by Aimee Ogden
“Hey, I’m going to have to be there too. We’ll suffer side by side. And speaking of fun.” Kalo jerked a shoulder at the tearoom. “I think you’ve got a party waiting for its guest of honor in there.”
“I know!” Casne straightened up from another inspection of Triz’s medal. “We just keep getting delayed by the worst kinds of people. Are you joining us?”
“Me? Oh, no, I’ll get out of the way. Just let me borrow Triz for a minute, will you?”
Casne raised her eyebrows, but shrugged and stepped away. “As long as I see you soon.”
Triz pursed her lips. Now she stood alone with Kalo, her back against the tearoom wall and no place to hide except behind a sarcastic comment. “I feel like if you’re going to ask about borrowing me, I should be the first person you put the question to?”
“But I’m not borrowing you from yourself. You’re still here, aren’t you? It’s only Cas that I’m depriving of your company for my own selfish purposes.” He sidled around beside her, leaning against the hastily painted metal that constituted Mirede’s storefront until proper repairs were finished. She recognized what he was doing: offering an escape route besides the one through him. “You know how Vivik is sort of a shipping hub? Scooper dumps and big freighters come through here all the time.”
She couldn’t quite contain an eye-roll. “Wow, Kalo, is it really? Do you think maybe that’s why I spend so much time neck-deep in Scoopers and lugs in the wrenchworks?”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and kept talking, ignoring her. “Apparently there’s been a little pirate traffic in some of the Outward lanes lately. Fleet’s signing pilots over to operate out of Sidorrey and run escorts where they’re needed.”
“Sidorrey’s not far from here,” Triz observed. Her tongue clung to the roof of her mouth and turned the S of “Sidorrey” into a sticky “guh”. Picking off the occasional pirate would be a safer docket than clearing out the remainder of the Ceebee nests pocketed across the Confederated worlds. “Is that what you’re—I mean, is that what you want to do?”
“What I want is to keep flying.” Kalo’s fingers drummed on his thigh. “Don’t know if they’ll take a recruit who’s got a history of turning his fighter into a shrapnel collector, and even if they did, it would be half a dozen cycles before the paperwork even gets pushed through. And if the Fleet flushes out another Ceebee cache, I’d go back in. That’s not something I can just walk away from. No one should.” He hastily added, “And I won’t put in for it at all if it’s not something you’re interested in. I just thought, things being what they are . . . I’m not asking you to form a gon with me, or with me and Casne and Nan, or at all. But if you wanted to take a test flight on what it would be like . . .”
Triz’s stomach roiled with confusion. “That would put you farther from Casne. And if you’re not stationed with a whale, you won’t get to Centerpoint to see Nantha as often, either.”
“That’s not—” He exhaled noisily. “Gods of Issam, do I have to write it down for you? Casne and Nan too, they’re some of my best friends and I love them dearly. Sometimes I’m half-sure they even like me. But I wanted, uh. Not just them. A partner. A gon doesn’t work when it’s two people and a diagonal line. You know?”
“No! Why would you—” She felt his arm stiffen against hers. Her mind flicked through a stack of discarded images: the night when Casne introduced them and the stab of relief she’d felt when he first smiled at her to show off those crooked teeth. Ribbondancing in the nullgrav disco and screaming with laughter like giddy children. Kalo’s greasy boots on the sofa in her rooms, and his stupid hair falling across his stupid face while he slept. Watching that ‘port footage of dying Fleet ships and their terrible fight afterward. The ugly words she’d said and never got around to apologizing for. Maybe she was more Quelian’s daughter than either of them had ever managed to believe.
No, she had time.
She would find a way yet. “I mean. I think so. Maybe. Yes.”
His eyebrows curved upward in confusion. “So . . . I should . . .”
“Put in for the transfer.” She put her hand in his. The same size as Casne’s, but cooler to the touch. Familiar and strange. “Yes. Shit. I’m going to have to get used to seeing your face around, I guess.”
“Talk to the technosurgeon,” he suggested, “they might be able to get you some anti-nausea drugs that’ll help.” He shoved her shoulder, making her double-step away from the wall. “Now go party before the next shitting tragedy takes a bite out of this Hab.”
She leaned toward him. If she kissed him now, the wave function would collapse, and this would all come apart. “I’ll see you later?”
“I know where you live,” he said, and those words held so much weight she could’ve pinned it to her chest in place of her medal and worn it just as proudly.
Triz’s alarm buzzed. “Off,” she said thickly, but of course, she’d programmed the wallport alarm to answer only to her proffered fob and not her voice, to make sure she actually got out of bed. It wasn’t as if she even had a job to get up for anymore—oh. Right. She sat up.
