes, Charles?”
“You go first.”
She stood slowly, comically eyeing him as she walked away. He stood and followed, thinking again that the Burners’ brown uniforms did nothing to accentuate her figure.
Careful! You’re assuming things and feelings that aren’t real.
A few minutes later, they sipped their coffee as they waited for the rations to warm up.
“Any idea what we’re eating tonight?” he asked.
“It’s best not to know. The food will be hot, and it will fill your stomach, but taste is a whole different thing.”
“Roger that.” He mulled over how best to say what was on his mind then decided to cut the crap. “You’re a different person from the one I met weeks ago, Joro.”
“Really?”
“More solemn.”
“Sadder, you mean.”
“Yes.”
She sipped her coffee. “The death of my Badge had a lot of ramifications. Negative ones. We’re no closer to finding his killer, either.”
“What about the missing child?”
“Even more complex, but not for the reasons you think. People go missing from the Back all the time. Dozens of people a year, which is not many in the big picture, considering there are thousands of Burners. When anyone goes missing, the automatic assumption is they went to the Ring. Most of the time, we’re right. Life is hard in the Back, and the Ring sounds like Heaven.”
“It’s not all rainbows and unicorns,” Charles said.
“You and I know that.” Joro set down her cup. “The funny thing is most runaways return to the Back. They get bored. Anyway, when we get a missing child report, we do what we can, but depending on their age, we usually write them off as a runaway and move on.”
She sighed. “But this time, things are different. I feel it, the Chief Badge feels it, and all the Badges feel it. Too late, though. It cost us one of our own, and we are all pissed. The Badges are working around the clock and finding nothing. They’re hurting in more ways than one.”
You’re hurting, too. You’re mad, but there’s pain, too. “Is there anything we can do?”
“Give us time. Murderers always make mistakes. Maybe not yet, but they will. And when we get them, we’ll make sure we have an airtight case for the Triumvirate.”
“Let me know.”
“Will do.”
The heater on the counter beeped. Joro pulled out the silver packets and dropped one in front of him. “Don’t think about it. Just eat.”
“Thanks.” He tore open a corner and began sucking on the contents, forcing himself not to taste whatever was passing through his mouth. Like Joro said, it was warm and filling. “The package says this is meatloaf. What did you get?”
“Chicken stew.” Her face showed her low opinion of it.
“Have you ever seen a live chicken?”
“Nope. You?”
“Never.”
She took his empty packet and dropped it in a recycler with hers. “Want to know what I’m thinking?”
“Always.”
“I’m not in a rush to go back. I might crash in the bunk room.”
Here goes. Charles steeled himself and took her hand. “You said the Captain’s cabin has one bed.”
“Oh.” She looked at their hands. “Charles.”
“Joro.”
“I like you. I think… I’m attracted to you. At the very least, I am glad someone here understands what I do and why I do it. I feel less alone.”
He nodded. “But you’re seeing someone.”
“No, that’s the problem.” She rubbed his hand, and he mentally willed it not to tremble. “I was at the end of a relationship when you and I talked in the café after the Triumvirate. A happy relationship, I thought, but it was coming to an end. I was about to tell my partners that I was not renewing our contract, but things fell apart anyway. Suddenly.”
She looked sad. “One day I’m throwing dirty socks in the recycler and listening to breakfast being made in the kitchen. Today, there’s no sign that anyone but me ever lived in my cabin. No one makes the bed anymore. No dirty laundry but mine. Our contract formally ended last month. I called them and told them that I was not renewing it.”
“Ouch.” Charles took a sip. “How did they take it?”
“Guess.”
“They were expecting it?”
“Yes and no. My older partner was, but we’ve been together forever. He knows me pretty well. The younger one…well, that was complicated. I think he thought I changed my mind about breaking up. When I said I didn’t, he took it hard and ended the call. I feel like I should apologize to him, to both of them, but I also feel I can’t talk to them out of the blue. One or both of them might get the wrong idea again and think we’ll get back together.”
“No?” Charles asked.
“No. The real problem is… someone made me realize our throuple was a physical relationship, that I hadn’t shared myself or devoted myself emotionally to them. I took them for granted. If we get back together, I don’t know if I would do anything different. If that’s true, and I think it is, that’s not fair to them. They deserve to love and to be loved.”
“You’re not wrong.”
Joro took a drink. “Things are unbelievably complicated.”
“Is it worse because you’re the Engineer?” Charles asked.
“That’s a big part of it. It would take all day to explain.” Joro seemed to be holding something back, but she kept talking. “So here I am. Alone and lonely, and this handsome, powerful young man in a blue uniform comes into my life, and I’m a little smitten. Then you offer something more physical and real, and every part of me wants to follow you into your cabin.”
Charles sighed. “When you put it that way, this would be a monumental mistake when you’re this vulnerable.”
“Yes.”
“It’s possible you’re overthinking things. I’m offering a night of being close. How close is up to you.”
“I appreciate that. I just don’t want to make another mistake.”
But we’re still holding hands. “Tell me what you need, Joro. I’m a big boy. I can take it.”
“I need… I need… I have no idea what I need, Charles. Maybe sleep.”
“Fair enough. And Joro?”
“Yes?”
“Should I wait?”
Her eyes grew big, and she stood suddenly then bent to kiss his cheek. “Thank you. You’ll know your cabin when you see it. Good night.” She was gone in a puff of air.
“Good night,” he said to the empty room. Blowing out a breath, he dropped their cups in the recycler and walked to the back of the shuttle. The first door on the other side of the bulkhead was labeled Captain in large letters. He slid the door to the side.
As promised, the room was quite small. The bathroom in his cabin in the Front was twice as large. The narrow bed was covered in a fresh sheet and blanket, he was glad to see, and he sat and pulled off his boots. “Ahh.” He stripped down to his underwear and carefully hung his uniform in the narrow closet next to the tiny bathroom. He refreshed himself and turned off the lights then crawled into the bed, taking a second to untuck the sheets and blanket so his feet could hang off the edge.
“All the comforts of home,” he whispered as he thumped the pillow a couple of times. Lying back, he expected to fall asleep right away, given his exhaustion, but he seemed to be too excited.
Is it Joro, the coffee, or this shuttle? Or maybe it’s because I’m here, and Landfall is starting to feel real?
The bed warmed to his body, and he was finally drifting away when the door slid open.
“Are you awake, Charles?” Joro whispered.
“Yes.”
“If you promise me that this will mean nothing tomorrow, can I come in?” She was a silhouette in the dark, wearing a long shirt. Her legs were bare.
“Big promise. Can you keep it?”
“Ask me tomorrow. You?”
“Ask me tomorrow.” He threw back the covers.