Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Twenty Eight: ARI

It had taken several hours to properly glean parts from the shuttle. Farris had allowed her to drink some water and eat that one can of hidden food she'd mentioned before. As for the rations on his ship, Farris' other voices had a lot to say on the topic.

"The sooner you drop me somewhere, the less I'll eat." Ari pointed out. "Don't you think it's in both our interests to find a place closer than Melvin?"

"We scavenge parts and go straight to the trade post on Melvin. That's what we do." The low insisted, Farris' posture hunched as he said it. His words were laced with bitter reluctance. "If we're caught with unsanctioned parts we'll be locked up and you promised you wouldn't cause us problems." Though the aggression was under control he still took every chance she could to suggest leaving Ari behind was the preferable option.

"Right. So get to Melvin and unload as fast as possible, I got it." Ari said gently, "So how long will that take?"

"Three weeks." Said low voice. Ari's expression failed to mask her disapproval. "I'm not wasting fuel to drop you off on some colony!"

Ari's face flushed red as she forced her voice to soften. "What about a midway? There should be ... "

"No people!" Barked the low gruff voice, Ari's skin prickled and her jaw clinched, she might have even growled slightly.

"I know!" She barked back suddenly almost losing her composure. "What I mean is, over three weeks I have to eat and drink I'd really hate to put you out in that way."

"Then don't eat."

Reminding herself to channel Trevon, Ari took a deep breath, "I am going to help you earn more in negotiations by getting half of these parts networked and programmed before you trade them. I can't do that if I'm dead from starvation."

Farris's shoulder's shrugged, "You get water," the low voice added.

Ari snapped, "I want to talk to Farris!"

"I am Farris"

"NO! Switch!" She ordered. She didn't expect it to work, and technically it didn't. His body posture changed, shoulders slid back, chin raised to look down his nose at her, though he was the same height as she was, he was suddenly more imposing with a slightly feminine stance that made Ari's hands raise in instant surrender. "Sorry, Sorry, Sorry! No, never mind. Water is great!"

The high voice had made it obvious that killing Ari was the best solution, Ari didn't want to give her a chance to be proven right. Instead she resolved to wait for the original owner of the body to surface. Holding back her pride, Ari turned her attention to the tasks she's been given.

With no access to an outside network, Ari did what she could, programing random pieces of salvaged equipment to communicate with each other. Though it would have been much easier had she been given permission to reach out to her other contacts. Successfully reprograming a box navigation from a military branded 55407 on her own was not an easy feat, yet it gave her great satisfaction when the light blinked green.

"ZIG would be impressed," She muttered aloud. The sound of her voice echoed in the silent cargo bay. Where it would usually have been a comfort to hear, it now sent a small chill down her spine.

How long had Farris been alone before his own voice was not enough to bring him comfort?

She stretched her arms and lay back in her chair, her head looking up at the flat steel ceiling. She wished she had someone to talk to. Someone to relay this unbelievable story to. But even if she was surrounded by people the only one she wanted to tell was Trevon.

She glanced down at her tattered duffle bag. Inside, sheltered her personal communicator. It needed a charge, after which she might be able to use ZIG's algorithm to get a message out. She wouldn't be able to get it to Trevon at the Academy but one message to ZIG could easily be relayed.