Tag: Distant Love

Distant Love (Part 64)

Derek feels a woman’s hand on his shoulder, and then a familiar, if unwanted, voice. His heart begins to throb.

“Don’t turn around. We’re just two nobodies looking out at the vast lunar surface, wishing we were somewhere else.” It is Diane.

“What do you want?” Derek says with disgust.

“Now, now. That’s no way to address an old friend,” she replies as if hurt. “I’m here to tell you that you are finally going to get an opportunity to meet that girlfriend of yours.”

“How?”

Do I even want to know?

“Ah, thanks for asking. In an Earth week, when your sweetie is forecast to be in this region of space, there will be a solar storm. Nothing too serious. Just enough for her to come into orbit. That’s when you’ll invite her down for a visit. You can let me take it from there.”

With that, he hears the patter of steps and knows that she is gone.

Looking up at the stars, he feels all alone. And yet, he wishes that he were somewhere even more remote, somewhere his troubles would never find him.

What will be, will be. But if Diane makes even the smallest of mistakes, she’s finished.

Distant love (Part 63)

Derek struggles to concentrate on his return. His hand is shaking, and he feels sick to the pit of his stomach.

What was she talking about? That I might see Maeve soon? It sounds ominous.

**************************************

Weeks pass. Derek continues his normal routine.

“What is wrong with you? Like seriously?” Nathalia shook him from his reverie. “You’ve been like this for weeks.”

They are halfway through what has been a quiet work schedule.

Derek shuffles from side to side.

“Well, like say something,” she continues. There is a momentary silence. “Oh, don’t bother so.”

Derek looks over at her. “Just quite a lot on my mind. That’s all.”

“You can tell me you know. I’d tell you.” Their eyes meet.

Nobody can get me out of this mess.

“I’m taking my break. Need to clear the head.” Nathalia nods back.

The door automatically swishes open, and he goes to a lower level to look out at the lunar surface.

He stops at his favorite viewpoint. The station is in constant rotation, so one viewpoint is as good as the next, but this one has a slightly larger window. He looks out for all the different pieces of rock that he has viewed since he was young. The lunar surface never changes.

Distant Love (Part 62)

Derek froze, sweat dripping from his brow.

What to say?

“Don’t go all shy on me now, boy. That is no way to impress a woman. And I got all dolled up for and all. If you don’t play nice, that would be very bad for you.”

She spoke with a smile that Derek would once have found alluring. He grimaced.

“Come on. Spit it out. I don’t have all night.”

Derek looks around at the mostly empty coffee shop, wishing he had never taken the break. “Ok, she said that they would be close to the moon at some point soon.”

Diane’s eyes suddenly widened. “Interesting, I didn’t know. Are the two of you having a meet-up by any chance? Maybe something romantic?”

Derek sighs. “We’ve never met, and probably never will.”

“I might not be so sure of that.” Diane grins.

Derek wonders what she means by this. His heart beats faster.

“Go on, back to your job, Derek. I can’t have such a good asset being late and potentially sacked.”

Derek nods and drives his wheelchair away, relaxing only when he’s sure there is a good distance between them. The monotony of work is what he needs now.

Distant Love (Part 61)

An hour later, Derek decides that a break is in order. There are no ships currently in orbit, so he won’t be missed. He goes down to the main thoroughfare to watch the few people come and go.

He feels a tap on his left shoulder and turns the wheelchair around, suspecting an errant youngster.

It is the woman with the tattoo; she is a few meters away and signalling with her hands for him to follow her. He shudders, feeling sick to the stomach.

She leads him to a small coffee shop, pulling away one of the chairs so he can drive the wheelchair beside the table.

“Coffee?” she asks him.

Derek nods in the affirmative as she goes to the counter, where the robotic server is ever ready.

She comes back two minutes later with two coffees and a pathological smile. She smells of expensive perfume.

“Here you go.” She leaves one of the cups within his reach. “I see that Maeve was in contact with you earlier. Don’t look shocked. You know that it is easy to monitor messages coming back and forth from the moon. The problem is the encryption. So, tell me, what did Maeve have to say for herself?”

Distant Love (Part 59)

Derek moves his mouse this way, then that way. Anything to keep his mind occupied. There are only a few dots in orbit around the moon for him to worry about. It has been a boring shift. It’s been six Earth days since he met Lulu, and it is now in the middle of the lunar night in his part of the rock. There are only the stars and a distant Earth outside the habitat.

He longs for Earth to breathe natural air and to see its diverse landscapes.

An icon in the bottom-right corner of his screen flashes, with the name Maeve appearing in Times Roman above. His heart beat faster; he had been hesitant to contact her after Lulu, but now had no choice. He couldn’t afford to be seen as not complying with a request from the Lunar Police.

He clicks on the icon.

  • Hi Derek, how have you been? You haven’t been on Darko World recently. I’ve missed our chats.

Derek taps his fingers against the table.

What should I do? Maeve wouldn’t hurt a fly, but her family must be very different. All I know is that I care about her. I’m not going to let them lock her up and throw away the key,

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Distant Love (Part 58)

Lula puts her hand through her hair. “Well, it’s not Maeve exactly, more her family. We’re not sure exactly if she is involved.”

