Alex had been lonely before, but there had been at least some fleeting reason behind it. He could understood why and could usually see a path through it. This was different. The narcotic effect Carbon had worried about had taken root in his brain, Carbon’s decades of self-enforced isolation writ large in his mind now, irrational and inescapable. He felt depressed and perfectly alone, despite Carbon sitting a few feet away curled up with her legs hugged to her chest.
She had pushed him away too late with a whispered apology, just as the connection broke the effect set in. The source of the pained look she wore was clear to Alex, a burst of panic had ripped through the Carbon part of their mind link just before she had severed it. She knew what was going to happen but she didn't want it to happen to him. Now they sat on opposite sides of the couch, temporarily destroyed.
"It's too bad that..." Alex tried to make a joke but just ran out of steam between getting the idea and actually saying it. There really wasn’t a point anymore. "I'm going to get something to sleep this off with. Is that safe?"
She looked at him with grief in her eyes, voice feeble. "It should be, but... Please do not. This should not take more than an hour to pass and I do not want to be alone right now.”
“Well. Yeah, sure.” Alex was pretty sure an hour would feel like an eternity like this, but he was willing to put up with it for her sake. He really didn’t want to be alone either, as the very concept of loneliness clawed at his mind. “Is there anything we can do to speed this up?”
“Not specifically.” Her eyes narrowed in thought for a moment. She unbuckled the strap she’d looped around her leg to keep herself on the couch and scooted over to him, undid his belt before taking his hand and tugging him up off the couch with her. “There is one thing I have been told... I do not know if it is a true remedy, but it can not hurt to try.”
“What are you doing?”
“Bringing you along. It is improper to drink by yourself.”
“How is that... How is that different than taking a sleep aid?” Carbon pulled him into the passageway without any trouble. Alex was sure he would have waited on the couch until he had rotted away, and found himself indifferent to being moved around as she towed him behind her towards the aft end of the ship. He could be stuck in this hole anywhere, it didn’t matter. “How did you get alcohol on board, anyway? The CPP runs dry ships, didn't they check your gear?”
“It is different because it is not being done alone.” She toggled the door controls to her cabin with a shrug. “I moved onto the ship before it left dry dock for the first time. No one checked anything I brought on board with me.”
Any other time, Alex would have been surprised at what he saw in Carbon's cabin. In place of the light gray walls and allegedly mood-enhancing blue stripe, it had been covered in a detailed mural. The cabin became a clearing in a strangely colored alien forest, red-purple trees reaching up to the night sky above on the ceiling. He'd have thought it beautiful in its own way, but right now it was just an oddity as she deposited him on her bunk before rummaging through the dresser embedded in the wall.
“They checked mine. Why is your bunk so big? Is this down?” Alex held on to the comforter stretched over the top, squishing it under his fingers with the distinct crunch of feathers. Her bunk was significantly wider than his, though it was welded to the floor, unable to be folded back up into the wall. Even after just ten minutes of space between the onset of the effect, he realized he could feel it start to ease off, the intensity of it reduced though the magnitude was still astronomical. He was starting to understand her reaction to the too-strong memory he’d shown her during their first link. Regaining composure didn’t take long, but he’d sure as hell prefer to be stuck with an absurd sense of pride for an hour.
Carbon came back up with a hexagonal bottle, about the size Alex would expect for a liter. Thick clear glass held a pale green liquid and she dug a claw into the wax sealing the cork. The action needed to drink from a rigid bottle in zero gravity was ridiculous, a little more than rotating the bottle to make the liquid flow to the opening and hoping for the best while you brought it to your mouth. She took several long drinks from it, maybe a third of the bottle and made a horrible face before pressing the cork back in and gently floating it over to him. “It is the standard bed for a Tsla'o ship and it is down.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“That’s nice. Nicer than what I got.” A drink couldn’t hurt. Alex twisted the cork out of the bottle and he went through the awkward motion himself, sucking down a sample before continuing with two mouthfuls. The pleasant, almost pear-like flavor lasted for several seconds before being overwhelmed by the burn of alcohol. He shuddered and corked the bottle, “what is that? Hundred proof?”
