Silent Flyght – Chapter 22

“Your new man is quite the catch.”

Skylar tosses a smile at me over her shoulder as I join her on the bridge. I’m feeling much better after sitting down for a meal with my relationship network and Mat too. We ate a late lunch in the galley common room after we cooked together. It was a glimpse of my future that buoyed me out of the depression I’ve been sinking into lately.

I’m not saying I’m out of the woods yet. But I feel lighter knowing there’s a chance this will all work out.

“I’m going to have to learn USL if I want to find men like that.”

Her smirk announces everything unsaid. Mat is a fine piece of ass, and she’s more than a bit jealous. But not jealous in a devious way. Jealous in a way that’ll make her work even harder for the stuff she wants.

“Thanks, and yes. If you want to learn USL, I can teach you some.”

“Raincheck,” she says, leaning forward to work through her pre-flight checklist. “I have my next flight test to study for. There’s ten times more material to study than the last test. I’ll be reading in my room forever. Asteria wants to see me in a few weeks so she can sponsor me for my next level.”

I catch my breath and smile. “That’s awesome, Sky. I’m super proud of you.”

“Thanks.” Her cheeks color. “I figure one of two things will happen by then. Either you’ll be back at home, figuring out what to do with the farm, and I’ll be flying for Flyght. Or you’ll still be the captain, and we’ll both be flying for Flyght. So, I might as well work on my skills because either way, I’ll still be here.”

Skylar’s eyes run down her panels of instruments, and I try to read her mood. She’s less ebullient than usual, more quiet and contemplative. She’s rarely like this, so I don’t know what to think.

“Are you… Are you disappointed you’ll still be here?”

“Me?” She turns to me. “No. Well…” She thinks for a moment. “No. I love the Amagi, and I’m excited about where Flyght will take me. I’m…”

Her lips twist.

“Lonely?” I ask.

She returns to her instruments. “Maybe a little.”

Skylar is quiet while she works. Trying not to push her, I turn to my console and run through all the docking, fuel, and air fees, signing off each one, and closing up our accounts. We’ll be back on Sonoma soon, but I don’t like to keep accounts open. You never know who will hijack your data and try to charge through thousands of credits in a nanosecond.

While I’m in my bank account, I look at the numbers and swallow.

The primary account sits at five-point-one million credits.

Five-point-one million credits? What?

I scroll back through all the transactions from the previous few days and find credits I didn’t know I had. I’m about to jump up from my spot when I recognize the transaction user ID. While I was wining and dining with Mat, transfers cleared, and Ken put more money into the account than I expected to receive.

Well, shit. If the First Ossun Bank hadn’t added on an additional one-and-a-half million to the price of the estate, we would’ve been able to buy the farm today. Right now.

It hasn’t turned out that way.

I sigh, close out my connection, and shift my eyes back to Skylar.

“What did you do while I was busy?”

Now Skylar avoids my eyes even more. She turns away from me.

“Nothing much. I went out and got a little drunk a few nights in a row.”

I stay silent. She flips a few switches.

“I kinda met someone.”

I reach out with my leg and kick the back of her chair. She laughs and swivels her seat around to face me with her hands up.

“Look, it was no big deal. He’s just some guy.”

“‘Some guy?’” I raise my eyebrows.

“A one-night stand, Viv. Nothing special. He produced a pickup line I hadn’t heard in a while and bought me dinner. I figured he was good for some hot sex, so…” She shrugs. “It was good, but still, it got me thinking.” She folds her arms over her chest. “What if all my fucking around comes back to bite me in the ass?”

I open my mouth to protest, but she waves me off.

“Listen to me, Viv. I have slept with… a lot of men. Always protected, but still. A lot. I’ve made friends in both systems, but I’ve made enemies too. I know you were worried Marcelo wouldn’t be able to find the right men for you, but what about me? I haven’t had even the vaguest desire to commit to anyone. How am I going to find men interested in being with me long term?”

I bite my bottom lip and think of the right thing to say. Skylar has never had the desire to settle down. She never cared if men wanted more than one night with her because she was always off to do her own thing the next day. Skylar puts herself first, and I really admire that about her. She loves her family, for sure. We’re high on the priority list, but she’s number one. Will she ever be able to prioritize a relationship network as high as her own wants and needs?

“I think…” I start and pause. “I think that once you start meeting men who know a spot in your network is at stake, this will become easier.”

She nods.

“You’ve never told any of the men you’ve dated in the past that they were contenders, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, something changes once the offer is on the table.” I think about how Jinzo asked me right from the beginning if he had a chance at being in my network. He knew the relationship would require work, but he could gain so much by sticking around. “I’m not saying every man will work out. Just look at what happened with Sean.”

She rolls her eyes.

