Across the Stars by Isa Medina & Maria Z. Medina

Author:Isa Medina & Maria Z. Medina [Medina, Isa]
Language: eng
Format: epub

The next day, I started a secret project.

I scoured the online world until I found a small niche on the side of a mountain. Roots and trees hung around the sides and a small trickle of water licked down the rocks to form a shallow, clear pond. I sat on the grass next to it and turned my panel on. I had the beginning of an idea, and, diligently, I worked every day until it became a form, and then the form became strings of thread, and the thread became a banner. A very special banner.

I wondered if Roe missed me. I missed his voice – one moment dry, the next moment so easily offended. I missed that cadence it took whenever he played along with my dumb comments. A hundred different excuses to call on him popped in my mind, but I didn't want him to know what I was working on. It was, after all, a secret.

As the days passed, I began to understand why some never stopped traveling. The window-wall in my cube gave me views of everything we passed. I fell asleep to it, and when I woke, before my eyes were fully open, excitement filled my body for a few seconds as I wondered what kind of cosmic painting would greet my sight.

It would be hard, if I were to keep traveling, not having my sisters there to cheer me up. To take my hand, pat my hair, and tell me how great I was. And it would be worse to be unable to do the same in return, if one of them were in need of it. I would miss walking, too, but if I got tired of the virtual exercise, all I had to do was strap the harness to my waist and walk disks around my cube.

I could see now the allure of long-distance studying and en-route jobs.

On the fifth day after our feast with the stars, I called on Roe.

"I would like to speak to Officer22," I enunciated carefully into the customer service channel. I only had to wait a minute.

"I am Officer22, valued customer. How may I help you today?"

I grinned – I couldn't help it. That voice in my ears, the little inflection on "valued," the tingling it awoke deep inside my chest. My memories of it hadn't done it justice.

"Yuexin," I said. "My name is Yuexin."

"I know."

"Not 'valued customer.'"

"You are both valued, and a customer."

"More like a stowaway."

"Very well. Dear valued stowaway, how may I help you today?" There was reproach in his voice, almost hurt. And yet, he was willing to play along with me. As he always had.

"Are you free tomorrow? I have a gift for you."

"I am free now." His tone was suspicious.

"Aren't you working? How were you able to answer so fast then?"

"Uh. Of course. I am. Working. I am working."

Why did he sound so bizarre? Had I made a mistake? I swallowed a lump of dread. Why had I thought he would be

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