A Kiss For a Cure

by Bristol, Sidney

  “Can we talk about this later?”

  Cai sighed. “Sure.”

  Jordan took a deep breath. Cai could see the emotions flitting across her face as she pulled herself together. Sweetness lingered on the tip of his tongue, a testament to how she truly felt.

  “Okay, let’s get in the water. We can figure this out later.”

  Chapter 6

  Cai backed off and put on his flippers. He followed Jordan through the portal and obeyed her instructions for priming his tank.

  The door shut behind them, sealing the room against the water. The pressure began to change, squeezing him. Jordan had explained it was part of the anomaly of the space reef, and one of many unique factors holding the ecosystem together.

  Water trickled into the room, rising to their ankles. It was hard to not be a little nervous. He’d never been submerged in this much water before, and despite Jordan’s reassurance that it was similar to spalking, it didn’t feel anything like space walking now.

  Her eyes were owlishly large behind the goggles. She slapped his arm and gave him a thumbs-up. He echoed the gesture. There was an entire language of hand signals that went with diving. He understood about five of them.

  The water continued to rise. It was colder than he’d been prepared for, and he shivered. Jordan sank below the surface, becoming an alien-looking, black blob. Bending his knees, Cai submerged himself. A full body shudder had him undulating. His jaw clenched against the biting cold.

  Hands tugged on him, and his eyes focused on Jordan as she adjusted a strap on his harness.

  Green lights along the edge flashed, increasing in speed, indicating the room had reached water capacity. An army of air bubbles raced up as the far wall crept upward.

  A small fish the size of his hand, darted into the chamber. It didn’t appear bothered as it coasted between them before making a break for it.

  She jerked her head to the opening, another complex hand signal accompanying the movements. The meaning was lost on him, but he still nodded.

  She pushed out first, her flippers kicking up bubbles in her wake. Jordan made it appear effortless. He had no illusions about his own skill. Crouching, he propelled himself forward, but crashed into the side of the opening. His body went into a gentle spin, and he reacted as if he were spalking, spreading his limbs to slow the momentum.

  Despite having been told there was little gravity, he’d been expecting to feel something. But, true to Jordan’s lecture, he couldn’t. Getting his movements under control, he turned himself around using his flippers and hands until he caught sight of her a short distance away watching him. He could imagine her chuckling at him. Grinning in his mask, he kicked gently, feeling the flow of water over the wet suit.

  The minimal effort it took to get moving was startling. While he’d understood the ease by which the fish could move was one of the factors benefitting their survival, it was still strange to experience it.

  Jordan made another gesture and kicked off, heading out across the reef.

  She’d explained at length the details of the reef. Though he hadn’t understood half of what she’d said, the way she spoke about her job both entertained him and let him see into her life. What he did understand was that the reef was a long, oval shape which spread little year to year. Coral had grown over a giant asteroid and the remains of the ship that brought the fish here. They were heading to a bit of the reef in the middle that was the most active, where her nurse sharks patrolled.

  The water had a deep blue color, and in the distance he could make out tiny pinpricks of light and space beyond. Large lamps anchored into the edge of the reef provided artificial sunlight and warmth. Jordan explained when the reef was first discovered, it was on the verge of collapsing from the cold and vitamin deficiencies. One of the first things installed in the reef were the huge lamps, which phased in and out, simulating night and day on the reef.

  They passed below lamp one, not disturbing the school of brightly-colored fish hiding below it. As much as he wanted to pause and watch them, he couldn’t. Jordan was already moving faster than he was.

  Doubling his effort, Cai shot through the water. Below him, the coral began to take on a variety of shapes, sizes and colors. There were some that were rounded, appearing more like a brain than a living rock. Others were softer, more plantlike in appearance. Darting in and among all of it were fish–small ones, great big ones and others which looked like butterflies. By the time she stopped at lamp six, his neck hurt from constantly glancing around.

