Matt & Michelle 1: The Fugitive Heir (12 page)

“But you most definitely
were
going to propose to Michelle?” Nora asked.

I glanced back at Michelle and found the same intense gaze on me. Why hadn’t she said anything? “Of course.”

Nora turned toward the doors behind her. “Why don’t I give you two a moment alone?”

“Um, you still haven’t explained why this will help keep Michelle safe.”

“I’ll explain that a little later. Just rest assured that it
will
.” Nora pushed one of the doors open. “Besides, I think the two of you have more important matters to discuss right now.”

As the door swung shut behind Nora, I turned back to Michelle. Throughout my conversation with Nora, her expression hadn’t changed and it finally got to me. “What?”

“You’ve already planned how you were going to propose to me?” At my nod, she added, “It sounds lovely and very romantic. When did you have time to come up with this?”

“It’s gone through a few revisions, but I came up with the basics in the ninth grade.” Michelle’s eyes widened. “If you think that’s something, you should see the ring I picked out.”

Michelle ducked her head, but not before I saw her bite her lip. My heart, racing and soaring now that my plans were out in the open, plummeted. What could she be puzzling over except how to let me down gently? Her head rose slowly, she no longer bit her lip but tears glistened in her eyes.

“Matt, I can’t marry you.”

I tried to find something clever to say, something to hide the pain I felt. I found nothing but a gaping void where my heart had been. After a few seconds, I simply said, “Oh.”

“When someone like you marries, there’s got to be a prenuptial agreement. You’ve got to protect your family fortune and-”

I put a finger on her lips. “You mean the fortune I was prepared to liquidate to fund a search for my parents? I don’t give a damn about the fortune, Michelle. But there are two things in this universe I
do
care about—that’s rescuing my parents and
you
.”

Michelle was determined to finish her point. “But it would look suspicious if a couple with as little as we’re supposed to have insisted on a prenup agreement and your inheritance is over a hundred billion credits and… And… Oh, Matt, I’m so used to knowing exactly what to do and when to do it. But this…”

“You know what you want to do, you’re just afraid it’s
me
making the mistake. And
I
know I’m not making a mistake.” Taking Michelle’s hands, I went to one knee. “Michelle Elise Young, will you marry me?”

Michelle gazed in my eyes for the longest three seconds ever experienced by mankind and then said, “Yes.”

Nora took one look at us as we came through the doors and beamed. “Let me be the first to offer my congratulations to the happy couple.”

“Thank you,” I replied. “Now, before we take one more step into this space station, please explain how our marriage will protect Michelle.”

“It’s very simple, really. The founder of Pegasus Station felt that married employees were better and happier workers. There’s plenty of research supporting his opinion, but I have no idea if he was aware of it. Anyway, he instituted rules to protect marriages.” Nora looked at her pad. “For example, both parties in an adulterous relationship have their contracts canceled, pay a hefty fine, and must pay for their own transportation off the station. There’s a whole list of other rules, too. The end result is that people on the station simply are not willing to take the risk of pursuing a married woman or man.”

“So a married Michelle isn’t a threat to the other women on the station,” I said.

“And a married Matt isn’t a threat to the men,” Michelle added.

“Like that was something to worry about,” I scoffed.

Nora cocked her head and looked at Michelle, who said, “Yes, he’s serious. No, he doesn’t realize it.”

“Realize what?” Both women laughed at my question.

“Okay,” Nora said, “let’s get you two married and finish your new employee processing.”

The ceremony wasn’t as grand as I’d assumed my wedding would be, but the end result was the same. The first thing we did as a married couple was complete the processing. It was far from romantic, but I did feel different than I had before we took our vows. Finally, with forms filled out and signed and ID chips injected into our wrists, Nora escorted us to our apartment.

“Does everyone get this level of personal attention from you?” I asked.

“Hardly, but I
do
owe your wife a debt of gratitude for handling Mr. Crane so neatly. Plus, the station guides have to take all the other new employees to the dormitories and get them settled. From the looks you two have been giving each other, I get the idea you’d like to get settled in and do a little celebrating.”

