‘Never mind,’ I sighed.
She gave me a curious look but didn’t press. ‘OK. Your scan is complete. You’re as fit as a flea.’
‘I could’ve told you that,’ I replied. ‘Any chance of something for my headache now?’
Doctor Liana brought over a small plastic vial and snapped it in half beneath my nose. ‘Inhale,’ she instructed.
I leaned over it and did as she asked, inhaling deeply. A smell of something intensely minty hit my nostrils and caught in the back of my throat, making me cough. Moments later, my headache was considerably less painful.
‘Great. Thanks,’ I said, jumping off the bed. ‘Why didn’t the painkiller I took earlier work then?’
‘You had a tension headache,’ said the doctor. ‘Are you feeling particularly stressed at the moment?’
‘No more than usual,’ I lied. ‘And usually I can handle a headache with a standard painkiller patch. It didn’t seem to work this time though. Thanks, Doc.’
‘Any time. And, Vee?’
‘Yes?’
‘Take it easy. If something is worrying you, don’t bottle it up. That’s probably why the painkiller you took didn’t work. OK?’
‘Thanks for the chat, Doc.’ I headed for the door.
‘Vee, remember, you can tell me anything. I’m here for you,’ smiled the doctor. ‘Doctor-patient confidentiality is a sacred thing! I told Catherine that when she was ranting at me for not letting her know about you and Nathan, and I’m telling you the same thing.’
‘Doc, can I ask you something?’
‘I don’t know. Can you?’
It took a moment to realize what she meant. She was questioning my grammar! My dad used to do the same thing. It was annoying then too.
‘May I ask you something?’ I amended ruefully.
Doctor Liana grinned at me. ‘You’re the only one I’ve ever met since leaving Earth who understood what I meant when I asked that. Bravo! What’s your question?’
‘You said you want to go back to Earth, but won’t the Authority just send you back to Callisto?’
‘No. I’ve served my time,’ said Doctor Liana sombrely. ‘All I want to do now is go home.’
52
It’d been a bastard of a day. My shift on the bridge with Mum in charge was exhausting. She had me checking this and analysing that all over the ship. My arse hadn’t been stationary in any one place for longer than fifteen minutes at a time. And to top all that, Anjuli had cornered me at least five times to ask, ‘Have you spoken to her? Am I reinstated yet?’
Until finally, I snapped. ‘Anjuli, for God’s sake, give me a chance. Vee and I aren’t even sharing the same shift.’
‘When will you get to speak to her then?’ frowned Anjuli.
Which was the final straw. ‘Right. That’s it. Anjuli, stop pushing.’ I spoke very quietly, at this point somewhere beyond severely pissed off. Anjuli became very still as she regarded me.
‘Here I am, backing off very slowly,’ she said. Never taking her eyes off me, she took slow, exaggeratedly careful backwards steps away from me. OK, I admit it – that made me laugh. I’ll say one thing for her, she could always tell when she’d pushed me too far and it was time to retreat. Literally.
And the worse thing of all about my day was I’d only seen Vee once during my entire shift. She was coming out of our quarters when I was walking along the corridor towards the bridge after completing another of Mum’s assignments. Instead of waiting for me, she’d frowned and entered the bridge ahead of me. By the time I’d got there, Vee was having a quiet word with her brother. I went to my station next to him, smiling at Vee in the hope that she’d come and speak to me once she’d finished her chat with Aidan. Nothing doing. Once her conversation with her brother had finished, Vee headed straight for the exit without a backwards glance.
I mean, what the actual hell?
By the time my shift was over, I was mentally and physically wrecked. I paused outside our quarters, hesitating before entering. If I didn’t know any better, I’d’ve said Vee was giving me the cold shoulder. If that was the case, then I had no idea why. Surely not because I’d agreed to help Anjuli?
Placing my hand against the palmlock, I headed inside only to stop abruptly at the sight before me. Our quarters glowed with the flickering light of at least thirty different artificial candles scattered around the room. The bed was strewn with white and red flower petals. There was a strange whiff in the air, not unpleasant but definitely noticeable. And in the centre of the room stood Vee, wearing a burgundy cloak which completely covered her body from neck to toes.
