by Jordan Rivet
“I knew it had to be possible.”
Esther wrapped her arms around her knees and listened to the machine hum. With the gears tightened, it was quieter than she expected. A sense of elation built slowly in her stomach, just like the vibrations in the machine. She had done it. For once she hadn’t screwed things up. Nothing had exploded. No one had been killed. This would change everything.
“Check out the meter.” Esther twisted down the gauge attached to the machine. She tapped it, but the numbers held steady. “It’s not taking much power at all.”
“Does this mean ya’ll won’t run out of fuel and need to be rescued again?” Zoe said.
“If we stay near the algae blooms,” Esther said. “Next I have to make sure the engines can handle the biofuel and hook them back up to the propulsion system. But . . . we might be able to travel wherever we want. We could nip over to the Amsterdam once a month.”
“We didn’t even do that on the Galaxy when we had a pair of oil tankers and a floating refinery.” Zoe studied the separator as if it were a strange sea creature she had never seen before. “This is pure genius.”
Anita came over and squeezed Esther’s shoulder with her long fingers.
“Let’s not get our hopes up too quickly,” Esther said. “I still have to test the fuel. But yeah, it’s something.”
“Let’s go celebrate!” Zoe said. “Come on, enough staring at your baby.”
“I should run a test on the—”
“You’ve been holed up in here for ages,” Zoe interrupted. She began pulling Esther up by the arm, and Anita helped her. “Enjoy your success for once.”
“I don’t want to go upstairs right now,” Esther said, her stomach suddenly lurching like she’d been hit by a tidal wave. “I should—”
“I know you get all awkward around him, but you’ve got to face David eventually,” Zoe said.
“What?”
“You’re hopeless, Esther,” Anita said, grinning.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Esther said. She wasn’t awkward! She’d show them.
She carefully shut down the machine and allowed Zoe and Anita to drag her through the warren of pipes and filter banks toward the door.
“Race you to the Lounge!” she said, taking off down the corridor. For weeks she’d avoided the complicated mix of personalities upstairs, hoping everyone else would sort out their differences. But she deserved a bit of fun, she had good news to share, and she knew exactly who she wanted to see first.
Chapter 2—The Spin
ESTHER, ZOE, AND ANITA dashed up the spiraling metal stairwell through half a dozen decks. Zoe could outpace Esther on a race across the plaza, but her long legs were less of an advantage on the steps. Esther kept up, letting the reality of what she had just done propel her. This was it. The breakthrough she’d been working for. She had just created the New Pacific’s most efficient energy system.
Zoe pulled ahead and took the final steps to the ninth deck in a bound. Esther was two paces behind, followed by Anita. Her jacket sleeves had come unrolled and they flapped like fins. Breathless and laughing, the three women ducked through a service door to the Mermaid Lounge.
Mermaid-themed artwork—carved sconces and fanciful paintings in bright jewel tones—decorated the large, defunct restaurant. Booths lined the wall nearest them, and square tables were scattered across the center of the space, interspersed with cots and bundles of clothes. A massive wooden bar stretched in front of the seaside wall, where tall windows revealed a zinc-gray sky. The elaborate velvet curtains that had once hung beside the windows and the booths had long ago become blankets or clothing. The room looked a little bare without them, more like a diner than a club.
The Mermaid Lounge was quiet at this time of the afternoon. A few people chatted at tables or napped on the cots. As soon as the afternoon shift ended, the lounge would fill with movement and noise, but for now it was calm. This had become the unofficial workspace and camping area for all the old Galaxians who didn’t want to stay in the Lucinda’s cramped quarters. Most of them hadn’t blended in well with the longtime Catalina residents. They were too different, from their colorful clothes to their work methods to their pickiness over meals, and they kept to themselves. There were rumors that many would leave the Catalina when they docked with the Amsterdam Coalition if Judith and Dirk couldn’t smooth out their leadership differences.
