away from home?”
“Oh, and low on consumables,” Cameron added.
“What?”
“Food? Water? We weren’t loaded for an extended voyage you know.”
“Oh, great. You see, that’s what I’m talking about. We’re gonna need friends out here if we’re gonna survive long enough to find a way home.”
“You’re right, I agree. I’m just not sure that these people are the type of friends we want, Nathan. That’s all I’m saying.”
“And on that we agree,” he conceded. “But until we’re presented with other options, we’re gonna have to utilize what we’ve got. And for now, that means these people.”
“Just be careful,” she warned him.
“Look, sooner or later, we’re gonna need to find safe harbor. I mean, we can’t very well conduct repairs while hiding out in an asteroid field. Once we find a populated world, we’re bound to find some other people and make some more friends. Hopefully ones that are not so quick to throw themselves into the jaws of death.”
“Make more friends, huh. That’s your plan?”
“Hey, we’ve gotta play to our strengths,” he smiled. “Now speaking of consumables, I think it would be wise if we tried to get everyone something to eat while it’s still quiet around here. Any ideas?”
“With all that’s happened, you’re thinking about food?”
“We’ve gotta eat, Cam. We don’t want the crew we have left passing out from low blood sugar, do we?”
Cameron knew he was right, as she herself was a bit hungry. “There’s about a hundred lunch kits down in the galley, along with the left-overs from breakfast. What would you like?”
“Surprise me.”
“I’ll get someone on it right away,” she promised as she turned to leave.
“And make sure everyone eats, even if they have to eat while they’re working.”
“Yes Sir.”
“And when the food comes, have Jalea come in. I think she and I need to talk.”
“Yes Sir,” she answered as she left. She wasn’t sure if she liked the idea of Nathan and Jalea meeting in private. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him. She was sure that he wouldn’t intentionally do anything wrong. But she had already noticed that Nathan had a tendency to act on impulse, especially in conversation, instead of thinking things through first. And in the case of a conversation with Jalea, she was twice as concerned. She had noticed the way that Nathan had looked at the woman. Jalea had unusual eyes that seemed to catch your attention and hold it. Jessica had noticed it as well, and had also voiced her concerns about Nathan’s judgment in regards to Jalea and the rebels.
CHAPTER 8
“You wish to speak with me?” Jalea called from the doorway.
“Ah, yes, Jalea, please come in,” Nathan told her. He stepped out from behind the desk and pulled up a chair for her. “I thought we might talk a bit,” he explained, returning to his seat. “I would like to know more about you and your people.” Nathan began opening the two lunch kits that Cameron had sent in earlier. “Are you hungry?”
Jalea nodded tentatively, unsure of what the packages contained. “What do you want to know?”
Nathan handed her one of the open kits and a small bottle of water. She looked at the contents of the kit. It contained several different vegetables in varying shades of green, red, and orange, along with some small pieces of fruit, and several slices of some type of meat and cheese. She watched as Nathan picked up one of the red vegetables from his kit and popped it into his mouth. She picked up the same red vegetable from her kit and placed it carefully between her teeth and began to bite down.
“Be careful, those can…”
Jalea bit down on the small tomato, which split open, juice squirting out onto the desk and down her chin. She tried to catch the dripping liquid with her hand, but was too late.
“…squirt a bit,” he finished. “Yeah, it’s better if you pop the whole thing into your mouth.” He watched as she chewed her small tomato and swallowed. She gave no indication as to whether or not she liked it.
“So, where are you from?” he asked as he continued eating.
Jalea watched Nathan, waiting for him to eat something different before she tried it herself.
“Parule. My world is Parule.'
“Is Parule far from here?”
“Yes, it is far. Not in Takaran space.”
“It’s not? How did you end up here then?” Nathan had already noticed that she was only eating what he was eating, and purposefully tried everything at least once so that she would be more comfortable. So far, other than the radishes, she seemed to like everything.
“My husband is from Takara. I came to be with him.”
“Oh, I didn’t realize you were married.”
“He died, many years ago.”
“I’m sorry. How did he die?”
“He fought like us. He died bravely.”
“He fought the Takarans?” Nathan felt like he was starting to get somewhere.
“Yes.”
“Why do you fight them?”
“The Takaran leaders, they are very bad.” Jalea thought for a moment, trying to decide how to express her thoughts in English. “They want only for money, power. If you have money, you can pay, life is very good for you. If you do not have, if you not pay, life is very bad for you. They are…” she struggled for the right word, mumbling what Nathan assumed was the appropriate word in her language.
“…Corrupt?” he offered.
“Yes, corrupt. They only want money. No right, no wrong, only money.”
Nathan smiled. “Yeah, that’s the definition of corruption on our world as well.” He took a drink of water as he watched her pick out what to eat next. She was quite an attractive woman, with long black hair and olive complexion. And her eyes were so captivating, they just sucked him in. But he had seen a cold, dark side to her just before they had jumped away from the incoming Takaran reinforcements. And despite the fact that her eyes seemed softer at the moment, that side of her still worried him.
“It is same on your world?” she asked him as she tried a piece of cheese.
“Sometimes. Not as much as before, but still some. Is that why you fight? You fight corruption?”
“We fight to be free,” she corrected him. “We fight to remove them from power.”
Then it is a rebellion, Nathan thought. “How do you fight?”
“We steal weapons and ships to fight with.”
“Ships, like this one?” Nathan asked, afraid that he might not like the answer.
“No. Such ships are very difficult. This is how my husband died.”
“Trying to steal a large ship?”
“Yes. It is very dangerous to steal such ships. So we only take small ships, much easier. But not so strong. So we make better.” Nathan noticed a hint of pride in her last statement.
“How do you make them better?”
“We take to secret places,” she explained. “Places where we can work on ships. Better, stronger, faster.”
“Like a base of operations?” Nathan was becoming quite interested.
“No. Not so big. Usually on farms, in shelters. Sometimes inside mountains. Even rocks in space.”
“But where do you live? What do you eat? Where do you get supplies?”
“The people, they give us food, shelter, clothing, what they can to help. But they afraid of Takaran soldiers.”
