Ocean's Echo (The Resolution Universe)

by Everina Maxwell

As unnerving as it was, it was always a break from the never-ending, relentlessly dull business of existing as himself.

“It’s not fair for goats to be in space, sir,” Surit said. “They don’t know which way is up.”

Surit rarely forgot things, even under pressure. Even—like now—under the pressure of being faced with an unexpectedly attractive, unexpectedly naked stranger at what Surit had thought was a routine introduction.

Tennalhin was supposed to be a ranker, as was the curly-haired person half-buried in the blanket, so at least there weren’t any chain-of-command relations going on, but Surit still didn’t want to see it. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Surit temporized. He looked at the other ranker and said, “I think maybe you lost your way to your room.” “Well, you fucking are interrupting.” Tennalhin unfolded himself to his feet. He shrugged a civilian wrap-jacket onto his shoulders, obviously from last night, which just drew deliberate attention to the fact he was wearing nothing else at all. “In fact,” he said, with the precise, razor-sharp diction that Surit had mainly heard from the very rich Exana set, “you are interrupting my fucking.”

Surit’s intentions barely sent out a flicker of light around him, so little that Tennal had stopped even trying to read him. But he felt something this time, something as faint and deep as the shifting of earth beneath a continent. Surit wasn’t even breathing.