“Involved in what?”

“The transportation of drugs from low Earth orbit.”

Derek could feel his heart thumping. “No way!”

Lulu gets out of her seat and stands beside him, showing him her badge.

“Blasters.”

“Hey, no need for foul language. Now make sure to keep smiling. I don’t want to have to bring you to the station for interrogation.”

Derek raises his eyebrows. “Why would you do that?”

Her voice is more aggressive now. “Because, Derek, this is a very serious matter. The quantity of drugs is huge. But most importantly, it will earn me a nice promotion. You will help me, or you’ll be prosecuted as a conspirator. How does that sound?”

The Lunar police had a terrible reputation for corruption and targeting innocents. Derek never thought he’d ever get in their crosshairs. But he had.

“What could you possibly want me to do? Like, I haven’t even ever actually met her.”

Lulu puts her arm around him. “She is the weak link in the family, and you are the closest thing she has to an actual boyfriend. So, for now, keep on talking to her, and I’ll be in touch. I’ve seen how you have been looking at the women here, I’ll give you a piece of what you have been looking for.”

With that, she leans in, kissing him. Her tongue brushes against his lips.

And then she is gone.

Distant Love Part 57

Derek still has some time, and decides, what the hell, he’d have another one.

He feels someone pushing him.

Who is doing that, and where am I?

His eyes dart open to see the lady with the tattoo standing in front. She smells of strong perfume. His head feels clearer. The bar is still full with music blaring.

“Who are you?” Derek enquires. “Are you following me?”

“I’m with the Lunar police, and I’ve been trailing you.”

Derek’s heart shudders. This is far more serious than he would have thought. “Me?”

She gives a wry smile, lifting her right eyebrow. “Yes, more difficult to trail a guy in a wheelchair than I would have thought. I’m patient, but when I realized you had really fallen asleep, and I could be moping around here for hours, I decided to take a more direct approach. Voila, here I am.”

“What could you possibly want with me? I’m Mr. Nobody, sure.”

A drunk woman with brown, curly hair approaches the table, but does a quick turnaround on seeing the woman’s badge.

“I’m Lulu, by the way. She pulls on an e-cigarette. I’m here about your friend, Maeve.”

“Maeve? What has this got to do with her?”

Distant Love (Part 56)

She has long, curly, brown hair and is giving him a warm smile. Her body is voluptuous, and she is dressed in a black tank top and bottom.

“Come here often?” Derek replies.

“Quite often, best place to go if you ask me. I live quite close by.”

Two guys with long hair pulled up on either side of her.

She glances at them and nods in Timothy’s direction. “Meet my new friend.”

They both say hi.

The guy to Derek’s left asks. “So, where are you from?”

“Zone C. The name’s Derek. I came for the Jupiter fair.”

The man’s eyes widened. “So did we. Brilliant, wasn’t it? My name is Jake, and this is Ted. You’ve met Melanie.”

“Oh yeah, brilliant. I’d love to visit for real.”

It makes Derek’s trip, and the banter continues for over two hours.

Then his new friends give him a hug and say their goodbyes.

He looks at the empty table and then around the bar. This is a bar that never closes. The bar staff and most of the patrons have changed since his arrival. The music is still blaring. He feels the warmth from the alcohol as well as some lethargy.

For a moment, he thinks he sees the woman with the tattoo at the other side of the bar. Then, she turns and is gone again.

Distant Love (Part 54)

Derek spends hours more going from moon to moon after that. A siren goes off for a few seconds. It’s a warning that the fair is coming to a close.

Damn, I haven’t even seen Jupiter itself yet!

He powers over to the huge planet. There are no human settlements in its atmosphere to admire. Not yet, anyway, plans have been drawn up. He concentrates on its great red spot, a giant perpetual storm, and the differing colors of its clouds.

Feeling a pang of sadness, he turns around to look at the crowd around. Everyone else is either with their partner or with friends.

He shakes his head. Thinking like that will get him nowhere. Yes, it would be nice to have a girlfriend to share days such as these, but he needs to be realistic. The closest thing he had to one was Maeve, and he’d probably never actually meet her.

It had been a good day. That is what he needed to concentrate on.

Now, for the final part of his plan. A nice pint of ale in Rosemary’s. He had never been there before, but it looked like an interesting place to go, and most importantly, it was close by.

Distant Love (Part 53)

Derek marvels at the display of the base. The miniature buildings on the moon have all been made to the exact specifications. It even shows little people going back and forth between them, carrying out routine maintenance and other functions. He is most interested in the spaceport. This is where human exploration and colonization would expand to Saturn and beyond. Then there is the Le Poitre telescope that scans for habitable new worlds in the galaxy. He could have spent the whole day absorbed in that base, but there was so much more to see at the exhibition.

He looks up to see which moon he will look at next. The woman with the tattoo that had been on the train is standing there looking at him, but disappears into a crowd passing by.

Derek thinks little of it. Due to medical advances, there are very few people in wheelchairs. Even less on the moon. The odd time, Derek would find himself followed by someone enamored by his chair. Life is too short for him to worry about it.

He powers his chair over to the volcanic moon lo and watches intently as lava oozes over the surface. The realism is beyond his expectations.