Application Accepted by Ana Wesley

Utopia Science Fiction Magazine | August & March Issue

“Take my hand.”

Cass’ fingers flexed against the urge to tug away the fabric binding her eyes. Out of all possible agitations, blindness topped the list. She even slept with her pilot’s lenses in; they kept her from running into a wall en route to the toilet. Still, Jax asked so little of her. She could afford to humor her now.

So she reached out. Her fingertips grazed the cool, rigid keratin of Jax’s claw. She followed its curve to clasp a scaly wrist. Jax tugged her down the ramp’s incline. Night-cooled air raised the hair on the back of Cass’ neck. The shuttle doors hissed shut behind them, quieting the crew’s clamor.

“Now, breathe deeply.” Silence and sightlessness accentuated the translator’s distortion. Cass tried to ignore the electronic garble overlaying Jax’s voice. She tipped her head back and sucked in a breath. After months of slurping up the shuttle’s stale air, the sharpness twisted her stomach. Acrid in the nostrils, but sweet where it brushed the back of the throat. It reminded her of petrichor back on Earth.

“Can you smell the difference?” Jax’s whisper coasted along her throat, coaxing a shiver from her.

“I smell…” Cass drew an exaggerated breath. “That you haven’t brushed your teeth today.”

Jax barked out a laugh. “Brat. In a quarter of an Earth year, the team has improved the air and water quality by 80 percent. This will… How do the humans say it? ‘Drag your underwear away.’”

Cass snorted. “‘Knock your socks off.’”

“That’s what I said.”

“Translator glitch. Just show me whatever it is.”

“Fine, fine.”

The arrhythmic clang of taloned feet circled behind Cass. Claws settled around her shoulders. The tips rested just below her throat, cushioned by her flight suit’s padding. Following the pressure, Cass shuffled downward. Her nose wrinkled as the ramp gave way to squelching terrain underfoot. It clung to her boots and released them with sickly pops.

“Is this whole planet’s surface made of dog shit?” Cass breathed deeply to extinguish the impatience sparking in her chest. After a short distance, the soil latched around her heel and refused to let go. She groaned, straining at the knee to pull her leg free. “This.” Tug. “Is why.” Tug. “I stay.” Tug. “On the ship!”

Her boot lurched and she vaulted headfirst. Jax’s claws dug in to steady her, dragging a pained hiss from between her teeth. She regretted letting the sound slip past when the other’s voice pitched high with alarm. “Are you alright?”

“Fine.”

After a beat of silence, Jax offered, “Want me to carry you?”

Warmth flooded Cass’ face. “Don’t be an idiot. If the crew saw, I’d be laughed out of the mess for all time.” Her tongue curled at the bitter edge creeping into her tone. With some effort, she lightened it. “Let’s go. I want to see what you have to show me.”

Cass trudged on, keeping her footfalls light. As they walked farther from the shuttle, the gentle slosh of the lake caressed her ears. When they finally stopped, she heaved a sigh and reached for the blindfold.

A playful growl stalled her hand. “Not yet. Hold out your arms.”

Cass reached until her fingers brushed a hard surface. Her hand curled around a metal cylinder. A ladder? Realization piled stones in her stomach. Jax had led her to one of the planet’s few standing buildings: an abandoned ore refinery. Halfway demolished, the eyesore doubled as a death trap.

Cass groaned. “It was a mistake to make you my beneficiary.”

“Trust me.”

She’d displayed quite enough trust already. Only Jax could get her stumbling around with a tourniquet bandage around her eyes.

Cass heaved herself up, only to strike her head against the ladder cage. Teeth-rattling pain reverberated down her skull.

“You okay?”

She grunted, trapping curses behind a locked jaw. She regretted losing her temper with Jax exactly 100 percent of the time it happened. Better to play along now and scream into her pillow later. As muscle memory better gauged the ladder rungs, she gained traction. Below, Jax’s claws strummed with musical clinks.

A stitch burned through Cass’ side. Coughs wracked her shoulders and she latched onto the ladder until it passed. She dragged in a breath to sputter, “You’re sure the air is safe to breathe here?”

“It was safe enough when the place was ripe with chemicals. I reckon it’s not any worse now.” Jax’s laughter sounded in throaty rasps. “Maybe if you left the shuttle once in a while, you’d be in better shape.”

Cass kicked off a sludge-caked boot. She grinned as it landed with a smack.

“Watch it!” Nasally indignation dampened Jax’s hiss. “You’ll have fun walking back to the shuttle if we can’t find that shoe.”

“I’ll just make Krill pick us up.” Cass scrambled up onto the refinery’s roof, one hand clutching her side. “Which begs the question, couldn’t we have flown up here?”

“I wanted some privacy.”

“To ‘drag my underwear away,’ right?” Cass straightened to her feet and stilled under a wave of vertigo. She had no fear of heights, but a misstep here could reacquaint her far too quickly with the ground. Anticipation twisted the lingering knot in her stomach tighter. She shivered as Jax’s smooth, curved claw parted the ringlets of her hair. It slid under the blindfold and tugged it free. Two bleary shapes illuminated the sky. Cass blinked the moons into focus — one halved and violet, the other a white crescent. As her gaze sharpened, her pilot’s lenses identified the celestials in tiny holographic letters. She tapped her temple twice to dismiss them. Her eyes drifted down to meet Jax’s, two vertical-slit pupils against irises of magma. The dual moons’ light brought out the faintest hint of blue in her scales. The color disappeared at her neckline, overtaken by her uniform’s black mesh.

