Suri’s Sure Thing – Chapter 13

We wait with our arms around each other for what feels like hours but turns out to be less than thirty minutes by the time I look at the wall clock.

I lift my face up to see how Erik is doing. He’s directed his eyes out the galley window to the empty hallway.

“Anyone out there?” I ask.

“No. Not a soul.” He sighs as he rests his chin on the top of my head. “I hope the dogs are okay.”

“Hold on,” I say, pushing away from him.

I press my head to the window in the doorway and peer out at the hall. All the other doors are closed, including the door to our escape pod. But a panel across the hall shows that everything here is pressurized.

“The corridor looks secure, and the escape pod’s door is closed. Hopefully, the dogs are sleeping. Do you think this has anything to do with the protests?”

People have been protesting the Hikoboshi mission and the I.A. for years, but we have never been this close to launch before. The first mission is a week away. If the radicals who don’t want us to go were to do anything, now would be the time. My blood cools as I remember what Leo had gotten himself into — weapons and explosives running. Has he been supplying protestors with explosives? If so, that doesn’t make them protestors anymore. They’re terrorists now.

I return to Erik and wrap my arms around him again.

“Probably not. Maybe it was just a construction problem. Your guess is as good as mine,” Erik says, pulling away from me a bit. “But yeah, they’ve been threatening violence for some time now.”

“I’ll never understand them.” I shake my head. “There’s nothing wrong with hedging our bets. After what happened to the Earth? We should have a backup plan.”

“I think they hoped we had learned a lesson and wouldn’t screw up Orihimé like we did with Earth. We’re doing fine with the environment, but…” His voice trails off, his face grim.

“But we’ll run out of room before too long,” I fill in, “unless those continent building projects ever work.”

He shakes his head, and his eyes are dark with sadness. “You and I both know that’s a long shot at best. The oceans are too deep. And we humans are as bad as rabbits. Population control doesn’t work.”

I huff a short laugh. “Not when there’s so much romance.” I roll the R and flutter my eyelashes at him, and he laughs too.

He brings his free hand up and lightly touches my cheek. “Your face has changed in zero-g.” I hold my breath as he looks at me. “Do you have any idea how many times I’ve stared at you, memorized your features, remembered your laugh, listened to how you hum at the ends of your sentences, and flutter your eyes when they get dry?” He pulls me a little closer. “I never dated anyone else because they couldn’t compare to you. I could never love them the way I secretly loved you. I wasn’t even sure what I would ever do if you had met someone else. I just hoped you wouldn’t.”

Oh wow. My heart is beating so fast, I can’t catch my breath. Looking back on all the things we did together, the little gestures, the quiet moments, I can see it all now. He’s been in love with me for years, and I never realized it.

“I’m sorry,” I blurt out, and my eyes fill with those super clingy zero-g tears. “I’m sorry I was so blind and wasted those years. Now, look where I am. Homeless, my family has turned on me, and we’re stuck in some crazy situation in orbit. This is all a disaster.”

He wipes away the errant tear that sticks to my cheek. “It’s okay. I still love you.”

I swipe at the rest of the tears clouding my eyes and bring my lips to his. When I thought about kissing Erik last night, I wondered if it would be awkward or feel wrong because I’ve known him for so long.

But no, it’s exhilarating. The space between my legs buzzes as he pulls my hips to his with one hand and cups the back of my neck with his other. The kiss starts sweet and easy as we test each other’s boundaries and quickly morphs into a heated frenzy. Our lips take each other in, and he groans as he tries to pull me closer, closer, closer. My hands find the back of his shirt tucked into his pants, and I tug hard, trying desperately to free it so I can touch his bare skin. I’ve seen this skin in the past, glistening with sweat after a hard workout, and now I want it next to my fingers so badly, my brain is fritzing out.

He disengages from my lips to kiss my cheek and down my jaw to my neck. Good gods, it’s been so long since anyone has done that. I have to squeeze my legs together to stop the blinding ache there.

“Are you freaking out yet?” he asks, his lips against my skin.

“Mmmm, no, why? Should I be?”

He pulls me back for a moment so he can see me.

“Just checking. You could be freaking out about the explosion and the decompression. Or about you and me.”

“I should be freaking out about the decompression, but I’m not because we’re safe in here for now. And I’m definitely not freaking out about you.”

“Suri, you have no idea how long I’ve waited for this. How long I’ve dreamed of this. Once I start, I doubt I’ll stop.”

I smile, and his returning smile lights me up from the inside. “Good. I don’t want it to stop.” I kiss him again, and the thrill of our lips revs my sex drive into high gear. I moan when his hand cups my ass.

“Do you think anyone has ever had sex up here?” he asks, pulling the collar of my shirt down and kissing along my clavicle.

My vision tunnels, and my brain recedes for a moment. “I don’t know. Want to be the first?” It’s been ages since I was last laid, and hell, why not do it in space? We have nothing else to do until the doors open.

His grin nearly does me in.

“Ahem. Excuse me…”

Erik and I both freeze as the voice echoes into the galley.

