Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Chapter 8: storm's coming

Cameron woke up to the smell of eggs cooking. She wrinkled her nose, noting that Harper's side of the bed was cold. Had he gone to bed? He had been working on the blue print until late. Cameron was never sure if tekcom truly took that much time or if Harper got distracted playing with the new technology.

She pulled one of his shirts over her head and stumbled into the kitchen. Harper noticed her immediately, sliding a hand around her waist and kissing her with lips that tasted like orange juice. She pulled her fingers through his hair when he released her, trying to get it to lay flat. Harper's hair, now that it was longer, never lay flat.

"I cracked the passcode, and I'm almost done with the fake," he told her. "You can probably set up an appointment with Lincoln and Julius this afternoon, I should probably sleep before we do the transfer."

"You could have slept last night," she pointed out.

"Nonsense. I'll sleep when I'm done. I'm cooking scrambled eggs, do you want any?"

Cameron shook her head, not feeling very hungry.

"I'm going to get dressed," she yawned.

"You could go in that," he suggested. "I think you look nice."

"Ha ha, Harper Harris. Some of us have some propriety."

"Some of us have fun!" he called as she slipped back into the bedroom.

She pulled on her usual uniform pants and a grey shirt, not feeling very colorful today. If Harper had his way, she would only have purple shirts, but fortunately for her and their credits, Cameron pointed out that purple would only rub it in that they spent their credits on clothes. She didn't want to be those kind of people.

She combed her hair and reemerged in the living room. Harper sliced some bread, handing her a slice.

"See you at lunch?" he inquired.

She nodded, wondering if she should make an appointment with Madison if she continued to feel this nauseous all day. Libba met Cameron at the door of the personnel bay. Cameron was a little surprised, Libba had a tendency to be late. Unlike her partner, she had acclimated to the dress code and style of the base, even picking up the lingo. Libba, however, had not quite acclimated to the schedule the base kept.

"We want to head out to the Canary," she said as Cameron walked through the sliding double doors.

"We?" Cameron questioned.

"Matisse and I. We've been trying to patch through the signals of the comm buoys, but we're either missing something or don't have a strong enough transmitter. Either way, we could find one on the Canary."

Libba looked quite anxious about this. Cameron had been hesitant to bring the woman into her department, but she had been a valuable team member. She knew how to talk to people, and when half of personnel's job was settling feuds and calming people: she was perfect. Her main job was working with Matisse to reestablish contact with Earth, which most people thought as nothing more than a dream and a waste of resources. Cameron thought on the off chance that Earth was sending another ship that it would not be a wasted project. And she was the department head so could allocate resources as she saw fit.

"So why right now?"

"Because the earthstorm hits tomorrow morning and then we'll be stuck here," Libba explained. "And we can't do any more troubleshooting or work until we have a better transmitter. We'll go out and then come right back. Shouldn't take more than eight hours."

"But you have to leave now," Cameron realized. "Very well. I want you to message me every hour you're out there. Not all of them will reach, but if I don't hear back from you for six hours, I'm sending someone after you. Where's Matisse?"

"Getting the hover ready in the event you said yes," Libba smiled. "Sunshine. See you soon."

"Libba, aren't I supposed to have dinner at your berth tonight?" Cameron inquired.

Libba nodded. "We're having fried rice. I think you'll like it!"

The woman hurried off. The idea of food was a little nauseating to Cameron at the moment; her stomach had been doing flips ever since she woke up this morning. She messaged Madison about scheduling an appointment and then focused on her work at hand.
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Nerves, perhaps? She is contemplating murdering people after all.
This is quite possibly the shortest chapter I've posted so there is a DOUBLE update today. Thanks for reading!