Silent Flyght – Chapter 6

Tomu opens his mouth to complain about being cooped up in the shuttle, and I grab a sock from my bag and shove it straight in his worthless piehole. I don’t care how angry he is with me for tying him up, but if I have to listen to him for the whole trip from Sakata City back to Mayashu, I will kill him.

After everything that happened at the bank and the meeting with Almas, I wanted to kill Tomu yesterday, but today, I know I have to keep him alive. I’ve made my decision. I’m going to sell this fucker to Athens Industries and get my life back on track. The longer I hold onto him, the more likely I’ll be caught by the military or someone else like Almas who wants him back.

So, we’re going to get the Amagi, make our transit to the Californikos System, spend a week on Sonoma, and then take Tomu to Renata Dellis. I want to take him straight to Renata Dellis and just be done with it, but there are a few things to worry about.

One, if we head straight there, we won’t be covering our tracks. I’m sure people are following us, and if we go to Sonoma first, we look less suspicious. We look like we have nothing to hide, and it’s business as usual.

Two, I need this new suitor, and I need him in my network fast. And if this guy doesn’t work out, then I have to move onto someone else as quickly as possible. We are now at a critical time, and I cannot make a wrong move. Because with the auction moved up, I have to find the rest of the money in days, not weeks or months. I can’t delay this new man or show any signs of not being one-hundred percent interested in meeting him. If I flinch, he will change his mind. Maybe there’s someone easier out there to convince? Maybe Marcelo has a backup plan? I don’t know yet. I’ll ask him as soon as I see him.

“We’ll be docking with the Amagi in five minutes,” Skylar says, checking the displays from the pilot’s seat. “We’re going to dock, move everybody over, and then Jinzo said he’d return the shuttle. Carlos reports the ship is clear of workers. Everyone’s gone but the crew.”

“Good.” I let my knee bounce at lightning speed. “Good.”

“We’ll need about thirty minutes to move over Gus’s belongings from the cargo hold, too,” Jinzo says, eyeing my knee. “He has about fifteen boxes.”

Gus reaches over, settles his hand on my leg, and I groan.

“Sorry. I know. I’ll stop.”

Tomu blows a sharp breath through his nose, and humor is in his eyes. He’s happy I’m a nervous wreck. Or maybe he’s happy I let other men have some sway over me? Hard to tell. I’m not taking out his gag to find out.

The airlock door opens, and the smell of the Amagi washes over me. It’s now the smell of home, and I love it. My muscles melt, and a smile returns to my face as I look into the ship. Sally, the goat, walks on by with a twist of cables in her mouth.

“Give that back!” Carlos yells, running past.

“Ahhh, home sweet home,” Jinzo says with a chuckle. He jerks his thumb at Tomu. “I’ll take this one to his room, strap him in, and ungag him.”

“Please, and thank you.” I lean in and kiss him on the cheek. “It’s Gus’s night tonight?”

He nods once. “And it’s Ken’s night to cook.”

Ken rubs his hands together and picks up the bags he’s been carting along with him. “I’ve got a week before I have to return to Palo Alto for a board meeting, so I’m going to make the most of my time here. It’s pasta night!”

He heads straight for the galley, and I get this flash of our future together. All of us at the dinner table, talking, laughing, and kids running around. God, I hope that happens.

Tomu fakes tripping and stumbling to throw Jinzo off his game. Jinzo, though, is too quick for him, steps to the side, and allows Tomu to fall on his face. He looks up and catches me watching them.

I roll my eyes at Tomu’s gagged cries. “Nice one. I hope he broke something.”

Jinzo shakes his head. “Not likely. I think he is, regrettably, in one piece.” He jerks Tomu off the floor and drags him along to his quarters.

Gus takes my bag from my hand. “Let me take this to your room for you. I’ll check in on Frogger too.”

I wasn’t worried about Frogger because I knew Lia was taking care of him, but it’s nice that Gus will check on my dog. Frogger is one lucky mongrel.

“Thanks. That would be great.”

He leans in and kisses my cheek next to my ear. “Looking forward to later.”

I smile and relax as he heads off.

Okay, we’re back to work now, which means I’m wanted on the bridge.

I make my way through the ship and take stock of everything. New lights in the galley as Ken unloads his produce. All the walls are shiny, and the floors freshly washed. Lia has been hard at work deep-cleaning while we were gone. I walk through the halls and notice new flat panels in the walls where sensors and speakers have been installed. I don’t have time to visit the auxiliary cargo bay, so that will have to wait until later, but I suspect it’s just fine. The Amagi is back to normal.