  Jordan floated in the water next to him. She grasped his arm and pointed below. A five-foot shark glided under them.

  * * * *

  Jordan wondered what Cai thought about her sharks. The male nurse shark was a player, as far as shark personalities were concerned. It was easy to get this one to interact on most days, but today she wasn’t interested in him.

  The diving mask blocked all of Cai’s lower face, but his eyes were as big as a small planet.

  Squeezing his arm, she gave him a shake to knock him out of whatever trance he’d fallen into. He shook his head, sending little air bubbles skittering in all directions. Without much gravity the bubbles were subject to the current, which was hard to get used to.

  Cai gave her a thumbs-up. She suspected he’d forgotten half the signals. If they were doing anything besides observing, she’d be worried about his inability to communicate.

  Gesturing away from the heart of the reef, she kicked her feet. He was moving with more grace through the water the longer they were submerged.

  She suspected the shark pups would be on the outskirts, in the younger forest. Since it was daytime on the reef, the nurse sharks would be asleep. This was the best time of day for her to observe the health of the day-old pups.

  In the water, among the fish, was her favorite place. If she could have grown gills and transplanted herself, she would.

  Stalks of kelp rose haphazardly from the reef floor. The older kelp was close to twenty feet in height and stretched in every direction. Jordan kept them on the outskirts of the kelp forest. Her bull sharks liked to hide in the kelp and were aggressive ambush hunters. She didn’t want to make them targets if she could keep from it. Their wet suits would protect them from the teeth, but not from the crushing force of the bites.

  Finally they came to the area she expected would be the most likely place for the pups to have taken up residence. She slowed her swim and began moving in a large circle, watching the knee-high kelp for little dorsal fins. In the end, she didn’t see them first.

  Cai slapped her thigh, pointing at an outcrop of rock. There, in the relative shelter of the reef, were her shark pups. She didn’t want to disturb them. They kept their distance while she counted to make sure they were all there. She’d brought a few scanners with her, which she used to gather data from the tags she’d put on the pups the day before. The data was priceless, considering it would be the first for young sharks on the reef.

  If it had been up to Jordan, they would have settled on the reef bed and watched the pups for hours. But the oxygen levels in the tanks were getting low and she didn’t want to rush their return trip.

  Jordan gestured back to the Center and allowed Cai to take the lead. She followed him from Lamp Six to Two, taking time to stop so he could admire some of the more colorful inhabitants and examine the stationary coral and plants. What she wouldn’t have given to have his ability, to sense his joy and wonder.

  Pausing, she watched as he reached out to stroke an inquisitive fish. Having what Cai had was special. He’d never be alone unless he chose to be. She’d been so busy feeling sorry for him, she hadn’t paused to consider how good he had it, but still his need could be misused, and he could be taken advantage of. For that reason, she wanted to give him what she would never have. Real freedom.

  He pushed up from the reef floor and rose in front of her. The skin around his eyes crinkled. He gave her a thumbs-up and jerked his head toward the Center. Nodding, she ki
cked her flippers and propelled herself through the water.

  The chill from the water had settled in her bones. Usually she was active, moving around a lot when she was on a dive. Not so much this time, which allowed the cold to seep into her muscles, making the first few kicks difficult. She exaggerated her motions, working the blood back into her limbs.

  Cai jerked on her arm, his other hand waving wildly.

  Twisting around, Jordan searched for what alarmed him.

  A white shark. And not just any shark. It was Zeus.

  Her whites were still juveniles, but big enough to do serious damage to soft tissue. The biggest, a nine-foot-long bull, circled them.

  Latching onto Cai’s arm, she pulled him down to the reef bed and made herself as small as possible, bringing her knees in to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Cai did his best to follow her example, but he was so much bigger than her.

  Zeus was temperamental. One day aggressive, another playful. She wasn’t willing to risk Cai’s safety on the off chance Zeus wanted to try hunting them.

