Pandora: Liminal Space Book 2

Chapter Thirty

For Garrett, talking with Robbie for any stretch of time these days was almost as rare as getting a moment with his father, and he was trying his best not to squander it. Wyl was working while Robbie was home for once, and Garrett was doing his best to maintain his half of the conversation despite the fatigue that had set into him over the past week.

Unfortunately, Robbie wasn't like Wyl. Wyl could practically carry a conversation by himself, and he knew how to interpret murmurs and grunts with the best of them. Robbie wasn't as much of a talker, and he was surprisingly good at reading people for someone who worked in a concrete, military, hierarchical world. Of course, he also had a lot of experience at reading Garrett.

"So, why aren't you sleeping?"

"I am!" Garrett protested. Robbie just raised an eyebrow. It was an expression that seemed contemptuous if you didn't know better, and even then it could still be annoying. Like right now. "At least four hours a night."

"That's not enough."

"Don't I know it," Garrett sighed. "This is the problem with having regular working hours. There's no time for catnaps. Not that my working hours have been at all regular lately."

"What's Martina up to?"

"Well, we've finally entered Pandora's system. We land today, actually, and so Martina's been going crazy getting instruments recalibrated, prepping for the power transfer, compiling data for the science team she left on the planet...we've been working sixteen-hour days. Something she's apparently allowed by contract to require us to do, if circumstances can be justified as 'extraordinary.' This fucking contract," he groaned, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "If I never sign another goddamn employment contract again it'll be too soon."

Robbie graciously let that go without teasing Garrett the way Wyl would have. "And how about Jonah?"

Garrett frowned. "When did I tell you about Jonah?"

"Wyl told me."

"Oh. Right. It's going okay. It's...frustrating," Garrett admitted. "He's hard to get a read on because of Cody. I'm usually really good at figuring out what people want and giving it to them, at least for a while. I know what Jonah wants, on one level at least, but he won't do what he wants with me. Did Wyl tell you about the movie?"

"Yeah." Robbie actually cracked a smile. "I have to say, I have trouble picturing you sitting through a kid's film."

"I know. Especially one about evil sentient meteors." Garrett stared down at his hands, hoping his frustration didn't show in his face. "Since then we've done dinner once, all three of us in a restaurant, not either of our apartments. It was nice, but hardly intimate. And then Cody's class came to the lab and I did a presentation on Pandora's climate with my simulator."

Thinking about that brought a reluctant smile to his face. It wasn't that it was an opportunity to be alone with Jonah; Garrett was beginning to think that that wasn't going to happen again. It was that it was actually pretty fun for a while, insofar as fifteen five-year-olds had the capacity to be anything other than terrifying.

Martina had kicked up a fuss when she found out he had invited them to visit, but the freedom to conduct educational seminars was a nice surprise he'd dug up in his own contract, and it helped that Cody's teacher, Mr. Hugelin, was Lila's elusive new love interest. Lila was pleasantly surprised to see him, and Shekar was a masochistic mix of curious and jealous, so he also encouraged the interlopers. Jonah and another parent, a short black woman with twin girls in the class, rounded out the motley crew.

The presentation had gotten a mixed result. Garrett had darkened the back of the lab and set his simulator up to project across the walls, and without really considering it he ran the last simulation he'd plotted, the one that ended with the world subsumed by the sea. The kids were interested enough in the beginning, but by the time the tidal wave washed over them half of them were screaming, several were crying and Cody had actually covered his eyes with his hands.

It then became a matter of damage control to turn the lights back on, reassure frightened children that that wasn't going to really happen to them (although technically it was, at least once a year, but Garrett didn't feel like it was the right time to point that out), and show them something far more pleasant and innocuous to soothe childish nerves and adult indignation.

The only good thing to come out of it, as far as Garrett could see, was the fact that Jonah seemed to find the whole thing more amusing than anything else. He'd stared at Garrett over the top of Cody's head with a smile on his face, that same calm, relaxed smile he'd shown when he'd pushed Tamara into fixing Garrett's ship. Then he'd winked, and Garrett managed to let go of his sudden surge of anxiety, herded the children around a microscope and showed them something blobby with flagella that they all found wonderfully disgusting.

Robbie was actually laughing by the end of Garrett's retelling. "I would have paid to see that."

"I bet you would have, you sick fuck," Garrett muttered, but his heart wasn't in it. "Be kind to me when you tell Wyl about it, I can't take his particular brand of teasing when I'm this unsettled." And he was, and it was ridiculous, but he couldn't help it. The few hours of sleep he got every night now were filled with dreams that revolved around Jonah and Cody, and in none of those dreams did Garrett manage to do anything right.

"Relax," Robbie said, in that tone of voice that commanded and soothed all at once. Miles had that tone as well; maybe it was a military thing. "I'm sure they both like you. It's not as though you can't be a nice person."

"Being likeable isn't enough. Anyone can be a friendly Mr. Joe Blow. I need to be more than that. It would be different if he and I were sleeping together," Garrett said tiredly. "I can make myself indispensable when I'm sleeping with someone if I really try. If you hadn't been gone so much when we were together I would have managed to keep you." Whoops, did that actually slip out?

Robbie frowned. "We both fucked up with our relationship, Gare. It wasn't a matter of you not being good enough for me."

"Oh, I know that," Garrett said airily, essaying a smile. It wasn't convincing Robbie, but before his ex could say anything else Garrett changed the subject. "I talked with Claudia yesterday. She's looking pregnant, huh?"

"Very. Although I hope you didn't phrase it like that to her."

"No, I told her she glowed with a motherly radiance," Garrett grinned. "She still looked like she wanted to smack me."

"She smacked Wyl this morning when he ate the last of her stash of mint chocolates," Robbie said. "She didn't hit him hard, of course, this is Claudia, and she apologized afterwards, but I think your dad being away so much is hard on her."

"I actually talked to him for a while too. He looks exhausted." Miles had looked far too exhausted to deal with any of his son's personal issues, and so Garrett had stuck to the basics and let his father have the comfort, however minimal, of Garrett's virtual presence without any fuss.

"Paradise is a very unstable place right now," Robbie confessed. "The new parliament is in place but there are accusations of voter fraud, and some of the outlying states are threatening to secede again. If they do that the entire planet's Federated status could be jeopardized, which your father wants to avoid if at all possible. Plus, there are the personal threats..."

"Yeah, Claudia told me about them. Not so much against her but definitely against Dad."

"We're taking every precaution we can." Robbie shrugged his shoulders. "It'll work out, I think, once the parliament gets settled and a few laws get passed."

"I'm sure it will," Garrett murmured. "Make Wyl take care of you when he gets off work. You look as tired as I feel."

"Wyl's working long hours these days too. Isidore's been a real help to him, though."

"Glad to hear it," Garrett said. He glanced at his watch and sighed. "I've got to go. We're docking in an hour and I've been invited to watch from the observation deck." The private observation deck was one level below the captain's cabin, and you had to have an invitation to be admitted. That had been Jonah's doing, and Garrett appreciated it even though he knew they wouldn't be alone.

"Have fun." They exchanged their goodbyes and Robbie signed off. Wyl glanced down at what he was wearing, a pair of loose, comfortable drawstring pants and a t-shirt, and decided something dressier was called for. He got up to rummage through his closet, finally deciding on a suit in jade green that struck a nice balance between professional and elegant. He paired it with a high-necked black silk shirt that brought out his eyes, smudged a little liner around them to bring them out even more, and decided his hair was as artfully mussed as it was going to get at this length. He'd have to get Lila to cut it again soon.