Storytime Blog Hop - February 2021 - Any Other Way

It’s that time again! Free stories from around the world, and these ones are valentines or anti-valentines themed. Enjoy!

Any Other Way

AnnaMarie curled into her husband's embrace. One whole day off. All of Valentine's Day to luxuriate in--

Her com chimed, jolting Brent awake.

"No," she whispered, declining the call. Not on their day off.

Brent mumbled something incoherent, then burrowed deeper into the bed. He wasn't a morning person, not that there was a real "morning" on a spaceship, considering the heavy layers of radiation shielding blocking out the sun.

Since she was up anyway, AnnaMarie slid out of the bed and headed for the tiny kitchenette to start the coffee.

Her com chimed again, an accompanying text scrolling across the lens in her left eye. "Emergency!"

With a snarl, she accepted the call.

So much for Valentine's Day.

*

First, it was the captain.

"I can't," he groaned, hiding his face in his hands. "I can't do it anymore. It's too much."

AnnaMarie glanced around his cabin--one of the largest on the ship--for inspiration. She'd been in the captain's cabin at least once a month since the journey began and this time was the messiest. A faint scent of decay rolled off the captain. Captaining a space ship was a lot of pressure--space pun intended--but the man was rather less able to deal with the stress than she'd thought he ought to be. "Have you been meditating like we talked about last time?"

"Er." He looked faintly guilty. "Yes?"

Instead of listen to him lie to her, she coaxed him through some guided meditation, then left him to nap, restored to his confident--dare she say arrogant--self.

And immediately had an emergency message from the head of engineering.

Her quarters, contrasted with the captain's, were smaller and cluttered with bits and parts of things that that might fit into anything from scrubbers to keep their air clean to the engines that harnessed the power of an exploding sun.

"One of my techs was injured today," she said, pacing back and forth in the tight space between her bunk and desk. "He cut a line he shouldn't have and was badly burned."

"He's going to make it?" AnnaMarie asked.

"Yes, thank Space. But I should have been there. I should have stopped him."

AnnaMarie braced herself for the hard question. "Why weren't you?"

"I was deep in a repair no one else could do, but--"

"Have you discovered how to be in two places at once?" AnnaMarie thought of Brent and wondered how his day was going. "Because if so, I could use that ability."

"No."

"You train your people well. You do everything you can to keep them safe…"

"Yes." The head of engineering lifted her chin. "You're saying I don't need to feel guilty for doing my best."

"I think that's a brilliant insight you are saying."

The woman dropped into her desk chair and started piecing things together. The smell of burnt wires filled AnnaMarie's nose. Used to the woman's abrupt dismissals and knowing she wouldn't look up again for at least an hour, AnnaMarie escaped into the corridor and headed for the ship's hospital.

The tech needed her too.

He was burned badly enough on the face that she just sat with him, breathing shallowly and touching the uninjured skin on his shoulder.

After the doc came in with another round of pain meds and the boy drifted off, AnnaMarie headed for home.

*

She collapsed on the anti-grav couch next to Brent, their clothes wrinkling the wrong way against each other while their bodies fit together.

"I'm sorry you didn't get a romantic Valentine's Day." He sighed. "I had so many great plans."

"You know I don't do the mushy stuff."

"Which is why you're a therapist."

"Absolutely. I thought of you all day long though."

"Oh?"

"Happy to have found you." She grinned and tucked her fingers into his palm. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

flash fic, Sci Fi, writingBarbara LundStorytime Blog Hop, flash fiction, free stories11 Comments