by A. Payne
“I’ve heard about the sunrise here, but it’s my first time to this planet,” Zoe told him. “It really is beautiful. All the shifting colors are stunning.”
Victor dared a glance over to see Zoe’s enraptured gaze focused beyond the viewport. The gilded light bathed her face, bringing out the warmer highlights amidst her dark hair. His eyes lingered on her thoughtfully pursed lips and hazy fantasies of tasting them surfaced in his mind. That came to an abrupt, screeching halt when she turned her bright eyes toward him.
“What? Do I have crumbs on my face?” She hastily wiped at her lips and chin.
“No,” he blurted out swiftly. “Guess I’m daydreaming to make up for the sleepless night. I better get going.” Victor wadded up the wrappers and tossed them into the bin without looking at her again.
“Oh. Well, at least you can sleep all day without worries.” She smiled up at him again. “Thanks for the snacks. Guess next time I bump into you it’ll be my time to share.”
“For your references, I like anything with pecans,” he told her. “Unless they’re in chocolate.”
“Pecans, no chocolate. Noted.”
He stretched and ambled toward the door, which slid open automatically to allow his exit. He paused there and glanced back at her one final time. “Don’t you plan to do something on your liberty days?”
“I’ll probably go out for a little bit with Saskia, but I have plans in Realm of Spellbound this evening so…” She shrugged.
“You play?”
“Doesn’t everybody these days?” Zoe laughed softly and waved. “Get some sleep, Doc.”
Sleep became a definite plan for Victor. He couldn’t afford to make drowsy advances on one of his patients, no more than he could risk another personal incident on the Jemison.
Second chances only come once. He wouldn’t ruin this one.
***
Victor abandoned the idea of continuing liberty after he dragged himself from bed. Four hours of fitful sleep weren’t enough to recharge him for work, and he couldn’t legally scan in to Medical for a shift when recently intoxicated.
After the second sleepless hour in his bed, he capitalized on the empty gym and private time with the heavy-weight machines. By lunch, he couldn’t stand it any longer and poked his head into the Medical department. Three crewmen waited in the lounge for treatment and looked as though they might hurl at any moment.
Hart invited him to sit behind the counter with her for small talk between patients and duties. She shared that in the two hours preceding her noontime break, she had tended to black eyes, alcohol overindulgence, and two cases of Indari rash from a poisonous local fern.
“Sounds like the usual. I’d be let down if we had anything less to look forward to. I promise I’ll be back on duty tomorrow.”
“Of course you will. I want to get honking drunk too, goddammit. I only stayed on today to help Oshiro,” Hart told him. She grinned brightly from ear to ear. “Even Lil takes a walk off the ship during liberty. Promised her we’d shop together tomorrow.”
“I wish I spent the evening souvenir shopping instead of drinking. I feel like shit.”
“You look like shit, too, Victor. You’re also not scheduled to return from liberty for another day. What happened?” Doctor Oshiro spoke up to announce his arrival.
Victor winced and glanced up toward the corridor entrance leading to their private offices. “Nothing happened, Yuki. Why do you always assume something’s happened? I only came to chat with Kath during her break.”
“Because I know you. You throw yourself into work when you need a distraction from whatever foolish things you’ve done.”
“I didn’t do anything yet… I almost did, all right? I just happened to realize it was foolish this time and I saved myself the trouble.”
“Oh? Now it is my lunch break and Kathleen’s has ended. Come into my office and tell me about it.”
A padded armchair awaited Victor in the spacious office, and his old mentor poured him a cup of tea while he slouched in the comfortable seat. The grassy, sweet aroma drifted up in a puff of steam.
“Perhaps this will lighten your hangover troubles as well,” Oshiro murmured.
As usual, Victor gratefully accepted the cup of tea that had become their lunchtime ritual. Concealing the truth from Oshiro was about as plausible as holding water in a leaky pot, so he uttered his woes without further prompting. “I met a nice young woman.”
“What’s the trouble in that?” Oshiro asked.
