Suri’s Sure Thing – Chapter 1

I run my finger down the checklist and stop at item thirty-four.

“Checking internal life support systems is next,” I announce to my boss, Harris, sitting in the adjacent life pod. “It’s a sub-list of… sixty-six items.”

Without even so much as a sigh, Harris responds, “Understood. Sixty-six items. I’m making an executive decision to skip to item thirty-five.”

“Which only has ten sub-items?” I try to keep the sarcasm out of my voice.

I fail.

“Yes, Miss Kimura. Ten sub-items. Considering our shift is over in twenty minutes, this seems like the best course of action.”

I open my mouth to object, and then I remember that Harris doesn’t want to miss the shuttle back down to the surface. His wife is pregnant with their third child, and they’re still looking for a babysitter for the night of the Hikoboshi Farewell Ball. He has a life to live.

I do not.

“Yes, you’re right.” I pick up my tablet that’s stuck to a nearby console. “I’ll make a note of the deviation in our daily report.”

“Thank you, Suri. Now, let’s move onto this fan system.”

Sure. Why not? It’s another system to test and take care of, much like everything else I do as a quality control engineer for the Interstellar Agency. Test a system, take notes, report bugs, and failures. All day, every day. It’s not the most glamorous of jobs, but it’s important. When even the smallest system fails, our teams could be in great danger. Space is unforgiving. Space is cold and desolate. And when you are on a long-range mission and just want to come home, you can’t have a system crash because someone forgot to check it.

A shadow passes over my window, something traveling between us on the Shōnagon and the sun. I gasp as I watch the Murasaki move into position close to us.

“Look out the window,” I say to Harris.

“Well, will you look at that,” Harris breathes through the mic.

I hold my breath as I watch the long ship come around and point its front at us. Through the windows to the bridge, I can just see the outlines of people sitting at their posts. I pull myself closer to the window and let my legs float out behind me. These life pod windows are some of the smallest windows on the ship, but it’s enough to get an excellent view of the Murasaki.

“Wow.” My lungs let the held breath out slowly. “And to think that it’ll leave next week to hop across space.”

Bumping the helmet of my pressure suit against the wall, I rest my forehead on the window. I’ve always wanted to work in space, but going on missions to faraway planets, where we’re not even sure what we’ll find there? No. No thanks. I’m too practical for that.

No adventure for me. Orbit is as far as I ever want to go.

“Another reason to get these checks done as soon as possible,” I say, looking down at my list. “We’re already a year behind on this build.”

“Remember your security clearance, Suri,” Harris admonishes me, and my hackles bristle, much like Finn’s when he sees a squirrel that trespasses on his property.

“I remember.” My voice is as cold as space. “I’ve never stepped outside the bounds.”

“And that’s why you’re one of my best employees.” Harris’s voice is soft and kind, and I let go of my anger. “Sorry. You know how upset everyone is about being behind on the schedule. It wouldn’t be good for the I.A. if the news makes it out to the public before the Murasaki leaves.”

Yes, because once it’s gone, they can’t delay the mission anymore to give us more time. We will need more funding and staffing to speed up. Speeding up is challenging when so many local governments don’t want to spend money on education and factories to make the parts we require to expand our space program. It’s also hard when so much of the population is against what we’re doing here. It’s something I argue about with my father all the time. As mayor of our town, local support is all he cares about.

“Understood. Let’s finish up item thirty-five, so we can make our shuttles home.”

We run through the ten sub-items in less time than we expected with only one error, and it’s in my life pod. I let Harris go early since his shuttle leaves an hour before mine. He lives in Izumo, to the north of my town, and we have separate shuttles for different destinations down below.

My mini-tablet buzzes with a message from Erik, my long-time best friend. “You’re on the next shuttle, right? I’m coming with the dogs to meet you.”

I smile at his thoughtfulness — always caring and there for me. “Yes. I’ll see you soon.”

“Gym later?” he asks.

“Sure. I’ll need to walk off these space legs.”

Before I cut power to the life pod, I take a moment to stare out at our planet, beautiful, watery Orihimé. Only the whirling white clouds of storm systems out at sea mar the deep blues and turquoises of our oceans. The major continent, the only continent, comes into view after only a few moments. It’s daytime down there, early morning, and the continent ebbs and flows with dark browns and vibrant greens. The snowy top of Zenyama sparkles with frost. Winter down below usually means gray skies and plenty of rain. But it looks like I’ll be returning in a few hours to sunlight.

Thank goodness. I need a break from the darkness of space.

The door to the life pod zips closed behind me as I make my way through the long corridor to the nearest airlock. I’ll be glad to get out of this pressure suit in the main parts of the ship. It’s nice that we can work with our visors up, but in sections of the ship that our quality assurance team has not thoroughly tested, we’re required to wear the pressure suit in case something goes wrong.

Fine by me. I like to play by the rules. I like to breathe.

