Radu and Rosie sat down to breakfast together. Bova stared at them, wide-eyed, over his plate of scrambled eggs. Breakfast had begun fifteen minutes ago. "Where were you two?" he asked.
Rosie giggled and looked at Radu. He looked back at her and smiled shyly. "Sorry," Rosie shrugged cheerfully. "I guess we just got lost on the way to breakfast."
Harlan picked at his food and stared at Rosie and Radu, who kept staring at each other, all through breakfast. Suzee and Catalina ate in silence as Rosie tried to make polite conversation. Miss Davenport and Commander Goddard were nowhere to be seen.
"Can we talk?" Catalina asked Suzee after everyone had finished eating.
Suzee noticed the concerned look on Catalina's face. "Yeah, sure. Do you want to go to my room?"
Catalina remembered that she still didn't know where her own room was. "Yeah," she said.
Once they were both settled on Suzee's bed, Catalina blurted out, "Harlan and I kissed last night."
Suzee raised one eyebrow. "Oh?"
"We were drunk. It was an accident. But I think I hurt him. I guess he thinks I was leading him on."
Suzee rolled her eyes. "Yep, that's Harlan for you."
"I think he needs to talk to someone, Suzee," said Catalina. "I'm really concerned about him."
"Well, this isn't the first time he's acted this way," said Suzee.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, come on, Cat. You must have seen how awkward it was between us on the Christa."
"I thought it had always been like that between you two," said Catalina. "Harlan and I were always competing with each other and you're even smarter, so I thought there was a rivalry between you two."
"Oh," said Suzee. "Yeah. About that. I wasn't supposed to tell you this, but since we're on the subject, Harlan and I had a fling a few years ago."
"Whoa. Wait. Seriously?" Catalina stared at her friend in disbelief.
"Yeah, we kept it all hush-hush. It stopped around the time we got you back. It was pretty intense."
...
It started in the lounge. The cadets were all watching a movie, an import from a strange planet that the Lumanians had uploaded into the ship's memory. Suzee had figured out a way to run download through Thelma, who subtitled the film, and everyone laughed at the unfamiliar aliens and their awkward dialog.
When the film was over Suzee suggest they watch another one, but everyone decided to retreat to their room except for Harlan. As Suzee started the film and settled in next to Harlan, he asked, "Hey, you said you could project your mind into any image. Could you project it into one of the characters in the movie?"
"I don't know," said Suzee. "I've never tried it on something that wasn't a real-time image. I'm kind of afraid of what would happen if I did."
"So everyone back in your dimension has this power?" Harlan rested his head on his hand and turned to face Suzee.
"Yeah, it's something we're born with."
"Then what does everyone use it for?" Harlan wanted to know.
"Well," Suzee took her eyes from the screen, "we're only supposed to use it in the most desperate of situations, like if someone appears to be unconscious and can't say what's wrong with them, we can go into their mind and see what happened to them. Or if it's consensual."
"Like when?" Harlan asked. "When would someone want you to go into their mind?"
Suzee looked down and smiled shyly. "I guess some people think it enhances their, uh, intimate experiences. Like they can feel what their partner is feeling."
"Strange." Harlan shook his head.
Suddenly the movie cut out and the screen went blank. "Hm," said Suzee, "there must have been some error in the file." She clicked the hologram projection off and stood up. "Well, good night, Harlan."
Harlan stood and faced Suzee, standing just inches from her. "Good night," he said, but suddenly he was kissing her. She kissed him back. Her fingers felt like electrical bolts, like she had been removed from time and planted into another place that had no floor, just energy.
They stumbled onto the couch and Suzee felt Harlan unbutton her shirt. Soon they were both in their underwear somehow. Where was the time going? Harlan drew his hand over Suzee's shape and she shivered under his touch. He was breathing so heavily she could feel his wet breath on her when he leaned in for another kiss.