On the bridge, my chair is empty and waiting for me, and Skylar is running through her pre-flight routine on a brand-new interface. From a newly installed wall screen, a 3D lifelike digital head of an older woman with dark brown hair, warm russet skin, and bright green eyes watches over the flight console.

“Hello,” I say, sliding into my seat, my eyes locked on this new crew member. “You must be Martha.”

“Hello.” Her expression looks so real. “Skylar has renamed me to Nanci, with an I.”

“I was very specific about the I,” says Skylar, not taking her eyes off her console. “She reminds me of this girl I knew long ago, also a Nanci with an I, so I figured it was appropriate.” She taps off a few more commands and then sits back in her seat. “Nanci, this is our captain, Vivian Kawabata.”

“Hello, Captain. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Same.” I’m warmed by her gentle voice. “I’ve had one heck of a day, so I’m glad to be on board. Have you met the other crew members yet?”

“I’ve met Carlos, Yan, and Lia, plus Skylar here. I’ve also met Ai.”

I blink a few times. “You’ve met Ai?”

Skylar’s mouth twists in a suppressed smirk.

“Yes, she’s quite… interesting,” Nanci says, and I wonder if there is a sarcasm setting for this AI. “She found it hard to believe that I’ve never given a thought to human sexual relations. I confused her. Carlos has increased my humor protocols, so I’m better able to interface with Ai.”

“Sounds about right.” I cover my grin with my hand.

“Ai will deal with any personal requests from the crew. I will handle all the ship’s functions. Together, we can solve almost any problem.” She pauses, and her visage on the wallscreen shows her thinking with a twisted lip and upturned eyes. “This is the first time two AIs have ever worked together on a commercial or personal ship. I suspect our relationship is one of a kind.”

“You don’t say? Huh.” I mull this over and wonder if we should be worried about a possible conflict of interest between the two. I suppose if there’s a problem, Carlos will let us know.

“AIs may work together on military ships, but I don’t have that data available. Sorry, Captain.”

“It’s fine, Nanci. I’m sure we’ll all make it work.” I turn to Skylar. “So, are we all set for the trip to Sonoma?”

Skylar keeps her eyes on her console. “Yep. We have a tourist visa for the ship and a reservation at the Ossun-Sonoma gate for early in the morning.” She sighs as she leans back in her seat and glances at Nanci. “Liam Castillo assured me this was one of his best, most secure AIs, but I still feel reticent after what happened with Tomu.”

“What’s the concern?” I lean forward to give her all my attention.

“That we’re still vulnerable.” She shrugs. “Call me crazy, but I have a bad feeling like we’re being watched.”

I glance around, suddenly feeling like there’s a ghost in the room.

“I can assure you, Captain, the entire ship has been overhauled and swept. Nothing seems to be out of place. You and your guests were the last people to board the Amagi. Mr. Jinzo Lee is currently powering up the shuttle.” Nanci’s screen changes to show us a video of Jinzo shutting the airlock door to the shuttle. “I have my sensors trained on each crew member, including your brother.”

My face heats with the shame of having to chain up my brother to contain him. Skylar’s eyes flick in my direction.

“I can tell by your silence that you may be worried about me causing problems. Never fear, Captain and Skylar. Mr. Castillo prides himself on building loyal AIs. I serve you and your crew and no one else. Ai has informed me that your brother is not to access communications or anything beyond your command. If you agree this is the way you want it, I will obey.”

I try to swallow through a dry throat. I know this is artificial intelligence, but Nanci is intelligent enough to understand we’re doing something wrong. Drumming my fingers on the console, her words repeat in my head. Serve. Obey. Command. Remember, Vivian. This is not a sentient being. This is a tool. Yet, my instincts tell me to treat Nanci with respect, anyway.

“Thank you, Nanci. What Ai said is correct. In every essence, my brother is a prisoner on this ship until we are rid of him.”

“Understood, Captain.” Nanci’s head bobs on the screen, and a dialogue box pops up with a call from the Mayashu spaceport command. “Skylar, you have an incoming call.”

Skylar jerks her head at the screen. “This is a routine call about our departure. I’m going to take it.”

“Okay.” I remove myself from the seat and set my hand on her shoulder. “Let me know, please, if that ‘feeling’ ever gets any worse.”

She looks up at me, and her eyes are troubled. “Of course, Viv.”

—-

I’m sitting on the edge of Gus’s bed, hunched over and holding my head, when the door slides open. Gus advances into the room slowly, two glasses of wine in his hands and a pint of ice cream under his arm.

“Sorry about the mess. I haven’t had any time to straighten my room,” Gus says, looking up from his balancing act. He tries to hide his concern for me, but I see it in his flat features and careful movements. He hands me a glass of wine and sets the ice cream on his desk.

