First Flyght – Chapter 5

“Vivi, wake up.”

My father throws the blackout blinds wide open and brings my room to blinding whiteness. I groan and throw my arm across my face.

“No,” I grumble, rolling over and pulling the covers over my head.

Dad sits down on the bed and shakes my shoulder. “I let you sleep late since we were up in the middle of the night, but you have less than five minutes to brush your hair and teeth, get dressed and meet us all downstairs for a family meeting.”

I love my dad, but there are days when he’s still stuck in toddler mode, “Brush your hair, brush your teeth, use the bathroom, put on your shoes…”

I roll over and peek out from under the cover. “Family meeting?”

“Aunt Fusako and Aunt Chihiro are both here with their husbands. Mom’s brothers are coming later today, and my family will be on planet tomorrow.”

Throwing the covers off the bed, I vault to my feet. “Is Skylar here?” The pile of clothes on my floor is only a few days deep, and most of them are in good shape. Before yesterday, I had done nothing but travel to and from school or sat at my desk across the room working on my final paper. I find a black pair of pants and a purple shirt, grateful both are clean.

Dad laughs as he turns to make his way out of the room so I can dress. “Of course, she’s here. She wouldn’t miss seeing you for the world.”

Once I’m in my clothes and dragging a brush through my hair, I stare out the window at the shuttle sitting on the landing pad. That’s definitely Aunt Fusako’s shuttle. I squint at the sky, but of course, I can’t see her ship. It’s probably parked in orbit or at the city spaceport. I brush my teeth and apply deodorant at the same time while examining my face in the mirror. I look worse than I did trying on those shoes yesterday. How is that even possible?

Don’t think about the shoes, Vivian.

“Vivi! Get your butt down here!” Skylar’s voice echoes up the stairwell, and my heart skips a beat.

“I’m coming, I’m coming. Hold your horses.” I take the stairs two at a time, getting a good look at my cousin and best friend (forever) before I launch into her arms.

She squeezes me tight as she laughs. I inhale and marvel at how she always smells this way, jasmine and ozone. It’s her signature scent.

“I didn’t think I’d see you until graduation,” I say, pulling away from her. We kiss each other on the cheek.

“Well, it looks like plans have changed, yeah?” Skylar’s reddened lips quirk in a sad smile. “That fucker Tomu. I want to rip his balls off.”

“You’re not the only one.” I sigh as I slip my arm around her waist.

I always feel like a mangy rat around Skylar. Her hair is dark, sleek and shiny, falling down over her shoulder in gentle waves. She buzzed one side of her head last year, and the style stuck. Despite being on board ship most of the time, her skin is that rich tanned color she inherited from her dark-skinned father mixed with our fairer Japanese skin tone. Gorgeous eyebrows, a hint of blush, and a cat-eye perfect eyeliner highlight the amber implants she got two years ago when she had her eyes permanently corrected.

“You should’ve seen the shoes I was going to buy yesterday,” I whisper to her as we make our way to the living room. “They were to die for. Bomba-Farias.”

She throws her head back and groans. “I’ve been saving up for a pair of those.”

“I had been too. Hey, do you know what this meeting is about?”

“I do,” she says, directing her eyes at the floor. Uh oh. “You’re not going to like it, but I’m excited as hell.” Her face tips up, and her megawatt smile makes my stomach flip.

Despite being best friends and cousins, having grown up together and spending all of our time together until I went to secondary school, Skylar and I are like night and day. Anything that excites her, out of the realm of fashion, hot celebrities, and entertainment programs from Sonoma, scares the crap out of me.

“There they are!” Aunt Fusako crosses the living room to give me a hug as everyone else murmurs around us. She squeezes me in an identical hug to the one Skylar gave me and pulls back to look at me. “Four months is too long to go without seeing you.”

“Hey, bug.” Uncle Julian, Aunt Fusako’s prime husband and Skylar’s dad, gives me his patented one-arm hug. “No worries. We’re all here now.”

