A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 10

I arrive at the shuttle to the gemstone mine, and thankfully, my reservation is still valid.

“Is Saif Bhaat joining you?” an attendant asks as we check-in.

“No.” My curt reply makes the man blink and pull back, but he leaves me be.

“Come on. Let’s grab a seat,” Kalvin says, gesturing to an empty row in the middle of the ship. I was quiet the whole way back to the spaceport, and he’s been watching me warily.

Once the shuttle is in the air and Saif is not aboard, I sink into my seat and close my eyes. Of all the stupid, asinine, mean things to do. I can’t believe Saif tried to humiliate me in front of his family. For what? To show me my veneer of independence was fake? That I actually do need people, even though I’ve built up a reputation that states otherwise?

Yeah, well, I did need people. I needed my mother and father. They were supposed to care for me and protect me. And I trusted them too.

Now look where that’s gotten me.

I was ready to put my trust in Saif. But maybe it’s too soon. He came out of the gate strong, determined to be my knight in shining armor. It looks like he’s realized the armor is heavy and chafes and will cost a fortune to fix if it ever gets damaged. It’s clear now that I should have urged him to go slower.

Slow, like not at all.

Okay, then. Maybe I don’t need Saif. Hell, maybe I don’t need Kalvin, either, but at least he’s here. Though, probably for not much longer after this little dust-up.

I’m better off being a loner. No one to obstruct me. No one to tell me I’m a horrible human being. Yeah. I mean, I’ll miss the sex… and the late-night chats… and the heart-stopping smiles… and the way they make me laugh. Or having someone around to eat with or sit with, share space with.

But that’s all fleeting, anyway. My heart aches.

It was never going to last. Just look at today. Those things with Saif didn’t last even a few weeks.

Yeah, I don’t need them. I’ll avoid Saif, and when Kalvin breaks things off with me too, eventually Marcelo will give up. That’ll be it.

I just need to make this job work until I can quit and take my credits and buy myself a new ship to add to my fleet.

I sniff up and stare out the window of the shuttle.

Okay, yeah. That’s a good plan. I like that plan.

“Do you want to talk?” Kalvin asks, reaching for my hand.

I pull my hand from his, and he frowns. He scoots forward in his chair, so he can turn to look at me.

“Hey Princess, don’t turn into an ice queen,” he says, his voice kind.

I make eye contact with him and remember everything it took to find the kind side of Kalvin. We were adversaries in flight school, and then we became close in the Sonoman desert. Now, he’s finally here, and the first thing he witnesses is a power struggle between Saif and me.

“I’m not,” I say softly. “I’m just…” I turn my head to peer out the window. “I’m disappointed.”

“That might actually be worse.” He tries for my hand again. This time, I let him take it. He laces his fingers with mine, and my heart melts a little. Wasn’t I betting on him leaving me?

“Listen to me.” He squeezes my hand. “This is one little hiccup. From the look on his face, I’m sure Saif regrets this. Let’s continue on, and maybe he’ll catch up to us.”

“What if I don’t want him to catch up to us?” I grumble.

He chuckles. “Then you would have told him it was over. You didn’t.” He sighs. “Men are assholes. I should know. But the good ones realize when they’ve fucked up and ask for forgiveness. And they don’t try to blame it on you, either. Never let someone do that to you. I bet he turns things around soon enough. So, just chill for now.”

He leans back, squeezes my hand again, and closes his eyes. Look at Kalvin giving me advice about men. What strange world is this I’m living in?

I concentrate on the choppy, shining waters of Rio’s ocean as we speed over it until I’m no longer devastatingly sad about everything. I’m now just very sad. Hopefully, by the time we land at the gemstone mine, I’ll only be somewhat sad. Being somewhat sad won’t be hard to hide, and I need to go into this new job in control and ready to rock.

I hold my breath as land approaches. As the water below us gets shallower and shallower, I make out shapes under the surface.

“Oh my… Holy shit,” I breathe out as I let go of Kalvin’s hand and press my face to the window.

Giant whales swim languidly about, hoisting their fins into the air above the surface. Rio’s whales are legendary creatures, and scientists have been studying them for hundreds of years. These whales resemble Old Earth whales so closely that they have been a mystery forever.

“Wow,” Kalvin breathes out, pressing his face to the window next to me. “Rio is fucking weird.”

Totally weird.

I went through an animal phase in my youth, thinking I might even want to be a veterinarian one day. So I started studying Rio animals, of course. Until they started giving me nightmares. Then I shelved the books and never looked at them again.

The Rio environment is always fascinating for people who love animals. Arriving here in the Brazilianos System, we only had to terraform Ossun. Belem, Rio’s moon, came later. But the animal diversity we experienced on Earth is not something we will ever have again. Replicating large animals is extremely hard, and they don’t always breed independently. Complex life forms are also a challenge. Vivian explained it to me once, and I still don’t understand it despite my attempts. Physics is more my area of expertise than biology.