  Her problem with the ecosystem was that adult whites in particular needed the high-protein, fatty meat of seals as they got older. Seals weren’t able to live in this environment. There was no oxygen for mammals to breathe on the reef. Without the natural progression of the sharks’ diet, Jordan and the other scientists could only guess at the implications to the white sharks’ future.

  Zeus circled closer, moving slowly. There wasn’t anything overtly aggressive about his behavior, but she knew from firsthand experience how quickly a shark’s demeanor could change.

  Cai’s hand groped for hers. She offered her bare skin to him, hoping he would be able to sense and channel her calmness.

  On one hand, it still took her breath away to be this close to an animal with as much power and majesty as Zeus. On the other, it was bone-chilling. For now, she was content to allow Zeus the freedom to circle. As the shark glided through the water above them, she decided to take a chance and reached up with her free hand to run her fingers along the underbelly.

  Zeus’ body undulated gently at her touch, like a child tickled.

  Jordan released the breath she’d been holding. Squeezing Cai’s hand, she let him go and gestured for him to stay put. Rising slowly in the water, she put a little distance between Cai and herself as Zeus turned to come around again. She took a moment to breathe deep and center herself, finding an inner calm she channeled whenever she handled her sharks.

  As Zeus approached, she fanned her hands out as big as they would go and gently kicked, rising in the water. Zeus angled for her, his mouth opening and closing, showing her row upon row of razor-sharp teeth. Reaching out, she grasped his snout and lifted it away from the reef bed. Slowly, Zeus rose until he was upright in the water and completely immobile.

  Her breath hitched. Between her two hands she could count the number of times she’d successfully induced tonic immobility on her sharks.

  Withdrawing her hands, she gently backstroked in the water. On a smaller breed of shark, the hypnotized state could last for up to fifteen minutes. But a shark the size of Zeus wouldn’t be out for more than a few moments.

  Waving at Cai, she gestured for him to head for the Center. She waited until he’d gotten a head start, before kicking off.

  When she glanced behind her, Zeus was nowhere to be seen.

  Chapter 7

  Cai scraped his hair back and tied it out of his face. The preparations for dinner were done, but he didn’t want to start cooking without Jordan. Experiencing her world yesterday, sharing the most important part of her life, solidified his desire to be part of it. She might not love him now, but given enough time he knew he could win her over. But time wasn’t on his side.

  She’d spent a big chunk of the day in the lab working with the data she’d gathered from the sharks and waiting for his serum to finish. The idea that an injection could take the place of a real person was appalling, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her. She wanted to help, but not in the way he needed.

  He needed to show her.

  They’d managed to unpack most of her belongings. It surprised him that as the daughter of affluent nobility, she owned little. A dining table was one of the things she lacked. Cai created one by stacking plastos and laying the lid of the largest container over the makeshift table legs. They’d have to sit on the ground, but with a sheet thrown over the top, it wasn’t half bad.

  Behind him, the doors whooshed open.

  “I’ve got it.” She waved her hand at him, clenched in it was something small and white.

  He straightened from arranging the table. “What is it?”

  She stopped short, staring at the table as if it were the first she’d ever seen. “What are you doing?”

  “Setting the table.”

  “Oh.” Her brows drew down into a line.

  “What did you come up with?” He gestured to a spring-loaded syringe. The kind used for emergency injections.

  She held out her hand, grinning. “It synthesized. I tested it twice and got the same results. This could be your answer.”

  He didn’t want to crush her excitement, but he couldn’t see how this solution was anything but a temporary fix. One he didn’t need with her in his life. This serum violated the things he held dear, his way of life.

  “Aren’t you excited?” Her smile transformed her face. She was beautiful when she smiled. He’d give anything to keep it there.

  He spoke slowly, trying to couch his feelings in words that would not hurt her. “It’s a lot to take in. Much of who my people are is our dependence on feedback. Our culture is built around celebrating it. Giving that up is…strange.”

  “But don’t you want independence?”

