The Peninsula

The Fiction and Poetry Archive of Liana Mir and scribblemyname

Trusting

Feb
26

Her little brother was so small.

Zana stared at him, tucked away like a curled up kitten beneath the blanket in her narrow bunk. She barely remembered him, a newborn when she’d been forced to leave.

But here he was now, his breaths soft and even with sleep, his freckled face open and trusting. She wondered why he would trust when it was their own mother that had brought him to the training facility and abandoned him to his sister’s arms.

Zana sighed and shifted in the chair to gently kiss the top of his hair. “I won’t leave you.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Let It Go

Feb
21

Cor knew it wasn’t a lack of trust that made Rhezere shy away from displaying any kind of vulnerability with his own integrate. There were enough issues bubbling between their minds that the filter couldn’t hide for Cor to know it wasn’t even personal. But it grated.

“You okay?” No matter how neutral and offhand the delivery…

“Aww, Cor, you were worried about me!” Rhezere always managed to brush it off with brilliant smiles, a light tone, deliberately changing the subject to something annoying. Anything to avoid letting Cor acknowledge there was vulnerability.

Never talked about the scars they both knew weren’t from accidents. Never talked about the people Rhezere wouldn’t admit to caring about. Never talked about the fact that Cor preferring to sleep in Rhezere’s room wasn’t only because they were synced.

Cor sighed in disgust and let it go.

Ficlet, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , , , 0 Comment

Define Lonely

Feb
21

She’d never kissed anyone’s mouth, or anyone at all but her little brother after he’d become the only family she’d ever keep. Zana ran the Ijeve pilot and integrate training program with iron will, turning out batch after batch of fleet-ready spaceships and pilots. It didn’t leave time for romance.

“Have you considered—”

“No, Hasu,” she ordered her fellow station head.

“You’ll be lonely,” he suggested quietly. She thought he’d married at some point, had children.

A ship sang in her mind, though anchored, her brother called frequently, and her students and staff filled her days. “I’m not lonely.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , 0 Comment

Stray Child

Feb
20

“Kasuru?”

Kasuru looked up from the ship plans he’d been poring over with Nanere for half the night. He was the designer; she was the builder ripping apart his every bad idea.

It was well past when Rhezere went to bed. The boy was getting longer, and he looked at Nanere like he was deciding how much vulnerability to show with someone else present.

He sighed and trailed over to the couch behind Kasuru’s worktable and flopped down with his blanket. In moments, his breath evened in sleep.

“You have a kid,” Nanere said.

Kasuru shook his head. “He’s not mine.”

She looked pointedly over at the boy curled into his blanket, choosing to sleep near Kasuru rather than in his own dark room and bed.

“He is.”

Ficlet, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , , , 0 Comment

Healing Moment

Feb
20

He knew it was a bad decision the moment he did it. It had been months since the last time Rhezere contemplated the knives in the drawer with more than clinical disinterest in slicing food. Now, the blood welled up over his fingers as he cradled his arm and stared down at it.

He felt nothing, then sudden overwhelming panic flooded into the spaces where his heart was numb.

He went without thinking, moving quickly into Kasuru’s office where he was meeting with the ship builder Nanere.

She stared.

Kasuru said nothing, just pulled Rhezere to the space beside him and took down the healing scanner, a steadying hand firm on Rhezere’s shoulder.

Nanere dropped her gaze back to the plans they’d been discussing. Kasuru patiently ran over the arm until the wound no longer gaped. The flesh still looked raw and blotchy, less severe but not fully healed.

Kasuru wrapped it in bandages, then tucked his fingers under Rhezere’s chin to draw his gaze up. “We’ll let it rest overnight then look at it again.”

Nothing could be healed in a moment.

Rhezere knew that. Something inside him eased at realizing he’d been willing to be healed at all.

