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Galo’s boots thudded on the metal surface of the hallway, echoing loudly in the narrow space. Though he’d been living and working on this spaceship for six years, he didn’t think he’d ever get used to the idea that beyond these thin walls was a black void. No air. No sound. No floor. Nothing at all.
Galo showed his ID to a uniformed security guard, who scanned it, verifying Galo’s right to enter the area.
“Be careful,” the guard warned Galo.
“Have you seen them?” Galo asked, his nerves getting the better of him. His fingers traced the gold ring on his hand.
“From a distance. They’re…different,” the guard replied with a troubled glance behind him.
That confirmed Galo’s biggest fear. “Different how?” he asked, feeling sick.
The guard shrugged helplessly. “You’ll see,” he said. “Just…don’t get your hopes up.”
That definitely didn’t bode well. “Thanks.” Galo continued on down the hall. He stopped before a door and showed his ID to one of the guards standing next to it. Neither guard seemed in the mood to chat; they just waved Galo through.
As soon as the door whooshed open, Galo heard a cacophony of voices. He stood just inside the room, observing the situation.
Admiral Foresight stood at the head of the long table, silently observing the people arguing over the table. Those on the left wore the white uniforms of the Earth fleet, like Galo. Those on the right wore black uniforms. Three versus three, with Foresight serving as referee..
Foresight’s eyes landed on Galo and his lips turned down in disapproval. He raised one hand, beckoning Galo forward. The arguing petered out as eyes turned in Galo’s direction.
“You’re late,” Foresight said, once he could finally be heard.
“Sorry.” Galo swallowed and slowly fixed his eyes on the black-clad newcomers. The first was a man with long, dark hair. It shone purple under the light. Galo didn’t recognise him. The second was red-haired. He gave Galo a friendly, amused grin, but Galo didn’t recognise him either.
The third was blond. A pale face turned from Foresight to look Galo fully in the eye, and Galo stopped breathing. He recognised those features. He knew that face intimately, had traced its curves with fingers and mouth.
But the guard had been right. The blond was…different. His hair was longer and there were lines of stress present that Galo didn’t recall being there before. The blond looked older and more severe than Galo remembered too. The most startling change, however, was the colour of his eyes. They were now an unnatural pink, not the clear blue that Galo had always thought were so much prettier than his own.
“Lio?” Galo asked quietly.
The blond stepped slowly around his companions to face Galo fully. His uniform was identical to Galo’s, but for the fact that the white fabric was replaced with black. The trimmings were gold, like Galo’s. Lio still wore his pilot’s pin as well, pinned to his chest.
And…Galo’s eyes went to Lio’s left hand, but he was wearing gloves. Galo’s fingers fiddled with his ring once again.
“Galo.” Lio’s voice was flat, an undercurrent of wariness in it that stung.
The fact that they hadn’t seen each other for four years didn’t account for the massive void between them. Galo tried to smile, but it felt too fragile to hold. “Been a while, huh?” he said, trying to sound flippant.
Lio pressed his lips together. He wasn’t buying Galo’s act, and Galo was relieved. Some things hadn’t changed.
“Nice contacts,” Galo tried.
For a brief moment, Lio looked confused. Then he raised one hand to touch just under his left eye. “This? Those aren’t contacts,” he said quietly.
“Oh.” Galo couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“We’re in the middle of something, Galo. You can talk to Mr. Fotia after the meeting,” Admiral Foresight said.
Mr. Fotia. Foresight had completely omitted Lio’s rank, as if Lio wasn’t a part of the fleet anymore.
Galo joined his white-suited fellows on the opposite side of the table to Lio. It had been generous of the admiral to give him the chance to greet Lio, but the admiral was right. There were more important things to discuss.
Like, where the fuck had Lio been for the last four years?
Lio’s ship had been sent on a mission to investigate a planet that looked habitable. The fleet was hesitating over its suitability however, due to an anomaly that was detected nearby. Lio’s ship, the Detroit, was supposed to get data on both the planet and the anomaly, then return to the fleet with the data so it could be analysed. The mission was supposed to take ten months.
But ten months had passed, and the Detroit missed the rendezvous. The fleet had waited for a month before continuing on. The Detroit had been wrote off as lost.
Galo had never been able to give up on Lio though. He’d been sure that Lio was still out there somewhere—that he’d managed to survive whatever disaster had befallen the Detroit. Galo had even tried to convince the admiral to turn back and investigate the planet for themselves. But the admiral had refused. The risk was too great.
Then, just a week earlier, a signal had been detected. It was using a very familiar encoding, if an old one. It was the Detroit.
With extreme suspicion, Admiral Foresight had sent a group of pilots out to investigate. Galo had demanded to be included in the group but Foresight had refused, stating that he couldn’t trust Galo to be unbiased in this situation.
