Chapter 6

Alicia floated down the corridor, yawning.

She was never a morning person. Or a noon person. Hell, there were times when late afternoons could be dicy. But, she definitely wasn't into mornings. The getting up, the not falling back to sleep ... all too often it seemed so pointless to her. Especially when all it would get her was a day going to various boring classes. You'd think, now that there was none of that, the teen would take the opportunity to sleep in.

But, no.

It was 7:20 AM human time, 7,13 H Orang time, and here she was, not just up but dressed and on her way to breakfast.

Dressed ... you could call it that, but she almost felt nude. She had worn less when swimming, barely, and sometimes she and her girlfriends had hung around the house almost naked when nobody was around. But, those were special occasions. Just wearing this, around people like Anthony and Chuck ... well, to be honest, maybe she liked it.

The previous day, they had gone through the Bells to see what fabric they could scrounge. Chuck had been right, there were a number of dirty white aprons in the bakery and meat departments, as well as a few green ones in produce. For the most part the fabric was thick, rough. NOT something the women wanted rubbing against their skin all day. A few of the whites, though, had been of a thin, smooth cloth. Looking over the samples of this, Hannah had decided that since the ship was warm anyway (getting rid of heat always being the main problem with space ships), they had just enough of this fabric to create four sets of outfits per person, so long as they were VERY skimpy. Alicia currently sported a bikini bottom, a piece of cut cloth with ties on the side, and a bra consisting of two cups and braided straps. Daium had suggested the braiding, to secure up her good sized boobs so they weren't banging against things, and Alicia had to admit so far it was working well. Everything was kept out of the way, not floating around randomly, there was no chafing, and, damn it, she looked good.

Actually, the only one who didn't look great in the new attire was Chuck. His simple loincloth, a piece of fabric passed between his legs then tied around his waist, did nothing to cover his slight chunkiness. He didn't seem to mind, though. Having Melinda all over his body for the past few days had probably done wonders for his self image. And, really, he didn't look that bad. By now Alicia simply accepted his new look as the way he was.

Floating into what they were calling the "Commons", for reasons she was unsure about but had no objection to, Alicia saw Tammy over in the kitchen. Daium watched the woman with interest, one hand holding a well placed handle. Alicia floated over.

"Morning."

"Morning, Alicia."

"Morning, Bitch."

Alicia raised an eyebrow at the eight eyed fur ball. It had been said with such matter-of-factness, that she HAD to know what she was saying. The twinkle in those white fur rimmed eyes seemed to confirm that, as if Daium was just waiting for Alicia to object.

Well, maybe she wasn't going to.

"And a good morning to you, too, Daium." She turned to look at Tammy. The older girl had taken over the cooking, moving into the kitchen the same way Chuck and Melinda seemed to be moving into the engine/robot sections. The microwave from the break room had been brought over and hooked into the ship's power supply, Tammy currently nuking scrambled eggs. Sausage, part of the refrigerated meat that wouldn't take well to re-freezing so had to be used up quickly, sat already cooked in a container attached to the counter, next to a bunch of bananas tied to a hook. "You seem to be getting the hang of this."

"Well," Tammy admitted, looking in at the eggs, "I'm cheating so far. Just nuking things is rather easy, and apart from adding some milk to the eggs I'm not really mixing anything. Dinner will be more of a challenge, as I'm going to try to use some of the Orang cooking stuff." A hand reached up to scratch under her left tit. Alicia tried to ignore the movement.

"Should we all be hiding behind blast shields when you do?"

"Might be a good idea." She looked around. "You the only one up?"

"Justin on bridge." The two girls shot their eyes at Daium, then exchanged a glance. It wasn't that her English was improving every day. It was, rather, the way she said Justin's name. There was no need to interpret the meaning of that. Tammy let out a sigh.

"Well, breakfast is almost ready. Those who sleep in will just have to eat cold eggs."

Anthony wished he had some idea of how to help Hannah.

The mother of one was re-arranging the shrine in their bedroom. Her one physical photo of little Mary had been taped to the green reed wall, surrounded by some pink plastic flowers she'd found in the store. If there was ever a way to print out the pictures on her phone, they'd add those as well. The stuffed yellow bunny, left in the back seat of her minivan, sat below the picture, tied to the dresser and wearing a pink bib. As Anthony watched, Hannah took the rattle that had been taped to the wall and repositioned it in the bunny's hand. When he was a kid, Anthony was always the kind to re-arrange the nativity set whenever he walked by during the Christmas season. Move the lambs onto the roof, put Joseph outside having a smoke, and so on. That part of him could see Hannah going over to touch her only connection to her child every time they were in this room.

And, who could blame her?

"Ready for breakfast?"

He could see her sigh, bare shoulders slumping. She'd be OK, once they joined the others. Once there were things to do, distractions. It was only here, with him, that she let her loss overwhelm her. So he could rescue her, comfort her.

He'd do anything for her.

Anthony's mind had easily moved past thoughts of the redhead he had started dating a week and a lifetime ago. Georgia had been beautiful, witty, everything he could want. But, he knew she was safe and sound ... back home. There was no sense of loss at the idea of never seeing her again. Not when this creature was before him.

Hannah turned, looking stunning in her white bikini. As her head came up, it was like a shadow vanished from her eyes. She chuckled, looking Anthony up and down.

"I still think you should go with bikini briefs."

"What, you don't like this?" He spun for her, showing off the loincloth identical in style to Chuck and Justin's.

