Clone Earth: MELVIN

Chapter Twenty Nine: ARI

Silence sunk in like fog around them again. It too was waiting for Ari's pulse to slow. As it did, her vision cleared she saw his arms crossed, one finger tapping steadily on his elbow with that slightly feminine stance she dreaded.

"Fine but you have to build seven more functioning systems before you can do that again." He or she said before Farris turned and sat back down in the pilots chair. There his shoulders relaxed returning to his normal self.

"That was bold." Farris spoke, eyes fixated forward. Ari buried her face in her hands. She felt her hot breath hit her palms and her wet eyelashes brush against her fingers. She suspected she needed to apologize, at least to him. However, the words stuck deep her throat.

"Two more weeks?" She asked. Through the narrow spaces in her fingers she saw the man nod. "Then you need to let me fly."

His shoulders stiffened before he turned his chair to look at her.

"I know I'm driving you crazy by being here," she started to explain, but he shook his head.

"I forgot you were here, remember." He corrected.

"True, and that's good for you, but," She pushed what strength she could find and pushed to her knees. "I've been watching you. You find peace sitting in that seat and I need that. Programming helps but it's still limiting my abilities. Will you please, teach me to fly."

Farris' head began shaking before she'd finished speaking, so she pushed harder.

"Three weeks of watching you has taught me the basics. Now you just have to let me practice. Just once and then you can go back to forgetting I'm even here."

His head stopped shaking. He watched her carefully and Ari didn't move. Allowing him to think was the best thing for her. She'd pushed as hard as she could without completely falling apart ... again.

His cheek indented as his teeth chewed on it from the inside. His eyes avoided her gaze but he eventually rose from his seat, stepped to the side and he released a labored sigh.

Ari sprung into the pieced together cloth made seat. It was the softest cushion she'd ever felt. Farris reached to her left and typed in a rapid number, initiating a counter clicking down from ten minutes.

"Remain on course, at five minutes rest the left engine and give the right 25 percent trust without spinning us in circles. Timer goes of you get out."

Ari's hand trembled as her fingers wrapped around the helm. She glanced at the navigation console then back out into the stars. This is where she belonged.

Farris was quiet but very present behind her. He only spoke up to correct her two times preventing another spin into oblivion but Ari took the instruction better than she ever had. Considering her life was on the line it turned out to be a good choice.

After returning his seat Ari ran from the flight deck back into the cargo hold. Giddiness filled her entire body. She held back a girlish squeal and settled for jumping up and down waving her arms about.

"I can't believe he let me do that. Will he let me do it again?" She turned again about to burst with joy. She couldn't keep this to herself she needed to tell someone. She stopped spinning and saw it. Resting where she'd connected it to charge days ago, her Personal Communicator. Sitting in the corner of the table. There was one person she could tell, she would just need his help to mask her signal so Farris wouldn't catch on.

Careful to make sure she was alone, Ari took her personal comm to the corner of the cargo hull. Tucked under the stairs and behind a large crate that she had yet to explore, she crossed her legs and sunk to the cold metal floor.