Airborne

by Kimberly P. Chase

  Zane chuckled, inching closer to her. Aurora was still upside down, but she didn’t bother re-orienting herself. She kind of liked the fact that there were no rules in space. Up was down and down was up. Instead she traced the lines of his face with her gaze as he stared out the window. Her previous fascination with the world beyond faded as something just as intriguing took its place. His dark hair was ruffled as if he’d been running his hands through it. Something he sometimes did when trying to solve a problem.

  ‘Something keeping you up? New tech?’ she asked.

  Zane’s right hand flexed on the window before it slowly relaxed. ‘Something like that,’ he answered in that vague way of his. It was something he obviously wasn’t ready to talk about. Aurora ignored her curiosity, for now anyway, and changed the subject. ‘Great view, huh?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Zane whispered. She felt him turn toward her. ‘It certainly is.’

  Their eyes met, their faces inches from one another.

  Aurora swallowed, heat rushing to her cheeks. Would she ever stop blushing? And would he ever stop using her attraction to him as a distraction?

  Zane closed the remaining distance between them and all thought disappeared. She knew his deepest secret and would slowly earn the rest of them from him. She tilted her head to the side as his lips seemed to move toward hers in slow motion.

  Aurora’s heart raced when his hands clasped her face and his lips finally met hers.

  It was sweet. Disorienting. Zane’s mouth parted, his tongue gently pushing hers open. It was only when his nose brushed against Aurora’s chin that she realized they were kissing inverted. His thumb caressed her cheek, as he pulled away.

  Facing her, Zane maneuvered her body so that she was ‘right side’ up. He tucked her back against his chest and turned so that they were looking out the window toward Earth together. Green, blue, and pink lights danced on top of the world below. She gasped. The last time she’d watched the Aurora Borealis she’d been ten.

  ‘Is it the same?’ Zane whispered in her ear.

  He was the only one who knew about Bear Lake, Alaska and the Aurora Borealis. Not even Kaylana. That memory had been hers until the day she’d decided to share it with the boy who didn’t seem to have any of his own.

  ‘No,’ she had to admit. ‘It’s so much more beautiful from here. There’s nothing in the way.’ It could also be because Zane held her like she was something precious in his arms. She snuggled deeper into him.

  Pressed closely to Zane’s chest, she felt his next words rumble out. ‘Tell me about your mom.’

  If it were anyone else, Aurora would have ignored the question. But Zane hadn’t asked it like a question, more like a request as if she’d always told him her secrets. The words easily floated from her lips. ‘I was only two when she …’ Aurora paused, taking comfort in Zane’s hands as they lightly stroked her arm. ‘When she died from a heart problem.’ She blurted it out quickly because it was easier that way. Aurora tried to add more, to remember some memory from her mom, but she had none. She couldn’t describe her laugh, the feel of her embrace, or the sound of her voice. She had nothing of her mother, only her father’s memories.

  ‘I don’t remember her,’ Aurora finally whispered.

  ‘What was her name?’ Zane made small circles up and down her arms.

  This Aurora could answer. ‘Helen.’

  ‘Helen,’ Zane quietly repeated. ‘She’d be proud of you.’ He turned Aurora so that she was facing him. His forehead pinched, like he was struggling with what else to say. ‘You don’t need a memory of your mom because she lives here.’ Zane’s finger rubbed over her heart like he knew exactly what she’d been feeling. ‘Everything you do is a part of her. Every day you two share a new memory because she’s always with you.’

  His words were lovely and exactly what she’d needed.

  Aurora pressed a kiss to Zane’s cheek. ‘Thank you.’ She’d been attracted to Zane since the first moment she’d laid eyes on him, but what lay on the inside—a much deeper side she was just beginning to discover—a side she wasn’t sure he’d shown anyone—meant so much more.

  And she wanted, no needed, him to trust her with his past like she did with hers.

  ‘Do you trust me yet?’ she asked, thinking back on their conversation at the Apollo 1 Launch Pad. When he’d basically told her he didn’t trust anyone. That he didn’t know how to be a friend … a boyfriend. That conversation made so much more sense now.

