First Flyght – Chapter 27

I hate waiting. Waiting for people to get back to me. Waiting for plants to grow.

What I should be doing is trying to secure more funding. I should be going over potential suitors with Marcelo. I should be doing more research on these seeds Dad handed off to me. I should be looking into other possible contracts for shipping. I should be on the bridge with Skylar going over our plan for the next few weeks.

I should be doing a lot of things.

But I’m excited to get started. I haven’t touched my work in ages. I haven’t grown anything except a bad reputation. I miss growing plants. And when it comes to growing plants, every moment counts.

Aquaponics is just the beginning. Because after looking at that list of Dad’s, I’ll need to grow some of these vegetables in soil, especially the tree that gives people musical abilities. I’ve always wanted to be a musician. The cargo bay is full of pigs I can get organic waste from, and I’ll need to source pots for growing. There’s so much to do.

So when the knock on the auxiliary cargo bay comes, I’m knee deep in setting up my equipment, sweat pouring off my forehead, and wearing my rattiest clothes.

“Uh, Captain? Sorry to bother you, but you have a visitor,” Carlos says, poking his head around the corner of the door.

“So, they really call you ‘captain,’ do they?” Ken asks stepping through the door.

I drop one of the rods I’m holding, and it hits the floor with a clang.

Ken looks like he’s stepped straight out of a board meeting, and he probably did. It’s gotta be, what, 19:00 on Palo Alto? I only messaged him two hours ago, and I really expected him to call and say no thanks. Or not call at all.

I didn’t expect him to show up.

“Uhhhh, hi. What are you doing here?”

Ken cocks a smile at me. “As elegant as ever.”

From behind Ken, Carlos backs away, both hands way up in the air, double thumbs up. I try not to laugh. Honestly, I laughed so much earlier that my abdominal muscles hurt now. I am way out of shape.

“I got your message, and I decided we should talk in person.” He saunters in, his hands in his pockets, his eyes trained on my equipment scattered around the room. “Especially after what happened the other night.” He jerks his head to the side, indicating, perhaps, our previous rendezvous. “I figured your ship was safe.”

“Only if Ai keeps her mouth shut.”

“Oh, Captain, my captain. I am as discreet as a chameleon.”

Ken looks up at the ceiling as Ai’s drawl coats everything in the room.

“Don’t you worry a microgram about this. Carlos is on the case,” Ai declares. “This handsome man wasn’t really here, though I strongly suspect he’d like to stay all night long.”

“Thank you, Ai,” I mumble through my clenched teeth.

Ken bursts into a laugh. “Your life has become really interesting. I like it.” He flashes a smile at me, and I don’t know whether to be flattered or confused.

I pick up the metal bar I just dropped and set it aside, grabbing my towel while I’m at it too. I knew I’d be sweaty in here, and I came prepared. But it feels weird mopping myself up in front of Ken who’s as put together as they come. I wipe off my face as I clamber around the water tanks where I’ll eventually house fish to help keep my aquaponics system running and healthy. Reaching into my jeans pocket, I find a hair elastic and tie back my hair. It’s still straight, but it’s messy.

“Well, this is a surprise, but I’m glad you came.”

He shrugs, his hands still in his pockets. “How can I resist a message like that?”

My message was an apology and an entreaty to talk about a business idea.

“Ken, I’m really, truly sorry about what happened the other night —”

“Why are you apologizing to me?” he interrupts.

I bumble to a stop. “Why… Why wouldn’t I?”

“Vivian, it was my idea to go to the club. It was my idea for you to sit down and talk to me. It was my wine and my prying that loosened your tongue. It was my damned inability to realize I’m being watched at all times that got us slapped all over the gossip news. And let me tell you, I had to do a lot of dodging to make it up here to see you.”

I’m about to apologize again when he plows on.

“So, that’s all to say that I’m here to apologize to you, in person.” He lifts his head and makes eye contact with me. It’s like being punched straight in the heart. “I’m sorry I got you, us, into this mess. I’ll do anything to make it up to you.”

Anything.

