Future Prospect

by Lynn Rae

  Gina shook her head. “Colan, could you go check that out for us? I need to get these boys their lunch. Message me if you need anything. Riva, those reports are waiting for you.”

  Riva sent a hot glare at him and Gina before she swept out of the office. Colan felt pretty hot himself as he grabbed his datpad and left his office behind, picking up speed as he made his way down the hall toward the door.

  Chapter 5

  It had shaped up to be a beautiful morning. Lia took a deep breath of the strangely scented air of Gamaliel and smiled at the walls of the barracks as they rose into the peachy sky. Everything was progressing exactly on schedule and nothing pleased her more. By the end of the week this wing should be finished and ready to house fifty new settlers in relative comfort.

  “Lia!” Someone roaring her name jolted her out of her reverie, and she turned toward the sound in confusion. Colan strode her way, his face tight in familiar lines of annoyance. What had irritated him now?

  “I can’t believe you could be so inhuman!” he thundered, swaying to a halt a half meter from her and leaning his scowling face right into hers.

  Lia straightened her shoulders, unwilling to even appear intimidated. Because she wasn’t. Not at all. “What’s the issue now, Colan?”

  “The issue? The issue?” he spluttered, his eyes flashing with simmering rage. “I’m amazed you would consider destroying someone’s house a mere issue. Leaving them homeless must be a minor point on one of your schedules. Or maybe they don’t even rate a mention, considering they aren’t here to collect the precious cortiglow which seems to be all that motivates any of you people!”

  Lia blinked and wanted to step back, but she held firm. He was behaving like an ass. “Colan. Calm down.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down! You’re heartless. All you care about is keeping your precious schedule running on time.”

  “If you’d just pause and let me explain—”

  “No. You’ve explained enough. I can’t believe I trusted you!”

  Lia noticed Welti emerging from the doorway of the new building and walking their way. She needed to de-escalate this situation quickly. “Are you talking about Rue and Tun? The older couple?”

  “Of course that’s who I’m talking about, unless you’re busy tearing down some other older people’s houses right now.”

  “Colan, I messaged you about this last night and again this morning.”

  “You told me yesterday they would be safe, that you were going to take care of this. I can see now how much your word stands for.” Colan spat out the words as if they tasted of rancid vinegar as he gestured toward the now-clear lot which had held the couple’s small hut. Construction bots were busy pushing aero bars deep in the peat to act as a floating base for an incoming foundation.

  Irritation at his behavior and anger at his accusation roiled in her chest, and she knew her temper was getting hot. Maybe she didn’t care about making a scene anymore. She’d had about all the bluster from this man she was going to take.

  “Maybe if you’d check you messages instead of lazing around all day in your underwear, you’d be aware of what my word is worth.”

  “Lazing around in my what?” The angry man in front of her leaned back and widened his eyes in mock shock. “Worrying about my underthings, were you? I’m surprised you even noticed what I was wearing considering you are practically a cyborg permanently attached to your datpad.”

  “I’m hardly a cyborg just because I’m being responsible at my work!” Lia was outraged at his ignorant remark. She was perfectly normal. Everyone kept a datpad at hand. She was simply in work crisis mode, that’s why she used it constantly. There was always something needing her attention.

  “It’s grafted to your arm! I’ve never seen you without it! I’d bet marks you shower with it and sleep with it next to you!”

  Lia sucked in a shocked breath. How dare he say such a thing? She left it on the bathroom counter and bedside table like everyone else. Everyone else but this man. He probably forgot he even had one for days at a time. “Excuse me, but how I shower and what I sleep with are hardly your concern.”

  “And what I wear is none of yours,” Colan rumbled back, looking ready to step even closer into her personal space. He flexed his hands, and Lia felt unsteady at the idea he might take hold of her. Just the thought of his fingers pressing into her flesh made her breathing unsteady.

  “Don’t blame me for noticing it seems to be your preferred mode of dress when you stomp around in one of your funks.” Lia bit off the words. Anger at his mean statements made her see everything in a slightly pink tinge, and she panted out a few breaths.

