by J. Naomi Ay
As soon as we got there, I remembered the staircases and where my old room was and the kitchen too. I went out to the beach with the clear pink water and sugary pink sand and I walked on the long dock where my mom's sailboat used to sit and make pinging noises whenever the waves knocked it about. I had only spent a few years here when I was really little but those were the happiest years I recalled. As I stood on the beach and looked back at the house, I realized that I would always think of this place, this house as home.
"Rozari," Kiman asked and turned up his lip which was typical of a Mishnese to look down his nose at someone from the mother planet Rozari. "Is that why Korelesk is on your case?"
"I dunno," I shrugged and snapped on my one bar. The rest of the guys finished dressing too while Sam made some comment about how I looked like that guy on the vid show. I nodded and agreed and let them ride with that rather than have one or more of them figure out who I really looked like. We headed out of the quarters toward the muster station with about a minute to spare and as I ran down the corridor after the guys, the cell in my pocket started buzzing with a text. "Kari-fa," I snapped and whipped it out quickly. It was from my mom.
"Are you alive?" it read. That was her way of asking if I was okay without trying to interrupt me or waste too much of my time.
All I had to respond was Yes and she would leave me alone until she started worrying again half an hour later. If I wanted to talk to her, I was free to call her back or send a more detailed note about what was going on. I had stopped just long enough to type Y when Korelesk clamped his giant paw down on my neck.
"You're late to muster, Gold-en," he growled.
"Sorry, sir." I held up my cell. "I need to respond."
The other guys looked at me and Sam swallowed hard. "We're dead already," he muttered, "and I really need the money."
Korelesk glanced at the text and I knew he understood. If mom didn't hear from me, if she really started worrying, the next thing that would happen is the Captain would get a call. "Alright, Gold-en," he sneered. "You can tell Mommy that you're doing just fine but after that you and your buddies will owe me one hundred."
"Coins?" Sam squeaked.
"Push-ups!" Korelesk barked.
For the next thirty minutes, I grunted and pushed-up while Korelesk kept a boot on the middle of my back. Our duds were all sweaty and our faces were dripping so we all had to go back to quarters to shower and change before advancing to our duty stations a full half hour late. After one day in space, Squad 9A had four demerits and was on social probation. All three guys wouldn't speak to me, even Sam.
The next day, Sam got over his mad and sat down with me in the cafeteria for lunch. He had only green things on his tray while I had a double bacon cheeseburger and a mound of fries.
"How's it shaking, Stevie?" he asked placing his green-piled tray right in front of me. There was spinach, broccoli and asparagus, lots of green olives and some kind of fish meat that was also pale green. I bit into my cheeseburger and then shoved the plate of fries toward him.
"Want some?"
He shook his head. "I only eat greens, my friend. That's how I will keep up my effervescent complexion while living in space."
I nodded and considered this fat laden meal which I was devouring would probably wreak havoc with my complexion not to mention, I could hear Gramps in my head yelling at me that a bacon cheeseburger was breaking all the dietary laws.
"Your loss," I mumbled and took back all the fries to douse them with ketchup. "How's Engineering?"
"Boring," Sam replied picking up an asparagus. He held it up in the air and opened his mouth like a baby bird waiting to catch it. "How's Supplies?"
"Even more boring, I'm sure."
As new officers, we rotated through six departments during our first cruise. The idea was to experience all the different positions and responsibilities in each area so that when we signed on for our next contract, we would know what we liked. We also were evaluated by each department's commanding officer and that along with our squad leader's recommendation would get us our next placement.
My goal was to get to pilot training and the bridge which was a long way from stock keeping. We all had weapons training and leadership classes to attend starting at 0600 and those were interesting, but the rest of the day in the store rooms was absolute hell.
"I started out in stock keeping too," my mother had said gleefully when she called me this morning. I had quickly slipped into the back room behind some boxes so I could talk to her without anybody listening. "That's where I met Aunt Caroline for the first time."