“She’s one of my patients,” Victor said.
“All on board, even myself, could claim you as our doctor. What’s the worry, Victor?”
“I can think of two other women who seemed nice, too.”
“Has this young woman done anything to make you question her sincerity?”
Victor considered it. The two most important women of his past, prior to Ylona, had deceived and mistreated him. Zoe had done nothing of the sort. “No. She hasn’t.”
“Then tell me your troubles. If the young woman has not shaken your trust, what else is there to bother you?”
“It’s… Ylona. I think of her all of the time now. Barely a year has passed, and now I’ve begun to look at other women. It feels like betrayal,” he finally admitted. “She brought me out of a dark place, Oshiro, and now she’s gone because of me. I’ll never find another woman like her.” Victor’s throat tightened and he closed his eyes. The deep breath that he pulled into his lungs didn’t alleviate the simmering pain in his soul.
Oshiro nodded in understanding. “Experience is the mother of wisdom, Victor. Your troubling past has made it difficult for you to trust again. Perhaps you are correct to give it time, but you must also consider taking opportunities when they are given to you.”
“You sound like an ancient Chinese master in a bad historical martial arts flick.”
Oshiro snorted. “Japanese. My ancestors came from Japan. Not China. Now what would your Eloran say, were she present to guide you?”
Victor shook his head and glanced away without giving a verbal answer. Discomfort settled in the pit of his stomach, delivering an unyielding sensation of anxiety. He already knew the answer to that. Ylona would be distraught to know that her memory had become a hindrance. “She’d tell me to be happy again.”
The older doctor spread his hands and smiled gently. “I would listen to her.”
“I can’t. She’d be alive and well on her home planet if not for me.”
“And you would have never known her love. What happened to Ylona was nothing more than a terrible accident.”
“She boarded that ship to surprise me. If I hadn’t voluntarily deployed again, I’d have been home with her. She died a terrible, excruciating death because of my choice.”
“And you sought to join her,” Oshiro said gently.
“I did. Some nights, I wish that I’d succeeded.”
After Victor injected his veins with enough narcotic to stop a drake’s heart, the Glenn’s artificial intelligence spied his suicide attempt and promptly tattled. Medical reached his door in less than thirty seconds.
The old doctor sighed and reached across the desk to pat Victor’s hand. “And do you have any plans now?”
“I don’t anymore. You don’t need to have the A.I. watch me in my room at night, I assure you.”
“I had to be sure, my son. Many people care about you.”
Jem’s sultry croon joined the conversation. “I monitor all ship personnel,” she told them. “But I especially enjoy our chats, Doctor del Toro.”
“That isn’t at all disturbing,” Victor grumbled.
“There’s something else that I intended to bring to your attention,” Oshiro said.
Victor glanced up from his half-empty cup of tea. “Yeah?”
“An Eloran contacted me from our base on their home planet. Her name is Ylara, and she tells me that she’s attempted to contact Doctor Victor del Toro without success. You wouldn’t know anything about that, w
ould you?”
A frigid wave of anxiety swept over Victor and sent his heart thrumming like a panicked bird desperate to escape his chest. He shook his head quickly. “I’d rather not. Make up something polite. I know you can do it.”
“Victor–”
“I can’t. How could I speak to her when her daughter is dead because of me? I won’t do it. Thank you for the chat, Yuki. It’s been great as usual. I value your advice as always, but must humbly decline this time.” Each breath became more difficult than the last, despite his efforts to maintain a calm rhythm.
Oshiro bowed his head. “As you like, Victor, though I would ask you to reconsider.”
“I’ll think on it,” Victor replied. Gradually, the tension seeped from his shoulders. The tea soothed his nerves, as much a balm for his worries as the advice from his friend and mentor. Finally, the vicelike clench around his throat loosened.
“What about the young lady who has caught your fancy? Will you at least tell me of her?”