Zoe led the way toward their usual booth, but Esther pulled up suddenly, her enthusiasm dropping out from beneath her like a sinking lifeboat. David Elliot Hawthorne sat at a table right by their booth, a collection of charts spread before him. His white-blond hair was perfectly combed. Thick-framed glasses—one lens still cracked—perched on his patrician nose. Even when he was lounging at the table, his elegant posture was on full display.
“Wait, let’s sit here,” Esther said.
She pulled Zoe into a chair near the door. Anita followed, her cheeks still flushed from their run through the ship.
“Why?” Zoe said. “What’s the matter with our usual . . . ? Ah.”
David turned over a chart in one sweeping motion. He hadn’t noticed them.
Esther pulled her dark hair down over the side of her face. It reached her shoulders now. She put her elbows on the table, removed them, then put one down again, banging it painfully on the ruptured wood. Zoe chuckled, pulled out her pocketknife, and began sharpening it on the stone she kept tucked in her tunic pocket.
“Isn’t it your turn to grab the drinks, Esther?” she said, a sly grin flitting across her face.
“But—”
“Yeah, it’s definitely your turn,” Anita said, eyes widening a little too innocently.
Esther glared at them and stood. She tried to cross the room without drawing attention to herself, cursing her heavy boots. She skirted around a table where a pair of Galaxians leaned together, deep in conversation. They fell quiet when Esther passed. It was better than having them ambush her to complain about the food or something.
She retrieved an armful of mismatched plastic containers from behind the bar. Water was readily available now that she had repaired the desalination system, and they liked to drink extra whenever they hung out now. It was better than alcohol. Esther didn’t dare follow that train of thought. She pretended not to see David as she filled the containers from the large water jug. She didn’t want him to think she had come here to see him.
Back at their table, Esther handed a sports water bottle to Zoe and an old applesauce jar to Anita, both full of pure water. She sat and peeked at David over the top of her battered milk jug. He was still engrossed in his charts. She longed to tell him about her discovery. At the same time somehow, she wished he wasn’t here. Ugh, why is he so confusing?
Anita nudged Zoe, who barked a laugh. “Trying to get his attention by hiding from him?” Zoe asked.
“Mmm.” Esther ignored the question.
David was fiddling with the fancy dive watch on his wrist. He wore a cream cable-knit sweater, which had almost become his uniform.
“That sweater’s so impractical. What if he has to carry something with sharp edges?” she muttered. “It’ll get ruined, and then someone will have to go through the trouble of picking it apart to make something new.”
“Don’t know why you care,” Zoe said. “It’s not like you’ll be doing it for him.”
“Just look at him. He doesn’t fit in on the Catalina,” Esther said. “Everything about him screams, I’m better than everyone. Why is he even here?”
David switched to a different map and leaned over it. He adjusted his glasses and ran a hand through his hair.
“You’re shit scared he’s going to leave,” Zoe said. She had put down her whetstone and was turning the blade over in her hands. “Don’t look at me like that, Esther.”
“It’s not about him,” Esther said. “I don’t want you guys to go. When we reach the Amsterdam and you head off—”
“Don’t change the subject.
After what happened between you two . . .”
“It was nothing.”
Esther examined her fingernails and dug out some of the grease that seemed to be perpetually stuck in them. She thought about the night she had spent with David on the Galaxy Mist, about how he had made her feel. She didn’t know whether it had meant anything to him, and she didn’t want to let on that it had meant something to her. Especially when she wasn’t sure what she wanted from him now. It had been two months since that night, but it felt like a lifetime.
“It obviously wasn’t nothing,” Zoe said. “Why else would you spend half your time hiding from him and the other half staring at him like a baby seal when you think no one’s looking? He abandoned the Galaxy to help you, and now he lurks around the Lounge all the time in case you might be here. You guys clearly have some weird thing going on. My only question is, why are you not pushing him up against the cylinders in the engine room every chance you get?”