"I know, Mom. I've heard all that before. She had space sickness and you were inventorying the sick bay. I've got the whole story."
"Right," she nodded and then asked me if I was coming home for my dad's birthday party."
"I can't. I'm on duty," I protested. "Furthermore, it's still four months away."
"You know, I have to plan these things well in advance," she scoffed. "I'm giving you lots of notice so you can arrange your leave."
"Mom…"
"It's your father's birthday. It's an Imperial holiday, for heaven's sake. I'm still trying to figure out what we're going to do this year. What do you think about beach volleyball?"
"Golden!" My CO yelled so I quickly hung up on Mom and raced to his desk with the first box I could pull off the shelf.
"What were you doing back there?" he demanded.
"I had a request for these." I held up the box and as I did, I saw that marked on the side in big black letters were the words CONDOMS SIZE XL.
"From who?" He narrowed his eyes.
"Uh…Sickbay?" I squeaked.
He looked at me doubtfully.
"There's a lot of new crew? And, and a whole bunch of those Cascadian dudes." I raised my hand high above my head to show him how tall they all were. "And…and LCDR Korelesk might need the whole box himself. Always Ready…uh, I mean Always Prepared, that's our motto here on the Queen of Rozari, right sir?"
His eyes became thin slits. "You have ten minutes to run those up to Sickbay and back otherwise a demerit, Ensign."
"Yes, sir," I saluted and raced out the door.
Of course, on this ship, it took more than ten minutes just to find the nearest lift. It took me thirty minutes to get to Sickbay, convince the intern there that a nurse had actually ordered these and then run back to Supplies. My cabin now had two more demerits, which Sam was unaware of as of yet.
"Sam, I've got to tell you something," I said seriously and then shared my bad luck. He nodded his green and red head slowly and chewed on a stalk of broccoli.
"We're all going to kill you, Stevie," he decided after swallowing.
"It's my mother's fault," I insisted and realized how lame that sounded. After all, I was twenty-two.
"Mhm," Sam continued nodding as his eyes rose above my head. "Uh oh." A hand clamped down around the back of my neck and lifted me out of my seat.
"Gold-en," Korelesk drawled. I dropped what was left of my cheeseburger on the plate. "Two days here and already my squad is the laughing stock of the whole ship. You've broken a record for the number of demerits collected."
"I'm sorry, sir," I squeaked as my cell buzzed in my pocket yet again. Korelesk snatched it before I could even move. He glanced at it and then crushed it between his fingers. The screen broke and stopped buzzing, the digital display showing my mother's private number now frozen in time.
"Mommy needs to understand that you are in the Imperial SpaceNavy now," he growled.
"You can tell her." I smiled innocently and shrugged even though he was still holding me practically suspended in the air. He narrowed his eyes and his Lightie complexion got even Lightier. He let go of my neck causing me to fall back on my heels.
"Two more demerits, asswipe," he growled and strode out of the restaurant, his back ramrod straight, his nose as high as the hanging light fixtures.
"Kari-fa!" Sam cried and slapped his forehead with his hand. "Two mo
re demerits? We'll be cleaning the heads on Deck 17 until the end of time!"
"I'm sorry?" I offered meekly.
Sam picked up his tray still loaded up with greens and shaking his head went to sit down at another table.
I spent the next several days in virtual isolation as all of my bunkmates stopped talking and turned their backs to me as soon as I came in. My commanding officer in Supplies pointed me to a corner and ordered me to inventory every screw and nut. After duty time, I spent four hours scrubbing toilets and sinks by myself and then collapsed into bed only to wake up again five hours later at 0600 for drill.
One full week into the cruise, we were finally given an afternoon of shore leave when we docked at the Imperial spacebase orbiting Lumineria III. Sam had started speaking to me again by that time as the two other guys had shunned him also for farting so much when he slept.
"It's all the greens I have to eat," he explained sheepishly. "It's really hard on my digestion."
He was a nice guy and none of us were perfect so I cut him some slack and made an effort to ignore the odors that came off of him.
