by Shona Husk
“That’s been overruled.”
“What do you mean?”
“Robert comes from a very well-known family. We are supposed to make sure he gets a good position in the colony.” Lucy said it as though the words left a bad taste in her mouth.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me. He will not make a good vet.” How many other people were on this ship because daddy had bought them a ticket—also known as “donating heavily to the trip”?
“Research?”
Silke shook her head. “That would require an original thought.”
“His parents contributed a lot to this trip. Robert’s tests and desire put him into something medical.”
“But not human medicine?” She could only imagine what his bedside manner would be like. Lucy didn’t say anything. “He can continue studying with the rest of them. But I will mark him accordingly.”
“No one is asking you to change his grades.”
“And when he fails?”
“Well, I guess at some point, someone in the colony will cut the apron strings and set him straight. But right now, we have to do the best we can.”
“And the vet nurse job?”
Lucy pressed her lips together. “Maybe he can’t have both. He either studies or gets the job.”
“He knows that Vance is doing both … he probably also knows that Vance is years ahead of him.” Vance had been studying to become a vet on Earth.
Lucy nodded. “Leave it with me. I might talk to Chief Songworth, too.” She hesitated. “I’m going to have to ask who you’re seeing and confirm that, too, since the complaint was put in writing.”
That slimy little toad. Who the hell did Robert think he was?
“Captain Leo Grady. I’m sure he’d be delighted to answer your questions. Did you need me to put anything in writing?”
Lucy noted down the name. “Not at this stage. Leave it with me.”
Silke stood in the doorway to the lab and watched Lucy leave. This wouldn’t go away that easily. Vance strolled toward the lab, wiping his hands on his pants. The white of his uniform only emphasized how much work he actually did. Whose dumb idea was it for them to wear white as a warning to everyone? Red would’ve been better, black more practical.
“Why was HR down here?”
“Someone wants your job.”
Vance’s face hardened for a moment, his lips thinning and his eyes flashing with annoyance. Then he took a breath and it was gone, replaced with resignation. “I knew it wouldn’t last. Civvies get priority.” His words were clipped, betraying what he really thought.
“I was also accused of improper behavior with you.”
He snorted. “Good thing you’re seeing Grady, isn’t it?”
Silke nodded. “Yeah.” The timing was very convenient. Had Grady said something? Did he not want her working with Vance? If he had, he was going to find himself very single again. “I’ll keep you posted.”
“It was a good run while it lasted.” There was a knock on the hatch. “That will be my escort.”
Every evening at exactly six a guard came to walk Vance back to the prison. Every morning someone brought him to work, too. She had no doubt it would be easier for the guards if he didn’t work here. But she really didn’t care about making some infantry grunt’s life easier.
“Have a good night.” She forced a smile, as if she really believed that everything would be settled without a drama.
“You too.” He shut the hatch behind him, and for a moment she was alone in the barn.
She needed to figure out her next step, and she needed to take it carefully.
* * *
Leo was lying on his bed, reading. He was very grateful for the vast electronic library on the ship, and that not all of it was useful stuff. Sometimes he just wanted to escape into fiction. The operating schematics for the solar-operated desalination plant would be waiting for him tomorrow.
Not that he’d done much study over the past few days. He’d been spending almost all his free time with Silke. He smiled as he swiped the screen. He hoped the scientists were working on a way to keep the portacomps alive on Solitaire. Not that they had any means of making new ones. There were no factories for the plasti-screens or any of the other tiny components. The vast library would be lost unless there was a printer at the other end.
Maybe someone was in charge of printing and there was a library already happening at Unity. The thought gave him another reason to smile. He needed to read up on paper making. He knew they were using a native plant to make something paperish.
Someone stopped in his doorway. Like most people, he didn’t bother shutting the door unless he wanted privacy or was out. Silke stood there, and she didn’t look particularly happy. He sat up, aware that he was underdressed in just his shorts and a T-shirt. It was nice to get out of uniform, but if he’d known she was going to visit he’d have put on more clothing—before removing it with her. His bare feet hit the cold metal floor as he sat up. Unlike the module rooms that the Army personnel were housed in, he didn’t have any kind of carpet. He was used to it, though.
“Hey, come in.”
She crossed the threshold and sat on his chair. He noticed that she hadn’t bothered to close the door. Not a visit that was going to involve the removal of clothes, then. Damn. But they hadn’t made plans for tonight. Not yet, anyway. He’d been planning on going down and seeing her a little later. Maybe they could go and enjoy staring out into space. Not that there was much to see while the Meijer Jump Engines were running. Just black. But still, it made a change from the gray metal walls. Or they could go and sit in the hydroponic orchard and pretend to be in a garden somewhere. He knew a few guys who’d paid off the tech to take their dates there. As long as no fruit was stolen, it was cool.
“You know Vance and I are friends.”
“Yeah,” he said carefully.
“Someone has been spreading a rather unflattering rumor about me and him. People are taking it seriously enough that he might lose his placement.”
Leo sat up straighter. “You think it was me.”
“Was it?” She gave him a cool stare.
“Why would I do that?”