“I’m not sixteen, okay?”
Zoe snorted. “It might do you good to follow Cally’s lead for once. So, what is it? You’re afraid to cross some sort of picket line? That’s been done, my friend.”
Esther’s gaze drifted back across the room to that white-blond shock of hair. David turned the dive watch on his wrist again. Something twisted in her stomach. She wasn’t even sure he had helped to rescue the Catalina because of her. He seemed to have his own reasons. It was frustrating that he made her feel so disoriented. It was easier to deny her feelings any power, to hide away in her work, and that’s mostly what she had been doing lately.
“It’s not that simple,” Esther said finally. “Hawthorne was all about the spin on the Galaxy, and I’m not sure if I can trust him.”
“You were pretty chummy back on the Lucinda.”
“It’s complicated.” Her eyes followed the lines in the dark wood table.
Zoe pointed her knife accusingly at Esther. “You’re afraid he doesn’t like you!”
“That is not what I said.”
“Yeah, but I get it now. You’re used to figuring out mechanical cut-and-dried situations,” Zoe said. “You don’t want to guess his feelings wrong, so you’re pretending you don’t care.”
“It’s okay to care, Esther,” Anita said quietly.
“He’ll probably be leaving the Catalina soon anyway,” Esther said. “He spends enough time on the Lucinda already.”
David had taken ownership of the sleek patrol ship they’d commandeered from the Galaxy Flotilla together. Now he was keen to learn its functions inside out and outfit it so he could sail anywhere—even to land.
Once, he had asked her to go with him. She remembered his exact words: I’m not really asking you along because I need a mechanic. I’ve kind of thrown my lot in with you, Esther. I want to have you around.
She had put him off then, insisting that she wanted to get her feet firmly on deck before making any decisions. But he hadn’t asked again, and he was proceeding with his preparations, apparently without her. Esther wished she didn’t care where he went. He was going to leave, and she should forget about him.
“The fact that he’s here shows he’s unpredictable,” Zoe said. “I wouldn’t write him off just yet.”
“Write who off?” said a smooth voice right behind them.
Esther and Anita bolted upright. Zoe’s pocketknife clattered to the floor. David stood over them, straight backed and smirking.
“Dirk.” Esther gulped. “Dirk’s trying to take over the council. We think he and Judith make a good team.”
Zoe rolled her eyes as she bent to retrieve her knife.
“You haven’t seemed that interested in ship politics lately, Esther,” David said. “I’ve barely seen you.”
He stood a little too close, forcing Esther to quell the confusing tangle of feelings that rose in her chest.
“I’ve been working,” she said.
“We were just celebrating actually,” Zoe said. “Esther finished her big algae project—and it works! She’s all set to change this messed-up watery world of ours.”
“Really?” David said. “The one that makes biofuel without using chemicals? Reggie was telling me about it.”
Esther nodded. She was only just starting to process the implications now that her prototype worked. David made the jump a lot faster.
“Everyone will want this technology.”
“Yeah,” Esther said. “It’ll make a big difference as soon as I get a chance to share it with the other floating communities.”
Spreading the technology would take time, but they were close to their annual meet-up with the Amsterdam Coalition. The news would spread from there.
“Share it? Esther, you’ve got to think more strategically.” David slid into a chair between Zoe and Anita and faced Esther across the table. “We’ll be docking with the Amsterdam for trade in a few weeks, right? Why not sell the technology to the highest bidder? You could set the Catalina up for years.”
“I’m just going to give it to them,” Esther said. “It’ll already make our lives exponentially better. What more do we need?”
“You’d be wasting a huge opportunity to help everyone,” David said. “No ship will last forever, no matter how well you maintain it. The way things fall apart, we need all the resources we can get. Let me arrange it for you. We can get some serious buzz going around the Amsterdam.”
Zoe was nodding in agreement, but Esther wasn’t so sure. “Aren’t you leaving on the Lucinda after we meet with the Amsterdam?”