My breath catches, and I hold it still. I should ask for the world because I know he’d give it to me. I’ve seen this look before. It’s the same intensity he had when he asked me out for the first time.

“Will you call my mother and apologize for me? I’m dreading it.” My breath resumes in a huff, and he laughs.

“Whatever you wish. I’d be surprised if she takes my call though.”

I try to smile even though the memory of his proposal hurts.

Change the subject, Vivian.

“So, you know my predicament now?” He nods. “I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. You probably saw the pigs —”

“Probably? You can see that many pigs from Concord City, Vivian.”

I laugh, and I want to beg him to be serious. But he was always good at making me laugh. It was why we fell in love in the first place.

“The pigs are just one job that will keep me from being in the red this week. They’re a temporary stop-gap measure. I can get more contracts after this one, but —” I sigh, feeling so weary I loop my hand up to my neck and massage at the knot that’s grown there over the last twelve hours. “I’m worried I’ll make the wrong deals with the wrong people, but I’d be totally okay with making the right deals with the wrong people, at this point.”

Ken slowly shakes his head. “That does not sound like the Vivian I know.”

I shrug. “The Vivian you knew is dead and gone. This Vivian, Captain Vivian, has a family to save, a ship to keep running, and a staff to pay.”

“What about you, Vivian?”

“What about me?” My voice is so flat, it’s practically dead. “There is no me anymore.” I sigh as I turn and look at the mess I made. No worries, though. I can visualize the set up in my head. The tanks where I’ll keep the fish, the rows of growing racks, the grow lights — they’ll all be installed before I sleep again.

“So, are you ready for a surprise?” I ask, lifting my eyebrows.

“This whole meeting is a surprise, so I doubt I could be any more ready.” He shrugs off his suit jacket and sets it aside. “Need help with this?” He gestures to the scattered equipment. “I still remember the one you set up in our apartment back on Rio.”

“Oh, this?” Now, I’m the one who’s surprised. “No. No, I wouldn’t waste your time asking you to help me with this.” I wave the mess away, wishing I could snap my fingers and it would all be done. Considering what I found in Dad’s seed database, that’s actually not a distant possibility.

“Come. Have a seat.” On the other side of the auxiliary cargo bay, I have a ‘desk’ set up. Really, it’s just a table with some equipment on it. But I have two chairs here so I can invite people into this space, where I suspect I’ll be spending a lot of time over the next year.

Sitting on the table, Dad’s seedbox is open and awaiting my whims. Ken stands over it, his eyebrows drawn inward as he plucks a seedbox from the container and holds it up to the light.

“That’s a good one,” I say, pointing to it. “That’s B5RSD2, an orange flower that grows in bunches. When the flower is boiled and its juices extracted, it produces a euphoric experience in those that ingest it.”

“It’s a drug?” he asks, shifting his eyes to me.

“Yes, indeed. Completely natural, of course, and the ingredient to my father’s now-famous ‘Happiest of Hot Sauces.’” I mimic the air quotes as Ken’s jaw drops open.

“No. You’re joking.”

“Why? Have you heard of it?” I take the box back from him and nestle it in with the others.

“I have.” His eyes are wider now. “You know I’ve always loved hot sauces.”

It was something he had in common with my dad, and they often bonded over it when Ken was around for family gatherings. I remember how sad Dad was when Mom told me I had to turn Ken down and break up with him. I think he had loved Ken just as much as I had.

“Soooo, Dad’s sauce is a thing? It’s popular?”

Ken’s laugh is filled with disbelief. “Holy shit, Vivian. You have no idea. It’s gone underground. People everywhere are talking about it.”

I sink into my chair at the desk, letting out a long, relieved breath. “Then Plan B may just save us after all,” I whisper, staring into space.

Ken takes the chair next to me. “If I had known it was your father’s doing, I would have…”

“What?”

He throws up his arms. “I don’t know! Thank him? Praise him? I’ve tried it twice. I hadn’t been that happy in years.” He glances at me quickly then away. “And it was interesting the way there was no opposite drain later, like with so many drugs. I was happy, then I was normal. I felt… relieved, almost cleansed afterward.”