  ‘I’m learning to,’ he answered hesitantly.

  The answer was honest and full of promise. Zane bent down and quickly placed his lips to hers. No longer holding onto anything but each other, they began to float—his body went one direction, hers the other. Aurora wrapped her arms around Zane’s neck, trying to remain close. Making out in space came with extra obstacles.

  She molded her body to his to keep from separating. It was sweet, romantic even, to be kissing amongst the stars. Cosmic.

  ‘More,’ she found herself moaning. Aurora pulled Zane’s flight suit zipper down so that she could run her hands over his smooth chest. ‘You left me hanging last time.’ Heat rushed to her cheeks. Aurora didn’t know what had come over her. Had she really just said that?

  Zane chuckled huskily. ‘Okay, but I’m going to have to pin you against the wall, so you don’t float away.’

  Aurora vehemently nodded, not trusting herself to say something that wasn’t embarrassing. He pushed her against a sidewall. He held her in place with one hand as he bent down and wrapped a strap around her left and right leg to hold her in place. If they were anywhere else this may have been, well, kinky. But they seriously needed them so they wouldn’t float away from one another.

  When he finished, Zane resumed kissing her. He gripped her waist and she shivered. Slowly, tortuously, he tugged the zipper of her flight suit down. Aurora watched as his head dipped down to her exposed chest. He kissed the swell of her breasts and her breathing went crazy.

  He continued to unzip the flight suit, trailing kisses down her stomach until she was exposed before him.

  ‘Please,’ she panted.

  Zane sweetly kissed her as his hand slid between her legs. He groaned when he moved her panties to the side and felt how wet she was. He pushed a finger inside of her, then two. Aurora moaned, her head falling to the side as he pumped them in and out. His clever fingers moved just like she knew they would—quick, intense, and totally in charge. Controlling her body exactly like he would a piece of tech.

  A pressure built inside of Aurora.

  She exploded in ecstasy as the sun once more rose over the horizon, lighting everything in a soft yellow glow.

  Chapter 28

  Aurora

  Aviary was like one big clock, everything reduced to hours, minutes, and seconds. There was a time for everything and everything had to be done on time. All of the cadets were bound by this schedule. Without it their bodies would’ve been totally confused because there was a sunrise and sunset every forty minutes.

  So Aurora learned to live by time.

  At 0600 her alarm would go off for the morning. She’d unzip from bed (along with everyone else), change clothes (in front of everyone!), dry shampoo her hair (and then wrangle it into a crazy floating ponytail), and then brush her teeth (without spitting).

  From 0630–0700 Aurora and her fellow cadets would go to the ‘cafeteria’ for breakfast. The small pod where everyone fought over the available food packs and who could use the heating unit first. Aurora never bothered with any of it. She’d just grab the dehydrated fruit paste or whatever was easiest. Though she’d kill for pancakes with peanut butter and syrup. Then she’d wait for Zane, Kaylana, and Akemi to join her with their powered eggs and facon they had to eat out of a covered bin. (Yum! Fake bacon.)

  Between 0700–0900 they would exercise. They accomplished this in rotations. There were only so many treadmills and bikes with weights to hold them down to simulate gravity. Zane sometimes would run on the treadmill besi
de her. He never once broke a sweat and she’d tease him about it. Sometimes she’d talk to him, but mostly they ran in comfortable silence.

  0900–1200 consisted of various experiments. Aurora would work with water enclosed in plastic containers, getting to see firsthand how liquid behaved without gravity. This often resulted in water fights. Where they’d lob water bubbles at one another and spin or flip away to avoid them. Rick was the best at this game … he’d gone so far as to put together teams where they’d then have an epic water battle.

  1200–1300 Lunch—same as breakfast only with different food options. Aurora always grabbed a pre-packaged peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

  Between 1300–1700 they’d have area of concentration training. Because Aurora couldn’t really pilot the station, she learned how to use the stations robotic arms and how to guide shuttles in and out of the shuttle area. She spent this time with Rick, Nathaniel, and their instructor Tor. She’d missed Sky the most during this time.

