Chapter 15 - Glass Veins
Glass Veins
Devyaan usually keeps breakfast simple, setting out a selection for people to help themselves to. He outdoes himself today—knowing we’ll be restocking at Novus—in the hopes that the Craven crew will be early risers.
They’re not. They find their way to the galley whilst most of us are clearing our plates.
Vee is the one who alerts everyone, elbowing Beau in the ribs, eyes wide.
My comms officer looks up, busts out a megawatt grin and stands to usher the trio in.
As names are exchanged and niceties are voiced, I can’t help but pay attention to the way Marlowe watches Liz.
It seems contemplative. Liz catches her eye, gives an apologetic shrug, and Marlowe smiles. There isn’t a trace of animosity in it.
“What’s that about?” Khrys asks me, eyeing the blue-haired woman.
I should be relieved, but it reinforces that Marlowe’s just waiting for this affair, for lack of a better word, to end.
“I’m not sure,” I say.
And I don’t have time to figure it out because Maximus bends over Marlowe’s outstretched hand, lips pressed to her skin.
She looks shocked but smooths away any sign of laughter by the time he rises.
I freeze, watching. Those golden eyes seem to be everywhere all at once, and I see her inspecting them.
She throws her head back and laughs. He flashes a sheepish smile, and she leans in conspiratorially, but there’s too much noise in the galley for me to hear.
I wouldn’t call what I feel jealousy, but it’s certainly an unease of some kind.
A shift beside me steals my focus. It’s Julian, wedged into a chair and watching his brother just as intently as I was.
Unlike Liz and Maximus, he hasn’t relaxed even an iota since boarding, and his eyes are still vaguely bloodshot.
I’m tempted to ask him about Maximus, but his posture doesn’t invite conversation.
If they are brothers, they’re perfect opposites.
Despite flirting with Marlowe like his life depends on it, Maximus sits beside Julian to eat.
Questions start flying around the room. It’s a little awkward at first but with Beau, who never stops talking, and Devyaan, who never stops smiling, it doesn’t take long for the tension to melt away.
Khrys and Maximus start an animated conversation and I try not to be too glad.
Instead, I survey my crew and wonder how amenable they’d be to changing employers.
The thought sends a frisson down my spine, a welcome change from the discomfort of insecurity.
This is me doing more than daydreaming; this is me starting to believe in myself.
I didn’t expect the crew to become so important, and I’d enjoy having them with me.
I’d need to tell them what Gryphon did. Not because they might not leave such a cushy job, but because it’s the right thing to do. But that’s not my decision to make; I’d need Marlowe’s permission first.
As if she’s been summoned, Marlowe stands, stretching her arms overhead. She catches my eye and jerks a thumb over her shoulder. With a wry look, she says, “Repairs?”
I shouldn’t have done such an intense workout because my body aches, but I clamber up anyway. “Of course.”
Liz’s head snaps up. “Wait, that sounds like something I can help with.”
I tilt my head, considering. “You should take this time to rest.”
“Eurgh, please?” she says to the overhead. “I’m going stir-crazy, and it’s only been a few hours. I’m not used to sitting around doing nothing.”
I check with Marlowe, and she simply shrugs.
Liz is a pilot with years of experience under her belt, a DIYer with no budget for specialists.
Despite that, I hesitate. I like my time alone with Marlowe, even when she’s ignoring me.
Common sense wins out in the end, and Liz grins and leaps up.
As she does so, I catch Maximus pressing a hand to Julian’s arm. The Suryavan man turns to Beau.
“Since we’re all being helpful, would you mind showing me to the bridge? I have a few thousand messages or so to send.”
Beau, never one to say no to a pretty face, is eager to oblige. As Julian starts to follow, Devyaan closes a hand around his arm and titters good-naturedly. He’s a tall man, but Julian easily dwarfs his lithe form, so it’s surreal to watch Julian stop as though Devyaan has any strength on him.
“He’ll be fine. Why don’t you stay with me? I’ll show you around.”
I open my mouth to tell him that Khrys already volunteered when a sharp elbow catches me right in the soft flesh of my side. I whirl on Marlowe, but she cups my chin and turns me swiftly back around. A blush stains the tips of Julian’s ears. It makes an interesting contrast to his demeanour.
Oh. Oh.
“I’ll be fine,” Maximus murmurs.
Julian hesitates before sitting back down and Marlowe drags me away—presumably before I can blunder again. We turn a corner, Liz trailing behind us, and Marlowe bursts into laughter.
