Page 28 of Tempting Cargo

I rolled away from the others, careful not to wake them. We’d ended up huddled together for warmth, and while I tried to push away thoughts of Shohari, I did wonder what it would feel like to be snuggled up with someone as big as me. Did those spikes on her shoulders extend further down? Could I spoon her?

I found an empty space—not difficult in the enormous bay—and ran through my morning exercises, a series of moves to energise the body and get it ready for the day. “Like Tai Chi,” my military academy buddy had told me, and while I was grateful to him for teaching me, I never much bought into the spiritual waffle that went alongside it. It worked for me, and that was allI needed to know—except I’d not been able to get to my old state of mental calm since we’d left for Tathar Refuge.

This morning, my head spun with thoughts of what was happening next, which thankfully pushed away worries of what I was going to end up doing. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking of myself. Roth and another mechanic were off to Lietan shipyard today. This morning.

Even though I said I’d check it out, I already knew I wasn’t going to bother looking, at least, not with a view to staying there myself.

“Can I join you?”

I opened my eyes to Roth standing in a ready stance opposite me, his weight over the balls of his feet, rolling out the crooks in his neck from our less than comfortable beds.

“Sure, dude.” I matched his low volume.

I’d not been able to teach him as well as my buddy had taught me, but it was enough that I didn’t have to tell him each move I made. He’d picked it up from me on the Reserve ship, the only one interested in doing it, and I was glad I’d kept it up when lots of the others succumbed to fear and futility. Not that I blamed them; we’d all had to get through the terrifying ordeal whichever way we knew how.

“You coming to Lietan with us, yeah?” he said as we took a breather from a more complicated sequence of moves.

“Nah. I’m staying here.”

“You sure? You haven’t even seen it yet. I reckon you’d easily find work at a shipyard.”

He wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t what I wanted. More importantly, I needed to make sure everyone else got safely to their destinations. I seemed to be a buffer between them and the captain; staying felt like the right thing to do. They’d have machinery on Vadias. It would be fine.

“I’m sure,” I said. “It’s just there’s a whole galaxy. I want to try something new instead of becoming a junior greaser again. No offence. I guess I’ll end up on that moon with Imani and Fenn. Maybe I can try something different there. Maybe I’m bored of engineering.”

He scoffed. “Right. And maybe you can’t use your skills there and end up screwed.”

I misplaced my foot and overbalanced, jerking to correct it. “Fuck, dude. That’s a bit harsh.”

“So’s the galaxy, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Some of it. Anyway, what if the captain dumps everyone else at the next space station without me here to smooth her over?” The joke soured in my mouth.

She wouldn’t do that. She was prickly, but she was honourable. I’d have been furious if anyone made a joke at her expense. But it eased whatever was needling Roth, and I let it go.Do better next time.

“True, true. Yeah, you’d better stay. But you better keep in touch, too, yeah? Let me know where you end up.”

“Of course." There was no way I wouldn’t. The scientists had already replied to my comm, letting me know they were okay at AnimaCorp. “And I want to hear about all the tech they have. Makes me wish I had more ship experience. It might be more useful.”

“Yeah, but I heard they think MagEx is primitive.” He laughed. “I don’t know how much of what I know will be up to galaxy standards.”

“But they’re willing to give you a go anyway.”

“Yeah, yeah, apparently. Back to being a total greaser, though.”

“If you’re as good as you brag you are, that won’t last long.”

“True, true.”

We slipped back into silence, arms mirroring each other as we stretched and pushed against nothing but air.

“I’m starving,” Roth said after a few more rounds. “I wonder what they’ve got for breakfast.”

So did I. And I wondered if Shohari would be there—and if she was in a better mood than yesterday evening. Because if she was, if she gave me another opening, I was going to take it.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Dorimisa Wrestling League: round one