A Fortunate Accident – Chapter 12

I sleep on the edge of the bed all night, and Kalvin sleeps on the sofa in my suite. When I get up in the wee morning hours to dress for the lab, I pull him from the couch and stick him in the bed. Before I leave, I stand at the door and watch him, his thin face, long nose, and lips I’m dying to kiss, if it doesn’t backfire on me.

What am I thinking? Of course, it’ll backfire on me.

I leave the suite quietly, making sure everything is buttoned up tight before heading out.

“You said to ask tomorrow, so here I am, asking. What’s going on with your mom and your ship?”

Takemo hovers over me as I sit in the lab and await my first meeting with the lead xeno-plant biologist. On this side of the divider, I don’t have to wear PPE. I stare into the lab window and watch all the scientists bustle about, cutting plants, mixing plants with solution, putting solutions in lab equipment. I don’t know what they’re doing, but it all looks impressive.

Instead of ignoring him, which won’t get me anywhere, I turn to face him. “Why do you care?”

His jaw hardens. “I probably shouldn’t, but I promised you I would do better.” He sweeps out his hands. “So, here I am, doing better by giving a fuck.”

I almost laugh because it is laughable. Takemo should be long gone from my life, but he’s stuck here with me, whether or not he likes it.

“I see.” I pause to gauge him for a moment. I suppose I could confide in him because it’s not likely he’ll even admit to anyone that he knows me. “My mom is disinheriting me and has retained a lawyer to get the Amagi back.”

“What?” he pulls away, shocked. “She can’t do that.”

I laugh. “She’s gonna try, and knowing my luck lately, she’ll probably succeed.” I point at him. “Though not without a big, ugly, public fight, I can tell you that much.”

Rage burns in my stomach, and the need for revenge swells in my heart. If my mother thinks she’s going to get away with this robbery, then she is sorely mistaken.

“No,” Takemo insists. “I mean, she really can’t. I know because I tried to get the Amagi.” He shrugs at my death glare. “What? It’s a great ship. I saw it was being overhauled and thought I could take it instead of the Mikasa.”

He raises his hands as I get to my feet. This little shit. He could have totally screwed me over if he had taken the Amagi.

“Skylar,” he says, warning me, “that was Past-Takemo, okay? Current-Takemo wouldn’t dream of taking your ship from you. I already regret most everything that’s happened between us. Don’t get even angrier with me.” He inhales a deep breath. “Please,” he stresses.

Hmmm, there’s a Past- and Current-Takemo? What does that even mean? He seems unhappy with his previous asshole behavior. Maybe he’ll be nicer now? But maybe there’ll be a Future-Takemo, a time in which he will dig deep and find his dickhole behavior, long lost and forgotten about but ripe for reanimation.

I still don’t trust him, but he’s growing on me.

“Okay. I’m not angry,” I say, calming my breathing. “What do you mean, she can’t take my ship? I thought it was a done deal. She gave it to me, but I saw no legal documents. Ken Mata was going to look into it for me, but, well, he’s busy.”

Takemo nods. “He’s a busy man, but I can tell you, one-hundred percent, that ship is yours. Your mother transferred the title to your name four years ago. It was a good move on her part because she didn’t have to pay taxes and fees on it anymore. I’m sure you know how expensive those are.”

I nod and stare off into the lab. I try to keep the fees down by accessing the jump rings at off-peak times, and I always choose the slips at spaceports that are farthest from the terminal. Still, I’m scraping by week to week until I get my first payment from Patras. Fees and taxes could bankrupt me before lawyers do.

“If she’s trying to get back the Amagi now, she’ll need to prove she handed over the title to you under duress or something else.” He shrugs. “This is a pure power play on her part. She’s doing it to teach you a lesson.”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Why is everyone trying to teach me a lesson nowadays? Haven’t I learned enough?

He sighs. “Sorry. That sucks. But the good news is they can’t send the local police after you or detain your ship. They have no legal right to do that.”

I sink in relief, and the background anxiety I’ve felt since Mom showed up at Vivian’s dissipates a fraction. She’s still going to come after me for the Amagi, but at least she can’t just take it. I was worried she could.

“Good to know. They tried to keep me on Ossun, and Saif wanted me to stay and deal with it.” I should feel elated that I was right and Saif was wrong, but instead, I’m just sad. I wish he was here. “He’s angry with me for not being more careful and methodical about my choices.”

