The creature stopped. Seeing the extinguisher, it let out a greedy sound and dove toward the airlock.
It swooped past Keltie and into the airlock, swirling around the fire extinguisher.
“Close it!” she screamed.
The airlock doors slid shut, trapping the creature inside.
Realizing it was trapped, it roared and beat itself against the walls.
But it couldn’t escape.
It threw itself against the polycarbonate windows, and for the first time, Keltie and the creature stared each other down. The creature’s many eyes were angry, bloody, and evil.
“That was for Claire,” Keltie said.
Chapter 22
A containment ship arrived at Regina VII Star Base to transport the alien into custody.
Keltie finally relaxed as the giant, box-shaped ship hooked onto the airlock. She smirked as it sucked the alien into a dark chamber. The creature screamed as the ship’s doors closed on it.
Then the ship unlatched from the base, floated away from the star base and jumped into hyperspace, escorted by several police corsairs.
“How am I going to get home now?” she said, watching the ships disappear.
All around the private passenger bay, men and women were repairing dents to their ships from the clanging.
She stepped in a pile of broken glass and it crunched underneath her boots. She kicked it away. Suddenly she was glad the Galactic Guard had given her steel-toe boots.
A police officer in a blue flight suit was waiting for her at the edge of the bay. She told him what she knew, which wasn’t much. While he interviewed her, she watched as circular drone bots carried two stretchers past. They were covered with white sheets.
The rescue officer and the flight mechanic.
Under her breath she uttered a quick prayer for the men.
The officer let her go and gave her a schedule of departure times for the commercial space carriers. He pointed down the hall to the carrier terminal.
She walked into the rest area. Aside from overturned chairs here and there outside the storefronts, business had returned as usual.
She stopped at a café and bought a chocolate-filled croissant. As she waited for the barista to bag her order, she glanced across the hallway.
There was a bar. It was a storefront of tinted glass, decorated with a picture of a cocktail.
Jetty’s Bar and Grill
Keltie laughed to herself. A drink sounded good right now.
She looked at a clock on the wall.
The next carrier would be leaving in twenty minutes. She still had to buy her ticket.
She hurried out of the café.
Someone called her name.
“You were right about being independent,” the voice said.
She turned, still chewing the first warm bite of her croissant.
It was Grayson. He wore a white t-shirt and cargo shorts—completely civilian compared to the olive green flight suit she associated him with.
She almost choked. She wiped crumbs away from her mouth and swallowed quickly.
“Hey,” she said.
“I heard what you did,” he said. “Nice work.”
“It was nothing. It… could have been worse.”
Grayson and Will could have been the rescue officer and flight mechanic being rolled out on the stretchers. She was grateful that they weren’t.
“Why are you here?” she asked. “Is this on your way home?”
“Actually, uh—I came because… Well, you know—”
Keltie nodded, a little confused. “Yes…”
“I came to see if you wanted to have a drink,” he blurted all at once. He spoke fast and almost unintelligibly. “But after everything that’s happened, you look like you’re in a hurry, so I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Who said I was in a hurry?”
“Universal body language. You were kind of running.”
She looked at the clock. “Twenty minutes probably isn’t enough time for a drink, is it?”
“A shot, maybe.” Grayson smiled. “I don’t know about you, but I prefer to enjoy my drinks.”
“Totally agree.” Keltie sighed. “This sucks.”
“Where are you headed?”
“Macalestern.”
“Why don’t I take you?” he suggested. “My ship’s gassed up and we can be there in an hour, maybe less.”
“But isn’t it out of your way?”
“Don’t worry about it. Besides, I’m currently unemployed and I’ve got nothing but time.”
He folded his arms and glanced around the Star Base. “Plus, I think there’s a liquor store here somewhere.”
“Deal,” Keltie said, following him.
Chapter 23
Grayson helped Keltie into his Atomos.
She stooped as she climbed into the cramped quarters.
“I know it’s a little small,” he said. “But hopefully it’ll be okay for a little while.”
She took in the small ship. There was a small salon with a rectangular window, two couches and a television.
The place was spotless.
“It’s fine,” she said.
Grayson carried a plastic bag with two plastic wine bottles. He set the bottles on a coffee table next to the couch. He walked over to a cabinet and took out two plastic mason jars.
“We’ll have to drink out of these…”
It was cute that he was apologizing for mason jars, of all things.
“Wine is wine, no matter what you drink it from,” Keltie said. “I’m not snobby about my wine.”
“Good. I’ll be back,” he said.
Grayson climbed the ladder to the cockpit.
Keltie uncorked a bottle of red wine and filled her mason jar halfway. The ship began to move and she sat down on a couch.
Outside, the bay gave way to space. Grayson jumped into hyperspace, and the world outside turned into a shade of radiant purple.
She sipped the wine, relaxing.
