The Cypher’s Kiss: A Choice Based Short Story
By Cathleen Rootsaert
UNSURE: STAY THE NIGHT
You spend your first night together soundly sleeping in each other's arms, so soundly that you’re almost late for your shift. You’ll have to talk to Freelancer Yarrow later.
You’re caught staring at Ammien as they climb into the amplifier and they reward you with a tiny, secret smile. This may be what your lonely heart has been waiting for.
If only it lasted longer than one day.
On the way to a Shaper globe to harvest coolant, Ammien is teasing, even flirting, with another Freelancer on the team. Why are they doing that? Ammien knows that you're also connected. Your face grows hot. Your heart thumps. It’s then that, flying along a deep crevasse, you lock up. Unable to control your suit, you tumble and spin toward the jagged ground.
Ammien alerts your team and suddenly you have a Freelancer on either side of you. They try to calm you. They try to slow your descent. You manage to regain some control just as, at the last minute, the Freelancers divert your course and you land by skidding along the mossy bank of a nearby lake.
It's lucky you aren't killed.
Later that evening, you, Ammien, and the team meet in the Enclave to debrief with senior Freelancers. Even in the crisp air of the Enclave, your back pressed against the stone wall, you are sweating. Ammien is vibrating with internal panic. For you, the guilt of endangering your team and the worry for the one you love is unbearable.
“What happened?” asks Freelancer Yarrow. No one speaks. You look at the ground as he paces and demand answers. Freelancer lockup is never treated lightly. Gradually, Yarrow puts the together the truth about your relationship. "This is very serious," he says. “We have rules against pilot and cypher relationships for a reason!”
"Of course, Yarrow," you say. "I planned to talk to you about it today."
“Oh, yes?” Yarrow cocked an eyebrow. “I understand now why Max saw you sneaking around as she closed the bar. You are in love?”
"No," you say, while at the same moment Ammien replies, "I am."
That instant -- the embarrassment, the hot blood rushing in your ears, the... ache of it -- makes you want to run. You take Ammien’s hand, instead.
“Hm.” Yarrow looks at you both. “Good. Better to let this go while you still can before there’s real trouble. We need no more stories for the wall.”
"But Yarrow... please. Can’t we try?"
“You don’t understand. As long as you work in the same enclave, everyone is at risk. Also, you speak truth or not at all, you hear me?”
Later, you sit with Ammien on the wall. You look out into the romantic sunset but barely speak.
"There has to be a way to fix this."
"One of us can get a different job," you say.
"It won’t be me. I’ve studied to be a cypher since I was eight years old. And I won’t let you quit, either.” They turn to you, eyes full of fire. "Forget them! They can’t control us. We’ll keep our love a secret."
But you know it's hopeless. You'll be watched closely.
"Please," Ammien begs. "Do this for us. Otherwise... I... I don't think I can ever speak to you again. I love you too much."
But... is it love? After considering, you say,