“We should eat that or it’ll melt.” I straighten my back and roll my neck to release all the muscles I’ve tightened up in the last few hours.

“In a minute. It’s frozen solid and needs to melt, anyway.” He tosses a few pillows to the head of the bed and climbs in next to me. I swing my feet up and settle in next to him. Resting my head on his shoulder, I let out a deep sigh and try to relax my body.

I thought once I found my brother and the ship was fixed, I’d feel confident and ready to conquer the last of my duties to get the farm back. Instead, the rug has been pulled out from under me, and I’m rubbing my backside, wondering what the hell happened. The bank is going to put my home and farm up for auction in two, maybe three weeks, and the price has increased. I need even more money. My life has been one step forward and two steps back at every turn.

I slip my arm under Gus’s and relax my hand down to thread my fingers with his.

“It’s not what you thought it was going to be, is it?” I ask him. I rub my forehead across the top of his sleeve and pull away to sip my wine.

“What? Being with you and the guys?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s better than I thought it would be.” He smiles as he holds out his wine glass to toast. I touch my glass to his and sip. “Honestly, Viv. I feel like” — he inhales through his nose and looks around — “I’ve found my place. This is where I’m supposed to be, with you and the guys. I explained this to Mom when she came by yesterday, and I think she finally gets it.”

“You saw your mom yesterday?”

I try to act nonchalant about this. I suspect his mom is hiding things from me, and that we’re not in the clear.

“Yeah, she stopped by while we were packing up my apartment. You were at the bank.” He shrugs. “I didn’t have much to pack, and my parents said they would put the rest into storage.” He looks at the boxes stacked against the wall. “I have a lot of unpacking to do over the next few days. I hate unpacking.”

“What did your mom say?”

“Nothing much. That she was happy for me, and she hopes we all have a long and prosperous life together. Then she mentioned that my brothers and cousins would love to see us while we’re on Sonoma, that maybe I would stay behind for a few extra days, and she would join the family for some hiking time in the hills.”

“Hmm, that sounds nice.” I sip my wine again and let the alcohol relax me.

“I declined. It seems too soon to be going on vacation when we just got back from Laguna, and we have so much work to do. Mom seemed disappointed and wants to keep the invitation open, but whatever.” He turns to face me. “I know exactly where I want to be.” He jerks his chin at my wine glass. “Drink up.”

I eye him from the side as I take a gulp of wine. “We should have done shots if you were interested in getting me drunk.”

He laughs and sips his wine too. “I’m interested in getting you to relax, taking your mind off everything swirling through it.”

Okay, then. I’ll take all the distractions I can get. I’m game to set it all aside for now, but maybe, for once, it would be great if someone else solved my problems for me. I’m starting to feel bitter about my situation. Like, why does it have to get harder instead of easier? Why have I struggled for years to get to one place, and it’s just out of reach?

Maybe I should have considered a different path. I could have sold my worth to someone rich and just had him take care of my problems, like the woman who married Gabriel Almas so he could keep his property. Sure, Ken is wealthy, and so is Jinzo’s family. But it’s nothing compared to some of these men on Sonoma and Palo Alto who have built billion credit empires.

Bah. Who am I kidding? I’m not influential enough to command those types of men, anyway.

Gus swings his legs over me, removes the wine glass from my hand, grabs my hips, and pulls me down so I’m lying on his bed.

“Hello,” I say, smiling up at him.

He edges past his boxes, grabs the ice cream and two spoons from his desk, and returns to straddle over me on his knees. He twists, and the ice cream container top comes off.

“Do you like chocolate?” he asks, dipping his spoon into the container.

“Who doesn’t like chocolate?” I smile up at him as he takes a spoonful of chocolate ice cream and eats it. His eyes close, and he hums. “Are you going to share?”

“Maybe.”

Uh oh. His smile is devious. What have I gotten into?

“We’re going to play a little game. I’m going to ask you a personal question, and if you answer, you get the ice cream. Then you can ask me a question, and if I answer, I get the ice cream.”

I raise one eyebrow at him, and he twirls the spoon in the air. I suppose it’s only fair. If Gus and I want to spend our lives together, then I should get to know him better. We’ve spent many hours talking about random stuff, so why not more?

“Okay, I’m game.” I lean back and fold my arms behind my head. “What’s your first question?”

He thinks while he dips his spoon in the container again. “Have you ever cheated on a test?”

My smile fades away. Oh, no. Really? This is how personal we’re going to get?

“Yes, once. Don’t tell Ken. It was early in our relationship, and I…”

I pause and stare at the wall instead of at him. My heart rate soars, and anxiety grips my throat and squeezes.

