Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Twenty One: ARI

A chill ran up Ari's back. Her jaw clinched as she fought back the pangs of hunger and willed herself to continue channeling her inner Trevon.

"Hello Farris. I'm trying to get back to my brother. Please. You don't have to go out of your way for me. Just take me wherever you're going. I'll get off at the first chance I can get."

"They're right, you know. You are not worth the trouble."

Ari swallowed her natural urge to argue. She needed to prove she was worth it. What would Trevon say?

Her mind went completely blank and a surge of desperation tightened around her lungs. She clinched her eyes shut, "I know," she said.

A small chuckle followed from the opposite side of the door.

Ari's eyes fluttered open. Had she imagined it? She flattened her ear to the door to better hear.

"Ugh, why do we always have to do it your way?" The high voice hissed.

"You get your way more than I do!" the low voice snapped.

"Just leave it to me for now, please." Farris said with a sigh. Then after some rustling, and some added quiet, the calm voice of Farris spoke again. "Lets talk about this shuttle of yours."

Ari wanted to answer him however she didn't quite understand who won. "First tell me, am I allowed to go with you?"

"We know you're not truthful in the intent to kill us all." Farris admitted

Which Ari admitted to herself he was right. She looked around at the fight deck. In her normal condition she would be able to figure out the basic controls required to properly disconnect from the shuttle and even start navigating toward civilization. However, at this moment her hands were shaking, her heart rate elevated and she was feeling light headed due to lack of food and water. Basically her usual unshakable confidence was missing.

"You're right... all of you." She swallowed, "but I don't think you're a murderer either."

"How do you figure that?" Asked the voice of Farris.

Though he couldn't see her she motioned toward objects placed on and around the flight deck. The chair had been modified with scraps of clothing, each sewn together carefully to make an interesting seat cover. There were small plastic toys sat around, organized in little colonies and possibly families. The place was clean. Even the extra parts that had yet to be put away were stacked carefully in a corner.

"It feels ... " she searched her mind for a word that fit, but the only word that came to mind was a place she'd never had in her lifetime. "It feels like a home in here. And killing a stranger in your own home, would change that."

The man on the other side of the door didn't answer right away. He shuffled for a bit, "I agree with that, but ... not everyone does. I'm a scavenger and so it's important I be alone."

That meant the vote was two to one, and Ari's vote doesn't count. But if she could prove she was helpful, perhaps she could sway one other vote in her favor. She swallowed hard and prepared to unlock the door,

"The life support system was the newest addition to that old clunker and I see you have a Nine Thirty Cruse Navigation Drive and autopilot system in the corner in here. My shuttles control panel could interface with that and give you a full working navigation unit to sell. I could program it..."

"You're a programmer? Didn't you say you were only 15?"

Her confidence returned, "It's what I do best."

"Then why is your shuttle dead?"

"That was not my fault!" She hit the unlock switch and pulled the door open, "My reprogramming was not the problem, the ships autopilot and it's main engine were so incompatible and old, that apparently one sequence out of order sent a rod right through the main fan and when the fan went it took three other systems and when those systems stopped they burnt out five belts. Whoever made that thing was not thinking of the chain effect."

"Or maybe they did but they didn't think anyone was foolish enough to set it off so recklessly." said Farris. He was leaning up against the far wall, arms folded across his chest.

The room she'd ran through without looking was a spacious mess with a large table in the center. Covered with piles of spare parts each meticulously organized. Cabinets were full of cans and boxed foods but nothing as fancy as the food she'd scrapped off the trays at Meckam. The packaging of each was so diverse it suggested they'd been procured from separate locations.

Ari looked Farris over again. This time he didn't seem very strange. In fact, with the exception of his overly large ears and the scruff covering most of his face, he seemed normal. His clothes were not exactly dirty but they were faded with use. Carefully patched together much like the seat cover had been.

"I'm working on that reckless thing." Ari admitted.

"She better be." The low voice slipped out. Farris quickly pierced his lips together. Ari tried to hide her surprise, though she couldn't stop the quick backwards step and her hand firmly gripping the door back into the flight deck. If he made any move toward her she was prepared to lock herself back inside and start negotiations all over again.

But Farris cleared his throat and nodded toward the deck, "don't touch anything. Or I can't protect you." With a quick side step, the man returned to Ari's shuttle through the docking tunnel.

It was good Ari's hand was still holding the door frame. Once he was out of sight, her knees weakened, her legs gave out and she slid down to the floor. She panted and swallowed, trying to wet the dryness from her tongue.

I did it Trevon, she thought through heavy breathing. I know I know. Now don't screw it up.