What was going on?
Vee smiled at the confused expression on my face.
‘What’s all this?’ I asked suspiciously.
‘I thought I’d do something special for you,’ Vee replied.
‘What’s that smell?’
‘Cinnamon spice. It makes all things nice. Do you like it?’
Not really, no.
‘So what d’you think?’ asked Vee.
I took another look around. ‘It’s very . . . colourful.’ I frowned. ‘You know I’m a guy, right?’
‘Oh. You don’t like it?’ Vee’s smile faded.
‘No, I didn’t say that,’ I spoke hastily. ‘It’s great, really.’
Vee burst out laughing. ‘I’m just pulling your leg, Nate. All this is for me, not you.’
‘Thank Christ for that!’
‘Your sense of humour will be the death of me,’ I said ruefully.
‘This is for you,’ Vee winked. And she opened the cloak, letting it slowly slide down her arms and back onto the floor. The breath left my lungs in an audible hiss.
God, but she was lovely – both inside and out. I couldn’t imagine ever growing tired of her. The more I saw her, spoke to her, spent time with her, the harder it was to imagine my life without her in it.
Damn! I really, really had it bad.
Vee sat on the bed and held out her arms towards me. I didn’t need a written invitation. Stripping off in about five seconds flat, I sat down beside her. After a prolonged kiss, we lay down. I didn’t reach for her. She didn’t reach for me. We just lay on our sides, watching each other.
‘You OK?’ I asked softly.
She nodded. ‘You?’
‘Yeah.’ But I wasn’t. Not entirely. ‘Vee, did I do something to upset you?’
Vee cupped my cheek with her hand, which I immediately kissed. ‘No, you didn’t. This is my way of making it up to you. Sorry if I made you worry. I was just feeling a bit . . . fragile today.’
‘Why fragile? Aren’t you feeling well?’
‘No, it’s not that . . . To be honest, my brother said something which upset me and I was stupid enough to let it get to me,’ said Vee.
‘What did he say?’
‘It doesn’t matter.’
‘Tell me what he said.’
‘Nate, trust me. It really doesn’t matter.’
But it did.
‘It was something about the two of us, wasn’t it?’ I realized. ‘I’m gonna have a word with him.’
‘Nate, no. It was my fault for listening to him and for letting his words crash around in my head causing havoc. I’ll sort it, OK? Please?’ Vee pleaded.
Inside I was seething. What had he said? Obviously something negative about me.
‘This time I’ll let it slide, but if he says anything else about us that upsets you, I want you to tell me,’ I said. ‘Promise?’
Vee smiled and kissed me. And then the idea of getting her to promise went right out of my head.
The following morning, I awoke right where I wanted to be, in bed with my arm around Vee’s waist as we spooned. The gentle bleep of the overhead alarm was already getting on my nerves.
‘Alarm off,’ I said softly, not wanting to startle my wife.
I still loved the way that sounded. My wife. The alarm immediately ceased. I kissed Vee’s nape, then rose slightly to kiss her cheek.
&n
bsp; ‘Time to get up. Our watch starts in thirty.’
Vee opened her eyes and smiled.
‘I love you, Vee,’ I couldn’t help saying.
Her smile broadened. ‘I know.’
I had yet to hear Vee say those words even though I knew she did love me. She showed it every time she looked at me or touched me. Yet there was something inside me that longed to hear the words. Maybe one day . . .
She yawned, then sat up. ‘At least we’re sharing the same watch today,’ she said. ‘Fancy dinner in an astro lab star chart later?’
‘Sounds good,’ I agreed. ‘And speaking of things we can do together, let’s go shower.’
‘The shower is barely big enough for one,’ Vee frowned.
‘I know.’ I winked.
Vee laughed. ‘Our watch starts in thirty minutes, Romeo.’
‘Romeo?’
‘From Romeo and Juliet? The film with Leonardo DiCaprio?’
‘Who?’
‘Never mind. Anyway, I think it would be . . . faster to shower separately.’
