This will certainly be different.
I heave my duffle bag onto the top bunk in my new room. It reminds me of a box while still being pretty sweet. The white furniture with black bedding and cushions make it sleek and sophisticated. I'll be sharing this room with three other guys. None of them are new to working on an outpost. Then there's me, who will be a spring chicken.
I've progressed in unpacking halfway through my duffle bag when two guys walk in, both at least fifteen years older than me.
The one on the right who looks friendlier lifts a hand in a salute. "Hey. I'm Jonathon."
I shake hands with him. "Lee."
The other one who has twelve inches on me, drops his suitcase on the bottom bunk across from mine. "Keagan."
"First time on one of these?" Jonathon asks while he unzips his suitcase.
"How'd you know?"
"Because you look like a deer in headlights."
I sink onto the edge of our fourth cabin mate's bed. "That obvious?"
Jonathon whistles. "Quite."
"So why are you here?" Keagan stares hard at me from his spot on his bed.
"What do you mean?"
"You're all the way from home in the middle of nowhere. So what is it? Parent problems? A broken heart? Or do you just fancy yourself an environmentalist?"
I shake my head, laying out my palms on my thighs. "Environmentalist. You seem skeptical."
Keagan leans back against the wall of his bunk. "I think the world's doomed."
Jonathon waves his hand. "Even if it is, Grenella Industries is almost done designing the first submerged city, and from what I've heard, the environmental outpost employee's families get priority for moving there."
I've seen the 3D models of it. If it works, it's going to be called a wonder of the world.
"Why are you here?" I ask Keagan.
"A broken heart of course." He crosses his arms. "My husband left me for a woman and took our children with him. For me, this outpost is about as far as I can distance myself from him. Well until now." He sends a glare over to Jonathon.
Oh dear.
I bite the bullet. "How do you two know each other?"
Jonathon's head is pretty much buried in his suitcase at this point. "The guy he was married to is my brother."
YOU ARE READING
Raven's Flight
Science FictionAfter finishing her college journey, Ava returns home. For her, home happens to be a high tech island city, and her uncle has offered her a job working with him on drones. It's not long before she runs into her high-school boyfriend, Lee. There's s...