Takemo laughs. “You so are not either of those things.”

“Hey now,” I say gently. “I could use that in my life. I’m willing to listen to other people’s opinions about my business. I may not always take their advice, but I listen.”

He steps away as someone finally enters the room. “Listening is a good start. Hey, does the pilot know all this?” He jerks his chin at the door. I turn and look, though I know no one’s there.

“That I’m losing my family and business? Yeah, some of it.” Not enough, though, when I really think about it.

“He’s the one who was marooned with you, right? You saved each other’s lives?”

“Yeah, that’s him.” I step to the side as the lab tech puts stuff on the table. “Why?”

“Just checking,” he says, waving my question away. He scans my back. “How’s your back? Did you sleep okay?”

“Not really.” It was hard to stay off my back all night. I was restless sleeping on my side, and sleeping on my stomach is never a good idea. “And my back itches and it’s painful.” I shrug.

“You should get it looked at then,” Takemo insists.

“Do you want to start this experiment later, Ms. Kawabata?” the lab tech asks as he sets a tray on the table in front of me.

“No. I’m fine.” I wave off her concern. “I want to get to work as quickly as possible. Have the doctor stop by later when she can.”

“Good.” He pulls a thermometer gun from his pocket. “Because we’re breaking camp tomorrow and waiting any longer means we need to wait several days.”

“We’re breaking camp?”

“India moves us about every six to seven days,” Takemo fills in. “It’s not good to put down roots. We have to keep moving, or the military will find us.”

My skin cools. “What happens if they find us?”

“I don’t want to know. But it’s a real pain in the butt to move. We have to shut everything down, including the duonet data points, which means we lose communications for about twelve hours. Then it takes longer for supplies to reach us because we work farther into the jungle each time.”

“So I should check my messages before the blackout. Got it.”

I wonder if Saif has messaged me yet. I quickly tip over my wristlet to check my inbox. And yes, there’s a message from him, almost a day old now. I’m tempted to watch it, but Takemo is hovering next to me. There’s a transcript attached to the message, so I download both to the local storage on my wristlet and swipe away.

Then I remember my brief plan to just let him go, ignore him, and hope he would forget about me. Listening to his message, though, is fine, Skylar. I’ll listen and not respond. That’s avoidance right there.

“Skylar,” Takemo says, knocking me out of my daze. “You ready?”

When I nod, he asks the lab tech, “So, what’s first?”

“I should take your wristlet now,” the lab tech says, holding out his hand. “It might cause problems with today’s plant.”

I turn it over to the tech and jerk my head at Takemo. “You don’t have to stick around. I know you have your own work to do here.”

“Nah. It’s fine. I have employees out there doing the work. You shouldn’t have to do this alone.” His tone is damning, and he’s wondering why Kalvin isn’t here.

“I made Kalvin sleep on the couch last night, so he’s in bed now. I’m sure he’ll be here later.”

“Sure, Skylar.” The ‘whatever you say’ is left off. He already doubts Kalvin’s sincerity, even though we survived the desert together.

I wonder if Kalvin understands how his personality comes off to other people. I don’t think he does.

I open my mouth to protest, but the lab tech butts in, not seeing my hesitation.

“Okay. Up first, we have a specimen of lily. We’ve found an array of interesting plants around a freshwater pond about a ten-minute walk from here. All the plants seem to have the same properties as the fish and other creatures in the same water. This particular one is pretty neat. It changes a person’s skin at a cellular level to become electrocytes.”

I gasp and bring my fingers to my lips.

“You mean I’ll produce electricity?”

“Yep,” he says with a wide smile. “We suspect it’ll be anywhere up to four hundred volts. The effects seem to last a few hours, so you’ll be here all day.”

Looking around at the room I’m in, I realize they furnished it especially for me. I can relax on the oversized, plush couch, watch something on the wallscreens, and grab food from the stocked fridge. I’m not supposed to go anywhere because someone will observe me to ensure I don’t get sick.

Well, all of my worries about this job were for nothing. Looks like I’ll be sitting around bored, going from one guarded building to another, over and over. I thought this entire trip would be a lot more adventurous.

Not that I’m complaining. My trek to the camp from the gemstone mine was enough adventure for a lifetime.

“Did you witness this electric effect in other human test subjects?” I ask, excitement brewing in my chest.

