Chapter 42: Chloe & Tor – Part 2

CHLOE

Chloe could only nod.

He pressed several buttons on the wall.

A slow hiss filled the air. Chloe looked around but couldn’t identify its source. She glanced down, startled by a strange sensation in her body.

She gasped, clutching Tor more tightly as her feet lifted from the ground.

“Oh my God!”

Tor chuckled, gently prying her hands free.

“What are you doing!” she cried.

“You can’t hold onto me, Chloe. You have to trust me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

Her heart pounded in her temples as she let him go.

Then the doors began to open. Chloe had to resist the urge to grab onto him again. ~Be brave. You’re brave!~

At the sound of a heavy clunk, Chloe watched as the doors parted, revealing an eerie blackness in between. A sickening swooping sensation filled her stomach as she stared into the void. It was the same feeling she experienced when standing at the edge of a cliff—like she might just die.

The doors halted halfway open, wide enough to fit them through side by side.

“Come on,” Tor said.

He took her hand and guided her close to the left edge.

Slowly, they drifted out. They were drifting out! It was hard to breathe. It was hard to think. Her stomach seemed to float somewhere up beneath her heart. ~Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.~

There was nothing beneath her feet! She tightened her grip on Tor’s hand with a shout.

“I’ve got you,” Tor assured her.

He grabbed onto a handle just outside the door and pressed one foot against the edge of the ship. The surface was made of a shining gray metal. He seemed to stick there.

He straightened, looking impossible as he stood at a right angle to her. He pulled Chloe along with him. It was surreal; up was down and down was up.

Her feet landed upon the surface of the ship and suddenly she found herself stuck too. She lifted one foot, then the other. It was easy enough, not ~quite~ like walking.

It felt like her body wanted to float, like her body was trying to stretch out of her shoes, but she was firmly held. How her shoes stuck she didn’t know, but she sure hoped they fit well enough. The fanny pack floated around her waist, weighing nothing at all.

“I can’t believe this,” she said.

She looked around her. The ship looked a bit like a moon. It was like she was walking on the moon! She was panting. She was sweating. But she was ecstatic!

Tor’s grip was tight around hers. Then he released her. There was another scary swoop in her guts, but she was okay! The stars twinkled. The lights on the ship twinkled even brighter still, like they were stars themselves.

The emptiness of space seemed to press down upon her from every side. Empty. Empty. Nothing. She suddenly thought of God—and the thought seemed to sit uncomfortably in her brain, like it wasn’t quite right. Like it didn’t quite fit.

“Are you okay?” came Tor’s voice.

Chloe looked at him in disbelief. He just stood there casually, like they weren’t doing the greatest thing in the history of her planet.

“Yeah.” She took a shuddering breath. “Yeah.”

TOR

She was like a child—and it was marvelous and cute: that awe, that wonder, over such a simple thing. Tor had never really felt it, even on his first walk. It wasn’t extraordinary. All Zibons did it at some point.

“Come on, let’s go. It’s over here.”

It was clear to see even from a distance: the shredded, jagged metal. The Wrilings had done a decent job, but at least they hadn’t penetrated the inner shell.

“Keep close,” Tor told Chloe, their tether taut as she stood looking around.

She came over, and Tor knelt upon the surface, the caps on his suit’s knees keeping him secure.

He got to work.

She was a good assistant and learned quickly what each tool was used for. After a while, she became more interested in what they were doing than the view around her, asking questions, helping where she could.

Though her knowledge was poor, she seemed to have great instincts. She knelt beside him, their helmets sometimes bumping against each other as she focused on their task.

Extraordinarily intelligent, he thought to himself. And so curious. He’d never felt as close to her as he did now.

It didn’t take long to seal up the damage. Soon, they were making their way back to the holding bay.

“We’re done already?” Chloe’s disappointed voice echoed.

Tor smiled.

He opened the doors and lowered himself down through them. Chloe followed. The doors snapped shut behind them. Tor drifted over to the controls to rebalance the atmospheric pressure.

Slowly, they both eased to the ground. The doors into the holding bay opened, and they walked inside.

