“We’re going to be living on a ship,“ he whispered, testing the idea aloud.
Jorgan took a couple deep breaths of the damp, cool air.
And immediately sneezed.
He wouldn’t miss the spongeweed or slimeleaf or other plants that could
make him sneeze from half a kilometer away. His brother and parents had incredibly
sensitive noses and eyes, and that sensitivity to detail helped them as healers.
His nose only picked up allergies.
On a ship, he would be away from allergies.
On a ship, he would be just a few decks away from the engineers. Chances
to learn. Chances to meet up with people who might look at his gizmos and the things
he experimented with and understand what he had tried to do. And know why it didn’t
work. They wouldn’t look at it and tell him he made a good try, but they couldn’t
help him figure out what he did wrong.
“We’ll be on a ship,“ he said a little louder. Jorgan knew better than
to say the name of his hero. That could jinx everything. He refused to do that,
because he felt like he had been a jinx to his parents since they landed on this
planet.
“Yeah, on a ship,“ Shayn said from behind him. He offered Jorgan a crooked
grin when the younger boy turned around so fast, startled, he nearly knocked himself
off his feet. “Sorry. Excited?“
Jorgan just nodded. Despite everything being in silver-streaked shadows
from the starlight, he thought his brother’s expression was clear enough. Shayn
looked like he had the day they arrived at Kaylan Station, in orbit around Vayaneer.
He had been excited to learn they had a zero-gravity tank on the station, and even
more excited to learn there was a zero-ball tournament scheduled. Then, disappointed
to learn the tournament had ended the day before. Shayn loved zero-ball, and would
have given anything to see a game played live in front of him.
“Don’t you want to go? You could get training hours in, helping in Medical on the ship. You could put a lot of classes behind you before you even go to Basic, Mom and Dad both said.“
“Yeah. There’s that.“ Shayn brushed a last few raindrops off the edge of the bench to his right, and sat down. “But … I guess I never really thought we’d be leaving. I know this posting was temporary. Mom and Dad came here to help fight the flux, not become Fleet medics for the embassy. But …“ He sighed and his head drooped forward.
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