A picture frame of Grayson and a woman that looked like his mother was bolted to the wall. Next to it, a plaque:
MLK High, Planet Provenance - 500m Freestyle Winner - Grayson McCoy
200m Medley - Winner - Grayson McCoy
Civic Responsibility & Community Service Recognition - Grayson McCoy
Grayson had so many layers to him.
He climbed down the ladder and smiled. He wore a headset and carried a remote control tablet under one arm. “Autopilot is set. We’re about an hour and a half away.”
“You’re an onion,” she said.
“I’m a what?”
“Every time I think I know you, I find out something else.”
“Good or bad?”
She pointed to the awards. “Good.”
“Right,” he said. “Those. That was years ago. I’ve devolved into a life of crime and despondency ever since.”
Keltie’s mouth hung open.
“Kidding,” he said, laughing. Then she laughed and brushed her hand against his arm.
His eyes widened at the touch but he tried not to show it.
Grayson poured himself some wine. Instead of sitting next to her, he sat on the couch across from her. The act surprised her.
“So you were big into athletics?” she asked.
“Still am, in a way. I swam in school, did the lifeguard thing for a while. Used to watch the Provenance Coast Guard sail their ships on the sea and rescue people. Thought it was the coolest thing in the world. Joined the reserves for a while. It was fun, at first, but it got boring. I did such a good job that the Galactic Guard noticed. I met a recruiter who told me about rescue missions in space. I never looked back.”
“That’s really cool,” Keltie said.
“You follow sports at all?”
“I can barely define sports, let alone follow them.”
“You’re a busy woman who doesn’t have time for it,” Grayson said, sipping his wine. He puckered his lips. “Wow. This is som
e strong stuff.”
“I like my wine strong,” Keltie said. “Helps me relax better.”
She took a big swig. “So what’s this I hear about you being unemployed?”
Grayson reached into a drawer on the coffee table and handed her a rolled up piece of paper.
Keltie unrolled the paper and read it. She gasped.
“You were discharged?”
Grayson downed his wine and grabbed the bottle for a second round.
“What happened?” she asked.
“It was honorable,” Grayson said. He told her his background story, about a strange ship he stopped in space, and how it led to armed conflict with Arguses on Provenance—great way to end his time in the Guard.
“Wow,” Keltie said. “It sounds like something out of a novel.”
“Tell me about it,” he said. “After losing my dad, I don’t want to tell my mom about it. Would scare her half to death. Time for me to hang up the hero hat and work a normal job, you know?”
“But you’re good at rescuing,” Keltie said. “I knew it from the moment I met you.”
They stared at each other, locked in each other’s gaze.
“I was okay at it,” he said.
“Who else whistles and smiles while they’re performing a deadly rescue? You don’t seem like the arrogant type. You love this line of work. I can tell.”
Grayson looked away. “I was just a reservist at the end of the day. I was going to have to find something else eventually.”
She leaned forward and touched his hand.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my life, it’s that you have to do what you love,” she said. “Whatever makes you happy. You have to.”
Grayson stared at her hand. “You gotta be brave to do that.”
“You’re braver than me,” Keltie said. She laughed. “I spent four years trying to tiptoe around my parents so that I could convince them to let me go into real estate.”
“What did they want you to do?”
“Something prestigious, like law or medicine. I would have hated myself. I don’t like following rules.”
“I can tell.”
Keltie pretended offense. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Grayson smirked as he drank another swig of wine. “Nothing at all.”
He poured her another glass. “What’s next for you, Keltie?”
“No idea. I need to get home to my family. I miss them so much. And I’m going to have to sell another planet at some point to make up for Kepler.”
The smile on Grayson’s face faded. “You just went through hell. Now you’re thinking about your sales quota?”
“I’ll pick a safer planet next time.”
“Shouldn’t you take a break, maybe?” Grayson asked.
“I can’t,” she said. “I have too much to work for.”
“Which is…?”
“I want to buy my own planet someday.”
Grayson almost spit out his wine.
“I know, it’s crazy.”
“I don’t know about crazy,” he said. “I mean, people buy and sell planets all the time. You just don’t strike me as one those—”
“Upper class snobs?” Keltie asked. “Trust me, I’m not. I want to create a place where I can be myself. Where everyone can.”
“Tough childhood?” Grayson asked.
Keltie nodded. She didn’t want to think about being bullied on the playground. Or her dad putting constant pressure on her to take advanced calculus or advanced rocket science or advanced whatever, just because he did it as a kid. The long nights arguing, the sneaking out and parties on moons. And the explosion that occurred when she wanted to be, above all things, a real estate agent in, above all other things, a crowded universal market.
“No one should ever have to pick between their passions and money,” she said.
“I guess you’re right,” he said. “So what’s your solution?”
“Haven’t gotten that far yet,” she said. “I make goals, but I don’t really think about them until I’m there.”