It didn’t take long to settle into the little apartment. It couldn’t have been more than twenty-five square meters, but it had a small kitchen area, a small sitting area, and a bed.

As soon as the apartment door slid shut behind us, I kissed Michelle and swept her off her feet.

She laughed. “Why Matt, don’t you want to start searching for your parents?”

“Absolutely, but I think we can spare a few minutes. We
have
just gotten married, after all.”

I carried Michelle to the bed, where we spent considerably more than a few minutes.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Settling In

Instead of hopping out of bed and getting right to work on finding my parents, we fell asleep. In our defense, we’d been very busy for the last several days. And all the novels and vids will tell you it’s common to fall asleep after a couple of rounds of connubial bliss. Who’d have guessed the entertainment industry got something right about sex?

I awoke slowly, feeling the sense of contentment which accompanies a particularly good dream. My mind was still trying to remember the dream when it realized something was different from other mornings. I opened my eyes and found a pair of bright blue eyes staring back at me.

“Good morning, sleepyhead.”

“Good morning yourself.” I kissed the tip of Michelle’s nose. “How long have you been awake?”

“Minutes and minutes.”

“That long, huh? And you couldn’t think of anything better to do than watch me sleep?”

“Nope.” She sat up and swung her feet off the bed. “But now we need to get ready for our first day at work.”

I hopped up and began pulling on clothes. “Right. Work. It can’t be any worse than a day at school, right?”

I was so wrong it was ridiculous. My first day of work was packed with such exciting events as filling out even more forms, getting a remedial introduction to station computer security, and countless jokes about my age from the old-timers in the department. That was all before lunch. After lunch it was more of the same.

The interminable day finally crawled to an end and the CompSec team, as they called themselves, invited me to join them for a beer after work. Not wanting to alienate the people I’d see every day, I agreed.

“Just let me make a quick call.” I tapped Michelle’s comm code on my pad and her smiling face materialized. “Hello beautiful. You mind if I catch a beer with the guys before dinner?”

“Go ahead, Matt. I’ve got the same invitation from the
real
security team.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Real security?”

“You know, as opposed to you lame computer security guys. At least, that’s how my team leader explained it to me.” Michelle giggled. “There’s apparently a big rivalry.”

“Maybe in the minds of
real
security. No one mentioned it up here in CompSec.”

“Whatever. Have fun with your friends. First one home cooks.”

“And second one home cleans,” I added and signed off.

I looked up to find all the guys staring at me. “What?”

“Who was that?” asked John, the member of the team closest to my own age.

“Michelle, my wife.”

“Wow, Matt. Just…wow.”

Greg, my manager and one of the older guys said, “She’s a very pretty girl. How long have the two of you been married?”

I checked the time. “Twenty-three hours.”

Greg laughed. “Let me give you some advice, son. If someone like her is waiting for you at home, don’t waste time guzzling beer with us old farts.”

“She’s not waiting at home. Her team asked her out for a beer, too.”

“In that case, we’ll hoist a few in honor of you and your lady.” Greg looked at the rest of the team. “The newbie’s first round is on me.”

The bar was packed. That’s not surprising when you consider Pegasus Station wasn’t what you’d call a plum assignment. There must be other forms of entertainment beyond drinking, but drinking is easy, dulls the senses, and provides camaraderie of sorts. Certainly, my new coworkers knew a lot of people in the joint, calling out names, waving, and making straight for a particular empty table.

Greg made me sit next to him. “This is the CompSec table, Matt. All these dumb lugs know to stay clear or we’ll drain their bank accounts and add black marks to their personnel records.” He looked around and raised his voice. “Ain’t that right, boys and girls?”

The people around us—mostly men, but there were a few women as well—raised their drinks and called out, “Aye!”

I think that’s what they said, anyway. It had the sound of a well-practiced ritual. As the mugs slammed down, a waitress came by with a tray full of beer mugs. Unbidden, she put one down before each of us, including me.

“Welcome to the Wingspan Bar and Grill, son,” she said. “How’d you get stuck with this bunch of losers?”

Her tone was light and everyone laughed. Greg answered, “Because he’s too smart to get stuck with all those
other
losers.”

Around the bar, mugs rose and voices hollered, “Aye!”

