Looking down to the top of the railing her heart beat faster, she could feel sweat on her forehead, palms, forehead and upper lip as she looked lower still and just as she began to look at the tiny buildings over the edge the wind gusted lightly. “That'll do for today!” she said as she backed towards the sliding windows behind her. They parted and she walked inside, turning towards the comfort of the central room. There was a soft brown futon, a pair of round bag chairs and a low table between.
She was just on her way to the small kitchen when the door chimed. The holoprojector hidden in the low sitting room table came to life, displaying an image of Minh-Chu Buu. He was looking around the hallway outside, whistling to himself. His shoulder length black hair was new, but aside from that he was just the same as she remembered, flight jacket and all.
Her jaw dropped, she stopped mid stride and stared at the image. She was nervous, happy, excited, afraid.
“Hello?” he asked, pressing the door control again. Minh didn't seem to know he was being watched, his hands nervously ran through his long hair, bundled it up as though he was about to pull it into a ponytail then let it fall loose. “Not having a lot of luck meeting with old friends here. Or even new friends who used to be old friends,” he muttered to himself.
“One ledge after another,” she whispered to herself, straightening her overshirt and brushing a few strands of curly hair out of her face. “Come in.”
The door opened to reveal Minh-Chu, smiling uncertainly at her.
She was giddy, it felt so good to see his face, especially after just recently hearing the miraculous news of his survival. Through fear and uncertainty she gave in to joy and excitement, running across the room and leaping into him.
He had to take a step back to steady himself but he embraced her tightly, laughing. “You remember me!”
“Of course I do, I couldn't believe it when Doc showed me the news about you being found adrift!”
“You should have sent me a message, reintegration treatment is boring.”
“Oh, I know, trust me,” she stepped back and led the way to the center of her sitting room, plopping herself down into one of the bag chairs.
Minh looked at the other one for a moment before shrugging and doing the same. “I wish you could have seen my face when they finally told me that the Doc had brought you back. That was one of the last things they told me before the end of my controlled treatment. They wanted to make sure that all this news; Jason and Oz stealing a ship and leaving, Jonas and you dying, and Doc making a new you, sunk in without my brain popping,” her smile faded at the mention of Jonas' death, and he calmed down. “Sorry, I don't handle grief or delicate topics well, but I'm still not crazy enough to keep under constant supervision.” He crossed his eyes and started to stuff a hand full of hair into his mouth.
She couldn't help but burst out laughing. “If only they could see you now,” she said finally. “You're the picture of crazy.”
He pulled the locks of hair our of his mouth and bowed in his seat. “Why thank you.”
Ayan stood and went to the kitchen. “Coffee?” she offered.
“Oh, yes please. I haven't had good coffee in years.”
“I'm sorry I didn't send you a message when I heard. I just didn't know what to expect.”
“Well, you look different, but still like you. You still sound mostly like you too, with the right accent, so it must be you,” he shrugged with a smile. “I understand. Besides, I was busy learning how to be with people again. I swear, if I have to listen to someone tell me how I'm feeling ever again…” He made a strangling motion with his hands and finished it by miming several slaps across his imaginary victim's face.
Ayan chuckled as she poured two cups of steaming coffee from a coffee press. “So it was just a bunch of psycho analysts and therapists? Oh, sugar and cream?”
“I'll try mine black, and where'd you get the beans?”
“They grow them here, it's almost more efficient to eat the cultivated food instead of materialized stuff now. A couple more weeks they say.”
“Wow, I come back and I barely recognize this end of space,” he accepted a steaming hot mug from Ayan carefully and smelled it. “Oh, that's the stuff.”
“It's a little hot. Have you seen your sisters?”
“They took turns being around to help me reintegrate. I was glad they were there, but little Minh-Fu did more for me than any touch or socializing exercise. That little guy is four times as hyper as me at that age. I'd pay real credits to see him in a zero gravity bouncing room.”
“He's one of your nephews?”
“One of four nieces and nephews. It took them five days to tell me they sold the restaurant.”
“They didn't.”
“Just last year. In fact, they're leaving for a Lorander world with Oz's family. It's like all the sisters got together when I disappeared, they're all great friends now.”
“I remember some of that. Laura and Jason's wedding was pretty amazing, babies everywhere.”
“Ha! Now that's a mixed blessing. I'm happy I missed the diapers, but sad to miss the cuteness.”
“Only one of your sisters was pregnant then, and she was constantly asking Julie questions.”
“Julie?”
“Oz's eldest sister.”
“Ah, well, they'll all be leaving soon. They kept asking if I wanted them to stay, but I told them to go on. Oh, and by the way, one of Jason's friends from Intelligence paid me a visit last night after I got to my temporary quarters,” he blew on his coffee and tried a sip, recoiling as he nearly burned his lip. “Needs sugar, and to not be so hot,” he said to himself as he put it down on the coffee table and started to get up.
“Did you know him?”
“The Intelligence guy? No, but he thought it was important I find out that Vindyne made a copy of Jonas using framework technology. Freeground has known about it for years. They even have footage of some woman stealing his pod. With Jason and Oz gone the information is more freely available, I guess so more people know what they might be after. I wasn't supposed to see anything he had for me, but Jason's buddy owed him big and thought I should get some details about what was going on.”
Ayan's jaw dropped. “So that's how it happened,” she said quietly. “He's in command of the Triton now.”
Minh finished standing and just looked at her as though he didn't comprehend what she had just said. “Huh? Wheeler's ship? How'd that happen?”
“I don't know, no one out here does. Doctor Anderson showed me a copy of Laura's message to Jason. She laid out all the bare facts, including Jake having some of Jonas' memories.”
He grinned and brought his coffee back to the small kitchen to add some sugar. “We'll have to go find them.”
She turned in her seat and looked at him. “You're not serious.”
“I still have the Gull, and with part of my share of the restaurant sale I'm going to fix it up.”
“But that's a hyperdrive ship, it would take a month, maybe more to get there. We don't even know the Triton's exact location, not even Doc Anderson could get that information. Even if we had it they would probably have to move on before we got there.”
“A ship that big has to be easy enough to find. Besides, from the declassified videos I saw of Jake last night it looks like he stands out.”
She thought back to the speech and few bounty hunting videos she had seen of him. It was true, he did stand out, and even though the man she saw in those holographic recordings seemed so different, there were hints of the Jonas she knew. Ayan shook her head. “The Triton is so much faster, it would have to stay in one place long enough for us to find out where it was, then long enough for us to catch up.”