Out
A series about Mars
by Daniel
E. Machado
Chapter 12
A million and a half frantic thoughts
race through Blade’s mind, the foremost being: Why should I even care?
Blade certainly remembers John Forrest.
She remembers him from long before her cousin Barbara's wedding. When Barbara
first started dating Jim Forrest many of the younger girls quickly formed
sort of a long-distance crush on Jim's older brother John. They followed
his ship on the net, giggling and gushing in groups over his every post.
Most of them were just auto-edited archives from the ship’s publics, but
Blade still remembers John's strong handsome face. The quick boyish smile
he always flashed. The short playful flick of blonde hair that bounced
across his forehead. His strong jaw with intense blue eyes that made him
seem both young and completely in control. For almost two years it was
a real event every time Barbara notified them of a new posting. Having
John in uniform at Barbara's wedding had sent most of her cousins into
fits of euphoric titters. That is, until they all got drunk on champagne
and...
"I will never be that stupid
again!" Blade hisses through clinched teeth as she crams the last bits
of packing down into the recycler. Wiping the table down with a moist towelette
she reaches into the tiny sanitizer above the cabin's minuscule sink to
get three sets of eating utensils. On the table her handtablet shows Fred’s
personal locator slowly blink across the map she has displayed. He and
John are out of the lift now, almost to her cabin.
Flailing her fingers in the air to
stop them from shaking Blade chides at herself.
Stop it! She draws in a slow
deep lung full of air. You’re not in high school anymore, stop acting
like scared child! Flipping her handtablet over to display her cargo's
bio-monitors she hears the two men walk up outside. It seems so pathetically
insecure to have followed them on the ship's net, but...
At least I didn’t followed them
on the publics.
Hurriedly sitting at the cabin's table
Blade tries to make herself look intently distracted by work as the cabin
door beeps and then opens a crack with a gentle knock against the frame.
"Man in the house. All clear?"
"Come in, Fred." Blade sets the handtablet
down to stand as the two men enter the tiny cabin. Three standing adults
suddenly makes the the small room even more claustrophobic, and Blade even
more intimidated than she’d expected to be. John is a big man. At least
two meters tall.
"Blade, this is John Forrest." Fred
says as if introducing them for the first time. "I don’t know if you remember
meeting him, but…"
"Oh, I remember Mister Forrest, all
right." She smiles up warmly as he takes her offered hand. "My cousin Barbara's
wandering spaceman-in-law. I think I even did an archived report on you
when I was in high school."
"Well, that makes me feel incredibly...
old." John beams back a good-natured smile.
"You’re not that old; are you?" Blade
doubts she truly offended him.
"Thirty-two Es. A mere seventeen Ms
out on Mars. But, it still insults my sensibilities to think that I was
out on circuit when you were still in high school."
Fred sets the meal containers down
on the table and then relieves John of his so that he and Blade can continue
their reacquaintance. After placing Roselene’s breakfast meal into the
cold-box Fred removes the lids from the other three meals then pulls loose
several thin disposable towels from the dispenser.
"You two ready to eat?" Pulling a
chair out for Blade to sit Fred walks around to sit at the other side of
the table.
"Thank you, Fred." Blade's smile acknowledges
both the chair and meals. "And, thank you for going out and bringing us
back both food and company."
"The pleasure is mine." Fred nods,
a hard unexpected knot hitting his stomach as a small flirtive glance that
passes between Blade and John.
Lightly subdued conversation begins
the meal, each of them trying to get a grasp on the situation's handle.
Blade had thought she’d feel embarrassed, but instead she finds herself
feeling moderately empowered. John seems just as open and charming as he’d
been during their short conversation at the wedding. And, she could
swear
she saw a brief glimpse of jealousy flash across Fred’s face. Considering
their slowly straining relationship over the past week, jealousy is the
very last thing Blade had expected from Fred. It’s also the very last thing
that Fred had expected. After all, John is here at his invitation. A friendly
social diversion to make Blade feel more comfortable. So then why does
her comfortable laughter and his comfortable smile make Fred feel so decidedly
uncomfortable?
John switched on into Smiling-Ship’s-Officer
mode the moment his foot hit the threshold. Dealing with thousands of passengers
over the past ten years has taught him that this simple plastic smile is
often his first best defense against almost anything a passenger can throw
at him. He had expected to find a reasonably harried young professional
mother unsuccessfully dealing with a planetary immigration, a tired child,
an unfamiliar room-mate, and a cargo hold full of expensively volatile
biotics. Instead he finds an extremely bright, calm, charming young woman
who only bares a striking physical resemblance to the beautiful young girl
he’d years ago watch twirl naked out on the dance floor.
"So, how much biotics do you have
up in the transfer pod?" From his previous review of her records up in
the gantery bay John pretty much knows the answer, but he also knows that
the best way to draw a person out is to ask them about their work.
"A gig, plus or minus a few liters."
