Fire and Ice

Chapter 23 † Kayleigh

Locke and Demosthenes. The two most influential political writers in Earth's history. They did an excellent job covering their true identities. No one on Earth could hack in and find them.

Except me.

Valentine and Peter Wiggin. Ender's older siblings.

I set to work emailing Valentine first, figuring that she'll be more enthusiastic about her dear younger brother taking a small vacation to come see her. I then email Peter, figuring he'll be more enthusiastic about my return to the world of the living, and will relish in the political uproar.

Both of my requests are honored. We leave tomorrow.

Ender, Petra, and I will take my fighter to Earth, because my ship is faster than any nearby tug. We'll be there on Wednesday, stay for three days, and leave Earth Saturday, arriving back here before the week is out.

†††

Ender is elated when I tell him that we'll be visiting his beloved sibling. Petra is excited to leave this wretched war for a bit.

I don't know how I feel.

Locke and Demosthenes have such... Strong personalities and opinions, and I don't know that my own will merge with theirs easily.

But Valentine confuses me.

Her email was so mild mannered. Very unlike Peter's, which seemed to reflect Locke's personality in the pixels separating letters.

I'll ask her about that if I get the chance.

†††

I finish loading our luggage into my storage compartment, and fluff all the pillows nicely before changing into my Lunar Orbital uniform.

†

I emerge, helmet on hip, to find Ender and Petra mulling around in simpler IF flight suits. Upon hearing the door open and close, they both turn around to look at me.

"We gonna need helmets too?" Petra scoffs. I scoff back, and turn to the wall screens and start final preparations for launch.

"Nope. Pilots only. Unless you'd prefer your vomit contained to your field of vision." Null gravity. Release hold. Full power to thrusters. Fully charged weapons. Ender fake gags and I hear Petra laughing followed by a muffled thunk and Ender laughing. Life support. Check. Targeting systems. Check. Locating systems. Check. Pilot controls. Check. All systems go.

I turn around and see Petra with Ender in a headlock, aggressively mussing his hair, both still laughing. I smile slightly and walk over to them, tucking my braid into my helmet as I put it on and engage the visor.

[][][]

We follow the directions Kayleigh gave us yesterday to get to her hangar. Petra and I wear IF issue flight suits. They don't quite hug our bodies, but they aren't insufferably baggy. Petra scrounged up a belt from somewhere, and stylishly placed it around her waist.

I'm going to see Valentine.

The thought sinks in deeper with every echoing step. Petra seems lost in thought also, eyes turned toward the ground as she walks beside me.

Left. Straight. Straight. Right.

I see the outline of the door we're to enter through. Petra reaches out, grabs the handle, and yanks it open.

We walk into a small hangar and see one small fighter sitting in the middle of it, facing toward the entry door. The fighter has a sleek design, all soft lines and smooth metal as opposed to the IF angles and awkward phasers. There aren't any blasters or cannons to be seen, just a circular opening at the rear that glows a faint red. I assume that it's the propulsion unit. Petra looks at me and mouths it's beautiful and I nod in agreement. I wonder if Kayleigh designed it herself.

Just as Petra is about to head toward the ship, a door whirs open behind us. I turn around to see Kayleigh herself, helmet on hip, walk out from an unseen room. Her flight suit hugs every inch of her body. As she turns to tap on the monitor, I see something glint off of her suit. Blasters. Two at her hips, a large one strapped to her back, two medium sized ones attached to her outer calves. The suit and phasers equal each other in inky blackness, the phasers seeming to meld into Kayleigh, concealing them on first glance.

"We gonna need helmets too?" Petra calls out from behind me, catching Kayleigh's attention. She comes to stand next to me as Kayleigh scoffs at her, turning back to what she was tapping at before. Petra whistles softly at her side profile.

"Nope. Pilots only," she calls back. "Unless you'd like your vomit contained to your field of vision." I nod thoughtfully. That sounds unpleasant. Petra leans in and whispers "Where can I get one of those suits? Her ass looks fiiiine." I choke on my laughter and Petra laughs at my flustered gagging. I punch at her, but she blocks and ducks under my arm, twisting it up behind me. She gets her arm around my neck and pulls it in close to her body, then begins to aggressively rub at my hair and scalp with the flat of her hand. I try to latch on to her sleeve and pull her off, Petra still cackling maniacally. I manage to get enough slack to look up, only to see Kayleigh turn away from her screen and roll her eyes. She starts to walk toward us as Petra releases me. I fall to the ground, unprepared to be dropped. Kayleigh continues to strut toward us, reaching back to hold her braid up to tuck into her helmet. She secures the helmet to her suit, and clicks down a black visor. I scramble to right myself.

"Come now, children," she bites sarcastically. "Time to go." Petra salutes her sharply, all amusement and joking gone from her face. Kayleigh leads us to the port side of the hull, and reaches up to place her hand on the smooth metal. Blue light illuminates behind her hand and she removes it, leaving the silhouette of her hand on the metal. The sound of gas depressurizing echoes through the hangar, and a walkway is pushed down by pneumatic poles to our right. Kayleigh leads us over to it, then stands to the side, gesturing for Petra to walk on board. Petra stands opposite her and mimicks the motion.

"Ladies first," Petra says mockingly.

"Age before beauty," Kayleigh counters, tilting her helmeted head to the side. Her voice sounds a bit mechanized, probably coming through a mic and speaker system. They stare at each other for a full minute without moving. Petra looks like she's trying not to laugh, Kayleigh seeming emotionless behind her helmet. I throw my hands up in mock exasperation.

"Fine. I'll go," I say, playfully shoving around Petra and climbing up the walkway. She and Kayleigh burst out laughing. I turn and see them fist bump, then Kayleigh turns away and walks out from under the wing as Petra joins me on the ramp. As soon as she clears the wing, Kayleigh jumps up, a thunk resonating on the wing to indicate she landed safely. I turn and walk into the dimly lit ship.