Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Two: ARI

The bag crinkled between her fingers as she pulled the final processed imitation potato product from it and placed it in her mouth. The crunch of the outer crust followed by the sudden squish of the inside filling, gave great satisfaction.

Sidestepping several people she had never seen before, Ari tossed the leftover wrapping into the nearest recyclable. The station was in more chaos than usual. The size of the stations population doubled for the last few days as the new shipments arrived and were unloaded. But with the departure notice counting down all across Meckam, it was clear the scheduled time for all non-registered residents to vacate the station, was rapidly approaching.

Rounding the corridor, Ari came to the public shopping level. The ceiling vaulted high and opened wide on either side. Florescent lighting from advertising banners bounced off each other creating a separate atmosphere from the rest of the steel lined station. To everyone else its attempt to simulate planet living, was inviting. Shops and food stalls with tables and chairs, scattered across the large domed room. Even a plastic simulation of green rested at the center representing something called grass. Which Ari had only seen in school issued digitals. Ari preferred the cold seclusion accompanied by the hum of the station life-support systems to the strange foliage of plant living.

Licking the last taste of salt from her lips, Ari paused at the sight before her. A large group of teenagers and some preteens were gathered around a small table but sitting on top of it, was Trevon. He was dressed in his nicest traveling clothes, though his nicest still managed to have holes in the knees and fraying at the seams. He smiled kindly at the girl who was speaking, his sharp green eyes reflecting the changing lights above them. His short brown hair was carefully styled and actually helped darken his fair complexion.

From this angle it was true that he looked very much like their father. Though all Ari had to reference were archived digitals. She was still inclined to agree with the speculation.

His eyes shifted from the person that was speaking, glancing briskly at the timepiece above the entrance. It was obvious he wasn't completely engaged in the current conversation, however only Ari could tell this. No one else knew, to them they had his full attention, and that's one of the reasons everyone was drawn to him.

Ari scanned the crowd around her brother again, recognizing some solemn expressions. A few goosebumps rippled across the small of Ari's back. She didn't want to be a part of the awkward good-byes but waiting for her brother to break away was obviously going to take to long.

She was still struggling to decide when Trevon's line of sight dropped down from the time piece and focused on her. His eyes squinted in a genuine smile, unlike the one he had previously feigned. All other eyes from the group followed his line of sight and caught a glimpse of her as well, though their expressions did not reflect his same delight.

Seeing she'd already interrupted the parade of emotions, Ari ignored the eye rolls and began her approach. Trevon began bidding his quick good-byes as more of the crowd chose to make there escape. By the time Ari was standing in front of her brother, there was only one left beside him.

"It doesn't makes sense," The girl continued not caring that Ari was now within range. "You're leaving and she has to stay. I know the academy is a great honor but surely you can take her with you."

Trevon chuckled, "Trust me. She wants that more than you want her to leave."

"Couldn't you tell them it's a matter of life and death? Without you, she'll probably cause the whole station to fall into a black hole."

"That's unlikely." Ari said, the girl recoiling slightly at sound of her voice. "I'd have a higher probability of accidentally deleting the life support system causing it to malfunction and leaving us all to die of freezing and suffocation in the deep black of space."