An uncertain smile surfaced over Victor’s face at last. Talking to Yuki about women made him feel like a shy boy again. He couldn’t remember most of their conversation on the sofa, but he could never forget how Zoe had made him feel. Like a person and not a military title with a fat pay grade. “She’s lovely. Beautiful inside and out.” Like Ylona, he thought, although he swiftly pushed the thought away and shoved it from his mind.
“That sounds promising. You keep to yourself so often I am both surprised and pleased to hear you’ve gotten out enough to make a friend.”
“Not technically…”
Oshiro arched a brow and waited.
“Story for another day, mate. I’d better go before the patients begin to line up and plead for me to treat them,” Victor hastily said. “See you tomorrow.”
“Enjoy your day off the ship, Victor. You’ll appreciate that you did. I am told the new romantic comedy is worth your twenty quid.”
Oshiro was right. Victor even paid to watch it a second time. Afterward, he wandered the city streets and breathed in the fresh air beneath the radiant sun. True wind felt good against his skin, different from the fan-generated currents aerating the ship.
I missed this. No matter how much I love ship life, nothing compares to the feel of the sun on your skin. Nothing beats the fresh breeze on a spring afternoon.
“Evening, sir.”
Victor jerked around and stared into the grinning visage of Lopez and a dark-eyed woman in a cream, gold-trimmed tunic. A ruby red hijab covered her wavy hair, hanging loosely around her face before wrapping neatly over her shoulders. Her skin carried the rich and warm tone associated with the desert people inhabiting Astreya. She resembled her Persian ancestors as much as Victor resembled the people of old Mexico.
“Evening, Lopez. How goes liberty?”
“Fantastic. Have you two met?” Lopez asked with a glance between the two officers. “Most of us assume all you officers know each other and share laughs behind our backs.”
The young woman’s musical laugh brightened Victor’s spirits. She nudged her companion then offered out a slender hand to Victor. “Not officially, no, though we exchange many reports.”
“I suppose I’d be correct to assume you must be Lieutenant Shahid Amir. Pleasure to finally make your acquaintance.” Bloody hell, no wonder Ethan dropped her name to me. She’s gorgeous.
“Nisrine,” she corrected him gently. “We’re all off-duty now, are we not?”
“Nisrine it is. Just make sure you call me Victor in return to make us even. Both of you. I hear enough Commander this and Doctor that while on the Jemison.”
“Wicked. We were just about to catch a movie,” Lopez told him. “She picked some rom-com that I’ll sleep through, but you’re welcome to join us, mate. I’d appreciate the company.”
Nisrine swatted him. “You are not allowed to sleep through the movie, but Victor is allowed to join us if it will keep you awake.”
“Actually, I saw that one twice already this afternoon. You’ll have to suffer with your girlfriend alone.” Victor grinned. It didn’t sound like a horrible offer, but his rumbling belly demanded sustenance. Overpriced popcorn wasn’t enough. “You two have fun. It’s really not that bad.”
Lopez shot him a betrayed, pleading expression as the couple headed off
The afternoon blended into a pleasant evening and a dinner for one at a family diner by the seaside. The fresh salt smell reminded him of Elora. Of his true home.
He nursed a glass of wine and watched the sunset, its canvas of deep colors beautiful but inferior to the pastel hued sunrise he’d enjoyed that morning. Or maybe it had something to do with the shared company. Briefly, he envied Lopez and Nisrine until he swallowed the bitter taste back down.
Company always improves things, he thought. With that bleak thought in mind, Victor returned to the ship alone.
Chapter 8
At the end of his relaxing day, Victor elected to visit his favorite online videogame over an hour or two in the gym. He showered, changed into fresh shorts, and then flopped into his desk chair and smoothed the Neuro Strip across his brow. As the expensive gaming rig booted up, he plucked his room-darkening goggles from the adjacent table and slid them over his head. The strip adhered to the skin and sent direct impulses to the brain, while the goggles worked in conjunction to provide sensory deprivation of the outside world.