“Yes, we did.” His mood sobers. “Unfortunately, he fried his scalp and ended up with second-degree burns.”

Yikes. Okay. Maybe I spoke too soon about this being boring.

More like possibly dangerous.

“We’ve analyzed your DNA, though, Ms. Kawabata, and we don’t expect any issues. You have a gene mutation that makes this all possible. If we have good luck here, and the luck continues, we may be able to make this work for the masses. We’ll see.”

“Okay.” I nod and shake out my arms. “Okay. I can do this.”

I hold out my hand for the crushed leaf encased in a gel pill, throw it into my mouth, and swallow it with a glass of water.

“I’ll call the doctor now,” the lab tech says, heading back inside.

“I think I’ll stick around,” Takemo says, ambling over to the couch and testing the cushions with his hand. “This looks comfortable.”

Suppressing my desire to be snarky with him, I cross to the fridge once the lab tech heads back inside. “Water?” I ask, leaning in to see what’s on offer. “Uh, black or green tea? Iced coffee?” I grab one of each and turn to see him, his head cocked to the side, staring at my ass.

I clear my throat and point. “My face is up here, asshole.”

His smile is self-satisfied. “I’m familiar with the anatomy of a human being, Skylar.”

“Could have fooled me. What do you want?” I ask, holding out the various cans.

“Coffee, thanks.”

I hand him his can, and I open a bottle of sweetened black tea.

“Didn’t really peg you for a tea drinker,” Takemo says as I sit down on the opposite end of the couch.

“I prefer coffee, but I like it hot, not cold. I only drink it hot, ever. Even if it’s blazing like the face of the sun outside.” I sip my tea. I hope the conversation dies soon and he leaves.

“How much time do you even spend outside? You’re a spaceship captain.” He tucks a leg up underneath him, turning to me.

I suppress a sigh.

I want to tell him to go, to find something else to do. Because I know this game. We’ll talk for a bit, and then he’ll say something insulting, and we’ll end up fighting with each other. But I can’t just order him to leave because that will also result in a fight.

“I like both ships and planets, but ships are more comfortable for me.” I drink more tea and set the bottle aside. “I didn’t spend much time on planets as a kid, so I’m trying to make up for it now.”

Takemo is quiet for a moment. “So, you really grew up on that ship?”

I close my eyes for a minute and rewind my memory to when we played cards on the Amagi. He had asked me why I hadn’t gone to boarding school on Ossun or Rio, and I had ignored his question.

“Right,” I say out loud, opening my eyes. “Yes, I grew up on the ship, and no, I did not go to boarding schools. Dominic insisted we stay aboard and be tutored instead.”

Takemo’s jaw flexes. “I don’t like that guy. He gives me a bad vibe.”

“Because he’s a bad person.” I sip my tea again and grimace at the pain in my back. Where is the doctor? “I got to go to far-school a few times. That’s how I met Saif.”

“Then how…?” He stops in mid-sentence, opens his mouth, grunts, and hesitates.

“Cat got your tongue?” I ask, trying not to laugh.

“I’m afraid if I ask this question, you’ll hate me.”

Ah. Shit. What’s it going to be? I inhale, lift my chin, and smile.

“Go ahead. I promise not to be angry or hate you.”

He seems to assess me for a moment before he nods.

“Okay. Then how did you cultivate this personality on the duonet of being a high-society princess? The fuck-em-and-leave-em type?”

My lips twist as I remember how it all started. I actually laugh, and this relaxes him a little.

“I went to far-school pretty regularly from six years old onward. The dads hated it, but my mom insisted I get to know other kids. Well, she did, at first.” I sip my tea again to cover my awkwardness. “Anyway, there was this girl at a camp on Rio when I was nine who just instantly hated me.” I roll my eyes. “She was so petty and insecure. She had some kind of dictatorship running with the other kids, and she saw me as a threat. When she heard my family had a small fleet of ships, she started the rumor that I was some high-and-mighty kid of a wealthy spacefaring family. That turned into ‘princess,’ and then all the kids were calling me that.”

I stop for a second, remembering the tears I shed in the bathrooms when no one could see me. That was the hardest few years of far-school before I met Saif.

“So, yeah. I didn’t know what to do. I spent little time with kids my own age. I didn’t have the playground to try out my strategies on or anything. So, I went with it. I couldn’t get her to stop, so I just let it happen. I played it up. If they thought I was snobby, I was even snobbier.”

