Future Prospect

by Lynn Rae

  Tilting the display over his head to catch the early evening light better, Colan contemplated the outline for the book he was writing about MU-91. It had been a fascinating planet to map and explore with a uniquely layered tectonic plate structure that resembled nothing so much as expanding puff pastry. Reviewing his reports ignited a spark to get started now. Lia was busy at work during the day which was leaving him at loose ends, so he’d started making organizational notes and planning a publishing schedule. Her habits were wearing off on him. If it all went as he’d estimated he had a solid two years of writing ahead of him, but he wanted Lia to go over his plans and offer her expert opinions.

  Smiling as he anticipated the look she’d have on her face when he told her that plan, Colan allowed the display to fall to his chest as he pushed a bare foot against the decking and moved the hammock back into a lazy swing. He’d made tomato soup, thick cheese crackers, and a salad for dinner and was hoping she’d show up soon because all the outlining he’d done earlier had given him quite an appetite.

  He heard the door open and Lia’s familiar steps as she walked through his house and came out onto the back deck. Colan decided to close his eyes and pretend to sleep, just to discover what she’d do. He could sense her approach. She lifted the display from his chest and set it aside. With some bumps of the hammock, she lowered herself next to him and curled against his side.

  Unable to maintain the pretense any longer, Colan circled his arm around her and pushed with his foot again so they could rock together. Her warm curves fit tightly against his body. She didn’t say anything, and he was just relaxing into a contented half doze when he felt something damp on his shoulder. Opening his eyes, Colan wondered how rain could have made its way under the deck’s roof. Instead, he saw Lia was crying silently as she pressed her face to his shoulder.

  “What’s wrong? Did something happen at work?”

  She nodded and sniffled, still not opening her eyes. Concerned, Colan sat up slightly in the hammock, the whole apparatus shifting as he moved. Lia clung tighter to him. “What is it?”

  “I, I…” Lia stammered and opened one red, watery eye to peer at him.

  “You what?”

  “I’m being transferred.” Her lips trembled, and she watched as Colan stared at her, trying to understand what she’d said.

  “How? Why?”

  “Moca spoke with the head of Herald Park complex earlier this week, and he put in a priority request for me.”

  Colan shook his head. “But you’re assigned here. Until the project is complete, and that’s at least a year out.” He’d planned on at least a year with her; he’d write, she’d work, they’d argue every day, and when her transfer came up they’d put in requests for reassignments together. Simple.

  “I never revoked my request for transfer. I forgot about it. A lot’s happened around here.” Lia shuddered in a deep breath and watched him as if he could solve the problem.

  “When does your transfer go through?” They’d have some time to make plans, a month at least, and he’d figure out what he could do by then.

  “Immediately,” Lia whispered as tears flowed down her cheeks. Her answer shattered whatever control Colan pretended he still had. The foot he trailed along the deck slipped and he overbalanced. Automatically clutching at Lia made his center of gravity shift too far her way, and the hammock made a dizzying spin, flipping him and her out of the sling as Gamaliel’s perfect gravity pulled them with a crash onto the deck. Lia cried out, and he rolled away from her to look for injuries.

  “Where are you hurt?”

  He peered at her, anxiously inspecting her limbs. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as she stared up at him, lip trembling. “Colan, what can I do?”

  Satisfied she was crying from emotion and not physical pain, he sat next to her and helped her sit up, the hammock swinging erratically overhead. The facts rolled and bounced in his head. Lia had been transferred and she was leaving as soon as she packed. He didn’t want her to leave and there was nothing he could do to keep her.

  “Why didn’t you take your name off the rotation?” Why hadn’t she made her assignment here permanent, once they’d become involved? Wasn’t he worth it? He’d changed his request for a new planet the morning after they’d reconciled upon his return from the forest. Gina had been surprised but very accommodating. Lia hadn’t bothered with it and considering what a planner she was, it meant only one thing. She had no interest in adding him to her personal schedule.

  Disappointment and hurt stewed in his belly in a painful twist.

  “I forgot.” Lia’s tears fell down her cheeks as the swinging hammock overhead cast wild shadows over her face.

  “Right.” Colan stood up suddenly, and the hammock wrapped around his head. He pulled it off and stomped into his house, desperate to get away from Lia, her sad eyes, and her lack of care for him.

  “What do you mean, right?” She was behind him and the thought of confronting her in the small confines of his house made his skin crawl. Let her go back to her rooms and start packing so he could sink into despair in peace.

  “Come on Lia, we both know you didn’t forget. You don’t forget anything.”

  “I did forget. I’ve been busy, blown up, confused by—”

  “You’re never confused. You always know exactly what you’re doing. And what you’re doing is leaving on the next shuttle, so let’s not drag this out,” Colan spat out as he glanced in her direction without meeting her anguished gaze. If he even leaned her way he’d be unable to stop himself from gathering her up and begging her to stay.

  “Drag this out? Don’t you want to talk about—”

  “No.” Better she leave now before the pain building inside killed him.

  “Of course not. You don’t talk, do you?” Lia bit her lip and sniffled. She wiped her eyes and shifted her gaze to the doorway over his shoulder. “So this is it? We’re done?”