  He closed the distance between them and grasped her shoulders. “Do you want rid of me that badly?”

  Her head jerked back. “That’s not what I said.”

  The fabric between them dampened his awareness of her, but not enough he couldn’t pick up on the flutter of nerves.

  “I know. But it’s, difficult, for me to think like you do.” He smiled to soften his words. He plucked the syringe from her palm and examined at the clear liquid inside. It was an innocent gesture. A solution, in dire circumstances, could save his people. “It’s safe?”

  She cleared her throat. “There’s always a margin for error without extensive testing.”

  “Only one way to find out, right?”

  He put the business end to his arm and clicked the button. The needles pierced his skin and injected the liquid in a matter of seconds. It didn’t hurt or instantly blacken out everything around him.

  He offered the empty syringe to Jordan, who went to a section in the wall he hadn’t noticed before. She dropped it into a slot, and away it went.

  “It should hit you in about fifteen minutes.” She paced toward him, rubbing her palms on her thighs. He stood still, as if that would help him to be aware of the change. “I’m going to take a quick read so I know what to compare it to.”

  She pulled a hand scanner from her pocket. Cai offered her his other arm and let her focus on the numbers on the screen.

  “Am I dying?” he asked when she didn’t say anything.

  Her head snapped up. “No. Do you feel okay?”

  He chuckled and winked at her. “Feel fine. How are the numbers?”

  “Good.”

  “Great. Hungry?” He pushed a stray curl out of her face.

  “Yeah.” She glanced over his shoulder. “You already cooked?”

  “No.” He took her hand and pulled her toward the kitchenette. “We’re going to cook together.”

  “Cai, I don’t know how to cook anything. I’ll burn it.”

  He led her, still protesting, into the kitchenette and stood her at the miniscule counter space.

  “You won’t burn it. I won’t let you.” He grabbed the washed vegetables, laid them on the cutting board and stood behind her. He’d already set out a kni
fe and everything he’d need. There wouldn’t be time for her to escape. Circling her with his arms, he suppressed the urge to lean into her, pin her to the counter and kiss the juncture of her neck and shoulder.

  Clearing his throat, Cai took her hands in his to direct her. “Grab the lettuce. You’re going to want to cut off this end.”

  Jordan let him guide her hands, though after a few dices of the knife, he let her lead. Touching her like this, her back to his front, was exactly the kind of trust and familiarity he wanted to cultivate between them.

  “Now what?”

  He grabbed the rest of the ingredients for a salad and put them in front of her. “Practice your chopping skills. I’m going to show you how to make salahi. It’s a dish we make at holidays. I thought it was appropriate.” He pressed a quick kiss to her cheek and stepped away.

  She grumbled, but set to work. He gathered the meat and the ingredients for the sauce.

  Cooking with Jordan took longer, but it was enjoyable. He turned on some Christmas music and tried to not think about his upcoming surprise.

  Cai scrubbed his face, his shoulders sagging. He hadn’t realized how much the last few days had taken out of him physically. Exhausted, he rested his hip against the counter and watched her stare at the CU. He needed to put the salad on the table, get their drinks and move things to the table. He should be hungry. He wanted to eat, but his stomach wasn’t rumbling.

  “I think this is done.” Jordan popped open the unit.

  “Don’t grab it. The pan is hot.”

  “I know that.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and used a bath towel commandeered for kitchen purposes to remove the pan.

  Finally mustering the energy to do even the simple task of relocating the food, he made it to the table and sank down on the floor. He hadn’t even gotten the pillows from the bedroom to make it more comfortable, or turn the ambient lighting on. He was just too tired.

  * * * *

  Jordan brought the plates to the table. The music and decorations transformed her quarters from sterile to cheerful. It was still a bit of a mess without furniture, but everywhere she looked was something that made her smile. It was sweet how much Cai did to make her feel special. She hoped her serum worked. It was the greatest gift she could offer him.