Coffee Cup Dreams (A Redpoint One Romance) (24 page)

Tish groaned. "I'm going to be in a spacesuit
a lot, aren't I."

Arthur laughed at her. "I'm afraid so. We'll
get you trained in the maintenance pods, as well."

"Does this mean I'm also over a crew?" She
asked, even more worried. She'd never been over a crew in any way
before. She's always been the small-fry anywhere she'd
worked.

"Afraid so. It's small, like most sections
are, but hopefully you can build it up." He lifted her chin when
her eyes dropped to stare at the tips of her shoes. "Hey, no
worrying. You have me to help, remember? You're now my equal along
with the other administrators."

She blinked at him. "Wait, an equal? I'll no
longer call you Boss?"

"I prefer you keep calling me "Arthur." I like
the way you say it," Arthur said, his voice dropping with each
word.

She could feel herself blushing. She also felt
a surge of bravery. If she was now an Administrator, why not go for
all of it? "Good, no conflict of interest."

He stared at her a moment before slowly
smiling. "Good point. I hope that means what I think it
does."

"Good grief, even I know what that means,
man," Damien said from behind them.

Tish flinched, having forgotten there were
other people on the platform. At the same time, they'd already
heard, so why not go all the way. "Another dinner and watching a
movie tonight?"

The bots behind her trilled as he nodded.
"Sounds wonderful, but tonight, it's at my place."

Only, the trills hadn't come from only her
bots. Tish noticed two familiar bots behind Arthur along with his
regular bot.

"Uh, we have visitors?"

Arthur glance behind him and grimaced. "Oh
yes, and I have you to thank for that."

"What did I do?" Tish demanded even as she
knelt down to run a hand over their shells.

He grimaced again, even though his eyes were
sparkling with laughter. "Not only have they attached themselves to
me, but they are only answering to names."

Tish tried to keep her face straight. "Snowy
and Spot?"

"Those would be the ones." He pulled a hand
out of his pocket to reveal several pink and purple holographic
hair ties.

"Where did you get those?" Tish asked, her
hand flying up to her ponytail, even though she knew she hadn't
replaced the ones she'd given her bots.

"I bought them, just this morning." He pulled
her up and turned her around. She felt his hands in her hair and
whispering along her nape, giving her a pleasant tingle. "After
all, your bots need a way to identify you among all the
humans."

All three of her bots were staring up at her,
chirping and beeping away, as Arthur finished. She could swear they
were laughing at her. Which was okay. She was laughing, too.
Another laugh came from Damien, while Rachel toasted her with a cup
of coffee from the break-room door.

Arthur set his hands on her shoulders, leaning
over her right shoulder. She felt his breath tickle her neck,
giving her another tingle. He whispered into her ear, "Redpoint One
isn't the only one who welcomes you. I do, as well."

The pleasant tingle spread. Like the clouds in
her coffee, she'd come to a new place, to mix and become one with
it. With Redpoint One, her bots, and Arthur, she'd finally come
home.

The End

Other Redpoint One
Titles

A Turn of the Pipes

Once Upon a Pet Show

ABOUT THE
AUTHOR

J.A. Marlow writes across many
genres, including science fiction, young adult, romance, and
others. A private pilot with several years of flying experience in
Alaska, J.A. Marlow enjoys adding to stories a touch of the mystery
and exotic nature of the land sometimes called “the last frontier.”
Popular series include "The String Weavers," "Salmon Run," and
"Redpoint One."

Publisher Homepage:
http://starcatcherpub.com

Author Homepage:
JAMarlow.com

Author Newsletter:
JAMarlow.com/newsletter-signup/

Twitter ID:
jamarlow_sf

Email:
[email protected]

Other Titles From J.A.
Marlow

Mop Jockeys and Fighter
Pilots
: The war killed any emotion in
Captain Carme Batista but Felix the janitor refuses to believe it,
but will a brutal battle reveal she's more alive inside than she
thought?

Curse of the Second Date:
Abandon all hope with the second date… Jack
desperately wants the second date with the woman of his dreams to
go as well as the first. Instead, an unbelievable cascade of
disasters threaten to torpedo the blossoming romance. Attempting to
turn the night around, he escorts Millie to her door… to find his
next obstacle in the form of her waiting cat.

SAMPLE - A TURN
OF THE PIPES

An alien newt leads to...
love?

Rachel Henderkito's job of taking
care of Redpoint One's plumbing problems isn't easy, especially
when citizen pets clog up the pipes. After fishing an alien newt
out of the pipes for a third time she takes the creature back to
its owner for a stern warning.

Ignacio Manetti is determined to
help keep rare alien newts and salamanders off the extinction list.
He doesn't have time for romance, nor for the heart-breaking
memories it brings with it.

Add in an alien flying squirrel,
preparations for Redpoint One's annual Exotic Pet Show, and the
lovably interfering Naughty Knitter's Club, how can romance not
bloom?

Except Rachel and her bot hate his
rare Mandian Ruffled Newt while he unconditionally loves
it.

Available now!