  “Yes. We’re done.” When more tears trailed down her cheeks after his harsh statement, he wavered but caught himself. Better to end this on a bad note so he’d look back with relief rather than pain. He was trying to fool himself already, pretending he regretted ever meeting her in the first place. “What? Did you think I’d want to set up times to come and visit you whenever I fit in your timetable? You know I’m not that man.”

  “I know that.” Her reply was quiet and weary, and she shook her head as she walked around him toward his door. As she passed, he reached out a hand to touch her one last time, but she was gone, her strong legs propelling her out of his life without another word.

  As the door closed behind her, Colan sagged until he fell to a seat on the sofa. It was over. His love was gone.

  The shuttle waiting area smelled as if someone had left a bunch of dead curlers to rot in a corner. A rancid aroma skirted around the edges of Lia’s consciousness and added to her feeling of despair. Something had leaked through the carpet and left a sludgy tan stain along one side of the long room. Welti would have some maintenance to do, but she wouldn’t be scheduling it.

  The half-completed departures lounge was empty save for her and her hand luggage. She was surprised no one else was leaving the planet considering all the recent tribulations, but it seemed she was the only one in retreat. She had to get off this planet, not only to fulfill her contractual obligations, but away from all the pain of knowing Colan was meters away but completely gone from her life.

  She wanted to kick herself for the mess she’d made, but her baggage crowded around her feet, and she’d trip and fall if she tried. She never should’ve accepted the posting here. If she’d taken another assignment, Tully wouldn’t have signed on with her, and he’d be alive. If she hadn’t disembarked from that first shuttle and run headlong into the most frustrating man in the galaxy, she wouldn’t feel as if someone had pulled her heart out right now.

  Stars, she was in love with a man she was never going to see again. How could she have been so stupid as to forget about her
open contract? Sure, she had the excuse of explosions, but she knew she’d been in a blissful cocoon with Colan and hadn’t even thought about the rest of the galaxy in weeks. Her distraction had cost her dearly.

  Sniffing and blinking her eyes rapidly, she ordered herself not to cry. She’d been leaking tears for the last thirty hours, the duration of her brief painful separation from Colan, which she’d tried to fill with packing and intense schedule predictions for the entire settlement of Pearl. No matter how many detailed changes she made, or how many ways she’d rearranged her personal belongings, she still wept and ached constantly.

  “Lia, they’ve almost finished offloading. Safe journey.” Stev’s voice over the monitor echoed in the empty disembarkation lounge. Nerves tightened in her stomach as she raised her hand toward the monitor to acknowledge him. It was only a matter of minutes now and she’d be checking in to her flight, handing over her luggage to the loader bot, and taking her assigned seat. Fine. Good. She could do this.

  The light over the deck portal glowed red as a wordless caution. When it turned blue, the door would slide open, and she’d be on her way. There was a rattle and hiss of hydraulics, but the light remained red, and the door stayed closed. Fantastic, there was something wrong with the door, and she’d be trapped here while her flight left without her. With a muttered curse, she stepped over her bags and grabbed the emergency manual override handle. Head down and back straining, she tugged, the volume of her curses increasing with every pull.

  “Nebula’s balls, Lia. I had no idea you were so anxious to leave Gamaliel,” a familiar voice drawled behind her, and she hunched her shoulders, sure she didn’t want to look back at him and succumb to hysterics.

  “What are you doing here?” Perhaps it was cowardly, but she closed her eyes tight and pressed her nose to the door, knowing she didn’t have the strength to see Colan ever again.

  “I heard there was a flight out.”

  “There is. Why do you care?”

  “I booked my seat, and I don’t want to miss it. I’d hate to try for a refund.” His matter-of-fact tone was her undoing. She couldn’t pretend she didn’t care anymore as a huge sob of pent-up emotion burst out. His familiar arms circled around her, and she collapsed against his broad chest, inhaling his scent as if it were an elixir.

  “Are you really—”

  “Only if you let me sit next to you.”

  She stared into those beloved eyes and read his sincerity and a whisper of uncertainty. How could he think she wouldn’t want him by her side?

  “That’s exactly where I want you to be.” She swallowed and cupped her hands around his stubbled cheeks. His features were drawn and bruised circles smudged under his eyes. She probably didn’t look much better.

  “For how long?” Now fear and caution tightened his features as he searched her face.

  “Always. As long as you can stand me.”

  “Same here.”

  He finally leaned down far enough so she could kiss him. It was sweet and tender, not at all the crushing embrace she’d anticipated. She drew back, and her eyes drank him in; patched shirt, trousers with frayed hems, worn boots, and a broken down rucksack next to him. Yes, Colan was ready to travel. With her. Bliss filled her chest with comforting warmth, and she couldn’t hold it back any longer.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you, too.”

  His dark eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he made his declaration, and Lia felt as if she was lifted off her feet. The light over the door turned blue, and the portal opened to the decking outside. Colan picked up his bag, Lia snagged her own, and they strode into the future together.

  The End

  Publisher’s Note

  Please help this author’s career by posting an honest review wherever you purchased this book.

  About Lynn Rae

  Lynn Rae makes her home in land-locked central Ohio after time spent in the former Great Black Swamp, beside the Ohio River, and along the Miami and Erie Canal. With professional experience in fields ranging from contract archaeology to librarianship, along with making donuts and teaching museum studies, Lynn enjoys incorporating her quirky sense of humor and real-life adventures into her writing (except the naughty bits). She writes sci-fi, contemporary, and historical romances.