Tag: maeve

Distant Love (Part 49)

The conversation shifts to Maeve’s many cousins and what they are up to. Hours pass over tea and biscuits.

The room grows dark. At first, the light is switched on, then the blinds are drawn, and the conversation turns to where they will sleep.

“There’s a nice little bed for you, Derek, beside the front door. It could be quite tight with the wheelchair, though. And Maeve, you can sleep in the bed beside mine.”

She was right. There was no chance of turning the wheelchair into the room. Derek crawls out of the wheelchair and into the low-rise bed.

Exhausted now, he thinks of what a crazy day he’s had.

His eyelids close, and he drifts off.

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

Three weeks previously…

An alarm goes off in Derek’s room. He stretches and opens his eyes. For the first time in quite a while, he can’t help but feel enthusiastic about what lies ahead.

No work, no worries. He had been planning this trip for over a month. The Jupiter Fair.

Jupiter had always entranced Derek. A place where you could be free with just the right amount of human civilization. Aviris 6 was the stuff of legend. Get rich or die within 24 hours.

Distant Love (Part 35)

Timothy found himself lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling once more. He is due back at work within the hour, but is having difficulty processing what has happened.

Maeve’s family was involved in drugs. How did she not know? It was a large ship, though.

Arguments continue back and forth in his mangled mind.

He thinks back to that time, many years ago, when he considered ending it all. He had been told the week before by a serious-looking consultant decked out in white attire that nanotechnology would not be able to make him walk again. It had been a shock to find out that he’s part of a rare breed whose body turns on the nanonites. The emotional toil took time to build, but then exploded.

Maeve had been there for him, apparently sensitive to his despair even if he never told her exactly why. Hour after hour of mindless chatter helped him through those dark times.

It’s my turn to help her.

An idea springs to mind. His adoptive Mum left him a ship. He could leave the lunar system with her. Looking up the current position of La Madame, the final pieces of a possible plan fall into place.

Distant Love (Part 17)

The communication line goes silent.

A holographic display appears around her. Each section of the ship is detailed in multicolor light. Her mouth is ajar as she hears the man again.

“Maeve, can you hear me? I repeat, can you hear me?” His voice sounds tense.

“Yes, I can hear you. It worked. A holographic display has appeared around me. It’s like I’m in the middle of it.”

The male voice takes a large breadth. “Well, thank the stars for that. So, there’s not a second to lose. I need you to turn your head left. Do you see a flashing, green light?”

Maeve frowns and looks to the left. She sees the flashing green light. “Yes, I can see it.”

“Good, the ship is currently travelling too fast. We need to reduce its velocity. Put your finger on the flashing green light for five seconds. You will feel the ship slowing down.”

She puts her finger on the light. The deceleration pushes her forward in the seat. “You should have told me I needed to be strapped in.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Trying to think about so much at the moment. Yes, you need a belt, and so does everyone else on the ship.”

Distant Love (Part 15)

Derek’s eyes flash from one screen to the next. It’s almost time for him to chat with Maeve again. There is sweat on his brow.

He presses the button to reopen communications with C4365. “This is Moon Sector C. Come in C4365.”

A high-pitched voice replies. “This is C4365, over. Am I happy to hear from you.”

Derek smiles. “What is your status C4365?”

“All non-essential people on board have been evacuated. My mum, eh The Captain wants to know, can we commence the procedure to land in Moon, Sector C.”

“Maeve, and I hope you don’t mind me using your first name. But, we’re going to have to talk to each other an awful lot if we’re going to get through this. I’m going to be frank, is that okay? You won’t panic on me.”

For a couple of seconds, there is silence. Then a response. “I won’t.”

“Your ship was never designed to land, not on the moon and definitely not on Earth. Still, that doesn’t make it impossible. It should be very possible if you listen to and follow my instructions closely. And the ship cannot be abandoned as it’s already on a collision course that could potentially hit a moon station. Now, my first question: have you ever taken control of the ship before?

Distant Love (Part 5)

Derek pushes himself in his manual wheelchair out of his room through the automatic door. An electric wheelchair would require far less effort, but his physiotherapist has told him to use the manual one to maintain his muscle tone, especially in a low-gravity environment.

Easy for her to say.

He resides on the third floor of Pod A of Lunar City. The biggest human settlement in Sector C. Ground level, a distance below him, is a hive of activity with people bustling to go about their business. That is of no concern to Derek, who is already close to his workstation. There are no windows. The rotation of the pod would induce motion sickness if you could see outside.

Pausing outside a large metallic door, he reaches for his swipe card in his top pocket.

“I’ve got that.” Derek hears a familiar female voice to his right, which he recognizes as Natasha.

Natasha swipes her card, and they both enter a small office. Derek wheels over to his station, and she takes the remaining one.

They both work in silence.

“Oh, shut up, Derek!” Natasha blurts out.

He responds with a smile, “So, how was your weekend?”

“It was mayhem. Don’t ever have children.” They both laughed.

Distant Love Part 2

Will anyone ever tell me I’m pretty?

She was nearly nineteen and her life experience with boys sucked. She recalled her last messages over the moonweb with Derek.

Maeve: Why don’t we exchange photos? Do you look like your avatar?

Derek: Not really. Do you?

Maeve: Yes, a bit. So, will we exchange photos?

Derek: Maybe another time.

Maeve had thrown the mobile onto her bed. It was so frustrating.

She knew she was wasting her time, over four years of it now, but at times, she felt a strong connection. And she can’t be just imagining it. That isn’t who she is.

Derek was smart, razor smart. And they had an interest in many of the same things – chess, music, and Star Systems Regenade War. That’s where they met. He was a dashing commander of the Kuiper Belt Realm, she a General of Venus Command. Their love of conquest helped bond them together.

Her wrist went off. Time to report for duty. She walked out of her room, the automatic doors whooshing open and then closing. This was the main corridor of the spaceship. Not that it looked like one. More like an old folks’ home. It was filled with old people with walking sticks slowly going about their business on the carpet floor.

Distant Love (Sci-fi Romance)

Maeve leans back from her computer monitor. The smell of eaten pizza rafts through the air.

Why did she need to know Maths anyway? Isn’t that what AI was for?

Looking out the window, the blue dot, Earth, is still visible. It is not possible to make out any of the orbiting space stations. The rest is darkness with stars.

She had begun her Maths assignment two hours previously. Most of that time had been spent fidgeting.

Who needs to know about the multiplication of matrices?

She wishes Derek were online. He always knew how to get her to focus. He’d tell her that if she wants to own the family business, she needs to have a grasp of these things. She has to know what to ask the AI.

All very exciting. Did she even want to run the family business? There must be more to life than ferrying a bunch of old people from low Earth orbit to Moon orbit. Like really, that’s all she has to look forward to?

Turning around, she looks at the body-length mirror beside her. Her hand pushes back some of her long red hair over her black uniform, which consisted of a shirt and trousers.