Approaching Oblivion (Jezebel's Ladder Book 4) (12 page)

Yuki
asked, “Do you want me to give you a hand up here?”

“And
be tarred with the same brush?”

“Then
take the elevator down so she can’t. There’s no telling what she could wreck in
the Hollow.”

“You
want her to finish the whole control saucer first?” Risa asked, dripping
sarcasm. Pounding on the dining room door punctuated her comment.

“I
gave you my best years,” Nadia bellowed.

Scampering
down the side of the saucer like a spider, Yuki crouched behind the Panamanian
woman and whispered a plan. When Risa gave her idea a thumbs-up, Yuki strapped
a spare domino to her back. If she fell off the edge, it could suspend her in
midair. The board would also make a handy shield. She ran to the far side of
the ship and scuttled under the boardwalk, hanging upside down by her kneepads
and sticky-wrapped palm. Sweat weakened the hand grip, forcing her to activate
the antigravity domino in her belt. The chime seemed so loud the Russian was
bound to hear. Yuki held her breath to compensate.

Risa
shouted, “You can stop now. She’s on her way to the Hollow.” When Nadia calmed
slightly and asked a muffled question, Herk’s wife answered, “She twisted her
ankle jumping down. She won’t be bothering you for a while.”

Nadia
thundered over the deck to reach the elevator. “That means I can catch the
bitch and teach her a lesson.”

Halfway
down the slow elevator ride, after the woman passed out of view, Yuki crawled
back into the command center. Climbing under the control hood, she ordered,
“Snowflake, stop the elevator.” It gleeped a warning, forcing her to tap the
‘I’m sure’ button.

“Now
she can cool her heels for a while,” Risa said, helping Yuki out of the control
couch.

The
Japanese technician took a few moments to locate her headset in the aftermath
and warn Sojiro to hide the breakables.

Sojiro
responded, “Park is my sparring partner. I’ll let him know he can stay in the
spare bunk in my place until things are worked out.”

“That’s
my
bed,” Yuki objected.

“You
should have thought of that before you stole someone’s man,” Risa mumbled. “In
space, you have to be able to trust the other guy to cover your ass. You can go
back to your room in the single women’s dorm.”

Red
chose that moment to rise, dripping from the showers. She took one look at the
trashed bedrooms and the flotsam floating in the main chamber and asked, “What
the hell is going on? Yuki, what have you done to my ship?”

Risa
answered, “There’s been a messy breakup. Things are sorted out without anyone
getting hurt.”

“Yeah?
Who hit you?” asked Red.

“Nadia,”
Risa said, “just after she resigned from the planner committee.”

“What
did you do?” Red demanded of Yuki.

“She’s
been talking to Park, quite a lot, from what I hear,” Risa gossiped.

Yuki
raised her hands. “No sex.”

“Wait,
Park
talked
?” Red asked in mock shock.

The
man in question walked into the room with an ice pack on the back of his neck.
Without a word, he handed Risa a second ice pack for her face.

“Thanks,”
said Risa.

Park
glanced at Yuki and mumbled, “Sorry. I had to confess to Nadia I had feelings
for you.” He returned his eyes to the floor and resumed his quest to pick up
the broken pieces.

Red
growled. “Couldn’t you have kept it a secret like a normal guy? At least till
after my mission?”

“It
was the right thing to do,” he muttered.

“You
just finished building a house, complete with the damn chicken coop,” Red said.

“She
can have it,” Park offered.

Yuki
searched for her pants because the lack automatically painted her in the role
of a home-wrecking hussy. Brushing aside tufts of stabbed pillow, she found her
clothes in shreds, strewn around the room. She discovered the contents of the
pocket two heartbeats before Risa reached the same spot. It could have gone
either way for several moments. Unbidden, tears rose to her face. Excusing
herself, Yuki said, “I need some air.”

On
the way out, Park caught her eye. His expression was love-sick and apologetic,
worse than shouting and accusation. Yuki climbed back out onto the roof and
refused to talk to anyone but Zeiss.