I sigh as we cross over the beach to the jungle. This lush jungle gives me the chills. There could be a million things in here that could maim or kill me. I close my eyes and tick them off on a list in my head. There are Old Earth animal analogs like monkeys, birds, boars, snakes, spiders, bugs, tigers, and on, and on, and on. They all have odd names and frightening characteristics. The animals are often in pairs, too, so if the green snake doesn’t kill you, its hawk pair will finish the job. And if the animals don’t kill you, the plants might. I am glad I stopped studying Rio plants and animals when I did, or I might not be here right now.

The shuttle banks out and around a mountain and several buildings come into view. This must be the barracks and offices for the gemstone mine. It doesn’t look as scary as I thought it would. They razed the ground around the buildings, flattening them into walkways and safe areas. The trees and jungle growth are cut back far from the buildings, and an electrified fence surrounds everything.

Movement out on the horizon catches my attention.

“Look,” I say, pointing into the distance. Kalvin leans over my shoulder.

Smoke rises from a few kilometers away, and birds circle in the air above. I wonder if those are my colleagues or if that’s the military. It could be either.

I guess there’s really only one way to find out.

I sit back and wait for the shuttle to land.

—-

“Skylar Kawabata?” A man jogs up to me on the paved landing field. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he laughs. “Hey, I’m Luca Rey,” he says, holding out his hand for me to shake. A smile brightens his face, and a dimple appears in his left cheek. “I’m the Patras blockade runner.”

Ah, so this is the man India Dellis has in charge of keeping people out of the military’s hands. He’s tall and lanky, and his muscles are taut cords running up his bare arms and legs. It’s hotter than hell down here in the jungles, which is an excellent opportunity to wear short pants and shirts. Especially when you have the body to show them off. His dark, thick hair is combed neatly up and over. His russet skin is a good sign he spends more days outside than on a ship, and his upright posture shows a healthy upbringing.

I wish I had worn shorts as well.

I shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“How was the flight?”

“Uneventful,” I reply. “Just the way I like them. This is my companion, Kalvin Vidal.”

“Hey.” Kalvin reaches out to shake Luca’s hand.

“Nice to meet you.” He looks around. “I thought Saif Bhaat was supposed to be with you.” He waves at the buildings in the background, all Bhaat Jewelers’ property.

“He couldn’t make it. It’ll just be us.”

Luca’s lips twist. “Well, I suppose that’s fine. But if he arrives at another time, he’ll have to wait until I can come get him. Is he delayed? Or not coming?”

“I’m sorry. I don’t know. Hopefully, he’ll get in touch.” I shrug and try to seem nonchalant about the situation.

“I thought he was a member of your network?” When I say nothing, he frowns. “Or maybe I got the intelligence wrong. Sorry.”

I notice movement in my peripheral vision and turn in time to catch Kalvin making a slashing motion across his throat. He smiles and turns his hand up to wave at me. Sigh.

“Nope. He’s not a member of my network. Sorry for the confusion.”

Luca glances around at the buildings, the people coming and going, the guarded landing pad away from the jungle proper, and I can see the calculations in his head. This was an excellent setup I had. I had a safe entrance into the wilderness, away from the military, and finding something this good again will be tough.

“Trust me,” I say, butting into his thoughts. “It’s not ideal, but this may be the only time I’m ever able to do this. So we should take advantage of it now before someone comes out from those buildings and tells us to get back on the shuttle and return to Primeiro.”

He sighs. “Okay. I’ll figure it out. Come on.”

He’s quiet all the way to the fence. The hum of the electrified wires from a dozen meters away pains my ears. The powerful energy raises the hair on my arms and sends tingles down my back. Eek. I don’t like the look of it.

“In here.” Luca waves to a small one-room building inside the fence’s perimeter. He opens the door, and I step in. Inside, four men dressed in camouflage are waiting for us, sitting around and killing time by either fidgeting or reading. They are all dressed for battle with guns slung over their shoulder and knives in their belts.

Luca gestures to me. “We have camouflage for you, too.” He opens two lockers on the other side of the room and hands me a shirt and pants. I hold them out and stare at them. He slides a shirt on over his t-shirt and drops his shorts to pull on the pants. All I can do is smile.

“Boss, you’re embarrassing the lady,” one man says, and the others chuckle.

Luca glances up at me; I keep smiling.

“It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before.” Kalvin laughs.

“I’m not embarrassed in the slightest,” I say, rolling out my speech into a drawl. “But you all will be vacating this little hut so I can get dressed.”

