Nebula Nights: Love Among The Stars

by Melisse Aires

  Turning off the tablet, I set it aside. Now is the time to write my letters to Aunt Kimie and Lomo. This year, I think I’ll compose haikus for both of them, but it’s going to require some thought. With my pen poised over my stationery, I begin like I do every year.

  “Dearest Aunt Kimie…”

  Chapter

  Three

  Back to work.

  There’s a lot to be done and my to-do list is about a thousand items deep. For the next year, I’ll be pulling long shifts and late nights. Launch of the first ships is a little over a year away and with Kenji Yamada, our Chief of Colonization, in the hospital close to death, my coworkers are distracted by the constant stream of gossip surrounding his mysterious illness. The stories coming off the news service for the past week have been grave, and the whole situation makes me anxious. Yamada was a people person, someone who was always around, and made a point of speaking to everyone on the staff no matter how junior they were. No one I know wants anything bad to happen to him.

  I walk into the Colonization building first thing the second of January, and the front atrium is chaotic with activity. My tablet in my bag immediately starts pinging with messages coming in and more work to be done. I try not to growl at it.

  Whenever I get particularly frustrated with my work load, I watch the original colonization announcement given by Chief Administrator Lucinda Coen when I was thirteen. The announcement still in the news databases and judging by the number of times the file’s been viewed, I’m sure I’m not the only one who downloads it over and over again. The video reminds me why I keep chipping away at the pile of work, why I’m here in the first place.

  I reach my desk and access it on my tablet to watch again before I tackle anything else. The immediate office area is quiet, and no one is around to talk to yet.

  Inthe video, Coen, with her bright eager face, shoulder-length red hair and green eyes, broadcast to all Nishikyō citizens that the Colonization Committee had decided on which of the ten planets logged in the GDB we are to make our new home. The planet will have everything we’ll need: sun, warmth, oxygen, land, and water. It’s fairly close to the same size as Earth, a little bit colder, and has two moons.

  She never mentioned any specifics, but the first ship will get to our new home in ten years. The next ships will leave in waves each following year and most likely take less time due to ongoing research and advancements. She ended the announcement by giving the planet a name: Yūsei, which means “wandering star” in Japanese.

  While I sit at my desk and drink my morning coffee, I close my eyes and try to imagine what this place will be like. I’m going to spend the rest of my life there. My kids will grow up in the open space with grass, trees, and sun. But each time I try to imagine the world, I only picture what I know of Earth from before the Environmental Decline and wars that wiped out most of humanity. Yūsei will be different. In a few years, I’ll finally understand for myself.

  When I access my messages, an emergency meeting scheduled in my calendar for 8:00am pops up. Five minutes from now! I stand up and look around, and only a few people have filtered in, but I bet most went straight to the conference room. It was a good thing I checked my messages when I did. I got so caught up in my thoughts I might have missed the meeting.

  I grab my coffee and file in with the last stragglers as we make our way to the nearest conference room. Everything seems eerily quiet, the sea of gray clad people in the room unmoving. No murmuring or hushed words are spoken. There is going to be big news at this meeting.

  At the front, Robert Starr, second-in-command under now-hospitalized Yamada, stands next to a small Japanese woman, and they both wait until the room is silent.

  “Everyone, thank you for coming so early in the morning. I’m glad to see our nighttime shift workers were able to stay on past their release time to hear this important news.” Starr bows to the staff and everyone bows back. “I’m afraid Yamada-sama will not be able to return to work. I was briefed this morning by Coen-sama that his situation has not improved. And, though we are all very saddened by this news, the work must continue. Now, please let me introduce the new head of the Colonization Committee, Emiko Matsuda. She is transferring to this post from being the head of Nishikyō Agriculture. She has both backgrounds in agriculture and city planning and, we believe, the right person for this job. Matsuda-sama…”

  Starr gestures to Matsuda to step forward, and she gives him a reassuring smile as he steps off to the side.