  “One of my funks?” His voice had lowered to a low growl, and her spine tingled in warning.

  “That’s right. You’ve been rude and uncooperative since I met you. ” Lia was on a roll now, all the repressed comments tumbling out in a delightful fury. “I feel like I’m working with a bad-tempered bear.”

  “If you think you’ve seen bad tempered—” Colan gave a quick shake of his head and leaned even closer to her, his gaze not leaving hers for a millisecond. Lia was having difficulty keeping her knees locked. Please don’t let her unsteady body falter now.

  “I’m seeing bad tempered right now. Maybe you need a dose of cortiglow to snap out of it.” As soon as she said the last sentence, she regretted it. Colan narrowed his eyes and tightened his shoulders. She’d just said he needed mood altering or implied he needed sexual enhancements. It seemed from the tight expression on Colan’s face and the flare of heat in his eyes it was the latter side effect he was considering. This situation was rapidly devolving, and Lia clenched her jaw so she wouldn’t say more incendiary things.

  “You have no idea what I need,” he rumbled, and Lia couldn’t look away from his hot gaze. Her whole body flushed with warmth, and she wasn’t sure if she was afraid or excited. At that moment Welti ambled over to them and grinned between them as if it was a perfectly fine day for an emotionally-charged conversation outside in the fresh air.

  “Anything I can do to help?” the facilities manager asked as he gave Lia a smile. Colan breathed deeply and still glared at her, and Lia wanted to sink into the moist, peaty earth and think about something peaceful for a few hours.

  “Yeah, you can explain what happened to Rue and Tun’s house and why they’re homeless now.” Colan started again, not bothering to look at Welti.

  “Right. Well, we had to demolish it you know.” Welti’s voice rose with excitement, which might not have been the best tone to soothe the angry man in front of them.

  “Oh, I know that much. You had to demolish it.”

  “And we already have a new modular under construction for them, and it’ll be in place just over there,” Welti gestured toward a newly cleared lot twenty meters away, “within the week. Really nice too. More space, more energy efficient, and we’re putting in a studio space for them with lots of solarcell windows. They do laser optic stained glass.” Welti grinned with enthusiasm for the new project. Give him something to tear down or build up and he was a contented man. Unlike the still simmering Colan Nestor. Lia doubted he’d ever been happy in his life.

  Lia watched him as he absorbed the news and blinked first at Welti and then at her. The flush of anger faded from his cheeks, and as his expression relaxed and his shoulders loosened, she did too.

  “Huh.”

  “Lia’s got them set up in a great suite in our dormitory until it’s ready. They seemed thrilled with it. Said it would be like a vacation even though it’s just a few meters from home. You even set them up with their own butlebot, didn’t you Lia?”

  Lia couldn’t resist quirking an I-told-you-so eyebrow at Colan, and he had the grace to drop his gaze for a moment. So much for her not keeping her word to care for his friends. She waited a beat for him to apologize for his outburst, and when he said nothing, she gave up on Colan Nestor. There was too much to do, and he’d already wasted enough of her time.

 
“If that satisfies your outrage, I believe I’ll be going,” she declared and walked away from both men, heading back to her office before she started to shake with the conflicting emotions running through her. Colan’s temper had startled her, but her aggressive response was out of character, and Lia wasn’t sure why she’d fought back in such a personal manner. It was terribly unprofessional.

  It was after hours, and Colan waited for admittance at the entrance to the congressional dormitory. Night arrived slowly on Gamaliel; dusk seemed to last for a couple of hours at this time of year. Night flivvers were stirring, swooping around the cocker trees hunting for unwary day creatures not yet hidden for the evening. Colan had distracted himself with watching them for nearly an hour rather than heading over to the new congressional complex and take on the dreadful task of apologizing to Lia. He’d procrastinated too long and found the outer doors locked for the night.

