Lost Flyght – Chapter 12

The plans I want to make do nothing but plague me all night as I toss and turn in bed. No sleep for Vivian on this ‘relaxing’ vacation. I should’ve known something like this would happen. It was too good to be true.

Gus has not visited me tonight. I stare at the space under my door and wish he would come to me. I could fake a nightmare, and he’d be at my side, but that’s not the way I want to build our relationship, on lies. I wonder if he’s lying in bed thinking of me?

All I’m thinking about as the hours tick by is how Malina and Cressida are connected. What did they fight about? Can I use it to my advantage somehow? Malina seemed to want to support me. Putting a rest to Cressida’s constant nagging about Jinzo would help me keep a clean profile and build my network. And building my network is the only way I’m going to get the farm back.

I roll out of bed around dawn, giving up on the fleeting notion of sleep. Maybe I can catch a nap later. Napping is not something I’m good at, but I have to try to get back on Universal Time, or I’ll fall apart, just as Gus has been predicting.

Grabbing my bag, I fish around inside for the access chip Carlos gave me before we left for Laguna. It’s time to check in with everyone back on the Amagi. I sit down at the desk in my room, slide the access chip into the reader, and pair my wristlet up with the desk terminal. A few swipes and my usual screen comes up on the desk’s projection.

Yawning and running through my daily feeds, I dismiss news stories about the stock market on Palo Alto, several military ships converging on Rio for standard training exercises, and a gossip story about one of my high school compatriots adding another prominent man to her network. Boring, boring, and I’ll save that for later when I have time to read frivolous things. Like, never.

I dial up Jinzo for a vidcall and yawn while I wait for the connection, but he doesn’t answer. What time is it there? Almost noon. He’s probably knee-deep in the engine room, and I know from experience he doesn’t take calls when he’s working on sensitive equipment. So, I dial up Carlos instead.

“Captain! It’s good to see you. How’s the weather on Laguna?”

“Sunny and thirty-two degrees as always. Weather control is a wonderful thing.”

“That it is. I’ve always been interested in that tech.” He sighs. “Maybe someday.”

“I’m calling to check in and see how things are progressing there. Jinzo didn’t answer my vidcall request.”

“Uhhh…” He leans back and looks away from his screen. “I believe he’s in the engine room. Want me to go grab him?”

“I figured. No. It’s fine. I’ll leave him a message.” I yawn again and rub at my eyes. “What’s going on with your work?”

“I have some good news. I called up my buddy, Yan… You remember him?”

“How could I forget?” Yan Martinez helped us track down Tomu in our early days.

“Well, I asked him to come on out here and help me with Ai. He arrived a few hours ago and got to work right away. Looks like he’ll have the last of Ai on a remote drive by the end of the day, and we hope to revive her tomorrow, if we’re lucky.”

Yan’s head drops into the screen, and he smiles. “Hey, Ms. Kawabata. Hope you don’t mind me crashing on the Amagi again.”

“Not at all,” I say, smiling at him. “Thanks for helping Carlos out.”

“Sure thing.” He ducks back out of the vidcall, and Carlos grabs a bag of candy as he accesses something on his side of the conversation.

“Soooooo, I have a list of items we need to fix or purchase replacements for. Mind if I run them by you?”

“Yeah, can you share the list with me?”

The list pops up in the corner of my display. I want to bang my head on the desk. This fire we had is going to be the end of me. There’s so much to fix or buy, and I’m not made of money. Far from it.

“The nav-sat system needs an upgrade panel.” Carlos waves his hand in a circle. “We need to recharge fire extinguishers. New speakers that were shorted out during the fire. Oh.” He rolls his eyes. “We’ve got a short in the crew and guest quarters’ locks.”

“What’s wrong with the locks?”

“You know how all the rooms got locked down during the fire? I believe one of the room’s locking mechanisms, room eleven, was fried then. I haven’t been able to open the door since. The lock mechanism log files from that time are buried with Ai, so once we have her up and running, I’ll pull everything, move them over to the new system, and run a diagnostic.”

