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Cinq
Jessica, Nilt, and Quin stare at me as I walk past them and on to our home. At least, it’s where I’ll live when they’re gone.
I wouldn’t call my heart broken, no. Bruised, yes. Let someone go and love will return them to your side. Or so my mother said when I was much younger. Pless, she’d say it now if I asked.
The other two wanting to leave isn’t a surprise. I’d like to visit somewhere with running water and live entertainment. Watching someone like Noni innovate appeals to me, too, since I can’t code anything myself. Or rather, I can but it’s not free and easy without nanos assisting me.
Frustrated and full of energy, I go grab the undershower reservoir to empty. I take it out the back, through the hidden door in the bedroom. There’s another natural hole bigger than our waste pit to dump this organic refuse. The routine chore seems more inconvenient today than usual. Like I shouldn’t have to be doing this. No one here should, especially not Jessica. She deserves better.
I shake out the mess, not looking at what falls, per my usual. I’ve thought about what I would do to leave. I even had the plan to go before the Kostans crashed here. Have Aard charge me double for a new identity packet. Update my nanos to my new persona. Send out a message that VilKrell Cinq died in a rock slide on X-113. I’d be a new man. Still living on my terms like I do here, but with regular trash pickup and a real toilet seat.
As I enter the bedroom, the others’ voices echo off the rock ceiling to where I am. Nilt walks in as I’m replacing the reservoir. He snorts. “You must be in an awful mood to clean that thing.”
“Not unhappy, just not happy,” I reply and close the shower door.
“There’s a difference?” he asks and sits on the bed closest to me.
I sit opposite him. “Yeah, actually. I’d be unhappy if you were all leaving because of something I did or didn’t do. Instead, I’m not happy because I’ll either be alone or be in an imperial prison.” Wanting to turn the conversation from my possible incarceration, I ask, “What about you? When did you begin thinking about leaving?”
Nilt leans back against the headboard, resting his hands behind him. “A while ago. I think the authorities have eased up on looking for me. At least, I haven’t seen any new bulletins about my group. We’ve left coded messages for each other but none of us feel free to band together again.”
Interesting, but before he asks what I want to do after they’re gone, the smell of food saves me. I stand. “I’m oddly hungry right now.”
He chuckles. “I wonder why.”
Walking backward, I ask, “Want to keep talking in the main room?”
Nilt gets up, following me. “Absolutely.”
We enter the larger room to find Jessica and Quin setting a meal on the table. She smiles at me. “I hope pajii steaks with wilted ossan is all right. I’d thought about plin but am picky about my seafood.”
“Pajii is good,” I reassure her and find my seat. Chopped vegetables give off steam from a bowl in the center of the table. I take the serving spoons and help myself. “This is great.”
“Right?” Nilt says. “Any meal I don’t have to cook is one I like.”
Jessica snorts. “Like sending a signal to a machine is so tough.” She sits, taking some vegetable mix for herself. “Back on Earth, we had to cook from scratch while walking uphill in the snow.”
The three of us frown at her. I’m glad the others have no idea what she’s talking about, either. She waves a hand. “Never mind. It’s literally a you had to be there moment.” Cutting up her steak, she asks, “Quin and I were talking about fun places to vacation.”
I both welcome and dread the conversation because yet another conversation about their leaving. “Oh?” I say instead of pretending nothing’s going to happen. “Where is your next stop when you leave here, Quin?”
“I’m not sure. Everywhere they’ll let me fly around without harassment, of course. Which, I understand why some planets have restrictions. I wouldn’t be the only person or thing in the air.”
“True,” Jessica says. “We have planes, drones, the occasional alien invasion. It’s really busy in our airspace.”
“A place without all that would be nice,” Quin says. “I’d like a lot of people, too, because I miss being in a crowd.”
“Wow. You’ve been here a long time, then,” Jessica quips.
“Afraid so.” He gives me a glance. “By choice, of course, but seeing an Earther and the others at a distance has made me realize I like groups of people on my own terms.”
We fall silent, eating. Jessica did great but it’s replicator food and a big reason of why I miss Ghar. After a few more bites, I swallow then take a drink of water. “If, or pless, when you all go, I’ll probably won’t stay, either.”
Nilt chuckles, saying, “What? And leave all this?”
Jessica shrugs. “I don’t know. I couldn’t blame anyone for staying here. Living in a lava tube is really cool, er, hot. If I knew I could leave anytime I wanted, I’d hang out and hunt rocks with you for a week or two.”
Snorting, Nilt nudges Jessica. “What? You’re staying when S’Tou thinks you’re ready to run away with him?”