She shrugged but didn’t look away. She was quietly assessing his responses. “Because you’re jealous.”
Leo shook his head. Did she really think he was capable of that kind of underhand behavior? Obviously she did. Did Vance think he’d set him up?
“I haven’t said a thing to anyone about anything. Shit, I haven’t even told anyone I’m seeing you.”
“Yeah, well, you’re going to get asked about that too.” That admission made her look extremely uncomfortable. Was she embarrassed to be seeing him?
“Why?”
“Because I used you in my defense of Vance.”
In that heartbeat he was really glad she’d said no to his offer of marriage—it would look entirely too convenient. Had she only agreed to date him because she knew that someone was stirring up trouble? No, that didn’t make sense, not when she’d just come in here accusing him of being the one doing the stirring.
“Oh. Okay.” Although he wasn’t sure it was okay. “Do you know who is behind the rumor?”
She nodded. “I needed to be sure that you weren’t involved. After all, I turned you down and now this starts up.”
He looked at her. “You were also the one who asked me to go to the bar.”
To deflect suspicion? Or because she wanted to? He leaned forward, rested his elbows on his thighs and studied her. He liked her, he really did. But at the back of his mind he couldn’t shake the niggling doubt that there was more to her relationship with Vance than she’d admitted.
He’d seen them interact. The way they joked and laughed. And yeah, that made him jealous—he wanted to be the one making her smile like that. But he wasn’t petty enough to destroy another man’s career, or mess with her job.
“When they come knocking I’ll tell them that we’re dating.”
She sighed and almost smiled. “Thank you.”
“But I also think it would be a good idea if you didn’t stick around tonight.” He wasn’t sure what was going on, but he knew that rolling around with her right now would only make the mess worse. “I’ve got some study to do.”
He’d just lied to her face. While he did have things he could study, that wasn’t how he’d planned on spending the evening.
“Me too.” But this time she didn’t sound nearly as tough or convincing.
He almost changed his mind. But he made himself get up and walk her to the door. He caught her hand just before she stepped out, and leaned in toward her.
“If I find out you’ve been using me …” He had no idea what he was going to do, but he’d be angry and hurt. He didn’t like being played for a fool. “There will be hell to pay.”
She turned her head a fraction; her lips brushed against his cheek. “I’m not, but someone is determined to set me up.” She pulled her hand free and walked away.
One of the navigators walked past her, checked out her ass and then gave him the thumbs up.
Leo stepped back and shut his door.
After less than thirty seconds he decided he didn’t want to be alone. He wanted to start unraveling what was really going on. He glanced at his wrist, even though he couldn’t see the ID chip embedded in there. He was supposed to be able to access all areas, no questions asked. Few had that privilege. He’d be abusing it. He hesitated. Screw it. It was time he went to D zone and paid 1113 a private visit.
* * *
Vance didn’t get the luxury of being able to wander around. After eating his meal in the prison mess, he was locked in his cell. He had scheduled meal times and exercise times and was always accompanied by a guard during those times … except when he was working with Silke. For those hours, he felt almost like a person.
He’d thought after six months they’d be over babysitting him. He hadn’t done anything wrong in that whole time. In fact, his record had been clean for years. However, you kill a couple of rich kids and no one trusts you ever again. That was probably the bit that chafed the most. Everyone still judged him on something he’d done twenty years ago.
Except Silke. She looked past his clothing and saw a man. When he was around her, it was easy to pretend that it didn’t matter what he’d done.
There was a sharp rap on his door before it slid open.
Like all of the whites, he had a small single room. Did they think if he had a cellmate, he’d kill them while they slept? Probably. At least he had a room and a bathroom to himself. He thought of the overcrowding in Earth’s prisons. Privacy was definitely not something to sneer at.
Captain Grady stood in the hallway with a guard next to him. The guard did something to the door so it stayed open, instead of shutting automatically. “I’ll be down the hallway.”
Grady nodded and the bug walked away. This was the prison version of a private conversation.
“You want to come in?” Vance stood to the side and indicated that Grady was welcome. He was guessing this wasn’t a social call, or a booty call. Grady had never just dropped by before.
Did the guard think Grady was here for sex? Vance gave him a slow once-over. He was dressed in blue camo pants and a dark T-shirt. Not full uniform. A lot of the military did that to indicate they were off duty. What were they saving their civilian clothes for? Maybe they hadn’t packed any. He hadn’t. It didn’t seem to matter what Grady wore, or didn’t wear, he still looked good. It must be the way his biceps stretched the sleeve of the T-shirt.
Vance let a smile form. Yeah, it might be nice to push Grady up against a wall to see what happened next. His dick started hardening. When he’d told Silke she could do worse, he hadn’t been joking. If Grady was here for a few minutes of fun then Vance wasn’t going to say no … Wait, yes he was. Grady was dating Silke.
Damn it.
“So …” Grady took a look around the room. There was nothing to see and nothing to hide. The toilet/bathroom was against one wall with zero privacy. On the other long wall was the bed, and bolted to the back wall was a tiny desk and chair. None of his furniture was going anywhere in a hurry. “At least you don’t have to share. I hear the usual is three to a room.”