Pushing through zero-g, I get my head back in the game. On the other side of the airlock is life. People are working, talking, socializing. They’re all in the same boat together. Q.A. people like Harris, our team, and me, we’re the loners. That’s okay. I don’t mind being alone while I’m up here. I’m surrounded by people and animals all the time at home. Especially Finn. He’ll be glued to my side as soon as we land.

On the other side of the airlock, I store my pressure suit in the employee locker area.

“Hey, Suri.” Yarra sails into the room as I’m closing my locker. “You going down with the next shuttle to Yamato?” Yarra’s curly blue hair floats in a sphere around her head. She keeps it out of her face with some strategically placed pins.

“Yeah. You?”

“No. I’m here another two days, and then I go down for the ball. My mom is picking up my dress tomorrow.” She rubs her hands together in glee, and I try to keep my smile polite. There’s no need for everyone else to be as miserable as I am.

“You must be excited,” I say, pushing off the wall and gliding past her. “Who did you end up asking to go?”

She pulls her lips to the side as she follows me out of the locker room to the nearest galley. I’m starving, so it’s time to eat something before I head to the shuttle.

“Harris said he’d introduce me to his brother.”

“What?” I burst into a laugh. “That’s random. You know half the guys here on the project would have gone with you.”

She shrugs. “I don’t like dating at work. And we spoke over a vidcall. He seems like a nice enough guy. Why not? I’m just excited to eat all the food. So…” She draws out the one syllable into several as I grab a bag of cookies from the pantry. “Have you found a date yet?”

“I’m not going.”

“What?” Yarra’s mouth drops open. I pull a cookie from the package and stick it in her gaping mouth. She laughs as she takes a bite. Little bits of cookie float away from us. “Mmm. Anyway, I thought you’d definitely be there. You said you might go a few weeks ago.”

Yarra and I don’t see each other that often. We’re usually on opposite shifts and different sleep patterns, and she lives in Izumo while I live in Yamato. I think this is the first time in a month I’ve seen her in the flesh.

“I was thinking about it, but I couldn’t decide on a dress or who to go with.” I pop a cookie in my mouth, chew, and swallow. “Then my dad got involved.”

Yarra groans. “Ugh. Really? How?”

“He started asking guys over to the house and hinting I should take them to the ball. There was the son of a grocery store owner. Then there was this guy who owns an accounting firm. And another guy, admittedly handsome, but a lawyer.”

“Total snoozers, all of them.” Yarra waves her hand. “You should go with Erik.” Her little smirk is just this side of annoying. “I mean, why not? You’re together so much you’re practically dating, anyway. He’s so nice, and he’s so good to you.”

“We’re not dating.” I’ve said that a million times in the last two years. “Not that I want to go with Erik, but he told me he was uninterested in attending.”

Erik may be my best friend, but he’s also the best friend of my ex-boyfriend, Leo. Two years ago, when Leo broke things off with me (thanks to my dad interfering), he moved to the other side of the continent to start over. Leo left behind Erik to pick up the pieces… and this is not something he excels at. He’s more of a quiet, sit-at-home-and-read type. We go to the gym together, eat together, and spend time together, but our relationship has never been romantic.

“Ah, well. I guess that settles it.” Yarra knows Erik too and that he would rather stay home and check out the newest crime novel than ever attend a ball.

“Yep. If I were going to a ball, I’d need a ‘sure thing.’ Someone I could trust not to creep me out and who wouldn’t be in my dad’s back pocket. You know…” I wave my hand around in the air. “The perfect kind of gentleman who is completely unobtainable.”

He would have to be okay with me being broke and living at home, too.

“There are so many of those on standby, Suri. How could you ever choose?”

“Exactly. I’m locking myself in my room for the night and working. I have plenty of reports to catch up on.” I shrug. The extra cash will help me move out of home sometime soon. My younger sister, Myra, moved out two years ago, and I’ve been stuck there ever since with the rest of our large family. I keep looking for apartments in Yamato that are both available and cheap, but it’s like finding one fish in a giant ocean. We’re in the middle of a housing crisis with hardly any space left.

Home is crazy too. Having five younger sisters and one older brother is plenty, but if you add on my parents and the family staff and all the animals… It’s enough to make my head spin most days. I’ve been broke now for years, ever since bailing my younger sister, Tilli, out of a secret debt. There’s not much I can do about that, though. What’s done is done.

The onboard speakers pop and chime before an automated voice says, “Attention, Shōnagon visitors, the shuttle to Yamato will depart in fifteen minutes. Those with reserved seats, please proceed to Airlock 5B. Thank you.” It repeats once more before stopping.

“That’s my cue to leave. Finn, Erik, and Tsuki will be waiting for me, so I can’t miss this one.” I place my hand on Yarra’s shoulder and lean in to kiss her on the cheek goodbye. “Have a great time at the ball. I can’t wait to hear all about it.”

“Thanks. Enjoy your time off. I hope I see you again, sooner this time!” She smiles and pushes her blue hair back. “It’s been too long since we last spoke.”

“Same.”

I push off from the floor and angle out the door — time to head to Airlock 5B and home.