Page 3 of Across The Stars
“What about Jason?”
“Screw Jason. I’m talking aboutus.” I grumbled, slouching my shoulders and staring at Sam in defeat.
“What do you mean ‘screw Jason.’ You just told me you were in love.”
“Fuck him! Look, if you can honestly tell me this is the direction you want your life to go and you’re happy, then I’ll drop it, but don’t lie.”
“Did you two break up?”
“Stop. Just focus, ok? Answer me.”
“Well…” Sam hesitated, taking deep breaths and continuing to bite her nails. I raised my brows at her. When her eyes lifted to meet mine again, she started chewing on the inside of her cheek. “I mean... no. I’m not happy, but—”
“Exactly. I say we go. You can forge documents. Well, you know people who can. I know you can get it done. All the Nexus needs are workers. They need people in almost every position you can think of.”
“That won’t fly forever. What happens when they need us to do something spacey or smart?”
“That’s next week’s problem.”
“Ok.” She paused. “I’ll need a little time.”
“How long?”
“A couple months? And I’d need money. I know someone, but he isn’t cheap. Forging our degrees requires getting in the system and—”
“How much?”
“I don’t know. Ten thousand at least. And that’s just for one of us.”
“Fine. I’ll work double shifts. I’ll show more ass. We will stop paying rent for a bit. Bruce won’t kick us out right away. Whatever it takes, please. Let’s leave this trash heap.” I grabbed her shoulders again and smiled dreamily. “Let’s get into trouble, huh?”
Sam looked timid, her eyes wide for a while before I saw faint traces of a smile stretch across her plump lips. A few more seconds of letting the idea brew and she was giddy with excitement.
“Oh my god,” she said. “Let’s do it. Let’s go to space.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Let’s get out of this little box. Leave Six behind. Leave all of it behind!”
2: Innifer
(Four Months Later)
I stood outside an old, concrete building, leaning up against a graffitied wall. When I thought about it, it smelled like piss… so I didn’t want to think about it. I pushed off the wall and crossed my arms, pacing back and forth in the narrow alley. There was a red light blinking above, making crimson reflections on the puddles in the street, which for some reason was making me paranoid. It was dark out and the little corner wasn’t well lit or in the best part of town. Not that there was really a good part of town, but still. I didn’t like it.
There was a metal door with rust on the hinges and chipping green paint on the outside. Sam had disappeared through itsome time ago and I was growing impatient. She was a small woman. Easy to take advantage of. The people she was talking to weren’t exactly honorable and if they requested sex or something more from her, she’d give it. I was about to storm in and tell her just to forget the whole thing when Sam stepped out through the door, laughing flirtatiously with a burly man in a neon green jacket. The look on his face was pure bliss. Then his brown eyes met mine and he wriggled an eyebrow.
“She wanna go?” he said.
I narrowed my eyes and Sam shook her head with another girlish giggle.
“No, she’s incredibly catholic,” she said. “Very strict. Even with simulations.”
She hopped up on her toes to kiss the air near the man’s cheek with an exaggeratedmuahsound and headed toward me. The man looked me up and down with a grin and then headed back inside as Sam sped walked down the alley. I rushed to catch up to her, shoving my hands into my jacket pockets and waiting for the news. She was quiet until we got to the street. The brightness of all the lit-up signs was almost headache-inducing and the sounds of traffic even more so.
“Sam,” I nudged.
“Not now,” she said in a low tone.
