Page 42 of Badd Baby

“Unbelievable. Hard to describe, actually. I mean, the takeoff was kinda scary, to be honest. And then being weightless? Nothing can prepare you for that." I sighed, thinking about it. "If you want the embarrassing truth, I actually got kinda choked up the first time I saw Earth from the outside. Like, it's…there aren't words, Rune. How beautiful it is. But also how terrifying it is to not be on Earth."

She shook her head. "That's the craziest gift I’ve ever heard of."

I laughed. “Yeah, I'm not sure how he's gonna top that. Although, I gotta say, Uncle Xavier's gifts are usually pretty fucking baller, too, for obvious reasons."

Rune frowned, shaking his head. "I admit I don't know much about him. I know he's a famous tech guy, and he does a lot with robotics, but that's about the extent of my knowledge."

I snorted. "He’s sort of the world's leading expert on robotics. As in, there's Uncle Xavier, and then there's everyone else. He pretty much single-handedly invented the modern approach to nanotechnology, especially as it applies to medicine. But most people know him for what he calls his gizmos."

She clapped a hand to her forehead. "Oh! All those little toy sets? The modular bots?"

I nodded. “Yeah, that's him."

"Holy shit. I had a set when I was little. My cousin Tilly was obsessed, though. She had every set they made. She was actually a front-runner in one of those contests they did, the whole open-source competitions.”

"That's awesome. Growing up, all of us cousins were basically his beta test group. He'd give us all sets that weren't on the market yet and watch us play with them and ask us questions and stuff. In fact…" I got up. "Stay here, I’ll be right back."

I went down into Uncle Xavier's office, found what I was looking for, and took it up to the lounge area. I set the giant plastic bin on the deck and flipped the lid open—within was a jumbled assortment of bots from Uncle Xavier's lines of toys from over the years. These were mostly parts he'd built himself as prototypes and test products, mixed in with some production pieces. He'd made sure that every new line of bots was backward compatible with all the rest, so even though some of the bots in the crate were pushing twenty years old, they still worked perfectly with the newest ones.

Rune picked up a bot, a spider-like one with eight limbs that could articulate in every direction. "This was the set I had." She found another one and pieced them together, and immediately the bots came to life, the legs moving and swiveling and seeking purpose. "God these were fun."

We spent a while playing with the bots and talking idly about not much of any importance. Eventually, she set the pieces aside and looked at me with an expression that said she had something serious on her mind. "I really can't thank you enough for this. For everything."

"Hey, no problem."

She shook her head, resting her hands on mine. "Don't downplay it. Without you, Hamish and Raquel wouldn't be getting married. You're basically a hero."

I laughed. "That might be overstating the case a bit, Rune. My family has been incredibly fortunate. We have a lot of resources, and we believe in using them to help people when we can. I'm happy to have been able to facilitate Hamish and Raquel getting the wedding they deserve."

She nuzzled my jaw, rested a hand on my thigh. "Well, I, for one, am very, very grateful."

I huffed a laugh. "Oh yeah? I don't mind admitting I like the way you say thank you."

Her fingers teased over my zipper. "Is that so? I could thank you right now, if we had somewhere a bit more private to go."

I was about to suggest one of the guest cabins, but Raquel's and Hamish's voices filtered to us from the main saloon, putting a kibosh on that plan.

As the couple approached the bow, the bottle of champagne and four flutes in hand, Rune met my eyes. "Later. Promise."

Later never came, though—the four of us ended up getting clobbered, and we all passed out in the saloon together as dawn stained the sky pink.

Chapter Eight

Rune

Oh fuck.

Ow.

I considered opening my eyes, but even moving my eyeballs behind closed eyelids hurt like a bitch, and so I opted to leave them closed. Fuck—this is why I don't party like this very often. This part is just not worth the fun from the night before.

Eventually, after who knew how long trying to convince myself I could go back to sleep and abjectly failing, I had to get up. As always, it was my bladder that forced the issue.

Except, when I cracked my gritty, pulsing eyes open, I was not at home and nor was I at my hostel—oof, right. The yacht. Raquel and Hamish and Duncan, and I partied here last night. I have only vague memories of the night—flashes and glimpses of moments.

Raquel and Hamish falling on each other laughing, Duncan nearly toppling over the side of the boat, yet somehow managing to not spill a drop of his drink, playing some wild drinking card game. Duncan chasing me around the boat trying to pin me down and tickle me.

I assessed myself—clothed, so nothing happened between Duncan and me. My hair is loose, wild, and tangled. My makeup was probably smeared to hell and gone.