A new message is Pending Receipt. If you have not received previous transmissions, part one was released in Tight Beam Volume 26, start there to avoid spoilers.
10
What is normal?
Titania and Marina glanced back and forth between each other, both surprised as Lev squeezed in through the hatch. Both women, with eyes as large as saucers, like kids caught stealing treats. They answered at the same time. Titania saying “Nothing” and Marina saying “Everything.”
“Everything and nothing at the same time. How suspicious.” He smirked, glancing between them.
Titania narrowed her eyes. “Fuck it, I’ll go there. Mar told me you made a pass at her.”
“Titania no…”
“And I’m here to tell you, she’s not interested. I don’t think you’re good enough for her.”
Lev blinked in surprise, but managed to hold his ground. “Oh, and why not?”
“Why not?” She barked. “Because you’re just a normal guy, there’s nothing special about you. You’re not tall, you’re not built.”
“First of all, there’s nothing wrong with normal. Is a normal relationship, a normal marriage, a normal life not a thing to strive for?”
“Normal? Marriage?” Marina thought aloud, blushing lightly.
Lev continued. “And second of all, I am far from normal. And neither is Marina. We’re highly trained technical personnel on an advanced mission to colonize another planet. And this is far from a normal colonization mission. This isn’t a milliary operation, and this is a viable planet. While we might be dropping off a small colony cylinder, this will be more than a space station staking a claim, this is a whole new planet we’re going to, a world of rock and ocean and sky, we’ll be building here for generations, terra-forming it. My name, her name, your name, will be in history books and taught to school children for generations. When we get back to Earth, we’ll be well paid. Sure, we won’t be filthy rich, but we’ll be comfortable as individuals, and should we have an enduring life together, the two of us will have plenty of financial cushion. We are far from normal people, Titania. Just because we are peers, and aboard the same ship together. Doesn’t make me normal. Just because it’s normal for us doesn’t mean we’re average people. In fact, because this great feat is normal for us, is just another day at work, is what sets us so far apart from the so called normal people. But I mean, really, what is normal anyway?”
Titania scoffed, shaking with outrage and disgust. “Oh, don’t go there, don’t act all high and mighty, I can’t even with you. Using words that carry more weight than you’ll never be able to lift to try and break into a girl’s tender heart. I met lots of guys like you in college, I’m on to you, I know your type.”
“We’re not in college anymore. Plus, aren’t you single? Perhaps that’s why you haven’t been able to meet any more guys, because you don’t have a backlog of beer addled frat boys to pick through anymore.”
Titania gasped, raising an accusing finger at Lev, but before she could reply, Marina intervened, surprised at the sudden sharpness in both their voices. “Really, both of you? Titania, you’re not helping, he hasn’t done anything wrong, no need to attack him like this. And Lev, let’s not go there, no need to stir the hornets’ nest.”
“We’ll he hasn’t done anything right, either.” She spat out, turning her back on both of them. Marina threw up her hands, and Titania cast a scathing look across both of them. “Men are pigs, he probably just thinks you’re the damsel in distress he can come save now because you got hurt and we’re in an alternate dimension right now.”
“Or perhaps I realized how important she’d become to me when she got hurt. How much it hurt to not have her around, how badly I wanted her to be okay, how much I cared for her.”
Titania scoffed and kicked off from the floor, gliding past Lev to the hatch, staring daggers at him the whole way as she exited the compartment. Stopping in the open hatchway. “Don’t let him get close, don’t let him take advantage of you. I hope you come to your senses soon, you know where to find me when he breaks your heart.” She slammed the hatch shut as hard as the hydraulic buffers would let her and left, sealing them in.
Marina and Levrick floated on opposite sides of the compartment from each other, each awkwardly doing their best not to look at the other. Marina’s mind racing, so overwhelmed that her face stayed blank as she deliberated between her long time and very loyal friend and this seemingly well meaning man.
“So… you wanna make out?” Lev asked, a chimpish grin spreading on his face. Marina made a face. “I mean, if all men are pigs, that’s what you’re expecting me to say right? Just trying to be normal, or whatever Titania’s standard of normal is.”
Marina giggled, struggling not to laugh harder and risk hurting her vocal cords. “You really had me for a second there. I’m sorry about Titania. I’ve known her a long time, we met back in college, she can get possessive. I wouldn’t take it personally, she’s worried about me, at your expense is all.”
“I won’t beat around the bush, It wasn’t pleasant.”
“For what it’s worth, I don’t see what’s got her so upset, I don’t think you’ve done anything wrong, even if you did a shoddy job with the wiring.” Marina jabbed at him. “But since you’re not beating around the bush, you’re thinking of marriage already?” Her voice raising with her skepticism.
Lev shrugged as he gripped a handle next to the hatch. “I’ll be honest, I’ve not dated much. Because I play the long game, I play for keeps. Yes, I am thinking of marriage because that’s the end goal. Maybe people just aren’t down for that. I know we technically aren’t even dating yet, but If you’re not down for that, just let me know now and save us both the time.”
“I don’t know. That’s a very traditionalist thing. Not many people get married anymore. At least not normal people that don’t need the political or economical leverage of it. I don’t know what I think. Give me some time, I need to feel my feelings. I’d never considered it for myself, much less with someone else as a reference. Plus, with all this mess already and we haven’t technically started dating yet, you sure you still want to try this?”
Lev turned, the teasing smirk spreading across his face again, but before he could reply, the compartment went dark. A complete blackness, the absolute silence of total power loss swallowing them. Not just the compartment lights were out, but control panels and indicator lights were off, not even the whir of the equipment cooling fans or the air circulation system broke the new absolute silence. Marina’s stomach melted, falling down her legs and out the souls of her feet to pool in the bottom of her service slippers. Lev said some choice words that made Marina blush for a different reason.
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The Descendant Saga 