Daily Drabble 2018, Double Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , , , 0 Comment

The Ships

Feb
19

The first time he sees the ships, he’s just a tiny thing at the edge of the wide open bay dropping out like an abyss before them. Cor is four years old and unafraid. Only his older sister’s hand keeps him from stepping too close to the edge.

He has eyes only for the ships, their graceful forms reflected in his bright blue eyes.

“Zana,” he breathes.

He’s pointing, eyes aglow, and something inside her forms into a heavy knot of dread. So young, and already he knows the riftspace singing in their family’s blood.

“Come.” She draws him away.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Do It Again

Feb
19

Nanere isn’t interested in most men. They’re too high maintenance, interested in keeping her around, being there for her, and insinuating themselves into her life.

She doesn’t want that. She takes what she wants, builds the ships her queen asks of her, then moves on to the next port to bury herself anew in metal flesh.

Then there’s Kasuru.

She traces his scars at night, and he kisses her fingers without answering unspoken questions. They drink coffee, argue over designs and engineering, then separate to their work without a word or call.

It’s nice enough to do again. And again.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Empty Sheets

Feb
19

Rhezere complains every single time Bhazaf takes major damage that he doesn’t act like a normal integrate and sleep in the cradle, where he can heal properly and the ship can finally shut down his extensive sensors.

It minimizes pain. It’s smart. Bhazaf never does it.

For once he has.

Rhezere remembers all the usual complaints—at having to share his bed, having to throw an arm across Bhazaf’s chest to remind him he has a human body and it’s not in critical condition.

Right now, the bed is achingly empty.

He sighs and goes to sleep by the cradle.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Mutual

Feb
19

“Big sister.”

Cor hesitated, enough to make Zana stop pouring tea to narrow her eyes at him.

He squirmed despite being a teenager. “You don’t—” He huffed, then forced the words out. “You don’t have to stay here for me. Anymore.”

She stopped breathing, topped off his cup, sat. A slow inhale of steam. “I’m head of this entire training program,” she said quietly, sipped. “I’m not suffering on your account.”

She’d promised not to leave him.

“Little brother.” Zana waited for him to look up. “I’m fine.”

Cor finally nodded. His shoulders relaxed as he reached for tea.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , , 0 Comment

Sync

Feb
16

Sume curled up beside Konot on the sofa in the ship’s lounge. He didn’t do more than breathe in response, still staring at something in his own mind, his body remaining at rest.

She was a lot smaller (younger) than a normal pilot, and she wasn’t fitted like a normal pilot. She wasn’t a pilot at all.

For all that, she felt his welcome thrumming inside her bones, felt the way he settled into her presence, the way he felt her and it calmed the hyperactive thought processes spinning through his brain, feedback from the ship body around them.

Sync.

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , 0 Comment

Like Raising a Kitten

Feb
16

Raising a little boy as rambunctious and eager as Cor was an exercise in the fine art of not screaming.

Zana took another deep breath. The four-year-old clung to the top of a teetering bookcase. Ijeve was a space station, occasionally subject to turbulence, and furniture was lashed to walls. Only that had saved Cor from crashing to the floor with the books.

“Little brother—”

“I’m sorry!” He whined as he scrabbled to maintain his grip.

She reached up and snatched him down, making him yelp, then held him tightly to her chest. “You are in so much trouble.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment

Don’t Go Away

Feb
16

The tiny boy hit Zana like a missile, waking her out of a sound sleep.

“Cor?” she demanded. “Little brother, what’s wrong?”

He was trembling, clinging to her, arms around her waist tight enough to hurt. He shook his head but said nothing.

Zana thought about turning on the light but didn’t. Instead she settled one hand on his back, the other his hair and stroked through the soft strands. “I’m here,” she whispered softly.

Her shirt was damp from his face, and he shuddered at the words. “Promise you won’t go away?”

Their mother had.

“Yes, Cor. I promise.”

Daily Drabble 2018, Drabble, Original Fiction, Riftspace , , , , 0 Comment