Contort me against your body and mind - Chapter 15 (Early Access) (Patreon)

Effie

The singular colour of the ship around her occasionally gave Effervescence a momentary soft blur to her vision. Space travel was as new to her as it had been the Ailu’t people when they first catapulted a metal ball out of their planet’s atmosphere. When Effie had decided to pursue a medicinal role, she never considered for a moment that she may one day be performing healing on a spaceship.

Spaceships made strange sounds; except they were actually sounds of order according to her mentor. Of processes and sequences. The ship was constantly maintaining itself, noisily. It unnerved Effie that she did not know what noise a spaceship made when it was not properly maintained. However would she know if things were not well inside the creaking underbelly of the ship?

It was quite difficult to get used to, especially running on human day and night cycles. She felt both exhausted and filled with a buzzing energy. As though she was filled up with stimulant pills. The days were too long, but so were the nights. Every hour dragged by. The Ailu’t had Alliance-sanctioned rest breaks where the humans didn’t in the day, but it didn’t help - they didn’t need more sleep, they needed shorter days overall. Sleep was not something that could be taken back in drips and drabs, or in one insanely long burst at the end of a day that was hours longer than a normal one. Effie did not mind learning English for the humans. She did not mind wearing clothes styled after their uniforms. The day cycles, however, was a controversial topic that Effie stood firmly on the Ailu’t side with. It had caused many arguments in preparations to mix the crews and continued to be the subject of complaints from all departments aboard The Sentinel.

Effie supposed there would be nothing she could do if things did go awry with an engine or an air filtration system, and she had no power to change the day-lengths. Best to focus on what she could do, what she could perform maintenance on: people.

She had been wandering the empty hallways aimlessly since turning in the autopsy report for Legacy. It probably wasn’t making her feel any better to be doing nothing, but she couldn’t bring herself to go anywhere in particular. If she stayed in the halls, she was less likely to have to talk to another person. Any one of them could be a murderer.

Effie didn’t want to believe it. It settled her stomach to accept Legacy’s death as a suicide. When she considered the inconsistencies of his neck wounds… it churned.

Working on the trauma unit back home, Effie had developed almost unshakeable confidence. She had treated patients coming out of some of her country’s worst accidents and disasters. She had performed hundreds of autopsies. In the trauma centre, she would never have questioned her findings if Legacy had been wheeled through the glass doors.

There was always a chance to be wrong. Effie was not an expert; she wasn’t even a qualified healer. She was an experienced junior, and she could easily have misunderstood the markings. For once, the thought of being incorrect gave Effie peace of mind. The image of Dr Bonnie’s face flashed into her mind, lit up as though the thought of a murder was the greatest news she’d heard in weeks. Her respect for Dr Bonnie was not diminished, but she was looking at her with fresh eyes now that she realised that the doctor would prefer a crew-member to have been killed than taken their own life.

A fellow crew-member was leaning against the wall of the next corridor Effie decided to amble down. She almost didn’t give them a second glance, but she recognised the laboured breathing instantly.

“Ellie! I mean- Major!” she yelped, rushing forward to offer her palms to the hobbling woman.

Major Ellie refused to take them. She was bracing herself against the metal wall as she dragged herself along. Her bare arms were a patchwork of dressings, Effie knew it was the same up her legs under the sweatpants. Effie didn’t like using the word sweatpants, she didn’t completely trust the look on Ellie’s face when she had explained it really was the name for the clothing. It sounded like an insult.

“I’m fine,” Ellie grunted. She did not appear fine. She was clinging to the corridor wall as though the floor was shaking. She had even broken a mild sweat across her forehead. “Please. No need to make a fuss.”

Effie took her elbow forcibly and attempted to offer some upwards pressure to keep her on her feet. Ellie didn’t push her away; she probably didn’t have the strength.

“Why are you out here?” Effie asked.

“Got permission to take a waddle.” After a pause she added, “Care to join me?”

“Yes!” Effie answered without hesitation or thought. “Where are you going?”

“Forwards.”

Effie nodded awkwardly. She hoped they would come across somewhere to sit soon; Ellie was putting more and more weight on her with each small step. And Effie was not jack.

They shuffled along in silence for a few minutes.

“You looked like you were thinking pretty hard about something before I interrupted you,” Ellie said.