  Kaylana, Akemi, Quinn, and Reed would be in the medical lab with Dr Shaffer.

  Zane’s lessons were with Stella, the AI system that ran Aviary. Aurora thought this was really weird, but Zane didn’t seem to mind training with her.

  The geology cadets, aka future lunar diggers, couldn’t train too much for their jobs on the station, so Mercury entertained Kylie and Miles during this time. Aurora didn’t see Miles often at the Academy because of their different training schedules, yet in such a tight space she was beginning to. He seemed gruff and harder to get to know, but she was working on it.

  1700-2000 consisted of dinner and free time. For Aurora and Zane this meant hogging up the observatory. Aurora knew Kaylana and Akemi spent their time in a similar way, tucked away in some hidden corner of the station. When she wasn’t in the observatory, she’d read. Sometimes during this time, she’d miss her sim time with Sky. So maybe she thought of him more than she probably should now that things with Zane had heated up.

  At 2000 the lights went out. Aurora sometimes went right to sleep, but mostly she pretended to sleep. When Zane thought everyone was out, he’d pull out a computer. She’d listen to his fingers flying across the keyboard and his grunts of frustration, until she’d finally fall asleep.

  At 0600 the day would start all over again.

  It felt like Aurora’s techiwatch was always beeping. An alarm would go off and Aurora would repeat the pattern all over again. Even though her schedule was the same, she experienced something new every day. Living in space was like learning to do everything all over again.

  ***

  It was 1215 and Aurora was right where she was supposed to be. Three days into their training and she almost didn’t need to look at her watch anymore.

  ‘What is that ridiculously happy smile all about?’ Kaylana asked, pausing from shoveling another round of imitation eggs in her mouth.

  When Aurora blushed, Kaylana pointed her fork at Aurora, which sent pieces of egg flying. ‘Spill!’ Kaylana yelled, as she reached out and caught the flying piece of egg before it could float away.

  ‘I went to the observatory last night with Zane.’ Again. They hadn’t had sex and Aurora thought it had more to do with Zane wanting her first time to be perfect. And, well, things in zero gravity probably wouldn’t make the first time any easier.

  ‘Is that some sort of code word?’ Kaylana interrupted her thoughts.

  Aurora choked. ‘What?’

  ‘So you and Zane just went to the observatory?’

  ‘Yes.’ Aurora smirked, wanting to torment Kaylana.

  ‘And?’

  ‘And we had fun.’ Aurora stopped herself from explaining further.

  ‘What kind of fun?’ Kaylana twitched her eyebrows.

  So intent on their conversation, Aurora didn’t realize Zane was behind her until he cleared his throat.

  ‘Hi, Zane,’ Kaylana said, zeroing in on him. ‘Aurora was just telling me all about the observatory last night.’

  Silence.

  She chewed on her lip as Zane slowly sat down on the seat next to her. He glanced at Aurora and quickly looked away as he said, ‘It was good. Lots of things to see. In fact, I saw a star explode last night.’

  Aurora struggled to keep a straight face as her cheeks burned.

  Kaylana squinted, trying to figure out if Zane was being serious or not.

  She prayed only the two of them got the double entendre. Zane fully smiled at Aurora, showing off beautiful white teeth. Aurora wanted to cry at the beauty of it. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a full smile stretch across his face. It was more beautiful than anything she’d seen this side of the observatory window. His smile could shame the brightest star.

  Shouts ruined Aurora’s thoughts.

  ‘What’s happening?’ Kaylana glanced around.

  ‘Let’s go find out.’ Aurora unstrapped her legs from the table and jumped up. Whatever was happening … it definitely didn’t sound like something that’d be on their schedule.

  Chapter 29

  Zane

  Dr Shaffer carried a limp Nathaniel in his arms when Zane, Aurora, and Kaylana flew into the hallway from the cafeteria. Puke swamped the corridor, as everyone shouted over one another.

  Mercury’s face pinched with worry as she reported what happened to Tor. ‘He was working out and said he wasn’t feeling well. Then he puked.’