  A soft pink light throbbed from the display by the entrance, and Colan wasn’t sure if he should speak into it or touch it to alert the inhabitants he would like to come in. Maybe this was a sign he should just wait until tomorrow. It might be easier. She wouldn’t be as upset. But Colan knew the longer he waited the harder it would be, so tonight it was. If he could just get in to see her. And if she would agree to see him.

  The display pad morphed orange just as Zashi appeared at the door, looking at Colan with zero expression through the glass door. Lia’d probably sent the security officer to thrash him, and Colan was sure the man could do it without breaking a sweat. Zashi opened the door and beckoned for him to enter, his black eyes assessing Colan as if he couldn’t decide if he was a threat or not.

  “Here to see your friends?”

  “No, I’d like to see Lia Frei.”

  Zashi tilted his head a few millimeters and assessed him more closely. Colan again wondered if perhaps this man’s relationship toward the woman in question might edge to the personal, sharing-a-bed sort of interaction. In which case, the security chief wouldn’t want Colan sniffing around close to said bed time.

  “Sure.” The security officer’s easy agreement surprised Colan, but he followed along without a word as Zashi led him through a bare lobby area and down a wide, pale yellow hallway lined with closed doors.

  “Your friends are in there, but they’re probably asleep. Busy day. ” Zashi gestured at one of the pale orange doors as they walked. It was quiet in the corridor, either everyone was asleep, or there was excellent sound buffering.

  “Here she is.” Zashi pressed a small display mounted next to the last door in the hallway. “I’m across the hall.”

  Colan nodded. Maybe the security officer was warning him he’d be on alert for any signs of trouble. But Zashi seemed perfectly unconcerned as he waited for Lia to respond to his call.

  “Nice planet.”

  “It is.”

  “Soggy, but the jungle is interesting.”

  “It is.”

  Before he had to continue with this conversation, Lia’s voice broke in, amplified through the display. “Zash, I told you I didn’t want to play baccio tonight. I’m too tired to be much competition.”

  “I believed you the third time you turned me down, Lia. You have a visitor.”

  The display morphed into an image of Lia peering out at them. Her brow furrowed when she spotted him behind Zashi’s shoulder, and he had the impression she was displeased. She should be. She could easily decline the opportunity to see him and leave Colan in the hallway to have two-word conversations with the grim security officer. Then again, Zashi might invite him to play baccio.

  The display winked back to pink as her door opened, and Lia stood there wrapped up in a silky blue robe, her hair startlingly loose on her shoulders, a shiny curtain of rich, brown silk. Colan sucked in a shocked breath, unprepared for how lovely she appeared when out of one of her neat congressional uniforms.

  “Colan.” She gave him a slight frown, and he felt trapped. If she gave some sort of signal, Zashi would probably haul him right out of the building and toss him into the closest mud pit. “Come on in.”

  Zashi stepped aside as Colan made his way through the door and passed close to Lia to enter her suite. Too close. He smelled something delicious and almost stumbled. Colan heard the security officer ask her something too quietly to make out, and he tried not to hear Lia’s response. She’d let him in and hadn’t slapped him yet, so everything was going better than he’d anticipated. He did hear the door close, and Lia walked past him and took a seat on her sofa, looking up at him with her eyebrows raised.

  Colan glanced around the room rather than focus on her. It was much larger and more luxurious than he’d imagined. A large seating area furnished with plush furniture in shades of tan and cream, a shiny, white kitchen with dining area adjacent, and lots of warm lighting everywhere. No wonder Rue and Tun were pleased. Colan hadn’t been in such a pleasant space since he’d arrived on Gamaliel two years before.

  “Would you like a tour?”

  “No.” Colan stopped staring at her dining room table and forced himself to look at her instead. Lia had tucked her feet under her robe as she curled up on the sofa and watched him. It seemed she had been ready to watch a vid or entertainment before he interrupted her. A glass of wine sat on the table in front of her and a plate with some crackers and odd bits of food.

