The Soulmate Curse

Ingenuity - Part 3

"Woah," said Zhen, securing her foot against the wall then catching Finn before she banged into some equipment. They ended up with their faces only centimetres away. Finn's fiery red hair floated around her. Zhen had never wanted to kiss anyone as much as she did at that moment. "Careful."

"It's not as easy as it looks," she said, using Zhen to steady herself.

"You'll get used to it," Zhen replied with a laugh, floating away so that she didn't have a chance to act on her impulses.

Being nothing but a tourist on this supply ship was a glorious experience for Zhen. She had no worries. No training to exercise, no commander to shadow, no pressure to listen to whatever mission control was saying. All she had to do was sit back and relax. And take care of Finn. They spent the first day staring out the portholes, watching the Earth get further away. Finn couldn't get enough of it. Zero gravity lost a little of its shine after a while, but that didn't seem to happen with watching the blue marble spinning.

"Hungry?" Zhen asked, joining Finn after a few hours with a sachet of printed mac and cheese.

"Starving," Finn said as she gratefully grabbed the sachet. "Thank you."

Finn scooped a bit of food onto her spoon and then let the spoon float away in front of her before proceeding to try and catch it with her mouth. Zhen laughed.

"I gather you like zero gravity?" said Zhen with a smile, nostalgic at the thought of her own first zero gravity experiences.

Finn grinned wildly and was definitely about to whoop in excitement, but instead chose to be cool.

"It's alright, I guess," she said with a shrug as she pressed a water bag and watched a bubble of water pinch off the bag before getting into her mouth.

"The first thing I did in zero-g was a back flip," said Zhen. "We were on the orbiter and it only lasted for a few minutes, but I remember just thinking how awesome it was and how I couldn't wait to live in a space station."

"Somehow, I can't imagine you as an innocent, bright eyed zero-g initiate," said Finn. "I've been watching you move around the ship. I half expected you to grow a monkey tail with all the flips and leaps. You're really good at this."

"You've been watching me, huh?" said Zhen, chalking up her quickening heartbeat to an odd reaction to weightlessness, nothing more.

"When you move so fluid-like that it looks like you're dancing? Of course," said Finn as a matter of fact. "Especially because you're not as graceful on a dancefloor under the influence of gravity, if I remember correctly."

"Hey, I can hold my own on a dancefloor," Zhen protested.

"All the evidence I've gathered so far says otherwise."

"That's because you don't have enough data."

"Are you asking me out to dance, Zhen."

"Only for the sake of science."

"Deal. It's a date."

Zhen was revelling in how the feeling of her heart taking flight to those words was totally appropriate in this moment, when the commander came over to join them. The supply ship had 4 main technical crew members, all of them women.

"Do you girls play poker?" Commander Stevenson asked.

"I do," Finn replied excitedly.

"I dabble," said Zhen with a nonchalant shrug.

"Great! We're just about to start a game if you're interested."

"Hell yeah!" yelled Finn, pushing off towards the common room in excitement.

"I like her," said the commander, laughing as she watched Finn clumsily make her way to the poker table.

"Yeah, me too," Zhen quietly replied with a smile.

The poker game was intense. They didn't have much to bet with, so after a while it turned into strip poker between the five women who were playing. The pilot wasn't a poker player. She was in her room chatting with her husband and their gorgeous toddler. At the poker table, Commander Stevenson showed her cards, calling on Zhen's bluff. Zhen smiled. She hadn't been bluffing. The commander took off her pants. Now all four women were in nothing but their underwear with Zhen having taken not a single garment off.

"I can't believe I let you hassle us, Roberts!" she said, laughing.

Zhen laughed. "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it. You guys are too much fun to mess with."

Priya, one of the other technical crew members, yawned loudly.

"Alright, that's the cue for bedtime," said Commander Stevenson. "Let's all get some shut eye before Zhen has us all naked."

Everyone laughed and gathered their clothes to head to their rooms. Zhen breathed a sigh of relief. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to win the next round. Not while her brain was now completely taken over by thoughts of semi-naked Finn, with that moon-phase tattoo snaking up from the middle of her torso towards her left shoulder blade. She had a new tattoo as well, on her right leg. A gorgeous 3D stylised tree design that ran from her ankle and up her shin. Yeah, Zhen knew for a fact that her win on that last round had been a total fluke considering how unfocussed she'd been. She felt a yawn climb up her throat as well.

"I'm ready to call it a day," she said, gathering up the cards and handing them to the commander. "Thanks for the entertainment."

"I won't forget this, Roberts," she said with a smile.

The next two days were just as fun, with Finn and Zhen hanging out together while the crew were busy and then all of them joining in for a bit of fun before bedtime. It was nice to get a chance to bond with Finn, teaching her about zero gravity, flirting and playing together without having to overthink everything. Zhen treasured every moment because she knew that she would need to remember this trip forever. That it would keep her going in the brutal months that would inevitably characterise her upcoming future.