Rising Ark

Sam wasn’t a particularly emotional doctor. He wanted people to feel better, but he didn’t generally talk much to patients except to learn their condition. Most considered him cold, but efficient, except for when the worst possible patient didn’t survive.

Since then, Sam had been glad to work with a crew that mainly stayed uninjured. The smaller patient pool gave him less to worry about when it came to operations.

So of course they had to have a client that insisted on fighting and gave himself a laceration by superheating nearly a dozen androids.

“Are you an idiot?” he asked his patient as he stitched him up, “You’ll need to go to a hospital the moment we land, by the way. We can get the package where you need it.”

“It seemed like a clever plan at the time.”

“It would have been clever from my sister, who can’t get injured long enough to need treatment. You are a different story, friend.”

“I survived, didn’t I?”

Sam considered smacking him upside the head, but he had been taught better bedside manner.

Instead he muttered, “Blossom was right.”

Katy had now recognized the engineer, disbelieving that he could have forgotten her voice. Given the fact she wanted him gone, he assumed it best to tread carefully.

“What do you know about your engineer by the way?” Katy asked.

“Whatever part of her past you want to snitch on, leave it. I know she keeps secrets, but I’d rather hear it from her.”

“I was genuinely curious, though I suppose I worded it awkwardly.”

“Well,” Sam said, “I’m going to keep her privacy, if you don’t mind, or even if you do, I suppose.”

Katy gave a solemn nod.

“I just wanted to know if she’s alright.”

“Yeah well, last time someone wanted to check up on her, she wound up kidnapped, so pardon me if I don’t seem to trust you.”

“At least she has one friend to protect her it would seem.”

There was nothing wrong with being considered a friend. Sam understood that, understood even that it was a better assumption when it came to keeping Blossom’s secrets. That didn’t make him any less offended.

“Fiancé,” he corrected, “I’m her fiancé.”

“Oh,” was all Katy could respond, “So was I.”

Katy shrank as Sam watched him intently.

“Excuse you?”

“Years ago, obviously.” Katy’s information poured out of him after the hint had slipped, “She left abruptly. I never knew why. I’m not after her again, if you’re worried about that. We met at university, different tracks but we shared a few classes. We got along well, and I thought I loved her, but it’s become a more confusing prospect since she left, a long time ago, like I already said. I doubt she loves me back, and I’m happy for her—”

Sam held a hand up. Katy stopped.

“I’ve done all I can for you, you can go back to your quarters.”

Katy remained frozen.

“Now.”

Katy got off the bed.

“Not too fast,” Sam warned before he could run, “It’ll hurt your stitches.”

Sam almost leaned against the wall, but suddenly felt less comforted by Blossom’s work.

“Where is she?” he asked.

“There you are,” Noah said as she came in hearing range of their panicked passenger, “Thanks for your help, by the way.”

“Anytime,” Katy said, eyes moving every which way. Noah put her hands on his shoulders.

“No one’s going to hurt you,” she assured him, “I almost panicked after going out there the first time. It messes with your head a bit.”

Noah was diagnosing the wrong problem. Katy didn’t know how to explain that her brother threatened him, so he just breathed with her, calming down significantly.

“Your brother’s bedside manner—”

“Leaves much to be desired,” Noah finished, “Yeah, I’ve known him all my life. He does want to help, though.”

“Does he?” Katy asked.

Noah nodded.

“It’s just been awhile since he’s had to stitch someone up.”

Katy took a moment to nod, then swallowed.

“He’s engaged to your ship’s engineer.”

“Yep,” Noah said, “We’ve talked wedding plans, but there’s nothing substantial. What do the Celtic Isles look like this time of year?”

Katy didn’t respond.

“You’re not married to her, are you?” Noah asked.

Katy shook his head.

“She left me before we could reach that point.”

Noah tried to keep her eyes a normal size, and definitely failed.

“That shouldn’t be worse, but it is, I think.”

“No hard feelings,” Katy claimed, “Well a few hard feelings: Anger, disappointment, confusion, but none I’m going to cause problems with. I’ll just return home, and never let anyone know what I found out, except for maybe a trusted confidant or two.”

Luckily Noah didn’t have to respond as turbulence kicked in.

“We have arrived on Earth and will be making our way to the Celtic Isles soon,” The Widow’s calm voice said.

“Looks like you’ll be able to make good on your promise. Buckle up.”

“Who is he?” Sam asked, not bothering with pleasantries as he entered the engineering hatch.

