Project Emergence

by Jamie Zakian

Joey scooted close to Rai, and he turned the laptop toward her. “There’s a whole security team and everything,” he said.

  “Well, I’m going down there.”

  His leg flew back up, blocking her path. “Forget that. You can’t help them now.”

  Joey tried to push Rai’s leg from her way, but it wouldn’t budge. It was like the boy had glue on the bottom of his shoe.

  “Maybe I can do something. I have to try.”

  Rai tossed his laptop aside, the computer twirling in the air. He grabbed Joey’s hands, pulling her fingers from his calf. “It’s too dangerous; those guys have stun guns. His leg dropped, and he drew her to his chest. “Please stay here with me.”

  A strand of Rai’s thin black hair drifted in front of his dark eyes, capturing her stare.

  “Your tech,” she whispered, her hand landing on his shoulder.

  “I don’t care about the tech.”

  Shivers ran throughout her body, settling in her fingertips and toes. She took a deep breath before her lungs decided to seal shut on her. Rai leaned closer, and all her muscles tensed. At the very moment their lips touched, the computer bounced off the desk and voices streamed from its speakers.

  “Arrest them both for suspicion of terrorism,” Sabrina barked from the floating laptop.

  Joey shot back from Rai’s grasp, her caged breath releasing as a gasp.

  Rai’s stare darted between Joey and his tech, which drifted farther away.

  “Get it,” Joey screeched, whacking Rai on the arm.

  With a flinch, Rai sprung forward. He groped the air, trying not to slide from his secure hideaway. Once his fingers cupped the outer edge, Joey towed him back underneath the desk. They scrunched together, their cheeks grazing as they stared at the display.

  Joey watched her brother sweet talk the room while protecting Kami. It was typical Jesse behavior. “It looks like he might get ‘em out of it.”

  “Can your brother really fix that machine?”

  “Probably.” She glanced at Rai, darting her gaze away at the first glimpse of his strong jawline. She had to keep her eyes to herself. If she got one dose of his smile, her brain would turn to mush again. “You almost kissed me,” Joey said into her lap. “Twice.”

  Rai tried to slink away, but the desk held him in place. “Sorry ‘bout that.” He stared at her without a hint of remorse on his face. “If it bothers you—”

  “It doesn’t bother me.” She cringed, a wave of embarrassment following her words the instant they flew from her mouth. Rai smirked, which only made her cringe harder. She wanted to slap herself on the forehead but decided against the bonus loser points.

  Rai’s hand skated along her cheek, and she fought to keep from spiraling into his touch.

  “This time, I’m gonna kiss you.”

  “Okay,” she muttered, unsure if her voice even echoed over the pound of her heart.

  “I don’t care if the stars fall from the warp tunnel” —he drew her closer, their legs entwining— “and rip the shuttle’s hull apart.”

  His laptop wedged between them, and he shoved the tech aside, wrapping both arms around her. Air swept out in a rush as his kiss drifted in.

  ***

  Glass squeaked under Kami’s finger, her arm moving in an upward curve. She gazed out a small window, beyond her scribbles, to the gleam of steel. The large rings, which extended and spun around the vessel to create its gravitational field, stood eerily still. She remembered building the scale model of this ship with her mother when she was younger. With the flick of her finger, the rings would whirl. These monstrous bands of metal, however, didn’t look so easy to flick.

  “You have no idea what you’re doing, do you, kid?”

  The deep voice pulled Kami’s stare. She peered down at Mr. Reyes, who stood over Jesse with his veiny arms crossed.

  “I like to draw a mental image and get my bearing before I start ripping things apart. And my name’s Jesse, Mr. Reyes.”

  Despite her best efforts, a snicker escaped Kami’s grasp. Her eyes grew wide, and she covered her mouth.

  “You think this is funny?” Mr. Reyes barked. “Get down here.”

  Kami rolled her eyes and pushed off the ceiling. She came in hot, but Jesse practically launched forward to stop her from crashing into sharp metal. He helped her wedge against the equipment beside him, and she shot Mr. Reyes a spiteful glare. She could’ve been killed just now, and it was all that man’s fault.