Luca hops as he pulls up his pants and zips up the fly. “First things first. Let’s go over the rules. When we get outside the fence, your whole life becomes being aware of your surroundings. You watch where you step. You watch where we are. You look up at least a meter every so often to make sure nothing is going to come down on top of you.”

I shiver, and Luca nods. Kalvin groans.

“If we’re attacked, we will handle it.” He points to his men. They wave. “You should crouch and stay low unless we tell you to run. Then you run in a straight line in the direction we point.”

I can’t believe I voluntarily signed up for this.

“Got it,” I say, nodding.

“Uh, yeah. Got it.” Kalvin leans over to me and whispers, “I said I like danger, right?”

“You did,” I whisper back.

“Just checking.” He clears his throat.

“How are you in high-stress situations?” Luca asks, his stare drilling down into my brain. I suddenly feel naked. “Do you handle them well, or are you going to faint or breakdown, or…”

He stops at my hardened face. “Please don’t think this is sexist. I ask everyone this when they come through here.”

I glance at the men behind him. “Truth. He asks everyone.”

Okay, well, at least it’s not some ‘hysterical women’ stereotype.

“I’m a pilot, so I handle high stress well. But, I gotta be honest. Rio freaks me out, so I have no idea how I’ll be if a snake attacks me or some jungle cat pounces on me.”

“Same,” Kalvin says, raising his hand. “Also a pilot, and also freaked out by Rio.”

He nods. “Fair enough. Okay, we’re going to leave you to get dressed. Take your time. I’ll call into the camp before we leave. Communications are spotty in the jungle. It’s an hour hike, and I don’t expect any trouble. Many animals have vacated this area because of the electric fence and the repeated shuttle flyovers. We should be okay on this trip, but it’s important to stay alert.”

I don’t like how he stressed ‘should’ in that last statement.

When the door closes behind them, I sit down on the nearby bench and take a moment to make sure this is what I want to do.

“You okay?” Kalvin asks.

“I don’t know. This all feels weird without Saif now.”

He was so enthusiastic about going, and he secured this location for me to fly in and everything. How do I reconcile that sweet guy with the one who screwed me over this afternoon?

Kalvin sits down next to me.

“How long have you two been dating?” He looks at his hands clasped together.

“Three weeks? Four? You know time…”

“Yeah, it’s malleable when you’re zooming around in a ship.” He sighs. “I apologize. Because I don’t think he would have gotten that bright idea to test you if I hadn’t said you were an independent woman.”

“It’s not your fault,” I say, standing up.

“Saif had an ax to grind with you, but it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. You’ll just need to be careful.”

“Are you… Are you trying to give me relationship advice?” I lean over the back of the bench and look him in the eye. “Because you don’t have the best track record there either.”

He stands up and faces me, the bench between us.

“Come on, gorgeous. Everything was great until I left. Shall I remind you?”

Before I can respond, his hand reaches for my jaw.

I’m tempted to let him in after the day I’ve had, but no. Not yet. We connected in the desert, and we were getting somewhere… then he left. He doesn’t get to waltz back in and pretend like nothing happened in the meantime.

I lift my chin out of his reach, and his wry smile only grows.

“I see.” He chuckles and reaches for the clothes he was given. “You’re going to make me work for it.”

“Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, I don’t know how you’ll resist my charm, but everyone needs a hobby.”

I shake my head while holding back my laughter. He makes me laugh quite a lot with his roguish humor. Watching him undress now, I remember why I thought he was the handsome flyboy in the first place. He’s tall with lean and long muscles he built in the gym. I love when his hair is messy because you can see how the ends curl. We haven’t slept together, but I can imagine what it’ll be like once I finally let him in. Mmmm, I can’t wait for him to wrap his long legs around me.

“Get dressed, sweetheart,” he says, interrupting my thoughts of sex. “And stop staring at me like I’m a piece of meat.”

He winks, and my face heats. Damned blush response. I hate it.

He mock salutes as he opens the door to step outside. “She just needs another moment,” he says to the guys waiting outside before shutting the door.

Sigh. I need to get dressed and get going. Things can only improve with the men in my life, right? Kalvin is here, and I’m sure Saif will be in my inbox in no time. This is an obvious low point, and assuming the jungle doesn’t kill me, everything should work itself out.

Yes. That’s what I’m going to choose to believe.

I change and join the men outside.

“Okay. I made this trip only two days ago, and it was an easy trek with no animal attacks. Let’s hope for the same today.” Luca ushers me forward towards the electric fence’s gate. I fall into step next to Kalvin.

“Oh yeah? You had new people in only two days ago?” I ask, trying to calm my nerves by making small talk.

“Yeah, some hot-shot millionaire who’s teaming up with Ms. Dellis. Takemo something-or-other.”

Fuck.

Did I just say that my life with men can only improve?

I was wrong.