Blossom had listened to his conversation, but she still didn’t want to talk about it. Her past never seemed to do anything but cause problems for the crew.

“I knew him in college. We hit it off. I was aimless, until I realized I couldn’t go through with it, and I left.”

“And what’s to stop that from happening with me?” Sam asked.

“I can’t really run away from the Rising, can I?” Blossom didn’t know how to explain the difference between feelings borne from obligation versus feelings that just were, so she worked in simple facts.

“I don’t know if I’d put it past you,” Sam admitted, every revelation felt like a warning to stop this relationship before it became something that would hurt more.

“I want to stay,” Blossom said, inching toward him.

“Did you want to stay with him?”

“I didn’t want to leave,” she admitted, “I was too afraid to go, but I had it explained to me that I needed to give my whole heart to someone if I wanted it to aim true, and I couldn’t chain someone to me if I wasn’t willing to do that much.”

Sam finally sat down, anger giving way to mistrust and disappointment.

“Are the secrets going to stop?”

Blossom opened her mouth and closed it.

“I’m out of contact with most of my family,” she admitted, “And most of my old friends, most of old life, honestly. I don’t tell you about most of it because I hated most of it. This is my life. This is the life I want, and the life I choose to build. I’m not hiding them because I don’t think you deserve to know. I’m just choosing not to think about them, because they aren’t worth thinking about.”

“And him?”

Blossom shrugged.

“I feel sorry about him. I just don’t know what to do about it.”

At least every secret gave Sam a chance to hear Blossom’s blunt and awkward honesty, like a crooked smile that seemed much more beautiful than a straight one.

“Maybe start with—”

Everything shook, causing the lovers to finally hold each other’s arms. They waited to see if they needed to prepare for something worse.

“We have arrived on Earth and will be making our way to the Celtic Isles soon,” The Widow warned.

The couple moved to Blossom’s alcove, which offered enough cushioning to keep them from hurting themselves in the descent.

They held the quiet for a moment, refusing to pull away from each other.

Just as they were about to release their breath to laugh, another announcement came.

“It would seem we are under attack again.”

Blossom ran, clinging to vines that kept her upright as she moved to a better positioned wall.

“The pressure’s too low at our altitude,” she noted, “It has to be androids again.”

“I thought we handled them.”

“They may not be the same ones.”

She focused on the outside of the ship. It was all she could do.

“Senyr,” Noah yelled, “Any ideas?”

“You and Avery might be able to recover from the lack of oxygen, but the speed of the ship would send you right off.”

“How are they staying on then?”

“Magnets probably.”

“How do you stop a magnet?” Noah asked.

“I have an idea,” Katy offered.

“You are not burning my ship!” Blossom threatened.

“I have an alternative,” The Widow offered, “Though some aerospace laws may be violated. I will require Mr. Katy’s assistance.”

Blossom knew exactly what she was planning.

“Just go with the first one!”

Moments later, Katy joined them in the engineering room.

“You better do this fast!” Noah yelled.

“We will.”

Blossom understood the one way she was getting out of this. She extended her hand, which Katy clutched tightly.

It felt like she was overheating, but if he did it directly then most of the ship would die, and they’d plummet.

She waited patiently for a chance to say they were out, then promptly fainted.

Noah sat in the hospital seat, holding silent vigil over the hospital bed.

Its occupant stirred, but he’d done that several times without lucidity.

“Sorry if we gave you nightmares,” Noah apologized. She’d made an apology at every inconvenience. Sam had explained the extent of his injuries, and she knew that her recklessness had caused this.

Her penance was sitting with him overnight to ensure no one had their revenge over his success in returning his weapon to the family.

“What are you doing here?” Katy asked.

“Making sure you don’t get killed, and asking the nurse for whatever you think you need.”

“Can they give me drugs to make me go to sleep again. Everything hurts.”

“I can ask.”

Before she could get up, Katy grabbed her hand.

“Actually I have a better favor.”

“What is it?”

“Does your ship have an opening?”

That was the last thing Noah expected him to ask.

“Who are you recommending for such a dangerous job?”

Katy finally let go of her hand.

“I have finished my lifelong quest of returning Excalibur to its home. Ship life seems less aimless than my other options.”

“You’ll have to ask them.” She gestured to the other bed, which held Blossom, recovering from heatstroke. Sam was hovering over it, somehow not tired at all.

“I don’t think he’ll ever sleep again.”

“Tomorrow,” Katy promised.

“Yeah, tomorrow.”