  Mr. Reyes shook his head. His boots rattled the ground as he stepped closer to Kami, towering above her. “You got a lot of nerve for an accused terrorist,” he sneered.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve to accuse me of being a terrorist. You don’t even know anything about me.” A frown threatened to assault her lips, but she refused to let anything ruin her attempt at a hard stare. “My parents sacrificed everything just so me and my brother could go to Mars. Why would I throw that away?”

  A shadow fell over Kami as Mr. Reyes leaned down. He stared into her eyes, and she shimmied back but held his lengthy glare.

  “So why does Sabrina think your guilty?” Mr. Reyes asked in a more curious than accusatory tone.

  “My mom designs weapons. I saw the blueprints for that bomb on her desk, and I think Ms. Stone did too. She used to come to our house a lot. They’d be in that office for hours sometimes. And every time Ms. Stone left, my mom was pissed.”

  Kami looked at Jesse, elbow deep into the machine. His eyes were on her, probably been there the entire time. He looked ready to pounce on Mr. Reyes and completely unable to concentrate.

  “Let’s say I believe you,” Mr. Reyes said, his face softening. “Is there anyone else you can think of who would have had access to those blueprints?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Who else do you recognize on this ship?” Mr. Reyes asked in a rush. “Have any of them been in your house?” He gripped Kami by the shoulders, and she shrank down.

  “Hey,” Jesse shouted, picking up a jagged pipe. “Hands off.”

  Kami shook the fingers from her body, squeezing farther into the crevice of humming machinery. “I don’t know. There’s a few people from school here. Chuck’s dad came to our house a bunch of times with his lady friend.”

  “What lady?”

  “I can’t remember her name; she had a Russian accent. But my mom engineered this spacebus and Mr. Winslow is the pilot, so that’s all normal.”

  Jesse shifted to the other side of the unit and seized a frayed wire harness. “Maybe if you gave her some room to breathe, she could think better.”

  Mr. Reyes looked at Kami, who cowered within the metal that surrounded her. His face twisted, as if he just realized his large ass was cornering her little body. Quickly, he shuffled back. “I’m sorry, Kami.” He held his arm out, offering his hand. “You can come out of there.”

  Kami inched forward, stopping at the edge of the shining equipment. “I haven’t left my room that much. But I can look around, maybe make a list.”

  “That would be very helpful.” Mr. Reyes nodded, a warm smile perking his chiseled jaw. “Thank you.”

  A blue light flickered on the gravity machine. Gears whirled before sparks fizzled in the air. Jesse lurched back, frowning as the module clunked to a stop. “Ah, I almost had it.”

  Mr. Reyes slouched against a tall machine, letting out a groan.

  Jesse scratched his head, mumbling, and Kami floated to his side. Once again, she had to take charge to advert an all-nighter. “Check the power supply.”

  “Push me to the floor,” Jesse said, his eyes locked on a twisty tangle of wires.

  Kami smirked as she placed her foot on Jesse’s back and lightly pressed. The look on his face right now rivaled that of her brother when he zoned out on lines of code. It was kinda cute.

  “Damn,” Jesse muttered, his head buried deep in shards of bent metal.

  Mr. Reyes walked closer, glaring down. “I
really hope you haven’t been stalling me, kid.”

  Jesse wriggled out from beneath Kami’s heel, peeking over the machine. “Jesse,” he said, long and loud. “And it’s fixed.” He lifted his arm, a skinny silver rod gripped tight in hand. “But the auxiliary power cell is wasted, and the preinstalled safety sensors won’t let the unit run without it.”

  The clank of metal boots rang out, and Kami peered down the corridor. One of those security guys rounded the bend, motioning to Mr. Reyes.

  “Wait here,” he mumbled, walking away.

  After Mr. Reyes stormed from sight, Jesse turned toward Kami. He hooked the belt loop of her pants, and tugged. He pulled a bit too hard, and she crashed against his chest.

  “I’m sorry about earlier,” he said, gripping onto her waist. “What I said, back in the room.”

  Her hands flew to his shoulders, then slid to the nape of his neck. “I forgive you.” Truth was, she’d already forgotten about that fiasco. How could she remember when his lips floated in front of hers, pulling like a magnet?

