Pandora: Liminal Space Book 2

Chapter Twenty-One

"How's the trip so far?" Claudia asked. She looked a little different at almost four months pregnant, a little softer and brighter. Her hair was down, and it fell in dark, shining waves around her face and shoulders. She looked happy, and Garrett appreciated that. He wondered how he looked to her.

"Oh, it's a thrill a minute. Truly. I can barely contain myself, what with all the excitement around here."

"Gare." She sighed with a certain exasperated fondness that Garrett had seen in his father at times. And Robbie. And Wyl. Come to think of it, everyone he was close to made that noise on a semi-regular basis. "Be honest."

"You don't want me to be honest, Claudia."

"Sure I do."

"No," he said emphatically, "you don't. Not if you value your sanity. I can tell you that I want to kill Jezria, however."

"She sent Miles a message that had him chuckling a few days ago. I think it was about you."

"Yes, well, they both have sick and twisted senses of humor. Seriously, you'd better hope the baby gets the vast majority of her personality traits from you. In fact, next time, screw the sex thing, just pop off a clone. The universe could use more Claudias."

"Garrett." It was too easy to make his step-mother blush. "Be serious for a moment. It's not really that bad, is it?"

"No," he assured her. "It's not that bad." Because the expedition wasn't—it was just oddly confining, restricting in a personal way that he hadn't had to deal with since boarding school. His work was enjoyably challenging but the atmosphere in the lab was brittle, and the tabs that were kept on his consumption of all things even remotely related to vice made him feel like an inmate. Plus the thing with the guy in the ship...yeah. Strange.

Jonah. Not "the guy", Jonah. Funny how he didn't want to forget that name.

"How did the elections go?" he asked, done talking about himself.

"Pretty smoothly. There were a few incidents but no more bombs, and no one was killed. The Federation troops are still out in force as part of a police effort as the new members of Parliament get situated, so Robbie and Wyl are working almost as much as Miles is. Oh!" Claudia smiled suddenly. "Wyl hired a friend of yours for the motor pool. I think his name is Isidore Cain?"

"Seriously?" It had been several months since Garrett had given Wyl Isidore's information, and he'd thought that nothing had come of it.

"Oh yes. Wyl was way too busy keeping all the vehicles going since all the troops are on call and he really needed the help, and apparently it's working out very well. I guess that getting the security clearance took longer than expected because of some of his family's connections, but it worked out in the end."

"He's related to people who were against Paradise joining the Federated Colonies?"

"In a big way, but I don't know the details. He's here now, though, and I've met him. He seems very sweet."

"'Sweet' is the perfect word for Isidore," Garrett said with a lascivious grin, and Claudia giggled. "Get him on his back with his legs in the air and—"

"Don't tell me about it!" she begged. "Gentlemen aren't supposed to tell!"

"Who did you think you were talking to, honey? Robbie?"

Claudia opened her mouth to speak, but then a chime went off in the background. "Oh. I'm sorry, Garrett, I have to go. We're hosting a dinner for the Parliament members and their families tonight and I need to start getting things ready."

"Better you than me," Garrett said easily. "I should head to the infirmary anyway."

"Infirmary, why? Are you okay?" Her pretty features creased with worry, and Garrett swore silently at himself even as he decided lying was the way to go here.

"I'm fine. I just have to take a first aid class. You know, what to do in case a natural gets his arm chopped off or something."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Go get ready for dinner, Claudia. Tell Dad hi for me."

"I will," she promised. "Hopefully next time he'll be able to talk."

"When things calm down a little," Garrett agreed. "Bye, honey."

"Bye, Gare." Her image winked out and Garrett shut off his screen. He hadn't actually signed up for a first aid class yet, but he knew the nurse would bother him again about it today. He'd been receiving perky little messages to that effect all week. In fact, the number of messages he received was huge considering he didn't have many friends on board the ship. It turned out most of the notices were for group socializing events, which Garrett had no desire to become involved with. Artificially constructed mixers where you got a flashing nametag and had to tell people Three Fun Things About Me!!! was not in the game plan, not if he wanted his brain chemistry to stay on an even keel. Thanks, but no thanks.

Garrett wasn't a complete shut-in. He had dinner with Jezria once a week, he ate lunches with Lila and Shekar, and he ran regularly with a group of the ship's security officers whom he knew by sight if not by name. Officer Brady turned out to be Officer Carrie Brady, and she was cute and could run like the wind, so they chatted more often than not while he worked out. The rest of the time, he worked or entertained himself. It wasn't a wonderful life, but it wasn't bad either.

Garrett forced himself off the couch and out the door. He wanted to get the infirmary appointment over with. Hopefully all would be well and he could give it a rest after this.