Sam and I headed into the spacebase and picked up some tacos with lots of green chilies and mole sauce. I also picked up some nose plugs as after all this, it would undoubtedly be a rough night for Sam. When we got back to the cabin, there were boxes on our bunks.
"Care packages from home!' Sam cried excitedly while ripping his open. It contained a note and a bottle of Vitamin D in green gummy worm shapes. "Yay! Thanks Mom!"
I climbed up on my bunk to open my package with as much privacy as I could manage while Sam tried out his vitamins. I had a box wrapped in plain brown paper with no return address but a government stamp. Inside was a letter from my mom, a new cell with her number already preprogrammed, some boxer shorts, socks and chocolate chip cookies baked by Gramma Char. There was a second refrigerated box addressed to Little Marik that was marked Chocolate Torte - perishable.
"Do you want a vitamin D, Stevie?" Sam asked popping up beside me and offering me his bottle.
"Sure." I gave him a few cookies in trade.
"Little Marik?" he asked looking over my loot. "Boxers? Socks? Where does your mom think you are, based on some moon?"
"I don't know." I shrugged and turned away from him to read the letter. It was on her letterhead and had the Imperial Seal embossed in gold across the top. Sam watched me curiously trying to glance around my shoulder but I read it really quickly and then stuffed it back in the envelope.
"How's your mom?" he asked picking up my new cell and looking at the directory which only listed MOM and her private number.
"Good, how's yours?"
"Good," he nodded checking out the latest features on my phone. "Is this an rPhone 22g?"
I shrugged again. I didn't pay attention to that kind of stuff.
"What's this?" he picked up the box for little Marik. "Chocolate torte? Yum! Who's Little Marik?"
"Give it back, dude. It's none of your business." I snatched it away and shoved it back in the brown paper wrap.
"Ok, Ok." He held up his hands in surrender. "Just asking is all." Forlornly, he sat down on his bunk and studied his bottle of vitamins.
"You want another chocolate chip cookie?" I offered leaning over my own bunk and feeling really guilty now. I tossed him the whole bag. "You can have them all." Sam smiled brightly. He was easy to please.
"Your gramma's a good cook. Does she live on Rozari too?"
"No." I leaned back in my bunk and studied my new socks. They were heavy and wool, the kind more appropriate for hiking in the snow. "Because the cabins are always too cold," my mom's note read, "and having cold feet can make you sick." I tossed the note and the socks aside. "My grandmother lives at the Palace now with my mom and dad."
"Palace?" he shrieked.
"Uh…I mean, actually, uh, that's what we call our house. You know, uh…we refer to it as a…a…vinyl palace because it's like a…a mobile home."
"Mobile home?"
"You know, the kind of thing that you can move around. Like a trailer, sort of?"
"Vinyl Palace," Sam repeated doubtfully. "I thought you were a rich kid."
"No," I lied really well. "We're on the government dole, both my dad and mom. The Vinyl Palace is our…uh…government housing." The door swished open right about then and Lenny and Kiman entered.
"It stinks in here already," Kiman muttered.
"It won't very much longer!" Sam held up his bottle of vitamins.
"What's this?" Lenny snatched the bag of chocolate chip cookies off of Sam's bunk. "To Steven with love, Gramma Charlotte. Isn't that sweet?" He took out a handful and tossed some to Kiman.
"Stevie's parents all live in a vinyl palace," Sam offered, "which is something that can be towed around and sits on government land."
Lenny looked at me and snorted. "Figures. Did you go to prep school on a scholarship, Rozari boy?"
I didn't answer. I jumped down from my bunk and taking the box for Little Marik, I headed out. Kiman watched me as I left and for a really brief half second, our eyes met. Maybe he didn't know yet, but it was clear, he was going to figure it out.
