adventures in vents

It was nice having Darcy around like a friend. Once Miles broke through her armor a little, she was fun to be around. They got their work done quickly, so they spent a lot of time just hanging around the engine room. The few pillows on the floor had turned into more of a makeshift couch or a nest of blankets and cushions, and they would lazily waste the day away just talking and joking around.

They made two more stops, though they weren’t as exciting as Gorvin. Regardless, Miles did his best to show her around.

“So where is this next stop?” Darcy asked one afternoon as they lounged lazily. “It’s another city, right? Do they have fancy restaurants, too?”

“This one is less fancy,” Miles admitted. “It’s called Aterra. I actually lived there for a few months, but it was a little too cold for my taste. It’s a city, but it’s built into snowy mountains.”

“You lived there?” Darcy asked. “Why come back to Daniel, then?”

“I didn’t have a lot of options,” Miles shrugged. “At least I knew Daniel. We’re mostly stopping to resupply, it’ll be quick.”

The last part was a lie. Truthfully, Aterra was one of their biggest cryopane stops. The reason Miles left was because he couldn’t handle being around so many addicts all the time.

Landing on Aterra was intimidating on its own. Besides the snowy blizzards blocking visibility, it looked like they were crashing head on into the side of a mountain before a landing platform appeared when they got close. The platform camouflaged with the snow, making it almost invisible.

Living outside in Aterra was difficult, but the city had been built inside of the mountains. It was dark and cold, but as least there wasn’t ice and wind nipping at them. Daniel handled the cryopane deals, so he sent Miles and Darcy on a supply run instead. Miles grimaced when he saw one of the shop names on the list.

“Come on,” he said to Daniel in a low voice. “You know we can skip this one”

“You know we can’t,” he argued. “Grow a pair and do your job. What, are you scared your new little girlfriend will meet-“

“Stop,” Miles said. “Fine. Whatever. And she’s not my girlfriend.”

“She’s nice to you.”

“You’d be surprised how nice people can be when you treat them like a human.”

Daniel rolled his eyes and waved his hand to dismiss Miles. He sighed as he collected Darcy and started the supply run.

It wasn’t that Miles was scared of going to Newman and Sons. He just preferred not to walk right into awkward encounters. Which is what happened when they stepped into the hardware store and encountered the buxom girl flipping through a magazine at the counter. She lifted her gaze and smirked when she saw Miles.

“Oh, I was starting to wonder when you were going to visit me,” she gushed. “How long has it been now?”

“Hey, Violet,” Miles said, forcing a smile. “Uh, a few months I guess. How’s your dad?”

“He’s dealing with his heart condition, but still as reckless as ever,” she said. “Who’s your friend?”

“Oh,” Miles said, realizing Darcy was hiding behind him. “Right. Darcy, this is Violet. Violet, this is Darcy. She’s our new mechanic.”

“Darcy,” Violet purred, pulling Darcy into a boob-smothering hug that seemed to stun her. “That is such a pretty name. And you are such a pretty girl.”

“Um, thank you,” Darcy said when she was free to breathe. “You too.”

“Thank you, doll face,” Violet said. “Is that list for me?”

Darcy was still a little dazed, but nodded and handed her the list. Violet smiled at them both once more before going to the back to gather the few tools they needed.

“Sorry, she’s a hugger,” Miles said. “Her dad owns the store, but she’s his only kid. She helps him out even though he hasn’t bothered changing ‘sons’ to ‘daughter’ on the sign.”

“I didn’t expect to see cleavage like that in a hardware store,” Darcy mumbled.

“Oh, yeah,” Miles nodded. “She likes flaunting what she has in those tight pants and tops. It gets cold, but she doesn’t like to cover up. She says it’s for mobility, but I’m pretty sure she likes the attention.”

Darcy furrowed her brow and stared at Miles for a few moments. Then her eyes widened in realization.

“Holy shit,” she said. “Did you guys used to date?!”

“Shush,” Miles said quickly, making sure Violet wasn’t back. “Yes. Whatever. For like two months. It didn’t work out.”

“I dunno, she’s pretty flirty,” Darcy said. “And you know… cleavage. Isn’t that a thing guys like?”

