Karen said, “Who sent it?”
Galen said, “I ordered it from a store back home.”
“You had comms with Ostreich?”
“No, I ordered it before I left. The bed too.”
Karen opened the door and held it for him. “Well why didn’t you bring it on the command drop ship?”
“I didn’t want to abuse my privilege. Nobody else was allowed to bring more than a kilo of personal stuff on the initial deployment, so I decided that included me.”
“But… the past two weeks, we were apart. That tiny cot in your room.”
“When we left Mandarin, I had no way of knowing we’d be a couple. Besides, if you weren’t a sleeper, we might still be in the early flirting stages, or maybe we wouldn’t have hooked up at all.” Galen entered his room and opened the container. Karen grabbed the fitted sheet and shook it out flat over the mattress.
Galen pulled two corners into place while Karen got the others. Galen tossed a pillow and pillow case to Karen, who put the case on the pillow while Galen did the same to the second pillow. Then he shook out the top sheet and spread it on the bed, Karen helping to smooth it out by pulling from the opposite side. Then the blanket. More of a quilt, really, with synthetic insulative material sewn between two layers of dark green coarse-thread cotton.
“Well, now we have a bed,” said Galen.
Karen stepped back into the doorway and said, “So you think we’d have never gotten together if I weren’t a sleeper. Are you some kind of freak for sleepers?”
Galen said, “You had time to think about it, that’s all I’m saying. Otherwise, it might have taken you a while to reveal your feelings for me.”
Karen moved her hands to her hips. “And that’s all?”
Galen patted the bed. “Have a seat. We have to load-test this bed.”
Karen removed her war gear from the closet and as she walked out of the bedroom she said, “Call me when you’re ready to apologize.”
Chapter Eight
Galen met Spike at the spaceport, seated in a corner booth of the snack bar. The shelves had just been stocked that afternoon but it wasn’t open for business. They were alone.
“Spike, I need some advice.”
“About what? This place is coming along nicely,” said Spike.
“Karen.”
“Oh. I thought it was something important.”
Galen said, “It’s important to me.”
“Trouble in paradise?”
“My bed came today.”
Spike said, “Not big enough for the both of you?”
Galen shrugged. “Haven’t found out yet. Right after me and Karen put on the sheets and blanket, she got mad and left.”
Spike leaned forward. “What did you say?”
“She said—”
“No. What did you say?”
“I said we need to load test the bed.”
Spike shook his head, “Before that. About five minutes before she got mad.”
“Oh.” Galen had to remember. “Oh, she asked why I didn’t ship the bed in the command drop ship and I told her I didn’t want to exercise excess privilege, and then she said I should have for her sake, and then I pointed out the fact I had no idea she really liked me until after she passed out at the jump point from being a sleeper, and then we made the bed, and then I said we should load test the bed and then she got mad and left. She told me to call her when I was ready to apologize.”
Spiked stifled a laugh. “Women don’t always think the way we do.”
“What do you mean?”
“One,” Spike held up his left thumb, “time is immaterial to them when it comes to love. Two,” Spike extended his left index finger, “they don’t want to be taken for granted.”
“But…that makes no sense.”
Spike said, “Look at it from her perspective. She’s in love with you and she gives herself willingly and unconditionally. But some part of her cries out for respect and demands you don’t take advantage of that unconditional love.”
“Okay. Now why should I apologize?”
“Here’s the deal. At some point, somewhere before she got her grandfather to send her on this mission, knowingly or not, intentionally or not, you said or did something that made her like you. Then she went into an eternal darkness and played that over and over in her mind, and came out of it and declared her love for you. So, she thought you liked her the whole time.”
Galen reached for his personal communicator. “So what do I say?”
“You…you have to pick your own words. Whatever you do, don’t lie. But here’s an outline. If it’s true, you say you liked her from the moment you first met. If not, tell the truth about when you first started to like her. Next, let her know how you feel, and then make some sort of promise you can actually keep. That’s very important, do not make a promise you can’t keep.”
Galen tapped his personal communicator. Spike stood to leave. Galen waved for him to sit back down.
Karen answered the call. “Hello.”
Galen said, “Hello. I love you very much.”
Karen said, “Is that all?”
“I liked you the first time I saw you, outside the board room. When you changed your hair and put yourself on this contract, I was thrilled. I didn’t know what to say, I wasn’t sure.”
“Okay.”
“Karen, when you came back from the jump, when I gazed into your eyes, I knew then I loved you.”
“I…”
“Karen, I’ll never take your love for granted, never again. Even though I know you love me no matter what, I’ll treat you with respect. You deserve it.”
“I love you too. Meet me somewhere.”
Galen put his thumb over the receiver and whispered to Spike, “She wants to meet me somewhere.”
Spike whispered, “Somewhere outside, secluded, with a good view.” Then Spike gestured vigorously at the personal communicator.
“The lake, Karen. We’ll meet at the spot where they broke ground for the park by the lake.”
“I love you, Galen.”
“I love you too.”
“I’ll be there soon.”
“Me too.”
“You called me, you end the transmission.”
“I’ll see you soon.” Galen pressed the ‘end call’ button.
Spike said, “You owe me one, making me sit through that lovey-dovey crap.”
Galen said, “Thank you. But it’s not crap.”
“Oaky, it’s not crap to you. But I’ve been through it before. You’re benefitting from my mistakes.” Spike stood and left.
Galen went back to his room and brushed his teeth and put on a fresh set of coveralls. Then he took up a light jog, just slow enough to not work up a sweat, for the two kilometer trip to the rendezvous point by the lake. He stood there and waited for about ten minutes and then he saw Karen approaching from a distance.
The sun was low on the horizon, nearing the rim of the crater in the distance, glowing orange behind her. As she got closer, the sun touched the crater rim and the light made Karen’s image a silhouette that seemed to not touch the ground, the rhythmic swaying of he hips something Galen had not really noticed before. He saw her as an entity, a spirit. She came closer, at arm’s length once again a solid person. Dressed in combat coveralls, a pony tail under a patrol cap. Galen stood with open arms and she walked right into him and he hugged her close. She tilted back her head and he removed her patrol cap and kissed her full on the lips for half a minute. He noticed the sun was half way below the rim.
“Look,” said Galen, and released his hug and gripped Karen’s shoulders and turned her around to see the sunset. They watched, standing side by side, Galen with one arm around her shoulders, Karen with one arm around his waist. After the sun set, they turned to watch the shadow of the crater’s rim inch its way up the side of the mountain.