FOUR

JANA

"My name is Thomas," the new captain said. "And up to a few minutes ago, when I boarded Red Genesis, I was Second in Command. Unfortunately, Captain Nelson didn't make it onboard so I will now be resuming his role. I was his apprentice, and he was like a father to me so I will still refer to him as the Captain, while you can just call me Thomas."

He shook his head, his eyes had filled with tears. "Unfortunately there is no time to mourn everyone we've already lost. The Monsters, you can see is at our doors. We need to take our position now to get this ship in the air. If not, we will not be able to take off, and we will all die."

"Yes, Captain Thomas," the group behind me said.

"Thomas," I corrected softly. Isn't that what he said to call him?

As if he had heard me, Thomas's golden green eyes shot over to me. It nearly made my heart stop. What was with his breathtakingly good looks that could cause my entire body to react like some kind of spastic octopus? Like I would react in such an uncoordinated and uncommonly klutzy way? If anything, I was well-coordinated and had very good control over my body. I was a trained martial artist after all, which I was proud to admit, having trained in the art of kung fu's Wing Chung style since I was a child. Wing Chung was the form most empowering for a woman, which made use of every ounce a woman's body would have to collect and push into a force of power. In other words, women warriors favor the Wing Chung style since it was developed by a woman for a woman's body as a form of self-defense.

He picked up a clipboard and ran through everyone's name. When it came to mine, he stepped forward, his chest nearly touching mine. "We meet again," he said. He looked at his clipboard. "You must be Jana," he said. He blinked before looking back at me again. "It suits you. You look like a Jana." He looked stunned for a bit, but he went on. "It says here that you're the Engineer? Also a scientist. An architect. A martial artist. Graduated top of your class with Honors. And a former beauty pageant winner."

"To get a college scholarship," I said stiffly.

"You?" he blinked his eyes in disbelief.

I couldn't believe him. "What?" I asked. "It's too hard to believe that I could be any of those things?"

He actually laughed. "Yup, except the beauty pageant part. Engineer? You? It requires brute strength to lift some of the parts and…"

"Martial artists…" I said. "I can handle it."

"Not that I doubt you can handle it, but I don't think you know how heavy some of those parts are that you may have to maintain and build. I mean, you're going to be maintaining this ship and when we get to New Earth, you will be building the Shelter. You're petite, feminine, and…" he laid his hand on my shoulder.

With one hand, I grabbed his hand, took it off my shoulder, and flipped him to the ground before I straddled him, keeping him pinned to the ground with my weight. "Tell me again that I'm not up to the job, then you'll find yourself in a worse position than this."

Thomas chuckled from the ground. "Wow, that surprised me. You got me, now let me up."

I took my knee from the back of his spine and took his hand to pull him up.

When he stood up, he brushed off his clothes and said with a straight face, "I guess I need to apologize about that." He turned to everyone and said, "Everyone to your positions, including you, Jana."

"Which is where?" I asked. "I don't exactly sit up here in front of the controls."

"No, you don't, but you need to be near so you can check out things when I ask you to. So, your position, Jana, would be right next to me or close to me so you can hear me." He leaned closer. "I want you close enough to me so you can hear my every demand. My every want and desire."

I gulped. Whether it was the heat radiating between us that was making me flush or it was my imagination going where steamy romance novels would go, I couldn't help fanning myself. "It's pretty warm in here," I said. "Maybe I need to check out the temperature control of the ship."

He gestured to a panel on the wall near us. "Close to me," he said. He winked.

I wrinkled my nose at him, a habit I did when I was angry but had to hold it back.

He looked at me with an amused smile and said, "How cute. You look like a bunny rabbit just now. What are you? Like 10 years old?"

"No," I muttered under my breath. "I'm 25 years old."

Thomas looked surprised and said, "You look younger. That explains some of your experience."

"How old are you, Pop Idol Boy?" I asked.

"Just a little older than you, Bunny," he said. It took a while for him to register what I called him. He laughed and said, "Pop Idol Boy? Is that what you think I am? How insulting. I'm far too macho to be in a boy band, and dancing around. I went to West Point, then received my graduate degree, did a few years in Air Force before entering the space program."

"How old are you then," I asked.

"I'm 28 years old," Thomas said. "I had one more year to go before I would be able to captain my own ship, under the guidance of Captain Nelson. A smaller ship, though. Who knew I would be captaining the Red Genesis?"

"I wasn't supposed to be the Chief Engineer of the Red Genesis, too," I said. "But I guessed no one else was around."

"So, let's do our best," Thomas said. "We can only hope for the best." At that, he turned to me and said, "Take your seat and strap down." He sat down in the captain's chair and pulled down a lever to hold him in place, similar to the steel straps found on roller coaster rides.

Speaking into the mic, he said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, prepare for launch. Strap down now, make sure all your loose items are in their lockers and have been secured."

He looked around to see that his crew and the other officers were all secure before he gave the countdown.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two and one," he calmly said. "Take off!" He pushed down on a lever, and from the screen ahead, showing the camera facing the ship, I could see the ship had already lifted, the jets below Red Genesis acting as boosters sending us up into the sky and then to space. Faster than anything I've ever seen.

Getting through Earth's atmosphere was rough at first, with the entire ship shaking as though we were in an earthquake. For several minutes, the ship seemed to fight gravity, as we felt ourselves pulled down, a heavy weight on all of us. Had it not been for the chair I was strapped down into, I would have fallen onto the floor, plastered like a flattened bug.

The tumbling and shaking seemed to go on and on forever.

There was an unearthly silence as everyone onboard seemed to hold onto their breath, praying we'd get out of the turbulence intact and alive.

I was straining against the chair, hoping and praying for it to stop. Will it be like this the entire way to New Earth? Will it ever stop?

After some time, I felt the easing of the weight. A sudden lurch and lifting as though the ship itself had a heavy burden lifted from its shoulders.

A lightness filled the ship, and then we seemed to be floating.

At that point, Thomas reached over to release a lever, and the ship seemed to level off. The lightness adjusted, and my body settled into the chair in a normal position.

Thomas clicked on the mic and said, "Congratulations everyone, we have left Earth and is now on our way to New Earth. I have leveled off the ship, and you are free to move about the ship."

He turned to me and said, "How's that for a first timer?"

"Not bad," I said. "Not bad for a Pop Idol Boy."

He gave me a cold stare, which made my stomach flutter. He was drop dead sexy when he looked deadly. Then he gave me a thumbs up. "You're not bad either, Bunny."