Cass traced the crest that divided Jax’s hallow cheeks and framed her jaw. “Not to be a spoilsport, but I saw the moons while we were in orbit.”

Jax’s teeth flashed in a serrated smile. “Turn around.”

Cass spun toward the roof’s edge. Expecting to see only stars, her jaw dropped as a multicolored halo shrouded her lenses. She rubbed her eyes and squinted against the glare. Distorted glows emanated from the lake below, like sunlit gemstones beyond a swirling fog.

She shuffled forward until her elbows touched the railing. Upon staring long enough, she discerned distinct shapes backlighting the water. Some undulated like eels, lengthy and slender. Others took the shape of bulky masses, devouring swarms of tiny flitting flames between their jaws. Collectively, the lifeforms cast a luminous glow that rivaled the most beautiful auroras Cass had seen light up the skies of alien planets.

“What is this?”

“This” — Jax swept a hand across the valley — “is why the refineries were kicked out. Cosmic Tours managed to secure preservation status for the site. Not out of goodwill, of course. Now that they’ve cleaned the place up, you’re looking at the galaxy’s newest luxury tourist attraction.”

“It’s incredible. Let’s take a boat out!”

Hesitation reverberated in Jax’s throat. “It’s not our equipment. We might get in trouble. Besides, I don’t think your pilot’s license doubles for boats.”

“Don’t be such a lily-livered lizard.” Cass stepped toward the ladder, but the motion sent her pitching forward. The lake’s glow smeared into a prismatic blur. She collapsed and her knees struck perforated metal plating. Painful vibrations shot straight up to her skull. She doubled over, clawing at her stomach. Her insides seared as if they’d been dropped into an oil-greased frying pan.

“Cass! What’s wrong?”

She drew breath, but the words devolved into a coughing fit. She lifted a hand to her mouth, only to fleck her fingers with blood. Jax’s holosplay illuminated, bathing her vision in blurry blue light. Over the thrumming in her ears, Cass heard the other bellow, “Jax to shuttle, we need emergency pickup at the refinery’s roof!”

Jax scooped an arm under her legs and around her back, hoisting her up. Dismay flooded Cass at the thought of the crew seeing her hauled about like a sack of potatoes. She drew a rattling breath to protest but couldn’t express the sentiment before blacking out.

When Cass woke, tendrils of bioluminescent color still painted the back of her eyelids. With every blink, they dissolved to expose the shuttle’s gray ceiling panels. Ventilation hummed, pumping in recycled air mixed with bronchi-singeing chemicals. An aggravating thirst soured her mouth. The raw edges of her throat stuck together as she swallowed.

She tried to stretch out the crick in her spine, but her feet already lay pressed up against the wall. Barely two meters wide, their dedicated medical facility was little more than a repurposed storage closet. Her head lulled to the side. Jax sat crammed into the corner, leaning forward to accommodate the agitated flicks of her tail. One claw scrolled through the holosplay projected from her armlet, too fast for her to be truly reading.

Cass sat up, rustling the IV tube that pinched her wrist. The soft sound sent Jax scrambling to her feet. Her tail knocked over her chair. She lunged with such haste, the entire cot jostled. Clicks and clacks of the Ciriac’s teeth overlaid a throaty rumble.

Unease churned Cass’ stomach. Being stripped of her translator was the only thing worse than taking her lenses out. One hand bolted from her medical gown, fumbling along the tray table until she found her earpiece and fitted it. Her shoulders slackened as Jax’s words took shape. “How are you feeling?”

“Could use a milkshake,” she rasped. “That can be your first priority as my personal cabin girl. You’re due for a demotion. Your one job as the environmental officer is making sure the planet doesn’t murder the crew.”

Jax’s tail swished, nearly striking Cass in the face. “It wasn’t anything on the planet. Gandas mended a perforation in your stomach. He thinks you drank jaleek instead of coffee.”

“No, no, no.” A shake of Cass’ head rattled her brain like gelatin. She recalled the shuttle’s two brewing machines to her mind’s eye. “It’s humans and Faizurin to the left, Ciriacs and Voilnan to the right.”

She winced as Jax snapped her teeth in a rare gesture of impatience. “We upgraded the kitchenette! There’s no difference between the machines now. You use the lever to switch the chamber. There was a message sent to everyone’s inbox and a note taped to the wall. At the very least, you must have noticed it tasted different.”

Cass wrinkled her nose. “I thought it was cinnamon flavored.” There was no way something biologically incompatible could taste that good. Surely, they were covering up a poisoning attempt. She ought to remind the crew that refusing overtime pay was a corporate policy and not a personal one.

Still baring her teeth, Jax hissed, “Promise me you’ll check your messages more often.”

“I promise. Right after I sort through the three hundred already there.”

Jax tipped her head back, throat flaps flaring in exasperation. With a flick of the wrist, she ignited her holosplay and twisted the comm dial. “Gandas. Better get down to med bay quick. Captain’s awake and getting fussy.”

Cass let loose an indignant snort. “Forget cabin girl. You’re well on your way to bathroom attendant.”

In the manner of a parent ignoring a child’s tantrum, Jax continued, “The Cosmic Tours team has packed up. We’re ready to go, whenever you are.”

Shame. Cass would have liked to see that lake one more time. “Mind doing the final departure check?”

The request instilled an immediate calm in Jax. “Of course. Try to take it easy.” She brushed her claw against Cass’ cheek, before striding out into the hall.

Cass fumbled for her armlet on the nearby tray. The holosplay flared to life, tinging her sheets blue. “Hey, Krill. How are we doing for time?”