All the heat in my body rushes out in a giant whoosh. Shit. The cameras.

What was I thinking?

Well, obviously, I wasn’t thinking with my brain.

I pull my shirt back into place and smooth out my hair, securing it in a ponytail.

“Okay, yeah, sorry,” the voice says again. “I didn’t want to interrupt but thought I should before you, uh, yeah.”

Erik’s eyes are wide with panic. I close mine and curse under my breath before turning around to face the camera in the nearest corner.

“Hello? I think there’s been an explosion on the ship,” I report and clear my throat. It’s best to pretend they didn’t see Erik and me making out and engaging in what they could construe as light foreplay.

“There has, but it was in Corridor C. You’re the only people in all of Corridor A, and we show one-hundred percent pressurization in your area. We’re going to release the doors and allow you to retreat to an escape pod. Our records show that pods one through three are safe for jettison.”

I blink a few times. “You want us to get in an escape pod and leave? Who is this?”

“This is Director of Ops, Kate Mishima.”

Oh shit. Mishima is one of the highest-ranking officers at the Interstellar Agency. I am so busted. It looks like I’ll be homeless and jobless within a day.

I must be in shock because Erik reaches over and takes my hand.

“I’m sorry, Director Mishima. I didn’t mean to question you.”

“It’s fine, Miss Kimura. I still need you both to move to a secure spot. The protestors are threatening to blow another hole in the ship. It’s safer for you to get out and away than to stay. Understand?”

“The protestors made it here?” I ask, and then I remember all the extra people on my shuttle. Did they disguise themselves as new recruits?

“We don’t have time to talk about this now, Miss Kimura.” Her voice is tight with anxiety.

Looks like my first suspicion was correct. The explosion was deliberate and not a construction accident.

“Understood,” I reply.

“Great. You two move to the door and go straight to an escape pod. Water and food packets are floating behind you. Grab some of those too, just in case.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I nod and urge Erik to go grab the packets with the wave of my hands.

“And Miss Kimura?”

“Yes?”

“We won’t speak about what I just witnessed.”

I swallow hard. “Thank you.” I nod and move away from the camera.

I meet Erik at the door, and he hands me a few packets to stuff into my pockets. His pockets are overstuffed and trying to float away from him.

“That was awkward,” he whispers.

“I’m so getting fired, I know it.” I close my eyes and blow out a long breath. “Now I’m going to be homeless and jobless.”

He takes my hand and squeezes it. “You won’t be either.”

The door beeps and zips open.

“Let’s go. We need to be quick.”

I take a handhold and propel myself up and away from the galley, but I’m not heading straight for the escape pod.

“I’m going to make a quick stop along the way for pressure suits in the locker room. I don’t want to be without them.”

“Okay,” Erik says, sticking behind me. He trusts me. Whether or not this will be my job tomorrow, I’m good at it, and I know what I’m doing.

I fly into the locker room and head for my pressure suit. I always use the same one, and it’s disinfected after each use. I release it from the wall and push it towards Erik. He reaches out and snags it from the air.

“I’ll grab Harris’s suit for you. You’re about the same size.”

“What about the dogs?” he asks.

“Ugh. Right.” I stop to think. What can we do about the dogs? I sweep my eyes over the room, cataloging all the suits we’re still using in here. “We’ll grab the two smallest suits. I don’t think we’re going to need these at all, but it’ll be good to have them, just in case.” The two smallest suits belong to Yarra and another petite girl in our group named Marie.

I’m wrestling with Marie’s suit when the onboard speakers crackle to life.

“We’re serious about our intentions. The Hikoboshi mission is a mistake. Everything that’s here on this ship should have been used to improve our own planet. This is a waste. A waste!” he shouts, and I flinch. My fingers fumble over the catches, but I pull the last suit free. I push it towards Erik, and he grabs it. His lips are set in a strict line, and his eyes have lost their glossy sheen. “We will not —”

The announcement system cuts out. That can’t be good.

“Go, go.” I launch myself from the wall with the strong legs I’ve built up over the years of doing weighted squats and deadlifts at the gym. Zooming through the door opening, I free up one of my hands to change my angle and follow Erik down the hall to the escape pod.

“Suri Suri! What’s happening?”

Finn! I draw in a relieved breath as I approach the escape pod. But my trajectory is all wrong, and I’m at least ten centimeters too far from the door. I’m going to float down the hall! And it’ll take way too long to fix this and make it back to the escape pod in time to get out of here.

“Erik!” My voice cracks. “Help!”

I glimpse the open escape pod hatch door and Erik’s face as I float by.

“Whoa there.” He grabs the trailing foot of one of the pressure suits, and I slow to a stop. “I’ve got you.”

Now I’m going in reverse, so I swing myself around and angle the pressure suits through the door.

“Suri, Suri!” Finn is panting and squirming in the net right where we left him, and Tsuki is running in mid-air, not far from him. She managed to break free. “Suri, let’s go home. Yeah? Yeah?”

“Yeah, let’s go home, Finn.” I nod to Erik. “Close the hatch, please. I’m going to power this thing up and fly us away from here.”