Episode 12: Feast Your Eyes

Colonel Ruby Goddard returned from her run to find an unnerving sight. She halted her stride to a dull walk about hundred yards from her visual. Before her squatted Greta Winston taking a piss in the dirt. While Ruby had zero interest in women, she still had to admire the woman’s shapely ass. Admire in the sense of momentary jealousy. Growling under her breath she blamed her feelings on Jack.

“You found the lady’s room I see.” Ruby waited until Greta stood tall and pulled her trousers up. Jumping at the voice Greta blushed as she turned to face her unexpected voyeur. Observant eyes locating the Colonel’s overly busty chest came as a shock. In a thin white tank top that unfortunately enticed her nipples erect Ruby and her nipples stood out like a sore thumb. In this harsh realm Ruby had decided that a bra was sacred. Kept for the right time. Discarded until then. It wasn’t completely transparent at least, even coated in sweat down the crease of her cleavage.

“Don’t go sneaking up on a gal like that. Y’all scared me.”

“Sorry, Miss Winston! It was impossible not to see you coming down off of the ridge we’re wedged in-between up there. We definitely need to figure out the plumbing in this place.”

“Plumbing?” She had never heard the term before.

“Crapper. Bathtub. Running water. We mentioned that before.” Still Greta looked confused. “I forget where and what era you’re from. Those things are a few years off. I apologize if I confound you.”

“I know what bathtub means. We had one out back of the cabin.”

“Bet that was a sight. Literally. People watching you bathe.”

“We had a clothesline with sheets strung up around the tub. Plenty ‘nuff privacy!”

“For the record.” Ruby lowered her chin grinning, “Maybe 40 or 50 years from 1873 you might have indoor water. Toilets that flush away into the ground. Tubs that fill hot water into it through a faucet. Sinks that run water over your hands to wash them afterwards.”

“Sounds nice. Farfetched but nice.” Greta nodded with a timid grin.

Ruby in turn spread her arms wide and faced the ship, “As farfetched as this place?” Greta turns pale realizing that she needed to conclude the future was right before her.

“Still getting used to the idea. Give this gal time.” In response Ruby lowered her arms and stepped closer to Greta directly face to face.

“Hold out your hands.” Complying Greta watched Ruby pull a tiny bottle out of her pants pocket. She opened the pop top lid on it and squirted a tiny bit of gel into the woman’s palms. “Now you rub your hands together.”

“What is it?”

“It’s called hand sanitizer. With no running water and Jack sealing off the lower decks it’s all I have. I mean you can wash your hands in that fabricated trough we built but this does the job too. Not much left in my bottle here but call this a friendly gesture.”

Greta scrubs her palms until dry then sniffed her hand, “Smell’s purdy.”

“Lavender. Come on cowgirl. Let’s see what’s on the agenda for today.”

“Jack already told me to start tilling up soil with this here shovel. Says he plans on seeding crops.”

Ruby puckered at Jack’s order to keep Greta useful and feeling like she was pulling her weight. “Alright. You get started. Let me talk with Jack and then I’ll back outside and help you.” Greta shuffled along behind her fellow Ginger trying to keep up.

“Mind if I ask you something, Miss Ruby?”

“It’s just Ruby. Ask me anything! Open book policy Greta!”

“Aren’t you a tad embarrassed showing off so much of your body?”

“Where we come from there’s a much freer thought on things like modesty.” She paused to chuckle with a friendly wink, “Now, I wouldn’t go around wearing less than this shirt mind you. Not in front of James at least. The men and Elle can accept it but I’d have James up my ... let me rephrase that so it doesn’t sound so inappropriate, dogging my heels.”

“You sure?” Greta raised an eyebrow. “About the men folk? I see how that Cam looks at you and Miss Elle. Same for Malibu! They even give me the wink eye.”

“Well, maybe! Depends on the reason for it. Hey! I’ve seen and heard you flirt right back Kansas.” That made Greta blush.

“I reckon I do. They are a might fetching in a manly way. What about for Jack?”

“Just friends, Greta. But yes, I suppose. Jack and I have known one another a long time.”

“I figgered.” Greta giggled. “He’s got you feeling all squishy inside, don’t he?”

“That stays between us.” Ruby put an arm around Greta and roughly hugged her to her side before releasing her. “I’ve always been the affectionate type when there was time and the right guy. Jack never sat still long enough to ever get close to.” Until recently! Yep! Squishy somewhere just thinking about it. She left out the part of Jack meeting his ex-wife, Renee.

“Sure nuff.” Greta brightened her eyes at the friendship brewing. “Mind if I flirt with Jack?”

“Knock yourself out!”

“Why would I do that? I’d like to be awake if’n we had a little fun.”

“That’s a saying in our time period. It means give it your best shot. Just be prepared for a rejection. Jack has his mind on us surviving here long term at the moment.”

“So, you won’t get all jealous?”

“Ehhh!” Ruby grinned and used her thumb and index finger to express an inch. “Business before pleasure Wichita.”

“Jack called me that. Are you flirtin’ with me too? I’m not that kind of gall Miss Ruby.”