“I hadn’t ever had a boyfriend before, and I was silly and stupid. I spent so much time daydreaming about us together that I forgot about a portion of the Econ test I was supposed to study for. Instead of studying and understanding what I needed, I paid for the answers, memorized those, and got through that way.”

I keep my eyes on the wall. Gus must think I’m a horrible person. God, I thought I was a horrible person for doing what I did. I paid for those test results, and I felt awful about it for months after, enough that I studied and knew that section of economics better than anyone. I had only cheated because I was too in love to make sense of anything outside my whirlwind romance.

The ice cream dangles into my line of sight, and I bring my eyes around to Gus. His smile is bittersweet.

“You think you’re the only cheater? I barely made it through secondary school. I paid other people to do my work for me.”

“Really? You?” I sit up to take the ice cream and put a pillow behind my head.

“Really, me. Everyone cheats in some ways. Whether it’s little things or big, no one is a saint.”

I dig my ice cream out and let the cold, creamy spoonful melt across my tongue. Mmmm. “When did you stop cheating?” I ask, taking a second helping.

His smile moves from bittersweet to amused. “Who’s to say I ever stopped?”

I roll my eyes. “I’ve seen your work.”

He gestures for the ice cream to come back to him. “You’re right. I did stop. There came a point when I realized I had to know stuff to get through this life, especially once Tiffani became my mother’s favorite, and I had decided I didn’t want to go into the military.” He scoops out his serving of ice cream. “I crammed in four years of school into a year and then did nursing school.” He holds out the ice cream. “If you weren’t supposed to inherit the farm and do what you do, what would you be?”

I blink a few times, absently taking the ice cream as it’s passed back to me. “What do you mean?”

“Like a job or an occupation, Vivi.” His unspoken ‘duh!’ hangs in the air.

My breath sticks in my chest like glue. “I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it. The only dreams I had were for” — I close my eyes and remember myself as a kid — “for simple things like art, and I wanted to play the violin.”

It’s Gus’s turn to blink. “What do you mean you never thought about it? Didn’t you dream of doing something different?” His expression is dumbfounded. “Believe it or not, I had dreams as a kid of being a system-wide famous chef. I would open my own restaurants and make incredible food for people.” His eyes get that faraway dreamy look I so love. “My father didn’t cook, but my mom’s second husband was an amazing chef, and he cooked for my younger brothers and me all the time.” He shrugs. “I still love to cook, but I don’t want to be a famous chef anymore.”

I reach for his legs and shimmy my hips down closer to him. “I’m looking forward to you cooking for me and the kids someday. I enjoy cooking, but there’s never any time for it.” Extending my hand, I wiggle my fingers for the ice cream, but Gus pulls it back.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“I did answer it. You just didn’t like the answer.”

“I don’t believe you, Vivi. You’re honestly going to tell me you didn’t dream for anything else?”

I press my lips together and decide to be honest. If he ever looks into my academic past, he’ll find out.

“Okay. I… At university, I started studying xeno-agriculture, and I was really fascinated with it for two or three years.”

“Xeno-agriculture?”

“Yeah. There are lots of branches of xeno-ag, like what my father has done with the Rio plants. I studied Earth-origin, heirloom plants and how they could be adapted to grow on Ossun or Rio or, well, anywhere else but Earth. Did you know there are some several million species of plants from Earth cataloged, but they’ve never been grown? There are a few banks of seeds spread across the Duo Systems, but most of them are on Ossun and Palo Alto. Not many scientists have delved into the databases and tried to adapt them for growth here. It’s a real shame because there’s so much to learn from these plants.”

I sigh as I stare up at the ceiling.

“My father was proud of me and all the papers and experiments I did. But he pulled me aside after two years of my obsession going unchecked and reminded me of my duty. Xeno-ag, as much as I loved it, wasn’t in my future. And even though I had the intelligence to further the field of study, and I impressed my professors with my work, I couldn’t continue on that path. There’s never been anything else for me but the farm.”

He hands the ice cream to me, but I set it aside.

“See? My dreams didn’t matter because I wasn’t allowed to do anything that would’ve taken time away from the farm.”

And though the weight in my chest is like ten boulders combined, I smile up at Gus. I’m trying not to be bitter about shit in my past. What’s done is done.

“The weight of society falls on women far too much for my liking,” Gus says, scooting himself down and laying his hips on mine. “We ask for more than we give.”

I stroke his beard with the back of my hand and let the weight of his body relieve the ache in my chest.

“Then let’s even things out and make the night count.”

Unfortunately, the chocolate ice cream is soup by the time we get back to it. But his lips on my body, his hands on my bare waist, and my fingers tangled in his hair were totally worth the loss of ice cream.