The Bet

The exam room was cold making my exposed skin rise with goose bumps. I shivered when I felt Geo's fingers lightly caress my neck, and I told myself it was because of the cold. He stopped just below my jawline and I couldn't help but take a deep breath in.

"Relax," he said soothingly while massaging my neck. I closed my eyes and slowly released my breath.

"Your glands are doing much better," Geo said, satisfied with my progress. "They are almost back down to normal. Has your fever come back at all these past couple of days?" I shook my head no. "That's good, you're recovering nicely. I'm going to do a routine physical to see how you are doing after such a long hibernation, ok?"

"Ok," I agreed. I watched him as he gently took my foot in his hand and tested the range of motion in my ankle. He was professional and focused on his task, allowing me to observe him without him noticing. His blonde hair was pulled back into a short ponytail, and I couldn't deny that his long, angular face was handsome. When I looked closer I noticed the circles under his eyes and wondered what he must be losing sleep over. Was it the trial? Or having to move labs? Was it because of me?

Geo moved to my other ankle and then my knees. Before I knew it he took my hand in his, rotating my wrist until my hand was palm up. I looked from the palm of my hand to Geo's face and was instantly reminded of my dream. As he leaned in a little further to to inspect my palm the memory of him leaning in and taking a bite from the apple flashed before me. I could feel the heat of embarrassment wash over me as a fierce blush reached my cheeks.

Once Geo finished with my hand he looked at me with startled concern. "Are you ok?"

I cleared my throat and looked away in an attempt to collect myself. "Yeah, I'm fine," I said quickly. I glanced back at him to see if he bought my reply, but he still looked concerned.

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You look very flushed. I'd hate to think your fever is back." Geo brought his cool hand up to my forehead to gauge my temperature which only made my heart race even more.

I leaned back to put a little distance between us. "I'm ok, it's not a fever," I said with all the conviction I could. Geo did not look convinced and I didn't want to be put in isolation over a blush. I looked away and quietly explained, "I am just not used to being so physically close with someone. I guess it just makes me a little embarrassed." I took a deep breath and wished the floor would swallow me whole, but I eventually looked at Geo to see his reaction.

He smiled gently. "So you live the isolated scientist life as well then?" he asked. "I had told my sister and Thana that it wasn't unusual, and now I have the proof. Scientists were living like that thousands of years ago," he said with a chuckle.

I smiled weakly but was grateful for his humor. It made me feel less awkward about admitting to my antisocial lifestyle, and in essence my celibacy - if he had even thought that far. "I guess you could say that," I admitted. "Back on Earth many people my generation did not have relationships or children. The world was ending so no one saw the point in trying to make something new."

Geo's face fell. "I'm sorry," he said, "those must have been sad times."

I had always known that my time on Earth had been sad. Even during the good moments in my life when I was with my family and working on the farm there was always disasters and death happening elsewhere. In a way I was numb to it. That was just the way life was until it would be no more. But now, sitting on this exam table thousands of years in the future, I finally felt how sad it truly was. Before I had stood with only darkness in front of me, but now I stood with a future of possibilities ahead of me. Life did and will continue to carry on, and I will not be left behind.

"They were sad times," I agreed, "but now I know there is something to live for." I gave him a smile and he returned it. After a while Geo turned around and cleared his throat. "Are you ok?" I asked with worry. "I hope you didn't catch my flu."

With his back turned to me he shook his head. "No, no I am immune to the strain of flu you had. Already had it earlier in the year," he said quickly as he dug through his work bag. He grabbed an item and turned around to face me. "I was just looking for my medical tweezers," he said, lifting up the tweezers for me to see.

I looked from the tweezers to Geo with confusion. "Is there something you need to pluck off of me?" I asked.

Geo hesitated and looked from me to the tweezers. "Uh, no," he said slowly before placing the tweezers back into his bag. Silence filled the room and it felt unusually awkward.

I tried to think of something to say to break the silence and remembered my promise to Nera. "I visited one of the sporos yesterday with Councilwoman Nera," I said.

"Oh really?" Geo said quickly, looking grateful. "What do you think?"

"It's amazing what you guys have been able to do for so long with limited resources. But it sounds like you have been encountering some plant disease recently. I know a way to treat it, at least what worked on Earth, but I need some help getting one of the ingredients."

"What ingredient is that?" Geo asked.

"Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate," I said. "I honestly don't know how it is made. I remember in a class soda ash was mentioned, but that is all I remember." The longer I talked the more defeated I became. I wish I had more information for Geo to go on, but when I looked at him I could already see a twinkle of excitement in his eyes.

"The name gives me enough of a starting clue," he said confidently. The look of shock must have been evident on my face because he started to laugh. "I can be pretty clever when something needs to get solved."

"Awfully sure of yourself aren't you?" I teased. "I'm glad because I would like try out this treatment on some of the older plants before I use it on the seeds I brought. If they sprout that is."

Geo's eyes got wide. "You brought seeds?" he asked with surprise.

I nodded. "I kept them with me in the pod. I couldn't bare parting with them so I kept some with me. Especially the ones the Ark officials told me not bring since it did not fit their criteria of resources vs yields. I don't know if they are still viable, but I can't wait to find out" I said with a smile.

Geo tilted his head in thought. "So that is what was in the pouch beside you. I had always wondered what it was. It was like you had kept it next to your heart." My eyes got wide and I subconsciously put an arm across my chest. If he was able to look at the pouch next to me he would have easily been able to see me naked inside of my chamber.

Geo saw my movements and his own eyes got wide. I could detect a faint blush on his pale cheeks as he began to stammer. "I- I didn't mean to- I wasn't- I had to monitor you to figure out how to wake you safely," he finally got out. "I'm sorr-," he began to apologize but I cut him off.

"It's ok. I'm still not sure how or entirely sure why you did it, but thank you for waking me. I'm sorry it took me so long to say that," I said sincerely. Geo was speechless and could only give me a nod. I smiled, "but one day you'll have to tell me how you did it. I'm still curious about how I ended up in your lab in Nova when I was supposed to be jettisoned into space."

Geo broke out into a big mischievous smile. "Since we both have experiments to run now, how about a little wager? If I win you have to share some of your Earth science with me. If you win I will tell you how I got you to Nova. First one to have substantial results in two weeks time wins."

"So you admit to taking me to Nova? That's not what you said at the trial," I teased.

"If you want to know what actually happened, I suggest you take the wager," he said playfully.

Filled with confidence, I leaned in closer to him and I looked him in his bright blue eyes with a smirk. "Deal," I said.

He leaned in even closer to me till we were only inches apart. "Good," he said barely over a whisper.

Suddenly a beeping sound came from the corner of the room startling us both. Geo turned to look at the source and walked up to a monitor panel. "Shit," he said under his breath.

"What is it?" I asked.

He just stared at the monitor, tension building in his shoulders. I caught a glimpse of the monitor and saw a familiar woman standing at the front door.

"It's Thana," he said quietly.