  “Domo arigatō gozaimashita,” she begins, thanking everyone in front of her. “Hello, everyone. Though the situation that brought me here is sad, I am nevertheless pleased to be here and look forward to working with you all in the years ahead. I know you are all hard workers and will not fail in getting the first of our colony’s ships on track to our new home. That being said, I will jump right into the thick of this situation. Plans have been changed, and it is now necessary to double our efforts to make our first launch window in one year’s time. Those in charge of astrometrics, stellar cartography, and the hyperspace drive will need to be aware of the new specificiations. I regret to say your efforts will be most increased during this transition. You have my sincerest apologies.” She stops to bow while everyone stares at her in shock.

  “To everyone else, you will need to provide support to those whose jobs have changed. We will remain on schedule. We cannot be delayed. Starr-san has made sure you all receive ample stipends to cover extra hours. You may feel free to contact my office if you have any questions.” She bows and takes a step back, turning to Starr to whisper in his ear. We’re dismissed.

  Quiet murmuring bubbles up as my coworkers go back to their desks, stress and anxiety causing several to head straight for the bathroom. No one wants to work more hours under a new boss a year before launch. If we weren’t all afraid of the city falling to pieces on us before we leave, we’d probably protest.

  * * * *

  I return to my workstation and take an hour to read over the new specs list which are not much different from than the last, thankfully. I’m assigned to the colony’s structural projects, and only the mean average climate temperatures are changed — a little bit cooler than first thought. Also, I’m to design for more rain than originally specced. Perhaps the committee chose another part of the world to build for or new data has accumulated about the atmosphere of Yūsei? Either way, my design ideas are not in much danger. Extra insulation will need to be ordered and more thought will need to be given to the drainage systems.

  My tablet pings just as I’m finishing and the message is from Chad. “Can you meet me in the alley next to the udon-ya across the street?” Huh. What’s up with him? I stand up at my desk and survey the room, but he’s not here, just a few people I smile at, and they smile back. I message Chad that I’ll be right there, set my tablet down, and quickly walk out of the office.

  Exiting the building and crossing the street, I side-step the line of people queuing up through the noren curtains at the udon restaurant and meet Chad in the alley next door. He lacks his usual happy grin, and his dark face and eyes are wide with concern. His news must be worse than mine.

  “Sanaa, they’re calling for completely new astrometrical coordinates.” Chad whistles, long and low. “New coordinates; new, higher levels of fuel; greater allowances and storage space for food and hydroponics in flight.” He stops and shakes his head as someone walks by, and my stomach sinks. “Changes of this magnitude could only mean two things: the committee totally screwed up the information the first time…”

  “Unlikely, Chad.” I roll my eyes at him. Nobody screws something this big up. “Or…” I tap my fingers on my chin before coming to the logical conclusion. “We’ve changed planets, right? Because my specs are not all that different but, combined with your information, they tell me our plans have altered drastically.”

  Chad nods his head. We’re not stupid. In fact, we work with some of the city’s smartest people, so I doubt we’re the only on
es who have figured this out. Poor Chad is looking a little frazzled. His curly short hair is standing straight up and his usually dark skin is tinged with green. He’s not taking the change in events well. I’m not surprised to find him so upset, but I feel bad for him all the same.

  Sometimes it’s strange working with someone I have casual sex with. He’s seen me naked. And we’ve been intimate with each other in ways I never was with Joshua. I wish my heart could get in line and love him like he wants to be loved, but my heart wants more. I reach over and squeeze his hand, and his shoulders sink.

  “Sanaa, why would they change everything so close to launch? We’re only a year away.”

  One year to revise everything before putting our first team on the ship and bidding them farewell. This does not sound good.

  “I don’t know,” I say, squeezing his hand and letting go, “but this wasn’t Yamada’s idea. This new woman comes in and everything turns upside down. These changes can only mean a major policy decision has been reversed.” I inhale a shaky breath and let all the air in me out slowly. “I’m wondering if it is Coen-sama’s idea or not?” I shake my head. I have no clue.