The waitress patted me on the shoulder, “I’m Dawn. Just holler if you need anything, hon.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” I said.

Dawn put a hand to her breast, flapping it up and down like a beating heart. “Oh my, a man with manners. I just might have to keep this one, Greg.”

“You’re too late, Dawn. Young Matt here has already gotten himself hitched. He says he’s been married for almost a whole day.”

“Well goodness gracious, honey, what are you doing hanging out with these guys? Get on home to your wife and get some of what these boys only dream of getting.” Dawn hooked a thumb at Greg. “She’s got to be prettier than this guy.”

“Oh she is, Dawn. She is, indeed.” Greg tapped a finger on my pad. “Show Dawn a picture of Michelle.”

I hesitated for a second, but the rest of the guys egged me on. When Greg threatened to pull up the HR new employee listing and get Michelle’s employee photo, I gave in. A few taps on the pad and one of my favorite pictures of Michelle displayed.

Dawn took the pad from me and gave Michelle a closer look. “Well, that explains why the best looking guy I’ve seen in half a year ended up married so young. She sure is a beauty, hon. Now I
really
don’t know what you’re doing here when she’s waiting for you at home.”

John said, “She’s not waiting for him at home, Dawn. Her new team took her out for a beer, too.”

“She works in
real
security,” Greg added, his tone thick with sarcasm.

Dawn looked at me. “Hey, we had a bunch of newbies in here last night telling some story about a pretty little girl beating up on a big freight hauler. That has to be your wife, right?”

I shouldn’t have been surprised. A story like that gets around quickly in a place like this. “Yes ma’am, that was Michelle.”

“Hey Ronnie, remember the newbies telling us about the girl that kicked ass at their orientation?” Dawn shouted across the bar. The barkeep looked up and nodded. “Turns out it’s true. Matt here is married to her. And get this, she’s even prettier than those guys said.”

Dawn held up the pad with Michelle’s photo, drawing wolf whistles and inappropriate comments from the crowd in the bar. Ronnie nodded once and went back to his duties, but Greg stood and held up his mug.

“A toast to Matt and his lovely, ass-kicking wife. May she never have need to kick
his
ass!”

Mugs raised and dozens of voices shouted, “Aye!”

I scanned the crowd, wanting to make sure I acknowledged anyone still holding up a mug. I thought it best not to ignore anyone, just in case they’d hold a grudge. I don’t want any enemies stalking me when I start snooping around the station. A couple of younger guys gave me rude gestures, but their manner was genial. Just guys being guys. And there was one hard-eyed man about twice my age staring at me. When our eyes met, he raised his mug and gave a smile which never reached his eyes.

After finishing my scan and checking that hard-eyes wasn’t looking my way, I nudged Greg. “Do you know everyone in here?”

Greg gazed around the bar. “Most of ‘em. Why?”

“There’s a guy over at the bar who was staring at me. He doesn’t look like he’s part of this crowd, so I wondered if he might be a friend of that guy my wife took down yesterday.”

Greg easily spotted the man and waved his free hand at me. “Don’t worry about him. He’s been around the station forever.”

“Well, who is he? Why doesn’t he have a team to drink with like everyone else?”

“He’s got a crew, not a team, Matt. His name is Cummings, I think. He captains one of the big research ships. Officers and crew don’t mix.” Greg leaned close, as if afraid the man would overhear him. “And word is most of his officers don’t mix with him, either. Yeah, not many people enjoy being around Captain Fred.”

That name sent a jolt through me. Had I found the captain of the solar research ship? Or, considering the hard look I’d received from Cummings, had he found Michelle and me?

One of the guys on my CompSec team asked how Michelle and I met, drawing my attention away from Cummings. The next time I looked up, Cummings was gone.

I tried not to put too much stock into that. After all, he obviously came to the bar often enough that Greg knew who he was. And the only way Cummings would know I was the pilot he’d tried to catch two days ago was if Flight Commander Martin had shown him our photos. Then I remembered Hector, Paco’s father. Maybe he got a Rockville Station security vid photo of us and stored that in the messenger drone we’d followed through the wormhole to Pegasus system.