Sudden Loss of Momentum

Kunai awoke in his bed, because when he fell asleep in Che's bed he awoke with his face covered with doodles. He was slow to get up. He put sunscreen on his skin and through his hair, changed clothes and searched out breakfast or, if his internal clock was right, lunch. He was halfway through his fish sticks before he noticed the note on the fridge.

He gaped at it a moment, reread it, then, heart palpitating, ran for it.

There was a distant rumble, as of thunder.

Waiting patiently with Bear in his lap, Che cocked an ear and glanced at the clock. The timing was about right. He pulled a pair of earplHe ugs out of Wrist, carefully inserted them, then covered Bear's long ears with his hands.

Kunai burst through the door, spotted Che, shouted, attempted to stop, skidded and crashed into the wall. Papers drifted lazily to the floor.

What he shouted was:

"What do you mean Bear is sick?!"

Followed by a thump.

Che leisurely removed the earplugs and smiled down at Kunai. "Sorry, what was that?"

"Bear!"

"Shhhh," said Che, indicating Bear with an open palm to point out that he was sleeping.

Kunai kneeled, fingers on the edge of a chair and chin between his hands. "Bear doesn't sleep."

"Again, yes, he does." Che knit his eyebrows slightly at the quiet blue plush shape. "But not this much. He doesn't seem to be himself at all."

"That doesn't mean he's sick, I'm sure he's just--" Kunai hesitated, "--tired."

"He's been forgetting things as well," said Che, "And Bear doesn't forget. Anything."

Kunai slid nervously into the seat next to Che, although he obviously wanted to snatch Bear away. "I guess." He jerked his head towards the receptionist, back to Che, then back again to the receptionist.

Che counted the seconds before Kunai said, "Che, this is a vet's."

"Well, yes," Che cleared his throat. "He's not exactly people-shaped, is he?"

"He's still a person!"

"I'll be sure to mention that," Che stood as the receptionist called his name. He did mention it to the doctor, which earned him a strange look. The veterinarian examined Bear with an air of bemusement, especially when Bear waved him off in annoyance, grumbled and rolled over.

"Well?" said Che, raising an eyebrow. Perhaps he should have gone to a people-doctor; he didn't see how prodding Bear was supposed to determine anything.

The vet said, "Um, I have no idea what this is, frankly I don't understand..."

"What he is," said Kunai.

The veterinarian glanced between them. "What he is, but it looks as though he's just old."

Kunai made an untranscribable noise of outrage.

"That's ridiculous," said Che, "His people live practically forever. I think."

"He's a small animal with a fast heart rate," said the vet, trying to ignore Kunai's blazing eyes, "It's not surprising that he would have a short life expectancy. But, really, you have a better idea what this, he is, than I do."

"People doctor!" shouted Kunai, as they walked out. Without paying, although Che didn't mention that.

"I suppose memory loss is a sign of senility," said Che, ignoring him, "But he's not that old. He certainly acts old, but I don't think he is." When they got back, Che confirmed his guess via the multinet. Bear was 32 years old. Arrivrealm years, which Che had no way to translate into Aguedo time, but it was apparently young. After pestering the computer for a while, he was able to contact Fox. It turned out that Fox could spazz out even better than Kunai could.

After several minutes of yelling, in which Che was called all sorts of uncharitable yet patently true things, Fox ordered him back. He was wrong not to notice something sooner. Bear's readouts were all bad, who knew how long he had left. Only Arrivrealm doctors would be able to treat him.

Che started the ship up before Fox was even done.

"Computer, can you take us to Arrivrealm?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Arrivrealm's security will not allow it."

"What a lovely time for them to get security." Che's smile was particularly wan for this. Fox was still going on, asking for symptoms, communicating with Kunai in high-pitched tones and preparing to call to arms the paramedics of the world.

"Fox!"

Fox snapped out of his diatribe. "Eh?"

"Can you have them lower security so we can jump straight to Arrivrealm?"

"Uh?" Fox stared at him for a moment. "Um, I guess I can ask."

"Now, please. And computer? Start us up. Just stop short of Home."

Che tapped his foot against the table leg as he waited. He glanced over at Kunai to find him folded up into his knees and carefully petting Bear's unmoving head with a finger.

"He'll be fine," Che found himself saying. Kunai flashed him a glare, then self consciously withdrew his hand and hugged himself instead.

