Scene 023
"Are you ready to take your call?" Cat asked breaking into Amy's concentration.
"What?" asked Amy. She stopped pacing next to the broken coffee table. Anxiety filled her, her skin was crawling as it had for the last hour. Feeling edgy, she felt as if at any moment something was going to jump out at her.
"You call is here. Do you want to take it?"
"Yes," said Amy and then added almost to herself, "Something is wrong."
"Here is your call. I will leave you to deal with it in private," said Cat.
"Hello," said Amy. Trying to get herself under control, She took a few deep breaths and plopped down on the relaxation chair.
"Greetings, my mate," said the rich voice. "I heard you had some excitement this morning." The beautiful had a controlled rhythm to it.
"Oh, yes, a blast, literally," said Amy.
The voice gave a short bark of laughter. "I will assume; I'm going first today." Amy felt a little of her tension disappear.
"No, I want to go first today," said Amy, interrupting. "Are you feeling out of sorts or upset about something? I've been feeling weird for about two hours, now. I've felt cooped up and edgy all morning. The only person, I can think of, I might be reading these feelings from is you."
Silence filled the room, then a sigh came across the speakers and the voice came flowing into the room. "Yes, I'm on my way to you. The only way for me to arrive is very tricky. I'm in a small experimental shuttle. I've not been in any type of shuttle for a long time."
"Oh." Tension levels rose a little more. Amy gripped the arms of the chair.
"I know you were hoping to have all of our questions asked before we meet, but it couldn't be helped. How do you feel about it?" asked the voice. Concern filled his tone.
"I've one more question before I answer yours. Why are you so anxious about shuttle travel?" Amy asked carefully.
Silence fell between the two and then he replied, "About three years ago, I was in my private shuttle. It had an experimental engine in it, the same type that is in this one, and it blew up. I was hurt badly. This is the first time I've been in any type of shuttle since."
Amy took a deep breath and for the first time felt the relaxing chair's movements under her. "You must want to see me very badly. I guess; I can't feel really upset about that," said Amy. She didn't know how to feel. She was neither happy nor quite angry.
"It's more like, I need to see you." He paused. "My last question, will you share a meal with me when I arrive?" He asked.
"Yes, I'll share a meal with you upon your arrival. Come to my cabin and Cat will let you in," said Amy. A shy excitement was showing in her voice.
"I must go now. I will be seeing you soon, but I won't contact you again until our meal. Cat has a description about the kind of discipline I can teach you. We'll start on an exercise program for you when I get there, if you like?"
Amy felt the transmission disconnect. She put the relaxing chair totally back and silently cried herself to sleep.