"Suzee...are you okay with this?" he panted, suddenly seeming to realize where he was and just what he was doing as his mind rushed back into his body from somewhere far away.
"I think so," she said.
They sat there for a second, looking at each other, before Harlan removed the rest of his clothes. Suzee removed her own. She reached out her hand and touched Harlan. His skin was so smooth, his chest muscular. She felt herself getting warm.
Harlan reached under the couch cushions and brought out a small square packet. "I knew these would come in handy," he snickered.
Suzee almost choked trying not to laugh. "Where did you get that?"
"Earth," said Harlan smugly, tearing it open. He pulled Suzee toward him and closed his eyes. "I've been waiting for this for so long." He ran his hands down her arms. "You're so beautiful."
She pressed against him. He could feel her heart beating hard against his chest. "Hey," he said, tilting her chin towards him and looking her in the eyes. "You've done this before, right?"
"Well," said Suzee, "not exactly. Have you?"
"Uh, yeah. Of course. Maybe."
Suzee took a deep breath and Harlan followed suit. "Tell me if you want me to stop."
Suzee stroked his chest. "It's okay."
He slowly climbed on top of her. She could feel his legs shaking. She closed her eyes and gripped the edges of the couch, steeling herself. She cried out when she first felt him.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"No, no, keep going." She dug her nails harder into the couch. Her breath came out in short gasps. But then she felt herself being lifted, as if she were going to burst or float away. She heard Harlan's panting and she started moving with him. He opened his eyes and stared down at her, and she stared back. As he breathed harder and harder she put her arms around his neck and pulled him down toward her. His skin had grown slick with sweat. It was over too fast.
They drew apart and Suzee brought her nose to Harlan's neck and drew in his scent. "Yeah," he whispered to her, "that was good. That was good."
They found themselves sneaking off together several times a week. In the engine room, the green room, anywhere they couldn't be caught. They started focusing less attention on each other during the day and spending all their pent-up energy on each other at night. After awhile, when Suzee found her mind wasn't present while trying to work on the ship, she decided to confront Harlan.
"Hey, we're just friends, right?" she asked him one day as they were playing minbar chess together, waiting for the rest of the crew to go their separate ways.
"What do you mean?" Harlan asked, moving one of his figures.
"I mean we're not dating or anything, right? We're just casual."
"Yeah, of course," said Harlan. "Right. We're just friends. We're just friends who are bored and have nothing better to do out in the middle of space."
"Right," Suzee agreed.
But things seemed to get worse from there. The other cadets noticed that Harlan and Suzee pulled their gaze away from each other if one happened to catch the other's eye. Harlan seemed even more defiant than usual, and Suzee withdrew from everyone.
"So I had to tell him it was over," Suzee concluded. "But ever since then it's really kind of sucked. I thought I was finally getting used to my new home in space, but I couldn't focus on anything anymore. And what's worse is that everyone else seemed to blame Harlan. They thought he was trying to edge me out because I knew more than he did."
"So the two of you still haven't resolved it?" Catalina asked.
"No. We've barely spoken to each other at all. I think a big part of the reason the Christa was functioning so poorly was-" Suzee averted her gaze from Catalina "-that Harlan and I kind of let it. I didn't bother to check things properly anymore, and he tried to show off with all these fancy maneuvers that I didn't know if we were capable of performing. I feel bad that I could have compromised the rest of the crew now, but at the time I didn't care. I'm glad you came along when you did."
"I had no idea about any of this," said Catalina.
"Neither did anyone else," said Suzee. "It was so stupid."
"I guess I was focused on myself a little too much. I didn't really tell you much about my life on Yensid, did I?"
"I figured you would be missing something about," Suzee reasoned. "But I also thought you sensed the tension and were afraid. I'm sorry if I've come off as cold."
"No, no," said Catalina. "You're my best friend, Suzee. I knew you were hurting. Maybe I didn't know exactly why, but I understood."