"Oh, it IS you, don't get me wrong." She floated up to him, one hand dropping down to rub the front of his outfit. "I just wish it showed you off a bit more." He put his arms around her, cupping that wonderful ass.

"It's work enough fighting you off, and you want me placing temptation in front of all the other women? You're cruel, that's what you are..."

"Hmm..." Leaning in, she kissed his neck. "Now, what was that about breakfast?"

"So," Alicia mumbled, mouth full of sausage, "do we know yet where our furry leader is taking us?"

"Somewhere," Chuck offered, helpfully.

"She's going to take us around the bridge, show us how to work, or at least give us a feel for, the various stations." Justin took a sip of his orange juice, pausing to once again admire the zero g compatible squeeze bottle. They'd found a whole cupboard full of them, although it was still a bit tricky getting liquid into the bottles in the first place. Noticing Alicia was about to speak, he continued. "Once we know how to read the sensors and navigation screens, we'll know where we're going."

"Can't she just tell us? There's no reason for it to be a secret." Alicia shifted her eyes to Daium, as did the others. "If we're in this together, then let's be in this together."

Daium's eyes came up to meet hers. The Orang seemed to consider the matter, then sighed. Letting go of her half eaten mangosteen, she adjusted her glasses, looked around, and considered her words.

"Before we ... leave this sun, we go ... meet others. Maybe."

"Others?" Anthony drifted a bit closer. She nodded.

"Orang. Maybe. Do not know."

"Survivors," Melinda whispered. Daium nodded, sadly.

"Maybe."

"Your English is really improving," Nona complemented Daium as they watched the others half clean up, half goof off as they finished breakfast. "It'll be better than my Malay soon."

"Thank you." Daium smiled shyly at her interpreter. Nona raised an eyebrow.

"I think I know WHY you're trying to learn so fast. You really like him, don't you?"

There was no hint of embarrassment as Daium turned to look across the room. Her dark skinned friend stood out among the others, shorter and thinner than everyone except Melinda.

"Yes. I ... I have never liked a male, before. He is special."

"That's one way to put it," Nona said a bit dryly. She'd never thought much of him, although exposure had been limited. She cocked at eye at Daium. "Are there any special phrases you want to learn from me, so you can talk to him later?"

Daium thought for a moment, then nodded.

"How do I tell him I want to mate?"

"This," Nona told the gathered humans, "is the sensor and backup navigation station." She motioned with her hand at the control panel Daium currently floated in front of. About three feet long, it was part keyboard, part mass of colored buttons with various symbols. There was order, but not the grid system they were used too: swirls of colored controls were more common, occasionally intertwining. Looking at the patterns, Alicia wondered if each color denoted a function, or a type of sensor. A trackball also sat on either side, as did braided fabric straps that could be fastened behind your back to hold you close to the controls. On the curved wall above, rectangles and circles of various data were projected. Taking her eyes away from the screens, Alicia looked down below.

"Is there any reason this thing is up on the ceiling?"

They were up among the tree branches, although none were close enough to be a danger to inattentive humans. Two other stations were up this high, spaced somewhat evenly around the bridge. Anthony considered the situation.

"My guess," he said, "is that this thing is useless unless you're in space. So, there's no reason to have it where you can get to it if there's gravity. Apart from repair, that is. There's probably a backup somewhere down lower." Nona passed the guess on to Daium, who turned to grin at him.

"Yes! Good!"

Anthony gave a playful smirk to Hannah.

"I get a gold star today!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Boys."

Alicia ignored them. Looking closer at the displays, she caught a change. There was a circular pattern that seemed to be an attempt to show various readings in three dimensions. It had a color scale from light to dark blue, and into that a small speck of green had momentarily appeared. Placing a hand on Daium's shoulder, she pulled herself a bit closer.

"What was that?"

Daium's eyes shifted sideways, her expression otherwise unchanged. Alicia waited a second, then, a second green blip having come and gone at the edge, she pointed.

"There. What's that?"

"What's what?" Melinda asked, on the other side. Her face scanned the mass of unfamiliar data, eyes squinting behind her glasses.

"Two blips, or one blip twice. Weren't there a minute ago."

Daium broke into a grin.

"Good! Good, good, Bitch!"

"Is that your name now?" Chuck asked, grinning. Alicia shrugged irritably.

"I'll wear it with pride. Now, Cheetah, what the hell is that I'm seeing?"

Still grinning, Daium shifted her body to show one long black finger pressing a purple button. She released it, then put her other hand on Alicia's bare arm.

"Test! Test, good eyes! Alicia good! Want job?"

"Job"? Alicia looked at the others, somewhat confused. She didn't move Daium's hand. The touch was ... not unpleasant.

"I think," Justin told her, "you're being offered the job of working the sensors. This may require a good eye to catch what the computer doesn't. Hell, maybe their computers aren't that good in this area."

"That makes no sense."

"It's easier to gather the data than to interpret it," he said, shrugging. "We'll find out as we learn more. Do you want the job?"

She looked over the controls. It didn't look that bad. She'd always been good at finding Waldo, so maybe she did have a talent for it. A faint wave rippling through a series of lines caught her eye.

"Is that another test, Daium?" She pointed up above the Orang's head.

Daium's head shot up, her sudden intake of breath sending a wave of tension through the humans. One hand went to the left trackball, as a square of waveforms grew to crowd out all the other displays. One wave was isolated, rotated, compared...