They watched Bear sleep while they waited. He rubbed away an itch on his nose at one point, but otherwise just lay there. Che would even say he slept differently, the sleep of a lazy animal rather than the deep peace of exhaustion.

"They say they can't--" Fox burst in before they were even aware he'd returned to the screen. "They say they'd have to shut down the automatic defense system, and that would leave us ... um, defenseless."

"Can't they--" Che whipped his hand in a circle, "--program in an exception or something?"

"If it were an Arrivrealm ship, it'd already be an exception." Fox had remembered he was angry with Che. "You'll have to be escorted into the system and onto the planet."

Fox bit at his thumbnail. "Anyway, I'll get ready to meet you--"

"You're getting ahead of yourself," said Che, "Computer, can we land just outside the solar system?"

It whirred for a moment. "I do not have the necessary language to request such an action."

"Because the device is set to jump to hospitable planets," Che nodded, "We won't be there any time soon."

"Bear's universe jumper doesn't take that long," Kunai said. Not "the universe jumper," "Bear's universe jumper." Everything Bear made was wonderful and perfect and how dare he criticize, was the implication. Granted, it was true.

"Between neighboring universes," Che corrected him, "We're not there yet, are we?"

"So, a couple hours." That was Fox. He was being double-teamed by frantic fanboys.

"Perhaps. If we take an Arrivrealm ship there instead of this one. It took me two weeks to get there from Aguedo, so..." He turned back to Fox. "You can arrange an escort?"

"Right!" Fox seemed to take heart, although he was still talking at a frantic pace. "Nearest planet, that's probably Trilantei. We'll send someone to pick you up--no, I'll come pick you up--and we'll have Bear fixed up by the end of the day." Fox rushed away, then just as quickly returned to add to Kunai, "Contact me when you get there, all right? Take care of him."

The screen flickered off before they could reply.

Che drummed his fingers for a moment before pushing his chair back and retreating to the fridge. He unwrapped three vitamin candies and shoved them into his mouth, sucking on them contemplatively as he sat back down. He found his eyes drawn to Bear's motionless form. He added a couple more candies.

"It's your fault."

Kunai's voice was quiet but carried perfectly amidst the near silent buzz of the ship. Che didn't bother responding except for the noise of the candies clicking against each other in his mouth.

"He told you you were putting us all in danger," Kunai's voice gained momentum. "You've seen us put in danger again and again. You knew if anything happened, we'd be too far away to get help."

Che tipped his chair back and walked away.

Kunai shouted after him, "If he dies, it's YOUR FAULT."

Che rounded on him. "And you are so helping. With your inability to tell something was wrong, your refusal to believe he could be sick, your hysteria and lack of direction and your incompetence as to the basic workings of the ship--"

"At least I care!"

"When your Magical Tears of Caring cure him, let me know, hmm?" He turned on his heel. "Until then, don't expect me to care about how much you care!"

The ship was empty, but small, so Kunai knew Che was avoiding him. Over and over, Fox would call, torn between dread that they were not yet there and happiness that Bear's condition had not yet worsened. Bear himself slept through most everything in his little shoe box-sized bed. When he did awake, he was not conscious enough to be called himself. It was horrible to watch. Kunai paced in circles, trying to think of ways to make him more comfortable, but he seemed to be suffering the least of anyone.

Trapped in the confines of the little pirate ship, Kunai surfed the multinet, idly reading the panic on Arrivrealm and the universal chatter. For a while it was a comfort, but it soon turned irritating. To them, this was about the potential loss of a great mind and the things it may yet invent, not concern for a selfless and brave individual.

Fox was the only other exception, but he had known Bear for years, force-fed him through college, taken care of him. Kunai felt like an interloper around him and could not voice his thoughts.

Kunai's hackles had risen without his realizing it. He thought momentarily of pounding on Che's door. To what end? To ... to have an all and all out shouting match, a bloody row as Che would call it. To perhaps loose some of his tension into the void. But Che, in his never-ending effort to be the most annoying person in the universe, was for the first time in his life being non-confrontational. So Kunai paced, ice flowing in his veins and nervous energy setting his skin to twitching.

Bear yawned, and Kunai crouched down to examine him. Bear blinked lazily and without recognition.

Kunai bit his lip. He barely realized he was voicing his thoughts.

"Bear, are you really going to be okay?"

Bear stared sleepily through him for a moment, scratched an ear and went back to sleep, wrinkling his nose.

