The Soulmate Curse

GARDENIA (for emotional strength) - Part 3

The plan to acquire the metal in the next few days was simple. All they had to do was make new friends and figure out how to get a tour at the MechSoft facility, where they would find a way to acquire a tiny piece of the rock. That was all they needed. Maybe a souvenir shard or something. Okay, so the plan wasn't that well thought out, but to be fair, neither of them had thought they'd get this far, having abandoned the plan to fly to the moon after Jack's exciting announcement about Gemini Ventures all those days ago. Jeez, that seemed like a lifetime away.

In addition to its unlikely success, there was another big flaw in their plan. Finn wasn't here on vacation. Darren kept her on an extremely tight schedule. She was doing PR stuff almost every hour of every day. And during her free time, she had to stick to the strict astronaut regime of exercising for about an hour or so each day like every other lunar inhabitant had to in order to stay in peak physical condition at all times. When she wasn't doing that, she was either eating or signing autographs and getting stuck in discussions with scientists and engineers who were eager to pick her brain. After the second day chock full of activity, Finn walked into their room and collapsed on her bed, completely wiped out. Zhen was on her bed, typing onto her tablet.

"I just spent the day with Mario Giovani, the world's leading radio astronomer, on the far side of the moon, just listening to the low frequency hum of the universe," said Zhen, her voice filled with awe. "He was telling me stories of what they've heard over the years, ever since they set up the first radio telescope. Finn, there's so much we don't know. So much out there to learn."

"I was made to guest star on Lunar Love," Finn mumbled, her face half hidden by her pillow. "A soap opera with the flimsiest storyline of a love hexagon I've ever heard of. Apparently, the series target audience is young girls who'd be inspired to see that real engineers can be fun and whimsical."

"A love hexagon?" Zhen question. Finn heard the laughter she was supressing in her voice. She tossed her other pillow and hit Zhen in the face. Unable to hold it in anymore, Zhen collapsed into hysterics, tossing the pillow back.

"I hate you," said Finn.

"I don't think that's even remotely possible," Zhen said, still laughing.

Flashes of skin and whispers of moans whizzed through Finn's mind. She quickly shut down the errant thoughts and changed the subject.

"Any luck with MechSoft?" she asked Zhen, barely holding back the raw emotion in her voice.

"None," Zhen said, putting her tablet away and swinging her feet over the side of her bed to sit up. She went deathly serious. "That lab is shut tighter than my plump neighbour's skinny jeans after Thanksgiving."

Finn exploded in laughter at the expression. "What?"

"Seriously!" said Zhen, trying to keep a straight face and failing. "There no tours around the place. I even threw your name around. Nothing. The staff don't even eat at the Mess Hall. And they own the whole of the inner habitat ring, which is off limits to everyone else. It's insane."

"How is no one questioning this?"

"It's a corporation," said Zhen. "With all this Open Source stuff sinking whole companies, they're just claiming protection from industrial espionage and getting away with it."

"I wish I could help," said Finn, feeling helpless. If this failed, it meant going back to an Earth where Zhen's whole life would implode all around her.

"Hey," said Zhen. Finn looked up at her. Zhen had stood up to cross the divide between them, but then second thought the action and sat back down on her bed, her hands clasped tightly together. "Don't worry. We still have time."

Finn nodded and then stood up to go take a shower before she called it a night.

Finn's adventures the next day were actually fun. Darren had her on the set of a documentary about lunar ice harvesting. She was a guest host for the episode, helping the main host explain how water was being harvested from the moon's lunar poles. She even got to operate the ice machines that carved out ice blocks that would be transported to the habitat rings and the hydrogen fuel refinery to be converted into rocket fuel. It was weird to think that later in her room she'd be brushing her teeth with some of that water. After lunch, Darren took her on a tour of the solar panel manufacturing plant, where a mix of lunar harvested silica and other minerals were transformed into the main power source on the moon.

Back in their room, Finn walked out of the shower, still towelling her damp hair. Zhen hadn't been in the room when she'd arrived, but she was now there, the top of her jumpsuit hanging off her waist, her white T-shirt clinging to her and having streaks of brown across it, same as her face. She looked exhausted as she picked her towel to head into the shower.

"Oh, hey Finn," she said with a smile as bright as the sun. "I've got awesome news. I just need to wash off this grime. I'll be out soon."

Finn tried her best not to think about Zhen naked, but it was like being told not to think about pink elephants. Pink elephants are all you'd think about after being told not to.

"Looking forward to it," she said, a little too forcefully.

Zhen raised an eyebrow and chuckled as she walked past her and into the bathroom. How could she be so cool and calm and collected all the time, Finn wondered for the umpteenth time. She usually just devolved into a drooling mess around her, using every ounce of her energy to act barely normal. It was pathetic really, but she couldn't help it. Zhen broke her.

"So, what was your day like?" Zhen asked, walking out of the shower in a below the knee, baggy pair of blue shorts and a green graphic t-shirt. She'd started wearing pyjamas to bed after their night together.

"Ice and solar power," Finn replied, sitting up on her bed. She had on long, soft cotton pants and a long-sleeved undershirt for her pyjamas. "For once, I had fun. So, what's the good news?"

"My adventures today took me to the gardens, where they were retrieving a module capsule from the ISS 1 filled with the residents' poop," she said like it had been thing in the world. "Can you believe that we used to just let the stuff fall back into Earth and burn up in the atmosphere? Jeez, we were incredibly wasteful back then. I watched them unload the stuff into the vermicompost bays. Then they let me help to harvest some worm castings and I got to visit the farm."

"I heard that they get most of the oxygen for the greenhouse from the moon's soil?" said Finn, getting comfortable under her covers and trying not to think of how much more comfortable it would be under Zhen's covers.

"They do. You should see them harvest it," said Zhen, getting under the covers of her bed. "You'd like that."

Finn sighed. "Did you make any headway with MechSoft?"

"Actually, I kind of did," said Zhen. "One of their staff members came to pick up a box of food and we got to talking. He confirmed what we already knew. They don't give tours. MechSoft are always acting like corporate espionage is on everyone's mind all the time. I spoke to a few other people. Everyone on base knows something is going on in their lab, they just don't know what it is. At least we have an idea of how we can get stuff in and out of the lab. The food carts."

Finn sat up in her bed, intrigued. "That's interesting. Did that staff member look like he could help us?"

"Not even a little bit," said Zhen, turning to face Finn. "He looked petrified just talking to me."

"You do have that effect on people," said Finn with a straight face. Zhen threw her pillow at her. Finn expertly snatched it from the air and threw it back. "I'll have you know that I have two younger sisters. I'm basically an Olympic champion at pillow fights and tickle wars."

Zhen laughed then punched her pillow and secured it under her head. She went solemn again. "Any thoughts on our next move?"

"We need to find someone who can help us get in there," said Finn.