Tales From The Triple Suns (Chapter Twenty)

1

I stared at the hills behind our home, watching as the last remnants of sun slowly faded away and dusk moved in. I took a sip from the beer beside me, and leaned back. I closed my eyes, trying to will the last few days events from existence. 2

In the past three days, Craig had entered into a battle of wills with one of his oldest friends. After Devon had mentioned something about the possibility of restricting the planet, Craig had come back with the counter-threat of quarantining the planet. Devon backed down, but Craig had made his position clear…nothing was going to take away what he had worked so hard on. 3

I opened my eyes, jumping slightly when I saw Mark sitting in the chair beside me. "I’m sorry," he said and motioned to the office area. "Those two are givin’ me a headache." 4

I smiled slightly and took a drink from my beer. "They still at it?" I offered a beer to Mark, who took it. 5

"I think they’ve both memorized the complete regulations books," he said, then took a long drink from the bottle. "Each citing rules, precedents, and regs…countering each other…" 6

"I wish I hadn’t started that dig." 7

Mark shrugged and finished off his beer. "It woulda been found eventually…that area was one of the few pegged for future agro-development." 8

"What’s going to happen?" I asked as I passed him another beer. "Since you seem to be with both departments." 9

Mark grimaced slightly. "Lucky me…" He looked at me. "I much prefer the agro part, you know…less stressful." He leaned back in the chair. "If Craig gets his way…which he just might…then nothing will happen. There will be a small dig team that comes and gets restricted to that specific area." 10

"And if he doesn’t?" 11

Mark smiled slightly. "He’s damn set on nothing happening to this planet…honestly, I think he’ll actually pull it off." He sighed. "But, if not…then we might just see this place swarming with archaeologists, military, and officials." 12

"Military?" I sat up straight. 13

"Yeah…in case there’s some info here that other’s don’t want to get out…" He shrugged. "But that might work to Craig’s advantage, too…since he does still have rank and influence. He must know some people that can sway…" 14

A slamming door and someone growling as they vented anger into the night sky cut him off. We both looked as Devon stormed around the corner and went to the door leading to the dignitary quarters. He paused to glare at me. 15

"Night, Devon," I sweetly said. 16

His hand stopped on the door and he exhaled, then yanked the door open and stomped up the steps as the door slamming shut behind him. 17

We both laughed silently and knew that Craig had once again gotten the better of him during their ‘negotiations’. I glanced up as the door behind us opened, and light filtered out into the darkness. Craig leaned against one side of the door frame, took a drink from the beer in his hand, and sighed. 18

"And that’s my cue," Mark said as he finished his second beer and went to stand. 19

"Hold on," Craig said. "Wanna talk to you." He stood and regarded his assistant steadily. "I need to know that I can count on you if this goes bad." 20

Mark returned the stare evenly. "I’ve put over two years planning and preparing for this setup…same as you…" He paused. "You can trust me." 21

Craig paused, then nodded. "Okay." He walked over and sat on the corner of my chair, leaning slowly back against me. "Thanks." 22

"I may cover both offices, but I was agro first," Mark said as he walked away. 23

Craig leaned the entire way back, until his body touched my chest. I put my arms around him and he kissed one of my hands. He finished off his beer and put the bottle with mine, pausing to count how many were on the ground. "How many did Mark have?" 24

"Two." I hadn’t counted, but there must have been more than ten others in the pile. 25

He shook his head and leaned back against me again. "You okay?" 26

I ran my hands over his chest and stomach. "Don’t worry…I’m fine…" I didn’t want to add to his worries but including any guilt I may have been feeling…no, last thing he needed was me whining about…well…me. I moved over on the chair to give him some space. "Sit." Craig moved his entire body onto the chair and leaned his head on my shoulder. "Cold?" I asked, and pulled the blanket out from around me when he nodded. 27

Instead of giving him part of the blanket, I got up, and moved over him, placing one leg on either side of his hips, and snuggled in close to his chest. 28

I laid against Craig’s chest, sighing in content, but feeling a headache coming from all the beer I had consumed. I went to move off his lap, but his hands still held me there. "Just stay there a while," he whispered as he kissed the top of my head. "Please." 29

I pulled the blanket closer around me and leaned against him. "Mmmm," I sighed. "I love you." 30

