Suri’s Sure Thing – Chapter 12

Once we’re docked, Erik and I hang back to let the others off in front of us. It takes some time because most of these people have never been in space for longer than five minutes before, and their knowledge of zero gravity is from the sims and material they’ve read most of their career. Everyone goes up for a brief stint right after completing the basic training, but it’s a limited period of zero gravity. Nothing more. And there are people like Erik who decline even that. He’s lucky he wasn’t turned away at the gate, but I think he sneaked by in the mess of the crowd.

Two people flip through the adjoining airlock and laugh while the more experienced crew members glide along behind them. One man rolls his eyes at the antics of those in front, and I chuckle. Come on. You were young once.

“Now what?” Erik whispers as the last two head through.

I push him lightly forward. “Now, you flirt with the attendant. Pull her attention away from the dogs and me. When you’re done, go through the airlock and make a right at the first corridor. That’s aft, towards the back of the ship, Corridor A. Go straight through the first airlock in that corridor and head to Escape Pod A3.”

“But Suri…” He gestures to the cameras over us and pointing at the hatches.

“I’m going to keep myself between the dogs and the cameras. I don’t think we’ll be caught right away. But they’ll look at the footage later and see everything.” I shrug. “Can’t be helped now. So get over there and talk to her.”

He blinks a few times. “You want me to flirt with her?”

“Uh, huh. She smiled at you. It’s enough for you to think you might date her. But don’t go too far because she can report you for harassment. Just, you know, be your charming self.”

He sighs, a deep sigh that reaches down to his toes. “I am not charming.”

“You are to me. Go.”

This brings a sweet smile to his face. There. That’s better. He’ll be able to do his job with that smile in place.

I crouch down between the seats and make eye contact with the dogs.

“Okay. We’re heading out in a second. You both need to be absolutely quiet. Not a peep.”

“Suri, we bark,” Finn says, a touch of ‘duh’ added to his tone.

I huff a dry laugh. “Yes, you’re not birds. Anyway, when I pull you out, things are going to be weird. You’re going to float, and nothing will seem right. You may even feel a little sick. Just let me guide you where you need to go.” I stand up but then stop. “And no peeing. Not one mark. You hear me?”

Both dogs stare at me like I’ve asked them to do the impossible.

Maybe I have.

Murmuring floats towards me from the front of the shuttle, and when I look up again, Erik is talking to the flight attendant, and she has her back to us.

It’s ‘go’ time.

I pull Finn out first, and it takes a moment to get him moving. He was wrapped around the seat bolts to secure himself.

Oh my goodness. In space, Finn is one enormous ball of golden hair. It floats out from his body in all directions. I hold on to his collar and try to keep him behind the seats.

“Come on, Tsuki. Time to go,” I urge her, but she stays put. “Come on. You don’t want to get Erik in trouble, right? I promise you’ll be fine.”

Tsuki seems to think about this for a moment before she commando crawls forward, and wiggles her body around. It’s a strange dance in zero-g, but she manages it. I grab her collar too and peek over the seats again.

This time the flirting is going well. She’s laughing and touching his arm, and he’s gesturing with his hands, his feet secured into a foothold on the floor.

“Ready? One, two, three.” I push off with my legs and brace my arms for tugging these two masses of fur with me. Flexing my arms, I bring the dogs forward in front of my body and hope they’re hidden enough from the cameras. Past the airlock doors and into the corridor, I slow Tsuki down so I can let her go and use my right hand. An object in motion stays in motion, and I need to change direction.

The next corridor is where I need to turn right, and there are handholds all the way around the opening. I reach out with my right hand and grab the nearest one, then flex and brace as I bring the mass of one human and a sizable dog to rest. Once I’m not moving, I reach out and grab Tsuki.

Tsuki is quite the puffball on land and even more so in orbit. Her mouth is open, and she’s panting with her tongue out. She looks devastatingly happy, and it makes me laugh. Still, she’s silent, like I asked her.

Looking left and right, up and down the corridors branching out from here, we’re alone. Everyone else went to Corridor B, where orientation takes place and where the employee lockers are. No one would go to Corridor A unless they were already on the ship, and it’s empty now. I’m lucky today.

Or not so lucky, seeing as I have two very not-allowed visitors with me.

I direct the dogs to Escape Pod A3 and secure them against the far wall by slipping them into the webbed luggage holders. Once I pull the door closed behind me, they both start rumbling.

“Suri, what is this place? Why do we float like insects?” Finn’s face is a mash of confusion.

“We’re in space.” His face doesn’t change. “We’re in the place above the sky.”

“There’s something above the sky?”

I never thought I would have to explain this to my dog. “Yes, there are lots of places above the sky,” I say, floating over to him and scratching his head. I scratch Tsuki’s, too, because she looks as confused as Finn.

Knock, knock, knock.

Erik’s face is in the escape pod window, his eyes searching around inside, but it’s dark in here and hard for him to see when we’re in the planet’s shadow. I open the door and let him in.

I whoop as he careens into me, and we gently float into the nearest wall. I wrap my arm and both legs around him and catch a handhold to slow us down.