  “Seriously,” Mr. Reyes cried out. “Is this really the best time for making out?”

  Kami jerked away from Jesse’s safe grip, bumping into the machine behind her.

  “We weren’t making out,” Jesse said. His hand flew to the spot where Kami touched him, rubbing gently. He darted his stare to the floor, then cocked back. “Hey, Mr. Reyes, how do you charge your anti-gravity boots?”

  “They’re self-sustainable; they don’t take a charge.”

  “So they’re nuclear, not electronic?”

  Mr. Reyes glanced at his boots, then back to Jesse. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “I’m gonna need those.” Jesse floated toward Mr. Reyes, hand out.

  “Yeah, okay,” Mr. Reyes snorted. Jesse wagged his hand, holding his glare, and Mr. Reyes smirked. “I’m gonna need these, kid.”

  “Jesse,” he shouted, louder than the first three times. “And you won’t need those anymore once the gravity’s on.”

  Mr. Reyes stepped back, shaking his head.

  “Aw, c’mon. Don’t you wanna show up that Sabrina lady?”

  With a grumble, Mr. Reyes reached down and unfastened his boots. He disengaged the power and handed them over. “Here you go, Jesse. Now it’s your ass.”

  Jesse gulped as he took the heavy equipment. He stared at the boots for a moment and then nodded. In a matter of seconds, he had the nuclear core out and installed in the gravity unit’s control panel. He gripped the severed power cord, and Kami seized his wrist.

  “Wait!” she shrieked.

  “What?” Jesse yelled, backing away from the machine.

  Mr. Reyes, now floating ungracefully, maneuvered to gain a better view.

  “That’s a constant power source; it’ll surge the internal circuitry,” Kami said, which was common knowledge to any grade-schooler, which Jesse had never been.

  Jesse’s tan cheeks grew a bright shade of white. “Oh wow. I almost blew my face off.”

  “And the bottom of the hull.”

  A shiver jolted Jesse’s body. “I almost …”

  “What’s going on?” Mr. Reyes barked.

  “Nothing,” Kami said, playing the near fatal incident off with a shrug. “Just a little snafu.”

  “Little,” Jesse murmured, his head in his hands. “We need a flux capacitor to regulate the power.” His gaze lifted to Kami for a half-second. “Do you know if any of this equipment has duel regulators ‘cause we could just rob one and it should be okay.”

  “No, but I know how we could find out.” She pointed to the camera above their heads, its red light blinking.

  “That’s right,” Jesse tilted his head up, staring into the lens. “Guys. Can you hear me?” A minute passed, then two, and nothing. “Hello?”

  “Who are you talking to?” Mr. Reyes asked.

  A huff carried Jesse away from the ground. He floated up to the camera, grabbed its sides, and yelled his sister’s name.

  ***

  Somewhere between the first kiss and the twentieth, Joey ended up in Rai’s lap. She had imagined this moment so many times. Countless nights, lying in bed, dreaming of her first kiss. Not once did she picture herself under a desk, at zero Gs, with her fingers in the hair of a Japanese hacker, but it was awesome. Just as Rai’s hands slid down her back, Jesse called out her name.

  She jumped up, hitting her head on the solid desk. “Ouch.”

  “Are you okay?” Rai asked, stifling a chuckle.

  “My brother’s here,” Joey whispered, grabbing onto Rai’s shirt.

  A trace of a snicker escaped his lips as he pointed to the floating laptop. “Your brother’s in there.”

  “Oh, thank God. I was about to have a heart attack.”

  “You’re not the one whose face he’d beat in,” Rai said, reaching for his tech.

  “I don’t think he’d do that.”

  “Yeah. He’s probably used to seeing you kiss boys by now, huh?”

  “No,” Joey practically yelled. “You’re the only boy I ever kissed.”

  “Really?” Rai glanced at her, his smile as wide as his eyes.

  “Yeah! Why? Have you kissed a bunch of girls?”

  “Well, not a bunch,” Rai said, looking away. “I had a girlfriend back at school.”

  “Oh.” Joey shrunk down. “Did you guys like … never mind; it’s none of my business.”

  “Here.” Rai twisted the computer so she could see. “I’m gonna patch you through to Jesse.” He hit the Enter key and nodded.

