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Authors: Amber LaShell

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BOOK: The Other Earth
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"So now it's a waiting game" I said.

Brandon nodded, "Yep. I'm going to go and make something to eat, I was too nervous to eat before, are you hungry?" he asked.

I nodded, "Sure, let's go see what kind of crazy space food we have in there" I said, patting him on the back as he passed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Ten

 

I looked over at Brandon, who was busy writing in his journal. I had just finished my daily entry and was curious as to what he thought about the fact that we were going to be entering the black hole in just a few minutes and would lose all communication with home.

It made this part of the mission scarier than it had been, even all the way through landing on the moon and getting to walk around, we could at least communicate with the home base. In just a few minutes, we would be completely on our own, going
through a portal that nobody except for a space robot had previously gone through. It made the mission feel like they were in a Star Trek movie.

"Are you done writing?" Brandon asked from next to me, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I nodded, "Yeah" I said.

"You're still here? You usually go to your room and hide after you are finished writing in the journal for the day" he said.

I rolled my eyes, "I don't hide, I just get tired is all. But, the reason I'm still here is that I wanted to talk about what's going on with you, get your feelings on it" I said.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I pointed out of the window, where the black hole was close enough to fill almost the entire window. "We are just a couple of minutes from heading into that thing and we will be all on our own. I'm a little scared to lose the contact with base" I said.

He nodded, "Yeah. It is a little scary, but it's so exciting all at the same time you know. We are going to see things in person that were previously only seen in pictures. It make
s things look different to you" he said.

I tilted my head, "How is that?" I asked, curious as to his reasoning.

"Well, have you ever been to Europe?" he asked.

I shook my head, "No I've never been out of the country. Well until now" I said quickly, not wan
ting to come off as a complete idiot.

"Okay, have you seen pictures of the Eiffel Tower?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yes of course" I said.

"Well, so had I, many times over my life. Well, when we were in college, my parents told me that for every year I finished earlier than the average I would get a week anywhere I wanted to go. I graduated two years early and decided to go to Europe. I spent
two weeks there going to as many places as I could. I spent a couple of days in London, then Rome, then Venice, and finally I spent the last few days there in Paris."

I shook my head, "How is it that I never knew this?" I asked him.

"It was the summer that you decided you needed a job and worked at some fast food joint. You were too busy to pay attention that you didn't see me for two weeks" he said.

I shrugged, remembering my summer flipping greasy hamburgers for minimum wage, "Okay, point taken. So what
does that have to do with this?" I asked, pointing back toward the window.

"Well, if you would let me finish. I had seen all these pictures of the Eiffel Tower and was honestly not even all that excited to see it in person, figuring it would look like all
the pictures. Well, it did of course, but it was still different. It was so tall and magnificent, and at night it was lit up in a different color each night. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. This will be the same thing, the pictures were great, but the view in person will have to be breathtaking" he said.

I looked at him for a few seconds before turning to look back out of the window, "
Wow, that was deep." I said.

He laughed, "Well, I have my moments" he said.

"Brandon?" I asked.

"Yes?" he r
eplied, his head now looking back down at his notebook.

"Why did you sign up for this mission?" I asked him.

"Honestly?" he asked.

I nodded, "Yes."

He sighed, "Well, I actually didn't really have any intention to until I saw how excited you were about it. Your excitement was contagious and through what you would say I started to see how great this could be, not only for me but for everyone" he said.

My heart lifted a few centimeters as I realized that I had more of an impact on his decisions than I had ant
icipated.

Suddenly bells started to ring inside of the ship and Brandon looked down at the gauges. "Okay we are about to enter this thing. Base said that the space bot lost all power for a couple of minutes before it came back up. Let's just stay here toge
ther through that, and hope that everything goes as smoothly as we hoped, okay?" he asked, looking into my eyes.

I nodded and looked back through the window and realized that there was really not a reason to now, as the black hole was covering the entire s
hip and it was pitch black, not even a star in sight.

The bells stopped chiming only seconds before the ship was plunged into darkness. "Brandon?" I asked, reaching out for him, but unable to see anything around me as the ship was darker than anything I ha
d ever experienced before.

"I'm here Randi" he said.

I felt his hand reaching around my legs and bent towards it, trying to judge the distance when I finally touched his hand and pulled it into mine.

"Is that your hand?" I asked, just wanting confirmation.

"Yes, are you okay?" he asked.

I nodded my head, then closed my eyes in the darkness as I remembered that he couldn't' see me, "I'm okay just don't let go of me until the lights come back on" I told him.

"Don't worry I won't let you go" I heard him say into the dark.

I sat as quietly and as still as I could,
hoping that the blackness around us wouldn't last very long.

I felt what I hoped was Brandon's other hand sliding up my arm, while the hand holding onto my own never let go.

"Brandon, is that your other hand?" I asked.

"
Shh" he said, his hand now sliding up my shoulder and pulling me toward where I guessed that he was sitting.

I held my breath as he pulled me toward him, seeing him in my mind, even though I couldn't see him wi
th my eyes. Once I was apparently close enough, he let go of my hand and slid both of his hands slowly over my body as though he was trying to gage where I was.