Some days, sharing wouldn’t be bad. At least he’d have someone to talk to. “Gets lonely.”
But another person might mess up his study notes or resent the time he spent studying. At least when he was in his cell, his time was his own, and he didn’t have to answer to anyone.
Grady nodded. “You like working with Silke?”
Vance immediately went on guard. His smile dropped and his spine straightened. “I like working with animals. I was a vet nurse on Earth for three years before joining Siren.”
Grady wasn’t here to investigate what was going on. Grady had no power to take the job from him—only Chief Songworth and the civvie HR woman Hassan could do that. So why was he here?
“I know you and Silke are close … I want to know how close.” Grady’s gaze landed on him with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
“How’s that any of your business?”
“I’m seeing her, and someone is making her life hell, so I think it is my business to find out if the rumors are true.”
Vance leaned against the desk. Silke hadn’t mentioned any rumors, only that a student wanted his job, but it wasn’t hard to work out what was going on.
“I like Silke, a lot. I like her enough to know that if anything happened it wouldn’t be good for her or me.” He plucked at his white shirt. “I’m not so stupid that I forget what I am.”
“So nothing has ever happened?”
Vance looked away. He couldn’t lie. “One kiss. That’s all, just to see what it would be like.”
He could almost hear Grady’s teeth grinding, but when he looked up Grady seemed calm. Steely, but calm. Maybe it was Vance’s teeth. He made an effort to relax his jaw.
Grady hadn’t moved. He wasn’t done yet. Vance waited—it wasn’t as though he could go anywhere.
“Do you love her?” Grady studied him, looking for a lie.
In another life he would have. “I want her to be happy. I have another twenty to serve. I’m not that man. Maybe you are.”
Grady sat on the edge of the bed and ran one hand over his short dark hair.
“The guard catches you on my bed they are going to think all kinds of things.” While Vance didn’t care, he suspected Grady would.
Grady bounced up as if the bed was electrocuted and glanced at the door, perhaps expecting an audience. “They probably already think that.”
As if on cue, the guard walked past and paused to look inside. “Are you done yet?”
“No,” Grady snapped.
“Keep your shirt on. Most men are done in a few minutes,” the guard said, before moving on. He was just doing his job—making sure Vance didn’t kill his visitor.
Grady looked at Vance again and raised one eyebrow. “You get male visitors often?”
Vance shook his head. “I haven’t had a lover on this trip.”
Being dressed in white complicated everything. And while he’d made a few friends, he hadn’t met anyone he wanted to be intimate with on a regular basis. He couldn’t do random one-nighters the way some guys could.
Grady appeared to be thinking pretty hard about what that meant. “You love Silke, but have male lovers?”
“There wasn’t much choice in prison. I adapted.” He smiled at Grady. “I told Silke that if she didn’t date you I would.” He didn’t need to say that, but it was ever so nice to see Grady’s skin darken as he blushed.
“I don’t swing both ways.”
“That’s what I used to say.” And while Vance was tempted to touch Grady’s arm, he knew the other man would jump out of his skin. Right now he was a useful ally, and it was better to keep him on side than scare him away.
That made Grady pause for a heartbeat. Vance smiled. Grady made it too e
asy. Did the man not know how to pick someone up, or when he was being picked up?
“Back to Silke. Do you know who would be spreading rumors about you two?”
Vance frowned. The students liked her. She was friendly and helpful and answered all their questions or pointed them in the right direction. If people wanted to learn, she was there with them. His thoughts suddenly hit a snag. “Maybe. It might be unconnected though.”
“Yes?”
“She recently failed one of the students and recommended that he cease further training. He didn’t take it well. He has since put in a request for my job.”
Grady rocked back on his heels and nodded. “If he creates a suitable lie, and gets you removed, he gets your job. That can’t happen.”
“And that’s why I like you. You’re not a dick like some rich brats.” Grady was an unexpected alibi, as well as ally. And he was actually putting Vance before a civvie. That meant a lot. He was so used to being put last, for everything.
Grady lifted an eyebrow and frowned. “I earned my commission the old-fashioned way.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, really.”
“That explains why you never acted like a dick. Now I can go back to hating rich brats unconditionally.”
“Including the one giving Silke a hard time.”
“Especially him.” Vance smiled.
Grady looked at him for a moment. On anyone else it might have been that moment too long—a look that indicated interest, and that was followed by the removal of clothes. It was a pity he was convinced he was straight. “Does Silke love you?”
For a moment Vance had no words. “She’s never said anything.”
“Don’t play dense. I know you aren’t—not if you’re studying to be a vet.”
“Maybe. Like I said, it was one kiss and we both knew it shouldn’t have happened. No one saw it, though, so only three people know. If more find out, I’ll know where to look.” It was almost a threat.
“I think we’re on the same side.”
“But only one of us has an actual chance at winning,” Vance said softly.
“You think I have a chance?”
Vance nodded, even though it nearly killed him. “Just don’t cut me out of her life. I don’t want to lose her as a friend.”