When
the commander arrived, in uniform, she said, “We need to talk.”

Blinking,
Zeiss said, “Not dressed like that, we’re not. Put some clothes on and meet me
in the dining room.”

“I
don’t have any,” Yuki whined.

From
the door, Red bellowed, “Take Nadia’s uniform. You’ve taken everything else
from her.”

Zeiss
held up his hand. “Nadia will be paying restitution for everything she’s
damaged. The jury is still out on you.” He wandered inside to wait.

“Her
man and her place among the planners—you were the alternate,” Red accused.
“You’ve now wormed your way in with every planner except me—just like a Mori.”

When
the gravity technician didn’t move, an impatient Red returned with a folded
jumpsuit and tossed it at her. With a sigh, Yuki crawled down from the pergola
and wiggled into clothes several sizes too big for her. Eyes down, she shuffled
into the dining room. Both Zeisses sat inside, brooding.

Once
she shut the door, Yuki asked, “Has using the pod helped your symptoms,
teacher?”

“For
now. It also improved Toby’s bone density and erased his R-shaped scar. We
still can’t trust him completely, but right now, he’s more popular than you are,”
the commander replied. “Give me one reason I should keep you as a student.”

Bowing,
Yuki pulled out the stack of listening devices and laid them on the table in
front of Zeiss. “I am ill-suited for doing right. It seems that every time I
try, things break. I want you to listen to everything I have to say before you
judge me. Then I will take any punishment you see fit.” For the first time, she
told him all of it: her orders from the CEO of Mori Electronics, her
manipulations, and her seduction of several men. Finally, she described how
trying to spare Park doomed him. Red’s displeasure manifested in the smell of
burning ozone in the room. Yuki decided that the source was empathic when the
smoke alarm didn’t go off. The intensity actually caused her to cough several
times, but she didn’t falter. “Yet I sacrificed all my goals so we could
perform surveillance on the aborigines and to be a part of the team. What
you’re trying to do is too important. These listening devices can transmit
seventy meters to a relay with perfect clarity, twice that with minimal
distortion. You can choose to listen live or send a compressed burst once a
day. They also come equipped with keyword triggers and send a signal when
compromised.”

Red’s
question was the most painful. “What did you listen to?”

Yuki
told them. “I kept no records of the actual transmissions, but the times and
dates of each sample are recorded on my contact lens.” She peeled the interface
off her eye and laid it on the table. “Primarily, I used it to monitor when my
name came up in conversation—I’m not very well liked. Secondarily, I kept track
of Toby because I still don’t trust him. It’s how I was able to tip off Mercy
about what he was doing.”

“Have
you ever listened to Conrad and me?” Red asked.

Yuki
stared at the table top. “Once, I overheard some foreplay. Your exact words
were ‘How does this outfit look when I wear it like Yuki?’ Next, he was
growling, and you were shouting, ‘Yes.’ I stopped listening as soon as I
realized what was happening.”

“Because
you knew it was wrong?” asked the commander.

“No.
It hurt too much to hear how happy you were,” Yuki admitted. “I have almost
nothing left now in possessions or allotment, but I have been honest in
everything, to my detriment—all because I wanted to do right. I will accept any
punishment, but I beg to continue serving on the translation team.”

Zeiss
sighed. “My wife and I will talk. Clearly, we can’t tell the crew at large, or
they’d lynch you—that would break the charter and cause us to fail the test.”

Yuki
sighed with relief.

Red
interrupted. “My price for keeping quiet is a high one. You can’t have sex with
Park until you’ve been dating for an appropriate time.”

“Dating?”
Yuki asked, dumbfounded.

“You
know, dining, talking outside the bedroom, and becoming friends. Z and I dated
for years and got married before we—”

“Years?”
Yuki shrieked.

Again
Zeiss held out a calming hand. “The societal standard is three dates, but you
and Lou aren’t good judges of propriety. Let Park decide when he’s ready.”

Who says I want to sleep with him?
one part of her argued, while her body clamored,
That’s too long to
wait
.

