Stolen Flyght – Chapter 1

Get up, Vivian. Get. Up.

I sigh as I sink further into Ken’s bed and pull the covers straight up to my chin. Nope. I’m not getting up. Not now, not later either.

The sun is blazing down on this beautiful summer day in Concord City, Palo Alto, but I tolerated that for one-point-three seconds before I grunted and dimmed the windows in Ken’s bedroom to ninety-five percent. There’s nothing I want to do more than just stare up at the ceiling and lose myself in the sounds of his life here.

“I told you that I will not take no for an answer.” Out in the living area, Ken raises his voice to the lawyers gathered at Flyght headquarters. This is the third time he’s been on vidcalls with them in the last day. “I want a report by close of business today. That ship better be back in my possession by the end of the week, or I’m going to rain hell on the military. You tell them that.”

I close my eyes to the murmur of the lawyers in the background.

“Remind them I have enough evidence to show that they overstepped their purview and harassed multiple upstanding and law-abiding civilians and stole private property and landed my network mate in the hospital and…”

It’s quiet as someone interjects into Ken’s extensive list of grievances.

“That’s better,” Ken replies, his voice softer. “Let’s remember that the military works at the behest of the people, not the other way around. I will have their mining permits revoked if they keep this up. Be sure to call Diego and get his men involved. I didn’t make friends in high places for them to just up and run at the first sign of trouble.”

Silence falls on the room before Ken’s footsteps vibrate through the open space, and the sound of a newscast replaces everything else in the other room.

“Vivi, you getting up?”

His silhouette in the doorway cuts a strong profile, but I roll away from him.

“No.”

I wait for him to leave, but instead, he peels back the covers and slips in beside me. I should be annoyed. I want to be left alone, forever, at this rate. But once his arms are around me, and his warmth fills the space, I melt into him. I hold my breath as I remember the years I wished for this, for someone to just be with me when things were rough. I have three men, possibly four, to fill that role now, but for a long time, it was only my memories of Ken that got me through.

“I’m sorry.” My lip trembles, and my voice breaks.

Ken squeezes me. “I know you are. We’re all sorry. Skylar is ready to burn the whole place down, she’s so angry.”

“At me?” I didn’t think I had tears left in me, but apparently, I do.

“No, not at you.” Ken smooths my hair and rests his lips behind my ear. “Most of her fury is directed at Gus’s mom.” He sighs. “Gus is… He’s not in a good way, Vivi. You need to pull yourself together and go see him. He blames himself for everything.”

I roll my face onto my pillow to wipe away the tears. “I just need a little more time.”

“We’re running out of time. The longer the military keeps the Amagi, the less of a chance we have of getting it back. If we wait too long, they’ll turn it into scrap.”

I’m quiet for a bit as I imagine the military sifting through my belongings, tossing my beautiful Bomba-Faria shoes into the waste bin with everything else. Fuck. My priority in life should not be those shoes, but I already miss them. They’re the only thing I’ve purchased for myself in years.

The door to Ken’s apartment beeps as it opens. I squeeze my eyes shut, trying to rid myself of the last of my tears.

“There’s leftover Chinese food in the fridge,” Jinzo says, his voice echoing off the kitchen walls. “Look who’s still in bed.”

Jinzo rounds the bed, lifts the covers, and gets in on the other side of me.

“No, no, no,” I say, trying to get up.

“Oh, come on.” He laughs as he slips his arm around my waist and snakes his leg over the free one Ken is not occupying. “‘Sup, Ken.”

“Yo,” Ken replies, and a genuine giggle bubbles up from my belly.

Jinzo kisses my forehead. “We having trouble motivating today?”

“You could say that.” I sigh and try to snuggle in deeper to my valley between the two men.

“Just last night, you were determined to make this work, and now today, not so much?”

“I just… I slept on it, and I don’t think it’ll be the cinch I thought it was going to be.”

“No, of course not.” Jinzo squeezes me. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying.”

“Listen here, you lazy fucks.”

I startle as Skylar’s voice cuts through the soft tone of everyone in the room. I lift my head to look up, and she’s eating leftovers from last night, straight from the box with a pair of chopsticks.