“Relax! Calling you Wichita was just coincidence. Makes sense with you hailing from Kansas. Get to digging I’ll be back in a few.”

“Yes, Ma’am!” Greta did actually salute Ruby. A friendly salute back sent Greta off toward her cattle corral. Working in close proximity to her horse and her herd made her more at ease. She knew if anything snuck up on her they would alert her into using her shovel as a weapon. Kapow if she had to.

Indoors James Ian Pryce Cameron Scott, and Malcolm Brand moved about carefully in the indoor garden. They were bewildered as much as amazed at what had managed to grow there in the dark without any signs of traditional soil or water source.

“How did this shit grow up in here Kid?” Cam coughed, afraid to touch anything, the overgrowth dense.

“I’m not exactly sure to be honest. Normally it takes soil to mature under at least in order to absorb the proper nutrients from the ground. Including water in most cases! We are dealing with alien seeds though. As I told Jack some grow in sunlight others moonlight. What I don’t understand is how these grew to look so lush without either one.”

“There’s fruit on this tree.” Malcolm reached over his head to pluck one from its stem then sniffing it. “Looks like an Apple. Smells juicy enough for me. Pie anyone?”

Reacting to Malcolm once he looked back James rushed over to slap it out of his hand. “Don’t touch anything until I research it.” Kind of late for that! “Here! Use this to pick anything up. Until I know what might be poisonous, we can’t risk hand contact let alone eating anything.” He passed around handkerchiefs made from the Life Fiber clothe he found earlier in the week.

“Place one of these over each hand.” Expecting gloves rather than a hanky they followed his suggestion. Once lying out over their palms they watched the clothe morph and mold around their hands into actual gloves.

“Holy shit! Hand condoms!” Malcolm darted his gaze from his palms to James. “Nice work kid.”

“I call it Life Fiber. It’s the clothing of the future.”

Cam cringed a bit holding his breathe, “What about inhaling anything poisonous.”

“Good point.” James wrapped a slip of fiber around his mouth and nose allowing it to tighten up around his head as if a Wild West bank robber. Knowing he could still breath under it he gave the men some material to do the same. “Okay Bart! You bag the money while Dooley and I flirt with the bank teller.” His best Cowboy drawl went over well. “I bet you got some mighty nice legs under that there petticoat.” He had to bust up laughing at a time like this.

“Bet her legs are as hairy as her ole’ man’s horse.” Cam chuckled back and looked around. “Where do we begin James Jesse?”

Once attired safely James picked up the dropped fruit and contained it in his Life Fiber designed backpack. The three of them then gathered more fruits, veggies and jars of seeds from shelving containers until the pack was jam packed full. James at least knew what types of seeds were needed for the outdoors. To create grass and wheat. “Hold this, Malcolm.” James Ian handed him the pack then crouched down to examine the floor. James realized that the floor beneath the foliage was rubbery in texture. Using his alien tablet and it’s sensor scanning feature he studied the makeup.

“Nice! The floor under this garden is an artificial landscape designed to create and distribute the proper nutrients to the plants as a source plant food. Crazy tech! It’s referred to as Pasture Bedtime!” He chuckled, “I’m kidding! The Ganthorians call it Zalopsu. Cybernetic astroturf built to mimic and replicate whatever planetary soil the crop required. Bad ass!”

“Does this mean we don’t have to plow outside?” Malcolm wondered.

“No. We still need to do that for the cows. Unless you want to play Rawhide and bring the herd here.” James chuckled. “That might kill what we have at our disposal. A lot of this food can be eaten. We just need to study it first and learn what our digestive systems can safely accept. Remember how your mom always said eat your carrots they’d make you see better?” He pointed out a section of imbedded crops. “Those are Habilorian Spikes. They look like Earth raised carrots but those are pure cyanide to humans. The Ganthorians however loved them as a snack. Their systems are more highly evolved than ours.” So, his tablet related! “Edible carrots are over in the next wing it says here.” Reaching into his pocket he produced a thin cannister resembling aerosol and stood up. Walking to the Habilorian Spikes he sprayed a big red X in front of them on the soil pads. “X means fatal.”

“X marks the spot where they find our corpses.” Cam sighed. “Nice graffiti Genius!”

“Shockingly this spray is edible.” He laughed. “Alright! Let’s move on.”

As the group spread out to amuse themselves, they suddenly heard a shuffling noise behind them. All eyes bulged as Malcolm lead the silent finger to his face mask to quiet them. The noise faded but none the less invoked a chill. Gazing over their shoulders as if being followed they spotted a thin vine reaching out for them. Something was alive. “RUNNNNNNNNN!” They did, escaping out into the hall James brought out D-R-1 again and used its gravity glove feature to reconstruct the crooked frame of the garden door into a blockade to the interior. Better safe than sorry.

“First we block our water source, now we block our food cache.” Cameron shivered dramatically, lowering his hanky. “What the hell was that?”

“Living plants, I suspect. They don’t know what human life is like.” James reclaimed his drone sidekick. “We could be food for them. Whenever we go back in there, I think we need to plan better. Safety first, right?”