"I can't believe you failed again."

Shuriken had shook his head at him, long hair trailing. This was before he'd finally given in and cut it, while they were still children.

"Even normal people can do this, you know?"

Kunai had no idea what it was. He had been covered in at least as much grass and dirt as the others. His coat had looked just the same. Maybe his hair had peeked out--but no, he'd had it tied down as always. Maybe it was his own odd sort of survival instinct. As a child, he had been saved by being found in the middle of nowhere, by being seen. The demonic hair and eyes that were likely the reason for his abandonment had given him a home. Ninjas needed demons. He certainly was a devil for strength.

They trained in broad daylight; the dark was for amateurs. But he found himself staying up all night with nothing to do, so he walked and then ran and then trained. It was all training equipment here. Sometimes he and Shuriken had moonlight rivalry battles by the lake, where the terrain collided. Even all that, though, shouldn't make him this devilishly strong...

Shuriken took advantage of his daydreaming, tackled him and tousled his hair.

"Come on, come on! It makes the rest of us look bad when you fail."

Kunai flipped Shuriken over his shoulder and gave him a thoughtful upside-down look and a smile.

"'Cuz I can kick your butt?"

"Shut up!"

Kunai laughed as Shuriken chased each him across the training courses they had long since memorized. They were getting older, and a ninja who didn't pass by adulthood was a dead one.

Of course, so was one who did pass. All of them were probably dead now. Shuriken certainly was. The scene was perfect in Kunai's mind, a tapestry in stunning detail; odd, because he didn't remember much after it, not running away, not getting caught by Rueben, not anything.

Then, being underwater, trying to pull things under the surface and missing them due to the refracted light. Trying to speak and not hearing even bubbles. Wondering why he didn't drown, wondering if it were a dream.

He woke up on the shore, and he was living someone else's life in a different land. But he never really had a life, he never really had a home, and in his shadow was a tapestry. One no one could see but himself--or so he hoped--but one that kept him sewn to the ground.

Kunai sighed, picked up Bear, and gave him a tight but careful hug. The multiverse was full of people with their thoughts dwelling upon this little ship, but they were an eternity away, leaving him alone in the vast void of space.

They must have been going at an amazing speed, though none of it seemed to move. They were nearly there, so time began to double and triple itself to slow them down.

Che let the ship's computer rattle off information bites. He had changed into civilian clothes, a ragged grey laundry day costume not the sort you greet a great nation in. He was resting, legs crossed and feet on the dash, arms lying on his stomach, sugar ebbing down his throat from the perpetual vitamin candies.

"Arrivrealm originally had three separate intelligent species, and has absorbed others into its genetic mix. Because of this, no Arrivrealm birth is natural..."

Che pulled out a stick of fluoride gum and began to gnaw on it.

"...not that you're paying attention."

When he didn't respond, the computer put on some soft music and ran repetitive safety checks to keep itself busy. Silence descended on the ship, the hazy silence where you woke up from a dream of a thousand years to see the clock numbers hadn't changed. Or, perhaps, where you felt no time pass at all and returned to find your children grown old. The endless night of space had the eternal quality of waiting for dawn. Without the spark of dialogue, one's personal timeline was swallowed by the enormous timeline of the stars.

Che finished a soda and gave a try at combing his hair. It was hopeless. There was no way to make hair that length look good. Giving up, he wandered into his room and sat down.

He tapped his fingers against his bare desk, tipped his chair back, tipped it forward, stood up. He walked circles around the room, inspecting it, straightening things. He went through Wrist and updated his list of what he had and where it came from. In there he found a match and, at a whim, he lit it.

It had been a long time since he used a match--they were such antiquated things--and he was momentarily surprised at the force with which is sparked to life before settling into a small flame and burning out with a long wisp of smoke. It lasted only a few seconds, and someone watching him might have thought he was reflecting on the shortness of life or other metaphors. In fact, he was enjoying the smell of it. The smoke brought to mind campfires at night, the perfect, cozy balance of a slight warmth holding back a slight cold. The scent swirled through his breath for much longer than the flame lasted.

He sauntered into the bathroom and dropped the match in the toilet. As long as he was here, he might as well go through his dental regimen again. You can't brush your teeth too many times.

He was near the end of his routine when the voice spoke up behind him.

"Even ninjas don't use full-strength mouthwash."

Che choked, spat and wiped antiseptic off what would in a less fuzzy species be called his beard.