An exaggerated yawn preceded her copilot’s drawl, “The Cosmic Tours team logged their completion this morning. If we leave now, we’ll only be a few hours behind schedule.”

“Once you get the okay from Jax, we’ll wrap it up here and set course for Earth.”

“You got it, Captain. Want me to send you up a coffee?”

“Shut the hell up.” Cass severed the comm, cutting off a burst of laughter. She reached thoughtlessly for her clothes and bit back a curse as the IV tubing snagged on the cot’s edge. As she reached to rip the damn thing out, the door slid open. She ducked back under the sheets and faked a yawn.

Gandas’ gelatinous form squeezed through the doorway. Beneath his translucent mesoglea, organs rearranged themselves to accommodate his contracting girth. Once through, he rebounded into his spherical shape and rolled to her bedside. The two flat, black plates of his eyes slid from left to right as he scrutinized her. His body quivered with reverberations reconstructed through Cass’ translator: “Feeling better, Captain?”

“Much. Mind unshackling me?”

A limb jutted from Gandas’ form to fill the glove in the wall dispenser. The fashioned hand wiggled its five nitrile-sheathed fingers, before disconnecting her from the IV and spreading regen gel on her wrist.

Cass tossed aside the medical gown and hopped into her flight suit one leg at a time. “Hey, that jaleek tasted really good. If I wanted to cut it with my regular coffee — ?”

“I advise against it, Captain. Even five grams per two hundred and forty milliliters can cause minor stomach ulcers.” Gandas’ humming leveled out into a monotone, a sure sign of disapproval. “The perforation has healed, although the administered medication may cause upset in your digestion. You are not authorized to pilot the ship or operate machinery until you’ve had at least six hours of uninterrupted sleep. Please ensure your diet for the next two days is bland and species appropriate.”

“Thanks, Gandas.” Cass dipped her head to glance under the cot. “Hey, where’s my other…?” She swallowed when she remembered kicking off her left boot. There would be no stalling departure to retrieve it; that wasn’t a conversation her bruised ego could suffer at present.

Passing through the corridor barefoot, Cass shoved the remaining boot into a trash chute. She crossed to her quarters, a cramped niche five paces across in which her bunk and desk could not pull out simultaneously. Slumping down into the creaky swivel chair, she rested her feet on the desk corner uncluttered by paint tubes and jars of cloudy water.

Her eyes wandered over the wall, plastered from ceiling to floor with landscapes of their travels: violet dusks over desert plateaus, skies with five moons, colorful vegetation her Earth-born mind hadn’t conceived of until seeing. Though she’d grown up practicing digital art, the old methods better captured the surreal experience of those fleeting memories. In all the months they’d shuttled teams and supplies to Dasiak’s lakeside cleanup, she hadn’t the slightest idea there was anything worth painting under all that muck. She shuddered at the thought of being the pilot who took her job for granted.

As long as she was on medical restriction, she may as well put the time to good use.

Cass cracked her knuckles and leaned forward to sort her acrylics. She hit the button on her desk that erected the easel and reached for a canvas. Her mind disassociated from her eyes as she primed it, recalling the view from the refinery roof. She’d nearly finished the backdrop of the sky when the door opened.

Jax’s talons clicked across the floor. A chocolate protein shake slid into Cass’ periphery.

“Thanks.” She spared a hand to take a sip. The runny, bitter taste wrinkled her nose. It left much to be desired compared to a milkshake. She smacked her lips and set it aside. “I was thinking, now that Dasiak’s been cleaned up, Cosmic Tours will want to start construction on the hotel. Maybe if we jump on it, we can pick the job up. If we’re lucky, we can score some vacation vouchers. What do you reckon?”

Silence.

Cass glanced over her shoulder. Jax hovered, eyes cast on the painting. She swatted the Ciriac’s drooping tail. “I was just kidding earlier, you know. You’re not demoted.”

Jax’s throat flaps fluttered as she sucked in a breath. Her talons strummed the floor, a telltale sign of anxiety. “We’re close enough to Earth to pick up the news. Doesn’t look so good.”

Cass waved her holosplay to life. She scrolled past the job board, inbox, inventory logs, and advertisements. Pinned at the very end was the news feed. As she spent only a few weeks out of the year on Earth, it wasn’t worth keeping up with. Topping the list was the headline, ‘Tensions Between humans and Ciriacs in Galactic Senate Trickle Down to Workforce.’

Cass snorted. Conflict between their species was nothing new. They clashed on every issue from colonization to the wallpaper of the Senate bathrooms. She scanned the article with a twisted mouth. Her eyes crossed the word “visa” and she did a double take.

The Ciriac government’s inaction regarding these displays of terrorism has provoked the Department of Earth Security to issue an indefinite hold on issuing and renewing Ciriac work visas.

A lump knotted in Cass’ throat. With the last of her breath, she uttered, “How long until yours expires?”

“Two months.”

Jax would lose her clearance to work on a Trans-Galactic shuttle.

Cass’ gut sucked her heart down like a swamp. Their living might be a modest one, but it was the culmination of everything they’d worked for: schooling, loans, applications, climbing the ranks one rung at a time. This very year, they’d finally gained enough seniority to be stationed together. To have it all threatened by the squabbling of petty politicians set her blood ablaze.

“I should’ve renewed it sooner.” Regret graveled Jax’s voice. “Such a simple thing, I can’t believe — ”

“Hey, hey.” Cass stood to level their gazes and cupped the other’s jaw. “It’ll get sorted, one way or another. Maybe we can get you an exemption. I’ve got a connection or two.”