“Not even a nice rack can fix some red flags,” Miles said dully. “She’s- well, I shouldn’t say it.”

“Tell me,” Darcy begged. “Please? I want to know the gossip.”

“Do you know what cryopane is?” Max asked in a low voice.

“Ew. Yeah.”

“You wouldn’t know it from looking at her, but she’s a hardcore addict,” Miles said. “Look her in the eyes when she comes back. You’ll see they’re cloudy.”

Darcy’s eyes were wide as she took in the juicy gossip. When Violet came back, Miles could see her making a point to try and see Violet’s cloudy eyes. Damaged vision was just one of many side effects of cryopane. So was random bouts of anger. In the short time Miles dated her, she had punched him four times from withdrawal fury. It was only after they broke up and he realized she was only trying to get closer to the cryopane Daniel was selling. She was a good girl, but the addiction was stronger.

As they left, Darcy stayed close to Miles to avoid getting caught with any of the addicts stumbling out of the shadows at night. It was the first time he had seen her a little intimidated.

“So is that your type?” Darcy asked out of the blue.

“Huh?”

“Like Violet,” she said. “Like curvy and flirty and pretty.”

“I don’t know if I call it my type,” Miles shrugged. “She was nice. I just didn’t feel like I could trust her. Besides her getting aggressive when she was going through withdrawals, she was always flirting with other men. Maybe I just liked the feeling of someone else wanting to date me. I don’t get that often.”

“How come?”

“I don’t know, I guess I’m too quiet and dorky,” he said. “Most girls are into the Daniel types, so it’s hard to see me next to him.”

“That’s dumb,” she said. “I think you’re cooler than he could ever be.”

Miles felt a little thump in his chest when she said that, but he brushed it off. He was so quick to flatter and he hated it. Being a better guy than Daniel wasn’t that much of a compliment.

When they made it back to the ship, Miles could feel something was wrong. Daniel was pacing back and forth with an open cryopane crate in front of him. Even he wasn’t that reckless. Upon closer inspection, Miles realized the crate was full of paper shreds. Darcy paused and looked at the crate, then at Miles.

“What is that?” she asked.

“An entire case of nothing,” Daniel said. “Our supplier fucked us over. There’s supposed to be thirty cases of cryo in here, but this is a bunch of newspaper.”

“Supplier?” Darcy questioned. “What’s going on?”

Daniel glanced between Miles and Darcy, pausing his fury over being given fake cryopane to wonder what was going on.

“Hold up,” he said. “Does she not know what we do?”

“What do you do?!” Darcy pressed.

“I thought it would be better if you didn’t know,” Miles said reluctantly. “Selling fancy cupcakes is so much nicer than… drugs.”

“The food is a front for a drug trade?!”

“Not really,” Daniel said. “Because there’s no fucking drugs on board. Miles, you do the checks for the supply. What happened?”

“I do the machinery,” he clarified. “The stock is up to you. You’re the one who doesn’t want me touching it.”

Daniel cursed under his breath, digging through the crate of paper shavings. He frowned when his hand found something small and round. It looked like a crystal formation in a neon blue color.

“What the fuck is this?”

“Holy shit,” Miles said. “I think that’s a Pelara Core.”

“A what?”

“It’s a natural power supply that can charge anything,” Darcy said. “I’m sorry, can we circle back to the part where this is a drug front?!”

“Is it expensive?” Daniel asked, ignoring Darcy.

“Yeah, it’s crazy rare,” Miles said, trying not to cringe under Darcy’s burning gaze. “Those things auction off for at least a few million chips. The supplier must have given us the wrong crate in the cryo shipment.”

“This is a huge fuckup,” Daniel said. “Everyone fucked up here. But I can make it work. We have to get out of here before someone finds out what happened.”

“Excuse me!” Darcy shouted. “I deserve an explanation!”

“God, Miles, get your girlfriend under control.”

Daniel cradled the core to his chest like it was a child and rushed away. Miles let out a deep exhale and turned to Darcy.

“Okay,” he finally said. “Let’s go back down into the engine room and talk there.”

“Yes. And you’re going to tell me everything”

“Yes ma’am.”