Tor helped her to remove her helmet. Then he removed his, shaking out his hair.

“So, how was that?” he asked, though he didn’t really need to.

Her cheeks were flushed. Her eyes were wide and bright. She seemed taller, older, and yet younger at the same time. Her hair was mussed up around her face. Her suit didn’t help with her appeal. Tor’s heart did a little tumble.

“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “I can’t believe what we just did.” She pressed her hands to her mouth.

There was a curious expression on her face as she gazed up at him. She seemed both thrilled and yet a little troubled. Tor suddenly wished he knew what she was thinking—or at the very least, what she was ~feeling~.

One day.

Her dark eyes were darting between his. She licked her lips, then dropped her eyes to her boots.

Tor cleared his throat. “Come on, let’s finish up. You must be hungry. We’ve been out for…”

Chloe stepped in close and wrapped her arms around his waist, her cheek pressed to his chest.

Startled, Tor held her back.

“Thank you,” she said.

He gave her a squeeze. “You’re welcome.”

She pulled back and looked up at him. She was looking into his eyes, at his lips, in a way she’d never done before. She was poised to do something that made Tor’s heart beat fast.

Tor didn’t move, looking back, waiting, hoping, but she drew out of his arms with an uncertain smile, red dots in her cheeks.

Tor held back a sigh. “Let’s get changed.”

The walk back to their quarters wasn’t as awkward as he’d feared. Not even close, in fact. Chloe was keeping near enough that her hand brushed against his—and she wouldn’t stop talking about all that they’d done.

Her eyes were wide. The embarrassed red in her cheeks had turned to an excited pink. She kept twisting her fingers through her hair.

“I can’t believe it!” she said for the fourth time. “Can we do it again?”

“I don’t see why not,” Tor said, smiling.

They entered their room. Even as they sat down to eat, she kept talking, twisting in her seat excitedly as she kept glancing back toward the window.

It took her a long time to finish her food, but Tor couldn’t stop smiling. She was so wrapped up in her excitement that she could look into his eyes without reservation.

She allowed herself to smile. There was no nervousness or awkwardness. For the first time, it was a chance to really get to know her, and Tor took the opportunity to ask her as many questions as he could.

“You didn’t do anything like this back home?” Tor said.

She snorted. “Do you mean being in space?”

“No. I mean working with technology: engineering, mechanics. You seem to have a natural instinct.”

“Oh.” She frowned. “No. My father didn’t think it appropriate.”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m a girl. He said I wouldn’t be good at it.”

Tor frowned. “Your father actually said that to you?”

“And teachers. And my brother. And the girls at school. Pretty much everyone.”

Looking down at her empty plate, she fondled her splock. “Girls aren’t good at stuff like that.”

“Absurd.”

She looked up at him.

“How does being female make you less competent to wield a tool?” he said.

Chloe shrugged. “It is the way of things back on Rictor 5. They say we’re not good at lots of things, particularly male things.”

“~Male~ things?”

“You know, math, science, fixing stuff…anything important, really.”

“I don’t understand. How are they ~male~ things?”

“It’s too hard to explain.”

“Do you believe it?”

“I did for a while—but now I’m not so sure.” She was frowning as she glared at her plate.

“You’re angry.”

“Shouldn’t I be?”

“Yes.” His voice was low. “I’m glad.”

She raised her eyes. The skin pinched across the bridge of her nose.

“The men on your planet are fools, and they don’t deserve you. They don’t deserve any of you,” he said.

She gave a crooked smile. “Then maybe you should go back and take us ~all~.”

Tor cocked an eyebrow. “Are you giving us permission?”

Chloe laughed. Tor smiled back, watching the joyful creases form in the corners of her mouth. She needed to laugh more.

Suddenly, she fell quiet and the atmosphere became uncomfortable again. Chloe lowered her gaze to the table, and Tor held back a sigh.

“I think… I think I’m glad you took me,” she said.

She didn’t look up, her hair shielding her face. Tor didn’t show his surprise, though he couldn’t stop his heart from pounding.