Jax’s talons reflexively scraped against the floor. The metallic screech wrung a flinch from both of them. “Cass, don’t. Not for me.”

“If not for you, then who? I won’t rest until this is taken care of. Trust me.” She batted again at the Ciriac’s wilting tail.

Jax caught her wrist in the curve of her claw and growled, “Knock that off.”

Cass grinned. “Do me a favor. When we reach Earth, don’t leave the hangar. Don’t draw any attention. And keep your eye on the job board, would you? I don’t want any flights back to Dasiak passing us up.”

Cass huffed out a stream of curses as she struggled into the confines of her one formal dress. The silver metallic fabric mocked her with every shimmer as she wiggled into it. Her only spare shoes were a pair of boots she hadn’t gotten around to chucking out yet. The left flapped open like gaping jaws with every step. Having gone just as long without makeup as she had new shoes, she settled for smearing red paint mixed with regen gel on her lips. For a purse, she pilfered a medical satchel and ripped the first aid logo off it. Handbags were superfluous in upper-class Earth cities, where a swipe of your armlet could buy anything from a penthouse to a restroom tampon. But she’d need one today, so she filled it with whatever reasonable items she could gather: her lens case, a chocolate bar, and expired migraine medication.

Humiliation aside, the day’s mission required this uniform. She waited until the crew had dispersed before heading toward the shuttle ramp. The door slid open to reveal the metal walls of a Trans-Galactic hangar, a far sight uglier than the typical planetscape. The muffled clamor evolved into an ear-piercing cacophony: machinery shrieking, engines igniting, and voices bellowing to be heard over it all. Cass’ stiff stride and flapping shoe sole earned laughter and mocking wolf-whistles as she walked down the aisle. She scowled, fixing her gaze on the sunlight shining through the hangar’s mouth.

“Oi, Cassie!”

The shout was too near to pretend she hadn’t heard. Her eyes reflexively twitched to where Captain Arjini ducked out from under her freighter’s hull in a pair of grime-covered overalls. She spun a multi-tool in her hand, blowing back strands of hair from her temple to look Cass up and down. A smirk slithered across her lips.

“You look uncomfortable, babe. Why don’t you come up to my cabin and we’ll tear that thing off you?”

“Better not.” Cass flung an arm toward Arjini’s ship. “If we rattle that piece of junk too hard, it’ll fall apart.”

Fury carved the woman’s face into a sneer. “Just as well. You’ve probably got warts from that frog you keep in your bed.”

In the span of a heartbeat, Cass cleared the distance with a clenched fist. As she wound her arm back, the ghost of Jax’s claw dug into her shoulder. Her body tensed to a halt. She couldn’t afford to spend the day in a cell, waiting to be bailed out for clocking a pilot.

Multi-tool raised between them, Arjini stared with alarm-widened eyes.

Cass blew out a breath between her teeth and lowered her arm. “Ciriacs,” she uttered, “are cold-blooded, but they aren’t amphibious. A more accurate comparison would be a reptile. Idiot.”

She spun on her heel and strode away, ignoring the shout of, “Hope her paperwork’s in order! Bet they’ll be sweeping the hangar any time now.”

Cass’ heart leapt into her throat. Knowing Arjini, she’d tip Enforcement off just to spite them.

She shunted aside revenge schemes battling for attention in her mind; one nefarious plot at a time. She climbed the catwalk to the transport docking station, bracing her hands on the railing to peer over Dover’s cityscape. Buildings spanned the distance, rising in a contest to eclipse one another. Whenever Cass’ eyes fell to rest on one for long, her lenses would calculate its distance and display the tiny number beside it.

Transports zipped between them in endless dotted lines, their engines orchestrating a drone that hammered her eardrums. There was not a moment’s peace to be had here. Still, it was home. There was some comfort in knowing how to get from place to place, or where to buy a meal that wouldn’t burn a hole in your stomach.

An open-roof transport swerved nearby and lurched to a stop at the dock. The human pilot threw his arm over the seat to squint at her. When she hesitated, he barked, “In or out?”

Waddling over in the confines of her dress, Cass fell back into the empty seat like a scuba diver. At the sound of the engine’s thrum, she scrambled to buckle herself. Air rushed past, jostling her hair as the transport propelled into the sky. Excitement quickened her heart when they merged into a higher altitude lane. The city gave way to the coast of the Delmarva Peninsula. Her eyes swept over the Atlantic’s white-tipped waves. People swarmed the beaches in a sea of multicolored specks. Although dimmed grey by the hazy sky, the ocean here was as clean as water on Earth could be. Pollution barricades protected the coastline, creating a rentable space for tourists and locals alike. She’d coughed up entire paychecks just to spend a few hours there with Jax.

Cass grinned when she saw a pod of pelicans flying along the shore. She cupped a hand over her mouth and called, “Any chance you can get us closer to the ocean?”

“Gotta stay in the lane.”

“Not even if I throw in a good tip?”

The pilot ignored her, keeping his goggle-clad gaze fixed ahead. Cass folded her arms with a scowl. If her job was flying over one of the few beautiful places left on the planet, she wouldn’t be that damn grumpy.

The transport parked alongside a high-rise’s top story. In spite of his crummy attitude, Cass tipped the man; she couldn’t bring herself to stiff another pilot. With a staggering lack of grace, she wrapped a hand along the station railing and heaved herself up.

Nigh invisible, the restaurant’s glass walls offered an unimpeded view of the ocean. Cass had hardly taken three steps onto the docking station when the maître d’ zipped across the dining room toward her. At his approach, the glass partition slid open. She avoided his eyes, one hand fidgeting to fix her scrunched dress. “I’m meeting a couple here?” Her voice inflected oddly, turning the announcement into a question. His words were lost on her, as her ears honed into the sound of high-heels clicking against the floor.