  “Jesse, can you hear me?”

  “It’s about time,” her brother’s voice grumbled through the small speakers. “What’s going on up there?”

  “Nothing,” she squeaked. As she straightened her top, she silently thanked the stars Jesse couldn’t see her right now. “What’s up?”

  “Have Rai run a scan for duel capacitor machinery, please.”

  “Hold tight a minute.” She avoided Rai’s eyes when he pulled the computer back.

  Rai muted the mic, then scanned the ship’s equipment log. “We were ah … really serious,” he said, taking small glances at her, “my girlfriend and I.”

  “I see.” Joey stared at her nails. Never, had she been so completely mortified. She probably just made a fool of herself, slopping her tongue all over Rai’s face. Her knees drew to her chest, and she sighed.

  “But you’re a way better kisser.”

  This time, Rai gazed into her eyes when he spoke. The words filled her body with a prickly heat. She would’ve floated away except she was already airborne.

  “Here’s the info.” Rai handed the laptop to Joey, like, in her hand. “Just hit Enter when you’re ready.”

  Her fingertips glided across the keypad. She was all over his tech, and he didn’t seem to care. Kami didn’t even have that privilege. Her finger hit the white button, a smile spanning her lips at the sound of a key’s click.

  “Hey, Jesse, can you hear me?”

  The small square on the display showed Jesse holding his thumb up. Rai pointed to a sentence in a small notepad, which rested opposite the video feed on his screen.

  “He found one. If you stand in front of the grav mod, it’s the second machine to your right.” She watched Jesse float around on the screen before his eyes darted to the camera.

  “This is the water heater,” Jesse said in a bit of a whine.

  “It’s either that or the O² scrubbers,” Rai said, and Jesse waved his hand before removing the instrument panel.

  “Thanks a lot, Rai.” Kami’s cranky face filled the screen and Rai cringed. “I was really looking forward to a—”

  Rai lowered the volume and released the laptop. He gave it a little tap, sending it away in a whirl.

  “Did you love her?”

  Rai shot back, rattling the desk with his body. “What? Who?”

  “Your girlfriend.” Joey studied his expression, still calm.
Since curiosity only killed cats, she pressed on. “If you guys were … serious, then you must’ve loved her, right?”

  “Umm … I guess, I thought I did.” Rai lifted his stare to her face, his hand hanging just above her arm. “But now, I don’t know.”

  Joey lowered her gaze, hiding her smirk behind floating hair. She scooted closer to Rai, until their hips brushed together. “Do you really think I’m a better kisser?”

  A smile popped onto Rai’s face, and he pushed it back, keeping his chilled image intact.

  “I don’t know,” he said, his fingers sliding between hers. “My memory is a little fuzzy. Maybe if you kissed me again—”

  She slapped his chest. Once her palm hit firm muscle, she was helpless to pull away. Her stare sank into his deep eyes, and she leaned closer. A hint of his cologne filled her lungs, sending her mind into a frenzy. Still, her body slanted even closer. She could feel his heart pound beneath her hand, so hard, so fast. Just as warm breath grazed her lips, the spacebus shifted and she dropped to the floor.

  Their heads collided, and Rai’s tooth dug into her lip.

  “Ow!” she moaned, rubbing her mouth. “Kissing is dangerous.”

  “Oh man.” Rai caressed Joey’s cheek, unable to suppress his chuckles. “I’m sorry. This is so not my norm.”

  “Hey!” Joey grabbed a flash drive from the floor, tossing it at Rai. “We got gravity back.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Metal clunked as Jesse’s boots thumped to the ground. Kami teetered, falling backward in front of him, and he reached out. His hand slid beneath her back, before it could hit the floor, and he swept her onto her feet. “Gravity’s a—”

  Her lips planted on his mouth, stealing his words. It only took about a nanosecond for him to respond. His arms wrapped around her and he squeezed.

  Mr. Reyes cleared his throat, loudly, and Jesse tried to pull away, but it was useless. He was spellbound. The warmth of satiny lips entranced his will, dragging him deeper into her kiss.

  “Come on, you two,” Mr. Reyes yelled. “It’s time to go to lockup.”