  ‘You think it’s launch sickness still?’ Tor glanced toward Dr Shaffer.

  ‘I won’t know anything until we do some tests.’

  Aurora pushed by Zane and watched silently as Nathaniel was carried down the hall toward the medical bay. She chewed on her lip and turned to him, worry written all over her face.

  ‘Nathaniel doesn’t have launch sickness. His stomach is solid,’ Aurora said vehemently. ‘Lieutenant Colonel Jackson made sure of it.’

  Zane didn’t ask how in the hell he’d done that. Probably some sort of training that would’ve killed the average person.

  ‘So what do you think it is then?’ asked Kaylana.

  ‘I have no idea. I just know it’s not launch sickness.’ Aurora twisted around so that she faced Kaylana and Akemi.

  ‘Dr Shaffer is an Alliance doctor. He’ll figure it out,’ Zane said, hoping they were the right words to comfort Aurora.

  ‘You’re right.’ Aurora nodded.

  He reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. Her weight settled back against his hand as she sighed. Encouraged, he rubbed circles on her lower back.

  Their watches beeped.

  Aurora huffed.

  ‘I guess our schedules will go on like usual. I’ve got training. Meet up later?’

  ‘Sure.’ As Zane watched Aurora go, he decided he was done wasting his nights trying to break into the computer. He’d rather spend them with her. The closer Zane grew to Aurora, the less he cared what he’d find on it anyway.

  Hopefully by tonight everything would be back to normal. Nathaniel’s sickness was an anomaly in their schedule and he didn’t like anomalies.

  They never indicated anything good.

  Chapter 30

  Aurora

  Aurora clutched her stomach in grief. She fought off images of Nathaniel teasing her as they flew the sim together back at the Academy.

  How could he be—?

  Stars, she couldn’t even say it.

  The first day Nathaniel wasn’t feeling well, no one thought much of it. Aurora had been worried, but when he was released from the medical lab a few hours later and slept, she’d gone on with her schedule.

  As if everything hadn’t changed. As if the sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach meant nothing, believing like everyone else that his episode was due to the change in gravity.

  How desperately she’d wanted to believe it. Until she had …

  The past three days flashed in her mind like a macabre display of fireworks.

  BANG! Nathaniel’s drawn face, panting as he struggled to breathe, his heart rate monitor beeping rapidly.


  POP! Tor making the decision to separate Nathaniel from the rest of the cadets until they knew what was wrong with him.

  CRACK! Dr Shaffer donning a mask while he desperately tried to help Nathaniel.

  BOOM! This one she remembered clearly because her techiwatch chimed 1215 when it all came to a horrific conclusion.

  Shouts as Dr Shaffer yelled for Nathaniel to stay with them. As he pounded on his chest like he could make his heart beat for him. As he did everything he knew how to save him.

  A tear slid down Aurora’s check.

  Until finally … WHAM! The most explosive one of all, the grand finale.

  Nathaniel lost the fight … his heart quit.

  Just quit.

  Aurora made herself think it. Nathaniel was dead. The last thing he saw, a masked face. She hadn’t even been allowed to see him. To say goodbye.

  This day would haunt Aurora forever.

  1315 her watch chimed again.

  An hour without Nathaniel …

  And it was a horrific chaotic mess.

  ***

  Kaylana found her sometime later curled inside her sleep sack. She wrapped her arms around Aurora causing the bag to swing.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ she whispered.

  Tears poured down her cheeks. ‘It’s not your fault,’ Aurora choked out. The last thing she wanted was for Kaylana to blame herself for not being able to help. ‘There was nothing you could do.’ She was still in training for star’s sake.

  Kaylana pulled out of their embrace. Her face was red as if she’d been crying too.

  ‘That’s not all that’s going on.’

  Aurora wiped her face. She’d been selfish in her grief for long enough. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘Tor and Mercury …’ Kaylana looked away from her.

  Oh stars. ‘Tell me,’ Aurora demanded, even though she wasn’t sure she was prepared for whatever was coming next.