Rather than lay in the vicious dark, I escaped the barracks to dig through the kitchen for booze. All of us cracked into it as a celebration for the survey team’s arrival. Corporate never sent a lot, seeing as that was technically drinking on the job, but we portioned the alcohol out to last the trip. I was taking a bottle, though.
The alcohol burned my throat and did nothing for my head. Not yet. In the communal area, I considered turning on the viz but being so close to the doors of the lab made me ill. She was right through there, a set of doors separating us, somehow heavier than anything else.
“What are you doing… Ethin! Ethin!”
Pathetic.
If I left her, I could leave anyone.
“You’re disgusting,” I whispered, cracking my neck to the side before stepping outside.
I froze, and the booze fell to soak into the soil. The world should have been dark, but millions of stars painted the sky. Galaxies cut across the horizon in shades of blue, purple, and maroon. There were stars seen from our ships, from my speeder, but nothing like this. Nothing compared to standing on a planet’s surface and looking up to be reminded how very small you were.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped.
Roys stood in the doorway. His pants clung to his brawny waist, and one arm poked out of his shirt. That got a laugh out of me, more while he blushed and tugged the clothes on, depriving me of the glorious view of his toned stomach.
“What areyoudoing?” I asked.
He presented his commlink; the light blaring red. “I was woken up by an alarm indicating the habitat doors had opened.”
“Ah. Shit. Didn’t think about that.”
“Let me repeat, what are you doing out here at night and,” he clocked the booze leaking on the ground. “Drinking, apparently.”
“I had, like, two sips. The rest spilled, so save the lecture.”
“My lecture is about to intensify because you wasted perfectly good alcohol.”
“I’ve never seen you drink." The thought of him drunk put a smile on my face, and I made a mental note to get the bastard wasted before the end of this trip. I wonderedwhat kind of drunk he was. Imagine if he was a happy drunk, all giggly and cute, or a sad drunk wailing on my shoulder. Either option would be hilarious.
“I drink. Sometimes.” His lip curled in feigned disgust. “Never around you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t trust you.”
“Me?” I gasped, placing my hands on my cheeks. “Why not?”
Rolling his eyes, he said, “You haven’t answered the first question. What are you doing?”
“Looking at the stars.”
“Why?”
“They’re pretty.”
Roys made the sound of the most exasperated man in all the galaxies. Hand on his face, he held it there, steadied his breathing, then pointed at the door. “Get inside. We’re waking up early tomorrow.”
“We always wake up early. I’ll be fine, but you can go. Shoo.” I wiggled my fingers in the door’s direction and walked ahead.
Roys caught my hand. His weren’t soft. Mine weren’t either. They hadn’t been for most of my life, and I wondered if he was the same, or if he was one of those rich earthers dining on the most pristine dishes of the galaxy. Did he fall far, or had he always been as low as the rest of us?
“You are not staying out here alone in the dark,” he said, squeezing my hand. I liked the feeling of it around mine more than I cared to admit to.
“Baby, you are so sweet to me,” I mocked, tugging uselessly.