“You all are gonna get up and help me get my ship back, or I’m disowning every last one of you.” She lifts her foot and sticks it straight up my butt, between Ken and me.

“Hey!” I squeal and buck, knocking the back of my head into Ken’s chin and poking Jinzo in the eye. Everyone erupts in cries, and blankets fly.

“Not fair!” Ken exclaims, holding his chin. “You broke up snuggle time.”

“Get out.” Skylar points at the door.

Ken points at her as he moves to the door with Jinzo right behind. “Don’t eat food in my bed.”

Skylar closes the door on both of them, climbs into the bed next to me, and eats the cold kung pao protein with relish. We sit shoulder to shoulder next to each other.

“Room controls, open the window shades by fifteen percent.” Skylar nods, pleased, as more daylight streams into the room. I shade my eyes and wince.

“Sitting in here, wallowing in this depression, will not do anything for you,” she says, digging into the container. “Depression is a very un-Vivian thing to do. Just like the not-eating.” She picks up a piece of protein and offers it to me. I wrinkle my nose and decline. “See?”

“I only like hot Chinese food.”

“What kind of college student doesn’t like cold Chinese food?”

“A sane one.”

She’s quiet as she digs farther into the box. “We all got screwed, V. Not just you. We need you to come around and try to fix this.”

“I can’t.” I hang my head.

“Yes, you can. You have to. Renata Dellis will not come to me or Gus or Carlos. She wants you, and she’s willing to help us if you help her.”

“She wants me sworn to her for life, or she’s going to buy my fucking farm.” I shoot Skylar a withering look. “It’s not exactly a fair trade.”

“It’s not exactly a fair universe.”

“Why me?” I hate that I sound like a whiny kid to Skylar. I’m supposed to be the mature one here.

She shrugs. “I honestly don’t know. What the heck did you do to get her attention?”

I pull my legs up and hug my knees. “Followed in Dad’s footsteps. He’s still mad at me for what happened with Tomu.” I rest my forehead on my knees, and Skylar lays her warm hand on my shoulders.

“Don’t worry about it. He was shocked. He felt betrayed because you kept Tomu from them, and I do not agree with him. There was no reason to let your parents know. You had every right to keep that secret.”

“All I do is make decisions I think will be best for getting the farm back. You remember that family meeting…”

Skylar nods. “How could I forget?”

“Everyone put their dreams and hopes on my shoulders. They gave me no choice.”

“It’s super shitty, Viv. One-hundred percent. The fuckers gave you no choice. But now, you have choices. A limited number of them, but you have them. What are you going to do?”

Ken’s doorbell rings and his voice echoes through the apartment.

“Uh, Vivian? You need to come out here!”

Skylar sighs in time with me. “I’ll go out and stall for a moment. Put your hair in a ponytail or something and splash some water on your face.”

I slip into Ken’s bathroom and hurriedly clean myself up as the sounds of unfamiliar voices echo around the open living space. My trashed knit pants and Ken’s decade-old sweater will have to do.

I freeze when I enter the living area. The man from the TV last night, the sergeant who spoke on behalf of the military, is standing with two other men in military uniform in front of the wallscreen with Ken, Jinzo, and Skylar.

“Looks like we deserve an apology,” Jinzo says, staring at the newscast playing in front of us.

No one has noticed I’m here, so I watch the video footage of Tomu holding me hostage, the piece of scrap metal at my neck, shouting, “You’re so fucking stupid. I was ahead of you by three steps every time. I told Gabriel Almas where I was. I tipped off the military. I had a team of people hack your system and steal everything, and I faked all your video files, and sent them to OEN, so they’ll know how you imprisoned me… and how you killed me.”

The newscaster returns to the screen. “This anonymous footage was sent to us early this morning. We have triple-checked and verified that this is Vivian Kawabata and her deceased brother, Tomu Kawabata. Further footage shows her calling for help for her brother as he flushes himself out of the airlock.”

A picture-in-picture box continues to roll the footage from the Amagi.