"What is it?" Che went for the water, attempted to wash the sting out of his mouth--and, because of Kunai, his throat. That is, after instinct and racial memory forced him to check that, yes, there were two exits to the bathroom, and Kunai was blocking only one.

"We're nearly there." Kunai's normally harmonic voice was flat.

"How's Bear?"

"Horrible." Kunai's rage flashed on and then off as though he had a switch. "But not dead."

Che didn't bother to comment. Kunai would only leave Bear if he were all right or dead, and Che would not be very healthy if it were the latter. His mind was still oddly calmed by images of the dark and midnight blue--

And fireflies?

Che grimaced.

"Let's go," he said, side-stepping the revolving lighthouse glare that was Kunai. "Have you called Fox?"

"We have a situation," said the computer as they stepped back into the bridge.

"Lovely. What is it?"

"They want us to land and hand over Bear."

Che paused and raised an eyebrow. "I thought that's what we were doing?"

"Those aren't Arrivrealm ships." said the computer.

"...ah." Che stared at the ships, large even at this distance. "All right, land."

Che squeaked as he was raised several inches off the ground by his lapels. Kunai was growling at him from several less inches away.

"You are not handing over Bear."

"No, I'm not," said Che, flush with irritation at his species and its screaming instincts.

"Then what are you doing?"

Che spoke quietly and slowly, as though to a child.

"They have guns. We do not. Their ship is no doubt faster. And if we wander off we'll have trouble meeting up with Fox." Che poked Kunai in the forehead. "You're a ninja. When we land, get out and kick their arse."

They held a staring match for a long moment, but Che could stare down Bear and wouldn't easily look away, even with an assassin's breath on him. Kunai finally dropped him to the floor.

"I don't trust you."

"No, really?" said Che, "And here I thought we were bosom buddies."

"What if I can't take them?"

Che knit his brow and glanced over his shoulder at the console. "Shields and evasive maneuvers should hold them long enough. Fox is coming. And they don't want Bear dead."

Kunai stared at him for another long moment.

"Or, if you're afraid, we can just run. But if the shields go down now, we'll all die, so--" Here he perked up his voice for the computer. "Best get us in the atmosphere now."

They began to drop down with the familiar red glow that accompanied it. It was hard not to think of how vital the shields were, and how devastated the ship would be without them.

Kunai finally opened his mouth. "I'm not afraid. I don't trust you."

"So you keep saying."

"You left him with Suk Klohe. You ran away."

"Did you expect me to take on him and all his followers," Che snorted. "Not to mention you, all at once?"

"I would have!"

"You're a ninja!"

"And you're a thief!"

"I am not going to leave him!" Che stopped and forced himself to take a few deep breaths, realizing he'd been shouting. "I swear."

Kunai's voice dropped to a deathly quiet level. "On what? You can't swear on anything, you don't believe in anything." Kunai's voice again gained momentum. "You don't take anything seriously or hold anything sacred!"

Che clenched his fists.

"There's him." Che said, "There's Bear."

Kunai's expression didn't change.

"I swear on Bear. Or did you have something more sacred in mind?"

The ship rocked with a thump and knocked them both off their feet.

"Shields at thirty percent," said the computer, "They're getting impatient."

"Land." said Che. When he turned, Kunai was already leaving for the front of the ship. Che looked for Bear to find him still asleep in his bed. That was worrying, but no time to check on him. He carried bed and Bear back to the bridge and set him in a corner.

Trilantei was another frozen planet, probably only just within the limits of hospitality. The patch of ice they landed on looked just like every other patch of grey ice for miles around. Even within the heated ship Che felt cold, and as Kunai left it his breath trailed him like a white banner. Che soon lost sight of him. He turned away, ordering the ship to take flight at the slightest sign of attack.

Bear was still breathing. He should have known that--the ship would have kicked up a fuss otherwise--but he couldn't help but check. Bear was so peaceful as to be eerie, and Che felt the need to keep a finger on his pulse as he looked back up to the screen.

The ship rocked again.

"Forty-five percent," it announced even as the bolted upwards with far more than the usual force. "Beginning evasive maneuvers."

"At least forty-five is better than thirty," said Che.

"No, it's worse. If it gets past one hundred, the shields fail."

"I obviously don't watch enough sci-fi," said Che, chewing on his lip.

He'd been unfortunately right. The other ships were much faster, not to mention more numerous, and the only thing holding them back was the need to keep Bear alive.