The pilots had returned with both good and bad news. The good news was that the mysterious ship was the Detroit. The majority of the crew had survived and were on board. The bad news was that the Detroit looked strange. It was as if it had fused with some sort of alien life-form. It had demonstrated capabilities that the fleet did not possess. And, worse, the crew was different too.
The bitter arguing resumed, and Galo felt a headache blooming behind his eyes. Lio, like Galo, did not join in the argument this time. Instead, he stared silently at Galo, as if measuring him.
Admiral Foresight listened to the back-and-forth with a thoughtful frown. Galo had no idea what he was making of the situation. There was an undercurrent of fear in the room that didn’t sit well with Galo at all. Suddenly, the fleet’s future seemed very uncertain and fragile.
There were aliens out there. Their capabilities were unknown, as were their motives. Detroit’s crew insisted that the aliens they had encountered were benign and, after an initial misunderstanding had been cleared up, the aliens had formed a treaty with the Detroit’s crew. The crew built a small colony on the planet they’d been sent to investigate, with the approval of the aliens.
They made the colony sound like paradise, but Galo’s companions weren’t convinced. It was clear that the aliens had altered the Detroit’s crew in some way and they were afraid that this whole thing was a trick to lure the fleet into a trap.
Predictably, the meeting ended without resolution. Lio and his companions were escorted out of the room by a contingent of security guards. Lio left with one final, inscrutable look to Galo.
Foresight approached Galo. “Fotia will be staying on board the Promepolis,” he said. “He has agreed to a medical examination. You’ll have the opportunity to see him.” Foresight’s eyes narrowed. “Find out if he really is who he says he is.”
Galo nodded numbly. A heavy weight settled on his shoulders. Foresight was asking Galo to verify the Detroit’s story. Whatever conclusion Galo reached would influence the fleet’s actions—the fleet’s future.
Humanity’s future.
“Trusting you to do this might be a mistake but no one knows Fotia better than you. Just don’t let your hopes interfere with your objectivity.”
Galo nodded again. “Yeah,” he said, his voice thick.
Galo took the time to wash and refresh himself before he headed to the medical floor. A guard directed him to where Lio was being kept.
The door slid open, inviting Galo into a small room. Though it looked cramped, an effort had clearly been made to make it comfortable for its occupant, and Galo was glad to see that. Lio should be treated like a guest, not a prisoner.
Actually, he ought to be treated like a member of the fleet, but Galo understood that that was too much to ask for right now.
Lio lay on the lower bunk, a tablet casting a glow over his pale face. He lowered the tablet when he heard the door open. His eyes widened when he saw Galo and he sat up.
Galo noticed a bag resting on the small desk in the corner of the room. He recognised it as Lio’s because Lio had clipped a keyring in the shape of a monkey onto it. Galo hadn’t seen that bag in four years.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d see me,” Lio said. “You seemed spooked earlier.”
“It’s really you, isn’t it?” Galo asked.
Lio stood. He brushed hair out of his eyes, then nodded. “It’s me,” he said with a tired, bitter smile. “Not that anyone believes that.”
“What did you say to me on the first night in space?” Galo asked.
“Do I have to say it again? That started an argument, remember?”
“Good enough,” Galo said with a wry smile. Lio was right. What he’d said that night, while nestled into Galo’s side as they’d watched a devastated Earth recede through the window, had started an argument. Lio had said that he didn’t think he’d miss the planet.
Galo, who had been mourning the loss of millions of people who hadn’t made it onto the fleet, had taken that very badly. Only after a few days had passed had he been able to understand where Lio was coming from. Lio was an orphan and had no family. Being a pilot was everything to him. He’d never really felt at home anywhere but in space. And with Galo.
“You still wear that ring,” Lio observed, his voice quiet.
Galo belatedly realised that he’d been fiddling with it again. “Yeah. I always figured you were still out there somewhere.”
Lio slid off one of his gloves. Galo experienced a brief moment of fear—maybe Lio was hiding his hands because they too were different? But no, Lio’s exposed hand was entirely normal. Five fingers, all of appropriate lengths, with trimmed nails. And gleaming on one finger was the gold band that matched Galo’s, the one that Galo had exchanged with him when the Detroit had left for its ten-month mission.
Lio stepped forward and clasped his hand with Galo’s, their rings touching. Lio lifted his face to Galo’s. Galo stared deep into those strange eyes. Suddenly, they didn’t seem all that strange anymore. Galo’s mouth met Lio’s, and he knew with absolute certainty that however different Lio appeared, he was the same Lio inside. Everything important, everything that mattered, was just as Galo remembered it. Lio even kissed just like Galo remembered, that desperate working of lips and tongue, as if it would be the last time they ever kissed.
The fingers of Galo’s free hand twined in Lio’s hair as Lio’s free hand fisted in Galo’s uniform jacket. Galo vowed that this time wouldn’t be the last time; that they’d share many, many more kisses.