My wristlet buzzes, and I tip it over to receive a message from Carlos, my resident tech expert. “Captain, I hope you’re watching CC1 right now. We’re in luck. My off-site backup doomsday contingency plans have finally paid off.”

I glance up at the screen. “OEN, out of the Brazilianos System, has released a statement as well.” An overlay shows a photo of Cenobia Senna Snow and her quote, which the newscaster repeats. “We had no reason not to believe the veracity of the video footage delivered to us. After closer inspection, our technical team has found multiple edits and fake footage, most of which we did not air, and they have determined that the video footage is only forty-five percent authentic. We send our apologies to Vivian Kawabata and our utmost sympathy for what she’s endured. At the behest of her family and the military, this will be our last statement on this matter.”

“That’s music to my ears.” I fold my arms over my chest and wait. Jinzo and the sergeant notice I’m in the room, and Ken mutes the wallscreen, though it continues to play the footage from the Amagi, and another newscaster joins the first to discuss it all. “Is this why you’re here?” I ask the military men.

“Ms. Kawabata…” The sergeant extends his hand to me, but I hesitate before taking it. Is he here to arrest me? “I’m Sergeant Willis, the attorney in charge of your case. These are my associates.” He nods to the two other men without introducing them by name.

“What case?” Chills raise goosebumps on my arms.

His smile is slightly pitying. “We can still have you brought up on charges of harboring a fugitive.” He gestures to Ken’s dining table. My feet are like lead weights as I shuffle to sit down. “But it looks like the military brass want to be done with this case and move on.”

Everyone else joins us to sit, and I clench my hands, hoping no one can see me sweating like it’s a sweltering day on Laguna.

“In exchange for dropping the charges against you,” Sergeant Willis says, pulling out a datapad and setting it on the table, “we want to know everything about the seeds and whatever your brother told you about his work with Athens Industries. Then we want to never see you again.”

Wait. No. If I partner with Renata Dellis, CEO of Athens Industries, and ask for her help, I can’t tell the military anything.

But looking across the table at these stern-faced men, I know I’ll end up in prison if I don’t give them everything they want. I should be in prison right now. It’s a miracle I’m not.

Anger grows in my belly — anger at Tomu, anger at the military, anger at my situation. I should tell these guys to fuck off right now. Instead, I have to hold my rage in check. Maybe I can fuck them over later.

Renata… when I see her tomorrow, do I tell her I gave everything to the military?

I swallow as I glance down the table at Jinzo, then Ken. They look at each other and nod. I wish Gus was here. I turn to Skylar, standing over my shoulder.

“Skylar, can I get a glass of water? This is going to take a while.”

“Vivian,” she hisses, leaning down to whisper in my ear, “choices. Remember?”

I turn my bleary and tear-worn eyes up to her. “There are no choices. Only the illusion of choice.”

—-

Three hours later, my chest hurts, my arms shake like I’ve run a marathon, and my voice is nearly gone. I started off by handing over my notes on every one of the seeds — my field study observations, my dad’s notes, and anything else I learned about cultivating the seeds. It’s everything I’ll give to Renata, too, so they’ll now be on an even playing field with the military. Sergeant Willis doesn’t ask me to erase my files. Why bother when I don’t have the seeds anymore, anyway? I could leak them to the media, but also, why bother? It would do me no good.

“And you were traveling to Palo Alto to turn in Tomu when you were intercepted by the BSMC Millennium?”

Here’s where I tell a little white lie.

“Tomu had been eating the invisibility fern and living on the ship for some time. He was only revealed to us a day before we left Sonoma. I never harbored him.”

Sergeant Willis is quiet while his two assistants take notes. He accesses his datapad.

“We have a report of him being spotted on Ossun.”

I shrug. “That may be so. I can’t imagine he stayed invisible and on the ship the whole time. In fact, I believe he came and went as he pleased.”

“All under your nose?” Willis’s expression is tight and dubious.

“Yes,” I grumble. “Don’t remind me about how he took me for a fool.”

“So, you maintain that you didn’t know about his presence until you were on Sonoma?”