‘I suggested we shower together so neither of us is late to the bridge. I don’t know what’s going on in your dirty mind.’
‘Yeah, right,’ Vee scoffed.
I got out of bed and removed the platinum chain from around my neck, placing it carefully on the table beside our bed. At Vee’s quizzical look, I explained, ‘I haven’t had a chance to fix the clasp yet and I don’t want to risk it disappearing down the shower’s extraction hole.’
‘It’s not that fragile. Besides, you sleep in it.’
‘That’s different. If it comes undone in bed, at least I know where I’ll find it. If it comes loose in the shower, it’ll end up floating out in space. It’s only the water that gets recycled.’
‘Fix it then. Or were you exaggerating when you said you were good with your hands?’ said Vee.
‘Forgotten already? Let me remind you then.’
Sitting both of us back down, I ran my hands over Vee’s waist, holding her to me. Mistake! What I’d intended as a teasing reminder morphed into something else. Burying my face in her neck and nibbling on her, I whispered, ‘Want to feel my hands in action?’
Vee laughed. ‘No need. I believe you.’
I drew back to look into her brown eyes. ‘I want to provide you with more proof,’ I repeated in all seriousness.
Vee’s smile faded.
‘Nathan . . .’ Vee said huskily. ‘What about our shift?’
I leaned in to kiss her and our shift was forgotten.
The moment we got our breath back, Vee sprang out of bed. ‘Damn! Our shift starts in six minutes. You, Nathan Linedecker, you’re a bad influence.’
‘That’s not what you were saying about me a few moments ago,’ I reminded her.
‘That was then, this is now. I don’t want to get on the wrong side of my mother-in-law!’ said Vee.
‘How about getting on the right side of me?’ I suggested.
‘I thought I just did that,’ Vee replied, blowing me a kiss before heading into the bathroom for a shower. I followed her.
‘Want some company in the shower cubicle?’ I asked hopefully.
Vee gave me a kiss, then went into the shower cubicle firmly shutting the door behind her. Worth a try! I looked at the closed door and smiled before heading back into the main room. Whatever happened, whatever the universe might throw at us, Vee and I were going to be all right. I just knew it.
‘Vee, we’ve got a problem.’ The door to our quarters hissed opened and Aidan strode into the room. ‘Some of the—’ He halted abruptly when he saw me.
‘Dafuq, Aidan! Have you ever heard of knocking?’ I fumed, grabbing for some trousers to cover my nakedness.
‘Where’s my sister?’ Aidan looked around the room. ‘What’re you doing in here?’
‘She’s in the shower and I share these quarters – remember? So go wait in the corridor and don’t come into this room uninvited again,’ I told him.
First chance I got, I was going to change the entry protocols to this room to exclude Aidan. I would’ve done it already if I’d known he had access. The guy thought he could just stroll in here whenever he liked? Hell, no!
Aidan didn’t move but stood there glaring at me.
‘Aidan, what d’you want?’
‘To talk to my sister.’
‘Well, you can’t at the moment. D’you want me to give her a message?’
‘No.’ Aidan looked me up and down like I was an unwelcome specimen in the science lab. ‘Why did you go through the joining ceremony with Vee?’
‘Because I wanted to.’
‘D’you always get what you want?’ asked Aidan.
‘No, not always. Like at this particular moment I really want you to be somewhere else,’ I replied.
Aidan didn’t take the unsubtle hint. ‘Do you love Vee?’
‘Of course I do.’ This guy was really beginning to wind me up.
‘Is it possible to fall in love so quickly?’
‘Well, we’re proof it is.’
‘Will you fall out of love as quickly?’
‘Don’t hold your breath waiting for that to happen,’ I told him. ‘Vee and I were meant for each other. I’m not letting her go.’
Aidan looked me up and down again. Slowly my fists began to clench.
‘Vee will come to realize her mistake, probably before we reach Mendela Prime. You and the others will depart and I’ll get my sister back.’
‘Don’t count on that,’ I replied.
‘You can’t return to Earth, Vee won’t stay on Mendela Prime. Her home and everyone she loves are back on Earth. One way or another we’ll both be rid of you. All of you.’
