Capricious - The Lightning Crew Chronicles

Part Two - 16 - Kala

Captain's log, entry three hundred and thirty-six.

Today, I lost one of my crew members. Victor. He got shot during a bar fight on Zhangdar. He deserved it. That guy was a prick. I intended to fire him anyway...or leave the planet while he had his back turned. The bastard wasn't worth all the drama. But now we are down to four crew members. Me, Jessie, and against all odds, the Wayne twins. I need more staff, so I hired the man that shot Victor. He asked for a ride to escape the city law enforcers. His name is Lucas McFry, a veteran from the Expansion Union. Big as a mountain. And a good shot too. He's old enough to be my dad but can break a man in two with his bare hands. I think he might prove really useful.

Log entry over.

Kala awoke in a world of peaceful darkness and forest melody. Some animal was singing in the night. On the planet Texas, the terraforming had worked to perfection and life had evolved close to what it used to be on Earth. She couldn't wait to take a closer look at the biome.

She was already feeling much better. Today, the crew would let her leave her bed. And if not, she would burn their eyebrows off. She really needed some fresh air.

Once Kala's eyes got used to the darkness, she noticed a faint glow to her left. She turned her head and found Hopper fast asleep at her side. He had an arm thrown over her waist. His scars were alight, just a little. He had been her constant companion since she came back to herself the day before. He was her guardian and her caretaker. Her heart ached as she watched him sleep. His chest slowly going up and down with the deep breathing of slumber. His eyelashes were fluttering slightly. She wondered about his dreams.

Her energy was all over him, just under the surface of his skin, like a luminescent blanket, and he was holding on to it, even in his sleep. But the rest of him, his core, was always a mystery to her. She could not read him like other humans. She could not read the electric signals coursing through his body with each of his emotions. Without those particular tells, she was left with guessing and questioning. Listening to his words, understanding the meanings of his gestures and expressions. She wondered how normal people could even socially navigate like this on a daily basis.

Kala lifted a hand, wanting to caress Hopper's cropped black hair. But at the last moment, she stopped herself. She didn't want to wake him. He needed rest. He had been guarding her sleep and recovery for three days now.

She slowly sat and slid out of her cot, without making a noise. At last, her body had won over the virus and she was healing fast. Soon, she would be ready to take on the world.

She walked outside and found the twins fast asleep and snoring under their blankets, guarding the entrance to her small tent like sphinxes. She smiled and sidestepped them.

She didn't know what time it was; the darkness was thick under the trees. But she could see a figure beside the campfire. Min-hee making pancakes over the embers.

Dawn isn't far off then.

When the woman saw her, she smiled and offered a warm hand. Kala took it and sat down beside her.

"Are you hungry?" asked Min-hee.

Kala nodded and the woman didn't waste a second to start feeding her.

By the time she finished eating, the morning sky lightened over the trees and she could feel the crew members slowly waking up all over the camp, their familiar energies pulsating on a different level than the forest.

But someone was missing.

"Where's the captain?" she asked.

Min-hee gave her a meaningful look and said while pouring a cup of coffee, "The captain has been restless. He barely spends any time in the camp; he just wanders in the forest all day, alone."