It’s great to hear Uncle Julian’s baritone voice again. I have a million happy memories of him calling out the score at our family’s baseball games and grilling pork ribs on hot summer days.

Since I’m not too late to the ‘meeting,’ I make my way around the room, saying hi, hugging or kissing each of Aunt Fusako’s four husbands, my other two girl cousins younger than Skylar, Ana and Jukia, and then moving on to Aunt Chihiro and her two husbands and their kids.

None of my boy cousins are present. They’re off earning wages. It’s tradition in my family, just like many families of the Brazilianos system, that women make the critical decisions, run the land, and manage the finances. We’re the only ones who can own land until our system reaches parity between men and women. Considering women still only make up a small percent of the population, we have many more years to go until that happens.

“I now call this meeting of the Kawabata family to order,” Mom says, raising her voice over everyone present. The room quiets as we turn to give her our full attention.

Mom bows, and we all bow back. “I’d offer you all seats, but as you can see, the bank took most of the chairs.” She doesn’t sound angry, just disappointed. “As the oldest living child of the Kawabata family, it was my honor, privilege, and responsibility to run the family farm and supply family members with yearly wages and dividends. We have never shirked our duty. We love this land, and we love our family. And Vivian was happy and excited to take over the responsibility next year. But I’m…” Mom’s voice runs out as it cracks and squeaks. Dad puts his arm around her. “I’m sad to report that Tomu has betrayed us and mortgaged the land into bankruptcy.”

Aunt Chihiro covers her mouth with her hand.

Mom holds her hands out, halting any budding questions. One of her cats, Sassafras, circles around her feet.

“I know. And before you burn me on the cross, please understand that I’m already broken up about this.” My mom, who hardly ever cries, lets a tear roll down her cheek before wiping it away. “I thought I could trust him —”

“We thought we could trust him,” Dad stresses, turning to Mom. “This is not all on you. We had the best of intentions. He’s family, and he convinced us he was ready to be a part of the business. Unfortunately, we were taken for fools.”

“And now we have a year, maybe less, to buy back the land, to keep it in the family.”

Dad grabs a side table, one of the few left, and puts it in the middle of the room. The paper bag from the night before sits on it.

“We’re asking for help,” Mom says, pointing to the table. “I want to keep this land, this farm, and I know you all do too. Nuno has been working on a side project and can contribute 800,000 credits towards the five million we need.”

My dad, Nuno, opens the bag and takes out the 800,000 cash credits. Aunt Chihiro’s eyes look like they’re going to pop out and roll away.

“Where did he get that?” she asks, pointing to the stack.

Dad looks so proud, he’s about to burst. Mom side-eyes him.

“His hobby paid off,” Mom mumbles, not allowing any more questions.

I keep my mouth shut as the adults turn to whisper amongst each other. Though I was one year away from owning the entire farm and being in Mom’s place, I have no voice here. All of these women and men, even most of my cousins, earn their own credits and contribute to the family coffers. I have never earned a credit for myself outside of the family’s financial ecosystem. Any hard labor picking produce in the fields when I was young contributed to the family or to my education fund. Any of my greenhouse designs or long-term plans for the sustainability of the family farm went to my meager credit account, which is now gone gone gone.

I am powerless.

I cross my arms and look down at my shoes, ignoring the pad of paper being passed around.

“You okay?” Skylar asks, squeezing my arm. I shrug in response. What can I say?

Aunt Chihiro folds up her paper and adds it to Dad’s pile of cash. “My family can contribute 300,000 credits now and an additional 100,000 credits before this calendar year is up. We’ll have to see about next calendar year.” Her husbands nod and approach Mom and Dad for hugs and handshakes. I hear Aunt Chihiro whisper to Mom, “I wish we could give more.”

“It’s more than generous,” Mom replies, hugging Aunt Chihiro.

There’s a blank moment when everyone stops to glance at each other, and then everyone’s eyes fall on me. I swallow.