Weight gradually settled over his limbs, comparable to falling asleep after a long and exhausting day. He surrendered to the sensation of falling backward through the air. Weightlessly, he floated until the world suddenly snapped into existence.
Victor awoke on the other side in a crowded city zone teeming with other gamers. He’d picked a popular place to log in, sitting under a cafe awning on the side of a crowded street. His current location was styled to resemble downtown Los Angeles.
Realm of Spellbound served as the most popular virtual reality online game in the United Empire. Users played out fantastical roles as magic-casters, legendary creatures, or dark entities. Supposedly, the setting was a perfect replica of 21st century Earth, so a lot of history buffs enjoyed the game as a way to learn about the past.
An urgent message accompanied Victor’s party invite from Vincent Knight – Ethan’s role-playing avatar. An in-game teleport delivered him to Olde London where he managed to team up with Ethan and Trevor. The two were embroiled in a deep argument about the game’s class options.
“Look. Everybody knows that Templars are just overpowered paladins,” Ethan grumbled.
“Whatever, man. You guys would have gotten your asses kicked if I wasn’t there with the holy water on the last raid.”
Ethan opened his mouth to fire off a witty retort, but he turned in time to see Victor approaching. “Look who finally decided to show up. Get lost along the way, mate?”
Victor snorted derisively and brought up the HUD menu. The holographic user display allowed him to see a 3D representation of the map since he didn’t know Olde London, too used to operating in LA.
“I’m surprised to see you here after your hard partying last night. Feeling all right or should we worry about you keeling over at the first mob we meet?”
“Shut it,” Ethan grumbled, much to Trevor’s amusement. “I’m online, technically I’m resting and asleep.”
About seven months ago while Victor had been stationed on Paradiso, Ethan had invited Victor to join up with him and a new guy who tanked for them as a magic-hunting Templar. At the time, he’d thought the new guy played well. Now, as a member of the Jemison’s crew, the opportunity to meet Trevor in person only cemented his thoughts about their new guild mate.
Trevor, who used the name Alexander Solo while in their VR realm, guided them to a dark and dirty side of London where the smog stank of chemicals and filth. The night sky gave them the cover of darkness as they fought their way through the ranks of the undead set at specific sentry points outside. Victor picked up the key dropped by a skeletal figure.
A large door blocked their progress, lacking a visible keyhole. Victor scratched his head and leaned down to inspect the door more thoroughly, while the other two searched the wall for a secondary hidden entrance.
“You’ll never get in that way,” a voice chimed from behind the group. “The keyhole is there, but they have it trapped. We know another way in.”
Victor turned to face the speaker behind them and came face to face with three nymphs, nature spirits in female form with shamefully voluptuous bodies.
Rich mahogany hair twined with vines and flowers framed the speaker’s golden face. Fluttering maple leaves made up her dress, revealing everything and nothing at once. A second dryad stood behind her, a brunette covered in green moss resembling a lace bodysuit. The third woman appeared to be a sylph, a slender nymph associated with wind and storms. Her pale blonde hair danced around her face on an ethereal breeze, as did the scant silk covering her body.
“Ah, sexy triplets. Wanna join us?” Ethan offered without consulting his mates. Trevor kicked him indiscreetly. Victor wanted to tell him to do it again, because he recognized two of the players from a large raid two months earlier.
It wasn’t that Zephyr and Annalise were bad players. Victor just had the feeling that the former was really a man, and that she (or he) also didn’t understand the fine logic behind staying at the edge of battle. Not that the guy’s decision to play another gender really mattered. What mattered was that he sucked.
“I hope you learned how to play better since last time we met,” Victor said bluntly to the two nymphs. Trevor elbowed him where his kidneys belonged. It didn’t hurt, failing to register as more than pressure. A group message flashed across his lower field of vision, telling him not to be rude. Victor rolled his eyes.
“Your tank rushed the room and drew the whole horde on us. Don’t blame me for being squishy and attractive to mobs,” the blonde protested. She gestured toward Trevor and gave a disdainful sniff. “Besides, we’ve gained levels since then.”