Macao Station

Chapter Fourteen

Eli awoke at around five in the morning, although as a long-time shift-worker, the artificial times imposed by the station clock were of little real meaning to him. His neck ached, and one of his arms had gone numb where he had lain on it. He looked around himself and saw that he was in Lina’s quarters, lying on the sofa, washed in the flickering witchlight of the holo.

He knew, somehow, that Lina was back: something felt different, although he wasn’t sure what. Maybe some secretly-awake part of his brain had been alerted by some small noise that he hadn’t been consciously aware of. He sat up and swung his feet down onto the cold steel floor. He rolled his head in a gentle circle, trying to bring his neck back to life. There was a glass of water on the small table next to the sofa, and he took a drink from it. He had slept without a blanket, fully-clothed, and now he wanted a shower. Marco, of course, hadn’t stirred or caused any sort of concern whatsoever. Eli had known the kid would be fine, but Lina wouldn’t leave him alone all night. As she usually got back late from shift, this seemed a trifling distinction to Eli, but he had humoured her. She had needed to get away for a bit, and she had needed not to worry about her son.

He stood up, trying to smooth some of the wrinkles from his flight suit, and went to Lina’s room. He gently pushed the door ajar and peeped in. She was asleep under a virtual mountain of duvet, snoring gently and almost-certainly drunk. He considered staying, making sure she was okay in the morning (Hey, it already is morning, a little voice protested in his head) but he decided she would probably rather not have to deal with him hung-over. He knew her well enough, he judged, to say that he’d be better off leaving her be.

He stood and watched her for a minute, staring at the shock of blonde hair that spilled from beneath the covers, listening to her breathing. She was beautiful. But he knew that she was also damaged. It was hard sometimes to suppress his instinct to protect her, to somehow prevent further damage. But despite her delicate appearance, he knew that she could take care of herself. They had to, out here. Far-off in the bowels of the station, something groaned vastly in an almost inaudibly-low frequency.

He went also to Marco’s room and checked on the boy. He was an undefined hump in the bed, breathing quietly in the darkness. Eli watched him for a moment. Marco was like the son he had never had, another member of Eli’s family-that-wasn’t-actually-family, and in truth he loved the boy greatly. How would Marco take the news of Sal’s accident? It would definitely be better to let Lina deal with it. Some things were a mother’s prerogative.

Sal. Such a shame. Eli was not a native of Macao originally, but he had been here since before Sal had come aboard. That had made her a member of his family. Dead now. He shook his head, standing in the dark, envying the others their unconscious state. He would let himself out and come check on them later, when Lina had had a chance to talk to her son.

He went back to the living room and found a datasheet by the light of the holo. He scrawled a note on its screen with one finger:

MARCO — LET YOUR MOTHER SLEEP IN, OKAY?

SHE’S HAD A HARD NIGHT.

– ELI

With that, he killed the holo, fumbled his way to the door in darkness, and let himself out.