“Cassandra!”

Cass fought to smooth the wince tugging at her face. She looked up to see her mother stride onto the balcony, clad in the sleek contour-hugging fashion of recent years. Jewels draped her neck and decorated her braided updo. The lavishness clashed with her fondest memories of her mother: shrugging off a lab coat, kicking away her work clogs, and breaking out into a smile as their gazes met.

Since Cass had left, that air of comfort was lost between them. Everything was stiff and formal, from the words they shared to the places they met. So it was with their embrace, as they stretched their arms to cover the span between them.

“Hi, Mom. Good to see you.”

“You look beautiful, sweetheart.” Her mother leaned back, a frown creasing her temple. “You could stand to do something with your hair, though. What in the world happened to your shoes? Surely you don’t have a dog up on your little ship?”

Oh, well. It was worth a try.

Preparing to hightail it back to the hangar, Cass glanced over her shoulder to see the transport had vanished. Damn. She plastered on a smile. “I’ve never eaten here. Seems nice.”

“Your father reserved the best table. Come see.”

They followed the maître d’ through the door and across the dining room. Serving drones hovered in the aisles, pausing to let them pass. Cass’ mouth watered as the air grew thick with savory aromas, wafting off dishes bursting with colorful ingredients from around the galaxy. A rumble coursed through her stomach that could likely be heard by the patrons. Most were human, although she saw a handful of aliens that were undoubtedly legislators or ambassadors. Few others bothered hobnobbing in these districts where their presence drew disdainful glares.

Her father stood by a table near the glass wall, his suit sashed in Earth’s blue and green color scheme. From him, Cass had inherited her curly black locks and ungainly height. His moustache twitched with a smile, offset by deep creases in his brow. “Captain Cassandra. Welcome back to Earth.”

Cass coughed in mimicry of a laugh. “Thanks.” Like a ladder thrown against a wall, she tipped back into a wicker chair. Unable to spread or cross her legs, she sat with all the flexibility of a PVC pipe.

Cass shivered as a serving drone’s rotors blew gently against her neck. A synthesized voice announced, “Good day. May I take your order?”

“Two pieces of mucamian-topped cheesecake and a gourmet root beer,” Cass recited without missing a beat.

“Isn’t it a bit early for dessert, dear?” Her mother cocked an eyebrow from behind a glass of wine.

Cass drew breath to counter that it was a bit too early to drink, but managed another dry laugh. “Not for me! I’m coming off a twenty-hour workday.”

“Right away, ma’am.” The drone zipped off, leaving her odd dining choice unchallenged like a good robot.

Cass stared after it with a frown. “The bots used to call me ‘miss.’”

“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” The quiver in her mother’s voice caused Cass to squirm. She draped a napkin over her lap and fidgeted with it under the table.

Desperate to cut into the silence before it dragged on, she gestured to the window. “The pelicans seem to be doing well. What species are you bringing back next?”

Her mother’s crinkling expression smoothed into a smile. “We recently stabilized the herring, anchovy, and cod populations. If coastal expansion goes as planned, we’ll be bringing back the bottlenose dolphin.” She flicked on her holosplay to reveal a picture of a gray, pointy-mouthed creature with beady eyes.

“Aquatic life is so gorgeous. On our last job, we shuttled a research team over to Dasiak and helped — ”

“Dasiak!” Her father snorted. “I was just telling you about it, wasn’t I, Lei? The damn hospitality industry exploiting preservation laws to secure their own interests. And at the expense of ore and energy, no less. It’s practically cannibalism.”

Cass’ eyes settled on the coastline as her father’s rant drifted in one ear and out the other. A drone’s three-pronged arm descended over her shoulder, placing a root beer on a crystal coaster. It tasted like a vending machine soda poured over ice. Probably cost three times more.

Entrées arrived not long after. Her eyes fluttered shut as she tasted her first forkful of cheesecake. Superb. The tang of the violet mucamian beads offset the cake’s richness. If she wasn’t careful, she’d eat both slices in one sitting.

“Cassandra?”

At her mother’s prompt, she tilted her head up. Two pairs of eyes burned expectantly into her. She swallowed and blurted out, “Sorry?”

Her mother gave her father a playful slap on the arm. “You’re boring her. No wonder she never comes to visit. I asked what you and the crew did on Dasiak.”

“Oh, not much. In fact — ” Cass let the words hang in the air as she sipped her drink, “lately the shuttle is losing its appeal. I’ve been everywhere, seen everything. I was thinking about looking into more local work. Maybe something in the Census Bureau or the Galactic Embassy?”

Their faces couldn’t have lit up more if she’d announced she was nominated for a Nobel Prize and using it as a platform to run for office.

“The Embassy is expanding rapidly!” Her father leaned forward, wagging a forkful of salad in midair. “They need enforcement for the new legislation, of course. We can get you a job there as soon as today.”

“Really, Dad?” Cass’ voice quavered as it pitched a tad high. “It was just a thought. Do you think I’d be qualified?”

“An educated, well-traveled woman like you? Of course. Now you could stay in one of those cushy desk jobs, or you could work your way up the Bureau of Galactic Consular Affairs. We need people looking after human interests more than ever.”

“And it would be so nice,” her mother added breathlessly, “to have you close to home again.”

“Well, if you both think it’s a good idea — ”

“It’s settled.” A smirk crossed her father’s lips, provoking an itch under Cass’ skin. “We’ll head over right after lunch.”