Of course, that was also the only thing preventing Che from taking the ship to another universe. He could just wait it out there until Fox arrived, but it would be a delay. And he had no patience for any more of those.

One of the enemy ships went down--Kunai's work, he had to assume--just as the ship rocked again. Regardless of what he wanted to do, he was short on options.

"Call Fox! I want to know how close he is."

The computer gave that the electronic version of an "Err..." and changed the scene on the monitor.

An armada was before them. The little stolen pirate ship was surrounded by much larger, sleeker Arrivrealm ships. They were not nearly as organic and friendly as their buildings.

Che went tight-lipped a moment. "They do know I'm on Bear's side, right?"

The ship declined to reply. Several more sarcastic comments tempted him. Instead, he carefully sat down and cradled Bear for docking.

Shortly, the Brinkmanship landed within one of the Arrivrealm vessels. Kunai reappeared, his white coat stained, demanding Bear be handed over to him. Che did, despite wondering if Kunai could even support himself. The computer informed them that Fox was on another ship. They were all heading back to Arrivrealm post-haste and could watch from here. Dots of light became planets and passed by the wayside. Arrivrealm loomed before them before they could even catch their breath.

It hadn't been that long, had it? Since he snuck in here, unsure of everything, barely having seen aliens and never having seen another world. What a first world to see. Unlike Aguedo, Arrivrealm was covered in green and blue, forests and water. It was vibrant. Cities stood out in odd colors, orange or purple. Strange devices hooked into the sky now, and they were lead carefully through them.

"Hard to believe they went so long without being attacked," Che muttered under his breath.

"They get attacked all the time now." Kunai also sounded like someone having a conversation with the wallpaper.

"Now that Bear's back, he'll want to fight every one." The corner of Che's mouth quirked upward. He turned slowly on his heel and gazed around the room. "You think he's the bestest best thing in the world, and yet I'm the one who won't believe he could die so easily."

Kunai's fangs showed. "He's still a person."

"When did you start believing that?" Che put a hand up. He wasn't quite sure what made him pull tiger tails at this point. He strode past Kunai, expecting a swipe of claws that never came. Out onto the bow of the ship, he watched the sky part and the ground receive them. It looked homesick for them, somehow.

"In any case, we're here."

Che paused, his smile going rigid.

"Surrounded by guns."

The computer happily announced that all was well and fine and lowered the shields.

"When did they get guns?"

Che turned his head--very, very slowly--and acknowledge that, yes, that blur was Kunai running off with Bear to an ambulance. Yes, there it goes. Bye-bye.

Che turned back to the army securing his ship and raised his hands above his head so slowly it made his arms hurt.

"Have I mentioned," he said brightly, "That I'm a minor?"

Mist collided into droplets, which coalesced into a stream of consciousness. Having a Quantum Brain meant that bits of himself were always floating in space, within arm's length but outside his own head. They had been out of reach for some time, lost in fog, but now he could feel his internal multinet coming back online.

"You know, you always talk about people like they're machines." said Fox, "They're not. Just so you don't forget.

Not you, even."

His memories were back.

His memories had been gone.

He had been ...

Bear dredged up his recent fuzzy memories and filed them under "worrisome." Che and Kunai and Fox, sounding afraid, sounding angry, shouting from far away. That was probably something he had to take care of.

Oh. That was probably about him.

Bear had already deduced that he was in a transmogrification chamber before he opened his eyes. It was easier before he opened his eyes, because then all his senses started shouting at him about where had he gone and how frightened they'd been. The sensory world was such a trial, sometimes. He pulled a lab coat off its hook, fumbled it on and stepped wobbling out into the even more distressing world of Other People.

He was immediately knocked back into the chamber with some force.

"Beeeear!" And dribbled on. "You're aliiiive!"

"Not so rough! He's disorientated."

The load was pulled off him, and, rubbing his head, he looked up at Fox holding back Kunai. He pointed.

"I'm fine. Quit it."

"Beeeear," A constant stream of tears was running from behind the sunglasses.

Bear got to his feet. "Arrivrealm?"

"You've been out for a while--" said Kunai.

Fox interrupted. "Now, why is it that we don't design bodies ourselves without the help of professional biologists?"

Lecturing tone. He remembered the days when it was he who lectured Fox.