“I hate childhood bullies,” he mumbles.

“Yeah? How do you feel about adult bullies?” My face heats with anger for a moment. “Because I distinctly recall you saying awful things about me and calling me a bitch.”

He pales and raises his hand. “I know. I’m sorry. I became the thing I hate, and I’m still trying to get past it.”

I sigh, pushing the air out of my nose. “The rumor grew and grew. They passed it through every social circle, every primary school. The kids had mouths, and it just could not be stopped. When I got older, men wanted to sleep with me because they thought I was some princess with money, and instead of telling them no and freezing them out like I should have, I let it happen. I was just happy for the attention. Nothing good ever happened at home, and this way, I had control over what I wanted. I never dreamed it would backfire on me so completely.”

“Your mom,” he says, nodding.

“Yeah, my mom.” I sigh as I lay my head back on the couch and rub my arms.

“I’m sorry. I feel like I was a party to all those rumors by believing them,” he says, looking away from me.

Ew. I have permanent goosebumps, and my scalp is prickling.

I glance at the clock, and it’s been about thirty minutes since I took the pill. My whole body tingles, and I smell ozone. It’s so weird. And forgetting the body sensations for a moment, I feel like a new relationship has opened up between Takemo and me. Maybe he’s willing to listen to me now. Maybe he’s even ready to be friends.

What if…?

I slip from the couch and approach Takemo. I peer down into his eyes as he lifts his chin to look at me. Softening my smile, I step right up to him.

“I know how you can make it up to me.”

His lips part slightly, but he doesn’t move. If he tells me to stop right now, I will. But I can see it in his eyes. He’s grown to like me, trust me.

Let’s see if he really trusts me.

“Hold out your hand, palm up,” I say, and he hesitates only a moment before complying.

I reach out to hover my fingers over his.

Closer, closer…

An electric current jumps from my finger, an arc so bright I gasp in surprise.

“Shit!” he cries, pulling his hand back and shaking it out. “Oh my God. That fucking hurt.”

I pull my hand up and cover my mouth, so I don’t start hysterically laughing. My fingers are numb, and they smart with pain. Stepping back from Takemo, I hold my fingers out to look at them. They’re singed.

“Oh shit.”

I whirl around at Kalvin’s voice. He’s standing in the doorway with two takeout cups of coffee and a paper bag.

“Sky, your fingers. They’re…” His voice drifts away on memories of our time in the desert. Quicksand had sucked him into the sandy abyss, and I shoved my hands into the sand to save him. Something shocked me and downloaded my memories, like flashes in my brain. I thought maybe the thing holding Kalvin was intelligent, so I asked for him back. I don’t know why I thought this. It was instinct.

And my fingers ended up the same. Singed. Red hot and almost black.

I laugh, holding up my hands to him. Kalvin pales.

Takemo blinks a few times, his breathing deepening.

“I saw something when you did that.” His voice is dreamy and light. “You were a kid, crying in a dark room… asking for food because you were hungry?”

My laughter dies quickly. “What? What did you say?”

“It was Dominic,” he says, smacking his lips and closing his eyes. “He used to lock you in the closet and not feed you.” He stands up, his face livid with anger. I’m stunned into silence. “What the fuck, Skylar?”

“I…” I reach out, hoping to calm him down, and another bolt lances off my hand and hits him in the upper arm.

“Ow!”

Takemo flies back on the couch, and my vision turns white for a second, like a giant flash from a camera has gone off. A wave of dizziness rolls over me as my head spins, and I collapse to my knees.

A flash of insight hits me — Takemo, in his early twenties, drowning his sorrows at a bar. He had just been dumped by someone he loved, I’m sure of it.

“Whoa!” Kalvin’s arms are around my chest and hauling me up. “Oh my… Shit. Help!”

I blink a few times as the world comes back to me. But I see Kalvin this time, sitting at his mother’s bedside? Yes, she could be his mother. She’s wasting away, barely breathing. Oh no.

“Get her on the couch!”

It takes a moment to realize the doctor has finally shown up, and she’s just in time to witness my first attempt at metabolizing the Rio plants.

I smell smoke, and Kalvin curses again. “Jesus, stop electrocuting me!”

“Back up,” I whisper. “Let go.”

He drops me to the floor, and I curl up and shout, “Stay away!”

Between Takemo and my past and now this, nothing about this day has gone well.

Nothing.