“Oh, Simon, can’t I take her shopping first? She needs new shoes. A sharp suit wouldn’t hurt either.”

“Either of you want a bite?” Cass interrupted, holding up a forkful of cake.

Her mother leaned a little closer. “What’s it topped with?”

“Mucamian. The jellied eyeballs of an aquatic alien organism.”

Her mother reeled back so fast, her chair slid across the floor. Her father’s eyes crinkled into slits.

“No? I’ll have to box the second piece then.” Cass smiled around the fork as she popped it into her mouth.

#

Cass loathed shopping. It blended all of the worst things about life on Earth: people, places, and an empty bank account. She much preferred having her tax-deductible flight suits delivered by drone to the hangars. Still, her mother helped her scrounge up a suit and dress flats in a quarter of an hour, most of which was spent waiting for an attendant to find Cass’ “remarkably large” shoe size.

The reminder that Cass could coexist with her mother stirred up a long-disregarded guilt. Her heartstrings knotted at the sight of her mother’s tears as they parted on the luxury mall docking station. It had been a decade since they’d spent this much time together. Projections for the next decade weren’t especially promising.

“I’ll let you know how today goes. Thanks for paying.” With a little wave, Cass slid into the waiting transport. The cityscape swallowed up the coastline as it sped past her glazed eyes. Before long they banked around the Galactic Embassy, an ugly concrete cylinder that stood out amid its sister skyscrapers like a blemish. Cass leaned over the transport’s side. On ground level, people she assumed were protesters gathered in the narrow alleyways. The height rendered them a silent, faceless mass.

A burst of nerves pressed Cass’ spine flush against the seat. “Twenty-first floor, please. Eastward-facing station.”

As they rounded the building and slowed, Cass’ father could be seen standing on the station platform. Her stomach dropped at the sight of his three-man security detail, padded like mattresses under cobalt uniforms. Two stood with firearms at the ready, helmeted heads sweeping in every direction. The third fiddled with a holosplay. As the transport locked into the station, a shimmer in the air betrayed the dismissal of a force field.

Cass’ trembling fingers accidentally tipped the pilot two percent. Over the pounding of her heart, she heard his breathy curse. She grabbed her father’s proffered hand, wincing at the warmth of his palm against her clammy one.

“You look nice.” Deliberateness measured her father’s voice, as if annunciating for the benefit of speech recognition software.

Cass pulled back her lips in what she hoped was a smile.

“Pardon, ma’am,” an officer’s voice intoned from behind a tinted visor. Two of the three stepped forward. One beckoned for her satchel, while the other lifted a scanner. Light burst from it, causing her eyes to screw shut. She blinked away a watery film and stared at the officer prodding gloved fingers through her bag. He even opened the little box of leftover cheesecake.

A bead of sweat slithered down Cass’ neck. “Security sure is tight. Is it safe?”

Her father flicked a dismissive wrist. “There’ve been a few incidents on ground level. Nothing to worry about this high up. Better safe than sorry, of course.”

The officer returned her bag. “Thank you. Please remember there’s no recording of any kind permitted inside the Embassy. Enjoy your visit.”

Blowing out a held breath, Cass strode after her father. He touched his thumb to the door panel and it parted for them. Pungent citrus thickened the air, as if the interior had been cleaned by clouds of lemon disinfectant.

Relief cooled Cass’ blood as the security detail dispersed. Her eyes swept across the room. Among Earth’s government buildings, it was the most depressing. Closed-door offices wrapped around the floor’s perimeter, absorbing the sunlight and leaving the rest to suffer under the glare of fluorescents. Personnel sat in rows at flat, unembellished desks of plastic and metal. They kept eyes and fingers on their holosplays, breaking rhythm only to cough or exchange conversations that quieted as her father walked past. They hailed him with nods and mumbled greetings of “Senator.”

Her father led her from floor-to-floor to shake hands with supervisors, who recited their daily responsibilities like a list of grievances. They skipped the offices of alien consuls, which Cass was grateful for. But on the fortieth floor, the elevator doors opened to reveal a Ciriac vested in an orange and red sash. Cass recognized her from countless broadcasts: the Ciriac ambassador to Earth. On any other day, she would’ve shaken her claw. Unfortunately, on that particular day, Cass stood beside a man elected to the Galactic Senate in a wave of unilateral ideology.

The ambassador stepped into the elevator, tail flicking within millimeters of her father’s nose. His nostrils flared, anger bleeding through his politician’s composure.

Cass closed her eyes and imagined taking this elevator straight to space — a fantasy made all the more believable by the sudden, suffocating lack of oxygen.

“Forty-first floor,” the elevator announced. “Visa and Consular Services for Citizens of Ciriac.”

The ambassador briskly stepped off as the doors opened to a terse hum of conversation. Tension wracked employees’ shoulders as they uttered scripts from between their teeth:

“My apologies, miss.”

“We’re considering no civilian visa renewals at this time, sir.”

“Further inquiries are best directed toward your representative.”

Cass’ jaw stretched into a forced yawn. “Sorry. Anywhere I can get a coffee?”

Her father led her to a kitchenette, nestled into a niche that looked to be outside of the surveillance cameras’ range. Cass shuffled through the brewing machine’s flavors. Breath held, she waited until she heard her father engaging a passerby in conversation. With swift hands, she unlatched the brewing machine and swiped leaves out of a chamber. The sharp, spicy scent of jaleek made her nostrils twitch. She rotated the chambers, dumping the leaves into each one.