“Yes, sir.” I’m careful to look him directly in the eyes. Show no fear.

We have a moment when I’m sure he’s going to call me out on this lie. He’ll pin down Jinzo or Ken, or he’ll tell me he already talked to Carlos, Lia, or Gus, and obtained different information.

But Jinzo has been on top of things since we landed. If the military talked to anyone on my crew already, I would have known about it.

I hope.

“Okay, then.”

Inside, I melt in relief. Outside, I nod my head, one definitive bounce.

“We have all your information, and with this knowledge, I will approach the review board and recommend we don’t press charges.” He stands up, ready to put away his datapad and leave.

“Wait,” I say, holding up my hand. “My ship, I want it back.”

Skylar rises from her chair across the room. “Yeah, I want my ship back. You had no right to commandeer it.”

“Well, see here,” Willis drawls as he stops to lock eyes with Skylar. “We had plenty of cause to seize and impound your ship, then search it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Ken says, rising to his feet. “It was an illegal seizure, and we want it back now.”

Willis shakes his head, and his expression is pitying. “Legal, illegal? This is up in the air. A judge will be the one to decide.”

Ken stares him down.

“Actually, I would give it over right now, but we ran into some issues with searching it. Your ship is a curious thing. Once we slaved it to the Millennium, your AI erased everything in its databases.”

Skylar tilts her head to the side and draws her eyebrows together. “What?”

“Your ship performed a core database dump and delete. Probably a fail-safe built in by your tech crew? We have our forensics teams scouring the memory banks, looking for the security data and video feeds, in order to corroborate your story here. After all, I only have your word that you didn’t harbor a fugitive for… more than a week?” He looks at me, determined to catch me in a lie.

I don’t flinch. “Only a day.”

“A day, sure,” he says, nodding his head. “Now, that we have video evidence that you didn’t space Tomu Kawabata, there’s only the harboring charge. We need your security records to verify your claim.”

I shrug. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

“Doesn’t matter. I’m sure my team will find the data, but it’ll take some time.”

His smile says it all. I don’t believe you, and you will not get your ship until I see the evidence of your lie.

Ken steps forward. “My lawyers will have the ship back before the end of the week.”

“I doubt your lawyers are better than me.” He reaches out his hand to me, and this time I’m quick to shake his hand and not show fear. I only wish my palms were drier.

“Ms. Kawabata,” Willis says, at the door, “stay out of trouble and stay out of the military’s business. Don’t make me dissolve this deal and come after you ten times harder.”

What. An. Asshole.

Now, I want to defy him. See if he can stop me.

The men leave, and I wait at the door until they’re in the elevator.

“That’s no good.” Skylar comes up behind me and shuts the door to move me away from it. “He knows you’re lying.”

I sigh. “I’m a horrible liar.”

“You actually handled that well,” Ken says, sitting back down at the table. “He only thinks you’re lying.”

“I am lying.” I sink into the chair opposite him and let my forehead come down and rest on the table. “I’ll never sleep again.”

Lies, lies, lies. I barely slept for months after cheating that one time in Economics. Now, there’s the genuine possibility I’ll be found out and end up in a military jail. All the anger fades away, and my stomach turns over. Oh God, I want to puke.

“Don’t worry,” Jinzo says, resting his hand on my arm. I’m sure he knows I will worry anyway. “Everyone knows the party line. The military will never figure it out.”

“And even if they did,” Ken interrupts, “harboring a fugitive is not a big deal, especially since you weren’t facilitating his crime. You were holding him until they could jail him. A fine or an insignificant amount of jail time max.”

I swallow hard.

He holds up his hands. “I don’t believe they want to jail you. If they did, they wouldn’t have let us return to Palo Alto on the shuttle. They just want to hold something over your head to get you to comply.”

I dip my head to the table again. What the fuck has become of my life?

“Our only way out now is Renata Dellis and her support.” Jinzo’s chair squeaks as he pushes away from the table. “Come on, Vivi. Let’s get you cleaned up and fed. I want to take you shopping.”

His smile is amiable, and I almost believe everything will be okay.

Almost.