Page 4 of Surface Pressure

“Yes, sir.”

From the doorway, he tapped at a screen in his palm and walked away, not once having looked up during their entire exchange.

She might as well be invisible.

Her thoughts turned once again to the alien woman she had met. Since that afternoon, Autumn had thought about her far too often, imagining different ways they could see each other again. Only to remind herself that the beautiful creature was nothing more than a hallucination.

The stomp of boots finally arrived, and Autumn joined the troops on autopilot. She ignored the bravado and whiff of testosterone that she couldn’t escape no matter how many walks into the forest she took.

It had been the reason she had broken protocol in the first place and stepped outside of the long line of trees. The planet had been scanned multiple times and come back with zero life signs, so the order of isolation seemed ridiculous to say the least. If there was no life on the planet, why did anyone care if she wanted the fresh air of the beach.

“They’ve upped our quota,” Marshall said as Autumn slipped into the copilot’s seat. Every grunt knew how to pilot the water collectors, and all had to join in on at least one collection per week. Today was Autumn’s turn.

Autumn took in the cockpit with interest. The lack of space always pushed her to her limits in terms of comfort. Always smaller than she remembered from previous dives. The front shield was a deep dark gray, which made the space feel even tighter. The two chairs were identical, though the grooves in the floor allowed the pilot’s chair to move along a set pattern, while the copilot stayed in one spot.

Lifting her legs just enough to allow air to move between floor and the soles of her boots, Autumn entertained herself with the fact that the copilot’s seat swiveled.

“So we might be out here a bit longer than the normal dives.” Marshall continued to chat as though they sat in this small space together on a daily basis. Or the stray thought entered her mind, as though they might even be friends. But they weren’t, were they?

She watched him move the pilot’s chair along the paths. To Autumn it looked almost like a capital E, each end of the shorter lines stopping in front of the three consoles below the dark gray blacked-out screen. “But at least you’ll get more hours in this baby, far better than the quick dives most of the others have been on. Maybe you can level up to pilot rank faster.”

Marshall wasn’t a bad guy. In fact he was one of the only ones who bothered to talk to Autumn. Usually when his job demanded it or when they were alone. Right now, Autumn wasn’t sure which situation held priority. But either way, he spoke to her kindly and never snarled. She couldn’t guarantee it didn’t happen when she couldn’t hear, but there was no point dwelling too much on that.

“How many gallons do we need today?” Autumn forced herself to engage in the conversation. She did vaguely understand the main goals of the mission. The briefing she had been given had been incredibly simple and non-specific: keep the water collector pilots alive until they complete their quota of collection.

If the quota had gone up, that usually meant another mission had gone south, either from one of the unit’s previous dives, or one of the other nearby planets.

Autumn knew she should be concerned, worried about those back home who had water rations and restrictions. But the truth was, she hardly thought about them at all. She had spent too long trying to escape them. No way would she waste her thoughts on those happily left behind to their own ignorant existences.

“We need to collect double for the next three weeks.”

“Shit.” Autumn looked over at Marshall to see his grimace and nod as he returned her expression.

“Yep. So, let’s get started on Lesson 101, how to not crash the water collector.”

Autumn watched closely and listened just as hard as Marshall went through the start-up procedures. The world hummed around her, vibrating through the chair and into her chest. She smiled, and it amazed her how natural it felt when smiling had never been a common thing in her life. Nothing had been quite like she imagined when she had signed up as an interstellar protector. The smiles and joys hadn’t suddenly happened. Friends hadn’t suddenly appeared. But moments like this, learning something she would never have had a chance to do back there, made the continued questions and struggles of her existence entirely worth it.

“That looks good on you.” Marshall laughed. “Smiling definitely suits you.”

“Excuse me?” Autumn’s enjoyment dropped to her feet, her face losing the lift of enjoyment in an instant. “Did you just tell me to smile more?”

“Oh shit, I didn’t mean it like that.” Marshall groaned at himself. “Well, I guess I did. But fuck. I’m just a jackass. I’m sorry.”

Now Autumn laughed, not quite feeling as good as last time, but liking Marshall a little more. This situation wasn’t exactly uncommon, but she’d never had even the hint of an apology before.

“It must be tough,” Marshall said, maneuvering the ship through the water. “Being the only female out here.”

“Better than back home.” Autumn couldn’t believe the words had slipped out of her mouth. She couldn’t believe a lot of things lately. Images of Soulara, naked and shimmering in the sun, came to the forefront of Autumn’s mind.

“You too, huh?” Marshall chuckled, scattering Autumn’s strange but beautiful imaginings to the back of her mind.

“You too?” Autumn didn’t want to assume Marshall spoke about himself, though she sensed that was precisely what he meant. She wouldn’t be like many of the idiots she had to train with. She would know the details before jumping on a scrap of information and creating the rest.

“I joined to get off planet. Most of us pilots did.” Marshall said it as though it were entirely inconsequential. But the words hit Autumn hard in her plexus.

“Really?” Truth be told she hadn’t spent a lot of time with the pilots, but still the information surprised her. Perhaps she was more like the idiots with her assumptions than she would ever want to be.

The pilots had different workout regimens and times. They generally stuck to themselves. Autumn had believed the shit the others said about them thinking they were better than the lowly grunts. She should have known better. She would from now on.

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