“Oh shit,” he says. “This zero-gravity business is no joke. You can’t swim in the air like I thought you could.” He squeezes me back and plants a kiss on my forehead. “Thanks.”

I tip my face up to look at him in the dim light of the consoles. Our lips are so close, and his soft breath flutters across my chin. I close my eyes, feeling the imminence of this kiss, our very first…

“Hey, Suri, Suri! I have to pee.”

I groan and rest my forehead against Erik’s chest. “The dogs have to pee.”

“That’s the most romantic thing anyone’s ever said to me,” he replies with a chuckle.

“And I’m hungry,” Finn says.

Tsuki grumbles and barks. “And Tsuki is hungry,” Erik translates.

I sigh and pull away. “This is an escape pod, and I just finished inspecting it the other day. I was halfway through the next one over, A4, when my last shift ended. That means this one has a survival kit. The others don’t yet.” I edge away from Erik and move over to the other wall, where I grab the survival kits. I pull out two of the super absorbent microfiber blankets. “This is what we do. We make diapers out of these, let them pee, and then we’ll dispose of them later. But we’ll have to go to the galley to get some food they can eat. These ration bars are not very dog-friendly. Some of them have chocolate in them.” I guess we never thought there would be dogs to eat them. “In the galley, we have water pouches and meal puree pouches along with other solid foods.”

Erik holds up the blanket. “I have to make a diaper for my dog?”

“Are you too cool to make a diaper for your dog?” I ask with a laugh, unfolding the blanket.

“No, of course not.” Still, he sighs as he gets it wrapped around Tsuki.

It’s messy, but it works! Erik and I put the soiled blankets into plastic pouches and store them away. Then we tell the dogs to be quiet and nap before taking off for the galley.

“You’re great at this,” Erik says, following behind me down the corridor. “Have I ever told you you have a nice ass?”

“What?” I burst into a laugh, and my face heats. “No. No, you have not.”

I glance back at him. He shrugs. “Seems like something I can say now that the flood gates are open.” I turn around to hide my embarrassment and excitement. “I used to check you out all the time at the gym doing those squats. One guy there was always making fun of me for it.”

Up ahead in the far corridor, I catch the backside of people heading into Corridor C. Wait. Corridor C is brand-new construction, and it’s not on the list for inspection for another three weeks. Did these new people come up here to get us ahead of schedule?

I angle to the left so I can get a better look at them. They’re not wearing pressure suits. That’s not good. Technically, Erik and I shouldn’t even be in Corridor A without pressure suits. Still, I feel pretty confident about the checks my team has done in there. We’re at over seventy percent complete on our Q.A. plans, and we checked all the airlocks and places where pressure could be lost first. Pressure suits are just a precaution.

But not in Corridor C. Corridor C wasn’t even pressurized three days ago.

The airlock closes and seals before I can get a good look at them.

“What’s the matter, Suri?” Erik asks, floating up beside me.

“I… I’m not sure.” Even though there are no alarms, my body is on edge. Sometimes I get those feelings, the ones of imminent danger that I can’t shake. Most of the time, they’re nothing, though. Most of the time… “Let’s hustle to the galley.”

Erik doesn’t question me but follows along behind.

“Space is trippy,” he says as we cross the threshold to the galley. It wasn’t too long ago I was in here talking to Yarra. I hope she enjoys the ball. “Is it going to be a problem that I’m not taking all the same drugs as you?”

I shake my head and regret it. I’m still not acclimatized to zero-g. “No. Trips less than a day don’t require the drugs. You’ll be fine.” I pull open one of the wall fridge drawers, and Erik peers in next to me. “Let’s grab some water packs and some of these pureed veggie packs for the dogs.”

His arm brushes against mine, and he smiles at me. My stomach flutters, and it’s not just the lack of gravity.

“You’re awfully smiley for your first foray into space.” I keep my teasing tone light.

“It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Especially with you here.”

“Erik,” I say, pushing the drawer closed, “I feel like we’re dancing around saying and not saying things.”

His smile widens. “Let’s put it this way, Suri. I’m not going to hold back now.”

The flutters rise into giddiness and hope. “Me neither.”

The lights flicker, and both of our smiles evaporate. “What was that?” Erik asks, looking at the walls. The ship rocks, a muffled boom startles me, and everything moves to the right around us.

A blaring siren echoes through the galley, and we drop our packets to cover our ears.

“What is that?” Erik yells over the din.

Decompression alarm. My heart rate rockets.

I grab him, ignoring the floating packets around us, and I push off from the wall, taking him with me towards the galley door. Come on, come on.

But before we can make it out, the door slams shut, and we crash into it.

Oof. Erik and I are a tangle of limbs as we try to right ourselves.

“Decompression in Corridor C. Decompression in Corridor C,” an automated voice sounds over the internal speakers. “Please stay in your section until your airlock doors are open.”

“Erik…” The panic in my voice is sky high, and he turns and wraps his arms and legs around me.

“Suri,” he says, squeezing me tight, “I think that was an explosion.”