Tags
Canada, Clay, Clay among the Stars, Clay Gilbert, colonies in space, Gliese 163, Natasha, Park, Rachel, Science Fiction, space, Tasmania
Before the colony ships could get unlimbered for another journey to light speed, it was decided that all and sundry would parade past the star at fairly close range and charge up their batteries. Getting within ten million kilometers, even with a red dwarf, was plenty; the fighters only needed one slingshot pass, while the colony ships had to do an orbit and a half. Alpha and Gamma wings went out ahead, while Beta and the remaining eight colony ship fighter pilots flew security for the big mamas.
Clay and Natasha snuck out of the inevitable pre-flight party. They sashayed up to the Canada’s smallest observation deck and locked the door behind them.
“So what do you think?” Natasha challenged Clay, just after they flew into each other’s arms and kissed.
“What do I think about what?” he replied.
“They’re sending you out with Rachel again. I get Park. Again.”
“Natasha,” he said, smiling, hoping that would be enough, “that’s why we’re here now. Our elders don’t want us to be together.”
They kissed again, but Natasha was distracted. “I just don’t know where we’re going with this, if we can’t just stand up to her about it.”
“Do you want to?” he asked, his heart sinking.
“No, actually,” she said. She turned her serious green eyes on him. She was indeed beautiful. “Kiss me some more.”
“All right,” he said, and he rather abandoned himself to her.
Their hands roamed. Their vac suits came unzipped. Natasha suddenly fixed him with That Look again. “Clay,” she said.
“Tash?”
“You aren’t attracted to Rachel at all, are you?”
“Ha! No,” he said. “Not at all.” They kissed. “Isn’t she seeing Gil Rojette or something?”
“I don’t know,” said Natasha. “I thought you were the one she talked to. She doesn’t tell me anything. I think they were dancing at the party.” She smiled. “Okay. That’s fine then. You may kiss me some more.”
A little later, they were floating near the window. They had found that the narrow space between the window and the sofa was very convenient for leverage. Their vac suits were floating a little ways away.
“Mmm,” said Clay, “Natasha.”
“Clay.” They floated, loosely embracing. “So do you think we’ll see any of those things? And is the repellent going to be effective? And do you think they only eat stuff our size? And is the next place going to have plumbing?”
“Anything else, dear?”
“No, that should do.”
“Okay. Well. One. Do I think we’ll see any of those things? I’m going to guess no, because we may have chased them away somehow. It’s just a guess. Is the ECM thing going to be effective? I have to bet yes, because I was in on programming it, and we thought we’d done it right. But again, how do I know? What were the other ones?”
“Do they specialize in fighters, and will the next place have plumbing.”
“Okay. No, I don’t believe that. I bet they’d love us to leave one colony ship unprotected. They’d put more holes in it than the Albert Hall.”
“The what?”
“Sorry. Old song reference. Okay, plumbing? No. I’ll bet there’s liquid water somewhere in the system, I could see that.”
“Sounds optimistic,” said Natasha. “I’m not used to it. Okay, speaking of plumbing. I need to put the bottom half of my vac suit on.”
“They have a sanitizer room,” said Clay.
“This is easier,” said Natasha, pulling her vac suit on up to her hips. “Don’t you have to pee?”
“I peed in my vac suit before I took it off.”
Natasha got a pensive look, then flashed her eyes at Clay. “What has happened to us? We’ve become fighter pilots. Look at us. Making love in zero grav. Peeing in our vac suits.”
“Getting ready to put our lives on the line to fight off something that could eat us,” said Clay. “Hoping the technology works. All to provide 8000 colonists a safe place to put down roots.”
“Mmm,” said Natasha, peeling off her vac suit again, “now you say it, it doesn’t sound so bad.”