"I didn't design it, it was in the system," Bear looked around slowly. His mind had been speeding along somewhere without him, and now it was having trouble slowing down to let his body catch up. "Why am I your height?"

"You have to look closer at the specs! Of course a little body like that's not going to last long!"

"I wasn't planning to be in it long." Bear knit his brow. "Two questions: Why am I not in my body and where is Che?"

They glanced at each other.

"You look so cute in that body," said Fox.

"Che's in jail," said Kunai.

Che sucked down a soda in-between rounds of his video game. The news said Bear was all right, and he was now determined to be happy and pretend he hadn't been worried at all. It wasn't very hard.

"Che."

He turned towards the familiar angry tone of voice and splurted soda all over the screen, incidentally getting his character killed. That must be Bear. But Bear was supposed to be a little blue bunny thing, not a tall-as-Che anthropomorphic bunny thing. The ears were definitely Suk Klohe's. Fuzzy, floppy donkey ears, that's what they were. Very ... cute.

"Bear." Che was good at remaining aloof, yet laughter was bubbling into his speech. "Did you get a haircut? It looks good."

Bear sighed heavily. Che bit down on another round of giggles.

"You call this a jail, by the way? This is nicer than my room at home. I'm curious as to whether I could escape, of course, but not sure why I'd want to."

Bear opened his eyes slowly, fixed them on Che and grit his teeth.

Che gave it a moment's thought. "I know. Never trust an old college buddy, right?"

"You're a minor?"

"Don't be silly, Bear, I just steal gold, I don't mine it."

Bear managed to maintain the World Championship Title for Not Smiling.

"Of course he is," said Kunai from somewhere in the back, "Isn't it obvious?"

Che ignored him, "If I did this in few years I could get in real trouble for it." He steepled his hands and then opened them expansively. "Best to get all my criminal impulses out of the way while I'm young, right?"

All that practice had not been for naught. Bear's gaze was a rock. "Most people don't have criminal impulses."

"Oh dear. Most people must be very boring."

Bear kneaded the bridge of his button bunny nose. "Kunai will take what you've stolen back, and you will go home. To your parents. Who are probably worried sick."

"I write them every week, and--" Che caught a flash of Bear's eyes from under his hand and thought it best to let it drop. "You'll explain to them that I'll receive far worse punishment from my parents?"

"Will you?"

"Well ... yes," Che looked around. "Pretty much the same thing, except homework instead of games. Not to mention the lectures and housework."

"Good."

"Are you all right?" Che raised an eyebrow. "You got better awfully fast. Shouldn't you be recuperating?"

"Yes, he should," Fox tugged at the lab coat impatiently.

"I'm fine. Che, you're going to promise me that you'll head straight home."

"I haven't got much else to do without your inventions, do I?" Che rubbed at the bare spot on his right wrist.

"Promise."

"All right, all right." Che waved him off. "I promise. Look, I'm magically reformed."

Bear narrowed his eyes. Che burst out laughing.

"Sorry! Sorry. It's just. The cute." Che buried his face in his hand, shaking silently.

Fox coughed. "Hey, at least no one recognized you in the street."

Che composed himself. "I mean it. Really. I'll be good. I'd even take it all back myself if you wanted. But no. Parents. Right. Got it."

"It's not too late to throw away the key," said Kunai.

Bear had not taken his eyes of Che yet. "You're going to mature some day, eventually?"

Che beamed. "Not like I could get less mature, hey?"

Bear raised his eyebrows and turned. "Be good." And he was gone, Fox tagging at his heels. Leaving the assassin and the thief.

"...not the best with good-byes, is he?" said Che.

"What's he supposed to say to you? What am I supposed to say to you? You're still a bad guy."

"Well, yes." Che laid back, hands piled on his stomach. "Being bad gives you more freedom and more fun."

Kunai stared.

"Sorry, was that not the right response?" said Che.

"Are you really gonna keep that promise?"

"It was just a fling. A momentary moral lapse. A hijink. I was planning to return in a couple months in any case." Che's nose wrinkled. "Now I'll have to spend my summer vacation making up for lost work and taking responsibility. Dreadful. But I did say I wouldn't wander off and space travel is so boring anyway."

"...there wasn't a 'yes' in that."

Che raised an eyebrow and then a hand. "Swear on Bear." He grinned.

Kunai snorted and left. Che smiled softly and went back to playing video games. Only a short time before Bear got him out of here, no doubt, and then he'd have to try again from start.