When Gabriel invited Ilana up to where the Admiral was finishing up dinner with Maisha, she appreciated that he gave her an out. But she wasn’t one to hide because a room made her uncomfortable. She might as well learn more about her potential employer while she was here.
So she joined Gabriel up an elevator to the top deck.
The doors slid open silently on arrival. While the rest of the ship appeared designed to perfection, the furnishings were packed just a little tighter in these quarters. Each wall was covered with multiple pieces of art, framed photographs, landscapes, and plants. Built-in shelves displayed an abundant collection of knickknacks, baubles, and more plants. Vine tendrils spread out over the domed ceiling from a massive round planter in the middle.
“It’s terrible what happened on the shuttle.” Voices carried over from the next room. “Do you have any idea who’s responsible?”
Ilana and Gabriel passed through an empty lounge to a dining room. The Admiral, Hadad, and Maisha – in the flesh this time – sat around a table splayed in a state of rich post-dessert. A smoking cigar rested in an ashtray next to several small plates smeared with the remains of layered cake. One entire side of the room was a transparent view overlooking the moon while the other side looked over the ship’s majestic foyer filled with fauna.
The Admiral caught Ilana’s eye as she entered. “No one has taken responsibility yet.”
“But you have your suspicions,” Hadad finished in the wake of her pregnant silence.
The Admiral gave a wry smile. “We certainly do.”
Maisha shook Ilana’s hands warmly in greeting. She reached under the table to pull out a rectangular plate that expanded and unfolded into a cushioned chair for Ilana to sit. She introduced Hadad, who gave Ilana a lightning-fast wink.
“You know I sat next to a denier on the shuttle coming off Earth the other day.” Hadad took a sip of his cigar and leaned back in his chair as Ilana settled in and ordered the first drink on the replicator menu. “It was a remarkable interaction. So many mental gymnastics to go through. Can you imagine? Sitting on a space shuttle talking about the threat of space travel. At one point he had to ask me to stop laughing if we were to have an earnest conversation.“
“I’m surprised you even engaged him,” Gabriel said to Hadad as he sat down and reunited with his abandoned drink.
“It’s a failing of my character, I’m afraid,” Hadad continued, his voice playful. “I can’t resist an opportunity to understand another perspective.”
Gabriel scoffed. “Not much to understand there.”
Hadad’s eyes lit up, riveted by the challenge. “According to him, the Elders are a malevolent alien species conducting ‘queer’ and ‘unnatural’ experiments on humanity.” As Hadad spoke, the Admiral rolled her eyes and shook her head. “So I asked him where he’s from.” He let the sentence hang in the air.
Maisha raised her brows. “And?”
“The Mississippi delta.”
Gabriel laughed. “So his home wouldn’t even exist without Elder tech.”
Hadad continued. “He claimed that Outpost 12 was an inside job.”
Maisha groaned and Ilana cringed. That was a particularly unsavory conspiracy theory Ilana had heard making the rounds in the deep frontier.
“He told me he feels that Alliance programs don’t help anyone and just make things worse. I told him that statistics point to the contrary – and if we wanted to have an earnest conversation I’d need facts, not feelings.”
Ilana was genuinely curious. “What did he say to that?”
“He shrugged. Said he was an ‘agree to disagree’ type of guy.”
“Ugh.” Maisha massaged her temples. “People like that make me want to flip this table.”
“Just let us know first so we can get out of the way,” Gabriel quipped.
“Of course,” Maisha deadpanned. “I’m not a savage.”
Ilana flinched but no one else missed a beat.
“He seemed nice enough,” Hadad mused.
“Oh, I’m sure he’s nice enough.” Gabriel leaned back in his chair, crossing his legs. “Until one of his core beliefs gets challenged. Then…” He mimed an explosion and mimicked the sound of a boom under his breath.
The chuckles that followed were reluctant and rueful, the result of an edgy joke that rang too true. The Admiral did not laugh. She watched Ilana instead.
Something about the conversation didn’t sit right with Ilana. But she wasn’t about to defend a conspiracy theorist who was also probably a misogynist and queerphobe – especially not in front of this audience. She’d met plenty on the political fringe and the Venn diagram of hate often overlapped, though Ilana had never examined that too deeply. She mostly avoided those people until she had to rescue them from the flooded or burning homesteads that they refused to evacuate. Then they were nice enough.
And even though the haters were loud, they were far outnumbered by people like Ilana’s family. Regular people living regular lives, loving their children and caring for their neighbors.
“So, how are you acclimating to space?” Maisha asked Ilana, abruptly and effectively switching the gears on the conversation. “Gabe tells me that you’re from Earth.”