“We definitely HAVE to go back in there if we want to eat.” Cam emphasized. “Machete that shit!”

Mal offered a terrified expression, “You all can! I’m not on the shopping list and I damn sure won’t be no Feed Me Seymore!”

“Let’s go.” James leads them away waving his gloved hand over his face. “You two need to change your underwear.” Got that right! It wasn’t the backpack smelling like shit.

For over an hour Jack Ramse had re-entered the sub-basement area he had sealed off just yesterday to inspect things. The pump was still there and running. Yet the hoses had burst from the pressure of his closing the door on them. Therefore, he had to look for more lengths of potential hoses as well as a filtering system out of fibers he salvaged from what he determined was already a form of filter, although from some overhead vents. Still, he was proud of his achievement. Not everything required James Ian’s expertise! As he finalized his dimly lit task, he heard someone approach. His eyes easily piercing the darkness thanks to his evolved bodily functions he was just as easily blinded by the glowing aura surrounding his visitor.

“Still down here Colonel?”

“Sophia.”

“Yes! Can we talk?”

“I’m listening.”

She approached him and willed her body to lower her body’s glow which was less threatening and helped him to see her better.

“I hope that helps. My friends told me I could do that yesterday. I used it to see by when I went swimming too. Anyway, I feel badly over what I did yesterday. My friends were hungry, and I felt I was protecting everyone at the same time. Maybe I shouldn’t have killed that shark thing. I figured if I didn’t, he might attack you or one of the others. I hope you understand that I want to keep my family safe.”

“I do. However, I think your act ruined a perfectly good friendship with Animahni. She looked terrified of us in the end. I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see her again. Her or her other two friends. Are we even certain they were any true threat?”

“The shark was. He tried to eat me. So, I felt no real remorse at the time hunting him down. I trust my babies when they say I’m under their protection. Besides, it was liberating to dive down so deep under us. The tunnel goes on forever. I never came to an end of the road. I just felt like I needed to turn back.”

“Regardless! No more killing until we know who the enemy is. Am I clear?”

“Yes.” She lowered her gaze feeling lousy, “I’m really sorry, Colonel.”

Before another word could be exchanged Ruby Goddard joined them, shining her own light down into the darkness to avoid tripping. Realizing that Sophia was illuminating the massive chamber so well she conserved her flashlight battery.

“All this time we could have put a lampshade over your head and stood you in the hallway.”

“I’d have eaten it. I was just apologizing to Jack about yesterday. I was out of line.”

“I’m glad you have a conscience. Good job, Sophia.”

“I might be a carnivore, but I have a heart.”

Jack and Ruby share a concerned gaze hearing her statement. They both worried about her mental state concerning her occupied body. Were the microbial parasites or whatever they were, really friendly? Time would tell.

As they changed the subject to evaluate the pumping system their chatter was interrupted by a severely loud splashing. Almost as if dozens of fish were frolicking at the same time. Sophia increased her phosphorescence to nearly blind Jack and Ruby. However, the lighting did display the water of the massive pool like a stadium.

“Animahni!” Ruby pointed out into the ripples. The hybrid beauty’s body was slowly surfacing. Behind her was a large net containing over a hundred fish.

Another ripple followed behind her as a second body rose up from the depths below. It was the humanoid Octopi friend of Animahni. He too dragged a net of even more fish behind him. The two hybrids cautiously walked from the water to stand twenty feet from Jack and the others. It was there the two hybrids tossed their catch out onto dry land. Once their hands and tentacles were free the two hybrids kneeled and bowed before them.

“Animahni? Welcome back!” Ruby asked while stepping closer to the netting of lively fish. “Is this a peace offering?”

“These are a gift from Oulapho. We told him of the death of Karnog. He does not wish to be enemies. Nor does my brother Tyrakuus here beside me.”

Tyrakuus wagged his once severed tentacle to show them that it was already in the process of regrowth. His humanoid face emerged from within his mass of tentacles and offered what appeared to be a smile. His features were so gelatinous that it was hard to be certain. They would believe it was.

Jack stepped between they and Sophia just in case the girl found it necessary to protect them from unwarranted danger. “We were never your enemy. Neither you nor us were certain the other could be trusted. Sophia’s actions did not help. She should not have killed your friend.”

“Karnog was a friend to no one. We always fought. He has injured all of us at some point, yet we were family. Oulapho is our leader but even he worried about Karnog’s lust for power. Only Oulapho’s size kept Karnog at bay.”

“Tell this Oulapho we would prefer being friends, if he chooses to be. I would like to meet him someday.”

“He has grown bigger than our tunnels.” Animahni suggested! “You would have to go to him.”

Ruby and Jack stared at one another until Jack added, “If we can find a way to reach him safely tell him it would be our honor.”

“Please feel free to visit us more often. Both of you.” Ruby expressed, “And thank you for the fish. We are very grateful. If we can repay you in any way let us know.”

“We shall.” Animahni decided to brave walking from the shallows to face Sophia. Hot chick face to face with hot chick. Sophia lowered her brilliance and attempted a warm smile.