Embarkment 2577 (18 page)

Adam smiled. “I have
a fiancée. I never thought I’d use that word in a sentence about me.”

Too cute. I stood on
my toes and pressed my lips against his, and he kissed me with much more heat
than I expected.

“If you’re trying to
distract me, you’re doing a pretty good job.”

Really? Interesting.
“Well, if you have to go, at least hurry back.”

“I don’t think
you’ll have time to miss me.”

The rooms seemed very empty when Adam
left. I roamed around, investigating my new home. “We have a dining room?”

I assumed the computer would say
something suitably snarky, but the machine stayed silent. What more surprises
might be spread out behind these doors?

The doorbell rang and Anya swept in,
filling the void with her larger than life rock star aura. She grabbed my
hands. “Isn’t this exciting? There’s something about a man in uniform, isn’t
there?”

How did she know already? Maybe she met
Adam in the corridor. “I…”

“We have to get you a dress, and shoes.
What is it you Earth people say? Something borrowed something new, something
something, and something blue?”

“Something old. I’m sure something old
is supposed to be in there.”

“Either way, you need a dress, and I
know just the place to get it. This will be so great.”

Really? I expected a simple ceremony to
get it done. Me, Adam, and the Captain… Now when I no longer feared for my
life, the situation was a little comical. I was an illegal immigrant in the
future, and needed protection. Would I have to visit an intergalactic version
of Homeland Security to fill out forms?

“I’d like to say goodbye to the trees
before they leave.”

“What’s your favourite colour?”

“Depends on what it is for, but…”

“Okay, so blue it is.”

The day continued in the same peculiar
fashion. Jia’Lyn stopped by a few minutes after Anya left, and if I’d been
inclined for paranoia I would have thought my friends were set on keeping me in
the room.

Ima was the day’s last visitor. She
said, “How’s my favourite patient doing?”

Her medical examination seemed somewhat
summary, and she talked about food until Adam came home. He leaned his shoulder
against the wall and watched us with a smile tugging at his lips.

When she left, I narrowed my eyes and
looked at him. “What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking
about.”

Of course not.

“I know what
should
be going on.”

“And what might that be?” I crossed my
arms and tried to appear stern.

He crossed the floor with a few long
steps, brushed his fingers over my neck, and stared into my eyes. Something in
that look gave me butterflies. “My fiancée should take all her clothes off.”

I tugged at his shirt. “Not unless
my
fiancée sets a good example.”

*****

The next morning started as a normal
day, but I still moseyed around in a robe when Anya came over. Her arms brimmed
with dresses, and a robot rolled after her carrying even more clothes. “Good
morning bride to be. If none of these do it for you I’ll go get more.”

She hung them around the room, and Adam
said, “You two have fun with that.”

He disappeared out the door before I
could even open my mouth.

“Anya, what are you doing?”

She lifted her long dark hair over one
shoulder. “Finding you the perfect dress, of course. But first we’re looking at
hair and make-up. Sit down. Straighten your back.”

“What…”

“Alex, you’re getting married today.
Knowing both you and Adam like I do, I’d say it’s a once in a lifetime
experience. Stop squirming.”

“Today?”

“Yes, we have to hurry and get this done
before the Kentucky comes looking for us. The Captain can’t hang around this
planet forever, you know. Now, don’t worry, we have everything under control.
Keep your chin up”

“I… but… Does Adam know it’s today?”

“Of course he does, silly girl. He’ll be
back in time.”

Shit.

“Don’t give me that face, sweetheart.
You will be the most beautiful bride this ship has ever seen, and whatever the
future holds for you and Adam, life will hardly be boring.” She lifted a
perfect eyebrow and fixed me with her big eyes. “Unless, you want to back out,
leave him, and go to Earth?”

Point taken. I sat back and submitted to
her brushes and hairpins. She was really making a big deal out of this.

Hours later, the door slid open and Adam
came back. Anya grabbed a discarded dress from the sofa and held it up between
us. “You’re not supposed to see the bride until it’s time to go down there. Go
find a dress uniform.”

He held his hands up in a gesture of
submission. “Yes, ma’am.”

As soon as he was out of the room, she
took my hand and tugged me towards a mirror. “It’s almost time. What do you
think?”

I barely recognized the person staring
back at me. “How did you do that? I look like a princess.”

She’d done my hair with curly extensions
and little white flowers. The make-up was refined, adding a polished glow to my
skin, and my eyes appeared much larger than usual. The dress must have been a
designer gown. It was classically elegant, demure, and gorgeous.

Anya banged on the door to Adam’s study.
“If you’re done, you can come out.”

My fiancée stepped out, still buttoning
his jacket. “Am I dressy enough?”

Hell yes, I wanted to take it off with
my teeth. Anya clearly disagreed; she scurried over with a hairbrush. “Deal
with your hair. It’s too long. You look like a floor mop.”

He rolled his eyes. “It’s not like it’ll
grow out again if I cut it off.”

She went behind him to tug at his
clothes, and he mouthed, “You look amazing.”

I expected us to go up one floor to the
Captain’s office and get this all over with, but the lift went down, down, and
down, all the way to the promenade deck. I tucked my hands around Adam’s arm
and steeled myself for meeting the crowds. It was easy to imagine hundreds of
people staring with gaping mouths. The doors opened and revealed a long and
deserted corridor.

“Where is everyone? Are all the stores
closed?”

My head spun. Adam put a hand on top of
mine and gave them a little squeeze. Anya said, “It’s the event of the decade.
No one wanted to miss this, honey.”