My head swims with all his jargon. “Uh, okay. Can’t you just override it or something? We plan to start retaking Flyght clients soon, and I can’t have a whole guest cabin out of commission.”

“Sure, Captain. I’ll look into it.” He salutes. “Next item. Since the fire crew went through the galley, I also did an inspection in there. We have two cabinets that require fixing, and I need to purchase a new transformer for the bank of LEDs over the countertop.”

“Electrical stuff is Jinzo’s specialty, so be sure he picks everything out. Okay? This sounds like a lot of work, Carlos. Are we going to be able to get flying in a week? It seems almost impossible.”

“Well,” he says, leaning back in his chair and pushing his chin-length hair behind his ears, “it’s definitely a lot to do. But we’re all making great progress here, and I believe we’re still on track to finish on time.”

Good. Because I want to get the hell off this planet as soon as possible. Just knowing Cressida is here is enough to make me want to flee like the place is on fire.

“Okay, good. Let’s stay on track. I’m sure Skylar wants to fly her ship soon.”

I swipe over to my financial records and double-check that everything’s in order. I’m not pleased with the balance of credits, but I think it’ll be enough. At least I’m eating for free the next couple of days, thanks to the Lees. When Asteria left last night, she made sure we wouldn’t be charged for anything.

“I have an open charge account with Lee Shipyards. Put through orders for whatever you need.” I raise my finger and wag it at him. “Nothing extra. Understand? We can’t afford the high-ticket items. Choose wisely.”

He smirks. “You’ve got it. I’ll send you updates later when I have them.”

“Talk soon.”

I wave as I disconnect.

Looking out the balcony of my room, the sun is popping up on the horizon. I rest my head on my hand and stare out at the ocean. Life here is slow. Sure, it’s relaxing, but I’m used to the go-go-go of space flight and clients and tracking down bad guys and wooing new men and meeting families and…

I close my eyes and picture Cressida’s face last night. She knows I’m here. She probably realizes I’m here without Jinzo too. This would be the perfect time to confront her and tell her to leave us alone.

But what advantage do I hold in this conversation? None. I’m the new woman, and she’s branded me the consort thief. I can’t confront her without some kind of ammunition.

I turn back to the screen and vidmessage Jinzo.

“Hey, Jin. I just wanted to leave a message and tell you that I miss you. I don’t know what it is about your voice and your smile, but without them, I feel pretty lost. Yes, yes, I’ll call Ken and tell him something similar.” I wink because I know Jinzo well enough that he won’t be happy unless I give everyone the same treatment. “I…” I pause for a second, not wanting to spoil this message with talk of Cressida. I should tell him, but it can wait. “I hope the repairs are going smoothly. I thought, maybe, if you get the majority of work done, you could come join me here for a day. You could use some time off, just like me. Don’t worry. Gus is making sure I eat.”

I gloss over the fact that my sleep has been shit.

“Give me a call when you get a chance. I love you.” End message.

I smile at that. That’s the first time I’ve said it aloud in a few days, and it feels good. It feels right.

I call Ken too and leave a similar message describing how lovely the villa is because I know those details would interest him. I tell him I love him too, and my belly flutters with happiness. At least this is something that’s finally going well for me.

My hand hovers over the access chip in the desk, ready to disconnect, when I remember I have an open invitation from Malina for her help. This situation is intensely personal, though. How do I go from acquaintance-slash-business-partner to tell-me-all-your-juicy-secrets?

I just told Jinzo I’m lost without him, but I’m more lost than ever in general. I don’t know how to do a lot of the social niceties. I’m a bookworm, not a socialite. The best I can do most days is handle a business deal.

Ah, fuck it. I need to try, for the sake of everyone involved.

I access my address book and find Malina’s entry in the system. It’s late morning on Ossun, if she’s there, so now’s as good a time as any.

The Estrela star on my home screen turns, and the display shows ‘connected’ right before Malina’s face appears in front of me.

