Out of Bight, Out of Mind

Chapter Twenty

Over the next couple of days, she grew to think of herself as Emi and not Erin. She still answered to both names. The longer she spent with Ford she didn’t gain much in the way of memories, just a stray snippet here and there, usually the memory of someone saying something. But she quickly came to fall in love with Ford all over again.

They didn’t try to synthesize the antidote despite finally deciphering and translating Beyant equivalents. Ford was afraid what might happen if they used the wrong things or in the wrong combinations. She agreed that under the circumstances it was best to wait. Considering the time that had already passed, they presumed it might not make any difference anyway.

Ford struggled to learn the new language. “You know,” he said one afternoon, “I’m never going to be an expert in speaking Beyant.” But by the end of the first month, he knew enough to keep up with conversations. Deciphering the written version was a different matter. He still relied on Emi to translate that. Yanna, the ambassador, and the others came to trust and even like Ford.

One evening at dinner, the ambassador spoke up. “I have been thinking. Because you are the husband of my daughter, that means you are my son-in-law and should be officially recognized as such.”

Ford looked at Emi in confusion. “Huh?”

She smiled. “Yes, that’s what he said. You’re his son-in-law.”

Yanna, his father, and the other Beyants in attendance all lifted their cups to Ford in a salute.

Ford smiled and kissed Emi. “Welcome to the family, huh?”

“Yeah.”

They made love almost every night, Emi as eager as Ford to make up for lost time. She couldn’t get enough of him. During the day he worked with her and Pachya in the labs, or spent time on the bridge learning about their ship’s systems. Two months into their journey, while taking a turn on the scanners, Ford practiced by looking at the escort ships in the convoy accompanying them to Mars.

The last one caught his eye. As he fine-tuned the frequency to read the ship’s beacon code, he let out a whoop of joy that scared the crap out of the other bridge crew.

Yanna and Emi ran over. “What is it?” Emi asked.

Beyond excited, Ford pointed at the signal and reverted fully to standard, unable to think of the words fast enough in Beyant.

“There she is! It’s them! There she is!”

Confused, Yanna turned to Emi for clarification. “Ford, who?” Emi asked. “They? She?”

He grabbed her and hugged her, smiling from ear to ear. “The Tamora Bight! Look, that’s our DSMC beacon code! Aaron and Caph, they’re following us. I never should have doubted them being able to find me. They know I’m here. They’re following us to Mars!”

Her breath caught in her throat as she stared at the scanner signature. She reached out and touched the screen. “Aaron and Caph.” She’d only seen their faces in the photos on Ford’s picture card and in her dreams. Their voices still wouldn’t come to mind.

So close. So close she wished she could touch them.

Her fingers stroked the screen as her tears flowed.

Ford saw. “Hey, this is good, babe. What’s wrong?”

“Will they still want me?” she asked softly enough only Ford could hear.

He frowned. “What? That’s crazy. Why wouldn’t they still want you?”

“I’ve been gone so long.”

“Honey, a day away from you is too fucking long. Seven months is torture, believe you me. But abso-fucking-lutely they want you back. I’ll be lucky I can get so much as a passing glance from you for the first few weeks we’re all back together. They’re not going to want to let you go.”

He enveloped her in his arms, drawing her close and stroking her back. She always felt safe with him.

As safe as she’d felt on the B’autachia.

“I’m scared,” she whispered against his shirt.

He pressed his lips to the top of her head. “Those are the last two guys you have to be scared of.”

“Of never remembering.”

She felt his melancholy as he hugged her more tightly. She wasn’t sure if it was possible for him to feel truly sad now that they were back together. “Babe, even if you never remember, that’s okay. We’ll make new memories. All four of us together. I promise.”

Aaron and Caph barely spoke. Not because they were upset at each other, but running a ship as large as the Tamora Bight with just the two of them took its toll, especially when combined with sleeping alone every night and compounded by their existing grief over losing Emi.

Aaron didn’t let himself think about the possibility of Emi also being on that vessel. Dead or alive. It would hurt too fucking much if he was wrong.

He would kick Ford’s ass, then fuck it, then kick it again once they got him back. Maybe not in that order, but close enough. In what little time he and Caph could spend together, Aaron tried to hold the other man, not that they could or were in a mood to do much more than cuddle. When they reached Mars, they would get Ford back and the three of them would go to a Martian resort for a couple of weeks.

And then maybe he would talk to them about giving up the Bight for good. Graymard, under the circumstances, would give them Earth-based jobs. They could do training. They had the experience.

He didn’t want to lose anyone else. Death was always an inevitable part of life, but Caph was right. It wasn’t worth losing those you loved to space. First Kels, then Emi.

Now their chatterbox.

He never thought he’d miss the twinspeak, but he longed for the days when he had to order only one of them to talk around him.

They can talk themselves hoarse if I can just have Ford back. Please, gods, please let us get him back safely.