"I know," he whispered. "I love you." 31

"I know," I whispered. 32

~~~~~~~~~~ 33

The room was dark when I opened my eyes. I tried to focus on what had woken me, and could hear faint voices coming from the living room area. I rolled over, knowing that Craig was not in bed with me, and sat sleepily as I tried to concentrate on whether this was a dream or not. 34

I looked again as Craig’s voice grew louder, and knew he was walking around while talking. I noticed the red light on the vid-phone that showed he was on the other extension. Damn, but I hated time differences between planets. It usually meant some late night conference. 35

"I don’t buy that," Craig’s voice filtered through the door. "There has to be some precedence they can use." 36

He paused as the voice mumbled something. 37

"What about that issue they had with that community about thirty years ago…the …damn…uhh…" 38

The other voice talked again. 39

"Yeah, that one," Craig replied. "Find out for me by noon my time, please." 40

The other person talked for a few moments then went silent as the light on the extension blinked out. I waited a few minutes longer, knowing that Craig probably wouldn’t be coming back to be for a while. Conference calls usually inspired him to do work while ideas were fresh in his mind. 41

I snuggled back into bed, opening my eyes again as the door opened a crack and light filtered in. Craig entered, grabbed a shirt off the back of a chair and turned to leave. He stopped when he saw I was awake. 42

"I didn’t wake you, did I? 43

I nodded sleepily. "It’s okay." 44

He sat on the bed while putting his shirt on, and leaned over to kiss me. "Sorry," he said in a soft voice. "Go back to sleep, hon." 45

Through the shadows, I could see emotions playing across his face. "Are you okay?" I asked in concern. 46

He kissed me once more and stood. "I’m in way over my head on this," he sighed. "Deeb’s got the resources to fight this on every level." He covered a yawn with the back of his hand. "Go back to sleep." 47

I watched as he walked out of the bedroom and closed the door behind him. Yeah, like I could sleep now. 48

~~~~~~~~~~ 49

I looked as the door between the offices and house opened, and Craig walked in. He smiled a tired smile, grabbed a few things from the pile of computer disks on the coffee table, and walked back towards the door. He slowed down as he looked at the disks, then turned back to the table. 50

"You seen the disk I was working on last night?" 51

"What’s it look like?" I asked innocently. He shot me a dirty look as he walked back to the table. "Check the notepad," I offered. 52

He looked, then frowned. "Nope…damn." He got down on his hands and knees and peered under the couch. "How far can a disk go?!…I mean…hell…I was working right here last night." He stood and looked at me. "You sure you haven’t seen it?" 53

I leaned back in the chair across from him, and raised an eyebrow at him. "There are over thirty disks there…I haven’t touched, looked at or even gone near that mess this morning." 54

"Right, right," he muttered as he sat on the couch and stared at the pile on the coffee table. "Okay…working here," he motioned with his finger to the table, "and…took the disk out and put it…" his finger moved around, pointing at different areas. "Shit…no idea." He looked up to find me smirking at him. "What?" 55

"I know where the disk is," I said, and mimicked that superior smile he sometimes wore. 56

"Where is it?" he asked in a slightly annoyed voice. 57

"You’re sitting on it." 58

"I already checked under the couch," he said in pissed off tone. He glared as I remained silent, then closed his eyes briefly. "It would please me if you would be so kind as to tell me where the disk is," he said and looked at me. 59

"Under the cushion," I smirked, and watched as his eyes registered and he stood. He lifted up the cushion, and fished the small disk out from between the base and back of the couch. 60

"Thanks, hon," he said as he walked around the table, gave me a kiss, and walked back towards his office. 61

"Someone’s in a pissy mood," I said to the empty room. 62

~~~~~~~~~~ 63

Craig’s ‘pissy mood’ lasted throughout the day and into the night. He snarled at people, snapped at his coworkers, and through the walls, I could hear his voice raised in anger several times during the day. By eight that evening he still hadn’t returned from work so I decided to take the chance to see if he wanted anything to eat. I walked through the door into the office section, and knocked on his door. 64

"Whaaaattt?!" he yelled from inside. 65

"Never mind," I said and turned to walk away. I jump slightly as his door flew open and I looked at him. "Just wanted to see if you needed anything to eat." 66

He blinked at me, then looked at his watch. "Didn’t realize it was that late," he mumbled as he ran his hands over his face. "Something to eat would be great." He smiled at me. "Thanks." He stared for a few moments. "You go on…I’m through here anyway. I’ll be a few minutes." 67

~~~~~~~~~~ 68

The few minutes stretched into fifteen minutes, then thirty, and at the sixty-minute mark, I calmly stormed through the door and headed for his office. I stopped at the open door and peeked in at Craig as he sat, elbows on his desk, head propped up on his hands, and staring at the blank vid-phone screen. 69

"Craig?" 70

His head came up slightly, then he sat back in his chair, ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. "Sorry…dinner…right." He stood and walked out of his office, pausing long enough to shut the lights off. 71