She settled down on the bed next to him, leaning against his arm, and shook her head as she took possession of the bottle again. “No, that would taste horrible. It is only seventy percent alcohol.”
Alex shook his head as she took another drink. “That’d make it one-hundred and forty proof and we’ve drank half the bottle already.”
Carbon set the bottle down in her lap again and they sat in silence for a long while, listening to each other breathe. Her hands wrapped around the neck of the bottle that now rested in her lap, twisting it slowly until the tiny label faced up. She glanced up at him, eyebrows and antenna lifting with curiosity. “Is that bad?”
“It’s...” He sat there pondering the question, running the numbers on consumption. Even without the specific measurements, it was a lot of booze. "Uh, well, that can be a lot to drink all at once on an empty stomach.”
“I ate-” she stopped and thought about it for a moment, realization dawning on her face. “I did not eat that much.”
“I didn’t either. That’s smooth, though. Fooled me with the first sip.” He was starting to feel a little flush and maybe just a little bit better than he had a few minutes ago. The loneliness only seemed overwhelming now. “Need to be careful with hard alcohol.”
“I did not have that much.”
“Yeah, you did. I only had a few swallows of it and that is half empty.” He reached over and tapped the noticeably depleted bottle.
She stared at the pale green glass in her lap for a long time, brow furrowed. Her head jerked up and she looked at Alex, eyes wide and startled. “Is that amount dangerous?”
“You should be fine. I’m just guessing, but that’s like, pfft...” He looked up at the ceiling, briefly entranced by the pattern of stars. “I dunno, by human measures that’s eight shots - eight servings. That’s a night's worth of drinking, for some people. I’d stop at five, myself. Definitely not something you should have all at once unless you’re just looking to get wasted.”
“Oh.” She sounded surprised and looked back down at the bottle, bewildered.
“Oh? I don’t like how that sounds.”
“I have had, ehm... deep wines.” It took her a moment to determine the right words. She looked up at him, eyes focusing slowly and looking decidedly lost. Her head tilted to the side as she spoke. “I have... never drink this before?”
His mouth twisted into a frown, “you’ve never had this specifically or you’ve never had hard liquor?” Not that it mattered, he hadn’t seen her drink before. It’d been a year since he’d drank. Neither of them had any resistance built up.
“Liquor... I like this, what is it mean?” Her eyes squinted as she sussed the word out with a little laugh.
“Great. This is a good place to stop, then.” Alex reached over and plucked the bottle out of her hands. Carbon grabbed for it, eyes wide as she made a little distressed noise and looked absolutely shocked that he would take something from her. He set it down on the bed behind him and shook his head. “We’re done with this for now.”
“Fine.” Carbon shifted away from him, crossed her arms over her chest and pouted like he’d just taken a toy from her.
Alex smiled, she was kind of cute like that. “Look, just wait a little bit and we’ll see how you’re feeling. We’ll see how I’m feeling. Pacing is important.”
“Thsen she. Avara?” She talked over her shoulder at him, too rapid for him to understand what she was saying, if he even knew the words.
“I didn’t catch that.” He had been drinking on an empty stomach. He felt too warm and everything was lagging in that annoying way that it did.
Her eyebrows went up like he should have gotten it. “Avarah?”
He shook his head, not sure if it was actually a different word or if she was starting to slur her speech already. He opted for the latter, his smile turning into a grin and an easy laugh. “No, you’re speaking Tsla. I can’t understand what you are saying.”
“Do you feel better too?” Her face scrunched up in concentration as she held up a finger, enunciating the words slowly, punctuating each one with a poke at the air. It sounded like she actually wanted to know but it was taking everything she had to get the words out.
“Yes.” Alex nodded in agreement then leaned over and kissed her without a second thought.