His hands went around to my back and cupped underneath my butt and slightly lifted me up into t
he air. I reached blindly out in front of me and my hands came down onto his shoulders. I held on as he helped my legs to wrap around his dark figure.

"Once I find your face, I am going to kiss you" he said, frighteningly close to my left ear.

I sucked in my breath and gave a little moan involuntarily, afraid to move a muscle or say a word, knowing that he would be able to tell just how much I actually wanted him.

"Every time I get close to this ear" he said, whispering into where he knew it was, and then k
issing my neck right below it. "You jerk away from me. Is this your spot?" he asked, running his tongue up my neck and taking my earlobe into his mouth.

"Yes" I admitted breathlessly.

I felt his hands find my face and pulled me toward him until our lips met in the dark. He kissed me hungrily and I couldn't help but to moan into his mouth. The darkness pulling me in, making me forget about my resolve to keep the mission strictly professional.

I sank my body into his, deepening the kiss as I wrapped my arms a
round his head. I felt his hands leave my face and slide quickly down my body until he came to the bottom of my shirt. He tugged on it, lifting it up and I pulled away from his kiss and lifted my hands above my head and he pulled my shirt of. I leaned back in and continued to kiss him as I wrapped my arms back around him, the darkness somehow melting away all resolve.

I felt his hands slide up my back, searching for the bra that I hadn't bothered to put on that day. Once his hands came to my shoulders and
he realized I wasn't wearing a bra, he slid them around until he found my breasts. I broke the kiss once more and tilted my head back as his thumbs found my sensitive nipples.

I moaned as I felt his head lower down and he took one of my nipples into his mo
uth, slightly nibbling on it.

"Oh yes" I whispered.

I slid my hands down his back until I found the end of his shirt and pulled it up over his head and threw it down next to us. I let my hands linger on his muscled stomach as his reached back down and started to kiss and suck on my nipples again.

I pulled his head back up and pulled him back in for a kiss, smashing my chest against his, trying to get as close to him as I could manage.

Suddenly I heard a click and then all of the lights snapped back on in the ship, temporarily blinding me. Once my sight was back I looked at Brandon, my cheeks burning as the lights reminded me what I was doing.

"I'm so sorry" I said, pulling away from him and covering my breasts with my arm before he could see me. I reached d
own and grabbed the shirt I had pulled off of him and jumped off of his lap. I turned my back to him and pulled the shirt over my head and running back to my room where I shut and locked the door.

I almost expected Brandon to come banging on the door and d
emanding I finish what was started, but understanding me like he did, he never came knocking.

***

I stepped out of my room and looked around, hoping that Brandon was either already asleep or otherwise occupied. It had already been a week since the incident in the black hole, and things were still awkward. Well, they were awkward on my part, Brandon proceeded to pretend nothing had ever happened.

I walked on the tip of my toes to the control room to have a quick look out of the window before heading to the k
itchen to grab something to eat and going right back into my room, the only place that felt truly safe to me.

I looked into the inky blackness and sighed, it seemed like we had been in this black hole for years, without anything to look out at to guide us.
We had to trust the navigation system to pull us through this black hole in one piece and in the right place.

"Everything okay?"
I heard behind me.

I turned around quickly and saw Brandon standing behind me in only a pair of sweat pants. I had to use ever
y ounce of self-control to not stare at his muscled chest, which after a few weeks of doing nothing but exercising had somehow become even more muscular.

"Yes I'm fine, I was just getting something to eat and thought I'd check to see if we could see anythi
ng yet" I said quickly, my eyes darting to the hallway behind him.

"We won't be able to see anything for a while. The navigation says that we still have at least three more weeks inside of this thing before we come out on the other side.

I sighed, "This has to be the worst part of all this. At least before we could measure by sight how far away and if we were drifting the right way, but all this time stuck inside of a black hole is crap" I said, taking my frustrations out on something else besides my feelings for Brandon.

Brandon nodded, "Yes I know, but maybe there is something we can do to pass the time" he said.

I tilted my head to the side, "Like what?" I asked, somewhat afraid of what he would say.

"Have you ever played poker?" he aske
d.

I shook my head, "No."

He put his hands together and rubbed them, "Oh good, then I can teach you. Thinking about the cards will take you mind off of, Um, things" he said, obviously not meaning the black hole anymore.

Determined to do anything to avoid a
conversation about what had happened I agreed to learn poker. We walked over to the table and he started to show me the basics of the game. I had never known that poker was such an intricate game. I felt like I was continually trying to solve an old Rubik's cube, always seeming to make the wrong move.

"Okay, so let me just get this in my head before I show you my cards. The best hand I can get to win is a Royal Flush, which is Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in the same suite, is that right?" I asked him, l
ooking down at my hand and wishing I could just once get a Royal Flush.

Brandon nodded, "Yes. Well, unless you are playing with wild cards, but we aren't advanced enough for that" he said.

I put my hand up to my forehead, "I don't understand why this is so damn hard for me" I said.

He laughed, "We just started, it'll take you a while to get the hang of it, but eventually you will. We have lots of free time on our hands for you to learn" he said.

"If you say so" I said.

"Okay, so it's now been called, so not
more betting. Now you show your hand" he said, laying down his cards. I looked at what he had and saw that he had two Aces and three Queen Cards.

BOOK: The Other Earth
12.25Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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