Page 11 of Paradise

“I’ll show you sometime when Cody isn’t around, being all impressionable.” Garrett set the helm to autopilot and stood up. “Let’s go to bed and see if it works out.”

Cody didn’t even wake up as they all settled in, and he slept a solid eight hours nestled between the pair of them. He woke up when they did, though, and insisted on being with at least one of them at all times, which meant fast, solitary showers and accompanying him to his room to change his clothes. Breakfast was a little subdued, with Cody on the edge of pouting as he chased his cereal around the bowl with his spoon.

“So,” Garrett said cheerfully as he finished his coffee, “are you ready to go to work?”

Cody frowned. “I don’t have any more schoolwork; I finished it all.”

“Not that kind of work. This is special work. Something very, very exciting, something completely brand new.”

“How exciting?”

“Soexciting,” Garrett confided. “And important. And I need your help to do it.”

“Really?”

“Really.” He stood up from the table. “You ready?”

Cody glanced at Jonah, who smiled. “Go on, bucko.” Those few words of approval were all Cody needed, and he grabbed Garrett’s hand and pulled him down toward the makeshift lab that used to be the ship’s gym.

“Is it in here?”

“Yes,” Garrett said, heading over to the simulator and turning it on. He loaded up the simplest visual program and pulled a chair over for Cody. “It’s got to be done with this.”

Cody stood on the chair and looked into the viewfinder of the machine. “But I don’t know how to use this.”

“I can teach you,” Garrett said. “We’re going to use it to make a holofilm. One about what things are like back on Pandora since my family hasn’t gotten to come and visit us there yet. We can load images and sounds, and you can draw the things that aren’t in the database.”

Cody looked at him solemnly. “That sounds really hard.”

“It’s going to take some time, that’s true, but you’re smart. I wouldn’t ask you to do it if I didn’t think you could,” Garrett assured him. “I’ll help whenever you need me to, but I think this would be a great gift for when we arrive.”

“Do you think it will make your family like me better?”

How was this even a question? “Are you kidding me?” Garrett scoffed, leaning in and hugging Cody around the shoulders. “You’re their absolute favorite. Every time they call, who do they want to talk to first?”

“Um … me.”

“Exactly. They can’t wait to see you. I’m hoping this will make them likemebetter.”

Cody giggled. “They already like you!”

“Yes, usually, but a little extra ammo never hurts. So. Want to learn how to load the environments?”

“Yeah.”

The morning was pretty slow, hampered by Garrett’s compulsive need to step in and help until Cody finally told him he could, “Figure it out by myself, okay, please, Garrett?” The afternoon went better, Garrett only stepping in when Cody needed help drawing something or tracing a movement pattern in 3D. Jonah joined them after dinner so Cody could show them what he’d come up with so far, and he duly gave it the praise it was due.

That night, as Cody lay sleeping between them, Jonah whispered, “You know, you’re kinda brilliant, darlin’.”

Garrett smiled lazily. “What, because I kept Cody distracted?”

“Because you made him happy,” Jonah corrected. “You came up with a game plan, something to do to keep him interested, and it’s educational too. Maybe you should moonlight as a teacher.”

“Mmm, no. I’d sooner shoot myself in the face than stare down a class full of seven-year-olds every day, but thanks for thinking nice things about me, babe.” He grinned. “Between you teaching him to fly and me teaching him my job, I think Cody will be ready for colony-wide domination at around ten. Then we can move on to the rest of the Fringe. He’ll make a wonderful despot.”

“Don’t give him ideas.”

Chapter seven

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