“For
my condition: before you sleep with him, you have to tell him how you toyed
with him to avoid getting caught,” Zeiss demanded. “You need to learn the path
of honesty from the beginning.”

The
condition twisted in her gut. “Yes, teacher.”

To avoid awkwardness or
violence from running into Nadia, Yuki and Park spent most of their time for
the following weeks in Olympus. Many in the camp pitched in and donated spare
clothing to the vandal’s victims. On her frequent visits to Olympus, Mercy
shared the latest gossip. “The mayor said she would have done even worse to you
if you came near Auckland. She donated an entire knit winter outfit. I saw Nadia
try it on, and she looked like a mountain man or a midget Sasquatch. My Lord,
the woman hasn’t bathed since the mission. She just hides in her house and
barks at people.”

Mercy
brought some fresh greens for a salad, and she was peeling the carrots at the
sink in the dining room as they talked.

Uncharacteristically,
Yuki nodded and volunteered no news of her own.

“Come
on, what have you been doing up here all this time?” Mercy asked. “I know
you’re racking up duty hours.”

“Toby
wanted to transmit the procedure for the multi-talent pregnancy cure back to
Earth. He claims it will arrive over fifteen years sooner from here than
Oblivion. The next system is so far away, we’re not sure Earth will even be
able to hear our broadcast. We’d have to wait till we got back in person. Red
vetoed it. The Wannamaker files worry her, and she wants to see the treatment
work before she advocates it to others.”

“We
don’t want to let that technology loose unless we’re sure it helps and what all
the side effects are,” Mercy said. From her tone, there had already been a few
negative repercussions that she hadn’t shared with the public. “That’s what the
others are doing. What about you?”

“You
know that interface Sojiro cooked up for the powered lasso? Well, neither of
the pilots have been able to steer it, not while concentrating on flying. Since
I’ve been practicing with controls for my arm, I can do it, no sweat. So I’ve
been nominated to go with them on the next mission to collect minerals for our
computer chips.”

“Exciting!
How has it been going with Park?”

“He
was a little disappointed when I outdid him at the lasso controls, but he’s
been a perfect gentleman, damn it,” Yuki replied. She picked up the head of
lettuce, stabbed it twice in the heart, and bashed it on the counter until the
stem fell out.

“So,
he hasn’t suggested sex yet,” Mercy deduced, taking the abused head of lettuce
from her.

“We
eat together in the evenings, and he’ll chat with me if there’s no one else
around. I persuaded him to talk about his family. His dad was some kind of
hero, a nuclear engineer who stayed at Fukushima even when he knew it was
leaking. He wanted to save the people in the province and died of cancer soon
after. My father is wanted in three countries for swindling and petty theft.
Woo Jin was actively pursued as a designer by every major military contractor.
As an astronaut, he earns less than a third of the salary he should. That’s
something Nadia hammered him about, but money doesn’t matter much to him. He
has a very dry sense of humor, and not many people can tell when he’s joking.
He’s the master of deadpan delivery. Sometimes when someone makes a fool of
themselves, he shrugs with his lips and poses with his hand to his chin like
he’s some aristocrat going ‘hmm’. Nobody else knows why I’m laughing.”

“Does
he want kids some day?” Mercy asked, knowing that her friend was sterile.

“That
isn’t a deal breaker. His sister died of some kind of dystrophy, and he might
be a carrier. Since he didn’t want to see that happen to anyone else, he got fixed,
too. I explained that I saw too many people starving when I grew up to ever
bring someone into such a crowded planet.”

“Depressing.
What else do you talk about?”

“When
we take walks down to the orchards at sunset, we hold hands, but he’s too keyed
up to share much. Red rides his ass about the flight simulations. He’s too
stiff at the controls and worried that he’s going to do something wrong, which
means he doesn’t react in time. He ends up crashing a lot when everything’s not
perfect. He’s so keyed up about the meteor run tomorrow Park hasn’t said a word
all day.”

