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She smiled and touched her arms. “Maybe. I will try this today and see how nervous I feel. The sheer volume of distance between me and the world around me is far more likely to cause distress.”
“I offer myself as your wall between you and the world.”
“You don’t get out much either.” She smiled at him.
“I live between worlds, and I have none to call my own, so you are correct.”
He took her hand and put it on the back of his wrist. “Now, we introduce you to some of the live food available on the ship.”
“It isn’t actually alive, right?”
“Some of it is. Most was just alive at some point. Our greens are from the oxygen farm at the centre of the ship. Our fruit and vegetables are the same. You will always have something to eat here.”
She smiled up at him. “Thank you for that.”
“But most of the vegetables need to be cooked, so leave that to the commissary.”
She laughed, and he walked through the ship with her. The crew smiled at them politely and kept out of their way.
He stated, “I looked up your file from the Education Station. You left with nothing, and they had to give you emergency languages so you could get through training, and then they put you in cold sleep and mailed you to the training centre.”
She nodded. “That is true.”
“I was surprised that they agreed to keep your community together.”
“I believe we were an oddity. We suffered six losses over the two years before we were taken to the station. My niece Cloudy is a master at making food that is nourishing with minimal outlay. She organized supplies and kept us fed. At first, it was family, and then it was everyone. Anyone who didn’t like the arrangement was told they could leave, or the local ladies and a lot of brooms taught them manners.”
“Broom?”
“Wooden stick with a straw brush used for moving dirt on floors and beating idiots.”
“Interesting. It’s a weapon?”
“In the right hands, yes. That is also when our psychic activations started.”
“Our?”
“Cloudy, Bess, and Molly, and me. All different activations, and all one family.” She smiled. “I did some research when I was training. I thought it would all be family, but it turns out it was probably environmental. Something in the air got into our bloodstreams. I am guessing we weren’t the only ones. No one really had time to analyze the rock that killed our world.”
“That is unfortunate for your world. But there were millions who survived long enough to get moved.”
“Yes. So many starved. That is why what Cloudy did was so very important.”
“I can see that. Have you heard from her since?”
“No. I don’t know how to use a com or even where to start looking.”
“Would you like help?”
“Can you tell me if anyone is looking for me?”
“Oh, the Zowoth want you back, badly. But no one knows I was there or who I am.” His eyes smiled again. “There are benefits to being this old.”
“You don’t look a day over... pick a few thousand years. The grey and silver is very youthful.”
He chuckled. “I have heard that there are those among you who are easily matched to Hmrain, and they tend to be very witty.”
“No one was coming.”