"Gold-en," Korelesk muttered when the door to his cabin swished open and I hesitantly stepped through. I carried the box like an offering to the gods. "What's this?" He took it from me and ripped up the brown paper. "From Auntie Katie," he smirked but dove right into the torte. It had always been his favorite. I stood watching him eat with his bare hands, chocolate cream smeared all over his face. "You still here?" he glanced back at me with his colorless eyes.
"How did she know you were on board?" I demanded.
"My reputation precedes me."
"Is that why I was assigned to this ship?"
"You've used up your allotment of questions, Gold-en. Get the fuck out of my room."
"Listen," I said trying to sound conciliatory. "She wants me to come to my dad's birthday party next summer. She's threatening to call the Captain to get me released." Korelesk nodded while licking his fingers. The torte was half gone.
"I'll call her," he said. "I'll just tell her you can't."
"Be gentle with her. She's still making up for lost time."
"With her I'm a pussycat," he growled. "With you, I keep a boot on your neck. Now get lost, before I hand out some more demerits. What is she planning for this year anyway?"
"She's debating between Beach Volleyball and Barbeque or a Sea Cruise with Casino Night."
Korelesk frowned. "Well at least it's better than the Bowling and Bingo Night she planned last year."
"Dude, that was awful," I agreed. "Your parents looked ridiculous in those matching pink bowling shirts."
"Yeah? Well your dad wouldn't even get up to bowl. He just sat there with his feet up and pointed at the ball. Strike. Strike. Strike." Korelesk flicked his finger just as my dad had done.
"That was only until my mom started screaming at him that he was ruining her party again. He was doing it just to annoy her." I started laughing. Korelesk almost smiled.
"Well if it's the Beach Barbeque, I'll go," he said turning back to his desk. "Sea cruise forget it. No way am I going to be trapped on a boat with all of them." There was a knock on the door. "What?" he barked.
"Lt Cmdr? It's Ensign Smyt? Can I speak with you a moment, sir? It's about your budget?"
"Gold-en," Korelesk snapped. "Get the hell out of my face. Two more demerits for you just for showing up here."
"Aw, Marik," I started to protest.
"You want four?" he stood up and glared down at me.
"No, sir," I snapped and saluted, then left.
When I got back to the cabin, I discovered that Lenny was playing with my phone.
"Dude," he said. "Mommy sent you a text. What's a vinyl palace rat doing with an rPhone 23g that's not even released yet?"
"It's not released yet?" I asked while snatching it away as quickly as I could. I climbed back up to my bunk and retrieved the message.
"No," Lenny continued leaning on his elbow and watching me from his bunk. "That phone doesn't officially exist yet."
"Um," I replied thinking fast. "My cousin works for SdK Communications and they make some of the chips inside so he got me a beta version to test out here in space?"
Lenny snorted and turned away apparently satisfied. Kiman glanced my way and again for a brief half second, we locked eyes. I rolled over and read the text which was just the usual "Are you alive."
"No," I typed back. "I am totally dead." Then I shut it off and went to sleep.
Chapter 2
Elana
"I can't believe you are doing this," I said and looked to my father for help. Mother was sewing, some kind of cross stitching embroidery, making tiny little X's over and over and then switching her threads to make more tiny little X's in another color. When she was finished, she'd give it to one of the seamstresses who would mount it onto a footstool so we could all rest our dirty feet on Mother's hard work. She wouldn't even look up from her sewing no matter how I implored her. "Father," I tried again. "I just don't understand why…"
"Elana," he said again with a heavy sigh. He paced the length of Mother's sitting room and then stood by the window, pushing aside the curtains to look out. It was just as dark as it had been the last time he looked out ten minutes ago.
"This is my planet too. This is my future, my inheritance that you are giving away. I think I should have a say in it."
"You are having a say." Mother snipped a thread with her embroidery scissors. She put a new color on her tongue and then carefully tried to squeeze it into the needle. Her eyesight wasn't that great anymore and she missed several times. "We just don't agree with you."
"Let me," I sighed and reached over and took it from her. "If you're going to listen to me at all," I handed it back to her, "then don't do it. If you've already made up your mind then we're all just wasting our time."