  “Some wine then.” Lia rose without waiting for his response and walked to her kitchen to pour him something to drink. She returned and stood too close for comfort as she handed it to him. Her brown eyes held his gaze, and Colan’s stomach tightened with nerves. Just get it over with.

  “I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you this morning. It was rude and uncalled for. I understand if you would like me to find someone else to work with you.” Colan gusted out a pent up breath and took a gulp of wine after he finished. He didn’t even taste the drink as he swallowed and waited for her reaction. Lia’s eyebrows rose, and her mouth opened slightly as she swayed back. Incredibly, she began to laugh, big, full-throated laughs that made her eyes water. He was flabbergasted by her reaction and took another drink of wine to steady himself.

  Shaking her head with a few final chuckles, she wiped away a few tears and brushed wisps of hair back with her fingers. She wound the shiny strands into a loose rope while watching him with a grin.

  “What’s going on? Are you going to throw me out now?”

  Lia shook her head, and her hair spilled free again. “Sorry I laughed. I’m just surprised.”

  “By what? That I’m admitting I was wrong?”

  “No. I’m surprised you came here to apologize. I was going to track you down in the morning to do the same.”

  Now it was Colan’s turn to be surprised. Some of the tension that had been tormenting him for the last few hours dissipated with her good humor. “Why would you need to apologize to me?”

  “Because I was rude to you. It was very unprofessional of me to make those personal comments. I’m sorry.”

  Colan blanked out. All he could recall was how angry he’d been and how he’d accused her of being a cyborg. “What personal comments?”

  Lia blushed and stepped away from him and returned to her seat on the sofa. She picked up her glass of wine and took a sip. “You don’t remember?”

  “Not really.” Colan edged closer to her and took a seat on the arm of a chair.

  “Then I’m not going to remind you specifically.” A hint of a smile appeared on Lia’s lips, and Colan wanted to smile in return. He felt much better about the universe now. “In fact, I’m going to banish them from my memory, they were so terrible.”

  “How could I have missed something so interesting?”

  “I guess I’m lucky you were in such a rage, as odd as that may sound.”

  Colan sobered at the reminder of how out of control he’d been. He had to have frightened her with his shouting and leaning over her. He might have even pointed his finger in the air at one point. It was embarrassing. He couldn’t even re
member the last time he’d lost his temper to such an extreme degree.

  “I’m sorry about it. There’s no excuse for it. I overreacted when I heard about Rue and Tun’s house and was already upset with Riva, and I took it out on you.”

  “Who’s Riva?”

  “Riva Estep, second chair science officer. She was trying to get me on board with some sort of protest over your settlement plans here.”

  Lia watched him for a moment. “Would you like something to eat? Any allergies or dietary restrictions?”

  Colan shrugged. He hadn’t thought too far beyond the apology so now his evening stretched in front of him unplanned. Just like most of his evenings. Lia must have taken his non-answer for acquiescence, because she rose and walked past him to her kitchen where she opened cabinet doors and rattled plates around. He glanced over at her and saw her frowning over a box of something, and he decided to study her dining room curtains. It was too tempting to wander over and watch her decide what he might like to eat, too cozy a space for him to inhabit with her.

  Lia returned and held a plate out to him as she explained what sorts of cheeses, olives, and crackers she’d given him. He took it and watched her take a seat on her sofa, one cushion length closer to him than before.

  “What sort of protest?”

  Colan ate some cheese so he could delay his answer. This was a tricky proposition. Riva was wrong, but he didn’t want to cause trouble for her. “She’s claiming there’s some unified intelligence thing here. I tried to tell her it was nonsense, but she’s pretty invested in it. She used to be more reasonable.”

  “Ah, the collective sentience theory. Everyone knows it’s utter bunk. You’ve known her a while?” Lia took a sip of her wine and watched him.

  “Since I arrived, so two years or so.”

  “Are you good friends?” Lia tilted her head and studied him in a way disturbingly similar to what Zashi had used earlier. Did they teach them that at the congressional offices now? He’d been out here beyond Niento too long.