Skyship Thrive by Ginger Booth

Author:Ginger Booth [Booth, Ginger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-02-04T08:00:00+00:00

21

The base version of the ‘star drive’ was insufficient to power a true interstellar starship. ‘Star’ referred to fusion, the process that powers a sun.

Abel completed a perfect landing in the Newer York parking lot the next evening, and shut Thrive’s systems back to domicile mode.

His piloting skills were getting pretty good. Sass, supervising from the copilot seat, thought she might let him drive the bus solo soon. She was about to pay him the compliment.

He opened his mouth first. “So. We’re here for you to…date…Hunter Burke again.”

“I suppose it’s a date,” Sass allowed. “I called first. Abel, I’m not dating the guy. I’m shacking up with him. I meet him. I bring him back. We have sex. We negotiate. In the morning, Jules opens her farm stand. Clear?”

Abel glowered. “Because he’s in the resistance.”

“That and he’s a good lay. Abel? I’m not married. I can have sex with whoever I want. Surely you did before you married Jules?”

“I married a virgin!”

“Well, she’s only fifteen.”

“I was a virgin too. I didn’t ask Jules if she was. No, I’m sure it was the first time for both of us.”

Sass chuckled, then took in his hurt face. She attempted contrition. “That must have been…awkward. And um, very sweet.”

“I studied up first!” he protested. “Just because I can’t sight-read doesn’t mean I’m an idiot. I picked out the best instructional videos, for us to watch together on our wedding night.”

Sass clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to be tactful. It didn’t work. She squeaked laughter, tears brimming from her eyes. “Here, darling. I have a porn selection to start off our wedding night!”

A vein throbbed on Abel’s beet-red face. “They were very helpful!”

With difficulty, Sass brought her chuckling back under control. “That’s… thoughtful of you, Abel. Sorry. I learned the sweaty groping amateur in the dark way, in a tent full of mildew.”

“Mildew?”

“Never mind. Do you and Jules want to walk to the bar with me?”

“No!”

“Fine. You’re just cranky because we’re doing Willow’s hill for time and fuel.”

Sass was pretty sore about that lousy deal, too. But they needed a real hill and a good reference. And Willow drove a hard bargain. They’d just come from her place. They’d spent most of the day planning the operation and ironing out the contract.

Turned out Willow really did want a sizable hill. She needn’t sacrifice any of her fields for it, either. She had several abandoned farms next door which she’d been gradually assimilating into her own. There would be no adjacent valley – Sass and Benjy would cut unincorporated wasteland a few kilometers away. They found an awkward daisy-chain of abandoned fields from the outskirts of town to the target field, to lower the risk of dropping debris. All Willow needed was permission from the town, and then to seal off the soon-to-be-buried irrigation netting. She should be ready for them next week.

“That pisses me off, too,” Abel allowed. “But I just – I don’t know, Sass. I feel like I ought to be protecting you.

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