Mercy
shrugged. “Lou gets nervous the day before a mission, too. Everyone has
different ways to deal with it. Just be supportive.”

True
to her prediction, Park remained silent at the dinner party with friends, even
though Yuki had gone through the trouble to learn the recipe for Orange
Chicken. That night, he also refused to stroll with her on the boardwalk.

In
her own room she lay awake half the night, worried that she might be losing
him. Park could be having buyer’s remorse. Was he staring at the ceiling of
Sojiro’s room, thinking about poor Nadia?

The
next morning, they were first in the ready room because, lacking an arm, Yuki
needed an extra twenty minutes to adjust her spacesuit. Park was almost white
with anxiety, his respiration fast and shallow. That’s when she hit on the
solution. Park didn’t have his bulky suit on yet. “Woo Jin, I can help you
relax on the mission,” she said. “Do you trust me?”

“With
my life.”

****

Smiling,
Park took the stick of the shuttle a little over an hour later. Twice, Red let
him maneuver closer to the asteroids for practice. He didn’t balk once.
Eventually, Red asked, “What happened to you, Wizard?”

In
the next seat, Yuki said cheerfully, “I gave him a little something for the
stress.”

Park
nodded dreamily.

Red’s
expression went from pleasantly surprised to hostile. “You can’t dispense
medication to my crew.”

“It’s
not a drug,” Yuki said delicately. “It’s something Lou recommends for
pre-mission jitters.”

“Oh
my God. In the ready room?” Red squeaked.

“So
you told him?” Zeiss asked.

“It
wasn’t sex,” Yuki insisted.

Red
gave her an incredulous look.

“Just
a little lip service,” Yuki clarified.

“And
he was okay with this?” Red demanded.

Park
said, “We’re moving in together.”

“You
need to tell him,” Zeiss insisted.

Yuki
sighed, fumbling the lasso controls for the first time so that they had to make
a second approach on the target. “After we get back. I need to concentrate.”

“Am
I going to die soon?” Park asked with his eyes wide. “Is that why she did that
for me? Don’t get me wrong. It might be worth the illness.”

Smiling
at the compliment, Yuki said, “No, honey, you’re fine, and what I gave you was
the barest taste of what two people can share.” His face said he didn’t believe
her, so she continued. “I’ve done some things as a spy I’m not proud of, and Z
is old-fashioned. He wants me to tell you everything before I’ve snared you too
deeply in my web.”

Because
Park’s worry was back, Red had to handle the controls. The brief mineral
mission was a success, but Park didn’t say another word.

After
allowing herself to be immersed in the decontamination gel and filling her
lungs with it, Yuki found herself hoping for another incident or any reason she
wouldn’t have to tell Park the truth.

****

Vomiting
up the purple-tinged goo in the shower was less painful for Yuki than waiting
for Park to finish decontamination. On the bright side, the trip through had
erased most of the scars the arm-destroying explosion had left on her body. Now
she would have nothing to be ashamed of when naked. Ironically after she told
him the truth, no one would
want
to see her that way.

By
the time Auckland left the receiving area, Park was merely showering the gel
off. Because he had elected to take the last pod, all the other crew members
were gone. Yuki was already dressed and had her hair fixed. She also wore a
pair of Mercy’s shorts and a bikini top because the pregnant woman wouldn’t be
wearing either soon. The top was a little loose. Maybe if she looked nice, he
wouldn’t spit on her.

Finally,
Park came out of the shower stall in his trunks. With his short hair, he looked
like he’d just finished a workout. Blowing off in the drying alcove, he asked,
“So what’s the big mystery?”

Yuki
avoided. “Z already knows about this, so I’m not in legal trouble. I confessed
everything the night you broke up with Nadia.”

“Not
my finest hour.”

Going
for broke, she blurted, “I seduced you in order to distract you from evidence
of something I’d done wrong.”

“So
you don’t really like me?”

“Oh,
I do. Probably the first guy in the crew I’ve really respected. That’s why I
didn’t sleep with you on the spot . . . although I wanted to.”