That did it. ‘Are you going to leave or am I going to carry you out?’ I asked.
‘I’d really like to see you try,’ Aidan said evenly.
I took a step towards him, more than ready to make good my threat.
Just then Vee emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. ‘Nate, d’you think—? Oh, hi, Aidan. What’re you doing in here?’
‘He just walked in,’ I replied with a scowl. ‘And I’m telling him to walk out again.’
Vee looked from me to her brother. ‘Aidan, could you leave please? I’ll see you on the bridge in a few minutes.’
Aidan gave me one of his creepy-arse smiles before he turned and left the room without saying another word. The moment the door was shut, I rounded on Vee.
‘What the hell, Vee? How come he can just saunter in here whenever he feels like it?’
‘Calm down, Nate. When it was just me and him on board, we needed to have access to each other’s quarters in case of emergencies. If I were to be ill or if I fell and knocked myself out or something, he needed to be able to get to me in a hurry.’
‘Why didn’t you change the access protocol when I moved in here?’
Vee shrugged. ‘I forgot. It’s not a big deal.’
‘Yes it is.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t like the idea of your brother being able to stroll in here any time he pleases,’ I said.
‘Well, there’s the room’s control panel.’ Vee pointed to where it was set in the wall. ‘Feel free to make sure he can’t in the future.’
Too damned right I would. Whilst I changed the access protocol, Vee got dressed in her work uniform and pulled on her boots. I watched as she quickly plaited her hair, tying it up into a ponytail before checking her appearance in the room’s one mirror. She caught my reflection frowning at her.
‘Nate, why’re you so upset?’
‘Why aren’t you?’ I asked. ‘He could’ve walked in here when you were naked.’
‘No way. I’d tear his head off if he did that.’
‘Vee, he walked straight in. I was naked,’ I said, still irate.
Vee frowned. ‘You’ve changed the access protocol now. He won’t be able to enter this room again unless it’s an emergency and I’ll make sure I have a word or fif
ty with him about our need for privacy. OK?’
‘Why does your brother have a problem with me?’ I asked.
‘He doesn’t. I mean, he’s probably still getting used to the idea of you and I together. After all, it was just Aidan and me for years.’ Vee’s gaze slid away from mine.
Something was wrong. I’d told Vee before that she didn’t have much of a poker face. She was hiding something.
‘Vee, what are you not telling me?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know what you mean. I’m going to be late.’ Vee headed for the door, a plastic smile on her face. ‘See you on the bridge.’
‘Vee, wait.’
She stopped. A moment or two passed before she turned to face me. ‘Yes?’
‘I love you,’ I said, walking towards her.
‘I know,’ she smiled.
I took hold of her upper arms, being careful not to hurt her as I looked into her eyes waiting for her to confide in me. She stayed silent. Disappointed, my hands fell to my sides.
‘As we probably won’t get a chance for the next eight hours . . .’ Vee wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me like it was saving her life. At last I reluctantly pulled away. Much as I would’ve liked to lead Vee back to bed, Mum would give me hell if I was late for my shift on the bridge.
Thinking of the bridge . . .
‘Vee, have you given any further thought to reinstating Anjuli? She really is sorry, and don’t you think she’s been punished enough?’
Vee’s expression froze. ‘Wait a minute. I’m kissing you and you’re thinking of Anjuli? Really?’ She glared at me.
Oh, man!
‘No, of course not,’ I said hastily. ‘It’s just that Anjuli and I are good friends and I promised her I’d have a word. That’s all.’
‘And that occurred to you whilst we were kissing?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Yeah, right.’
The next moment Vee marched out of the room, leaving me to stand there mentally kicking myself. Hard.
53
By the time the door to our quarters had closed behind me, I’d cooled down. I was over-reacting. Nathan was just a good friend to Anjuli, that’s all. Anjuli was lucky to have him fighting in her corner. And once we’d travelled through the wormhole and the Mazon threat was behind us, I saw no reason why Anjuli couldn’t come back to the bridge. She was wasted down in the engine room.