Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91635 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 458(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
“Hey,” he said softly.
Vic blinked almost sluggishly, then looked up at Amani blankly, before glancing at the clock. “Oh. Fuck. Sorry, I lost track of time.” A wan smile barely ghosted across his lips. “Hey.”
“You don’t look so good.”
“Long day.”
Amani crossed to the sofa and sank down next to Vic, just close enough for their shoulders to touch, and watched him sidelong. “Work?”
“Some of it.” Vic shook his head. He seemed remote, like he wasn’t even really here, but he managed another smile. “Sorry, if you were looking forward to a film, I’m…not much in the mood to go out tonight.” He sighed. “Can we just be here for a bit? There’s TV, there’s…” He gestured listlessly, then let his hand fall to dangle between his legs. “I’m just…tired.”
“Of course, Vic.” Amani hesitated, then curled his hand against Vic’s arm, tugging gently as he settled a bit further back on the couch. “Come here.”
Vic was stiff for one moment, a poorly-lubed marionette, before he went loose and sank down to rest his head in Amani’s lap, draping himself against the sofa. Amani slipping his fingers into his hair, stroking in back in slow rhythm, petting him lie the pup he could so often be.
“Is this about what happened this morning?” he ventured.
“A little.”
“You don’t have to tell me.” He let his thumb trace the curve of Vic’s ear, and watched as his pet slowly closed his eyes, some of his tension bleeding out to leave him limp against Amani’s lap. “Just…is everything all right?”
“Yeah,” Vic said, and turned his head to bury his face against Amani’s thighs, shoulders drooping in a deep exhale. “Everything turned out fine.”
l
AND SO THEY STAYED FOR the rest of the evening. Eventually Amani shifted to lay back with Vic resting between his thighs, draped against his chest, watching over Vic’s shoulder as he toyed with work via the laptop propped on his stomach. They murmured over possibilities for Chinese takeout, both decided they were too tired to get up.
And so they simply were, and Amani realized…he was okay with that.
He’d started to drift off when Vic finally spoke again, breaking the lazy silence. “There’s a company I’m thinking about buying,” he murmured, and Amani cracked one eye open.
“Another one?”
“This one’s different. It’s called Blue Life Delta. They’re this small startup out of Dubai, but they’ve got these really big ideas.” Vic angled the screen so Amani could see a website with multiple realistically rendered CGI photos of ocean vistas with strange geometric islands floating on them, bright against sunsets reflecting off solar panel roofing on cleverly designed little homes. “Sustainable ocean-based communities. Floating man-made habitats designed to survive storm, tsunami, and flood. Solar-powered, ocean-driven, with zero net energy cost. In fact, the floating gardens and forests would put more out into the environment than the communities took, and the anchoring framework would provide a bed for coral reef replenishment.”
Amani smiled slightly, leaning forward to drape his arms around Vic’s neck and rest his chin on his shoulder, hands dangling down his chest as he read over the screen again. “Why that company?”
“Because without massive seed capital they’ll never get beyond a few experimental demo projects, and I think…” As listless as he’d been all night…this was the first time he’d sounded anything but exhausted, a spark of life in his voice, and it eased something inside Amani to hear it. “I think they could make a difference. I want to make a difference. We’re eating this planet alive, and it’s almost impossible to change the current infrastructure without decades, maybe even centuries, of slow incremental work, and by then it’ll be too late. We’d be better off razing every city to the ground and rebuilding. But that will never happen, so…” He tilted his head back against Amani’s shoulder, winter-blue eyes looking up at him. “Extend the frontier. Start over in new territory, and do it right this time. Habitats like these could extend living space in overcrowded areas. Someone just has to be willing to pay enough to cover capital outlay without looking only at ROI.” Those pale eyes gentled, lingering on Amani intently. “I just…I need to do something that’s helpful, Amani. Not just profitable.”
Amani met that near-devoted gaze, curling his hand against Vic’s cheek, tracing his thumb along the high crest of one cheekbone, following it down to the shadow of tired stubble. “Where is all this coming from?”
Vic’s lips curled at the corners. “If I answer, you might push me off you.”
“Probably.”
Vic chuckled, then tilted his head forward again and tapped the laptop. One of the images expanded, unfolding into a panoramic video. “Look.”
Amani watched with Vic as the video swirled through stunningly crafted interiors, highlighting the grace and economic sustainability of architectural designs meant to complement their environment, rather than swallow it, blending from photo after photo of stunning vistas to quiet still life shots of lovers, families, friends ensconced in their floating homes. They made life look so simple, so lovely—as if somehow just by starting over with a new vision for the world, they could somehow erase every injustice and inequality to make things right if they could just balance the world’s resources against some fair and equitable scale.