I raise my eyes to the ceiling. “God bless my father.”

Tears rush to my eyes as I reach out and grab Ken’s hand, squeezing my fingers around his. His look of alarm doesn’t deter me.

“Ken, I can trust you, right? I know I hurt you, and you have every right to hate me for what I did —”

“I don’t hate you,” he interrupts, and I stop. “I was angry, for a long time.”

“You had every right to be.”

“But I realized, after about a year, I was angry with your mom for putting you through that, more than I was angry with you for following her guidance.”

This is the kind of thing I wanted to avoid when I asked Ken to talk with me, and my heart wrenches and twists into a lump. There was a time when I would’ve done anything to have him back, and there was a time when I would’ve done anything to forget him. And then there was peace for a year.

Now everything is back and slapping me in the face — my failures, my faults.

But I asked for this, didn’t I? I decided he was the only outsider I could trust with this. The only one with money, too.

I lift my head and let the tears fall. “I’ve done stupid, foolish things. I’m a pawn in an elaborate game of chess, and there’s so little I can do about it.”

“Viv —”

I pull my hand away from his and wipe the tears from my face. “And now it’s time for Revenge Vivian to get back some of her freedom.”

“‘Revenge Vivian?’” he asks, and this time he’s serious.

“Yep,” I reply, reaching for Dad’s seedbox. “I’ve subdivided off my personality into chunks that I can call on in different situations.”

His stare is full of judgment.

“Look, I’m doing the best I can under the circumstances.” I pluck a seedbox out. “See this one? This one gives people enhanced night vision. This other one allows people to shapeshift —”

“Now, you’re really pulling my leg,” he says with a guffaw.

“Do I look like I’m joking?” My face would fit in well in a graveyard. He swallows.

I take another one from the box. “This one is my favorite, and I can’t wait to grow it. It’s a vine that grows beans. The beans give you the ability to read another person’s mind.”

Ken loses two shades of color in his cheeks.

“It’s not just happy hot sauces. And my dad found all of these on Rio. There’s even one that allows people to de-age, grow younger. Think about that.”

He holds the case of tiny bean seeds up to the light and stares into it.

“I’m thinking Athens Industries has finally met its match,” he says, his eyes wide.

I chuckle. “That’s a good one. They’re so large, no one will ever match them.”

“They’re large for a good reason,” he warns. “They take down their competitors without thought or mercy. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been approached and asked to hand over my business to them. This?” He waves to the box. “This is just the kind of thing they would want to destroy. Their Hebe Program relies on what they make in the lab. Those anti-aging nanites are big money.”

He whistles, long and low, while shaking his head. I’ve always been fascinated by the Hebe Program, named after the Greek goddess of youth. Its Aphrodite and Adonis off-shoots are only a fraction of what they do. I would love to live forever, but I don’t want nanites eating me to death like that asshole Devos said happened to someone he knows.

“A natural way to reverse aging is the kind of thing they’d love to bury.”

It’s time for some convincing.

“I can grow these, Ken. All of them. Right here.” I wave to my mess of a lab. “And with us running errands between the systems, we’ll be hard to pinpoint, hard to catch. Most of these seeds will look totally normal to a casual observer. People will just think I’m growing food for my crew. My biggest problem will be the unpredictability of Customs searches and inspections.”

Ken holds up his hand.

“Say no more.”

He stands up from his chair and paces to the end of the room and back, his hand rubbing his stubbly cheek.

He stops and sighs. “Vivian, I’m afraid… we’re going to have to work together,” he finishes with a smile.

I let my shoulders relax. “I haven’t even asked you for anything yet.”

He sits back down. “The very fact that I apologized and told you I would do anything for you, and you didn’t immediately ask for help, shows me you’re not trying to take advantage of me.”

My insides heat. “I would never —” I bumble over my words. “I’m not trying to…” I give up and sit back. “Fuck it, I am. I am trying to take advantage of you. You have Flyght now. You have money. You have the contacts I need.”

He throws back his head and laughs. “I like this version of you a lot. What do you call it?”