He
blinked. “Is this some sort of twisted woman logic? You only want relationships
with jobless guys who treat you like crap?”

Her
eyes watered. “No. I genuinely care for you. I like being with you. I didn’t
want to get physical with you because I didn’t want you getting hurt. You
deserve better.”

His
face screwed up, trying to follow the reasoning. “You seduced me because you
were a spy on a mission?”

“Basically,
but that’s over now. This is the real me.”

“I’ve
had a clearance for almost thirteen years. I’ve always wanted some exotic woman
to try to wrangle secrets out of me. That’s part of what attracted me to Nadia.
I’d pretend she was trying to steal secrets for the Russians.”

“Was
she?”

“No.
She doesn’t like talk before or after.”

“During?”

“Directions.”

“Ah.”
Yuki paused in the silence, waiting for him to process the information.

“Could
we pretend that you’re still a spy?”

Hope
blossomed inside her as she shyly smiled. “Like role-playing?”

Park
grew excited. “Yeah. You could dress up in a really killer outfit and pick me
up in a club.”

“Cos-play?
I’m good at that. What comes next?” she asked, leaning over to display her
ill-concealed chest.

“Don’t
you decide that?” he asked.

“We
decide that together,” she explained, kissing him lightly on the forehead.
“Points will be awarded for creativity.”

Park
went pale with anxiety again.

“Relax,”
Yuki said, pressing against him as she kissed him full on the mouth. He was
ready
now
. Let him simmer. She’d waited a year. The anticipation would
do him good. “I think there’s a pair of prototype Gore-Tex leggings in the
recycling bin upstairs that’s not too badly ripped. I’ll find them and then we
can experiment.”

With
a whimper, he began climbing the ladder.

“Woo
Jin, darling, bring your uniform. How else is the spy going to recognize you in
the crowd?”

He
fell over himself gathering his gear.

****

After
they loaded the last meteor into the extractors, Red and Park goosed
Sanctuary
to ridiculous velocities to meet the moving nexus point. They had enough
minerals for every planned project and two new large microfabricators.

When
Mercy had eighteen weeks left in her pregnancy, Lou took
Sanctuary
back
into subspace for the longest jump yet—five weeks of winter. Once more
opalescent, the light from the habitat windows grew a little dimmer with each
passing day. They had to leave the windows open longer to compensate. Yuki was
a little sad when the days grew so cold that Mercy decided to stay home and Park
no longer wanted to take evening walks. For a while, they compromised on
lunches on the patio. Surprising everyone, Yuki learned to cook a few
traditional Korean dishes, although her first attempt at kimchi sent her
boyfriend to the infirmary.

“You
didn’t tell me it was bad,” she scolded.

“I
didn’t want to hurt your feelings,” he insisted. “I think it may have been okay
without the fermented fish bits. You add those later in the recipe. Maybe ask
Johnny for help on the radio next time.” Park ventured into the Hollow now on a
regular basis, but Yuki never went mountainward past the habitat’s equator.
Likewise, Nadia never went lensward. The energy expert still blamed Yuki for
wrecking her comfortable life.

With
Yuki’s new mineral-sifting duties and romance, her days in Olympus passed
rapidly. Zeiss continued to tutor her in hand-to-hand. Soon, she was able to
tap him once a session. When she hit him twice in as many minutes, Yuki said,
“You’re distracted, boss. What is it?”

“There’s
still some sort of persistent fuel drain I can’t account for,” Zeiss muttered.
He normally didn’t like to talk during workouts because it could be
misconstrued as flirting.

“The
stasis generator?” she guessed.

“No.
The decline happens even when that’s turned off.”

“You’ll
figure it out. Maybe you just need to stop worrying for a while and relax,” she
suggested. Sitting in the corner, Park now grinned at even the mention of the
word ‘relax.’

Nodding
to Park, Zeiss said, “Maybe tomorrow you can spar with a new partner. If it
works, we can phase out my tutoring. I think you’ve learned about all I can
show you.”