Echo

21. No Message

My phone doesn't have any messages all morning either. I feel like breaking it. Daddy argues on the phone through breakfast. I tune him out and drive myself to work. I keep my phone glued to me.

The boys work on the layout for the camp. I make another sketch of the main building in the middle. I make it taller. Then I put a big conference table in it. A desk for Malax. He'll still want a desk. I know he will. Then I put a little sitting area in it. I give him a little couch and a couple of chairs. It's a lot like this office.

The building itself is circular. Stairs wrap around the building on both sides and go to the entrance to his office. Then the front of his office is a balcony. He can stand out and watch over everyone. He'll be able to see over the walls if he uses this layout too.

My phone goes off, and I try to grab it too fast. I end up throwing it on the table. Then I tackle it, and it's only Eriska asking what I'm doing. I roll my eyes and tell her I'm at work.

"Rye, Eriska wants to know if you need anything today?"

"No. I'm good."

"K."

I give them my sketch for the office. "This is perfect."

I make a sketch of a little house. It would be enough for 1 person. Bedroom, closet. Living room with area for a small table and chairs. Private bath. Small kitchen. I put in a desk because guys seem to love them. The front would be a little porch with 2 chairs and stones to the path.

Then I think about the path. The place is already pretty big. Officers should get some kind of vehicle. I search online and find a cart. I print a picture of it and staple it to the sketch. Then draw a little garage on the side of the house.

Rye looks at my sketch. "Can you think of anything for teams? We're not giving houses away."

"They would be paying you to be there. You could pretty much charge whatever you want. If they want houses, charge them. Do they want carts? Charge for them. But yea, I'll sketch something for cheap assholes."

I sketch a big circular building again. This time it's bedrooms around the outer wall. Each bedroom gets a private bath and window. The center is a sitting, kitchen, dining, office area. A building off to the side can hold carts.

"Here is my idea. It's customizable. But watch the height of the building. If it gets too high, you won't be able to see over everything from the central office. I would put a limit as to how many can fit in a building. Seems like 6 fit comfortably. The fewer that are on the team, the bigger the bedrooms get. Also, the cart garage could be customized for how many carts they want."

"Each team will be different. That makes sense."

"What about officers who want to go with their families?"

"That's easy. Expand the 1-person house. Bigger bedroom for a married couple. Each child gets a bedroom. Extra closets in each room. I would do 1 bathroom for the couple. Then 1 bathroom for every 2 children. The dining room table will need to be bigger. A couple of chairs. Make everything a little bigger. Maybe 2 carts instead of 1. I don't know about that though. They could probably share."

"Good ideas. We're also going to need another storage area. Exactly like the first one. The suppra's took over the whole thing. We ran out of storage area."

Malax stares at my sketches.

My phone dings and I grab it so fast I throw it across the room this time. It's only momma though. "Momma's bringing lunch for everyone. I don't know why. She's landing in 4 minutes. I'm sure she'll tell us."

Eriska and momma come in. "They gave me a catered lunch because I'm amazing. But it's for 30 people. So, I'm leaving half here and taking half to Zircon."

"Thank you, Mrs. Kinnik."

"My pleasure. Oh, I love these carts. Is this for the other planet?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"And that's my daughter's sketch. Give me that. Thank you. Baby, you forgot the pool."

"That is so not needed, momma. People don't need that to live."

Eriska nods. "Not to mention a lizard could fall into it and drown."

"Yea, we wouldn't want that. Well, they need some sort of yard. Even if it's a fenced-in grass area for kids to play or a small private garden. A table and a few chairs. People need to see outside too."

"Those are great ideas. I love the idea of small garden areas. Then a table and chairs for outdoor eating."

Momma nods. "Keep enough of a grass area for sun tanning or reading. People like outdoor private areas. Make sure it is fenced."

"I will, thank you."

She leaves with Eriska.

I get some food and sit at my desk. I stare at my phone the whole time. What is so wrong with me?

Malax texts me and tells me I can go for the day. They're ordering stuff to fill the Voyager for the trip back, and I don't need to be here for that. I tell him thanks and run for it. At least I know my phone still works.

I go home and link to Cru N. I'm not sure what to do, and it's weird being the only person on an entire planet. But then I think about it and it's actually amazing. I can do whatever I want. I can go wherever I want. No rumors. No press. No fans. No enemies.

I run to the beach. I take off my pants and pull the tank top up under my boobs. I can paint myself. It doesn't matter if I'm in my underwear. Nobody is anywhere. And a lizard isn't going to care what's on my ass. I throw my shoes on my pants and run in the water.

It's not hard to find bioluminescence. It's everywhere. I sit on the edge of where it starts and paint my toes. I put designs on my feet and legs. Then I do my arms. My hands are a mess, but I put stars on the backs of them. I put lines on my chest and belly. It is fun to play with. And there are so many different colors.

After a few hours, Malax shows up. He doesn't seem to care what's on my ass either. He draws on my back. When he gets to my hips with his fingertips, I swear the muscles in my stomach contract on their own.

I spin around and draw on him. I watch him shiver then relax. I get to his lower stomach and barely touch it. I watch his muscles tense too. I wonder what that's about. I brush it off, and we go back to the shore.

"I'm afraid I like the tank tops more than those little shirts."

"We can always switch them. Or get some of both." I put my pants on. "The smaller the fabric, the faster it dries. We didn't think you would want a bunch of half-naked girls running around. Could make even more outfits. Pants like this for field work. The more skin that's covered in the field, the less damage the suppra takes." I shrug my shoulders. "We had to come up with something and didn't know how much you wanted to spend. You could even send actual bikinis for skin painting or swimming."

"Well, I'm definitely sending you one."

"Yea, I like the water a lot. Always have. That's why we have such a big pool at home. Do you have a big pool?"

"No. I have a nice hot tub though."

"Those are nice. Eriska threw a fit until daddy got one."

He smirks. "You girls are something else."

"We hear that a lot. I'm going to leave this on me. I want to see what happens. I wanted to check last time, but the s**t ruined it."

"Yea, that ruined everything."

"I'm glad I can't smell."

"Me too. I think it was in my nose."

I laugh. "You weren't supposed to snort it."

"We're not supposed to play in it either, but you dove in, woman."

I crack up laughing. "It was for science."

"You say everything is for science."

"It is usually."

"Uh huh. What do you think about making the top of my office a flat level for people to keep watch for the lizards?"

"I don't know. It's in the middle. The place is big. I think it would be better with maybe a walking path hooked to your wall. People could walk around and keep watch. Put it down a bit on the inside. Maybe like 4 feet. Their heads would be 2 feet above the wall as they watched. I don't know how to explain it. I think putting the look-outs in the middle of the place would keep them too far away from the fences. They couldn't see as far."

"I understand what you're saying. Hell, even towers in a few places would be good."

"Yea, especially near the gates. I don't know how many gates you're making though."

"3 maybe 4. We'll have to see how big it is."

"What are you talking about?"

"Gates."

Malax puts an eyebrow up. "You been here long, Rye?"

"No. I wanted to see her original sketches. You said there were a lot of them somewhere. I walked around for 10 minutes looking for your office."

"I was thinking about putting mine in the girls' shower room."

"They do have nice lighting. I'll be in the boys."

I crack up laughing. "We can pass notes through the vent."

Malax shakes his head. "They're in the storage room, on the stage."

A big lizard roars and I climb the front of Malax. I hold on for dear life and look all over.

He puts his arms around me. "Let's go."

I go home when we get inside.

Still no message.