“I don’t know what I’m doing yet.” David rolled his shoulders impatiently. “The point is, you shouldn’t just give the technology away to anyone who wants it. This could be the perfect opportunity to make some powerful friends for the Catalina. You certainly need some friends after we pissed off the Galaxy so spectacularly.”
Esther hesitated. She didn’t particularly like the idea, but she would do anything to protect the Catalina.
“What exactly would we sell?” she asked. “My prototype? The floorboards with the separator designs scratched into them?”
“All of it.” David leaned forward, and for a moment Esther thought he was going to take her hand. “We could even throw in your expert tutelage. You could show the mechanics of the winning bidder how to build the system and adapt it to their needs. You’re capable of that, right?”
“Of course,” Esther said. How did he manage to be both condescending and complimentary in the same breath?
“Great. So we sell your designs and your time in exchange for supplies that’ll last for years and alliances that’ll last decades.”
“I’m not sure about this,” Esther said. She hadn’t seen David this animated since the escape on the Lucinda, but the idea made her nervous. “I haven’t even tested the fuel on the main engines yet. Besides, we’re all trying to survive in this rusted-up world. Why make it about profit?”
“Because we have to,” David said. “Like it or not, people are forming bigger and bigger coalitions, and that means commercial activity. The politics that go along with it are becoming more sophisticated.”
“I don’t want to get into all that.”
Esther had enough of politicking on the Galaxy Flotilla to last her awhile.
“At least think it over,” David said. “We still have almost two weeks until we reach the Amsterdam.”
“Wait. What about Judith and Dirk, our favorite power couple?” Zoe said.
“She’s right,” Esther said. “We’ll have to clear it with the council. I can ask my dad if he’ll get me into the next meeting.”
“May I come along when you talk to them?” David asked. “I’ve been wanting to attend a council meeting.”
“I can’t make any promises.” Her father may be back on the council, but he wasn’t in charge yet.
“Understood,” David said. His mouth lifted in his enigmatic smile.
Salt, he was handsome.
Zoe cleared her throat. “Seriously, guys, we’re s
upposed to be celebrating. Grab yourself a drink and join us, Hawthorne.”
“All right. If Esther doesn’t mind.”
He stood up.
“Why would I mind?”
He grinned. “You’ve been avoiding me for weeks.”
“Have not. I’ve been working . . .” Esther buried her face in her water carton.
David laughed and went to get a bottle for himself.
“Tell him how much you like him, Esther,” Anita said as soon as David left the table.
“Anita!” Zoe shrieked.
“I don’t like him.”
“Of course you do,” Zoe said. “Listen to the woman when she speaks, Esther! Or I could tell him you want to—”
“Shh,” Esther hissed. “He’s coming back. Don’t you dare say a word!”
Zoe and Anita were shaking with laughter when David returned with a tall plastic bottle. A label about something artisanal was still visible on its side. Esther’s face felt hot, and she refused to look at her friends. She had no choice but to meet David’s eyes. He smiled.
“So . . .” She cleared her throat. “I should really get back to work. I need to run some tests on the oil before we build the big separator for the main engines.”
“You just got the prototype to work,” David said. “That’s no small feat. Why don’t you take the night off?”
“Yeah, seriously, Esther,” Zoe said, finally suppressing her laughter. “You’re no fun when you’re working.”
The afternoon shift had ended, and people were beginning to return to the Mermaid Lounge. Sunlight slanted through the windows and cast golden patches across the threadbare carpet. The chatter of voices rose around the room. It would be nice to be around people after she had been drowning herself in her work for so long.
“I promise not to talk business if you stay,” David said.
She supposed she could start on the fuel tests tomorrow. And if David wanted her around . . . He was looking directly at her, his gaze unwavering.
“Fine, I’ll stay for a bit,” Esther said. She buried her face in her water jug again.