The bed in her rooms was absolutely not big enough for three, though that was how many people it had held tangled together in the comfortable closeness of half-sleep (and before that, not-sleep) for the night. “I should get up,” Casne muttered without moving. She occupied the sliver of mattress between Triz and the floor; one of her arms hung over the side. Maybe Triz should apply for something bigger than the pairhome. Well, she didn’t have to worry about that today.
“Don’t you know we’re on leave?” Kalo sprawled on the other side of her, legs twisted into well-kicked sheets. “Or don’t you care? Some things are sacred.” He put a pillow over his head. “Which reminds me. Triz, go shut up your alarm.”
“You should be grateful.” Triz slithered out between their two bodies and slid to the foot of the bed, where she stretched her cramped shoulders. “It’s telling me to get up and fix a shitload of Light Attack Craft today.”
A hand slid around her waist and between her thighs. She spread her legs wider. Shitting alarm. “Just don’t stay at work too long,” said Kalo into the skin of her back. “We’ll be here. Alone. Bored. Too lazy to get up. Practically wasting away.”
“You’ll be fine.” With a pang of regret, Triz stood and tossed the wadded-up sheets back down on him. He sputtered and flopped back down. “I hear you’ve got two functional hands now.”
“I should get up,” Casne said again, as if trying to convince herself of this.
Triz leaned over to kiss Cas’ forehead. “The Hero of Golros gets to lie abed as long as she shitting wants.” Casne’s nose wrinkled into a smile; Triz pressed a warm, wet kiss to her lips where they parted. Then she straightened up and stretched. She really did have to go to work. Yesterday’s jumpsuit lay on the floor; she pulled it up her legs and suggested, “And if you need more room in bed, just shove Kalo on the floor.”
“You’re a cruel woman!” he called after her as she staggered sleepily toward the bathroom. “In fact, I plan to stay here in bed all day plotting my revenge.”
“As long as you’re both here,” she said, and closed the door between them before she could embarrass either of them more with overfondness.
Glossary
A
22CR Starbusters: A slightly outdated but entirely deadly model of large-payload missiles.
* * *
Admiral Savelian Dustald-4 Edantha: Senior Fleet officer in the sector; credited with the successful Fleet campaign against Cyberbionautic forces.
* * *
Advocate: A speaker for the affected party, in legal matters and negotiations, assigned by Public Welfare.
* * *
Aerobacter: One of several oxygenic bacteria species modified for symbiotic use in human beings, particularly those operating in deep space or deep water.
* * *
Alchemists: An outdated class of Light Attack Craft legendary for their inability
to take a hit.
* * *
Alchemy Medal: The second-highest honor bestowed by the Fleet on civilians; given in recognition of the recipient's conversion of certain defeat into victory.
* * *
Allibek's Wings: A Fleet honor bestowed in recognition of outstanding valor in the face of overwhelming odds.
* * *
Andeus: A dwarf planet in the Coreward region, known primarily for its exports of ore and aspiring Fleet officers.
* * *
Arcade: A common area found in most space habitats, as well as on each level of any planned planetary colonies built by the Confederated Worlds.
* * *
Arcology: A planet-based enclosed artificial habitat.
* * *
Arcwing: A class of Light Attack Craft built for sturdiness over speed and featuring heavier artillery than Skimmer models.
* * *
Armward Bands: Densely-populated clusters of Confederated Worlds habitats and planetary structures along the arm of the spiral galaxy.
* * *
Artigrav: Shorthand for artificial gravity, especially for mechanics who might have to say those words a lot.
* * *
Astral Noise: The latest and greatest band to hit the Confederated Worlds, as long as you’re a fan of screamwave splatterpop.
* * *
Auzhni Hab: A small Hab based near the Hedgehome system.
B
Biobomb: Pairs an explosive device with an engineered microorganism for maximum damage. A typical use case might include an infectious bacterium, or, when deployed against infrastructure, microbes that corrode plastic or specific types of metal.
* * *
Biolights: Emergency temporary bioluminescence; a habitat or Arcology's power failure triggers the release of substrate that feeds dormant microorganisms and induces luminescence.
* * *
Biomods: Shorthand for biological modifications, ranging from symbiotic bacteria to cybernetic limb replacement.
* * *
Birdflute: A high-pitched wind instrument that sounds like beautiful birdsong in the hands of an expert player, or, with less skillful use, a dying parakeet.
C
Ceebee: Shorthand for a member of the Cyberbionautic Alliance.
* * *
Centerpoint Station: The primary base of operations for the Confederated Fleet. Originally established at roughly the center of the settled Confederated Worlds; not so much anymore, but two prior attempts to rename it have failed due to linguistic inertia.
