Chapter ELEVEN

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"That's amazing..." The red haired mumbled, while the others simply nodded. It seemed as though they had no experience with any other talk about Gavaspia, which had appeared strange to me, since it was Earth astronomers who designed and conquered the quest.

Reaching across the table to hold my hand, the half blind dude inquired, "What's your name, dear? I have a feeling we'll be staying together for quite some time, so we might as well get acquainted, right?"

He said it in such a kind voice that I felt it would be rude to even just nod at him, so I responded with a sigh, "Well, my name is Faith, and I'm probably not a good person to befriend." Afterwards, I pulled my hand away gently, as I meant it – after all, all of my friends were probably dead. Even Matt, and somewhere O'keal, I had thought.

The brown haired chuckled and held out a hand for me to shake, declaring, "I'm Johni, the red hair's Kyasha, the blue hair's Kahoni, and jacket's Warner- "

"At least let us introduce ourselves, jerk," Kyasha, the red haired, muttered, jokingly knocking Johni on the shoulder. Meanwhile, Warner, the blonde haired with the jacket, stayed quiet, relaxing back into his seat. I could tell that I would have had lots of fun trying to remember these new strange names.

"You called this space station Zephyr? How long has this been here?" I had questioned, for it would have been a terrible thing if the ship would have been so close to death that it would explode, like the other one.

"This sweet baby is only about two hundred years, which is honestly very young for the average ship's that have been sent off, and we should be thankful that we have found it," Kahoni answered, tapping his fingers against the smooth table in an uncontrollable rhythm, and I had slightly tilted my head. To be precise, I was worried about who I was really talking to, for these people were not scientists or astronomers, or at least hadn't looked the part, which was quite worrying.

For a little bit, I kind of stuttered my words before I could finally get out, "How did you four get here in the first place? You don't look as if you would've started off here..." I hated asking that, because I didn't want to get on their bad sides, yet I want to be trusting these people, so that information felt important to me.

Consequently, my question jarred my friends' thoughts and actions, blinking as they stared at each other. In due time, Kyasha explained, "We flew up here from a rocket that was on Earth... Conditions were lowering, too much for life to live much longer, so we all gathered through the deserts and founded our group, escaping through the rocket that was parked in the dock down there. And.... Here we are," She ended her description with a wave around and to her friends, smiling slightly, as Johni gave a sarcastic clap of her hands.

Finally, I had nodded my head, still a little confused, but I decided to leave the subject alone. A sigh came from Kahoni as he sat up, grabbing a knife (I assumed it was his), and heading towards the door. "Listen, Faith, you're still a stranger to us. We weren't aiming to house another infant in this station, and I have no idea what you know or what you can do – I don't trust you as easily as your newfound friends. Stay away from me, and you won't end up with a red mark on your cheeks." He stomped out, slamming the door shut, rocking the table a little bit, and I stared out in disbelief.

Putting a gentle hand on my shoulder, I hadn't even noticed how Warner had popped up beside me. "Don't worry about him," he suggested, "It doesn't matter who you are, you've obviously been through a lot, I can see it in your skin; that means you should be treated as equally as the rest of us."

His words had touched me, for he was like... he was like someone who knew what you had gone through, even though he had just taken a glance, and it was nice. After all, I had been stuck inside an escape pod, isolated from everyone and everything, for a week, barely surviving, if I may guess.

A mechanical beep went off behind me suddenly, and I jumped slightly, turning around to see Kyasha pulling out something from a futuristic microwave. She put a cooling biscuit on a plastic plate and set it down in front of me, giving a respectful bow, also nodding in a way that said she was waiting for me to try out the cream.

Slowly, inspecting the bun, I picked it up, as it had been weeks since I had digested something so sweet and special. However, as soon as the tip of my tongue had touched the creamy bread, I was gulfing down my newfound favorite food, and it felt like such a relief to finally have some real food.

Honestly, I could talk about how much it was a bother to be in that vehicle for a week and some days – however, I won't do that, because I understand that it would probably get annoying, for both me and you out there. And I know that neither of us will enjoy that.

Back to the main point, after I devoured that short snack, Johni slapped the wall and exclaimed, "As much as I enjoy watching starving children experience another meal, I can't just stand around and watch crumbs gather on the floors. I'm going to check on Kahoni, see how he's feeling," and she disappeared outside of the room, heading up.

After a second of silence, Warner picked up a piece of paper from his pocket. "We can give you a room in the living quarter's hall, and some extra clothes if you'd like, give you a bit of time to relax yourself before deciding what you would like to do." I nodded gratefully, standing up and stretching my arms.

"Here, I'll lead you over to the living quarters," Kyasha told me, opening the entrance door and waiting for me to enter through. I followed with stiff movements, and the redhead lead up the stairs to a hallway, the walls slick and smooth, looking brand new.

"It's astounding, really..." Kyasha trailed, fingers tapping against the screws on the walls, as she hummed in her throat. "I just can't believe that you managed to survive for that long in that tiny escape vehicle, on nothing but snacks and candy bars, at least I'm guessing so. Nevertheless, it was, well, admirable – to me, at least, and it just makes me respect you for sticking it out for so long."

I blinked, staring at her as I had wondered what seemed so 'astounding' about my survival. After all, I was just stuck in a boring chair for over a week – even now, my skin was tight, bones shaky. I wouldn't have even lived if I didn't happen to run across this ship!

However, I simply nodded to Kyasha's observation, not wanting to put down her hopes and admirations, because the last thing I wanted was to make her sad. As much as I couldn't have cared, I didn't want to put a bad tone to my name here.

Quickly, the red haired led me over to a group of rooms with beds, closets, and small tables, as if they were just a repeat of the same thing. It wasn't different too; every room had the same dull white color on the walls, gray softness of the carpets, blue tinted windows, yet at the same time it was still appealing to the eyes. It was so unimaginative, and felt like you should have been upset to the designers.

On the contrary, once Kyasha dropped me off and disappeared back to her little group, I immediately plopped down onto the bed, sheets ruffling under my weight, and I sighed, resting my head against the headboard. A circular mirror across the quarter reflected my own image, a scrawny girl with bags under her eyes, and a starvation for food. It was... depressing, and sad, how I had transformed from a sassy, energetic teenager to a downcast human whom looks like death has talked to them.

Which reminded me: I need some more food and water to keep a healthy condition! Springing into the air, I put on a coat from the closet and replaced my shoes, for everything else would've had to wait. Groaning from stiff muscles, I shuffled over to the ajar entry, peeking out as if there was a monster outside the corner, waiting for me.

Although that metaphor would sound stupid, as soon as I stepped out into the hallway to search for any kind of map or person, I heeded of a faraway yelp as the lights flickered out suddenly, and I was reminded of how truly alone I was, and I groaned in annoyance. It seemed that the action didn't quite end yet.

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