  Chad smiles down at me meekly, clasping my shoulders in his hands. “Are you okay? Should I walk you back in?”

  “No,” I say, shaking my head again. “I’ll be fine. Let me know if you hear anything else?” Wiggling my shoulders a little, I step back out of his reach. I can’t get sucked into needing his attention right now. This is definitely not the time.

  “Hey!” he yells as I clear the end of the alley. “I’ve missed you. It’s been a while.”

  I smile back at him and stop. “Since before Christmas…”

  “And you’ve had a birthday. Happy birthday, Sanaa.” He cocks his smile to the side, scanning me up and down. “How about tomorrow night?”

  “Can’t,” I say, and it’s only a half-truth. I’d like to go to Izakaya Tanaka. I want more news about Miko, Yoichi, and his younger brother, Jiro. The want I felt for Jiro was a hundred times stronger than anything I’ve felt for Joshua or Chad. “Soon, though. I’ll message you.”

  “You’re a tease!” he yells at my back, but I don’t turn to smile. I just wave my hand above my head.

  When I arrive at my desk, a message prompt is flashing on my tablet. No time to sit down and contemplate how Chad hasn’t taken me out on a real date in over a year. It’s really not a relationship.

  “Request Urgent: Please report to Robert Starr’s office.” Uh oh. I’ve never been called before the big boss before. Did I do something wrong? Maybe it’s not just me. Maybe my whole team? I call up the specs again on my tablet and read as I’m walking down the hall to his office, not making eye contact with anyone I pass. What if I’m being reprimanded for something and they all know? Dread makes my stomach flip over as I request entrance on the palm scanner. The door opens swiftly, and Starr’s assistant in his outer office bows and takes me straight in.

  “Dōzo, Griffin-san.” Starr gestures towards the chair on the opposite side of his desk, but I’m frozen in place staring at Emiko Matsuda. I bow to her, and she inclines her head in return before I sink into the chair. I’m grateful he’s asked me to sit so I can disguise my shaking knees and hands.

  “Thank you for joining us so swiftly, Griffin-san. Matsuda-sama has informed me that you are to be relieved of your duties effective immediately.” I swear my heart stops. What have I done wrong? I want to open my mouth and ask but think better of it.

  “Take care, Griffin-san,” Emiko Matsuda says leaning forward and putting on her most sympathetic expression. “This is not because of any faults with your work. You will receive word via message about a different assignment.”

  “Will my work no longer be here in the engineering section?”

  Starr looks at his tablet and shakes his head. “No. Your desk’s contents will remain here, and you will have future access to them, but you will not report for daily duty.” He sighs, and I wonder if I’m just one of a hundred things on a list he has to accomplish today. “If I knew anything else, I would tell you, but that’s all the information I have. I’m sorry.”

  Starr wastes no time shutting off his tablet and dismissing me with a wave of his hand. I jump up and go as politely as I can without running for the door.

  Chapter

  Four

  What the hell just happened?

  Completely confused, I leave Starr’s office and head straight back to my desk, placing my hands on the cold surface and pushing down to stop them from trembling.

  “Sanaa, are you all right?” my coworker in the next station asks, concern plain on his face.

  “I’m fine, thanks. Just tired.” I smile at him weakly. “Long holiday.” Which, of course, it wasn’t. But my excuse is good enough to send him back to his work when I get a ping on my tablet straight from Chief Adminisrator Coen’s office. My hand shakes hovering over the screen. I’ve never received a message from someone so important.

  I read the message twice to make sure I understand. I’m to meet my new boss at my dōjōhere in Ku 9. How do they know I practice there? I’ve only been going to this dōjō for two years, and I’m not familiar with many people but the instructor and a few classmates.

  Grabbing my bag, I exit the building and nearly get knocked over by a bike in the street. I should not be allowed to walk around when I’m this distracted. On the way, I immediately start to think about how I’m going to get out of any new work assigned to me, but then I remember where the message came from. No, it’s going to be impossible to dodge anything. With instructions coming down straight from the top, I fear, whatever this is, I’m in for the long haul.