Cass snapped the machine shut. She waited for someone to snidely ask what she thought she was doing. Met with silence, she clasped a mug in a shaky hand and filled it with lukewarm water from the sink. A hasty gulp sent half of it down the wrong pipe. She erupted into coughs, burying her mouth into her elbow and sloshing water over her hand. By the time she glanced up through teary eyes, her father was leaning around the corner with a deep frown.

“Alright, Cassandra?”

“Fine. Drank a little too fast.” She stepped out and trailed after him toward the administration offices.

#

After a painstaking hour of rubbing elbows with administrators, Cass dismissed herself to the restroom. Instead, she slipped into the elevator and rode it back the forty-first floor. When the doors opened, she had to edge around a handful of personnel shambling in with hands clutched to their stomachs.

She walked the room’s perimeter, halting at the kitchenette. From her purse, she produced the box of leftover cheesecake. Snagging a fork and knife from the drawer, she leaned against the counter and ate as if she belonged. Her ears perked at the snappish remarks:

“We need some coverage over in Fraud.”

“We’ve got people dropping left and right over here.”

“Who the hell did we hire for that luncheon?”

Between bites, Cass squashed a thimbleful of mucamian under her knife. She leveled the gelatinous substance out until it was a near-transparent sheet. Turning her back to the room, she draped the thin strip in the crook of her hand, between thumb and index finger. She smiled as she admired her handiwork. She’d learned on the planet Pyrocc that security systems used DNA screenings because the mucamian of native species could easily trick biometric devices. All she needed was the thumbprint of a high-ranking official.

Cass crossed to the Deputy Consul General’s office and tapped his door panel. It chimed and slid open. In the past hour, the man’s lethargy had given way to agitation. His beefy frame scrunched over the desk, one hand pinching the bridge of his nose. His coat was abandoned over his chair and his loose tie tossed over his shoulder.

“What now?” he barked, leering up at Cass over the holosplay hovering above his desk.

She met the man’s glare with her sweetest smile. “My father heard the floor was understaffed and sent me down to help. Cassandra Sykes. We met earlier.” She crossed the room and extended her hand.

While she couldn’t recall his name, hers struck a bell. He sat up straight and smoothed his face. “My apologies, ma’am. Best not shake your hand. There’s a bug going around. Might just be from the caterer, but you can never be too careful.”

Cass’ mouth twitched as she lowered her arm. She needed that handshake. “Is there any way I can be of help?”

“I’d appreciate it.” With a wave of his hand, he linked their armlets. “Now you have clearance to answer comms from the queue. I’ll send you a script to follow. Easy as that.”

“Perfect. I’ll just have a seat at one of the empty chairs.” As Cass turned, she kicked a leg against his desk and flopped to the floor. She barked out a nervous laugh, holding a hand against her hip. “Whoops! Clumsy.”

He jumped to his feet, rounding his desk and extending a hand to her. She clasped it tightly, shooting him a dazzling smile. “Thanks so much. I’ll get right to work, sir. Can I get you a coffee?”

#

Cass slumped into one of the empty office seats and wiped the sweat from her temple. Her father had been delighted to learn she was filling in. All she had left to do was bide her time until the jaleek did its work. Her right hand rested motionless on her lap, letting the mucamian strip harden. Anticipation quivered through her fingers as she dialed into the comm link. “Visa and Consular Services for Citizens of Ciriac. How can I — ?”

“I need help,” a woman’s frustrated voice blurted out. “I’m contacting you on behalf of my husband. Three days ago, he was rerouted at an Ontario hangar and forced onto a shuttle to Ciriac. He told me before he left that he sent his visa renewal request months ago, when he was stationed on Paeria. We contacted each relay station from here to there like we were told, and we received assurances that the request reached you in a timely manner.”

“Damn, that sucks,” Cass muttered.

“W-what?”

Cass glanced around to ensure the glassy-eyed employees weren’t looking her way. She cupped a hand over her mouth as she spoke, “If he’s not cleared now, chances are it’s going to stay that way. You’re not going to reach anyone authorized to make exceptions.”

“I don’t understand this. We’ve been married for twelve years and abided by the law. How can you punish us for what extremists have done? It’s not right!”

Cass winced. “No, it’s not. If I were you, I’d consider applying for one of the interplanetary colonization programs. I know it’s a big change, but they’ll take your whole family at the drop of a hat. You can always come back once the whole mess dies down.”

A heavy sigh distorted the comm link. “To uproot our whole lives…”

“I’m sorry. I wish I could do more. Good luck to you.” Cass shifted the holosplay’s dial, picking up the next comm in the queue. “Visa and Consular Services for Citizens of Ciriac.”

Not everyone was as civil as the first caller.

These predicaments, countless in number, stuck to her brain like a Plunarian fungus. Cass pushed it all into her mind’s designated compartment and latched it shut, as she was so practiced at doing. These callers would spit on her if they knew her Earth-born privilege enabled her a shot at helping Jax. In her youth, Cass had rejected just enough of that privilege to sabotage any real chance she had at power.

How was she supposed to know things would get this bad? Now if she tried her hand at advocacy, it’d be disastrous. She’d get a whole fifteen minutes of fame, until her father stripped away her credibility, intercepted her at every turn.

And what could she do then? She was only a shuttle pilot.

She could sit feeling guilty over it, or she could cover for Jax and get the hell out. In the end, it was Earth that rejected them, not the other way around.

Rationalization didn’t make choking down these conversations any easier.

After about a dozen calls, the Deputy Consul General shuffled out of his office with a grimace plastered across his face.