* * *
CFS Graithe: A Confederated Fleet cruiser lost with all hands in a battle with Cyberbionautic forces, trying unsuccessfully to buy time for the CFS Iuelo, her sister ship, to escape.
* * *
Chimon: Site of a minor skirmish between Confederated Fleet and Cyberbionautic forces; considered the last real engagement of the war.
* * *
Churnpit: Another name for a recycling engine, particularly a poorly maintained one.
* * *
Cierrond: An elderly Tolvian mendicant who was of Triz's earliest teachers and one of the few as stubborn as she was; Triz took his name as her parent name when he died.
* * *
Clusterward: The region of a large cluster of stars, mostly unpopulated, located between the human-inhabited arm of the Galaxy and the largely unexplored arm on the opposite side.
* * *
Commander Escoth: Strategy Division Lead for the Confederated Fleet; the grandson of luxury starship magnate Idri Croelo Escoth.
* * *
Commander Rocan Dustald-3 Melviq of the Cyberbionautic Alliance, the Unquenchable Scythe: A much higher name-to-person ratio than is ever justifiable.
* * *
Confederated Fleet: A military force devoted to protecting the safety and wellbeing of the member planets and habitats of the Confederated Worlds.
* * *
Confederated Worlds: A loose alliance of several hundred human settlements. The first Habs were admitted 137 Standard Cycles ago after pressure from several outlying systems to broaden the definition of what constituted a "world".
* * *
Croelo Hab: A large Hab in the Armward Bands and one considered, especially by the outlying planets and Habs, to be the height of style.
* * *
Cyberbionautic Alliance: A quasi-political separatist entity led by Rocan Dustald-3 Melviq, which holds modified bodies as superior to unmodified and believes that, as they shape their bodies to fit their environment, their environment should meet them halfway—regardless of who may already be living quite comfortably in it.
D
Dailos: Flagship of Admiral Savelian's First Wing of the Confederated Fleet; the ship where Casne, Kalo, Saabe, and Lanniq serve.
* * *
Damu: A common nickname for nonbinary parents; most often used by children but retained into adulthood by some, especially doting offspring.
* * *
Darts: An outdated class of Light Attack Craft legendary for their inability to take a hit.
* * *
Distribution Council: The governing body in charge of managing public assets in Vivik Hab and some other similarly-run Habs.
* * *
Do-Ffash: An extended family of pirates operating primarily out of the Webward Pearls.
* * *
Dry-pearls: A semi-precious gem produced in what could broadly be called the "stomach" of a sedentary creature called a stillmouse, native to, and only found on, the planet Erret.
E
Edillo: The original owner, presumably, of the Vivik Hab establishment known as Edillo's. Early Distribution Council records are spotty, and no one actually remembers anyone named Edillo.
* * *
Erret: An apparent desert world to the naked eye, with a rich and almost entirely subterranean water supply and native biota.
* * *
Erron: A fairly recent planetary establishment; only two levels of the Arcology have yet been built.
* * *
Escoth V-27: A sleek, sporty craft designed for personal travel, for people with more money and leisure time than Triz.
* * *
Eusociality: In the spirit of mutual survival, health, and happiness; the ideal to which Vivik Hab's Distribution Council aspires.
* * *
Exonerves: An exogenous electrochemical structure replicating the function of the peripheral nervous system; commonly replace damaged nerves in people with certain degenerative diseases as well as hopped-up flyboys with no sense of self-preservation.
* * *
Exotics-wranglers: Engineers devoted to developing scalable, reliable Fleet technology based on quantum effects; probably the biggest geeks in the galaxy.
F
Fleet: The Confederated Fleet, the military body organized around the defense of the Confederated Worlds and, more recently, the protection of worlds that harbor alien intelligences.
* * *
Fleet Admiralty: The leadership of the Confederated Fleet.
* * *
Fleet Counsel: A member of the Fleet's legal organization, assigned to defend Fleet officers accused of any misdoings that fall under Fleet jurisdiction.
* * *
Fleet Prayer: A rote prayer invoking the protection of the Gods of Issam and several other accessory deities; written by an officer in time immemorial; recitation takes twelve minutes, and is inflicted daily on Academy enrollees, as well as those unfortunate enough to receive a high-level commendation in the course of duty.
* * *
Fleet Standard Time: Based on five cycles of five hours each; the standard clock by which all Fleet vessels operate in order to maintain cohesion across their Galaxy-wide deployment.
* * *
Fourth Wing: An entire wing of Fleet ships that defected from duty and disappeared, mostly to parts unknown. The subject of a great deal of speculation wherever two or more Fleet officers and an alcoholic beverage are
co-located.