“I call it Desperate Vivian.” And my seriousness wipes the smile off his face. “I want to grow these plants and turn them into a commodity. We can make hot sauces or lozenges or candy or whatever with it. But I need to make it and sell it because I have a year, maybe less, to buy back the house, the land, and all the business assets. I have to come up with over three million credits, Ken. Between this, the shipping contracts, and… the men I’ll meet, I need to make it happen.”

Ken’s stare is hard as ice, and I won’t pretend I didn’t see it change when I mentioned the men.

“You could sell these to Athens Industries and make that much. There’s no need to go to all the work.”

A shiver runs down my back. “Would you sell them these?”

Ken shakes his head with a sigh. “On second thought, no. One of my friends sold them a patent two years ago. Then he committed suicide a week later. I don’t think it was a coincidence.”

No. I don’t think so either. Athens Industries is ruthless. They get what they want, when they want it, and they crush everyone standing in their way. If you have knowledge that they own, then they own you too, until you die. Sometimes that death comes early and unexpectedly.

Ken folds his arms over his chest. “Here’s my offer. I’ll give you 50,000 credits in seed money, literally.” He laughs. “Usually, that’s not so literal.”

I smile as my heart picks up a swift beat.

“I’d like an eighty-twenty split. You keep eighty percent, and I’ll take twenty. And I don’t expect to ask for the initial investment back.”

“What? That’s skyway robbery. I can’t accept that.”

“I will also grant you a Diamond Level Flyght permit.”

I grip the desk, hard enough to cramp my fingers.

“What?” This time I can barely speak.

“With a Diamond Level permit, you can go wherever you like, work on your own schedule, and you’ll also have the highest paying clients.”

I blink a few times with my mouth open.

“I suspect they’ll also be game to try out your experiments. Rich people love illicit wares.” His smile is sad, and he shakes his head before continuing. “You can still transport animals, of course. Many of these clients deal in designer species, and they’ll be happy to use a ship not stuck in insurance hell like many of my other ships.”

It takes a few minutes to find my voice.

“Ken, this is far, far too generous.”

“There’s a catch, of course.”

My stomach flips over. Of course, there’s a catch. Please don’t say I have to date you again, please don’t say I have to date you again, please don’t say I have to date you again.

I just got over him.

“I’d like it if we started dating again.”

I close my eyes and drop my head.

No. I can’t do it. I was in love with him before. I’ll totally fall for him again. And then how am I supposed to grow my relationship network if I give him this part of me?

“Vivian, you look like I just killed Frogger.” His knee bumps mine, but I keep my eyes down. “Am I reading this wrong?”

Gain some strength, Vivian.

I’m going to need it.

“You’re not.” This time I make eye contact. “I’d love to date you again, but… It’s important to know that I can’t be exclusive to you. That may have been an option in the past, but it’s not now. Even if I get the property back, and the business, we’ll have to repair everything, build back up our reputation. All of our stores will be gone. Hell, even the land may be fallow by the time I get it back. I’ll need more than one husband, multiple suitors, to get us back on our feet.”

He shrugs. “Okay.”

I’m confused. “Just okay?”

“You’re acting like I’m not the second son of a third husband, Viv. Single pairing relationships were your family’s thing, not mine.” He shrugs again. “I can share.”

He reaches for my hand and pulls it towards him.

“I’ve missed you.” Looking me in the eyes, he dips his lips and kisses the inside of my wrist. His kiss lingers there as my head lightens and all the memories of our past come rushing back. I used to lie on the couch with him, and he would start his kisses there, up my arm to my elbow, to my neck…

I let out a shuddering breath as he pulls away and smiles.

“There’s still much I remember about you.” He places my limp hand back on my lap and stands up. “I’m looking forward to learning more about these other parts of you, very soon.”

He strides to the door, and I don’t move. I can’t move. Moving is impossible.

“I’ll have the credits in your account in an hour,” he says over his shoulder, “and the Flyght permit before morning. Call me when you’re back in town!”

Okay. Sure. Yeah.

I rest my forehead on the table.

I hope I made the right choice.

There’s no going back now.