  I enter my dōjō at 10:00am on the dot. The lights are off. The room is empty.

  “Sumimasen? Is anyone here?” Street noise and light are filtering in through the open windows but the mats cushion and hush the thrum.

  “Sanaa Griffin.” The voice comes out of the darkness and causes me to jump and stumble backwards. A man walks towards me, and, in the light of the window, I realize I know exactly who this is.

  “You. I know you. Mark Sakai, right?” It’s a good thing I’m excellent at remembering names and faces. I keep my voice as level as possible. This is eerie.

  “Yes, Sanaa. A pleasure to meet you again.” He gives me a tiny smile. If that’s supposed to put me at ease, it’s not working.

  “What’s going on here?”

  “I believe you got a message from Coen-sama’s office, ne?”

  Well, at least I’m in the right place. “Yes, I did. But… you’re to be my new boss? What do you do?”

  He tilts his head, his eyes boring into my brain. I’m uncomfortable in my own skin with him staring at me like that.

  “I am involved in… a variety of things. You’ll be working with me for a while.”

  “I already have a job.”

  “With the Colonization Committee? Not anymore.”

  My stomach drops and twists into a knot. “Why? What will I be doing for you?”

  “This is more of a question of what you will be doing for yourself not for me, but, for now, you’ll follow my instructions.”

  What do I do? I’m at a complete loss. Maybe I could turn and leave right now? Sakai is watching me, gauging my reaction to this sudden change, and I sense he’s wondering if I’ll talk back or not. Instinct is telling me to be quiet, but, well, I’ve never been good at keeping quiet.

  “Look, whoever you are. I’d like to know…” But I stop as he steps towards me. So much for standing my ground. I guess I do have instincts because they tell me he’s my superior, and I should shut my mouth before I offend him. I avert my eyes and murmur “sumimasen” before he can berate me, but the objection never comes.

  “Don’t play submissive with me, Sanaa. You are here to learn from me. Be my student, not my slave.” This sounds promising, so I find my confidence and meet Sakai’s eyes straight on. “How you got here is irrelevant. This is your new job, your
new life. Everyone will believe you still work for the Colonization Committee, but, instead, you work with me. You are not to speak of what you learn at your new job to anyone else. These… lessons are for your benefit only.”

  Ominous but intriguing.

  “Lessons? I haven’t been in school for four years.”

  “Well,” Sakai begins, walking to his right. I am content to stand where I am, but he motions to follow. “You may not be in school anymore, but you have much to learn. Where you are going and what you will be doing, the decisions you will make, will all depend on what you learn with me.”

  Uh oh, I don’t like the sound of that.

  “Sanaa, you have grown up around people your whole life, but you do not know people. You live your life amongst your few friends and your aunts but you never travel outside your circles. You are sheltered.”

  My face flushes red with anger. Who does this man think he is? We only ever met each other two nights ago for the first time. He knows nothing about me. Yet, what he just said was true, and that scares me more than anything else.

  “This has been your life for twenty years and, in two years time, this will all changefor you. Will change for everyone.” He turns to me with a sad expression on his face, and all the heat leaves my body cold. “Sanaa, I’m sorry to say your time as an engineer has come to an end. Now it’s time you learned about the other side of Nishikyō, about the other side of you. There is a way of life here that must be protected, at all costs, and forces at work that will try to fight against the system we’ve worked so hard to build. You will help me keep the peace.”

  I’m finding it hard to breathe, the air around me solid and stagnant. When I manage to take a shaky breath, my fear turns to anger again, a hot blush rushing back to my cheeks.

  “I’m confused. Who are you? And why the hell am I here?” I let out a laugh and glance around to make sure I’m not about to be pranked. “I hate the fact you’re telling me things without really telling me anything. Is this a joke? Because I’m nobody.”