Oh no… As a little girl I dreamt about
a large wedding to a handsome prince. I wasn’t little anymore, and if every
single person on the ship waited, the scale of this was absurd.

I freed one of my hands and hit Adam
over the arm. “You knew about this.”

Anya interrupted, “It’s not his fault.
How much would you have fretted if you knew? You’re a symbol of freedom and
courage, you two together are an incredible combination, and this event can
inspire every species on the ship.”

“Traitor.” I glanced up at my fiancée.
“How could you do this to me?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer; Anya
poked my shoulder. “He was against this, he even threatened to take you and
leave the ship.”

Compared to facing all these people,
leaving seemed like an
excellent
idea. At least my would-be husband was
on my side. Unless she lied…

Adam said in a quiet voice, “Let’s go get
married.”

I glared at Anya. “I’m not done with you
yet.”

She flashed a million dollar smile.
“That’s okay. I know you love me.”

The large banquet hall was packed to the
brim with people. I paused at the entrance and almost stumbled over my own
feet. How would I ever muster courage to enter?

Adam murmured, “Are you okay?”

He seemed as unfazed by all the
commotion as by everything else. I glanced into his eyes and found the courage
I needed. If I said no, he would go with it. “Yes. As long as you’re right
here, I’m okay.”

It was a fairy-tale wedding. I was
getting the prince I always wanted, and there was nowhere to go but forward.

He winked. “I’m here. I will always be
here.”

Before I knew how it happened, we passed
the masses. I was too overwhelmed to see many individual faces, but I did
notice the trees lined up along the walls. It looked like someone decorated the
large room with leaves, but I heard them whispering to each other.

Adam turned his head to look at me and
bent over towards me, placing a soft kiss on my cheek. Someone applauded, and
as everyone followed, the sound rolled like thunder. Blake had to hold his
hands up to hush the crowd.

The tall, strong,
and handsome man by my side was my husband. A husband who often was a mystery
even to himself. He would never grow old, never tire, be impatient, cheat on
me, or come home drunk. This man who wasn’t a man made my heart flutter every
time I looked at him, his every touch sent tingles down my spine, and he could
send me to another world just by smiling.

There was a lot of
hugging, hand shaking, and smiling to be done. The last few days had been tough
on me, and I reached my threshold long before everyone else tired. As soon as I
started to fidget, my
husband
wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Do
you want to get out of here?”

“Can we leave?”

“Absolutely. They’ll
be fine without us.”

I nodded and he
scooped me up in his arms. I have to admit, leaving was easy when carried.

Adam put me down on
the sofa and I kicked my shoes off. “Those are too pretty to wear.”

“You’re too pretty.”

“You’re such a
smoothie, one could think you only want to get my clothes off.”

He looked quite
happy. “That’s because I do.”

I expected
something
to happen. The last few days had been riddled with disasters, so why not top it
off with an explosion, an alien invasion, or a break in the hull? No one called
on us.

When night came, I
assumed he would disappear off to work, but someone must have taken his shift
again. He stuck around, and I rested in his arms.

“The ship is moving.
I have to work on that antigrav suit so you can come back here and visit.”

I didn’t feel any
change, but if he said we moved, we moved. I no longer feared the rendezvous
with the Kentucky. Adam wouldn’t let them take me.

Visiting the trees
would be lovely. If anyone could make it possible, it would be him. I imagined
a bulky exoskeleton turning me into a cyborg. Or, a light suit with heavy boots
that somehow created a protective field around me. I fell asleep and dreamed of
walking on an alien planet.

*****

I kept a low profile
for a few days. Adam had to work, of course, but I tried to keep out of sight,
hoping people would forget about me.

He called me from
the transporter room one day. “Enoch has transferred to the Kentucky. Thought you
would want to know.”

Peeking out the
window, I could see the other ship. It was beautiful and big, almost as large
as the Bell. I had no urge to visit.

The Captain’s voice
echoed in the room. “Alex, would you come to my office, please.”

Who, me? All alone?
He was my friend, but also a figure of authority, and saying no was out of the
question. “Of course, be right there.”

The walk to the lift
seemed endless and the short ride up made me claustrophobic. I peeked out on
the top floor, expecting someone in uniform to pop out of a wall and chastise
me for intruding. “Stop being silly.”

Talking to myself
usually helped, but not this time. I hurried to Blake’s office and was
surprised to see a man sitting in one of the visitors’ chairs.

“Alex, meet Kevin
Nolan.”

Kevin got to his
feet and shook my hand. Surprisingly courteous; few people seemed to care about
that nowadays. He was about my height, blonde with blue eyes, and his cheeks
were sprinkled with freckles.

“Kevin is hitching a
ride to Earth on the Kentucky. He’s a scientist, and he asked to see you.”

I dropped the man’s
hand as if it burned me and took a seat as close to the Captain as I could
come. He smirked. “As you can see, Alex has a trust issue when it comes to
scientists.”

“Not at all. Science
is awesome. Science gave me my husband and my best friend. I mean, in my time
we thought it would be geeky men building girlfriends and not the other way
around, but it’s all good.”

How did I get so
bold?
Blake’s mouth twitched and for a moment I thought
he’d lose the battle and burst into laughter.

Our visitor cleared his throat. “When we
heard you’d be late due to a problem with the Tokamak field, quite frankly, no
one believed it.”

“The big ugly thing in the basement?
It’s giving me nightmares.”