Cass carefully adjusted the rigid mucamian strip so it covered her own thumb. She crossed to his office and pressed it against the door panel. Her stomach lurched as it pinged and the door whirled open. She bolted across the room and collapsed behind the obnoxious executive desk, its polished surface empty apart from a projector bar.

Cass waved to interface her armlet with the system. The projector powered on, casting a holographic keyboard against the desk. Cass pressed her thumb against the scan prompt. After a moment’s pause, the network opened to her.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Cass searched the database for Jax. Her partner’s low-risk profile, usually set for automatic approval, had been flagged and frozen along with every other Ciriac’s. In a database chock full of billions, she doubted anyone would think to manually check an alien with a squeaky-clean record. The streamlined system required only a few button presses to remove the flag and authorize renewal. With any luck, that would let Jax fly under the bureaucratic radar long enough for the dust to settle.

Cass leaned back in the swivel chair with a satisfied smile. Usually, her promises to Jax amounted to cleaning the shower and remembering to set the thermostat high. She couldn’t wait to see the look on Jax’s face when she returned to the ship victorious.

In the midst of her fantasy, the door panel beeped.

Cass flung her arm to dismiss the holosplay and ducked under the desk, banging her head on the edge. Her teeth sunk into her lower lip as she bit back a cry. She tucked herself into a corner of the massive desk, ears tuned to the sound of sluggish footsteps.

Trouser-clad legs slumped into the chair, bringing her eye-level with bureaucratic crotch. Cass stared wide-eyed as the man’s hand clutched his stomach, then reached down to scratch beneath his belt. Exhaling slowly, she cinched her eyes shut. They burst open when an incoming comm chimed from her holosplay. She silenced it, breath caught in her throat. The man shifted, seeming to check his own armlet. He dropped the hand to his stomach as it gave an angry gurgle.

Cass leaned her head back against the desk, grinding her jaw. She was so close. The thought of letting Jax down twisted her heart. It seemed such a small, harmless thing she’d done. Yet if her father figured her out, he’d handpick her jail cell. Years of stifled anger flared in Cass’ chest and licked the back of her throat. Her parents’ voices echoed in her head, stoking the flames.

“How could you lower yourself to this? Bedding one of them is no better than lying with a dog.”

“Sweetheart, you’re beautiful. There’s plenty of women, human women, that would be lucky to have you.”

Cass’ pulse thrummed in her ears. She breathed deeply and thought of better things: the bioluminescent lake, her painting, Jax’s sharp-toothed smile. Minutes later, she heard the man activate his comm link and groan, “Look, I tried to tough it out, but I caught whatever’s going around. I’m out for the day.”

He cut off a string of high-pitched protests. He scooted out a smidge and reached a hand straight for Cass. She dodged and her fingers brushed a leather briefcase. She pushed it forward for the probing hand to clasp.

Face screwed up in a wince, Cass listened until his steps had faded behind the door. She crawled out from underneath the desk, shaking out her numb legs. Shoulders squared and face neutral, she waited a while before striding out of the office and across the room. The employees’ sullen gazes never lingered on her. Cass suppressed a snort of laughter at the thought of how it might have gone if she hadn’t changed her clothes.

Ducking into the elevator, she activated her holosplay to call for a transport. A pending call pinged and she answered it with a wave.

Anxiety wavered in her mother’s voice. “Cassandra? How’s it going?”

“Sorry, Mom. I think I’m going to head on out. I don’t know what I was thinking. This deskwork stuff isn’t really for me.” Swallowing hard, she forced the words past her tightening throat: “I might be in town for a while longer. Maybe Jax and I can meet you guys for dinner?”

Faced with silence, she severed the comm.

#

Jax awaited her in the copilot’s seat, talons thrumming against the floor. Her tail gave a nervous flick as she looked Cass up and down. “I got the notification in my inbox. You either sucked up to someone big time, or you did something illegal.”

Cass fell into the seat beside her. “Both. That’s how much I love you.”

“Cass.” Jax’s throat flaps shuddered. She slumped forward, head bowed. “I don’t know… I can’t… Thank you.”

“I reckon my motives are a little more selfish than you’re letting on.”

“You’d have done the same for anyone on the crew.”

“Sneaking into the Embassy, sure. Having lunch with my parents? Only for you.”

Jax’s tail shot straight up, then wilted. “How did it go?”

Cass shrugged.

Silence thickened the air between them; Jax knew by now to keep needless apologies behind a locked jaw. Instead, she said, “Well, I have some good news. We got the next job to Dasiak on a recommendation from the cleanup crew. We’ll be helping shuttle teams back and forth during construction.”

Excitement seeded the void left by Cass’ anxiety. She lulled her head back to meet Jax’s eyes and smiled. “Great. I’ll get myself a boating license. Maybe we’ll open a charter and build it on a nice little piece of lakeside property.”

“You’re teasing,” Jax scoffed. “You wouldn’t leave this ship for anything.”

“I’d leave for you.” The words slipped out without any thought on Cass’ part. She felt an echo of the shock that dropped Jax’s jaw, yet reexamination found the sentiment genuine. She cleared her throat and uttered, “Say the word and we’ll settle down.”

After a moment’s thought, Jax shook her head. “There’s a lot of lakes out there. I think we should keep looking. Make sure we’ve found the best one.”

“I like the way you think.”

THE END

First published in the August 2024 issue of Utopia Science Fiction Magazine. Final installment in the March 2025.

Ana Wesley hopes to help fill the fantasy and science fiction genres with lesbian heroines embarking on epic adventures. Her joint BA is in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Winchester, England.