Mom clears her throat. “With one point two million credits and possibly another half a million from Nuno’s side of the family, we can cover less than half the credits needed to buy back the land, and that still leaves us drastically short. So…” Mom raises her hand and looks me in the eyes. “So the rest falls on Vivian’s shoulders.”

All the blood in my head migrates to my toes. “Me?” I place my hand on my chest. “How am I going to make three point three million credits in less than a year?”

And even as I say it, I know the answer. That lifestyle I had planned, the one where I inherit the land, attend the annual landholder’s ball, and meet an influential man to partner with? That ball where I would wear my gorgeous red shoes? That easy, idyllic life I had concocted in my head in which I’d find a soulmate and live happily ever after?

That dream is dead in a flash of smoke.

“I’m afraid you won’t be able to partner with any of the more influential men on Ossun like we planned, Vivian.” Mom crosses the room to grasp my shoulders. “It’s now important for you to build a network of husbands who will join the Kawabata family and contribute to the family estate.”

“But…” I hold my tongue because my aunt and her several husbands are standing right behind me.

Look, I grew up with only my one dad, and I felt how deeply in love my parents were. They still are. I dreamt that the same thing would happen to me. I would meet the perfect guy who would be everything to me, to my family, to my future. And I had that once… once a long time ago. I believed in a future for myself with one, maybe two husbands if the situation was ideal. I do not want a harem. As much as I saw it working for my aunt, I always left their ship after visits thinking, “That’s way too much for me.”

Besides, men are… How do I put this politely? Complicated. They get jealous. They don’t want to share. They fall all over themselves for women because there are so few of us.

Or they turn out to be assholes like my brother.

My hand clutches into a fist. If I ever find my brother, I’m going to kill him for doing this to me. This is his fault.

I look to Skylar, and she has the good grace to not throw her head back and laugh. When we were growing up, she learned how to be the heir-apparent to her mother’s fortune, a fortune her mother earned through her network of husbands. Skylar made contacts at all the schools she went to, all the planets she visited. She’s already dated quite a few guys, but she hasn’t married anyone yet.

Aunt Fusako and Uncle Julian smile at each other. “We have great news for you, Vivian.”

“They’re giving us the Amagi,” Skylar blurts out, clutching my arm. She makes an excited Eeeeeee sound as she nearly falls over from glee. I can’t do anything but stare in horror. “It’s ours for the year. We’re going to have a legitimate business together.”

She jumps up and down, her socked feet pounding on the wood floor. It’s a good thing she’s not in her usual combat boots.

I have no idea what to say. My eyes dart around the room, first to Mom and Dad, then to Aunt Chihiro who smiles at me, and then Aunt Fusako. When I don’t say anything, she pipes up.

“We’re giving you and Skylar the Amagi for the year, yes. Skylar has flown the ship at least three dozen times, and she’s a licensed pilot. I spoke with your mom” — she breaks off to make eye contact with Mom — “and we think this is the best way forward. You’ll use the year to run shipping contracts back and forth between here and the Californikos system, and at the same time, you’ll meet men and families you can ally with, hopefully bringing more credits to the table to buy back the family land.”

My skin is prickly, like when my foot falls asleep after sitting on it for too long. “But…” I start but don’t know how to continue. But what about my plans? What about my education, my graduation? I know nothing about flying spaceships or handling shipping contracts.

Wait. I guess that’s not true. I have experience with finance and contracts, and I’m familiar with many of our suppliers here on the farm. But I know nothing about spaceships besides the few times I’ve flown with Aunt Fusako, her husbands, and Skylar.

“It won’t be easy,” Aunt Fusako warns. “The Shipping and Trade Regulation Authority has a list a parsec long of people who want to get shipping licenses for the big routes. It’s what we do, but you can’t do it under our license, unfortunately.”

“Then, what?” I shrug, hoping this is the end of the conversation. “I think you’re all…” I back away from them, letting out an exasperated breath. “I think you’re all a little nuts. Me? Run shipping on a spaceship? That’s…”

“It’s the best idea we have,” Mom says, stepping into my line of sight. Her face is the one I know from childhood, the one that tells me I have no other options. It’s her way or the highway.