“But Jin, Ken, and Gus all work as hard as I do because there’s the incentive to do so, you know? I don’t think you’ve ever given any man incentive to stick around.”

“No.” She shakes her head and looks away from me. “No. You’re right. I always told them, right from the get-go, that I didn’t want a commitment.”

I shrug. “It’s a change in attitude and outlook. I’m sure that once you’re meeting men Marcelo approves of, everything will shift.”

Skylar draws her feet up to her seat. “You’re right, Viv. I bet it will go a lot smoother once Marcelo is involved.”

She dismisses a few alerts that chime through Nanci.

“Sonoma Orbital Command has given us a departure time of twenty-oh-four, Skylar,” Nanci says. “Does that give you sufficient time to finish your pre-flight checklist?”

“Yeah, we’re good here.”

“Ai has now been offline for four and a half hours. Would you like for me to check in with everyone on the ship to make sure they’re ready to go?”

Ai is offline? I wonder what’s going on there.

“Yes, please. Be sure to speak with Lia first, since she needs to secure all the animals before departure.” She sighs and rests her head back on the chair. “Why does it feel like we’re always on the go?”

“Because we are. Wasn’t this supposed to be a year-long trip? I was supposed to have a whole year to find men for my network and gather five million credits. Instead, I had maybe three months.” I reach across the space between us for her hand. She slips her fingers into mine. “If anything, I’m sad we didn’t have more time to spend together.”

She squeezes my fingers. “Me too. But look at you, Viv. You’ve come a long way in three months.”

“Please. I’m a total and complete mess.”

“That’s true.” She laughs and squeezes my fingers again before letting go. “But you’ve got the men and most of the money. That has to count for something, right?”

It does count for something.

“Hey, I’m going to finish up with this so we can get on our way. You gonna be okay? I don’t like seeing you depressed.”

“I’m…” I shrug. “I don’t know. I need to get through to the auction, and then I’ll know better how I’m going to be.”

“Just gotta keep fighting,” she says, as I rise from my chair. “It’s the Kawabata way.”

That’s for sure.

I nod to her and make my way down the hall to Carlos’s den of technology. I haven’t been here much on this trip since I’ve been so preoccupied with Mat and my time on Sonoma. The room still looks so different to me. Carlos’s desk and chair are on the opposite wall, and everything is much newer and brighter.

Just inside the door, Carlos is pulling cables and rearranging stuff in the server stacks.

“Hey, Captain. Good to see you.” He smiles and picks up a screwdriver to continue with his work.

“Good to see you, too, Carlos. How was your time on Sonoma?” I fold my arms and lean against the open doorway.

“Oh, fine. Got some fresh air and sun.” He rolls his eyes. “My mom always told me those things were important.”

I press my lips together to stop a laugh. “She’s not wrong.”

“Yeah, well, moms are usually right about everything.” Setting his screwdriver down, he pushes his hair behind his ears and steps back to study his work.

“What are you up to?” I peek around the corner of the door to see his current activity up close.

“Oh, this? I’m reinstalling Ai in a new configuration.” He nods as he dips down to grab another tool from his kit. “Now that I understand how she was created — from an open-source AI — I can better handle her matrices.”

“Is this why she’s been offline? Nanci mentioned it.”

“Yeah. She’s in maintenance mode while I copy her over to the new equipment for her that Jinzo purchased. Now, she’ll be better than ever.”

His eyes twinkle with the prospect of new tech, and I laugh.

“I thought she drove you nuts?”

“Oh yeah. Pretty much every moment of every day. But!” He raises his finger into the air. “With her out of the major ship systems, she becomes a worthy experiment. I don’t have to worry about her screwing up the ship now. And that’s important.”

“Indeed. We need this ship to survive.”

“We do. That’s why we have Nanci now.” He leans in close to me. “I like Nanci, but she doesn’t have the curiosity Ai has.”

“I heard that,” Nanci says, and Carlos smiles at me.

“I was only checking to make sure you were paying attention!” He calls out to the room.

“No need to shout. My microphones are very sensitive,” Nanci says.

“Of course they are,” he replies. “Only the best of the best for you.”

We both exchange smiles.

“So, how long will Ai be offline?” I ask, taking a half step back to make my exit. Carlos looks busy, and I don’t want to keep him.

“Just for another hour or so. I plan to get her online before our jump ring time slot. That’s not until oh-one-twenty-three, so I have time, but I want to go to bed before midnight for once.” He yawns, and then I yawn too. “Did you need something?”

“No. Not really. We’re due to take off soon. Have her call me when she’s back online. I have questions for her.” Questions about Mat, Peter, Neve, and Penha. Hell, I have questions about winemaking I’m sure she could answer.

Carlos mock salutes. “Will do, Captain. I’ll have her call you when she’s with us again.”

Time to go get some rest before Palo Alto, then. I still have a lot of work to do.