She rises enthusiastically to the bait. "Mostly critical re-stock for Atlantis
Tower. But, I also have about a quarter gig of some new stuff making its
first trip out."
"Like what? If it’s not too confidential,
that is." Stuffing more club sandwich into his mouth John seeming at once
both politely well mannered and comfortably familiar.
"Well," Blade smiles enjoying his
attention. "Some of the strains are somewhat proprietary, but it’s probably
safe to say that most of the more advanced experimentals are aimed at increased
in-channel food source production." She smiles, amused at John’s apparent
incomprehension. "Making tiny critters to feed the little critters that
feed the bigger critters that feed us."
"Ah! Finally a language I can understand.
She always talk in bio-eese?" John turns trying to draw Fred into the conversation.
"Actually, this is the first time
I’ve heard her talk about her work at all. Between her transport shifts
and final departure processing there hasn’t been a whole lot of time for
asking how someone's day went. Especially when the only thing you know
about bio-systems is that if you flush it, it goes away, and when you turn
on the tap it’s clean again."
Another spark of disappointment or
maybe jealousy edges Fred’s tone, even though he smiles at them both with
apparent good nature. Blade looks back at John, politely oblivious to any
hint of tension between she and her cousin.
"Actually." Blade tells John pointedly.
"This is the first really normal thing to happen to Fred and me since we
first met down at Edwards. So," Raising her cerametal water cup in toast.
"Thank you again, Fred, for bringing home such good company on our first
night onboard. And thank you, John, for being the good company Fred
brought back." As men raise a cup to her toast they both notice a hint
of wistful sexuality light Blade's smile, her effect on them reassuringly
predictable as a pair of little-boy grins smile back.
From that moment on the evening gains
a more casually air, Blade quickly realizing that by showing Fred a certain
amount of attention it makes him feel more comfortable, which allows John
to let down some of his polished shipboard reserve. Orchestrating competing
suitors is a well practiced skill. Only Blade's unawareness that this was
the game being played had kept her from applying her considerable talents
before. With a little teasing here and a little coaxing there, the table
soon blossoms into a feel of life-long camaraderie; each man trying to
empress the other with their own clever casual maturity. At about 02:00
with all the food consumed Blade collects up the used remnants and pack
them away into the disposal for recycle. Then the with a mannerly grace
that some women just seem to naturally possess, a grace known as "Lady
of the Manor", Blade turns to them with a smile.
"You boys don’t stay up to late."
She excuses herself. "Even with her late night tonight, I know my little
darling will be up and running by at least 07:30."
"I should be going too." John moves
to stand.
"Nonsense." Blade stops him with a
soft hand and warm hip pressed against his shoulder. "You just got off
shift and probably still need a little more wind-down time. Besides, if
you keep Fred up for a while longer he’ll probably sleep past noon. That
way Roselene and I can have the place to ourselves tomorrow morning."
"Hey. I think I’ve just been insulted."
Fred quips up at Blade’s teasing smile.
"You play chess, don’t you, John?"
Blade asks.
"Uh huh." He nods in reply.
"Well, I don’t. So, please stay for
a while and play Fred a game. He brought along a board with real pieces
and everything. And apparently when you have real pieces, playing someone
through the net just isn’t the same." Blade makes John feel that his staying
has somehow become important to her. He nods up at her in reply.
"What do you say, Fredy?" John turns
to Blade's cabinmate. "You up for a quick game? Two minuet turns?"
Unsure at first as to why Blade should
want John to stay after she’s gone to bed, Fred quickly realizes that she's
probably using the same reasoning that he had used earlier when he asked
John to come back with him in the first place.
"You better make it three minuet turns."
Fred grins. "Otherwise, I’ll just slaughter you right off." As John smiles
back into Fred’s challenge Blade laughs at them both.
"I’ll leave you two boys to your own
amusement." She says from her bedroom door. "We will see you again soon;
won’t we, Mister Forrest?"
"Not if you keep calling me Mister
Forrest." John smiles.
"Good-night, John." She says his first
name meaningfully. "Good-night, Fred." And closes her door.
"You actually brought along a real
chess set onboard?" John turns to Fred with mild disbelief.
"The latest thing in cast cerametal.
It's got specific magnetics, zero-g mode, net play, high-IQ AI. And the
whole thing case, board and all masses less that three grams."
"Well then, bring out the field of
your own demise, my good sir." John jests.
"I fling your gauntlet back in your
face, Sir Forrest." Fred replies with badly accented disdain while retrieving
his chess set. Placing the board and pieces down on the table Fred takes
one pawn of each color then hides both hands behind his back for a moment
then reaches out with both fists palm down.
"You do realize, of course." Fred tells
him. "That if by some strange fate you do manage to beat me that
we’ll just have to play a rematch, don’t you?"
"Likewise." John nods toward Fred’s
right hand, then proceeds to place the dark pieces out on the board.