***

Rachel's eyes narrowed even as her
bot started hissing again, realizing the colors and patterns of the
tail looked familiar. Oh, she knew this creature. Knew it
well.

"You stupid thing, get out of
there." Rachel put a hand over one side of the valve so it couldn't
get away and reached in the other.

Her hand closed around a wet and
silky wriggling body. A hiss emanated from the valve as she pulled
it out. The flattened toes of all four legs clung to the pipe so
strongly that it took a steady pressure with a little wiggling to
get the creature out.

In the end, she held a glaring newt
with bright yellow ruffled gills flapping in the air. The feet
tried to pry her hand from around its body.

Hissing came from both directions:
from her bot and from the newt.

"What are you doing in my pipes?
Again?" Rachel demanded of the creature. The newt hissed back, its
tail whipping back and forth in its agitation.

She should have known the moment
she heard Arthur mention the problem in the pipes appeared to be
moving, but she just wasn't accustomed to finding living creatures
as the source of the problems. Clogs of icky stinky gooeyness,
sure, but not an animal.

Her bot held up two metal arms as
if to grasp it, even while continuing to hiss.

"Oh no. This time I take care of it
myself," Rachel said.

She pulled one of the buckets from
the cart and put a little water at the bottom. She settled the newt
to the bottom and quickly covered it before it could get out
again.

With the problem found it was a
simple matter to hook back up the pipes and start the water flowing
again. Which left only one last part of this repair: getting the
newt back to where it belonged.

"I'm going to give the owner a real
piece of my mind," Rachel raged as she returned all the tools to
the cart. Her bot stopped its intermittent hissing to help out,
following her back and forth in a more subdued manner. "Is it too
much to expect people to keep their pets under control? Of course
it isn't."

She'd made a mistake the last two
times in allowing a bot to return the newt to the location on its
leg-tag while she finished repairs. This time she would personally
deliver it home and make sure the problem didn't happen again. She
didn't need an animal contaminating the fresh water, much less
playing with the valve system.

A valve system that was aware of a
living creature inside and locked open to make sure it didn't crush
the stupid creature, and therefore messing up the entire
pressurizing system in the sector. Inconveniencing everyone around
them when the water pressure failed or grew too strong. For any
weakened valve, the additional pressure in surrounding areas would
be just enough to break them.

Her bot followed her as she stalked
away from the repair side, the bucket riding right on top and in
the front of the cart. She didn't need to fish the newt out to look
at the tag again. She had the number memorized.

"Apartment CFI-920, you better have
a good explanation," she said towards the ceiling. Her bot answered
with a muted beep.

The bucket shook and rattled.
Rachel turned and grabbed it before it could topple off the cart.
She wrapped an arm around it and used the other hand to keep the
lid on it.

The bucket continued to shake and
shiver as the newt inside moved around with sharp movements. With
each escape attempt Rachel's mood grew darker, until she found
herself talking to the thing, scolding it and telling it
off.

As she arrived at her destination
she finished with, "Don't you dare mess with my pipes again if you
know what's good for you."

Her bot gave an agreeing chirp,
followed by a hiss.

"Note to self: remember what
hissing can mean around water pipes," Rachel muttered as she took
her hand off the lid long enough to ring the door chime. Not that
the hissing would always mean a newt in the plumbing. The bots
often hissed at things and people they didn't like.

As she waited for someone to
answer, she realized they weren't in an apartment block at all.
Rather, the home of the newt sat in the middle of a warehouse area.
What a strange place to list on the tag.

The door slid open to reveal a man
slightly taller than herself, his short black hair wildly askew. He
glanced at her and the cart behind her and shook his head. "The
janitorial supply warehouse is three doors down."

The door slid closed, leaving
Rachel with an impression of worried distracted brown eyes and a
well-worn blue and white pinstriped apron over a rumpled white
business shirt. She stared at the closed door as the newt rattled
around in the bucket.

She jabbed at the door chime again,
breathing deeply and trying to count to ten slowly. Her bot waited
silently behind her. The newt continued its escape
attempts.

The door slid open again. The same
man as before stared at her, blinking at her in confusion. "Weren't
you just here?"

"Yes, sir, I was. I am Rachel
Henderkito, Redpoint One's head plumbing system engineer. I am
returning your property." She held out the bucket. "We need to
talk, sir."

***

"A Turn of the Pipes" is available
at online retailers everywhere.

SAMPLE - THE
STRING WEAVERS (THE STRING WEAVERS - BOOK 1)

Disappearing food. Music no one
else hears. An alien dropped off by a giant flaming
bird...

Abducted from Earth, Kelsey Hale
finds herself in the middle of a deadly conflict among alien worlds
and parallel universes. She must not only survive, but also rescue
her father from a dangerous group of unknown intent.

In the process discovering a
family secret that will change her life forever.

Available now!

***

A small half moon emerged over the
far mountains, casting a soft glow to the surroundings. Above, the
last of the Phoenix spiraled out of sight. Kelsey stumbled again as
a line of sharp minor chords flew through the air above her
head.

Channix hissed sharply. But, his
attention not on them, but on something up the hill.