In my rebellious teen years, I would’ve told her to piss off, and I did do that a few times. But she was always right.

My brain seizes up. She’s right. She’s always been right. Except when she’s wrong to trust Tomu.

This is a huge mistake. There’s no way I can do this and save the family, much less do this and be happy. This? This will make me miserable.

“How will we get shipping contracts if we can’t get a license?”

Skylar rubs her hands together. “Times are changing. The STRA doesn’t run everything anymore. There are two startups out of Palo Alto, Ampla and Flyght, that have found a way to match smaller customers with smaller ships. Independent contracting at its finest. We just need to get in with one of them, and we’ll be set.”

“I… I really need a chair to sit down,” I say, my voice shaking. One of my cousins runs into the next room and brings in a side chair from the smaller kitchen table.

“Flyght. Really?” I plead to Mom and Aunt Fusako as I sit. “I can’t believe you’re even suggesting it after all I went through.”

I did my finance degree first in my early twenties on Rio, the other major metropolis planet in our system. I was young, and it was my first time away from home. Naturally, I met a boy in class, and we fell in love. Ken Mata wasn’t anything extraordinary, but he was tall, handsome, kind, funny, and smart, and he was mine for a short time. I can still close my eyes and see his swoop of hair and the beautiful body he cultivated playing football in every spare moment he had.

My parents, though, were not so in love. He came from a poor family with no real prospects for an alliance, and I was ‘too good for him.’ Ugh. I hated that stuck-up and pretentious attitude. I never saw myself as better than anyone else, but my parents saw differently.

When Ken and I got our finance degrees, he begged me to move to Palo Alto with him, to run away for love. He even proposed with a ring and everything. And I wanted to go. I wanted to marry him. I really did. But my parents threatened to disown me and hand the farm down to one of my female cousins. I agonized over the decision, but I chose my family over Ken. He left, brokenhearted and angry, and I returned to Ossun to get my second degree. It took me over a year to break out of the cycle of crying every day, and I’ve barely dated anyone since. One or two guys have come into my life and then flitted right back out.

Ken, though, turned out to be plenty talented. He took his finance degree and started Flyght, the hippest and most financially solvent startup in the last five years. I’ll never forget seeing him on the news the first time with his hair and a new beard and his sneaky smile. Pangs of jealousy clutched my stomach, and I had to walk away from the news that day.

Now, I have to face him again?

“You made me say no to him. You made me stay here,” I say, pointing my finger at Mom. “And now you want me to crawl back to him so I can get into Flyght? Are you mad?”

No one says anything.

Skylar shrugs at me. “We could try Ampla, but their terms are not as lucrative.”

“You don’t know how sorry I am,” Mom says, but I don’t want to hear it. I don’t think I’ve ever been so angry at her, at Dad, at everything.

“You’re going to have a hard time with either Ampla or Flyght,” Aunt Fusako says, flipping on her wristlet and gesturing to whatever she sees there. “They both have a long application process, and once you qualify, you have to submit to an interview every six months. I’m sending you the documents you need to study up on before you get going.”

My wristlet chimes, but I don’t check it.

I don’t know where things went so wrong in my life.

I lean forward and rest my head on my hands. This is a nightmare.

“Is this really my only option?” I ask, lifting my head. “Is there nothing else we can do?”

This time, Dad steps forward and comes to kneel beside me, taking my hands in his. “Vivi, this isn’t just the only option, it’s the best possible option. Not only will you be making contacts with influential people, but we’re hoping you’ll meet men you want to settle down with.” He kisses my fingers, and my heart melts. “Many someones who will bring joy not only to you but to the whole family.”

He stands up, and I wipe away a few tears before I look up at him.

“You will make us proud. I’m sure of it.”

Translation, “Your brother already fucked up big time.”

Now, I have to clean up after him.