“Jakey, what are you doing?”

“Jaska! Get out! This is very important work!” shouted Jake.

As usual, Jaska took no noticed of Jake’s consternations and went in anyway. Jake had stood up and was trying to block the screen, covering it with his hands.

“Is that a girl on screen?” Jaska tried to peer around Jake but he kept moving his shoulder in the way. “Jakey, are you cheating on me?”

“I can’t be cheating on you, we’re not even going out!”

“Yes we are,” said Jaska. “We’ve been on, like, five dates now.”

“No, we haven’t!!” shouted Jake. “Sneaking up on me and ignoring me telling you to go away doesn’t count as a date!”

“But, we even kissed on the last one…” said Jaska. She liked Jake even if he didn’t know or appreciate it.

“We didn’t! I slipped and fell on your lips!”

That was kind of true, Jaska conceded inwardly. But she had grabbed the opportunity and turned it into a long and passionate kiss which had left Jake short of breath. So short of breath that he had lay there wheezing for about an hour, wondering where his inhaler was.

Jaska got a glimpse of the screen. “It is! Who is she?!” she demanded.

“It’s just a friend. He’s a boy, he’s just pretending to be a girl.”

“Jake, you must think I’m stupid…”

Jake could see that Jaska was getting quite angry. He was, inwardly, beginning to like her even if it didn’t fit in with his self-prescribed exclusion from society. Talking to a girl, even one that liked him, still filled him with fear, panic and an un-subordinate amount of embarrassment.

“Jaska. She’s a boy! We’re not even going out anyway, so what do you care?”

Jaska turned on her heels and fled the room.

Jake thought about going after her but quickly changed his mind. It would be a lot of effort, and he was quite lazy. Dejected, he sat back down at the keyboard and continued to talk to Joel about their plans for his escape. He wouldn’t be able to see Jaska after that anyway.

* * *

“So, we don’t have to do anything?” Joel summarised. “Just stay here?”

“That’s right,” laughed Gaz. “Jake’s gonna steal a ship, escape and come straight to us. We’re gonna be rich without doing anything!”

“Do you think he’ll do it?”

“Maybe. He says so anyway.”

“Gaz, you’re a legend. We’ve deserved a bit of luck after all these years. I think this could be it!”