“What if you set the wrong goals?”
Keltie paused, regarding the question. “I just set new ones.”
Grayson laughed. “You’re one of a kind.”
“No, I’m me,” she said. “A constant revision in progress. What about you? What’s next for you?”
“Gonna go back home. Hopefully my job as a swim instructor is still there. Then I’ll take it day by day.”
“What’s the difference between you and me?” Keltie asked. “We both drift. It’s a big universe, Grayson. If anyone tells you they have it all figured out, they’re full of it.”
She set her glass down and sighed. Looking out the window, she twirled a strand of her hair.
Grayson finished his wine and stood. “I better check the instrument panel.”
“Oh,” Keltie said. Not the move she was expecting. “T-That’s fine.”
She stood and smoothed over her t-shirt. “Where is your bathroom?”
Grayson pointed down the hall.
She thanked him, and they had to cross each other to get to their destinations. They came so close to touching that Keltie wanted to pull him in for a kiss.
The look in his eyes told her he wanted the same thing. But he looked nervous.
She reached up for his face. He leaned in.
His headset beeped.
“State your name and how many passengers.”
Flight control.
They broke.
Keltie went to the bathroom and Grayson climbed into the cockpit, answering.
Keltie shut the door and looked at herself in the mirror in the tiny bathroom.
Grayson spoke on the ship’s intercom. “Hey, Keltie, we’re almost there.”
She sighed.
She straightened out a kink in her hair, then went back to the salon and picked up the empty wine bottles.
Chapter 24
Keltie climbed into the cockpit and sat behind Grayson.
Grayson saw her face and asked, “Everything okay?”
He looked as if nothing had happened between them. He was focused on flying.
“I’m okay,” she said, trying not to show her emotions.
“Good,” Grayson said. “I guess I should tell you that they’re expecting you when we land.”
“Who is expecting me?”
“From what they told me—everyone.”
Keltie smacked her head. “No, no, no! Tell them to call it off!”
“Too late for that.”
“I’m not a hero,” she said quietly. “I’m just… a survivor.”
“You’re a hero to me,” Grayson said.
Keltie didn’t know what to say to that. Instead, she peered over his shoulder at the instrument panel.
A green, watery planet lay ahead. Clusters of yellow lights glowed on the water’s surface.
“Welcome home,” Grayson said.
Keltie strapped herself in as Grayson hit the auto-entry button.
***
The plasma burned away as they entered Macalestern.
The ocean planet stretched below them. A city full of tall buildings and lights rested on a long, circular platform in the middle of a raging sea.
Rain beat down on the Atomos as Grayson took manual control.
“The storms here are bad,” Keltie said. “Watch the wind.”
Grayson nodded as he navigated toward a long, covered dock at the edge of the city.
As he approached, a spaceship-sized door opened on the top of the dock.
Grayson steadied the ship over the opening, and then he brought it down into the hole, into a ship dock. The rain patted against the windows and several times the wind rocked the ship, but he landed safely in the middle of a yellow circle.
The dockyard was a giant brick enclosure filled with ships.
A dock attendant directed him down a long runway and showed him a parking spot. Grayson parked the ship and cut off the engine
.
“Well, we’re here,” he said.
Keltie was already halfway down the ladder.
She sensed him following her, and she stopped at the airlock.
“Thanks for everything,” she said, extending her hand.
Grayson took it.
Tension blossomed between them again as they looked at each other.
She didn’t want to leave the ship. She didn’t want to leave him. She wanted him to tell her the same thing.
But instead, he said, “I’m glad I was able to get you home safely.”
“Me too,” she said sadly.
The airlock opened and cheers filled the dock. The stinging smell of saltwater welcomed her home.
Outside, a mass of people were waiting with signs and flowers.
Welcome home, Keltie
You rock!
Home at last
She couldn’t believe the adoration. The media took photos, and the flashes blinded her temporarily.
“Told you you’re a hero,” Grayson said.
Keltie climbed down the ladder.
Then she saw them.
A man and a woman, embracing each other. She ran to parents and hugged them, crying.
***
Grayson watched as the crowd surrounded Keltie.
She was a hero.
Everyone patted her on the back, told her congratulations.
He couldn’t help but smile, but he couldn’t help but climb back into the ship.
He’d missed his chance.
He walked into the salon and took the last wine bottle. He drank the rest of it and threw it on the floor.
He had his chance, and he froze! He locked up and shut down and he didn’t realize what he had done until now.
“Great job,” he told himself.
He glanced outside.
Keltie’s parents were holding her hands, escorting her down the long dock.
She looked back at the ship. Unsmiling, she held up a hand and gave him a slow, reluctant wave.
He did the same, pursing his lips.
And then she disappeared in a blur of photoflashes and people.
Phantom Planet (Galaxy Mavericks Book 2) Page 10