“Vivian, how nice to hear from you. I hope everything is fine with you.” I’m immediately stunned by her clear expression like she slept a full nine hours last night and every night for all her life. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and her face is fresh and dewy. No lipstick. No elaborate makeup. Something I didn’t believe she would ever do. In my head, she exists as she did the night of our dinner, all glamor and poise.

“Hi, Malina. I’m glad you had the time to take my call. I’m on Laguna for a bit, so I can’t complain about the weather, at least.” I smile at her, a smile I keep on hand for old friends.

“What are you doing on Laguna? Picking up a Flyght client?”

“No, unfortunately not. There was an accident onboard the Amagi about a week ago. A small fire.”

She gasps and covers her mouth. I halt her concern with my outstretched hand.

“No worries. No one was hurt, and we were docked in Concord City, so the damage was fairly minimal.”

She presses her hand to her chest. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“So the ship is docked in Lee Shipyards while Jinzo and some of my crew stay there to repair it.” I decide to be intimate about myself before asking her anything personal. “I met Ms. Lee for the first time, and she was so lovely. Really kind. She suggested I come here with my cousin and a friend for a little vacation.”

“Oh, that’s so nice of her! She really is a lovely woman, you’re right. I’ve met her once myself… a long time ago.” Her eyes take on a film of sadness.

“So, I’m here, and I thought it would be a relaxing few days when something happened at dinner last night.”

“What’s that?”

“I saw Cressida Briar-Stevenson across the restaurant we were dining at.”

I wait for the news to bring some sort of reaction to her face, but she’s good. Really good. Whatever happened between the two of them hurt her badly enough that she’s schooled herself to bury the emotional wreckage deep.

“I suddenly have the feeling this is not just a social call.” Her face has taken on the properties of stone.

“I’m not going to beat around the bush with you, Malina. I like you, and I’m super grateful that you and Alipha offered to help me get back the farm. As you’ve probably heard, Cressida is making it hard to live my life right now. She keeps doing these interviews, calling me names…” I sigh and roll my eyes. “It’s as bad as being back in grade school.”

Malina’s lips unfreeze and jerk into a small smile. “Well, I wouldn’t expect anything better from someone like her.”

“I suspected as much.” I switch positions at the desk, bringing my legs under me to sit cross-legged in the chair. “So, here I am to tell you that I know you and Cressida used to be friends and that you had a falling out.”

Her stare makes me regret ever being born. “Did Jinzo tell you that?”

“No. His sister, Asteria, did. She didn’t have any details, though.”

“Because I’ve been careful to keep it under wraps for years, that’s why —”

I open my mouth to ask what happened, and she plows on.

“— And I’m not about to reveal myself now.”

I frown. “I don’t think I need to tell you just how awful it is to be the subject of her duonet ridicule. I could really use some kind of leverage with her.”

“Dump Jinzo,” she says like he’s nothing.

I shake my head. “I can’t.” I press my fingers to my lips to steady my voice. “I love him.”

“You’ll find someone else.”

“Malina…”

“No, Vivian. This is” — she shakes her head — “non-negotiable. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing I can say or do to convince you to help me? I’ll pay for your trip to Laguna. There are a million bedrooms here at the Lee villa, and Paloma is beautiful. Surely, you don’t want to let Cressida get away with her nonsense.”

She shakes her head again. “I’m sorry. I can’t.”

I sigh. “It’s okay. I understand. I don’t even want to look at her face, much less talk to her.” I throw my hands up. “I don’t know what to do, but I suppose I’ll think of something. I just hope it doesn’t ruin me.”

“I hope it doesn’t either. Look, Vivian, I’ve gotta go.”

Be gracious, Vivian. I will not get my way today.

“Of course. I’m sorry to have interrupted your day. Please take care.” I drop my head in a bow, and by the time I look up, her face is gone from my screen.

Well, that settles that.

I drag myself across the room, climb back into bed, and pull the covers over my head to block out the light. I might as well sleep because from here on…

I’m on my own.