“Oh, no.” Effie shrugged. “Trying not to think about somethings. My head feels very full of somethings at the moment.”

“What’s happened?”

Effie looked away.

“Effervescence.”

“I… I prefer Effie.” It meant a great deal to her that she had been gifted a ‘nickname’. Dr Bonnie said it was affectionate to give those you cared about a nickname. Those who liked her would use it. She wanted Major Ellie to like her desperately.

“Effie, did something happen in the autopsy?”

Effie cringed. She had forgotten she had told Ellie about the autopsy. It had just slipped out as soon as Ellie had mentioned her plans. Not that it was a secret. Although, now she did have a secret to keep.

She glanced at Ellie. Marine major. Second in command. Surely, Effie reasoned, it would be appropriate for Ellie to be informed as well as Commander Slate.

“I cannot tell you here,” she said.

“Somewhere private?” Ellie suggested.

Effie nodded.

They shuffled onwards. Determination was bright in Ellie’s mixed-colour eyes. Effie made a note to ask Bonnie what that was called later. Her mentor was well aware of her feelings for Ellie. There was no shame in asking questions anymore. She had been flustered when Bonnie suddenly asked her about Ellie in her office, but maybe she was being too obvious lately for even a friend to ignore. She wanted to spend every moment at Ellie’s side, as close as possible. It was attraction. Nothing more than that. Simple physical attraction. She was jack, just like Bonnie said. And she had pretty eyes that were both green and brown at the same time and they made Effie feel tingly when she looked at her. Her voice did that, too. It was firm and full of confidence and it warmed Effie.

It was only a warming voice and tingly eyes and a well-muscled body. Effie could find that elsewhere. In her own kind. Outside of her place of work.

A maintenance cupboard with just enough space for both to squeeze inside became their meeting room. Their body heat filled it quickly, but Effie found it comforting instead of stifling. Ellie’s frame leant over her like a human cage. She wanted to be trapped beneath her for as long as possible.

“Effie?” Ellie prompted.

“Oh!” Effie flushed. She had gotten completely lost in her head for a moment there. “Yes, the autopsy…”

Ellie said nothing throughout her retelling, and when Effie finished, she only nodded her head.

“Do you think- could it be possible that someone we know-”

“Very possible,” Ellie answered. The two words sent Effie’s stomach plummeting to her feet. Ellie didn’t seem to notice, she was deep in serious thought, it aged her. She suddenly looked far closer to Slate’s age than she ever had before. They both had a sturdy, seasoned quality, but Ellie had always seemed a tad youthful for the boots she was filling. Confronted with Effie’s news, she seemed to grow into them instantly. “Either that, or hiding out on that planet,” she added solemnly.

“How would they get there?”

Ellie’s expression softened. “I need to get back, but let’s go on another walk soon and we can talk more.”

Effie wanted to protest, but Ellie did not look well at all. She was swaying even with the wall at her back. She half-heartedly agreed and demanded that she be allowed to assist Ellie back to the ward. Ellie put up a mild argument at first, but they quickly fell into a rhythmic hobbling with Effie supporting Ellie’s weaker side. Every time she got to touch the Marine major it gave her a shivering sensation. Even just clinging to her elbow.

The nurses were very unhappy with Major Ellie, and by association Effie, when the pair returned to the ward. Apparently, that ‘permission’ that Ellie had received did not exist. She had not been cleared to walk unassisted for at least another week. With a sheepish smile, Ellie hobbled to her cot under the stern watch of the nurses. When she dropped onto it like a water-soaked plank, she let out a long sigh that tailed off into a groan. She seemed to deflate as soon as she hit the tightly-tucked sheets. Effie followed, full of shame, and sat beside her awkwardly.

Ellie accused her of ‘sulking’ over the reprimands they had received. Effie denied that she was, despite not knowing what the word meant. She continued to pout at the wall while tucked up into her seat until visiting hours were over. Just as she was rising from her chair to leave, a warm hand snatched her own. Effie startled and snapped her gaze down to Ellie. The Marine major grinned at her from the bed and gave her fingers a squeeze.

The nurse barked at Effie that visiting hours were over and to get out. She scurried out of the room like a kicked animal. Her hand burned a beautiful purple colour.