“What?”
She just shakes her head. “What am I gonna do with you?”
We work exponentially faster with a third set of hands, especially because Liz is the best of both of us.
With way more intimate knowledge of ship repairs, she offers improvements to our approach.
I’m relegated to patching the smaller dents whilst Marlowe and Liz fill the bigger ones.
Once she has her hands full, Liz turns out to be quite chatty, and she makes casual quips the whole time.
At first, I’m envious of her ability to engage Marlowe in constant conversation, but I lean into that, and it quickly stops being a source of bother.
I like my interactions with Marlowe; I wouldn’t want to change the nature of them.
A sudden prickling along my neck forces me to look around, and Liz is staring at me. She raises her eyebrows playfully. “You’re a bit strange, Captain.”
I don’t know what to say to that.
“Hey,” Marlowe says, turning. “You’d better be joking.”
“Come on. We had an hour-long conversation, I was butt-ass naked the entire time, and she didn’t look once. No strange glances since then, either. That’s weird!”
“How humble of you,” Marlowe scoffs.
I make a helpless gesture. “What was I supposed to do?”
Liz shrugs, then smirks a little. “I’m not into women, but I mean, I know I have a good body. It’s kind of insulting, if you think about it.”
Marlowe laughs in disbelief. “It’s really not. Besides, not everything is about sex. Our bodies aren’t inherently—”
“Are you crazy? Everything is about sex when you’re in space.
There’s nothing else to do up here!” Liz turns back to me, cocking her head.
“At first, I thought you might be straight and didn’t question it.
But the way you two have been making googly eyes at each other all day, I’m starting to feel offended again. ”
I turn to Marlowe, bewildered. “Is she being serious? This is one of those moments where I can’t read the room.”
“Even I can’t tell.” She shakes her head. “Best thing to do is ignore her. And you.” Marlowe points at Liz. “Don’t get to call Tanisira strange, or weird, or anything along those lines.”
I hear the unspoken: only I get to do that. We make eye contact, and I have to fight a smile. When did we start to have inside jokes? Also, googly eyes?
“My point is, you two are fucking, right?”
I gape. The EVA suit swallows her, and I remember what she said about being called timid.
It’s amazing that anyone has ever had that opinion of her.
Thankfully, Marlowe isn’t fazed. She steps in, figuratively, with a harshly raised eyebrow.
“That’s none of your business. Anyway, what was so important you couldn’t grab a towel first? ”
“Oh, the captain just wanted my advice on ships. Nice redirect, by the way. Definitely fucking.”
I sink my face into my palm, or at least try to, before the glove slaps into my visor. Marlowe huffs in amusement. “Ships? What about them?” she says to me directly.
“She doesn’t know?” Liz asks.
I find my voice. “Can you—stop talking for a moment, please?”
She rolls her eyes before turning back to her task. It gives me some space to gather my thoughts. I hate getting so flustered by the most mundane things; it’s exhausting.
“It’s no big deal; I’ve just always wanted my own ship.”
Contemplation crosses Marlowe’s face. “You should.”
“This wasn’t the plan.” I say, gesturing at the hull.
“Of course. I didn’t think...but it’s obvious.”
“Obvious?”
“Answerable to no one but yourself and the freedom to go where you want, when you want. No Dominiks.”
There’s a warmth in her voice that curls up nice and tight in my chest. Like, of course, she doesn’t think anything else would suit me more—not an iota of doubt.
Liz, apparently unable to mind her business, bounds back towards us with a grin. “Are you gonna tell her the name?”
It makes Marlowe’s whole expression open, her eyes aglow. “You already have a name?”
Immediately, I want to tell her, but I can’t with Liz hovering like a gnat. She was the one who told me it was bad luck to share, and now she’s trying to con it out of me. But Marlowe is full to bursting with excitement, and regret seeps in.
Suddenly, it starts to feel like too much at once. The way Marlowe’s looking at me is heavy on expectation.
“The captain’s being coy. Maybe she’ll tell you later.” Liz winks.
The two of them fall into a back-and-forth that I tune out.
I use the opportunity to try and settle myself.
Why is Marlowe so confident in me? I’ve done nothing that warrants it; Vee was abducted under my nose, everyone was injured in the swarm, and I seriously considered leaving the Craven crew behind.
Maybe I’m kidding myself, and the Kyena is never going to be more than an idea.
Pushing the negative thoughts away, I focus on the task at hand. Physical labour is good. Physical labour is productive.