“I think I’m getting used to it, though I haven’t had the need to use my gravity boots yet.”
“Just you wait. It’s a fucking blast. And the spacewalks! I still remember my first one… I think I was six years old.”
“That young?” Ilana blurted, shocked.
Gabriel shrugged, chiming in for Maisha. “When you live out here, it’s just a part of life. It’s like swimming might be for you. One doesn’t usually have to swim in space.”
“Although some people say zero-G feels like swimming,” Maisha added. “Zero-G feels a lot easier for me. The forces on you are equal from all sides. Unlike fluids which have a mind of their own altogether. You should never underestimate fluids.”
“That’s funny because with currents I know exactly what to expect,” Ilana said. “It’s when fire gets involved that all hell literally breaks loose.”
Silence. That didn’t land as well as Ilana had hoped. What had she said?
Maisha smoothed over the moment, rolling the conversation forward once again, this time to the last time the Admiral had a chance to visit Earth. Ilana was glad for the break. This was a tough crowd.
The table wound down until the Admiral stood and excused herself for the night. Hadad offered his arm to escort her back to her ship, after which he would return to his own space yacht. The thought of Ilana’s current company boggled her mind. Nobody in her family would believe her.
As Hadad waited by the lift and Maisha fetched the Admiral her coat, Ilana stood abruptly from the table and approached the Admiral.
Her face was impassive but open to whatever question Ilana clearly had.
“Have you seen my full record?” she asked, low enough so that only the Admiral would hear. “All of my outcomes.”
“You allowed my office access to your full records,” the Admiral answered. “So yes, I have.” She raised an eyebrow. “Unless you’re hiding something from me.”
“And you still want to hire me?”
The Admiral looked straight and steady at her. “Yes.”
Finally, the question that had been gnawing at Ilana broke free, more fiercely than she had intended. “But why me?”
The Admiral’s reaction – or lack thereof – made Ilana wonder what on Earth could ruffle this person. In fact, Ilana suspected she was suppressing a smile.
“If you’re willing to put in the work,” the Admiral said simply, “your actions make me believe you would be an asset on my team.” She shuffled into her coat and for a second Ilana wondered if that would be all she’d say. “Nobody’s perfect. But I’m not impressed often these days, and I see potential in you.”
The last bit Ilana managed to catch despite the Admiral nearly speaking into her coat. It was Ilana’s turn to suppress a smile.
Ilana returned to the table with Maisha shortly behind her. As soon as the elevator doors closed, Maisha collapsed onto a loveseat with a loud exhale, her limbs splayed.
“That nut is a tough one to crack,” she muttered, closing her eyes.
“You’re telling me,” Gabriel murmured, tugging his collar open.
Ilana slipped back into her chair and watched the two of them. They moved with effortless familiarity, an understated intimacy. More than friends, but without the dynamic of lovers. She could tell they must have worked together a long time.
“You think she’s got a history with Hadad?” Maisha volleyed.
“Beats me. But I wouldn’t be surprised. The old man gets around.”
“I can just imagine that stone-cold fox as a minx in her youth,” Maisha mused. “Not that I also wouldn’t hit it now. Because I absolutely would.”
When Gabriel said nothing, she opened one accusatory eye. “What, like you wouldn’t?”
He sighed. “That’s not really where my head’s at when I think of the Admiral.”
Maisha’s gaze slid across the room. “What about you, Ilana?”
“What?” Ilana was hoping Maisha wasn’t asking what she thought she was asking. She didn’t really know how these conversations were supposed to go. She’d always had family acquaintances and friendly acquaintances and friendly work acquaintances. But not friends. At least, not the kind you gushed over feelings with.
“Thoughts on the Admiral?”
Ilana realized Maisha had given her the option to play her answer straight. But a wild impulse in her jumped to play along. She considered the question for a second. “One hundred percent,” she said, then clarified at Maisha’s quizzical look. “Would be into the stone-cold fox.”
Maisha grinned, satisfied with her answer.
Ilana buried her blush into her drink as she sipped, avoiding Gabriel’s gaze. She didn’t actively think of the Admiral in that way but she couldn’t deny the gravitas of the woman. Her unconscious brain had touched on it like one might note a specimen – here we see a ping of attraction that we’re not going to examine too closely. Moving on now.
Maisha stretched leisurely on the plush loveseat like a cat. “I think it’s time to hit the spa. Would you like to join us for a soak, Ilana?”
Ilana caught a wordless communication between Maisha and Gabriel. A meeting of eyes and a twitch of brows – a warning, a dare, maybe a bluff called. Then Gabriel looked away and all trace of the interaction disappeared until Ilana almost wondered if she imagined it.
She had come all the way out here. She was diving all in. “Sure.”
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